Carol Luebering Reflects On Marriage As Holy Calling

Marriage seems to hold high favor in the view of God, who calls most people to travel through life side by side with a husband or wife,” writes Carol Luebering in her new book, Called to Marriage: Journeying Together Toward God (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001, ISBN (0-86716-389-5, paper, 88 pages, $6.95).  Luebering, married 45 years, examines how marriage brings couples closer to God.

Though human beings often see marriage as a means of fulfilling earthly longings, Carol Luebering shows us how union with a spouse helps fulfill spiritual longings as well, and, indeed, may bring people to communion with God.  In an introduction, six chapters and a postscript, she asks readers to look back with her to see how marriage has led them in this way. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection. The book is designed to help the reader reflect, alone or with a spouse, on “what God has already written across the map of your own married life.”

Luebering uses the examples of famous couples from Scripture—from Adam and Eve to Mary and Joseph, from Abraham and Sarah to Zebedee and “Mrs. Z.”— and the witness of everyday modern couples to illustrate the journey that is marriage.  In a warm, readable and often humorous style, Luebering explores such topics as falling in love, compatibility, family, forgiveness, the empty nest, divorce and death.

Called to Marriage is for anyone who wishes to examine how their marriage has brought them closer to God. Luebering writes, “This book is an invitation to look back over the route you and your spouse have covered so far and to discern how it has carried you toward God.  In each chapter, you will meet a biblical couple facing one of these crises. You will see how Scripture tells their story, and be invited to imagine their feelings and their struggle.”

Luebering emphasizes that marriage is a lifelong endeavor, not a one-day event. “What we didn't realize on our wedding day is that marriage is not just something God calls us to at one point in our lives. Rather, it is also the way God speaks to us, the way we come to know the One whose whispered ‘This one!’ set us on this road. The journey itself is the reechoing call, the way we discover who God is, how God is with us and for us. What we learn from the struggle to be faithful in good times and bad slowly carries us deeper and deeper into the divine heart.”

Carol Luebering is the author of many articles and books, including A Retreat With Job and Julian of Norwich: Trusting That All Will Be Well and four books in the Handing on the Faith series (St. Anthony Messenger Press).

Called to Marriage: Journeying Together Toward God and other resources about Christian living, love and marriage can be ordered from St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, OH 45210. To place an order, phone toll-free 1-800-488-0488; to request a review copy, call John Koize, ext. 130. Visit the St. Anthony Messenger Press Web site: www.AmericanCatholic.org.

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