From: Matthew 19:3-12
Marriage and Virginity
[3] And Pharisees came up to Him (Jesus) and tested Him by asking, "Is
it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" [4] He answered, "Have
you not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male
and female, [5] and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one'?
[6] So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined
together, let no man put asunder." [7] They said to Him, "Why then did
Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her
away?" [8] He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed
you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
[9] And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity,
and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced
woman commits adultery."
[10] The disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of a man with his
wife, it is not expedient to marry." [11] But He said to them, "Not
all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given.
[12] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are
eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and 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."
Commentary:
4-5. "Marriage and married love are by nature ordered to the
procreation and education of children. Indeed children are the supreme
gift of marriage and greatly contribute to the good of the parents
themselves. God Himself said: `It is not good that man should be
alone' (Genesis 2:18), and `from the beginning (He) made them male and
female' (Matthew 19:4); wishing to associate them in a special way with
his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: `Be
fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:28). Without intending to
underestimate the other ends of marriage, it must be said that true
married life and the whole structure of family life which results from
it is directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the
love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and
enrich His family from day to day" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes",
50).
9. Our Lord's teaching on the unity and indissolubility of marriage is
the main theme of this passage, apropos of which St. John Chrysostom
comments that marriage is a lifelong union of man and woman (cf. "Hom.
on St. Matthew", 62). On the meaning of "except for unchastity", see
the note on Matthew 5:31-32).
11. "Not all men can receive this precept": our Lord is fully aware
that the demands involved in His teaching on marriage and His
recommendation of celibacy practised out of love of God run counter to
human selfishness. That is why He says that acceptance of this
teaching is a gift from God.
12. Our Lord speaks figuratively here, referring to those who, out of
love for Him, renounce marriage and offer their lives completely to
Him. Virginity embraced for the love of God is one of the Church's
most precious charisms (cf. 1 Corinthians 7); the lives of those who
practise virginity evoke the state of the blessed in Heaven, who are
like the angels (cf. Matthew 22:30). This is why the Church's
Magisterium teaches that the state of virginity for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven is higher than the married state (cf. Council of
Trent, "De Sacram. Matr.", can. 10; cf. also Pius XII, "Sacra
Virginitas"). On virginity and celibacy the Second Vatican Council
teaches: "The Church's holiness is also fostered in a special way by
the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to His disciples in the
Gospel for them to observe. Towering among these counsels is that
precious gift of divine grace given to some by the Father (cf. Matthew
19:11; 1 Corinthians 7:7) to devote themselves to God alone more easily
in virginity or celibacy [...]. This perfect continence for love of
the Kingdom of Heaven has always been held in high esteem by the Church
as a sign and stimulus of love, and as a singular source of spiritual
fertility in the world" ("Lumen Gentium", 42; cf. "Perfectae
Caritatis", 12). And, on celibacy specifically, see Vatican II's
"Presbyterorum Ordinis", 16 and "Optatam Totius", 10.
However, both virginity and marriage are necessary for the growth of
the Church, and both imply a specific calling from God: "Celibacy is
precisely a gift of the Spirit. A similar though different gift is
contained in the vocation to true and faithful married love, directed
towards procreation according to the flesh, in the very lofty context
of the sacrament of Matrimony. It is obvious that this gift is
fundamental for the building up of the great community of the Church,
the people of God. But if this community wishes to respond fully to
its vocation in Jesus Christ, there will also have to be realized in
it, in the correct proportion, that other gift, the gift of celibacy
`for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven'" (John Paul II, "Letter To All
Priests", 1979).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.