SCL 9 | Marriage and Family | Prelims Lecture

The universal call to holiness: “Holy” -set apart

 Everyone who is baptized is called to a life of holiness (the common priesthood of the baptized)
 All the faithful of Christ are invited to strive for the holiness and perfection of their own proper state
 We were set apart since we were infant
 “We chose God”

THE CALL : is a response to an invitation

: is a call for this age

Systems of Relations
 Industrial Revolution
 “modernization” has an impact in social relations
 CREATOR CREATED
 Master Slave
 Landlord Tenant
 Capitalist Proletarian
 EQUITY- give based on need

The Call to Holiness

The Call To Be:
 A priestly people
o Leaven the world with gospel values
 A kingly people
o Serve others vis-à-vis survival of the fittest
 A prophetic people
o Speak the inconvenient truth
o John the Baptist was beheaded for the spoke the truth

 Be a thermostat (you regulate/influence) in a world of thermometer (you adjust).

The Call To Do:

 To protect life
 To defend family

 And to be sent on a mission is a call not only for the religious…

 The church is on mission and the church is mission too!
 Prayer is opening our heart and mind to God
 “We are all called to holiness”

Callings in Life:
 Consecrated Celibacy (Priesthood and the religious life)
 Single blessedness
 Married life

Preparing for Marriage

 Remote Preparation
 Proximate Preparation
 Immediate Preparation

A. Attaining psychological and social maturity

B. Embracing the gift of one’s sexuality
C. Learning to develop true friendships and genuine love for others or for a particular someone
D. Understanding the dynamics of marriage and family life
Importance of Maturity:
 Marriage will probably be one of the most serious partnerships that a person will enter
 As such, there is such a thing as marrying at the right time
 It requires maturity

“Love is like a tree” – the sacrament of waiting

Factors Affecting Maturity:

 Heredity/Family
o We inherit our basic personality traits, physical, emotional, intellectual qualities, strengths
and weaknesses.
o These form the basis or the seeds of the emerging distinctiveness in a person
o The fruit gives quality to the tree
 Environment
o We are constantly conditioned by the people around us.
o “It takes a village to raise a child.”
 Education
o Provides the opportunity to be inculcated with the right knowledge and influence that
contribute to the proper development of personality
 The Gift of Grace
o Sanctifying Grace is the gratuitous gift of God’s friendship with man.
o With our cooperation, we can be transformed so to become better persons.

Dimensions of a Mature Person:

 Physical Maturity
o Pituitary gland: functions to signal the significant changes in body of a male and female in
the process of maturity
o Female sex organ: an indicator that a girl has turned into a woman when she is already
capable of bearing a child
o Male sex organ: an indicator that a boy has already turned into a man when he is
 Emotional Maturity
o Ability to control feelings
o Acceptance of oneself
o Ability to face difficult situations calmly
o Ability to settle difference amicably
 Intellectual Maturity
o Being dependable
o Being orderly
o Being able to undergo present difficulty to achieve future goals
 Social Maturity
o Being able to resist group pressure
o Being able to admit you are wrong and can manage to say sorry
o Being able to keep promise
 Spiritual Maturity
o Being unselfish
o Being able to take time regularly to think about the meaning of life (… the unexamined life
is not worth living…)
o Setting goals that put faith in a greater power other than the self
 Intellectual