ACCORDING TO St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, any debate on class distinctions is a waste of time: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many." [1Cor 12:13] The superiority of celibacy or marriage is a synthetic issue which makes for a rousing argument without meaning. What is important, however, is the corrective that St. Paul offers as a way of recalling the Corinthian Church to its unity of charisms.
ST. PAUL wrote to the Corinthians to quash their innovative renunciation of marriage, a fad which threatened the Church's welfare. As Greeks, they were fond of accomplished orators, open-ended debate and factions. In more than one instance, the Corinthian Christians preferred eloquence over substance to justify distracting innovations in the worshipping community.
WITNESS FOR INCLUSION
IN FIRST Corinthians chapters 7 and 9, the apostle treats of marriage and celibacy. He defends marriage but argues that he would spare the Church's members from worldly troubles in view of the present distress [1Cor 7:26-28] and the imminent appointed time of the parousia [cf. 1Cor 7:29]:
BUT THE married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. [1Cor 7:33-34]
The apostle defends celibacy by appealing to the freedom it offers him to labor in the vineyard of Christ. [cf. 1Cor 9:1] Paul's apostleship is not a witness against marriage but rather a determined witness for the inclusion of as many members in the Church as possible.
HIS APOSTLESHIP calls him to celibacy for the sake of preserving his ecclesial workmanship. Anything less than celibacy, writes Paul, places an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. [1Cor 9:12] Regarding marriage and the celibate life, the apostle argues that one should never be the measure of the other (cf. 1Cor 9); moreover, he defends his apostleship against the Corinthian accusation that celibacy is an undignified, amorphous state: "Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?" Paul declares, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more." [1Cor 9: 6,19]
IMAGING THE TRINITY
DR. JOYCE Little, former Professor of Theology (Scanlan Endowed Chair) at the University of St. Thomas University in Houston, argues that the relationship between a husband and wife is the one human relationship that most perfectly images the incomparable unity and harmony of the three divine relationships of the Holy Trinity. All sacramental marriages lived in fidelity to the sacrament image the Holy Trinity.
SO WHILE celibate priests more perfectly image Jesus the incarnate Christ, a husband and wife image the divine Trinitarian relationships of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The most enduring Christological sign finds its fulfillment in the eschaton (Gk. the day of the last things). Christ as divine groom weds his bride the Church: "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." [Rev 21:2]
CHARISMS OF RELATIONSHIP
ST. PAUL wisely judges--"And I think that I have the Spirit of God" [1Cor 7:40]--that a celibate person can more easily devote himself to God: "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit." [1Cor 7:32, 34] Nevertheless comparisons between celibacy and marriage are not subject to hierarchical categories but rather should be seen as charisms of relationships "inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills". [1Cor 12:11]
VOCATIONS ARE like spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit confers according to the Father's will: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." [1Cor 12:7] "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." [1Cor 12:26] And again, "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." [1Cor 14:33]
GIVING AND RECEIVING PRIESTLY VOCATION
NOW ST. Paul does identify prophecy--instruction, teaching, encouragement, consolation, commentary, moral exhortation and the like--as a superior gift. But he is adamant in saying that all members of the Church should possess this gift. [cf. 1Cor 14:24ff] Further, the celibate vocation arises first in the individual family of faith presided over by a Christian husband and wife devoted to fatherhood and motherhood.
THE CHRISTIAN family is the first church whose members and faith are anointed by the Spirit. Therefore no hint of rivalry can exist between the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony--from which the celibate vocation emerges--and the Sacrament of Holy Orders which receives and names the vocation. Both sacraments are nuptial in character; hence, they are not in conflict with one another sacramentally or theologically. Both sacraments kneel humbly before the Queen of the Seven Great Graces--the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
WHETHER ONE is married or celibate, he is called to a charism of missionary service. Both celibate and married members of the Church are commissioned by God as salt and leaven for the world. [cf. Mk 9:49-50; Lk 13:21] At the end, we will not be judged on the merits of what we are but rather on how well we served God and one another, thereby proving our love to be worthy of the Lord.
