Vol. II June 1999

The Cross and Virginity

Dear Friend,

Let us start this meditation by thinking about Jesus Christ. More precisely, let us think about Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross. Let us go even further and look into the eyes of Christ, and why not be very bold and ask Him: what are You doing on the Cross? We look at Jesus and wonder why He died. He answers that He died for love of us. It was His loving desire to save us that brought Him to mount the wood of the Cross. Now, while it is true that He died for the salvation of all, it is also true that He died for you. If you had been the only person in need of salvation Jesus would have accepted death on the Cross. For you He gave His Body, for you He shed His Blood, for you He offered up and sacrificed His very self. He could not have given more than He actually gave.

We are now forced to ask ourselves: how should we respond to such generosity? If Christ, who was both God and man, was willing to give His life for us, is it not fitting that we be prepared to give our lives for love of Him? Yes, we ought to readily offer ourselves to God, first of all in and by our lives. And since the more common vocation among the faithful is the call to the married state, let us dedicate a paragraph to understanding how we can and should love God in marriage.

Married Life

Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (cf. Eph 5:25). Something tremendous is implied here. It is actually implied that a husband be willing to die for his wife! This is precisely what Christ did for the Church. Wives too should love their husbands. They should never forget that Christ is present in them. In fact both should constantly call to mind one of the most simple but profound teachings of Jesus: what we do to others we do to Him (cf. Mt 25:40). Marriage does not only offer the possibility of growing in love for one's neighbor (remembering that your closest neighbor is your spouse), but also demands that we grow in love for God, and thereby fulfill the first and greatest commandment. Family life should therefore be seen as one great call from God to love Him and to love one's very closest neighbor!

We must now, however, see the other side of the coin, and must confess that marriage might in some way hinder our love for God. Marriage obviously obliges us to love another person in a very intimate and "exclusive" manner. It obliges us to pay constant and loving attention to another human being. As we have explained above, this is undoubtedly good and promotes our Christian progress. But the fact that we have to give such attention to another human person would appear to lessen the time and energy we have for loving God. Herein we see the need to constantly bring our love of God to the surface. This love for God should well up from the bottom of our hearts, but it should penetrate all areas of our life and above all married life. Only in this way will it be possible to live marriage intimacy and exclusiveness in a way truly pleasing to Our Lord.

It is undoubtedly through married and family life that most people are called to respond to the love that Christ shows to us from the Cross. But let us now ask ourselves: is there not another way, a way which would lead to "greater exclusiveness" with Our Blessed Lord Himself?

The Religious Life

This raises an overwhelming question: is there something better that an individual could do? Just as the love for a spouse can be exclusive, so does God grant some souls the holy desire to cultivate an exclusive and total loving relationship with Himself.

Once again we return to the Cross. We look into the eyes of Christ and to each one of us He says: "I died for you". Once again we ask ourselves: how can we respond to such generosity? If He was willing to give His life for us, is it not fitting that at least some of us should give our lives totally and exclusively to him? Does not the generosity of Jesus deserve a corresponding generosity on our part? Is it not fitting that some persons should give their whole lives to God and to God alone?

We could also reflect on the fact that Jesus loves us today as He loved us on the Cross. Jesus loves us, but few are interested in being loved by Jesus. We all desire and need to be loved, but in practice most of us prefer to be loved by men than by God. Of course it is perfectly natural to desire to be loved by a man or woman, but if Christ has such an ardent love for us, is it not possible that some young men and women are called to be happy to be loved by Jesus and by Jesus alone? Imagine a life dedicated exclusively to loving our Tremendous Lover, and dedicated to being loved by Him: This is the Religious Life.

The life of one who lives the vows, especially the vow of Chastity, is the life of a Lover. In fact, the very reason for the existence of the Religious Life is to provide the conditions in which one can love God in a more perfect and exclusive manner. It gives us the setting in which we can more easily love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind (cf. Lk 10:27).

Needless to say, good husbands and wives love God more than they love their own spouses. The first great commandment points them to this. They should love God directly and indirectly: directly by praying to Him and serving Him; indirectly by seeing and serving Him in their spouses. The religious, however, has the advantage that he or she is free to give more time to God, to serve Him in a more direct and exclusive manner. Herein lies the advantage of the religious life.

This concentration on loving God does not, of course, dispense the religious from loving his neighbor In fact, if someone thinks he loves God whom He has never seen, and does not love his neighbor whom he has seen (cf. 1 Jn 4:20), he deceives no one but himself. The religious knows that to love God he must love his brothers, as they are God's children.

In fact we could even venture to say that the religious loves his neighbor in a more elevated manner than does the married person. The religious loves his neighbor by trying to procure for him the greatest good imaginable. This good is none other than eternal life. The task of the person who is entirely dedicated to God is to pray, work and do penance for the salvation of souls. His aim is to help souls come to the highest possible form of happiness, a happiness which is impossible for us to comprehend: the happiness of heaven.

Of course married men and women are also preoccupied about the salvation of their fellow men, especially about the salvation of their own family members. We should go even further and say that parents are strictly obliged to occupy themselves with the sanctification of each other and of their children (cf. GS 48). Necessity however demands that the husband and wife of a young family look to many temporal affairs. It would not be possible or prudent for them to dedicate themselves exclusively to the salvation of souls. It is necessary that they make sure that there is bread on the table, petrol in the car, clothes on our backs, and a few pounds in the bank for the rainy day.

All such daily occupations can and ought be performed with a view to the eternal salvation of our loved ones. They ought to be ordered to the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. But we must confess: to occupy oneself directly with improving the Christian lives of persons is a more sublime activity than to occupy oneself with preparing food, driving buses, repairing machines or any other activity done for these same persons.

We repeat that such daily activities can and should be performed for the Glory of God. They ought to be carried out with a view to making the Kingdom of God present in our midst, and to helping all persons enjoy those conditions which facilitate their pilgrimage towards the everlasting Kingdom of God. But we also repeat, that to be directly occupied with the spiritual life of a human person is more sublime than to occupy oneself with activities which serve the person, but not in such a direct way and spiritual way.

St. Paul tells us that "he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better" (I Cor 7:38). Consecrated virginity is better as the unmarried man or woman can devote himself or herself more exclusively to the affairs of the Lord. Let us seriously consider the religious life. Is God calling you to a life of consecrated virginity? If He is, He is also calling you to a life of great happiness. He calls you because He loves you. Be brave and say "Yes". He deserves it. Look back into those loving eyes of Our Crucified Lord. What do they want of you?

Liturgy of July 6th, Feast of St. Maria Goretti.