Spiritual Life
Marriage as a Path to Holiness
Family prayer · The common teaching of the Church on the lay state tradition
Living the married state as the actual road to sanctity for those called to it — the spouse and the children being not obstacles to holiness but its ordinary means, and the daily asceticism of common life being the school in which charity is learned.
Instructions
Take the state itself as the rule of life. Pray together daily, however briefly, and pray for each other by name; couples who cannot yet pray aloud together can begin by saying a Hail Mary side by side. Keep the sacraments together — Mass as a household on Sunday, confession at the same interval so that neither drifts. Practise the asceticism proper to this state, which is unglamorous and constant: patience with the same person across decades, the apology made before sleep, the interruption accepted, the chore done without being asked, the grievance not brought up again. Guard the marriage deliberately — a weekly hour alone together, complete honesty about money and about temptation, and no confidant closer than the spouse. Welcome children generously and take up their education in the faith, which the Church names the first duty of Christian parents. Renew the marriage vows on the anniversary and on the feast of the Holy Family. Practise hospitality and the works of mercy as a household rather than individually. And expect the sanctification to come through the other person, not around them: that is what the sacrament is for.
Background
Lumen Gentium's chapter on the universal call to holiness names married couples among those who follow their own path to sanctity; Amoris Laetitia devotes its ninth chapter to the spirituality of marriage and the family, and Familiaris Consortio to the mission of the Christian family.
Practice kind
Family
Tradition
The common teaching of the Church on the lay state
Frequency
A continuing state of life
Content subtype
family