(A TALK GIVEN BY Fr. Stany Antony OMI for the monthly day of Recollection for the Diocesan Priests of the Anuradhapura Diocese on the 30th of July 2012)
The Celebate life implies a radical following of Jesus giving up everything for the sake of Jesus and for His kingdom ( Lk 9: 61) It is a call to a kenotic- life experiencing a continuos ‘metanoia’ in following the master. It is a life long journey to enter His kingom through a narrow way. It is giving up all worldly attachments and taking the risk of being insecure and in a way a plunge into the unknown ( Lk 9: 57-62). Celibacy today is understood very much as a unique way of loving. This is an important perception. It is not giving up marriage but a postive choice of the single state for the sake God’s Kingdom in reponse to our Master’s call. It is therefore, not a negative state of life.
What are the Challenges today for a genuine celebate life? –Materialism and Consumeristic culture, rampant unbridled Sexuality, Relativism
What is our response as priests to this hopeless situation?
Blessed Pope John Paul: He maintained that celebacy makes one free to serve the Lord with an undivided heart and that is impossible for those in married state though he never compared married state with celebacy. — We have to give hope to the world by our celebate life and it needs a powerful witness value of alife of total dedication and commitment to our Lord. The choice we make of celibacy is because we see it as a response to God’s call, in a way we do not choose celebacy. It is God who asks us to embrace this way of life for His sake and for His kingdom.
In“Pastores Dabo Vobis” late Pope John Paul says: We need an affective maturity which is prudent, able to renounce anything that is detrimental to the charism of celebacy, vigilant over both body and spirit and capable of esteem and respect in inter-personal relationships between men and women. PDV 40:” The whole work of priestly formation would be deprived of its necessary foundation if it lacked a suitable human formation”.
St. John of the Cross speaks about the three “enemies” of human formation, the world, the flesh and the devil. In our today’s context, we are faced with moral relativism. Sexually destructive and often complsive behaviours such as cyber -sex pornorgraphy and sexual perversions, celebacy is no mre a luxury but a challenging commitment to our vocation. But Jesus has assured his continuos ever loving presence to us (Mt 28 20) . Though we are vessels of clay. We are called to be a witnesses of His presence giving hope to the world that God is with us.