CONSECRATED TO THE LORD

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Co 7:32-35

Nowadays, mainly in the West, celibacy has been vilified and demonised as being abnormal and unnatural, as there is a glorification of sex and sexual pleasure, seen as a supreme value that one should look for and enjoy at all costs. However, looking at human history, we can discover that in many societies celibacy, mainly for religious motives, was highly respected.

In these modern times, many accuse the Church, specially the Catholic Church, of being anti-sex, blaming her for a negative and demeaning approach to the body and its functions. However, such an attitude, although found among some Christians, was never really Christian, but it derives from Gnosticism and Manichaeism, which, being widespread forms of religion in the first centuries of Christianity, left marks in some Christian thinkers. The idea that a human being is made up of two different entities - body and spirit, in which the spirit is trapped in the body, comes from Greek Philosophy, not from Biblical thinking. And then Manichaeism, following traditional Persian doctrine, demonised the body and everything that has to do with the body, which was created by the evil god.

In the Scriptures, we find that God created human beings, men and women, in his own image (Gn 1:27) and put  within their hearts a longing for each other. He is the one who took Eve to Adam, so that they may become one body (Gn 2:24). 

In Christian teaching, salvation implies the glorification of the body, in which our bodies will be like the glorified body of Jesus Christ: “He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory”. (Phil 3:21).

In Christian experience, which is expressed already in Paul’s personal experience, celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God comes as a disposition of freedom to commit oneself totally to the service of the Gospel (1 Co 7:32-35), without having to worry about pleasing anybody else.

Pope Francis has given the Church this year as the year of consecrated life, and in consecrated life, celibacy has a central place, both in Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Celibacy, lived in total faithfulness to the Lord, has a prophetic and eschatological dimension. It stands as a reminder and a warning. Its strangeness denounces the glorification of sex, and calls for its right place for the expression and strengthening of love in marriage. At the same time, it makes us aware that we live in a passing world, and must stand awake in readiness for the coming of the Lord.

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It is interesting to see how the Zambian traditional culture had deep insights about sex and its place in the community.

In traditional culture, sex is celebrated, and this celebration can be seen in dances, but  is mainly done in the initiation and marriage ceremonies. However, people are well aware that sex is not something to play with, because it has a sacred dimension, which demands the respect for its rules. Once we ignore the rules pertaining to sex, we bring trouble upon ourselves and the community we live in. That’s why, when the young children reach puberty, they are initiated into adulthood, being prepared for marriage and family life, which are essential for the survival of the community.

In this modern culture of ours, sexual life is seen as standing on its own, separated from family and community, causing a lot of personal and community traumas. Celibacy for the sake of the Gospel, lived in truthfulness and love, must sound as a call to people to question the way they live and the values that guide them.