I would like to begin today's talk reflecting on the lectionary selection for today from Paul's 1st Letter to the Corinthians.
"Brothers and sisters:In regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord,but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.So this is what I think best because of the present distress:that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation.Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.If you marry, however, you do not sin,nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries;but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life,and I would like to spare you that.I tell you, brothers, the time is running out.From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing,those buying as not owning,those using the world as not using it fully.For the world in its present form is passing away."
Now as vocation director, you may think that I would jump on this passage as showing the objective superiority of the religious life, since it entails the choice of chastity or celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of God, over the married life. Without a doubt, Paul does think this, since a promise of chastity or celibacy does have the effect of 'fast-forwarding' one's life toward the kingdom of heaven, toward things that will last forever. And since we are supposed to love the kingdom of heaven more than the kingdom of earth, St. Paul puts forth that if a man is free of a wife, he is not to look for one, but rather to see if he might be able to bring 'heaven' to earth by considering a pledge of chastity or celibacy, since in heaven man and women will neither be taken nor given in marriage, but will be married directly to God. So St. Paul does talk about the objective superiority of the celibate state over the married state, without saying that the latter is in any way sinful. St. Paul also appeals to something that will probably humor us a bit. He says that the celibate state may not simply be superior objectively, but also practically it may be a little bit easier. St. Paul says that he would like to spare his brothers the affliction that is attached to the married state. I have been told, now, by more than one father that the priesthood looks better the longer one is married. I have been told as well that if the Church really wants vocations to the priesthood, they should put married men in charge of the vocation office, or have prospective candidates for the seminary be a 'dad' for a day in order to show them that celibacy may not be such a big sacrifice afterall. Men give me this advice, of course, tongue in cheek, and they all very much enjoy their vocations as husbands and fathers, but there is a bit of truth in what these dads are saying, a truth that St. Paul also points out to us, that a young man should seriously consider giving his life to the Lord and to the Church through a promise of celibacy, for the world as we know it is passing away.
As vocation director, I am charged with creating a culture, and more specifically, a personal invitation, to all the young men of the diocese to at least consider what St. Paul is saying. In doing this, I am not taking anything away from the tremendous vocation of marriage, a vocation which is greatly needed in our Church and in our society, and a vocation that has been greatly exalted by the teaching of John Paul the great. John Paul has shown us and has helped us to think of marriage as a real participation in the eternal marriage of Christ to His Church, and a real imitation of how Jesus marries His Bride the Church in an eternally fruitful way through the Holy Eucharist. It is hard when I prepare couples for marriage not to be swept up in the tremendous amount of meaning that one can place within the sacrament of marriage. Whatever we can do to prepare our young people better to truly live this sacrament is an endeavor worthy of our prayers and support.
That being said, what St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians is no less true, just because we understand better in our Church today thanks to John Paul II what a great and holy sacrament marriage is. What St. Paul says remains true, and must be put forth to young men today in our Church, that one who marries the Church does better, not simply because He is choosing an easier life, but because of the great witness he can give that the world as we know it is passing away. A priest gives witness by his wearing black that this world with all of its blessings is not to be loved more than the kingdom of heaven, but that each person has a duty to seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given Him besides. That is the teaching of the beatitudes given by Jesus in the Gospel for today as well. Listen to what our Lord says to us today:
"Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said:“Blessed are you who are poor,for the Kingdom of God is yours.Blessed are you who are now hungry,for you will be satisfied.Blessed are you who are now weeping,for you will laugh.Blessed are you when people hate you,and when they exclude and insult you,and denounce your name as evilon account of the Son of Man.Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophetsin the same way.But woe to you who are rich,for you have received your consolation.But woe to you who are filled now,for you will be hungry.Woe to you who laugh now,for you will grieve and weep.Woe to you when all speak well of you,for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Jesus in giving us the beatitudes according to Luke is in no way, I think, telling us to hate the world, but is reminding us that if we love this world more than heaven, our present rejoicing will one day turn into mourning, rather than the opposite - having our temporary afflictions and redemptive suffering one day turn into great rejoicing. Jesus tells us there are two ways to live - being afraid of impending death or choosing something to die for, and He proposes the kingdom of heaven as that one thing worth dying for!
St. Paul reminds us today the wisdom of keeping death daily before our eyes, as St. Benedict tells us, or as the psalms say - Lord, make me know the shortness of our lives, that we may gain wisdom of heart." Many of you in this room remember when the United States had the draft for military service, and what is was like to considering giving your life to your country because it was demanded of you. But you know as well that being chosen to offer your life for a just cause was also a noble thing to do, and to lay down one's life in order that other may have freedom and life brings a deeper meaning to life than simply amassing the things of this world. Our young men today have it within them, we have to believe, this desire to love as Christ loves, to find something worth dying for, and to choose to give their lives so that other people may have the life, peace and happiness that Christ alone can bring to the world.
The unfortunate situation, of course, is that this message and invitation of sacrifice is not really getting through to our young people, at least in my humble opinion as your vocation director. When I look at facebook pages, I see lots of guys who are 'dating' girls, and this is not necessarily a bad thing, but I see very few guys willing to 'date' a vocation to the priesthood. The Mormons, for example, are very good at requiring their young people to go on mission for two years, but we as Catholics, while we may be getting slightly better at inviting young people to consider giving 2 years for formation or service, it is not something that we expect of them. Our Catholic young people suffer oftentimes from the lack of a spiritual game plan, and they suffer from the lack of expectations we place in front of them. We are getting better at inviting and putting out sound bytes about following Jesus closely, but I'm afraid we are still not that good at asking and expecting our young people to give years of service to the Lord and His Church. I see 95% of our young men dating girls, but way less than 1% of our Catholic young men dating a vocation to the priesthood, by giving the Lord a couple of years in the seminary, and giving the Lord the benefit of the doubt of calling them the way St. Paul encourages in today's reading.
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