Christian virginity, or “consecrated celibacy,” seen through the lens of Jesus the Bridegroom, takes on an eschatological meaning.
For if, as Jesus teaches, there will be no marriage in the resurrection (Mark 12:18–27), then those who do not marry but rather consecrate themselves to God become living signs of the celibate life that everyone will live at the end of time, when all of redeemed humanity will be united to God in the virginal union of Christ and the Church. 160
“eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12).
They live now the life of the world to come.
St. Ambrose called “consecrated virgins” as “brides of God” – for whom the glorious wedding of God and his people in the resurrection is already a present reality.
And men become icons of Christ the Bridegroom (cf. PDV 22).
- Christ’s gift of himself to his Church, the fruit of his love, is described in terms of that unique gift of self made by the bridegroom to the bride, as the sacred texts often suggest. Jesus is the true bridegroom who offers to the Church the wine of salvation (cf. Jn. 2:11). He who is “the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its savior” (Eph. 5:23) “loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5 :25-27). The Church is indeed the body in which Christ the head is present and active, but she is also the bride who proceeds like a new Eve from the open side of the redeemer on the cross.
- Hence Christ stands “before” the Church and “nourishes and cherishes her” (Eph. 5 :29), giving his life for her. The priest is called to be the living image of Jesus Christ, the spouse of the Church.(49) Of course, he will always remain a member of the community as a believer alongside his other brothers and sisters who have been called by the Spirit, but in virtue of his configuration to Christ, the head and shepherd, the priest stands in this spousal relationship with regard to the community. “Inasmuch as he represents Christ, the head, shepherd and spouse of the Church, the priest is placed not only in the Church but also in the forefront of the Church.”(50) In his spiritual life, therefore, he is called to live out Christ’s spousal love toward the Church, his bride. Therefore, the priest’s life ought to radiate this spousal character, which demands that he be a witness to Christ’s spousal love and thus be capable of loving people with a heart which is new, generous and pure – with genuine self – detachment, with full, constant and faithful dedication and at the same time with a kind of “divine jealousy” (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2) and even with a kind of maternal tenderness, capable of bearing “the pangs of birth” until “Christ be formed” in the faithful (cf. Gal. 4:19).
The celibate priest is called to make a complete gift of himself, body & soul, to the church, the bride of Christ.
- similar to the way a husband gives of himself for his wife
- but beyond this mystically because it is more like Christ’s gift of himself to his bride (virginal, supernatural, and fulfilled above all in the sacrificial wedding banquet of the Eucharist).
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