Discernment Partners

In thinking about the term "hot" again (there is a debate on the Crusade for Life discussion board over how to approach the term), I started thinking about how we need to fight the culture to establish the Church in the world. And one term that a few of my friends and I use is "discernment partner." We use it for those couples who are courting and discerning God's will in their lives and if they are called to marriage with one another. Essentially, they are discerning, together, their vocation to marriage.

In my opinion, this is a fantastic term. (I use it don't I?) At the heart of it is the idea to reestablish marriage as the valuable vocation that it is. So often, the world tells us that marriage is just two people being recognized by civil law as living together in some sort of unity. But, while that contains some truth, it is so far from the whole Truth.

Marriage is so much more. It is a vocation. The Church esteems marriage so much, that it has titled it a vocation along with the priesthood, religious life, and the single life. Each of these four vocations has its importance in the world and is valuable in its own way. Marriage is the heart of the little Church, the family. Without marriage, there is no family, there is no procreation, there is no unity of persons in which they act together working toward their eternal salvation so integrally. Ok, well, there can be children, and there can be a family, and people can work together for their salvation. But, it is not the same, and it is not as perfect as it could be in the context of marriage. Marriage orders all these things toward God, or it is supposed to.

The amazing gift given to the husband and wife through their consummation and through their conjugal union in creating a new life, along with God of course, is amazing. It is unique and should be cherished. Why wouldn't we want to uphold it and purify it in the world's eyes.

And with this idea comes a better understanding of what the preparation of marriage entails. Just as a seminarian is discerning God's will while he is in seminary, so too should a person who is engaged continue to discern God's plan for his or her life. And just as men need to discern if God wants them to enter the seminary, so too should man discern God's calling to the vocation of marriage. If you have found that person with whom you think God wants you to marry, then why not discern God's will in your life? Why not discern with that person if God wants the two of you to become one flesh through the holy sacrament of Matrimony?

Discernment partners...all geared toward God. Why use any other term?