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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 5 MAY [1982]
At the general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, 5 May,
Pope John Paul II concluded his considerations on Christ's words
recommending continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
1. In answering the Pharisees' questions about marriage and its
indissolubility, Christ referred to the beginning, that is, to its
original institution on the part of the Creator. Since those with whom
he was speaking recalled the law of Moses, which provided for the
possibility of the so-called "decree of divorce," he answered, "Because
of the hardness of your hearts Moses permitted you to divorce your
wives, but it was not so from the beginning" (Mt 19:8).
After the conversation with the Pharisees, Christ's disciples addressed
the following words to him: "'If this is the case of a man with his
wife, it is not expedient to marry.' He answered them, 'Not all men can
receive this 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 19:10-12).
Understanding values
2. Christ's words undoubtedly allude to a conscious and voluntary
renunciation of marriage. This renunciation is possible only when one
admits an authentic knowledge of that value that is constituted by the
nuptial disposition of masculinity and femininity to marriage. In order
for man to be fully aware of what he is choosing (continence for the
sake of the kingdom), he must also be fully aware of what he is
renouncing. (It is a question here of the knowledge of the value in an
ideal sense; nevertheless this knowledge is after all realistic.) In
this way, Christ certainly demands a mature choice. The form in which
the call to continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is
expressed proves this without a doubt.
Renunciation is not enough
3. But a renunciation made with full awareness of the above-mentioned
value is not enough. In the light of Christ's words, and also in the
light of the whole authentic Christian Tradition, it is possible to
deduce that this renunciation is at the same time a particular form of
affirming that value from which the unmarried person consistently
abstains, following the evangelical counsel. This can seem paradoxical.
Nevertheless, it is known that many statements in the Gospel are
paradoxical, and those are often the most eloquent and profound.
Accepting such a meaning of the call to continence for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven, we draw a correct conclusion, holding that the
realization of this call serves also—and
in a particular way—to
confirm the nuptial meaning of the human body in its masculinity and
femininity. The renunciation of marriage for the kingdom of God at the
same time highlights that meaning in all its interior truth and personal
beauty. We can say that this renunciation on the part of individual
persons, men and women, in a certain sense is indispensable. This is so
that the nuptial meaning of the body can be more easily recognized in
all the ethos of human life and above all in the ethos of conjugal and
family life.
Aspects to consider
4. So, therefore, although continence for the sake of the kingdom of
heaven (virginity, celibacy) orients the life of persons who freely
choose it toward the exclusion of the common way of conjugal and family
life, nevertheless it is not without significance for this life, for its
style, its value and its evangelical authenticity. Let us not forget
that the only key to understanding the sacramentality of marriage is the
spousal love of Christ for the Church (cf. Eph 5:22-23): Christ, the Son
of the Virgin, who was himself a virgin, that is, a "eunuch for the sake
of the kingdom of heaven," in the most perfect meaning of the term. It
will be convenient for us to take up this point again at a later time.
5. At the end of these reflections there still remains a concrete
problem: In what way is this call formed in man, to whom the call to
continence for the sake of the kingdom has been given, on the basis of
the knowledge of the nuptial meaning of the body in its masculinity and
femininity, and further, as the fruit of such knowledge? In what way is
it formed, or rather transformed? This question is equally important,
both from the viewpoint of the theology of the body, and from the
viewpoint of the development of the human personality, which has a
personalistic and charismatic character at the same time. If we should
want to answer this question exhaustively—in
the measure of all the aspects and all the concrete problems that it
includes—it
would be necessary to make a study based on the relationship between
marriage and virginity and between marriage and celibacy. However this
would go beyond the limits of the present considerations.
Value in this life
6. Remaining within the sphere of Christ's words according to Matthew
(19:11-12), we must conclude our reflections with the following
affirmation. First, if continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven
undoubtedly signifies a renunciation, this renunciation is at the same
time an affirmation: an affirmation that arises from the discovery of
the gift, that is, at the same time from the discovery of a new
perspective of the personal realization of oneself "through a sincere
gift of oneself" (Gaudium et Spes 24). This discovery still lies
in a profound interior harmony with the significance of the nuptial
meaning of the body, bound "from the beginning" to the masculinity or
femininity of man as a personal subject. Second, although continence for
the sake of the kingdom of heaven is identified with the renunciation of
marriage, which in the life of a man and woman gives rise to the family,
in no way can one see in this a denial of the essential value of
marriage. On the contrary, continence serves indirectly to highlight
what is most lasting and most profoundly personal in the vocation to
marriage. It highlights that which in the dimensions of temporality (and
at the same time in the perspective of the other world) corresponds to
the dignity of the personal gift, bound to the nuptial meaning of the
body in its masculinity or femininity.
Capital significance
7. In this way, Christ's call to continence "for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven," rightly associated to the reference to the future
resurrection (cf. Mt 21:24-30; Mk 12:18-27; Lk 20:27-40), has a capital
significance not only for Christian ethos and spirituality, but also for
anthropology and for the whole theology of the body, which we discover
at its foundation. We remember that Christ, referring to the
resurrection of the body in the other world, said, according to the
version of the three synoptic Gospels, "When they rise from the
dead...they will neither marry nor be given in marriage..." (Mk 12:25).
These words, already analyzed, form part of our overall considerations
on the theology of the body and contribute to building up this theology.
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