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CELIBACY
AND HUMAN VALUES
50. As We said above,
99 the Church is not unaware that the choice of consecrated celibacy,
since it involves a series of hard renunciations which affect the very depths
of a man, presents also grave difficulties and problems to which the men of
today are particularly sensitive. In fact, it might seem that celibacy
conflicts with the solemn recognition of human values by the Church in the
recent Council. And yet more careful consideration reveals that this sacrifice
of the human love experienced by most men in family life and given up by the
priest for the love of Christ, is really a singular tribute paid to that great
love. For it is universally recognized that man has always offered to God that
which is worthy of both the giver and the receiver.
Grace
and Nature
51. Moreover, the Church
cannot and should not fail to realize that the choice of celibacy—provided that
it is made with human and Christian prudence and responsibility—is governed by
grace which, far from destroying or doing violences to nature, elevates it and
imparts to it supernatural powers and vigor. God, who has created and redeemed
man, knows what He can ask of him and gives him everything necessary to be able
to do what his Creator and Redeemer asks of him. St. Augustine, who had fully
and painfully experienced in himself the nature of man, exclaimed: "Grant
what You command, and command what You will.'' 100
52. A true knowledge of
the real difficulties of celibacy is very useful, even necessary, for the
priest, so that he may be fully aware of what his celibacy requires in order to
be genuine and beneficial. But with equal fidelity to the truth, these
difficulties must not be given greater value or weight than they actually have
in the human or religious sphere, or be declared impossible of solution.
Celibacy
Not Against Nature
53. Considering what
contemporary scholarly investigation has ascertained, it is not right to
continue repeating 101 that celibacy is against nature because it runs
counter to lawful physical, psychic and affective needs, or to claim that a
completely mature human personality demands fulfillment of these needs. Man,
created to God's image and likeness, 102 is not just flesh and blood;
the sexual instinct is not all that he has; man has also, and pre-eminently,
understanding, choice, freedom, and thanks to these powers he is, and must
remain, the chief work of creation; they give him mastery over his physical,
mental and emotional appetites.
54. The true, profound
reason for dedicated celibacy is, as We have said, the choice of a closer and
more complete relationship with the mystery of Christ and the Church for the
good of all mankind: in this choice there is no doubt that those highest human
values are able to find their fullest expression.
An
Exaltation of Man
55. The choice of celibacy
does not connote ignorance of or contempt for the sexual instinct and man's
capacity for giving himself in love. That would certainly do damage to his
physical and psychological balance. On the contrary, it demands clear
understanding, careful self-control and a wise elevation of the mind to higher
realities. In this way celibacy sets the whole man on a higher level and makes
an effective contribution to his perfection.
The
Development of Personality
56. We readily grant that
the natural and lawful desire a man has to love a woman and to raise a family
is renounced by the celibate in sacred orders; but it cannot be said that
marriage and the family are the only way for fully developing the human person.
In the priest's heart love is by no means extinct. His charity is drawn from
the purest source, 103 practiced in the imitation of God and Christ,
and is no less demanding and real than any other genuine love. 104 It
gives the priest a limitless horizon, deepens and gives breadth to his sense of
responsibility—a mark of mature personality—and inculcates in him, as a sign of
a higher and greater fatherhood, a generosity and refinement of heart 105
which offer a superlative enrichment.
The
Testimony of Total Dedication
57. All the People of God
must give testimony to the mystery of Christ and His kingdom, but this
witnessing does not take the same form for all. The Church leaves to her
married children the function of giving the necessary testimony of a genuinely
and fully Christian married and family life. She entrusts to her priests the
testimony of a life wholly dedicated to pondering and seeking the new and
delightful realities of God's kingdom.
If this means that the priest is without a
direct personal experience of married life, he nevertheless will be able
through his training, his ministry and the grace of his office, to gain even
deeper insights into every human yearning. This will allow him to meet problems
of this kind at their source and give solid support by his advice and
assistance to married persons and Christian families.106 For the
Christian family, the example of the priest who is living his life of celibacy
to the full will underscore the spiritual dimension of every love worthy of the
name, and his personal sacrifice will merit for the faithful united in the holy
bond of matrimony the grace of a true union.
The
Priest and Solitude
58. By reason of his
celibacy the priest is a man alone: that is true, but his solitude is not
meaningless emptiness because it is filled with God and the brimming riches of
His kingdom. Moreover, he has prepared himself for this solitude—which should
be an internal and external plenitude of charity—if he has chosen it with full
understanding, and not through any proud desire to be different from the rest
of men, or to withdraw himself from common responsibilities, or to alienate
himself from his brothers, or to show contempt for the world. Though set apart
from the world, the priest is not separated from the People of God, because he
has been "appointed to act on behalf of men," 107 since he is
"consecrated" completely to charity 108 and to the work for
which the Lord has chosen him. 109
The
Loneliness of Christ
59. At times loneliness
will weigh heavily on the priest, but he will not for that reason regret having
generously chosen it. Christ, too, in the most tragic hours of His life was
alone—abandoned by the very ones whom He had chosen as witnesses to, and
companions of, His life, and whom He had loved "to the end"
110—but He stated, "I am not alone, for the Father is with
me." 111 He who has chosen to belong completely to Christ will
find, above all, in intimacy with Him and in His grace, the power of spirit
necessary to banish sadness and regret and to triumph over discouragement. He
will not be lacking the protection of the Virgin Mother of .Jesus nor the
motherly solicitude of the Church, to whom he has given himself in service. He
will not be without the kindly care of his father in Christ, his bishop; nor
will the fraternal companionship of his fellow priests and the love of the
entire People of God, most fruitful of consolations, be lacking to him. And if
hostility, lack of confidence and the indifference of his fellow men make his
solitude quite painful, he will thus be able to share, with dramatic clarity,
the very experience of Christ, as an apostle who must not be "greater than
he who sent him," 112 as a friend admitted to the most painful and
most glorious secret of his divine Friend who has chosen him to bring forth the
mysterious fruit of life in his own life, which is only apparently one of
death. 113
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