Marriage is a sacrament?

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angigori

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Hi, I was wondering if someone could help me out - I was recently sent a book of NFP (called “Natural Family Planning blessed Our Marriage” by Fletcher Doyle) and some of the stories I’m reading have a lot of terminology that I dont’ understand. (I’m not Catholic)
What does it mean when they say that ‘Marriage is a Sacrament, and that through that sacrament we can recieve graces - all we have to do is ask’…? That one sentance gave me a lot of hope - but I need to know what it means?
And what is a vocation?
 
Peter Kreeft:
The Sacrament of Matrimony, like all sacraments, gives to its recipients (the spouses) actual grace–that is, the real presence of Christ, in fact the very life of Christ in our souls. “Christ dwells within them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to ‘be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ’ [Eph. 5:21], and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love” (CCC).

Vocation (from the Catholic perspective):
A human being’s vocation is what he is called by God to do, and what we are all called by God to do is to help one another get to heaven. Thus, our day jobs have NOTHING to do with our vocations. There are only two vocations (and I’m probably going to be unpopular for saying this):
(1) Marriage
(2) Religious life (priest, nun, monastic order, consecrated virgin, Opus Dei, etc.)

Directionless single life is not a vocation. Again, this is from the Catholic perspective.

By the way, CCC means “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
 
Numinous said:
Peter Kreeft:
The Sacrament of Matrimony, like all sacraments, gives to its recipients (the spouses) actual grace–that is, the real presence of Christ, in fact the very life of Christ in our souls. “Christ dwells within them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to ‘be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ’ [Eph. 5:21], and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love” (CCC).

Vocation (from the Catholic perspective):
A human being’s vocation is what he is called by God to do, and what we are all called by God to do is to help one another get to heaven. Thus, our day jobs have NOTHING to do with our vocations. There are only two vocations (and I’m probably going to be unpopular for saying this):
(1) Marriage
(2) Religious life (priest, nun, monastic order, consecrated virgin, Opus Dei, etc.)

Directionless single life is not a vocation. Again, this is from the Catholic perspective.

By the way, CCC means “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
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You’re going to be more than unpopular. You’re saying that St Catherine of Siena, St Rose of Lima and St Benedict Joseph Labre, none of whom were nuns, consecrated virgins, priests, monks nor in Opus Dei, had no vocation :eek:

We ALL have a vocation to be saints - the greatest vocation of all! For some of us that sanctity comes through single (NOT professed religious, NOT married, but NEVER directionless nonetheless) life.
 
LilyM said:
You’re going to be more than unpopular. You’re saying that St Catherine of Siena, St Rose of Lima and St Benedict Joseph Labre, none of whom were nuns, consecrated virgins, priests, monks nor in Opus Dei, had no vocation :eek:

We ALL have a vocation to be saints - the greatest vocation of all! For some of us that sanctity comes through single (NOT professed religious, NOT married, but NEVER directionless nonetheless) life.
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I qualified what I wrote with the word directionless. Since those you mentioned are canonized saints, they must have spent their lives in service to others, helping others get to heaven (the definition of “vocation”).
 
Hi. Like you, I use to know nothing about the Catholic church except for what people I now know had no idea what they were talking about told me. So, below, I tried to answer your question in a veyr black and white manner. Please forgive me if it’s too juvenile.

*The direct translation of sacrament means “a sign of the sacred”. So in other words, a sacrament is something that is sacred, holy, significant and very important to Christians. They are special occasions that are held very Holy and are signs and instruments of God.

The Catholic church has seven sacraments: (I sort of defined the ones that aren’t obvious to nonCatholics)

Baptism
Eucharist (the bread that is the Body of Christ received in Communion)
Reconciliation (Confession)
Confirmation (a person who is maturing into the Catholic faith who learns what it means to be a Catholic and takes his/her first eucharist, etc)
Marriage
Holy Orders(when Priests are ordained, etc)
Anointing the Sick
*

You can learn more about the Sacraments here: Sacraments
 
In order for marriage to be Sacramental, it must be a valid marriage (both of you were free to marry - no prior living spouses, not forced into marriage, etc) and both spouses must be Christians - validly baptized in the trinitarian formula.
 
noclevername said:
Confirmation (a person who is maturing into the Catholic faith who learns what it means to be a Catholic and takes his/her first eucharist, etc)
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A kind correction, just for clarification: first communion is usually not taken at confirmation, since confirmation is around the age of 13 (8th-grade American), and first communion is around age 7 (2nd-grade American). This is for cradle Catholics, mind, not converts.
 
Numinous said:
A kind correction, just for clarification: first communion is usually not taken at confirmation, since confirmation is around the age of 13 (8th-grade American), and first communion is around age 7 (2nd-grade American). This is for cradle Catholics, mind, not converts.
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Thanks for that. I was having a hard time putting a definition of confirmation into words. I felt like it needed explaining though because most churches don’t do this.
 
If I were explaining Confirmation to a Protestant, I would say it’s the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit or Sanctification, depending on the denomination. (I was raised Protestant and did not come home until I was 30, so I know how to talk to them. ^_^)
 
I would suggest to read the CCC section on Confirmation, it begins here
scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a2.htm#1312

1285 Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the “sacraments of Christian initiation,” whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace.89 For “by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.”
 
Numinous said:
A kind correction, just for clarification: first communion is usually not taken at confirmation, since confirmation is around the age of 13 (8th-grade American), and first communion is around age 7 (2nd-grade American). This is for cradle Catholics, mind, not converts.
Click to expand...
A kind correction of the kind correction: Confirmation is conferred at different times in different places. Several dioceses have returned the sacraments of initiation to their proper order and confer Confirmation before First Communion and they do it at the age of 7 or 8. First Communion before Confirmation only dates back to 1910.
 
WOW! Thank you EVERYBODY!! I’ve never successfully worked one of these thread-things before, but I am much enlightened now. I’m sure I will have many moe questions as I proceed in my study. It’s nice to know there’s plenty of different directions my answers can come from. Once again, thanks, it’s helped!
👍
 
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