So, Father, we are here on episode three of our vocations series.

How are you today?

I'm going to fine.

How about you, Andrew?

I am, I'm doing great.

It's, it's fallish here in Phoenix, ish.

Yeah, down into the mid-90s.

Yeah, exactly.

So the main question that we are going to be asking today is, is marriage

a vocation? So have I followed a God's plan for me, a vocation, because I'm now wearing

this ringfather? Well, it depends what we mean by vocation. If we mean a state of life willed by God for the salvation and sanctification of souls,

then yes, marriage is a vocation.

If we mean that there has to be some kind of special call, then no, marriage is not a vocation.

So it comes back to the, the ambiguity

of that, that word vocation, which causes a great deal of confusion. So it's good to try to

establish what we're talking about when we say vocation. So if we mean a state of life, then yes,

marriage is a state of life. And by a state of life, then yes, marriage is a state of life.

And by a state of life, we just mean a permanent condition of one's life that determines

one's principal role, duties, and the spiritual benefits received.

And then a state is something, by definition, stable. One is not free to give

it up once one has embraced it. So there are three states of life in the strict sense of that

term, the priesthood, the religious life, and marriage. We don't say that the single life

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