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Javier Escrivá Ivars
Institute of Family Sciences
University of Navarra

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Every real marriage – yours too – contains a unique love story. In the most intimate part of this story there is a special call from God to the husband and the wife. This brings companionship, light and strength to go deeper into the conjugal union, to protect it, make it grow stronger, or to restore it when things go wrong. It is a call to write a love story together that is as unique as it is wonderful, in the midst of circumstances that may vary from adverse to propitious. The most beautiful thing about this vocation from God is that He addresses the couple as a union, the “us” which we become, as well as each of us on our own. It is an extraordinary experience of marital love when the couple listen to this call and share it together.

In God's plan, all husbands and wives are called in marriage to holiness, and this lofty vocation is fulfilled to the extent that the human person is able to respond to God's command with serene confidence in God's grace and in his or her own will.

John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 22 November 1981, no. 34.

Commentary

A vocation or calling is a gift from God, which married people receive when they make their promises and which is sealed by the sacramental nature of their union. Both husband and wife must respond to this calling.

To respond, those concerned have to know that this calling exists. So it is very important for married people to perceive the vocational meaning of their lives. Responding to this call means trying to live marriage in a Christian spirit. It means living in the light of faith, hope and charity.