Module 1 – RS 5

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

a. Define vocation and commitment.

b. Cite the three different states of life.
c. Explain the differences of the three states of life.
d. Appreciate the nature and purpose of marriage in the Old Testament.

Introduction

Man is a responsible being who is expected to direct his own life. He, therefore, can make his own his
life more meaningful or remain indifferent to life and everything which surrounds him. The need for
meaning in our lives, the need for self- direction and the need for love seem to be stronger than our
need for life.

Every Christian is called to a common union, a universal call to holiness in whatever state of life he
invariably chooses: the married life, religious life or the single(unmarried) life. In the particular state of
life he chooses, the Christian accepts it as God’s plan for him. Thus, he carries out his mission of
promoting the kingdom of God, particularly in the building of small Cristian communities in whatever
state of life he is in.

Every Christian, whether bishop or housewife, student or business executive, has received from God
the universal call to love and the Christian mission which all Christians receive in baptism. Man responds
to this call differently in different states of life. However, our Lord, as revealed by Faith, made love the
one common denominator of all human life. Our happiness and our fulfillment as human beings and as
Christians will be assured in the end by how genuinely we love others as Christ love us.

All Christians, therefore, whether or married, single or religious should be aware of their task of
sharing in Christ’s ministry of the Word This is done in every word of love which Christians speak to one
another in whatever state of life they are in. When husbands and wives speak words of love to one
another, they are ministering to each other. A ministry of the Word also takes place when a student
talks to a less fortunate person and let him know that God loves him and cares for him. It is expressed in
a special way whenever a word of forgiveness or acceptance is spoken in situations marked by guilt or
hate. It is this kind of ministry that holds our lives together, for without it, we would be left isolated and
cut-off from one another. This ministry of the Word does not only pertain to the religious but also to
the married and the single Christian men and women.

CHRISTIAN VOCATION

Vocation is the recognition by an individual that a particular career ( mode of life ) corresponds to
God’s permissive will for him/her and is the life’s work in which he/she can gain his/her eternal
salvation.. To this extent, any career, even one that is disliked, can be a vocation, since one may have a
duty to do what one finds difficult.

A vocation means in particular, but not exclusively, a call to priesthood or the religious life. This
presumed where a person has the intellectual and moral qualities appropriate to such a state of life and
has chosen it for the right motives, and the Church is prepared to accept the services he/she would offer
in her and for her in this particular state.

By virtue of baptism, all people of God are baptized into the universal ministry of the Church, clergy
or laity. The clergy, however, has an additional ministry besides what was given them in baptism.

Every baptized person shares in the apostolate of the whole Church. In Karl Rahner’s words “By the
very nature of being a member of the mystical body of Christ, a baptized person is also an active
cooperator in the fulfillment of the Church’s mission and mandate.”

God is present and very much active in the life of every Christian. He has given everyone
innumerable opportunities for all Christians (single, married or religious) to exercise a full and effective
Christian ministry.

In our complex modern society, there are many areas where only laymen with specialized training in
these areas really know what is going on there, and where only they have the possibility of trying to
ensure that what is done in these areas will be directed to the fuller being of the people affected or will
not deprive people of their potentialities that make them fully human.

The priests and other religious have their own special ministries in addition to what they received in
baptism, but this does not mean that the lay people should not actively manifest their response to God’s
call. Every Christian has the obligation to respond or live-out his/her basic Christian vocation.

Part 1 - THE MARRIED STATE

“ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall

Cling to his wife, and the two shall be made one.” (Genesis)

MARRIAGE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The first two chapters of the Book of Genesis consist of two different accounts, each of which
contains its own revelation about the nature and purpose of marriage. The first account (Gen. 1:1-2,4a)
is commonly referred to as the Priestly account:

“ Then God said” “ Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. ..” God blessed them saying, “Be
fertile and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” – (Gen> 1 :26-31)

The second creation account: ( Gen.2:4b-25) is known as the Yahwist account. In this account we
were told nof a barren desert through which flows a river. On the shores of this river, God forms Adam
“out of the clay of the ground”(Gen.2:7) God then prepares a beautiful garden for Adam to inhabit and
cultivate. The text goes on to state: The Lord said: “ It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a
suitable partner for him.”

The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that He had taken from the man.
 “ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become
one body. The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.” (Gen.2:18, 21-25)

The two texts cited allow us to make observations about the Old Testament teaching on marriage.
The first account shows that the union of husband and wife is directly linked with the command to “ be
fertile and multiply.” In other words, the responsibility and privilege of having children in inseparable
from God’s plan in creating us male and female.

The Jews were sensitive to the central role that children play in married love (Ro.4:13;Sm.1:1-9). In
fact, children were considered toi be so basic to marriage that not having children was something of a
curse. ( I Sm:1:5-6; Nos: 9:11-14)

For the Jews, the woman’s dignity was closely linked to her ability to bear children. Furthermore, the
woman of the house held a singular honor in the home in her role as the primary teacher of the
children. (Proverbs 1:8 4:1; 6:20, 23:22-25)

THE LOVE BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

The strong emphasis placed by the Priestly account of creation on having children did not exclude the
importance of romantic love in marriage. As the Yahwist account makes clear, a husband and wife’s
sexual union is not solely for the purpose of begetting children. In fact, the second creation account
puts the union between husband and wife purely in the context of partners who cling to one another as
“ one body” who are naked and “yet feel no shame.”

Though somewhat subdued and in the background, this aspect of loving intimacy in marriage is
mentioned often in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, we find that Jacob worked for seven years
to marry Rachel instead of paying the traditional marriage dowry in money. We are told that the seven
years “ seemed to him like but a few days because of his love for her” ( Gen.29:20) The Book of
Deuteronomy states that when a young man married, he was to be free from all public duties for one
year following the wedding to allow him to “ be happy with his wife.”

In looking at both Priestly and Yahwist accounts, we see that both sexual union without openness to
children and parenthood without romantic love fall short of what God intends marriage to be. This
divine affirmation of romantic love and children provided the bases upon which the Jews recognized
the value and meaning of married love.

MARRIAGE SHARES IN THE HOLINESS OF CREATION

The revelation that all creation is given by God and proclaimed by Him to be good caused the Jews to
see the goodness and presence of God in the ordinary events of daily life. Both common activities as
talking with a friend, eating a meal, and going to sleep at night were seen to be holy events in which the
Jews experienced the goodness and nearness of God.

Similarly, marriage was seen to be holy. God himself created marriage “ in the beginning.” God
Himself decreed, “ It is not good for the man to be alone”( Gen 2:18 ). By the will of God, a man and a
woman are to live together as husband and wife. Marriage, being created by God, expresses and makes
present aspects of God’s love for us.
MARRIAGE SHARES IN THE MYSTERY OF EVIL

The Jews’ conviction of the basic goodness of marriage did not blind them to the many difficulties
and sorrows which are part of every marriage. For the Jews, this negative aspect of marriage find its
origin in the sin of our first parents, as revealed in chapters two and three of the Book of Genesis.

These chapters of Genesis tell us that marriage shares the effect of sin. This note of sadness or
difficulty in marriage, however, is immediately followed by the hope resulting from God’s promise that
the woman would crush the power of evil ( Gen 3:15)

It is in this hope, reinforced by the call of Abraham and the giving of the covenant to Moses, that the
Jewish couples found love and strength in the sometimes dark and tumultuous areas of married life.

Reference: The Bible

Exercise 1.

1. Define vocation and commitment.

2. Cite the three states of life. Describe each state.
3. How did the insistence upon the relationship of sexual intimacy and children help to foster and
protect the unity of the family life for the Old Testament Jews?
4. What attitudes in our society today do you feel are in opposition to this family-oriented attitude
toward sexual intimacy found in the Old Testament >
5. Do you personally agree that the dignity of a woman rests in her role as wife and mother ? Do
you think the wife should be the “heart of the home?” Explain.
6. In what ways would you add to or alter this notion of feminine dignity ?
7. Discuss whether or not you agree that the best thing a husband and wife can do for their
children is to deepen their love for each other.
8. List seven important events that occur in marriage.
9. List three of the ways that according to the Old Testament, original sin has affected marriage.
10. List five specific ways that each harmful act or attitude can be expressed in the lives of married
couples today.

Activity : Make a comic strip of the two different accounts in the Old Testament regarding the nature

and purpose of marriage.