Yesterday at the local bakery, while waiting for a loaf of
baguette, a woman approached me and asked where my wife was. She meant well and
was rather flustered, perhaps overly concerned with my apparent loneliness.
Very quietly, I told her “We clergymen don’t take wives. I am celibate.” My
verbiage left this woman rather confused! Poor dear, scratching at her hair,
she answered, “So then, what do you celebrate?”
Since my baguette was taking longer
than I expected, I figured to explain: “No madam, I said celibate, it means
that someone does not marry and chooses to remain chaste for their lifetime.” At
last, she understood. In horror, the poor dear cried out, “Oh, how
unfortunate!”
After I
received my baguette, while walking home, I realized that this woman’s attitude
resembled most everyone else’s. And when dinner was finished, I decided to
write something on this matter so others may be taught:
Do we not hear the Gospel and how Jesus passed the devious
tests of the Pharisees? While the Jews concerned themselves with earthly
things, who shall earn the wife of many deceased husbands, Our Lord drew
towards heavenly matters: “For when they
shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but
are as the angels in heaven (1)”. He
does speak here of earthly unions, saying death shall dissolve the marriage
bond… yet this does not dissolve the sanctity of marriage but beholds a new
reality. In eternity, our human souls become espoused to none but the Lord God
who crafted them. From His time in Eden,
God had crafted holy matrimony for the blessing of humanity made in His image.
He had sealed the marital bond with His charity and bestowed the gift of family,
generations beyond, who will glorify His name.
Yet
despite this great good, and let us declare it such great good, not all need
belong to a husband or wife in this earthly stay. Hear the apostle: “The
married man is anxious with pleasing his wife while a virgin is anxious with
pleasing the Lord.” Think ye of such holy examples who undertook this: Mary
Magdala who fled from impurity, John the Beloved, virgin and celibate, Joseph,
Father of Christ, who lived out of godly fear, in marital continence. John the Messiah’s
Forerunner and the prophet Jeremiah also pledged their flesh to God. This, the
burnt-offering of the Levites prefigures: all is consumed, the whole body
turned to ashes. Thus, Lord Jesus hath said: “He who loses his life shall gain
life.” Many deem it gravest misfortune to be made a eunuch or mutilated, yet
the one who who injures self for sake of the Kingdom is instead blessed, called
“As the angels in heaven.”
May we
say, “He that can take, let him take it
(2).” True oblation is never forced. Duty cannot selflessly give, thus the error
of the Pharisees who bound up sacrifice with law. The cross of Christ was never duty, no,
Calvary’s offering was always love. Likewise, the man who forgoes marriage and
creation of young does so from love. With a burning passion, he lays himself on
the altar of chastity, ever hoping to consummate that supernatural union in
heaven. In heaven, no marriage is known beside that with the Lord. A consecrated
soul alone becomes as the bride of Solomon, choice, whitened, a heady wine, a
hidden chord of sublime music, clad in gold, sweet as the lily, fair like the
dove. Know, every brother, who delights in psalms rather than children’s’
laughter, is full of God’s delight. Know, every sister who gives not suck, goes
out weeping yet returneth rejoicing, singing songs of joy. Know, every father
who belongs to none, raises up by word of the Gospel, numberless descendants!
Blessed are the barren trees of Our
Lord’s garden! By bowing down, they shed good seed and tend the saplings. They
go to the sheep, made food for life anew. By restraining the flesh, they show
us the angels. They mirror eternity, forever beloved and wedded to God, melded
like wax beneath a burning flame, to Love Itself.
(1)
Mark 12:25
(2)
Matthew 19:12
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