Section 2
NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
Seek the Lord
In the section “Looking for Something” we discussed the search for “something more” that can lead to discovering God. In this section we are looking at a different group of searchers, namely, those who already have some knowledge of God who are crying out to Him, reaching to Him for help.
Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
For those who seek Him in faith, there is a promise from God:
“Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
Further, the LORD exhorts us to seek Him:
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me, that you may live” (Amos 5:4 NAB).
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain salvation upon you (Hosea 10:12).
All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!. . . . Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant“ (Isaiah 55:1,3 NAB).
We see from the following quote that sincere seeking carries with it a willingness to reform one’s life:
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving (Isaiah 55:6-7 NAB).
We can almost taste the passion of God as He continually invites us, even begs us, to come to Him:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).
Those who seek after the LORD have cause for rejoicing:
May all who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; may those who love thy salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD” (Psalm 40:16).
Fear the Lord
No one who has had an encounter with the living God is ever the same afterwards. The awesomeness of God’s presence brings new light; we see more truly who we are, and more truly who God is. We have a new eagerness to please Him.
Peter had just such an overwhelming experience of God’s power when he and his companions made the great catch of fish at Jesus’ command:
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken (Luke 5:8-9).
Sometimes the profound goodness of God’s blessings sinks in and we are filled with wonder:
My covenant with him was one of life and peace; fear I put in him, and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name (Malachi 2:5 NAB).
The Scriptures speak of the many benefits God gives to those who fear Him. Salvation is primary among these:
He fulfills the desire of all who fear him, he also hears their cry, and saves them (Psalm 145:19).
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death (Proverbs 14:27).
One who has no fear of the LORD has no real knowledge of Him, has never encountered Him, and therefore cannot be saved by Him. Fear of the LORD is a sign that we are capable of receiving salvation:
Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation (Acts 13:26).
To the extent that we tremble before God’s presence, to that extent we are in touch with reality. A healthy fear of the LORD inclines us to obey Him:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
Even Jesus held God in fear, and this led to His own salvation:
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear (Hebrews 5:7).
Fear of the Lord comes from realizing exactly Who He is; profound worship is our natural and immediate response:
Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Jesus does not want us to live in fear. The only exception to this is a healthy fear of God. This is not fear that God is looking for an excuse to smash us (because if God is looking for any excuse for us, it is an excuse to have mercy on us), but awe and reverence, being overwhelmed by Love.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:4-5).
Worship the LORD
Fear of the Lord leads directly into reverential worship of God. This happened on a couple of occasions when the disciples’ boat was being swamped by high seas:
[Jesus] stood up and took the winds and the sea to task. Complete calm ensued; the men were dumbfounded. “What sort of man is this,” they said, “that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:26-27 NAB).
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:32-33).
It is necessary to worship God, and Him alone, in order to be saved. For Jesus has made it clear that we must obey all of God’s commands to be saved:
One came up to him, saying “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” And he said to him, . . . “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16,17).
In particular, responding to the temptation of the devil, Jesus answered him, “‘It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve”’” (Luke 4:8).
Our worship must consist in more than empty ritual. God is looking for worship from the heart. As Jesus said to the woman at the well,
“The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23- 24).
* * *
Catholics believe that worship of God is a serious obligation. We set aside Sunday, the Lord’s day, as a day devoted to worship of God, to spiritual restoration and bodily rest, a day to build the family. For a Catholic to miss the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Sunday without a good reason is a serious matter, calling into question one’s relationship with God:
Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).
Although there are many ways to worship God, individually and communally, spontaneously and ritually, the Second Vatican Council teaches that the public worship of the Church, especially the Mass, is both the goal for which we aim and the source of the Church’s power (see The Catechism of the Catholic Church #1074).
Obedience
As we saw above, fear of the LORD leads us immediately and naturally to obey God. This obedience to God’s will, especially as expressed in His commandments, is necessary to our salvation:
Not every one who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:21-22).
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him (John 3:36).
It is not enough to appreciate God’s command and to think that it is a good idea:
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified (Romans 2:13)
St. Paul states that we have no choice but to be obedient slaves—but to whom? To God or to sin? Our choice between these two masters has eternal consequences:
Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? . . . Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life (Romans 6:16,22).
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, writing of Jesus says,
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:8-9 NAB).
In the following verse we see how beautifully truth, intimate knowledge of God, obedience and love combine for our salvation:
The man who claims, “I have known him,” without keeping his commandments, is a liar; in such a one there is no truth. But whoever keeps his word, truly has the love of God been made perfect in him. The way we can be sure we are in union with him is for the man who claims to abide in him to conduct himself just as he did (1 John 2:4-6 NAB).
There is a extraordinary verse later in John’s letter which indicates that we ought to obey God with delight, finding it a joy to do His will:
The love of God consists in this: that we keep his commandments—and his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3 NAB).
This is echoed by the Psalmist: “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (Psalm 112:1).
Obedience to God extends to obedience to those who are in positions of authority over us.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed (Romans 13:1-2).
This submission to human authority includes those who are cruel and unjust; it urges us to respect all men, those we love and those we don’t:
Because of the Lord, be obedient to every human institution, whether to the emperor as sovereign or to the governors he commissions. . . . You must esteem the person of every man. Foster love for the brothers, reverence for God, respect for the emperor. You household slaves, obey your masters with all deference, not only the good and reasonable ones but even those who are harsh. . . . You married women must obey your husbands. . . . You husbands, too, must show consideration for those who share your lives (1 Peter 2:13-14,17-18,3:1,7 NAB).
The tone of this obedience is not begrudging (“well, okay, if I have to”) but a loving service, a laying down of one’s own will for the sake of others: “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).
Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit
In addition to the law written in stone there is the law of the Spirit of God written on our hearts (see 2 Corinthians 3:3). If we are to be fully obedient to Him, we must obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit as well as the written commandments.
The whisperings of the Spirit must be discerned before we act on them; they can never contradict the written law. Rather the Holy Spirit teaches us how to custom fit the law of Love to our own personal situation:
Do not quench the Spirit, and do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
One who has been born anew by water and the Holy Spirit is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. “You know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (John 14:17).
One who is filled with the Holy Spirit is led by the Holy Spirit. Immediately after being baptized by John, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). Not only Jesus, but “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14) although we are sons by adoption.
To be saved we must follow the lead of the Spirit. It is a choice between following the Holy Spirit or the desires of the flesh:
My point is that you should live in accord with the Spirit and you will not yield to the cravings of the flesh. The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; the two are directly opposed. . . . Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s lead (Galatians 5:16-17,24-25 NAB).
We can tell the difference between what is of the flesh and what is of the Holy Spirit by the fruits they produce: “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). And “the written law kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6 NAB).
St. Paul assures us that the difference is none less than the difference between eternal life and death:
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).
Good Works
As we have indicated above, good works also have a place in whether we are saved. For when Jesus, the King, comes in His glory, he will separate sheep from goats:
“The king will say to those on his right: ‘Come. You have my Father’s blessing! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you came to visit me.’” (Matthew 25:34- 36 NAB).
“Then he will say to those on his left: ‘Out of my sight, you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was away from home and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing. I was ill and in prison and you did not come to comfort me’” (Matthew 25:41-43 NAB).
Very clearly there is a connection between our works of charity and our eternal destiny. St. Paul confirms this:
For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury (Romans 2:6-8).
We quote a couple more Scriptures to make the point absolutely clear:
“An hour is coming in which all those in their tombs shall hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done right shall rise to live; the evildoers shall rise to be damned” (John 5:28-29 NAB).
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10).
What then is the relationship between grace, faith and good works? What do the Scriptures say?
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Good works, then, are a fruit of genuine faith. If we have been saved by Jesus by a free gift of mercy, we will desire to imitate the works of Jesus out of gratitude and love. If we claim to have faith, but there is no evidence in our actions, this may be “faith” in name only:
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?. . . . Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . . For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead (James 2:14,18,26).
Intercession
Full of joy and thanksgiving at our own salvation, we are eager to share this undeserved gift with others. One of the most powerful ways to prepare the way for another person to accept the Gospel is to pray for them.
Anyone who sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, should petition God, and thus life will be given to the sinner (1 John 5:16 NAB).
St. Paul urges that
petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for all men. . . . Prayer of this kind is good, and God our savior is pleased with it, for he wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth (1 Timothy 2:1,3-4 NAB).
Although it does not directly state so, this passage implies that our prayers help gain the salvation of others.
Another Scripture on the power of prayer is found embedded in a passage on forgiving wrongs:
“If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).
The context implies that joint prayer can bring about reconciliation between brothers. And there is no salvation without reconciliation because
“If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15).
St. Paul exhorts us:
Help carry one another’s burdens; in that way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2 NAB).
Apparently he himself is doing so on behalf of the Galatians, since he writes,
You are my children, and you put me back in labor pains until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19 NAB).
The Scriptures capture several astonishing prayers of St. Paul for his spiritual children (see Ephesians 3:14-21 and Colossians 1:9-12, for example).
Jesus Himself sets the prime example in this ministry of saving intercession since,
he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he forever lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25 NAB).
Paul also says, writing of his Hebrew brothers and sisters, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).
St. James teaches us that by laboring to restore sinners to God’s friendship, we benefit both the one we bring back from sin and ourselves:
My brothers, the case may arise among you of someone straying from the truth, and of another bringing him back. Remember this: the person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and cancel a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20 NAB).
Witness to the Gospel
If we have received a word of truth that is able to save lives, but do not share that word, have we really received that word ourselves? Is it possible for there to be a fire in our hearts, but one which sheds no light and no warmth to others?
The truthful witness saves lives, but he who utters lies is a betrayer (Proverbs 14:25 NAB).
I have not hid thy saving help within my heart, I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness from the great congregation (Psalm 40:10).
Jesus Himself was the original bearer of the good news in its fullness. To those who wanted Him to remain in their village he said,
“To other towns I must announce the good news of the reign of God, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43 NAB).
He in turn sent His disciples:
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15 NAB).
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NAB).
When the Holy Spirit seizes a person and sets his heart on fire, he experiences a great impulse, a great urgency to express God’s good news:
Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16).
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot (Jeremiah 20:9).
St. John ignites our hearts as he tries to express the joy it brings him to tell us about Jesus:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete (1 John 1:1- 4).
It is essential to the salvation of others that someone witness to the Gospel:
But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15).
Some, after the pattern of the apostles, have a special mission and special gifts to spend their lives preaching the word:
And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. . . . We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2,4).
St. Paul, having been sent to preach the word of God by Jesus, in his turn sends others. To Timothy he writes:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching (2 Timothy 4:1-2).
But we all need to be a light in the darkness, joyfully spreading the Gospel of Jesus through the fruit of holy lives, in both word and deed:
Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:15-16).
Does our faith lead us to speak up for Jesus?
Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we too believe, and so we speak (2 Corinthians 4:13).
“For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
Jesus provides us with some powerful motivation to speak to others about Him:
“So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
A bonus reason to proclaim the Gospel to others, whether believers or unbelievers, is that preaching often inspires the preacher as much or more than the listeners. The same can be true with any other public expression of faith, such as public prayer before an abortion clinic, for instance. It would be just like God to try to convert us with words right out of our own mouths!
Forgiving Others
The following Scripture indicates that we cannot be saved if we do not extend to others the mercy and forgiveness we have received from our Father in heaven:
“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Recall the parable Jesus told about the servant who, although he was forgiven a huge debt by the king, went out and put in prison his fellow servant who owed him a trifle.
“His master sent for him and said, ‘You worthless wretch! I canceled your entire debt when you pleaded with me. Should you not have dealt mercifully with your fellow servant, as I dealt with you?’ Then in anger the master handed him over to the torturers until he paid back all that he owed. My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart” (Matthew 18:32-35 NAB).
Jesus exhorts us to have the merciful heart of His Father:
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. . . . For the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:36-37,38).
Married and Single Life
Married life, when lived according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is a life laid down in generous love and service of others, first one’s spouse and then one’s children. There is plenty of opportunity to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,” (Ephesians 5:21). and plenty of opportunity to ask and extend forgiveness when we fail:
Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 5:33-6:4).
You who are wives, be submissive to your husbands. This is your duty in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives. Avoid any bitterness toward them. You children, obey your parents in everything as the acceptable way in the Lord. And fathers, do not nag your children lest they lose heart (Colossians 3:18-21 NAB).
The pattern for the joining of husband and wife as one flesh and the pattern for every family lies in the Holy Trinity:
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:27-28).
“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mark 10:6-9).
A Christian who is married to an unbeliever is able to bring salvation to his or her spouse:
For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy (1 Corinthians 7:14).
Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:16).
This salvation is likely to be won more by example than by words:
Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives (1 Peter 3:1).
Jesus has redeemed every aspect of human life, so that raising a family while living a Christian life leads to salvation:
[The woman] will be saved through childbearing, provided she continues in faith and love and holiness—her chastity being taken for granted (1 Timothy 2:15 NAB).
All fatherhood and motherhood, every family, is patterned after our Father in heaven:
I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name (Ephesians 3:14-15 NAB).
The family is the first school for the children; the parents are the first teachers:
“Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. . . . Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7,9 NAB).
Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight; for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me (Proverbs 4:1-4).
We have an example, in the case of Timothy, of how faith in Jesus is likely to be passed on from generation to generation in families:
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you (2 Timothy 1:5).
Children, too, must follow the example of Jesus, who obeyed Mary and Joseph: “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (Luke 2:51).
* * *
In Old Testament times it was considered to be a disgrace for a person to remain childless. We can see evidence of this in the story of John the Baptizer’s mother, Elizabeth, who conceived miraculously in her old age:
Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying, “Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men” (Luke 1:24-25).
Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her (Luke 1:57-58).
Elizabeth’s childlessness was her “reproach among men” that the Lord took away, showing her “great mercy.” But even in the Old Testament, there were a few indications that the LORD would extend His favor to the unmarried and childless:
[Let not] the eunuch say, “See, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who observe my sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; an eternal, imperishable name will I give them (Isaiah 56:3-5 NAB).
In the New Testament, it is not a reproach to choose to be single for the sake of the Lord and His kingdom. Jesus Himself was not married. St. Paul followed Jesus’ example:
Do we not have the right to marry a believing woman like the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? (1 Corinthians 9:5 NAB).
One glimpse Jesus gave us of resurrected life is a little surprising—no one will be married in heaven:
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:34-36).
A person who chooses single life for the sake of the kingdom can be a living witness to the life to come. Jesus encouraged those who are capable of making this choice to make it:
“Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. . . . There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it” (Matthew 19:11,12).
St. Paul actually shows a preference for the single life. He argues that the duties of married life can be a distraction from single-hearted love of God:
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 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 (1 Corinthians 7:32- 34).
* * *
For these reasons, the Catholic Church highly exalts both marriage and the family, and the calling to be single for the Lord.
Matrimony is one of the seven sacraments. The essence of the sacrament is the exchange of consent between a baptized man and a baptized woman who are free to marry. The bond which is thereby formed is sealed by God and cannot be broken (see Mark 10:9). In the sacrament, their human love becomes elevated to be like Christ’s love for the Church (see Ephesians 5:21-32). This love tends toward a deep union of the spouses with each other and with Jesus. It must be open to bearing fruit in the co-creation (with God the Creator) of children, each one a new, unique person who will live forever. It is in the intimate love of the family home that the most basic and natural church community forms.
From the time of the apostles, virgins have heeded the call of Jesus to “those who can accept it” and have chosen Him alone as their spouse. When they live their call joyfully, they are a powerful sign of the kingdom. There is no sacrament for the committed virgin that corresponds to the sacrament of matrimony. But this call can be lived out in many ways from informal to very formal. A single lay person can secretly commit her life to Jesus; virgins can be consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to a liturgical rite; a person can enter religious life, professing vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; and many other variations.
Since both Matrimony and virginity are from Jesus, they cannot in any way be in competition, but are both exalted ways of life, if they are truly lived for the Lord. Either can be a happy and fulfilling vocation for the person who is called accordingly.
NEXT | HOME | GEOCITIES