Celibacy
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
“What is this?” (Mk 1:27). Jesus brings something new into the world, a presence and power that were not known before. It is a new authority that even demons obey; it is a new power that heals and restores all it touches.
After his resurrection, this newness continues in the Church through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It has a radical effect on his followers, whose lives are uprooted from the kingdom of the world and replanted in the Kingdom of God.
One of the important ways this new life is revealed is in the charism of celibacy, a choice to remain unmarried for the sake of the Kingdom. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul answers a list of questions sent to him by that church which he helped establish. They ask him whether, in light of the coming of the Lord now being awaited, it is preferable to remain single or married. St. Paul advises those who wish to marry to do so (1 Cor 7:1-2,25-26), but for those who are able it is commendable to remain single (7:7-8,26). St. Paul counsels the Christians to embrace this path wherever possible, as it allows the freedom to focus fully on the work of the Church, whereas the married are responsible for their homes and providing for their families:
“I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife” (1 Cor 7:32-33)
Celibacy as a deliberate choice makes little sense to the world. The newness of life in Christ makes it intelligible. But it is not only celibacy that is contradictory for the world, marriage itself is something new in Christianity. In addition to being the natural institution established by God when he made man “male and female,” marriage is now also a “Sacrament,” a sign of the covenant between Christ and the Church. For Christians, marriage belongs to Christ (and the Church) first, and to the couple secondarily as its stewards and ministers.
What has changed everything is Baptism. Earlier in this same letter, when explaining the meaning of sexual activity, St. Paul reminds them, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have received from God [in Baptism]. You are not your own; you were purchased, for a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20).
Baptism is the Christian’s initial “marriage,” because through Baptism we enter a covenant with God by means of vows, are given to Christ, and belong exclusively to him, even on the level of the body. Therefore, for a baptized Christian, the “single life” of consecrated virginity is actually the fundamental state, and those who commit themselves to lifelong celibacy are only extending in a permanent way what Baptism has already begun. For a baptized Christian, marriage to another person can only take place as a deepened expression of Baptismal consecration to Christ; i.e., only “in the Lord.”
Unlike the rest of the world, Christians have to undertake additional steps before getting married, in which the Church plays a discerning role and gives final approval. First, a Christian should “not be mismated with unbelievers” (2 Cor 6:14). Marriage is a mission of the Church for evangelizing and bringing children into the Kingdom of God, and a Christian should not marry someone who would undermine that fundamental mission.
Second, it must be established that the couple is free of other impediments that might preclude them marrying in the Lord. For instance, if either has a previous sacramental marriage bond, they are not free to marry. Getting divorced and remarrying would be the equivalent of adultery (Mt 19:9). Interestingly, St. Paul acknowledges that if a previous marriage was not rooted in Baptism, i.e. not sacramental because it was not between Christians, the new Christian is in fact free marry another (Christian) spouse (cf. 1 Cor 7:12-16).[1]
Third, the Church must be able to give her blessing to the marriage in order for it to be valid. Thus it is that Catholics are required (by Church law) to exchange their vows and celebrate the sacrament in a church before the altar,[2] with a church minister presiding and providing the Church’s blessing.[3] By means of these marital vows, the couple directs their baptismal vows[4] to a new mission which they will take up in his name. They lay down their lives as a sacrifice for God the Father. It is He who accepts them, joins them as one, and “ordains” them in the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission of His Son.
Marriage, then, is closely related to consecrated celibacy, in that both serve the mystery of Kingdom established by Jesus. In Mary and Joseph, the two states of life are gracefully joined: they were married for the sake of the Kingdom, but each of them was also celibate for the sake of the Kingdom. Priesthood and Religious life serve as a model for young people preparing for holy matrimony, since the preparation requires living a chaste single life. And Holy matrimony serves as a model for those entering priesthood and religious life, since it is the sacrificial love and service of parents that best models the kind of commitment the Church needs from her clergy and religious.
Unless one has met Jesus Christ, and been touched in some way by the newness of divinity that he brings into human life, none of this can really be grasped. Nor does the ongoing struggle with sin negate it. Instead, every obstacle or difficulty encountered becomes an opportunity for grace and redemption, a recommitment to the first call that began in baptism.
Last week we saw how the first disciples were willing to drop their nets and have their lives redefined from being “fishermen” to being “fishers of men.” We must all allow our lives (and our understanding of marriage and celibacy) to be redefined from that which belongs to us, to something belonging to Christ.
[1] This is known as the “Pauline Privilege”
[2] Bishops are extremely reluctant to give permission for a wedding to be celebrated in some setting outside a church.
[3] The solemn nuptial blessing, while an essential part of the sacramental ritual, is not actually the form of the Sacrament. It is rather the vows spoken by the couple which establishes the Sacrament of Matrimony.
[4] The Baptismal vows include a formal renunciation of Lordship of the devil, sin, and the dominion of evil; and a formal profession of faith and allegiance to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom of light.