[nathan_compton]

Uh. Catholicism calls for you to love everyone to the point of torture and death. It is weird that you missed this message.

The Catholic line would be something like "God created marriage as a kind of metaphor for your relationship with all people, as a kind of easy arena where you can play out the kind of love that you should extend to the entire world."

Jesus, after all, did not die for a wife except in this very metaphorical sense. He died for sinners, lazy shits, prostitutes, tax collectors, etc, etc, etc. That is what the calling in Catholicism is.

[adamrezich]

Catholicism calls for one to commit to at least one Sacrament of Service: Holy Orders and/or Matrimony.

[nathan_compton]

So? That isn't even a necessary condition for being a good Catholic. It certainly isn't a sufficient one. The message is clear: a good person, from the point of view of Catholicism, is one willing to sacrifice everything, even in a gruesome fashion, for the lowliest person.

[adamrezich]

this is an enormous oversimplification of a complex system of beliefs.

[nathan_compton]

" Catholicism calls for one to commit to at least one Sacrament of Service: Holy Orders and/or Matrimony. "

And this isn't?

[adamrezich]

I listed one of many beliefs of the faith, whereas you claimed to boil the entire faith down to a single phrase—I'm having trouble understanding the supposed contradiction.

[nathan_compton]

There isn't any contradiction, per se, its just that observing that Catholicism says something about holy orders or marriage doesn't actually say anything about what Catholicism also says about relations outside of these sacraments, which is the question at hand here.

While it certainly is a gross summary, saying that Catholicism calls on people to sacrifice (everything, if necessary) for any person, is accurate and pertinent to the idea that it only suggests this for one's spouse. Being willing to sacrifice for your spouse is necessary but not sufficient to be an optimal catholic.

[mjh2539]

Consecrated life and holy matrimony are supererogatory.