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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 10 MARCH
During the general audience in the Paul VI Hall on 10 March, the
Holy Father commenced a series of talks on the subject of virginity or
celibacy "for the kingdom of heaven".
1. Today we begin to reflect on virginity or celibacy for the kingdom
of heaven. The question of the call to an exclusive donation of self to
God in virginity and in celibacy thrusts its roots deep in the Gospel soil
of the theology of the body. To indicate the dimensions proper to it, one
must bear in mind Christ's words about the beginning, and also what he
said about the resurrection of the body. The observation, "When they rise
from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage" (Mk 12:25),
indicates that there is a condition of life without marriage. In that
condition, man, male and female, finds at the same time the fullness of
personal donation and of the intersubjective communion of persons, thanks
to the glorification of his entire psychosomatic being in the eternal
union with God. When the call to continence for the kingdom of heaven
finds an echo in the human soul, in the conditions of this temporal life,
that is, in the conditions in which persons usually "marry and are given
in marriage" (Lk 20:34), it is not difficult to perceive there a
particular sensitiveness of the human spirit. Already in the conditions of
the present temporal life this seems to anticipate what man will share in,
in the future resurrection.
Christ on divorce
2. However, Christ did not speak of this problem, of this particular
vocation, in the immediate context of his conversation with the Sadducees
(cf. Mt 22:23-30; Mk 12:18-25; Lk 20:27-36), when there was reference to
the resurrection of the body. Instead he had already spoken of it in the
context of his conversation with the Pharisees on marriage and on the
grounds of indissolubility, as if it were a continuation of that
conversation (cf. Mt 19:3-9). His concluding words concern the so-called
certificate of divorce permitted by Moses in some cases. Christ said, "For
your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from
the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife,
except in the case of concubinage, and marries another, commits adultery"
(Mt 19:8-9). Then the disciples who—as
can be deduced from the context—were
listening attentively to the conversation and especially to the final
words spoken by Jesus, said to him: "If such is the case of a man with his
wife, it is not expedient to marry" (Mt 19:10). Christ gave the following
reply: "Not all men can receive the precept, but only those to whom it is
given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are
eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is
able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:11-12).
Christ's words on voluntary continence
3. In regard to this conversation recorded by Matthew one could ask the
question: what did the disciples think when, after hearing Jesus' reply to
the Pharisees, they remarked: "If such is the case of a man with his wife,
it is not expedient to marry"? Christ considered it an opportune occasion
to speak to them about voluntary continence for the kingdom of heaven. In
saying this, he did not directly take a position in regard to what the
disciples said, nor did he remain in the line of their reasoning.(1) Hence
he did not reply: "It is expedient to marry" or "It is not expedient to
marry." The question of continence for the kingdom of heaven is not set in
opposition to marriage, nor is it based on a negative judgment in regard
to its importance. After all, speaking previously about the
indissolubility of marriage, Christ had referred to the beginning, that
is, to the mystery of creation, thereby indicating the first and
fundamental source of its value. Consequently, to reply to the disciples'
question, or rather, to clarify the problem placed by them, Christ
recurred to another principle. Those who in life choose continence for the
kingdom of heaven do so, not because it is inexpedient to marry or because
of a supposed negative value of marriage, but in view of the particular
value connected with this choice and which must be discovered and welcomed
personally as one's own vocation. For that reason Christ said: "He who is
able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:12). But immediately
beforehand he said: "Not all men can receive this precept, but only those
to whom it is given" (Mt 19:11).
Grace needed to accept continence
4. As can be seen, in his reply to the disciples' problem, Christ
stated clearly a rule for the understanding of his words. In the Church's
doctrine the conviction exists that these words do not express a command
by which all are bound, but a counsel which concerns only some persons(2)—those
precisely who are able "to receive it." Those able "to receive it"
are those "to whom it has been given." The words quoted clearly indicate
the importance of the personal choice and also the importance of the
particular grace, that is, of the gift which man receives to make such a
choice. It may be said that the choice of continence for the kingdom of
heaven is a charismatic orientation toward that eschatological state in
which men "neither marry nor are given in marriage." However, there is an
essential difference between man's state in the resurrection of the body
and the voluntary choice of continence for the kingdom of heaven in the
earthly life and in the historical state of man fallen and redeemed. The
eschatological absence of marriage will be a state, that is, the proper
and fundamental mode of existence of human beings, men and women, in their
glorified bodies. Continence for the kingdom of heaven, as the fruit of a
charismatic choice, is an exception in respect to the other stage, namely,
that state in which man "from the beginning" became and remains a
participant during the course of his whole earthly existence.
Continence is exceptional
5. It is very significant that Christ did not directly link his words
on continence for the kingdom of heaven with his foretelling of the "other
world" in which "they will neither marry nor be given in marriage" (Mk
12:25). However, as we already said, his words are found in the
prolongation of the conversation with the Pharisees in which Jesus
referred to the beginning. He was indicating the institution of marriage
on the part of the Creator, and recalling its indissoluble character
which, in God's plan, corresponds to the conjugal unity of man and woman.
The counsel and therefore the charismatic choice of continence for the
kingdom of heaven are linked, in Christ's words, with the highest
recognition of the historical order of human existence relative to the
soul and body. On the basis of the immediate context of the words on
continence for the kingdom of heaven in man's earthly life, one must see
in the vocation to such continence a kind of exception to what is rather a
general rule of this life. Christ indicates this especially. That such an
exception contains within itself the anticipation of the eschatological
life without marriage and proper to the "other world" (that is, of the
final stage of the "kingdom of heaven"), is not directly spoken of here by
Christ. It is a question indeed, not of continence in the kingdom
of heaven, but of continence for the kingdom of heaven. The idea of
virginity or of celibacy as an anticipation and eschatological sign(3)
derives from the association of the words spoken here with those which
Jesus uttered on another occasion, in the conversation with the Sadducees,
when he proclaimed the future resurrection of the body.
We shall resume this theme in the course of the following Wednesday
reflections.
NOTES
1. On the more detailed problems of the exegesis of this passage, see
for example: L. Sabourin, II Vangelo di Matteo, Teologia e Esegesi,
Vol. II (Roma: Ed. Paoline, 1977), pp. 834-836; "The Positive Values of
Consecrated Celibacy," The Way, Supplement 10, summer 1970, p. 51;
J. Blinzler, "Eisin eunuchoi, Zur Auslegung von Mt 19:12," Zeitschrift für
die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 48 (1957) 268ff.
2. "Likewise, the holiness of the Church is fostered in a special way
by the observance of the counsels proposed in the Gospel by Our Lord to
his disciples. An eminent position among these is held by virginity or the
celibate state. This is a precious gift of divine grace given by the
Father to certain souls (cf. Mt 19:11; 1 Cor 7:7), whereby they may devote
themselves to God alone the more easily, due to an undivided heart" (Lumen
Gentium 42).
3. Cf. Lumen Gentium 44; Perfectae Caritatis 12.
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