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Celibacy for the Kingdom of God by Father Joseph LoJacono IVE Questions to Ponder1. What is a “eunuch for the Kingdom”?2. Why does the world generally scorn celibacy?3. Why is Christian celibacy (properly understood and lived) not as a rejection of sexuality, but a living out of the deepest meaning of sexuality?4. Why does the world see marriage as a legitimate outlet for lust? What are the ramifications of this?5. How does an understanding of “redeemed sexuality” (where our way of seeing the world is actually changed towards that which is true, good, and beautiful) affect your view of celibacy?6. How can someone commit “adultery in the heart” with his or her own spouse?

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Matthew 19:12► "Forthere are eunuchs who were born that way from their mothers womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." What does it mean to be a eunuch for the kingdom of God?

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The World says Celibacy ismissing some part of humanity and must be bad

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Celibacy is a sign that sex is not the ultimate fulfillment The two central sculptural figures of the swooning nun and the angel with the spear derive from an episode described by St. Theresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun, in her autobiography, „The Life of Teresa of Jesus‟ (1515–1582). Her experience of religious ecstasy in her encounter with the angel is described as follows: “I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the irons point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.”Ecstasy of Saint TeresaBy Gian Lorenzo Bernini From Chapter XXIX; Part 17, St. Teresas Autobiography

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The World cannot understand divine love. It is a mockery to them The Lie (Berninis St Theresa) Lyrics Artist: Peter Hammill Album: The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage

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The Joy of religious Life

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Celibacy points to the reality that there is a greater fulfillment in heaven than anything we can experience on earth King Arthurs Tomb - The Last Meeting of Lancelot and Guinevere. Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

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What does mean to say a religious sister is a bride of Christ?

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Marriage is only a sacrament pointing toward the union in heaven Beatrice Meeting Dante at a Marriage Feast, Denies Him Her Salutation (1855) Dante uses Beatrice as his ideal of love who helps give him a tour of the heavenly realities, but must leave him when he encounters the true Love of heaven.

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Beatrice leading Dante into the heavenly realms Pope-Hennessy, John. Paradiso. The Illuminations of Dantes Divine Comedy by Giovanni di Paolo. NY: Random, 1993. p. 74Dante’s Circle 3 of heavenVenus showing her two sonscupid and amorPope-Hennessy, John. Paradiso. The Illuminations of DantesDivine Comedy by Giovanni di Paolo. NY: Random, 1993. p. 97

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There will be no sacraments in heaven forwe will know the communion in love towhich they point us The highest seat of God the Empyrean Heaven in Dante’s Paradiso Beatrice Disappears for human love must make way for that which is beyond it Pope-Hennessy, John. Paradiso. The Illuminations of Dantes Divine Comedy by Giovanni di Paolo. NY: Random, 1993. p. 177