Marriage and the State of Perfection
c
Pre-eminence of Virginity
32. This doctrine of the excellence of virginity and of celibacy and of their superiority over the married state was, as We have already said, revealed by our Divine Redeemer and by the Apostle of the Gentiles; so too, it was solemnly defined as a dogma of divine faith by the holy Council of Trent, and explained in the same way by all the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Finally, We and Our Predecessors have often expounded it and earnestly advocated it whenever occasion offered. But recent attacks on this traditional doctrine of the Church, the danger they constitute, and the harm they do to the souls of the faithful lead Us, in fulfillment of the duties of Our charge, to take up the matter once again in this Encyclical Letter, and to reprove these errors which are so often propounded under a specious appearance of truth.
33. First of all, it is against common sense, which the Church always holds in esteem, to consider the sexual instinct as the most important and the deepest of human tendencies, and to conclude from this that man cannot restrain it for his whole life without danger to his vital nervous system, and consequently without injuring the harmony of his personality.
34. As St. Thomas very rightly observes, the deepest natural instinct is the instinct of conservation [self-preservation]; the sexual instinct comes second. In addition, it is for the rational inclination, which is the distinguishing privilege of our nature, to regulate these fundamental instincts and by dominating to ennoble them.
35. It is, alas, true that the sin of Adam has caused a deep disturbance in our corporal faculties and our passions, so that they wish to gain control of the life of the senses and even of the spirit, obscuring our reason and weakening our will. But Christ’s grace is given us, especially by the sacraments, to help us to keep our bodies in subjection and to live by the spirit. The virtue of chastity does not mean that we are insensible to the urge of concupiscence, but that we subordinate it to reason and the law of grace, by striving wholeheartedly after what is noblest in human and Christian life.
36. In order to acquire this perfect mastery of the spirit over the senses, it is not enough to refrain from acts directly contrary to chastity, but it is necessary also generously to renounce anything that may offend this virtue nearly or remotely; at such a price will the soul be able to reign fully over the body and lead its spiritual life in peace and liberty. Who then does not see, in the light of Catholic principles, that perfect chastity and virginity, far from harming the normal unfolding of man or woman, on the contrary endow them with the highest moral nobility.
37. We have recently with sorrow censured the opinion of those who contend that marriage is the only means of assuring the natural development and perfection of the human personality. For there are those who maintain that the grace of the sacrament, conferred ex opere operato, renders the use of marriage so holy as to be a fitter instrument than virginity for uniting souls with God; for marriage is a sacrament, but not virginity. We denounce this doctrine as a dangerous error. Certainly, the sacrament grants the married couple the grace to accomplish holily the duties of their married state, and it strengthens the bonds of mutual affection that unite them; but the purpose of its institution was not to make the employment of marriage the means, most suitable in itself, for uniting the souls of the husband and wife with God by the bonds of charity.
42. Of course, it is not Our intention to deny that Catholic spouses, because of the example of their Christian life, can, wherever they live and whatever be their circumstances, produce rich and salutary fruits as a witness to their virtue…
Is There a Vocation to Marriage?
Vocation—calling—is a term which is used frequently in psychology to indicate one’s attraction to a special trade or state or career. Thus we hear that many artists were discouraged from pursue their vocation. In the supernatural order, the Bible mentions the vocation of Abraham whereby God called him to become the patriarch of the Jewish people. Next we hear of the vocation of the Gentiles to receive the Gospel. All men are called to faith and grace as God offers all men the means of salvation, which includes the vocation to heavenly glory.
When the term vocation is used for any profane way of life, it loses the specific sense of a divine calling, the predestination of someone to a holier way of life and consecration to God. Therefore, theologically speaking, it makes no sense to call married life a divine vocation as such since, on the contrary, it is the normal and common state of life.
Hence, the term vocation has traditionally been reserved to those who consecrate themselves in the religious or priestly life. St. Paul refers to this when he speaks to the Ephesians (4:11): “He [Christ] has established some apostles; others, prophets; others evangelists; others shepherds and doctors, for the edification of the Body of Christ.” This text, among others, reveals the role played by priestly or religious vocations in the organism of the Mystical Body. The priesthood, by teaching officially Christian doctrine, by administering the sacraments and exercising divine authority, perpetuates the role of the apostles. The religious orders, by their intense prayer life and asceticism, by the varied spiritual and corporeal works of mercy offered to souls, prolong in their own way the role of the infused charisms of old—the gift of prophecy, of healing, and of exhorting souls.
How Can Unmarried Persons Be Happy?
The lonely life is becoming a social phenomenon to contend with. In Paris, half the population lives alone. In all Western countries, the decline is steady year after year, and this includes divorcees. Married life, made for bringing up the next generation, is slowly but surely turning into an oddity in a world prevalent in bringing pleasure as if it were real happiness. Father de Chivré has interesting comments on this issue. —Editor’s note
Why not ask yourselves this evening if happiness, instead of depending on the nature of the situation, might not depend on the consent given to situations—consent: that appropriation of a given situation by the personality. This consent takes away none of the tragic consequences of the fact: the natural laws crucified in their most legitimate rights; sentiments repressed to the point of unbalance, neglected to the point of exasperation; stunted social life; humiliating situation as a left-by-the-wayside; tense family relations; inevitable physiological and psychological unbalance—so the best and most healthily objective doctors will all tell me.
“Well then,” you tell me, “are you saying it isn’t tragic to set off in life that way, frustrated from the outset, devalued in yourself and around yourself, denied in advance all the natural fulfillment of maternity or paternity?” And you are trying to tell me that the natural sufferings applied to those who are single are not just as present in marriage? Let me go through them: natural laws crucified in marriage by the so-human law of fidelity; sentiments neglected to the point of exasperation; social life stunted in many as regards intellectual and moral maturity: they have no time; tense family relations—need I say more?
There are activities, superior by their devotion and by their breadth, indispensable to the life of the community, which demand on behalf of the human personality a time to perfect and cultivate oneself, an independence of action to act and to accomplish, a capacity for renouncement in order to have authority and influence, impossible for a married woman to carry out and possible only in the single life.
Outlaw the single life in the country for a week and you will hear the outcry among the married! “So, now I’m the one who has to take care of the children—and Aunt Susie, what has she got to do?” Moreover, married people often take advantage, and sometimes shamefully, of the time and the generosity of the unmarried among their relations because they themselves have no thought for their own personality, or else they would develop it, like the poor single people, by their duty of state, rather than going “naturally” to the movies, tossing the kids in the arms of Aunt Susie.
Moreover, eliminate the single life and you eliminate countless networks of social support; invaluable apostolic activities; assistance and delightful smiles to hundreds of the sick and dying; phenomenal educations for thousands of children; social initiatives on which you yourselves rely very heavily; devotion indispensable to the life of charitable works, apostolates, and the eternal salvation of many. The human person in full activity immolates certain calls of nature, without a doubt. But, alas, how many married women and men have, on the contrary, renounced certain calls and certain rights of the human person?
The Post-Vatican Era
We have seen above some confusion on the understanding of the term vocation, and this was aired out at the time of the Council. Likewise, we hear about the priesthood of the laity, the priesthood of the People of God, and by now the ministerial priest is confused as to what is his specific role in the Church. He is the one presiding over the assembly on Sunday (Institutio Generalis of the Novus Ordo Missae, §7). Thanks to the modernist twist, instead of preaching God’s word with authority, his sermon is only the echo of the grassroots, expressing the mind of the flock which, responsibly, either accept or reject his statements.
Last year was called the Year of Evangelization and apostolate. We have here another confusion with the word apostle—sent on a mission—which has always applied to men acting as ambassadors duly authorized to preach the word of God. This was reserved to priests acting by the authority of their legitimate bishops who, in their turn, had received their mission directly from the Pope.
In the Vatican II decree on religious life, the ambiguity is also felt at every turn. The title Perfectae Caritatis is the only time in which the decree mentions perfection, and nowhere do we see the term sanctity or state of life. This absence was due to the fact that the Protestants had complained about this ‘discrimination’ between those who live a common life from those who are in a state of perfection and sanctity.
Another issue is the silence over the term vows. Where the Church used to speak of the three vows, now Vatican II speaks of the evangelical counsels. This may seem to be a mere battle of words, but it reveals something else. A vow is an act of religion which defines properly the religious, or as St. Thomas defines the religious state: a state of perfection because of the virtue of religion. This explains why the New Code substitutes the term “Institutes of Consecrated Life” for “Religious.”
Perhaps even more revealing of the change of mind is the twist given to the evangelical counsels. Where the vows were directing and tying the religious to the worship of God, the counsels now are seen as a development of the person: “Chastity is a good which contributes to the integral development of the personality”; poverty must be “a collective testimony.” “Religious obedience, far from diminishing the human person, leads it to maturity by increasing the liberty of the children of God.” On the other hand, authority becomes a service ordained to the respect of the person and not to the common good. Obedience is seen as a collaboration and group dynamic!
How could one reconcile the fact that religious, who by definition have left the world to apply themselves to things divine, should now adapt to the same world they ran away from? The truth of the matter is that, together with the loss of the virtue of religion, of the vows, of the state of perfection, other basic Christian truths have been silenced: the concept of personal sin, the need to repair for our sins by a sacrifice of propitiation. Was it not what Paul VI referred to in his message at the close of Vatican II: “We too, more than anyone, have the cult of man…”?
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