God created man in His image.
In the divine Image He created him.
Male and female He created them
(Gen 1:27)
Each human person is created in the image of God. Yet we are not identical, we are not merely parts of a whole. We are united in belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ, and yet each of us is a completely unique expression of the Infinite Love. With each person God creates, He shows His face to the world in a way He never has before, and never will again.
In baptism, each of us begins his journey toward the Triune God. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-39)
Seeking the Kingdom of God, all men are given a vocation. Yet all men in every “vocation” are called to Sacred Marriage. Marriage is the giving of oneself totally for the sake of another. Sacred Marriage is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity. Each of the several vocations is a unique manifestation of this mystery of Sacred Marriage. All fatherhood is an expression of the Eternal Father, all son-ship and brotherhood is in union with Christ, and a manýs spousal offering of himself reflects the mystery of the spousal relationship between the Holy Spirit and Our Lady. Priests are, by their ordination, married, in a very real way, to the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Religious brothers, by their vows, enter into a marriage with their community. Finally, there is Holy Matrimony.
“Since God created man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing Love with which God loves man.”
(CCC, 1604)
Thus all men are called to Sacred Marriage.
As we are men seeking the graces necessary for Sacred Marriage, we liken our state to that of a squire. A squire, while practicing the virtues of knighthood, is constantly preparing to undertake the journey of knighthood. In the same respect, we, as Squires of Sacred Marriage, are actively focused on preparing our hearts, minds, and souls for the Sacred Marriage God is preparing for us. We are determined to seek the wisdom and understanding, through a life of prayer, that will enable us to fulfill our manhood in our discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.
(CCC, 1601)
Adhering to the dignity of this sacrament, we, as a household, are discerning matrimony.
It must be understood that the discernment of this sacrament is intrinsically different from the discernment process associated with Holy Orders, or the postulancy period before entering religious life. These, our Brothers in Christ, know already the spouse whom they are preparing to wed. In our discernment of Holy Matrimony as Squires, we know not our spouse, but we prepare our hearts for our future marital knighthood. We trust completely that the Divine Providence will lead us, in His own good time, to our spouses. For as the archangel Raphael told Tobiah, “…do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the world existed—so do not worry.” (Tobit 7:18)
And when we do enter into this sacramental relationship with our destined spouse, we pray as Squires that we will lovingly heed the words of Ephesians 5:25-30.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church, and handed Himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of His body.
It may be revealed that, in fact, oneýs vocation is not the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. For this Squire, our household life is still a beneficial preparation for his particular Sacred Marriage. We are striving to live simply as Catholic Christian men. All men, regardless of their particular vocation, must have an intimate relationship with God. All men, regardless of their particular vocation, must learn to love others as they are loved by God. As Squires, we especially pray for the grace to truly love and respect all women as sisters in Christ. And all of us, whatever our Sacred Marriage, entrust our hearts to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Mother, trusting that she will lead us along our true paths to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, for the greater glory of God. Amen.
APPENDIX:
I found these notes at the end of an early draft:
Discerning Sacrament TOBIT 7:18 EPH 5:25, 32
One is not “discerning” marriage in the sense that Living Stones is discerning priesthood, until one finds the girl set apart before the world existed. In our preparation for the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, we are seeking to become true men, and thus this is a preparation for any sacred marriage, priesthood, religious life or matrimony. In the event that one of our brothers found a call to become a priest, they could lose nothing by remaining in our brotherhood, for we would all have the same ultimate goal—sacred marriage.
Wedding Feast at Cana. John 2:5
EPH 5:25-27
COL 3:21 Fathers be nice to kiddies.
1 PET 3:7 Honor your wives
MATT 7:9-11 What dad would give his kid a rock?
GEN 2:24 Man leaves father and mother, clings to wife.
MATT 22:30 No marriage
Some of these passages made it into the final version, some didn’t.
