What Teens Need to Know About Marriage

For the past 5 1/2 years I have been creating Called to be More. With such a monumental project, one might wonder where to begin. Even now, as I write the final semester of material, this is an ongoing question.

Recently, when writing the lesson about marriage within the semester, “Responding to the Call of Jesus Christ,” I was overwhelmed by all that could possibly be said. Marriage is a theme throughout the entire curriculum, so what had already been covered? How many more themes needed to be addressed?

And so I raised the questions to my co-workers: If a 12^th grader needs to know anything about marriage, what would it be? The answers were varied but helped to form the major themes of the lesson.

Before graduating high school, one should know that marriage reflects God’s love and is a participation in His love. He should be aware that marriage involves sacrifice and suffering, but that these experiences can bear fruit. He needs to know about the necessity of prayer and forgiveness.

In the early research stages for Called to be More, I thought through what an 18-year-old should know about the faith and their own identity. The litany of concepts and virtues grew. Now as the high school curriculum draws closer to completion, I pray that these ideas will be fruitful as young men and women throughout the country (and world) learn about Theology of the Body in their classrooms and in their families.