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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 28 APRIL
At the general audience on 28 April, the Holy Father
continued his series of talks on virginity and celibacy freely chosen 'for
the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven'.
1. "There are others who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of
the Kingdom of Heaven." This is how Christ expressed himself in St.
Matthew's Gospel (Mt 19:12).
It is natural for the human heart to accept demands, even difficult
ones, in the name of love for an ideal, and above all in the name of love
for a person. (By its very nature, love is directed toward a person.)
Therefore in that call to continence for the sake of the Kingdom of
Heaven, first the disciples themselves, and then the whole living
Tradition of the Church, will soon discover the love that is referred to
Christ himself as the Spouse of the Church, the Spouse of souls. He has
given himself to them to the very limit, in the Paschal and Eucharistic
mystery.
In this way, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, the
choice of virginity or celibacy for one's whole life, has become in the
experience of Christ's disciples and followers the act of a particular
response of love for the divine Spouse. Therefore it has acquired the
significance of an act of nuptial love, that is, a nuptial giving of
oneself for the purpose of reciprocating in a particular way the nuptial
love of the Redeemer. It is a giving of oneself understood as
renunciation, but made above all out of love.
2. In this way we obtained all the wealth of the meaning contained in
the very concise, but at the same time very profound, statement of Christ
about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. But now it is
fitting that we direct our attention to the significance that these words
have for the theology of the body, just as we tried to present and
reconstruct the biblical foundations for it "from the beginning." Christ
referred to that biblical "beginning" in his conversation with the
Pharisees on the subject of marriage, its unity and indissolubility (cf.
Mt 19:3-9). He did this shortly before addressing to his disciples the
words about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt
19:10-12). This analysis of that "beginning" allows us to recall the
profound truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body in its
masculinity and femininity, as we deduced at that time from the analysis
of the first chapters of Genesis (especially from 2:23-25). It was in just
this way that it was necessary to formulate and specify what we find in
those ancient texts.
3. The modern mentality is accustomed to thinking and speaking about
the sexual instinct, transferring onto the level of human reality what is
proper to the world of living beings, of animals. Now deep reflection on
the concise text of the first and second chapters of Genesis permits us to
establish with certainty and conviction that right from the beginning a
very clear and univocal boundary is laid down in the Bible between the
world of animals (animalia) and the man created in the image and
likeness of God. In that text, though relatively brief, there is
nevertheless enough to demonstrate that man has a clear awareness of what
essentially distinguishes him from all other living beings (animalia).
4. Therefore, it is not at all appropriate and adequate to apply to man
this substantially naturalistic category that is contained in the concept
and in the expression of sexual instinct. It is obvious that such
application can become the basis for a certain analogy. In fact, the
particular characteristic of man compared with the whole world of living
beings (animalia) is such that man, understood from the viewpoint
of species, can not even basically qualify as an animal, but a
rational animal. Therefore, despite this analogy, applying the concept
of sexual instinct to man—given
the dual nature in which he exists as male or female—nevertheless
greatly limits, and in a certain sense diminishes what is the very
masculinity-femininity in the personal dimension of human subjectivity. It
limits and diminishes even what for both of them, man and woman, unite to
become one flesh (cf. Gn 2:24). In order to express this in an appropriate
and adequate way, we must use also an analysis different from the
naturalistic one. It is precisely the study of the biblical beginning that
obliges us to do this convincingly. The truth about the nuptial meaning of
the human body in its masculinity and femininity seems to be a key concept
in this area. It is deduced from the first chapters of Genesis (especially
from 2:23-25), that is, the discovery at the time of the nuptial meaning
of the body in the personal makeup of the subjectivity of man and woman.
At the same time it is the only appropriate and adequate concept.
5. It is necessary to reread and understand Christ's words about
continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven precisely in relation to
this concept, to this truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body.
His words were spoken in the immediate context of that reference to the
beginning, on which he based his teaching about the unity and
indissolubility of marriage. At the basis of Christ's call to continence
there is not only the sexual instinct, which is in the category, I would
say, of a naturalistic necessity. But there is also the consciousness of
the freedom of the gift. This is organically connected with the profound
and mature knowledge of the nuptial meaning of the body, in the total
makeup of the personal subjectivity of man and woman. Only in relation to
such a meaning of the masculinity and femininity of the human person does
the call to voluntary continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven
find full warranty and motivation. Only and exclusively in this
perspective did Christ say, "He who is able to receive this, let him
receive it" (Mt 19:12). With this, he indicated that such continence—although
in each case it is above all a gift—can
be also received. That is, it can be drawn and deduced from the concept
that man has his own psychosomatic "I" in its entirety, and especially the
masculinity and femininity of this "I" in the reciprocal relationship
which is as though by nature inscribed in every human subjectivity.
6. As we recall from the previous analyses, developed on the basis of
Genesis (cf. Gn 2:23-25), that reciprocal relationship of masculinity and
femininity, that reciprocal "for" of man and woman, can be understood in
an appropriate and adequate way only in the overall dynamics of the
personal subject. Christ's words in Matthew (cf. 19:11-12) consequently
show that this "for," present from the beginning at the basis of marriage,
can also be at the basis of continence "for" the Kingdom of Heaven! Based
on the same disposition of the personal subject, thanks to which man fully
rediscovers himself through a sincere gift of himself (cf. Gaudium et
Spes 24), man (male and female) is capable of choosing the personal
gift of his very self. This is made to another person in a conjugal pact
in which they become "one flesh." He is also capable of freely renouncing
such a giving of himself to another person, so that, choosing continence
for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, he can give himself totally to
Christ. On the basis of the same disposition of the personal subject and
on the basis of the same nuptial meaning of the being as a body, male or
female, there can be formed the love that commits man to marriage for the
whole duration of his life (cf. Mt 19:3-10). But there can also be formed
the love that commits man to a life of continence for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:11-12). Christ is speaking precisely about
this in his overall statement addressed to the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19:3-10)
and then to the disciples (cf. Mt 19:11-12).
7. It is evident that the choice of marriage, just as it was instituted
by the Creator from the beginning, supposes the learning and the interior
acceptance of the nuptial meaning of the body, bound up with the
masculinity and femininity of the human person. In fact, this very thing
is expressed concisely in the verses of Genesis. In listening to Christ's
words addressed to the disciples about continence for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:11-12), we cannot think that this second kind
of choice can be made consciously and freely without reference to one's
masculinity or femininity and to that nuptial meaning which is proper to
man precisely in the masculinity or femininity of his being as a personal
subject. Furthermore, in the light of Christ's words, we must admit that
this second kind of choice, namely, continence for the sake of the Kingdom
of God, comes about also in relation to the masculinity or femininity
proper to the person who makes such a choice. It comes about on the basis
of full consciousness of that nuptial meaning which masculinity and
femininity contain in themselves. If this choice should come about by way
of some artificial "prescinding" from this real wealth of every human
subject, it would not appropriately and adequately correspond to the
content of Christ's words in Matthew 19:11-12.
Here Christ explicitly required full understanding when he said, "He
who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:12).
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