[Polycarp1]

You may have a point there.

Whatever gets in the way of our coming to the banquet is something we should avoid. Although I think in the context Jesus is showing people how absurd some people's reasons are.

One of the benefits of being both Catholic or Orthodox is that there is some place to put yourself if you feel called to be celibate. What we concern a normal option is often considered "weird" in some circles. In other words people "get it" in a way that I think Protestants still have a hard time grasping.

I also believe there are a lot of people out there that God has called to the celibate life, whether in holy orders or not, but the pressure to marry and such is so great they miss the call and the benefits to them.

In the East our theology about marriage is a theology of martyrdom. Whatever path the person chooses, marriage or celibacy, the core issue is a denying of self for God and others. Family or monastic life both express the same core and so either are acceptable.

Sometimes, though, we don't do well with something the Early Church handled quite easily, namely people who choose to be single but are not clergy or monastics. They can get left out of our circles and find themselves quite lonely even when they are surrounded by people. We in Orthodoxy need to figure out how to embrace these folks because in our time, whether through divorce, or death, or choice, there are going to be a lot more adults who will spend some or all of their lives as single people.

[saradippity]

The last paragraph in your post #134 is so true and should be repeated over and over,far and wide, and then perhaps it would take hold and result in some revelations about love and what it really means. Now that could save western civilization!!