Celibacy Is a Particular
Response to the Love of the Divine Spouse
General Audience, April 28, 1982
1. "There are others who have made
themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven." This is
how Christ expressed himself in St. Matthew's Gospel (Mt 19:12).
It is natural for the human heart to accept demands, even difficult
ones, in the name of love for an ideal, and above all in the name of
love for a person. (By its very nature, love is directed toward a
person.) Therefore in that call to continence for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven, first the disciples themselves, and then the
whole living Tradition of the Church, will soon discover the love
that is referred to Christ himself as the Spouse of the Church, the
Spouse of souls. He has given himself to them to the very limit, in
the Paschal and Eucharistic mystery.
In this way, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, the
choice of virginity or celibacy for one's whole life, has become in
the experience of Christ's disciples and followers the act of a
particular response of love for the divine Spouse. Therefore it has
acquired the significance of an act of nuptial love, that is, a
nuptial giving of oneself for the purpose of reciprocating in a
particular way the nuptial love of the Redeemer. It is a giving of
oneself understood as renunciation, but made above all out of love.
2. In this way we obtained all the wealth of the meaning contained
in the very concise, but at the same time very profound, statement
of Christ about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
But now it is fitting that we direct our attention to the
significance that these words have for the theology of the body,
just as we tried to present and reconstruct the biblical foundations
for it "from the beginning." Christ referred to that biblical
"beginning" in his conversation with the Pharisees on the subject of
marriage, its unity and indissolubility (cf. Mt 19:3-9). He did this
shortly before addressing to his disciples the words about
continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:10-12).
This analysis of that "beginning" allows us to recall the profound
truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body in its masculinity
and femininity, as we deduced at that time from the analysis of the
first chapters of Genesis (especially from 2:23-25). It was in just
this way that it was necessary to formulate and specify what we find
in those ancient texts.
3. The modern mentality is accustomed to thinking and speaking about
the sexual instinct, transferring onto the level of human reality
what is proper to the world of living beings, of animals. Now deep
reflection on the concise text of the first and second chapters of
Genesis permits us to establish with certainty and conviction that
right from the beginning a very clear and univocal boundary is laid
down in the Bible between the world of animals (animalia) and the
man created in the image and likeness of God. In that text, though
relatively brief, there is nevertheless enough to demonstrate that
man has a clear awareness of what essentially distinguishes him from
all other living beings (animalia).
4. Therefore, it is not at all appropriate and adequate to apply to
man this substantially naturalistic category that is contained in
the concept and in the expression of sexual instinct. It is obvious
that such application can become the basis for a certain analogy. In
fact, the particular characteristic of man compared with the whole
world of living beings (animalia) is such that man, understood from
the viewpoint of species, can not even basically qualify as an
animal, but a rational animal. Therefore, despite this analogy,
applying the concept of sexual instinct to man—given the dual nature
in which he exists as male or female—nevertheless greatly limits,
and in a certain sense diminishes what is the very
masculinity-femininity in the personal dimension of human
subjectivity. It limits and diminishes even what for both of them,
man and woman, unite to become one flesh (cf. Gn 2:24). In order to
express this in an appropriate and adequate way, we must use also an
analysis different from the naturalistic one. It is precisely the
study of the biblical beginning that obliges us to do this
convincingly. The truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body
in its masculinity and femininity seems to be a key concept in this
area. It is deduced from the first chapters of Genesis (especially
from 2:23-25), that is, the discovery at the time of the nuptial
meaning of the body in the personal makeup of the subjectivity of
man and woman. At the same time it is the only appropriate and
adequate concept.
5. It is necessary to reread and understand Christ's words about
continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven precisely in
relation to this concept, to this truth about the nuptial meaning of
the human body. His words were spoken in the immediate context of
that reference to the beginning, on which he based his teaching
about the unity and indissolubility of marriage. At the basis of
Christ's call to continence there is not only the sexual instinct,
which is in the category, I would say, of a naturalistic necessity.
But there is also the consciousness of the freedom of the gift. This
is organically connected with the profound and mature knowledge of
the nuptial meaning of the body, in the total makeup of the personal
subjectivity of man and woman. Only in relation to such a meaning of
the masculinity and femininity of the human person does the call to
voluntary continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven find full
warranty and motivation. Only and exclusively in this perspective
did Christ say, "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it"
(Mt 19:12). With this, he indicated that such continence—although in
each case it is above all a gift—can be also received. That is, it
can be drawn and deduced from the concept that man has his own
psychosomatic "I" in its entirety, and especially the masculinity
and femininity of this "I" in the reciprocal relationship which is
as though by nature inscribed in every human subjectivity.
6. As we recall from the previous analyses, developed on the basis
of Genesis (cf. Gn 2:23-25), that reciprocal relationship of
masculinity and femininity, that reciprocal "for" of man and woman,
can be understood in an appropriate and adequate way only in the
overall dynamics of the personal subject. Christ's words in Matthew
(cf. 19:11-12) consequently show that this "for," present from the
beginning at the basis of marriage, can also be at the basis of
continence "for" the Kingdom of Heaven! Based on the same
disposition of the personal subject, thanks to which man fully
rediscovers himself through a sincere gift of himself (cf. Gaudium
et Spes 24), man (male and female) is capable of choosing the
personal gift of his very self. This is made to another person in a
conjugal pact in which they become "one flesh." He is also capable
of freely renouncing such a giving of himself to another person, so
that, choosing continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, he
can give himself totally to Christ. On the basis of the same
disposition of the personal subject and on the basis of the same
nuptial meaning of the being as a body, male or female, there can be
formed the love that commits man to marriage for the whole duration
of his life (cf. Mt 19:3-10). But there can also be formed the love
that commits man to a life of continence for the sake of the Kingdom
of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:11-12). Christ is speaking precisely about this
in his overall statement addressed to the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19:3-10)
and then to the disciples (cf. Mt 19:11-12).
7. It is evident that the choice of marriage, just as it was
instituted by the Creator from the beginning, supposes the learning
and the interior acceptance of the nuptial meaning of the body,
bound up with the masculinity and femininity of the human person. In
fact, this very thing is expressed concisely in the verses of
Genesis. In listening to Christ's words addressed to the disciples
about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt
19:11-12), we cannot think that this second kind of choice can be
made consciously and freely without reference to one's masculinity
or femininity and to that nuptial meaning which is proper to man
precisely in the masculinity or femininity of his being as a
personal subject. Furthermore, in the light of Christ's words, we
must admit that this second kind of choice, namely, continence for
the sake of the Kingdom of God, comes about also in relation to the
masculinity or femininity proper to the person who makes such a
choice. It comes about on the basis of full consciousness of that
nuptial meaning which masculinity and femininity contain in
themselves. If this choice should come about by way of some
artificial "prescinding" from this real wealth of every human
subject, it would not appropriately and adequately correspond to the
content of Christ's words in Matthew 19:11-12.
Here Christ explicitly required full understanding when he said, "He
who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:12).
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 3 May
1982, page 3
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