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Virginity: A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven QUOTES

Virginity: A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven QUOTES

1 " If Jesus were to ask me, as He did that poor demoniac in the Gospel: "What is your name?" I too would have to reply: "My name is legion, for there are many of us" (Mk 5:9). There are as many of us as there are desires, plans and regrets which we harbor, each one different from and contrary to others which pull us in opposite directions. They literally dis-tract us, drag us apart. "

― Raniero Cantalamessa , Virginity: A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven

2 " In any love-story there are usually two stages or phases. There is the initial stage, where love is expressed by the giving of gifts, especially the gift of self. Then there comes a time when it is no longer enough to give gifts to the beloved, but one has to be ready to suffer for her or for him. Only then can it be seen whether the love is real. In the story of a vocation to consecrated virginity there are also usually two stages. There is the initial stage of the vocation, when, spurred on by grace and attracted by the ideal, one joyfully and enthusiastically says, "Yes, Lord, here I am!" Then comes the time of solitude of heart, of weariness, of crisis, when, in order to maintain that "Yes," one has to die "

― Raniero Cantalamessa , Virginity: A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven

3 " The undivided heart is a good thing, as long as you love somebody. In fact, a divided heart that loves someone is better than an undivided heart that loves nobody -- the latter would actually be undivided egoism. It would mean having one's heart full, but with the most corrupting thing there is: oneself. Of this type of virgin and celibate, unfortunately none too rare, Charles Peguy has rightly said: "Because they do not belong to someone else, they think they belong to God. Because they love no one else, they think that they love God. "

― Raniero Cantalamessa , Virginity: A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven