In honor of the great Saint Joseph, I want to direct you to the posts wherein I talk about him. The articles may be found here, here, here, here and here and indirectly here.
Most of us do not realize the grandeur of Saint Joseph and the intensity of his faith and trust in God. If my theory is correct and God originally planned that we conceived children virginally as Mary and Joseph did, and if the test of virginity was the test of our first parents, then Joseph is more than the foster father of Jesus. If God had originally planned that parenthood was to be obtained via a deep union with Him and a profound trust in His provision, then Joseph would be a true father of Jesus. We usually don't say Joseph was the true father of Jesus because that implies, in the common way we use that word 'true,' that Jesus was conceived in the normal manner. Mary conceived from the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her, not from the generative powers of Joseph.
Fatherhood is more than physical generation. There are plenty of men walking around today that have physically generated children who have little or no resemblance to being a father. And on the other side of that reality, there are a great number of wonderful men and women who could not have children, and yet they sacrificed and brought children into their life through adoption; they are mothers and fathers in the full sense of the word. Parenthood has more to do with the care of children than with their generation.
In their trial of faith, Mary and Joseph trusted in God immensely; they desired children more than anyone has, and yet God asked them to remain virgins forever. That doesn't make sense, and yet they trusted in God's unintelligible request. The reward for crucifying their greatest earthly desire? They are entrusted with the Son of God as their very own child. In addition to that unimaginable gift, Mary is the mother of us all, and Joseph as the patron of the universal Church is the father of all. Trusting in God, they let the seed of children fall into the ground to die, and it has become the greatest of all plants bearing overabundant fruit. Their sacrifice has become their reward.
With all that being said, I think it can be said that in the true and full sense of fatherhood, Joseph is the human father of Jesus. Since Jesus was conceived through Mary and Joseph's unity as spouses and their unity to God in their trust of Him, they passed the original test of our first parents. They did what Adam and Eve did not, and as such, they did what God had originally intended man to do to become a parent. Fatherhood has to do with caring for children in that unique fatherly way together with union with God, and in that regard, no one has been more a father than Joseph was to Jesus.
On a side note, this is partly why priests are called father. They are united to God and have passed the test of virginity as Joseph did, and they care for God's flock, the children of God. Priests truly are fathers who daily lay down their life for the protection and care of their children. Priests also participate in the spiritual birth to the children of God when they baptize, and they cooperate in bringing the dead children back to life through the sacrament of Confession. It is commonly said that priests take the Church as their spouse, and some saints have said that they take Mary as their spouse. I think that is true. To priests: take Mary as your spouse and give your whole self to her as Saint Joseph did so that together in your complete trust in God you may bear abundant fruit, giving birth to Christ Himself once again and bearing Him to the world.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label Of Holy Virginity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Of Holy Virginity. Show all posts
3.15.2008
2.04.2008
"Live as Though You are Not Married"
I started my read through Saint Augustine’s “Of Holy Virginity” back in January, and this tonight is the fourth and final post on this work. In its concluding paragraphs, there are many wonderful quotes. Saint Augustine spends his remaining paragraphs encouraging virgins to be faithful to God and their virginity through their love of God and their humility and meekness of heart. In Sunday’s gospel reading today from Saint Matthew 5:5 it says: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.”
In paragraph 52, Saint Augustine says that virginity is guarded by love, and love’s home is humility: “Therefore there is none that guardeth the virginal good, save God Himself Who gave it: and God is Charity (1 John 4:8). The Guardian therefore of virginity is Charity: but the place of this Guardian is humility.” We all, therefore, need to learn from Jesus who said, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” With a humble heart, we can draw close to Jesus and learn from Him, Saint Augustine says, and in a holy humility, Jesus finds rest for His head.
In the next paragraph, 53, Saint Augustine continues to state the absolute necessity for humility and for not justifying oneself: “Let such among your number [of virgins] as persevere, afford to you an example: but let such as fall increase your fear. Love the one that ye may imitate it; mourn over the other, that ye be not puffed up. Do not ye establish your own righteousness; submit yourselves unto God Who justifies you. Pardon the sins of others, pray for your own: future sins shun by watching, past sins blot out by confessing.” We are to give ourselves to God and realize, if we stay free from certain sins, it is due to His grace and help. Therefore, we can love much because we have been forgiven much (either by confessing our sins or by being preserved from falling into the in the first place). We can also be merciful to those who do fall into sin and so pardon them.
Virgins, Saint Augustine says in paragraph 55, have given up marriage to a human person so that they can be married more fully to God. If this is true, then they should put all the energies one normally puts into loving one’s earthly spouse into loving their Divine Spouse: “If, therefore, ye despise marriages of sons of men, from which to beget sons of men, love ye with your whole heart Him, Who is fair of form above the sons of men; ye have leisure; your heart is free from marriage bonds. Gaze on the Beauty of your Lover: think of Him equal to the Father, made subject also to His Mother: ruling even in the heavens, and serving upon the earth: creating all things, created among all things. That very thing, which in Him the proud mock at, gaze on, how fair it is: with inward eyes gaze on the wounds of Him hanging, the scars of Him rising again, the blood of Him dying, the price of him that believes, the gain of Him that redeems. Consider of how great value these are, weigh them in the scales of Charity; and whatever of love ye had to expend upon your marriages, pay back to Him.” Since Jesus is a virgin’s primary and immediate Spouse, Saint Augustine says, virgins should love Him passionately, with all that they have and are.
In the second to last paragraph, 56, Saint Augustine repeats what he said in the previous paragraph and adds that it would be unlawful for a virgin not to wholly love Jesus: “If therefore ye should owe great love to husbands, Him, for Whose sake ye would not have husbands, how greatly ought ye to love? Let Him be fixed in your whole heart, Who for you was fixed on the Cross: let Him possess in your soul all that, whatever it be, that ye would not have occupied by marriage. It is not lawful for you to love little Him, for Whose sake ye have not loved even what were lawful. So loving Him Who is meek and lowly of heart, I have no fear for you of pride.”
Surely what Saint Augustine says of virgins is true: they are specially married to the Divine Spouse and are bound to love Him with their complete and entire self. Since all members of the Church are called to holiness and thus to deep prayer and intimacy with Jesus, all of us are also called to marry God. That is why He made us. A virgin has the opportunity for a special intimacy with Him, and he lives, to a certain extent, the life of heaven here on earth. Yet all people are called into a most intimate relationship with God. Marriage is a symbol of God’s relationship with humanity; in living in a committed and self-sacrificing marriage, one learns how to love and be loved and draws closer to God.
Our goal on this earth is heaven, where there is no marriage. There is no marriage among human persons there because we are all married to God in heaven. For those called to the vocation of marriage, it is the way God has called us to become holy and to love Him. Marriage is a God-given calling which sanctifies those who live it well and generously, as does any vocation. Earthly marriage will eventually pass away at the end of time, and it passes away for all of us who are married when our spouse dies. Earthly marriage, as our vocation, is the path to our heavenly, divine marriage with God. Human marriage is not the end point; it is our path to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
I think that is why Paul says a rather difficult sentence in his first letter to the Corinthians: “I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Paul is not saying that we should think little of marriage. He is saying that it is not the ultimate reality; the ultimate reality is our life in heaven and our marriage to the Divine Spouse. In a similar manner, sex, which the culture of death worships, is not the ultimate reality as good as it is; union with God is the ultimate reality. "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O God."
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
In paragraph 52, Saint Augustine says that virginity is guarded by love, and love’s home is humility: “Therefore there is none that guardeth the virginal good, save God Himself Who gave it: and God is Charity (1 John 4:8). The Guardian therefore of virginity is Charity: but the place of this Guardian is humility.” We all, therefore, need to learn from Jesus who said, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” With a humble heart, we can draw close to Jesus and learn from Him, Saint Augustine says, and in a holy humility, Jesus finds rest for His head.
In the next paragraph, 53, Saint Augustine continues to state the absolute necessity for humility and for not justifying oneself: “Let such among your number [of virgins] as persevere, afford to you an example: but let such as fall increase your fear. Love the one that ye may imitate it; mourn over the other, that ye be not puffed up. Do not ye establish your own righteousness; submit yourselves unto God Who justifies you. Pardon the sins of others, pray for your own: future sins shun by watching, past sins blot out by confessing.” We are to give ourselves to God and realize, if we stay free from certain sins, it is due to His grace and help. Therefore, we can love much because we have been forgiven much (either by confessing our sins or by being preserved from falling into the in the first place). We can also be merciful to those who do fall into sin and so pardon them.
Virgins, Saint Augustine says in paragraph 55, have given up marriage to a human person so that they can be married more fully to God. If this is true, then they should put all the energies one normally puts into loving one’s earthly spouse into loving their Divine Spouse: “If, therefore, ye despise marriages of sons of men, from which to beget sons of men, love ye with your whole heart Him, Who is fair of form above the sons of men; ye have leisure; your heart is free from marriage bonds. Gaze on the Beauty of your Lover: think of Him equal to the Father, made subject also to His Mother: ruling even in the heavens, and serving upon the earth: creating all things, created among all things. That very thing, which in Him the proud mock at, gaze on, how fair it is: with inward eyes gaze on the wounds of Him hanging, the scars of Him rising again, the blood of Him dying, the price of him that believes, the gain of Him that redeems. Consider of how great value these are, weigh them in the scales of Charity; and whatever of love ye had to expend upon your marriages, pay back to Him.” Since Jesus is a virgin’s primary and immediate Spouse, Saint Augustine says, virgins should love Him passionately, with all that they have and are.
In the second to last paragraph, 56, Saint Augustine repeats what he said in the previous paragraph and adds that it would be unlawful for a virgin not to wholly love Jesus: “If therefore ye should owe great love to husbands, Him, for Whose sake ye would not have husbands, how greatly ought ye to love? Let Him be fixed in your whole heart, Who for you was fixed on the Cross: let Him possess in your soul all that, whatever it be, that ye would not have occupied by marriage. It is not lawful for you to love little Him, for Whose sake ye have not loved even what were lawful. So loving Him Who is meek and lowly of heart, I have no fear for you of pride.”
Surely what Saint Augustine says of virgins is true: they are specially married to the Divine Spouse and are bound to love Him with their complete and entire self. Since all members of the Church are called to holiness and thus to deep prayer and intimacy with Jesus, all of us are also called to marry God. That is why He made us. A virgin has the opportunity for a special intimacy with Him, and he lives, to a certain extent, the life of heaven here on earth. Yet all people are called into a most intimate relationship with God. Marriage is a symbol of God’s relationship with humanity; in living in a committed and self-sacrificing marriage, one learns how to love and be loved and draws closer to God.
Our goal on this earth is heaven, where there is no marriage. There is no marriage among human persons there because we are all married to God in heaven. For those called to the vocation of marriage, it is the way God has called us to become holy and to love Him. Marriage is a God-given calling which sanctifies those who live it well and generously, as does any vocation. Earthly marriage will eventually pass away at the end of time, and it passes away for all of us who are married when our spouse dies. Earthly marriage, as our vocation, is the path to our heavenly, divine marriage with God. Human marriage is not the end point; it is our path to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
I think that is why Paul says a rather difficult sentence in his first letter to the Corinthians: “I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Paul is not saying that we should think little of marriage. He is saying that it is not the ultimate reality; the ultimate reality is our life in heaven and our marriage to the Divine Spouse. In a similar manner, sex, which the culture of death worships, is not the ultimate reality as good as it is; union with God is the ultimate reality. "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O God."
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
1.11.2008
The Heart Holds a Foretaste of Heaven
Not quite a week ago, I started writing a bit about Saint Augustine’s “Of Holy Virginity.” I have now read some more of it and will continue my reflections of it. As stated earlier, Saint Augustine spends the first section of his document on explaining that virginity is a higher calling and gift than marriage. In the middle, he spends a great deal of time talking about the need for virgins not to become, therefore, proud. He talks about Mary Magdalene and how she loves much because she was forgiven much; virgins need to thank God who kept them from falling into many sins, for apart from His divine help, they would, also, have taken that unhappy path.
In the course of this discussion on the need for humility, Saint Augustine mentions Saint Paul and says: “The Apostle says, ‘But I would that all men were as I myself; but each one hath his own proper gift from God; one in this way, and another in that way.’ Who therefore bestoweth these gifts? Who distributeth his own proper gifts unto each as He will? Forsooth God, with Whom there is not unrighteousness, and by this means with what equity He makes some in this way, and others in that way, for man to know is either impossible or altogether hard: but that with equity He maketh, it is not lawful to doubt. ‘What,’ therefore, ‘hast thou, which thou hast not received?’ And by what perversity dost thou less love Him, of Whom thou hast received more?” (#41). God makes different people for different purposes, and every good thing we have and are have been given to us by God. Those who have received much, those given the grace of virginity, should therefore love the more.
So if a virgin is not to be proud, “What therefore should a virgin do, what should she think, that she vaunt not herself above those, men or women, who have not this so great gift? For she ought not to feign humility, but to set it forth: for the feigning of humility is greater pride” (#44). Although virginity is a higher gift, how one lives virginity is an entirely different matter. To begin with, all God-given vocations are a gift from Him. Also, only God is able to judge how well and truly one lives his vocation, whether it be a high, medium or low calling by God. Whatever the greatness or lowness of the calling by God, each vocation is the very path God has called that one to reach heaven. Each path lived well and faithfully leads to deep union with God.
Several paragraphs later Saint Augustine continues the answer of what a virgin should think: “She hath, I say, a subject for thought, that she be not puffed up, that she rival not; forsooth that she so make profession that the virginal good is much greater and better than the married good, as that yet she know not whether this or that married woman be not already able to suffer for Christ, but herself as yet unable, and she herein spared, that her weakness is not put to the question by trial” (#47). Yes, virginity is objectively better than marriage, but they are both good and are pathways to holiness.
We cannot judge or compare ourselves with anyone for we do not know the heart; only God sees that. People with lower vocations may love God and be ready to witness to Him to the point of shedding their blood more than those with higher vocations. The hierarchal placement of the vocation tells us nothing about the holiness of the person. Residing in the heart is the love of God that is a foretaste of heaven, and we simply don’t have access to that knowledge. The best we can do on that front is to try to examine the fruit of that heart, but even that is often done poorly and partially. Thankfully, we have not been given the impossible task of judging another’s heart. God takes care of that for us. Our job is simply to love Him and our neighbor as our self.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
In the course of this discussion on the need for humility, Saint Augustine mentions Saint Paul and says: “The Apostle says, ‘But I would that all men were as I myself; but each one hath his own proper gift from God; one in this way, and another in that way.’ Who therefore bestoweth these gifts? Who distributeth his own proper gifts unto each as He will? Forsooth God, with Whom there is not unrighteousness, and by this means with what equity He makes some in this way, and others in that way, for man to know is either impossible or altogether hard: but that with equity He maketh, it is not lawful to doubt. ‘What,’ therefore, ‘hast thou, which thou hast not received?’ And by what perversity dost thou less love Him, of Whom thou hast received more?” (#41). God makes different people for different purposes, and every good thing we have and are have been given to us by God. Those who have received much, those given the grace of virginity, should therefore love the more.
So if a virgin is not to be proud, “What therefore should a virgin do, what should she think, that she vaunt not herself above those, men or women, who have not this so great gift? For she ought not to feign humility, but to set it forth: for the feigning of humility is greater pride” (#44). Although virginity is a higher gift, how one lives virginity is an entirely different matter. To begin with, all God-given vocations are a gift from Him. Also, only God is able to judge how well and truly one lives his vocation, whether it be a high, medium or low calling by God. Whatever the greatness or lowness of the calling by God, each vocation is the very path God has called that one to reach heaven. Each path lived well and faithfully leads to deep union with God.
Several paragraphs later Saint Augustine continues the answer of what a virgin should think: “She hath, I say, a subject for thought, that she be not puffed up, that she rival not; forsooth that she so make profession that the virginal good is much greater and better than the married good, as that yet she know not whether this or that married woman be not already able to suffer for Christ, but herself as yet unable, and she herein spared, that her weakness is not put to the question by trial” (#47). Yes, virginity is objectively better than marriage, but they are both good and are pathways to holiness.
We cannot judge or compare ourselves with anyone for we do not know the heart; only God sees that. People with lower vocations may love God and be ready to witness to Him to the point of shedding their blood more than those with higher vocations. The hierarchal placement of the vocation tells us nothing about the holiness of the person. Residing in the heart is the love of God that is a foretaste of heaven, and we simply don’t have access to that knowledge. The best we can do on that front is to try to examine the fruit of that heart, but even that is often done poorly and partially. Thankfully, we have not been given the impossible task of judging another’s heart. God takes care of that for us. Our job is simply to love Him and our neighbor as our self.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
1.06.2008
Marriage=Good;Marriage to God=Best
I have continued my reading of “Of Holy Virginity” by Saint Augustine. In paragraph eighteen he is talking to those who have made commitments to perpetual virginity that they see their path, as Saint Paul did, as higher than marriage, which is itself good. Marriage is good, and virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of God is better. In my words I say: Marriage to a human person is good, and marriage to God is the best.
“Wherefore I admonish both men and women who follow after perpetual continence and holy virginity, that they so set their own good before marriage, as that they judge not marriage an evil: and that they understand that it was in no way of deceit, but of plain truth that it was said by the Apostle, ‘Whoso gives in marriage does well; and whoso gives not in marriage, does better; and, if thou shalt have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not;’ and a little after, ‘But she wilt be more blessed, if she shall have continued so, according to my judgment.’ And, that the judgment should not be thought human, he adds, ‘But I think I also have the Spirit of God’.” (18)
In the next paragraph Saint Augustine combats the two extremes: one, to say marriage is bad, and two, that marriage and virginity for God are equal. “For whereas both are errors, either to equal marriage to holy virginity, or to condemn it: by fleeing from one another to excess, these two errors come into open collision, in that they have been unwilling to hold the mean of truth: whereby, both by sure reason and authority of holy Scriptures, we both discover that marriage is not a sin, and yet equal it not to the good either of virginal or even of widowed chastity. Some forsooth by aiming at virginity, have thought marriage hateful even as adultery: but others, by defending marriage, would have the excellence of perpetual continence to deserve nothing more than married chastity….” (19)
A bit further on, the saint again addresses virgins encouraging them to love God in their particular manner, to love God more: “Therefore go on, Saints of God, boys and girls, males and females, unmarried men, and women; go on and persevere unto the end. Praise more sweetly the Lord, Whom ye think on more richly: hope more happily in Him, Whom ye serve more instantly: love more ardently Him, whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lamps burning, wait for the Lord, when He cometh from the marriage. Ye shall bring unto the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye shall sing on your harps. Not surely such as the whole earth singeth, unto which it is said, ‘Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, the whole earth’: but such as no one shall be able to utter but you.” (27) The virgin should have a special love for God, a special love for the heavenly Bridegroom.
Where does that leave me, a married man who seeks to follow Christ? How can I perfectly follow one who was a virgin? “Therefore let the rest of the faithful, who have lost virginity, follow the Lamb, not whithersoever He shall have gone, but so far as ever they shall have been able. But they are able every where, save when He walks in the grace of virginity.” (28) I can follow Christ in all things save virginity; I have a beautiful song of praise I can sing for my Lord. The virgin has a different and better song of praise that only a virgin can sing, and I am happy that they have that special song of praise to offer God. We each offer our own songs as we each follow our own callings from God. We have an equality with each other as different parts of the body are all a part of one body; yet some parts are more exalted than others, and we need all the parts to make a body.
Paul says it well in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26: For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Everyone, married or virgin, is called to marriage with God. The virgin for the sake of the Kingdom lives that marriage to God in a particularly immediate way, but we are all called to that divine intimacy through deep prayer.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“Wherefore I admonish both men and women who follow after perpetual continence and holy virginity, that they so set their own good before marriage, as that they judge not marriage an evil: and that they understand that it was in no way of deceit, but of plain truth that it was said by the Apostle, ‘Whoso gives in marriage does well; and whoso gives not in marriage, does better; and, if thou shalt have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not;’ and a little after, ‘But she wilt be more blessed, if she shall have continued so, according to my judgment.’ And, that the judgment should not be thought human, he adds, ‘But I think I also have the Spirit of God’.” (18)
In the next paragraph Saint Augustine combats the two extremes: one, to say marriage is bad, and two, that marriage and virginity for God are equal. “For whereas both are errors, either to equal marriage to holy virginity, or to condemn it: by fleeing from one another to excess, these two errors come into open collision, in that they have been unwilling to hold the mean of truth: whereby, both by sure reason and authority of holy Scriptures, we both discover that marriage is not a sin, and yet equal it not to the good either of virginal or even of widowed chastity. Some forsooth by aiming at virginity, have thought marriage hateful even as adultery: but others, by defending marriage, would have the excellence of perpetual continence to deserve nothing more than married chastity….” (19)
A bit further on, the saint again addresses virgins encouraging them to love God in their particular manner, to love God more: “Therefore go on, Saints of God, boys and girls, males and females, unmarried men, and women; go on and persevere unto the end. Praise more sweetly the Lord, Whom ye think on more richly: hope more happily in Him, Whom ye serve more instantly: love more ardently Him, whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lamps burning, wait for the Lord, when He cometh from the marriage. Ye shall bring unto the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye shall sing on your harps. Not surely such as the whole earth singeth, unto which it is said, ‘Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, the whole earth’: but such as no one shall be able to utter but you.” (27) The virgin should have a special love for God, a special love for the heavenly Bridegroom.
Where does that leave me, a married man who seeks to follow Christ? How can I perfectly follow one who was a virgin? “Therefore let the rest of the faithful, who have lost virginity, follow the Lamb, not whithersoever He shall have gone, but so far as ever they shall have been able. But they are able every where, save when He walks in the grace of virginity.” (28) I can follow Christ in all things save virginity; I have a beautiful song of praise I can sing for my Lord. The virgin has a different and better song of praise that only a virgin can sing, and I am happy that they have that special song of praise to offer God. We each offer our own songs as we each follow our own callings from God. We have an equality with each other as different parts of the body are all a part of one body; yet some parts are more exalted than others, and we need all the parts to make a body.
Paul says it well in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26: For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Everyone, married or virgin, is called to marriage with God. The virgin for the sake of the Kingdom lives that marriage to God in a particularly immediate way, but we are all called to that divine intimacy through deep prayer.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Virginity = Fruitfulness = Marriage (to God)
I plan to spend more time in future entries looking at Early Church Fathers and Church documents. Tonight I spent some time reading Saint Augustine’s work called, “Of Holy Virginity” or “De Virginitate.” I read the first twelve paragraphs, and I found four selections worth sharing.
The first comes from paragraph two: “Mary bare the Head of This Body after the flesh, the Church bears the members of that Body after the Spirit. In both virginity hinders not fruitfulness: in both fruitfulness takes not away virginity.” Normally, we think of virginity as being synonymous with barrenness. But in Mary and in the Church, virginity is synonymous with fruitfulness. This ties together well with my main theory; it is also interesting to note that no one is a member of the Church through natural birth. Natural birth does not work and is not enough. We need to be born again. In baptism, we are born again and become a new creation as a child of the virgin mother the Church.
In paragraph four, Saint Augustine talks about how Mary had already made a vow of perpetual virginity before the Angel Gabriel appeared to her: “This is shown by the words which Mary spake in answer to the Angel announcing to her her conception; ‘How,’ saith she, ‘shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ Which assuredly she would not say, unless she had before vowed herself unto God as a virgin. But, because the habits of the Israelites as yet refused this, she was espoused to a just man, who would not take from her by violence, but rather guard against violent persons, what she had already vowed.” This ties in with my thoughts on Mary’s test.
Saint Augustine moves on in paragraph six to distinguish and compare marriage to virginity: “Forsooth both faithful women who are married, and virgins dedicated to God, by holy manners, and charity out of a pure heart, and good conscience, and faith unfeigned, because they do the will of the Father, are after a spiritual sense mothers of Christ. But they who in married life give birth to (children) after the flesh, give birth not to Christ, but to Adam, and therefore run, that their offspring having been dyed in His Sacraments, may become members of Christ, forasmuch as they know what they have given birth to.” In other words, anyone, a married woman or a virgin, who does the will of God is a mother to Christ. Married women, through natural generation, give birth only to a child who is not Christ but a son of man, so mothers run their child over to the Church to have their child be reborn as a child of God, as another Christ.
In paragraph twelve, Saint Augustine has a good paragraph on the distinction between marriage and the life of virginity. “Let marriages possess their own good, not that they beget sons, but that honestly, that lawfully, that modestly, that in a spirit of fellowship they beget them, and educate them, after they have been begotten, with cooperation, with wholesome teaching, and earnest purpose: in that they keep the faith of the couch one with another; in that they violate not the sacrament of wedlock. All these, however, are offices of human duty: but virginal chastity and freedom through pious continence from all sexual intercourse is the portion of Angels, and a practice, in corruptible flesh, of perpetual incorruption. To this let all fruitfulness of the flesh yield, all chastity of married life; the one is not in (man’s) power, the other is not in eternity; free choice hath not fruitfulness of the flesh, heaven hath not chastity of married life. Assuredly they will have something great beyond others in that common immortality, who have something already not of the flesh in the flesh.”
Marriage is very good, but virginity is the best, Saint Augustine is saying. Marriage is very good when children are well begotten and well raised and when the couple is faithful to the sacred marriage vows. However, marriage is of this world; there is no marriage in heaven. Virginity is possible through supernatural grace, is the portion of Angels, is the life of eternity, and will be greatly rewarded both on earth and in heaven.
The Church teaches that virginity is an objectively higher calling than marriage. Marriage is holy and good, yet virginity is better. Both are a vocation or calling. What matters to an individual is the question, “What is God calling me to?” God has different callings for different people; whatever He calls one to is the path He wants that one to take to get to heaven. Everyone is called to holiness and sanctity and to deep prayer. Marriage is a great and holy calling of God, and it is my personal path to holiness.
One last thought: marriage and virginity are essentially the same thing: they are both marriage. The first is marriage to another human person, and the second is marriage to God here on earth. There are of course many practical differences between the two, but at their essential core, they are of the same stuff. In the end, everyone in heaven will have no human person as a spouse, but we will all be married to God. God is asking you, “Will you marry me?” That is an invitation, no matter what your vocation, to deep communion with Him.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
The first comes from paragraph two: “Mary bare the Head of This Body after the flesh, the Church bears the members of that Body after the Spirit. In both virginity hinders not fruitfulness: in both fruitfulness takes not away virginity.” Normally, we think of virginity as being synonymous with barrenness. But in Mary and in the Church, virginity is synonymous with fruitfulness. This ties together well with my main theory; it is also interesting to note that no one is a member of the Church through natural birth. Natural birth does not work and is not enough. We need to be born again. In baptism, we are born again and become a new creation as a child of the virgin mother the Church.
In paragraph four, Saint Augustine talks about how Mary had already made a vow of perpetual virginity before the Angel Gabriel appeared to her: “This is shown by the words which Mary spake in answer to the Angel announcing to her her conception; ‘How,’ saith she, ‘shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ Which assuredly she would not say, unless she had before vowed herself unto God as a virgin. But, because the habits of the Israelites as yet refused this, she was espoused to a just man, who would not take from her by violence, but rather guard against violent persons, what she had already vowed.” This ties in with my thoughts on Mary’s test.
Saint Augustine moves on in paragraph six to distinguish and compare marriage to virginity: “Forsooth both faithful women who are married, and virgins dedicated to God, by holy manners, and charity out of a pure heart, and good conscience, and faith unfeigned, because they do the will of the Father, are after a spiritual sense mothers of Christ. But they who in married life give birth to (children) after the flesh, give birth not to Christ, but to Adam, and therefore run, that their offspring having been dyed in His Sacraments, may become members of Christ, forasmuch as they know what they have given birth to.” In other words, anyone, a married woman or a virgin, who does the will of God is a mother to Christ. Married women, through natural generation, give birth only to a child who is not Christ but a son of man, so mothers run their child over to the Church to have their child be reborn as a child of God, as another Christ.
In paragraph twelve, Saint Augustine has a good paragraph on the distinction between marriage and the life of virginity. “Let marriages possess their own good, not that they beget sons, but that honestly, that lawfully, that modestly, that in a spirit of fellowship they beget them, and educate them, after they have been begotten, with cooperation, with wholesome teaching, and earnest purpose: in that they keep the faith of the couch one with another; in that they violate not the sacrament of wedlock. All these, however, are offices of human duty: but virginal chastity and freedom through pious continence from all sexual intercourse is the portion of Angels, and a practice, in corruptible flesh, of perpetual incorruption. To this let all fruitfulness of the flesh yield, all chastity of married life; the one is not in (man’s) power, the other is not in eternity; free choice hath not fruitfulness of the flesh, heaven hath not chastity of married life. Assuredly they will have something great beyond others in that common immortality, who have something already not of the flesh in the flesh.”
Marriage is very good, but virginity is the best, Saint Augustine is saying. Marriage is very good when children are well begotten and well raised and when the couple is faithful to the sacred marriage vows. However, marriage is of this world; there is no marriage in heaven. Virginity is possible through supernatural grace, is the portion of Angels, is the life of eternity, and will be greatly rewarded both on earth and in heaven.
The Church teaches that virginity is an objectively higher calling than marriage. Marriage is holy and good, yet virginity is better. Both are a vocation or calling. What matters to an individual is the question, “What is God calling me to?” God has different callings for different people; whatever He calls one to is the path He wants that one to take to get to heaven. Everyone is called to holiness and sanctity and to deep prayer. Marriage is a great and holy calling of God, and it is my personal path to holiness.
One last thought: marriage and virginity are essentially the same thing: they are both marriage. The first is marriage to another human person, and the second is marriage to God here on earth. There are of course many practical differences between the two, but at their essential core, they are of the same stuff. In the end, everyone in heaven will have no human person as a spouse, but we will all be married to God. God is asking you, “Will you marry me?” That is an invitation, no matter what your vocation, to deep communion with Him.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
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