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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 7 APRIL
At the general audience of 7 April, held in St Peter's
Square, the Holy Father continued his catechetical series on the value of
continence with the following discourse.
1. With our gaze fixed on Christ the Redeemer, let us now continue our
reflections on celibacy and virginity "for the kingdom of heaven",
according to the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt
19:10-12).
Man "alone" before God
In proclaiming continence for the kingdom of heaven, Christ fully
accepted all that the Creator wrought and instituted from the beginning.
Consequently, on the one hand, continence must demonstrate that in his
deepest being, man is not only "dual," but also (in this duality) "alone"
before God, with God. Nevertheless, on the other hand, what is an
invitation to solitude for God in the call to continence for the kingdom
of heaven at the same time respects both the "dual nature of mankind"
(that is, his masculinity and femininity), and the dimension of communion
of existence that is proper to the person. Whoever, in compliance with
Christ's words, correctly comprehends the call to continence for the
kingdom of heaven and responds to it, thereby preserves the integral truth
of his own humanity. He does this without losing along the way any of the
essential elements of the vocation of the person created in God's image
and likeness. This is important to the idea itself, or rather, to the idea
of continence, that is, for its objective content, which appears in
Christ's teachings as radically new. It is equally important to the
accomplishment of that ideal, in order for the actual decision made by man
or woman to live in celibacy or virginity for the kingdom of heaven (he
who "makes himself" a eunuch, to use Christ's words) to be fully sincere
in its motivation.
"Breaking away from"
2. From the context of the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:10-12),
it can be seen sufficiently clearly that here it is not a question of
diminishing the value of matrimony in favor of continence, nor of
lessening the value of one in comparison with the other. Instead, it is a
question of breaking away from, with full awareness, that which in man, by
the Creator's will, causes him to marry, and to move toward continence.
This reveals itself to the concrete man, masculine or feminine, as a call
and gift of particular eloquence and meaning for the kingdom of heaven.
Christ's words (cf. Mt 19:11-12) arise from the reality of man's
condition. With the same realism, they lead him out toward the call in
which, in a new way—even
though remaining "dual" by nature (that is, directed as man toward woman,
and as woman, toward man)—he
is capable of discovering in his solitude, which never ceases to be a
personal dimension of everyone's dual nature, a new and even fuller form
of intersubjective communion with others. This guidance of the call
explains explicitly the expression "for the kingdom of heaven." Indeed,
the achievement of this kingdom must be found along the line of the
authentic development of the image and likeness of God in its trinitarian
meaning, that is, precisely of communion. By choosing continence for the
kingdom of heaven, man has the knowledge of being able in that way to
fulfill himself differently and, in a certain way, more than through
matrimony, becoming a "true gift to others" (cf. Gaudium et Spes
24).
3. Through the words recorded in Matthew (Mt 19:11-12), Christ makes us
understand clearly that that going toward continence for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven is linked with a voluntary giving up of matrimony. In
that state, man and woman (according to the meaning the Creator gave to
their union "in the beginning") become gifts to one another through their
masculinity and femininity, also through their physical union. Continence
means a conscious and voluntary renouncement of that union and all that is
connected to it in the full meaning of life and human society. The man who
renounces matrimony also gives up procreation as the foundation of the
family, concessive renouncements and voluntary children. The words of
Christ to which we refer indicate without doubt this kind of renunciation,
although they do not go into detail. The way in which these words were
stated leads us to assume that Christ understood the importance of such a
sacrifice, and that he understood it not only in view of the opinions on
the subject prevailing in Jewish society at that time. He understood the
importance of this sacrifice also in relationship to the good which
matrimony and the family in themselves constitute due to their divine
institution. Therefore, through the way in which he stated the words he
made it understood that breaking away from the circle of the good that he
himself called "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," is connected with
a certain self-sacrifice. That break also becomes the beginning of
successive self-sacrifices that are indispensable if the first and
fundamental choice must be consistent in the breadth of one's entire
earthly life. Thanks only to such consistency, that choice is internally
reasonable and not contradictory.
Concupiscence remains
4. In this way, in the call to continence as Christ stated it—concisely
but at the same time precisely—the
outline and dynamism of the mystery of the redemption emerge, as has
previously been stated. It is the same profile under which Jesus, in his
Sermon on the Mount, pronounced the words about the need to guard against
concupiscence, against the desire that begins with "looking at" and
becomes at that very moment "adultery in the heart." Behind Matthew's
words, both in chapter 19 (verses 11-12) and in chapter 5 (verses 27-28),
the same anthropology and the same ethos are found. In the invitation to
voluntary continence for the kingdom of heaven, the prospects of this
ethos are enlarged upon. The anthropology of historical man is found in
the overall view of the words of the Sermon on the Mount. In the overall
view of the words on voluntary continence, essentially the same
anthropology remains. But it is illumined by the prospect of the kingdom
of heaven, in other words, of the future anthropology of the resurrection.
Nonetheless, along the path of this voluntary continence during earthly
life, the anthropology of the resurrection does not replace the
anthropology of historical man. In him the heritage of the threefold
concupiscence remains at the same time, the heritage of sin together with
the heritage of redemption. It remains in the one who must make the
decision about continence for the kingdom of heaven. He must put this
decision into effect, subjugating the sinfulness of his human nature to
the forces that spring from the mystery of the redemption of the body. He
must do so just as any other man does who has not made a similar decision
and whose way remains that of matrimony. The only difference is the type
of responsibility for the good chosen, just as the type of good chosen is
different.
Exceptional call
5. n his pronouncement, did Christ perhaps suggest the superiority of
continence for the kingdom of heaven to matrimony? Certainly, he said that
this is an exceptional vocation, not a common one. In addition he affirmed
that it is especially important and necessary to the kingdom of heaven. If
we understand superiority to matrimony in this sense, we must admit that
Christ set it out implicitly. However, he did not express it directly.
Only Paul will say of those who choose matrimony that they do "well."
About those who are willing to live in voluntary continence, he will say
that they do "better" (1 Cor 7:38).
6. That is also the opinion of the whole of Tradition, both doctrinal
and pastoral. The "superiority" of continence to matrimony in the
authentic Tradition of the Church never means disparagement of matrimony
or belittlement of its essential value. It does not even mean a shift,
even implicit, on the Manichean positions, or a support of ways of
evaluating or acting based on the Manichean understanding of the body and
sexuality, matrimony and procreation. The evangelical and authentically
Christian superiority of virginity and continence is dictated by the
motive of the kingdom of heaven. In Christ's words recorded in Matthew (Mt
19:11-12) we find a solid basis for admitting only this superiority, while
we do not find any basis whatever for any disparagement of matrimony
which, however, could have been present in the recognition of that
superiority.
We shall return to this problem during our next reflections.
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