“Oh, do you think you have a vocation, or do you think you’re being called to marriage?”

That is a familiar question I have heard way too many times. And my answer: yes, I do believe I have a vocation, and yes, I do believe I am called to marriage.

Oftentimes in the Catholic world falls into this segregating the vocation of religious life, and the vocation of marriage. At almost every Mass I attend, I hear the words, “And we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.”

Have I ever heard, “And we pray for the vocation to marriage”? Um, no.

Why is that? Because I think often the world and the Catholic church falls into the idea that since marriage is more common that religious vocations, then it doesn’t need our prayers.

The problem with that thinking is that marriage is a very important vocation, and one of the most important decision anyone can make in their lives. Because it is in the vocation of marriage that a man and woman come together to bring new life into the church. And with that new life comes more sons and daughters of the Church, who are raised to honor their God and to love their neighbor, and to be a faithful and true Catholic.

The vocation of marriage was the first vocation instituted by God through Adam and Eve. A man and woman were created by God for each other to be fruitful and multiply. And where did Our Lord’s first miracle ever occur? The Wedding at Cana. A wedding was the first time Our Lord revealed himself as savior of the world.

Because of our culture, we have a tendency to believe that marriage is not as holy a vocation, or as great a calling as religious life, or priesthood. But what a holy calling it is to bring new life into this world, made in the image and likeness of God, and to raise that child in the faith, and bring yet another soldier of Christ into the church.

We cannot stop praying for religious vocations, because there is an essential need for it as well. Heaven knows that in this time we need vocations to the priesthood and religious life more than ever before. But we cannot go on excluding marriage as a vocation. I would love to hear an intention that said, “We pray for all those called to the sacrament of marriage, that they listen to the voice of God and raise their children in the faith.”

This is what is needed in our culture of today. Now more than ever, we need good, holy families who are strong in the faith, and parents who are leading their children into this same strength of faith.