PRAYERS FOR VOCATIONS: A COLLECTION

PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS

1. Vocations blossom in the good soil of faithful people

Lord of the Harvest,

Bless young people with the gift of courage to respond to your call.

Open their hearts to great ideals, to great things.

Inspire all of your disciples to mutual love and giving—

for vocations blossom in the

good soil of faithful people.

Instill those in religious life, parish

ministries, and families with the confidence

and grace to invite others to embrace

the bold and noble path of a life

dedicated to you.

Unite us to Jesus through prayer and sacrament,

so that we may cooperate

with you in building your reign of mercy

and truth, of justice and peace. Amen.

PRAYERS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

2. The baptized to take the path that leads to holiness

Jesus, Son of God,

in whom the fullness of the Divinity dwells,

You call all the baptized to " put out into the deep",

taking the path that leads to holiness.

Waken in the hearts of young people the desire

to be witnesses in the world of today

to the power of your love.

Fill them with your Spirit of fortitude and prudence,

so that they may be able to discover the full truth

about themselves and their own vocation.

Our Saviour,

sent by the Father to reveal His merciful love,

give to your Church the gift

of young people who are ready to put out into the deep,

to be the sign among their brothers

of Your presence which renews and saves.

Holy Virgin, Mother of the Redeemer,

sure guide on the way towards God and towards neighbour,

You who pondered his word in the depth of your heart,

sustain with your motherly intercession

our families and our ecclesial communities,

so that they may help adolescents and young people

to answer generously the call of the Lord.

Amen.

3. Jesus, open the minds and hearts of young people

Lord, Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd of our souls, you who know your sheep and know how to reach man's heart, open the minds and hearts of those young people who search for and await a word of truth for their lives;

let them understand that only in the mystery of your Incarnation do they find full light;

arouse the courage of those who know where to seek the truth, but fear that what you ask will be too demanding;

stir the heart of those young people who would follow you, but who cannot overcome doubts and fears, and who in the end follow other voices and other paths which lead nowhere.

You who are the Word of the Father, the Word which creates and saves, the Word which enlightens and sustains hearts, conquer with your Spirit the resistence and delays of indecisive hearts; arouse in those whom you call the courage of love's answer: "Here I am, send me!" (Is 6:8).

Virgin Mary, young daughter of Israel, support with your motherly love those youths to whom the Father will grant that they hear his voice; protect those who are already consecrated. Let them repeat with you the yes of a joyful and irrevocable gift of self. Amen.

4. Holy Family, open the heart of every family to the faith

O Holy Family of Nazareth, community of love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, model and ideal of every Christian family, to you we entrust our families.

Open the heart of every family to the faith, to welcoming the word of God, to Christian witness, so that it become a source of new and holy vocations.

Touch the hearts of parents, so that with prompt charity, wise care, and loving devotion they be for their sons and daughters sure guides towards spiritual and eternal values.

Stir up in the hearts of young people a right conscience and a free will, so that growing in "wisdom, age and grace", they might welcome generously the gift of a divine vocation.

Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that all of us, contemplating and imitating the assiduous prayer, generous obedience, dignified poverty and virginal purity lived out in your midst, might set about fulfilling the will of God and accompanying with far-sighted sensitivity those among us who are called to follow more closely the Lord Jesus, who "has given himself for us" (cf. Gal 2:20). Amen!

5. Mary and the “yes”that gives meaning to existence

O Virgin of Nazareth,

the "yes" spoken in youth marked your

existence and it grew as did your life itself.

O Mother of Jesus,

in your free and joyful "yes"

and in your active faith so many generations

and so many educators have found inspiration

and strength for welcoming the Word of God

and for fulfilling his will.

O Teacher of life,

teach young people to pronounce the "yes"

that gives meaning to existence

and brings them to discover the hidden "name" of God

in the heart of every person.

O Queen of the Apostles, give us wise educators,

who will know how to love young people and help them grow,

guiding them to the encounter with Truth which makes one free and happy.

Amen!

6. Serving God satisfies the heart

Mary, humble servant of God Most High, the Son to whom you gave birth has made you the servant of humanity.

Your life was a humble and generous service.You were servant of the Word when the angel announced to you the divine plan of salvation.

You were servant of the Son, giving him life and remaining open to his mystery. You were servant of Redemption, standing courageously at the foot of the Cross, close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb, who was sacrificing himself for love of us.

You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every believer, even in these our difficult and troubled times.

Let the young people of the third millennium look to you, young daughter of Israel, who have known the agitation of a young heart when faced with the plan of the Eternal God.

Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son to give their lives wholly for the glory of God.

Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart, and that only in the service of God and of his kingdom do we realize ourselves in accordance with the divine plan, and life becomes a hymn of glory to the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

7. Send laborers to the harvest

We turn to you, Lord, in trust!

Son of God,

sent by the Father  
to the men and women of every time and

of every part of the earth!

We call upon you through Mary,

your Mother and ours:

may the Church not

lack in vocations,

especially those dedicated in a

special way to your Kingdom.

Jesus, only Saviour of mankind!

We pray to you for our

brothers and sisters who have

answered "yes" to your

call to the priesthood,

to the consecrated life and

to the missions.

May their lives be renewed day by

day, to become a living Gospel.

Merciful and holy Lord,

continue to send new labourers

into the harvest of your Kingdom!

Assist those whom you call

to follow you in our day;

contemplating your face,

may they respond with joy

to the wondrous mission

that you entrust to them

for the good of your People

and of all men and women.

You who are God and live and reign

with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

for ever and ever. Amen.

8. Let resound your sweet invitation

Lord Jesus, once you called the first disciples in order to make them fishers of men. Continue to let resound today Your sweet invitation: "Come and follow me."

Grant to young men and young women the grace of responding promptly to Your voice. Sustain our bishops, priests and consecrated souls in their apostolic work. Give perseverance to our seminarians and to all those who are fulfilling an ideal of a life of total consecration to Your service.

Enkindle in our communities a missionary zeal. Send Lord, workers into Your fields and do not let mankind be lost because of a lack of pastors, missionaries and people dedicated to the cause of the Gospel.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Model of Vocations, help us say "Yes to the Lord Who calls us to collaborate in the Divine Design of Salvation." Amen.

OTHER PRAYERS

9. Strengthen me to respond to your call each day

Gracious God,

You have called me to life

and gifted me in many ways.

Through Baptism You have sent me

to continue the mission of Jesus

by sharing my love with others.

Strengthen me to respond to

Your call each day.

Help me to become all You desire of me.

Inspire me to make a difference in

others' lives.

Lead me to choose the way of life

You have planned for me

either in the calling to give myself totally

in marriage to sanctify my spouse, my children and the community,

or in a vocation to celibacy

to sanctify hundreds of souls

in the service of the entire Church.

Open the hearts of all to listen

to Your call.

Fill all with Your Holy Spirit that

we may have listening hearts and

the courage to respond to You.

Enkindle in my heart

and the hearts of others the desire

to make the world a better place

by loving you

with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. Amen.

10. Accept your challenge to build the kingdom

Creator God,

Life is your gift to me,

Through Baptism you invite me to share

the gift of my life in service to others.

Be with me as I choose each day to show

Your presence in our world.

Give me the courage and generosity to

respond to Your love, to Your call.

I pray for those who serve you

with total love in marriage or in celibacy.

Open the minds and hearts of many other

men and women that they may accept

Your challenge to build the Kingdom.

Loving God, you have made me in Your image and likeness,

and for this I shall praise You forever.

Through baptism Your invite me to serve as Your son Jesus served.

I offer You this day all that I have and all that I am

in union with His saving cross.

Father, in the power of the Spirit,

You send us forth to build up Your kingdom.

I pray especially for those whom You are calling

to serve you with total dedication in celibacy.

Help them to hear and answer Your call to discipleship.

The harvest is plenty, but laborers are few.

Please provide for us men and women

who will help to gather in a great harvest of souls.

I make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Download the three-page prayer leaflet here. 

Titles were added to facilitate identification.

Sources: (1) Vatican Website and (2) USCCB website on Prayers for Vocations (slightly modified)
 

Celibacy in the First Two Centuries

by Fr. Michael E. Giesler. The sub-titles and formatting were added to facilitate reading. Taken from Stay Catholic.

Highly valued in ancient times

It is a fact that virginity and continence (restraint from sexual activity) were highly regarded in ancient times. Many non-Christian peoples valued these practices for their ascetical example as well as for their religious significance.1

Hebrew priests were asked to abstain from intercourse in order to prepare themselves for certain rituals, the Roman vestal virgins were considered sacred guardians of the city, and many tribal religions considered sexual abstinence, at least for a time, as a way to win favor from God.

Closer to the time of Christ, a religious group of Jews called the Essenes seems to have practiced a form of celibacy in expectation for the coming of the Messiah. From what we can gather from Scripture, John the Baptist was celibate, along with two of the greatest Hebrew prophets, Elijah and Jeremiah.

Occasionally we also hear of Jewish scholars, such as the Rabbi Akiba in the second century A.D., who with the permission of their wives lived long periods of continence in order to devote themselves more completely to the study of the Law.2

Jesus and the biblical record

But while most first-century Jewish rabbis were expected to marry, in the hope of adding to the numbers of the chosen people and raising children well-formed in the Law, we do know of one egregious exception to this practice, the young rabbi from Nazareth named Jesus Christ. He did not choose to marry, and there is clear evidence that he also asked his apostles to live celibacy in order to follow him.

As a matter of fact, many scholars believe that he was making a defense of his own and his apostles' celibacy when he affirmed that "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 made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive this" (Matt. 19:11). In other words, Jesus and his apostles had freely renounced their right to have a wife and children, in order to spread the kingdom of God.

And he later declares that this generosity will not go unrewarded: "For everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). Luke's Gospel specifically mentions the leaving of a wife for the sake of God's kingdom (Luke 18:29), along with the reward that God will give.

Christ also speaks of the kingdom of God as the definitive state of mankind, where there will be no marrying or giving in marriage (cf. Mark 12:25). Though at that point he was answering a question about eternal life posed by his opponents, his response highlights the power and beauty of celibacy: those who practice it in this world are truly anticipating the final state of man in paradise, where God's love is the greatest and most exclusive reality.

Therefore virginity for the sake of God's kingdom can truly be called the "pearl of great price" (Matt. 13:46), to use the expression of one of Christ's parables.

It is clear then that the origin of virginity or celibacy is intrinsically connected with love for God, and as a result of that love, with evangelization. Implied in both love and evangelizing is closeness to Christ; we can surmise that this was the main motive of the apostles, at least at first, when they made their commitment to celibacy. We know that one of them, Peter, had married, though we are not sure if his wife was still living at the time of the Gospels, since we never hear of her. We can assume that some of the others were married also, but again, we hear nothing of their spouses, since the main message of the Gospel is that they gave up everything to follow the Master. They wanted to be close to the Messiah, and therefore practiced his way of life; they were deeply and personally drawn to his holiness and mission.

This exclusive love of Christ seems to have been experienced particularly by one of his apostles, John, who according to Catholic tradition lived virginity all of his life. And the Master requited his dedication in a deeper way than to the others; for it was John, the youngest of them, who was called the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23), and it was to him that he entrusted his virgin mother.

It is also clear from the Gospel text and later Church history that Christ did not restrict his invitation to celibacy and the hundredfold to the apostles or to priests. At the time of their calling the apostles were not priests, but simply his disciples. The very wording of Christ's invitation is purposefully general — let him who can take it, take it; that is, virginity for the kingdom of God is open to all those who have received this grace, and who wish to follow him in this special way.

Certainly, among all the apostles, Saint Paul understood this most clearly, and manifested it in his letters. In 1 Cor. 7 he speaks of his own celibacy, and encourages as many men and women as possible to embrace this state in life, in order to be more concerned with the Lord's affairs (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-35). Though some think that he was originally addressing only Jewish Christians and their marital concerns in this text, the early Church always understood his words in a broader way, referring to the gift of celibacy and its power to free a man or woman for spreading Christ's kingdom, as Paul himself had done so assiduously.

Another reason that the Apostle gives for endorsing celibacy is the fact that time is passing by quickly: "I mean, brethren, that the time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning" (1 Cor.7:29). Obviously Paul has his eyes on the coming of Christ and the definitive kingdom of God, as did so many of the early Christians; in this context human marriage, like all earthly realities, is a temporary condition and will pass away. Given this reality, it is much easier and more advantageous for people of faith to live continence, including within marriage.

The other great apostle, John, was himself a virgin and celibate all of his life, as we mentioned above. In the fascinating book of Revelation, which many believe to be his work, there is a vision of celibate men "who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb" (Rev. 14:4). Again, as in the case of the Gospel and the text of Paul, there is no indication that these men were all clerics.3 The main point of the vision is that they had given up everything, including their right to intercourse with women, in order to follow Christ.

Testimony of the early Church

In immediate post-apostolic times we have clear testimony that men and women throughout the Roman Empire had received the charism of celibacy and lived it fervently, though we have no specific numbers of them. One of the earliest post-apostolic documents that we possess is the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, from around the year 95, which gives witness to the charism of continence or celibacy. In this letter, as the head of the church of Rome, Clement is trying to restore order to the church in Corinth, which had been divided into factions and was not loyal to their bishop.

In speaking of what God intends for them, he mentions the various gifts received in the church of Corinth, including wisdom and charity, and states that each one has its place. For those who practice celibacy or continence he simply says: "Let him who is continent (literally holy in the flesh) not boast of it — knowing that it is another that giveth him the power of continence."4 Obviously continence was highly esteemed in Corinth, but it had to be accepted and practiced with humility. The persons receiving this gift had to realize that it came from God, and not from human virtue or power alone.

Writing only ten years later, Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to martyrdom in the Colosseum in Rome, wrote to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna about those who practiced celibacy and the need to be humble: "If anyone is able to remain continent, to the honor of the Flesh of the Lord, let him persistently avoid boasting."5 This particularly significant text places the source of celibacy's greatness in Christ; those who give up sexual experience are really honoring the Flesh of Christ, who himself was a virgin. This is without doubt a great gift and privilege, but it should not give way to pride. Apparently in Smyrna there was a danger that some men (or women) would fall into boasting.

In another text he speaks of the Flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, which unites all of us in himself, "for one is the Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup to unite us with his Blood, and one altar, just as there is one bishop assisted by the presbytery and the deacons, my fellow servants."6

Other very early works, such as the Didache and the Letter of Barnabas, contain strong moral exhortations to charity and sexual purity, but they do not directly mention the gift of continence or virginity. Perhaps the reason for this is the purpose of the documents themselves. The Didache was written for recent converts, and highlighted the basic morality of the Church and how to follow it. Continence or virginity was a more advanced gift to be considered later for some of them. The Letter of Barnabas was probably written to Jewish Christians suffering persecution by the Jews during the first decades of the second century; it exhorts them to have purity of life and self-control, but does not directly mention celibacy.

The Letter to Diognetus, which appears to be an apology and defense of Christianity written to a certain educated pagan, contains a moving passage about Christians living in the middle of the world, as the soul is in the body, and how they lived personal and marital chastity; the fact that some men and women lived total continence is implied, but not stated. Aristides of Athens in his Apology (ch.15) to the Emperor Hadrian also highlights the Christians' cleanness of life, contrasted to the lives of non-Christians.

Justin Martyr, on the other hand, writing his Defense of Christianity around A.D. 150 to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, refers specifically to individuals who have given up marriage to practice continence, and whose lives and dedication are well known to the other faithful (cf. Apology I, n.29). He does refer to one Christian youth, who actually had asked to be made a eunuch, but the Roman authorities refused him (cf. Apology I, n.29). Earlier in his Defense (n. 15) he reports how widespread the practice of celibacy and virginity had grown throughout the Roman Empire: "And many, both men and women, who have been Christ's disciples from childhood, have preserved their purity at the age of sixty and seventy years; and I am proud that I could produce such from every race of men and women."7

Remaining pure (in Greek, aphthoroi) could refer either to leading a chaste life or to embracing a continent or celibate life from the time of baptism. He cites these examples because he obviously considers that Antoninus, who was a practicing Stoic, would understand the meaning of virtue and self-denial, and would be impressed with this asceticism. Referring to the Christian community in general, he also speaks of the sexual purity of Christians; they marry to bring children into the world, and they do not abandon them or expose them, nor practice promiscuity. He obviously states these facts in order to contrast the family life of Christians with that of the pagans, many of whom practiced contraception and abortion.

It also appears that Justin himself never married and spent many years teaching at a school that he founded in Rome, trying to show the underlying unity between Christian and Greek philosophy. Some speculate that he could have been a deacon, but it is just as likely that he was a layman who had received the gift of celibacy and had dedicated himself completely to spreading Christ's truth through his words and classes. He apparently converted many young people to Christianity but earned the enmity of certain pagan philosophers in Rome who denounced him as a Christian. He was beheaded under Marcus Aurelius in 165, along with several of his students.

Shortly after this time another Christian apologist, Athenagoras of Athens, wrote a plea to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, also defending the Christians, while asking them to consider objectively the virtues of the Christians. As Justin did, he reiterates that Christians marry for the sake of having children, not to gratify lust, then adds significantly that "one might find many amongst us, both men and women, who are growing old in virginity, their hope being to have greater fruition of God."8

In line with Justin's statement mentioned earlier, we hear that there were many (in Greek, pollous) men and women who lived the charism of celibacy, most likely dwelling in the major cities of the Empire. We also note that the dedication of these faithful Christians was lived over a lifetime; it was not restricted to young people only, and its purpose was not to possess moral excellence in itself (the Stoic ideal), but to have a life of closer communion with God. In the next chapter he refers to the persecution that Christian celibates had to endure from the non-Christians.9

Yet not all non-Christians were so hostile. Galen, the great physician and philosopher of the second century, and contemporary of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, was particularly impressed at the high standards of morality practiced by the followers of Christ. After praising their continence and fearlessness before death, he states that the Christians "also number individuals who, in self-discipline and self-control in matters of food and drink, and in their keen pursuit of justice, have attained a pitch not inferior to that of genuine philosophers."10 To be called a "philosopher" was a great honor in the minds of non-Christians of that era; it was also one of the central aspirations of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Writing at the end of the second century, Minucius Felix in his apologia entitled Octavius speaks of those who practiced perpetual virginity of body. In this dialogue Octavius, a Christian, does not describe their life in detail, but is simply trying to show the pagan Caecilius that the Christians were not low-life criminals, as they were accused of being, but that they had very high moral standards.

We should note that all of these apologists were addressing pagans, and wanted to impress them with the holiness and purity of Christians, often in contrast to the immorality of non-Christians. Believers in Christ had been maliciously slandered and portrayed as fanatics and criminals. In general these early apologists do not state the greatest reasons for celibacy — to be close to Christ and to spread his kingdom. These reasons must have been very obvious to the Christian community from the start, but there was no need to mention them to pagan emperors or leaders. Not only would they misunderstand these reasons, but also, since Christianity was proscribed, they could have these celibate men and women arrested for being zealots. Therefore the Christian apologists stressed personal virtue and moral conduct instead, emphasizing asceticism, which noble pagan minds would find more impressive.

We saw earlier that there was a danger of pridefulness in some celibate faithful even at the end of the first century. This tendency would actually develop into a heresy during the second century under the influence of Gnosticism, which despised marriage and marital relations as unclean and material. The heretic Marcion was tainted with this view, since he would admit and baptize into his church only those who practiced continence. The mere fact that his heretical group was so successful demonstrates the large number of Christians who were actually practicing continence in the second century. Apart from spiritual ideals, it seems that many of them were simply repelled by the sexual excesses of the pagan society in which they lived; practicing celibacy or continence was a dramatic way of showing their independence and conviction.

One of Justin's students, Tatian, author of the Diatesseron, actually took the ideal of continence too far, and he left the Catholic Church to found his own sect, called the Encratites, which eschewed marriage and considered themselves to be the "self-controlled," as opposed to those who married. Many apocryphal writings of Gnostic origin, including parts of the Gospel of Thomas made famous in the spurious novel The Da Vinci Code, actually scorned marriage, and even went to the point of saying that Christ did not really exist in the flesh, but was a kind of spiritual apparition. The apocryphal work entitled the Acts of Peter and Andrew is also of this variety.

But there are many other apocryphal writings of the second and third centuries that show the real value of celibacy, connecting it with dedication to God and the mission to evangelize. One of the most famous of these is the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which narrates the life of a dedicated virgin and disciple of Saint Paul from Iconium (Asia Minor).

Without question the power and appeal of celibacy in the first two centuries came above all from the direct example of Jesus Christ, his mother and the apostles, and from the dedicated lives of both male and female Christians. The fact that the charism of virginity and celibacy was highly esteemed, and that it was extended and thriving among both sexes is clear from the above early writings. How much influence did these celibate men and women have on the Church and pagan society? Judging from the lives of persons such as Saints John and Paul, Cecilia and Seraphia, it must have been great, equivalent in some ways to martyrdom in both pagan and Christian eyes. We know from later Church writings that both virgins and martyrs were called "Christopheroi," or "Christ bearers."

How they lived their dedication

We don't know with certainty how the early faithful lived their dedication. Many celibate women seemed to have lived at home; that was the case of the famous virgins and martyrs Cecilia and Agnes. But other women, either individually or in groups, appear to have served the Church from earliest times through their domestic work. This custom surely began with the services of the holy women to Christ and his apostles mentioned in the Gospel (cf. Luke 8:1-3). From that example other dedicated women continued to serve the apostles and presbyters in the years ahead as sisters in Christ (see 1 Cor. 9:2-6). Since they had more social independence, celibate Christian men may have lived alone or in communities. Since Christ himself and his apostles lived as a group of celibate men in complete dedication to God and his kingdom, it is quite possible that in subsequent decades other groups of faithful, particularly men, would want to imitate them in some way. Certainly Saint Justin in the middle of the second century seemed to have formed some kind of community around himself as he taught Catholic philosophy to his students, particularly about Christ as the Logos, or Saving Word, who recapitulated and elevated the best of Greek philosophy in himself. Since Justin himself seems to have been celibate, it is quite likely that many of his students would choose the same path, though one of them after Justin's death erred from the Church's teachings, as we saw above.

In the first part of the third century we have two letters, originally attributed to Clement of Rome, that are addressed to virgins of both sexes who lived in community. They are certainly praised and encouraged for their commitment, which is said to be like that of Christ and the apostles, but are severely warned against lack of charity and temptations against chastity.11

In the latter part of the third century continence and virginity were more and more connected with special consecrated states of life, which separated celibate men and women from other Christians. This was the beginning of the religious phenomenon, from the era of Saint Anthony onwards. By the time of Saint Augustine (late fourth century), many virgins had actually taken a kind of public vow and were called spouses of Christ; a Church ceremony was also established in the fourth century called the velatio, in which these women were given special veils to wear, signifying their mystical marriage with Christ. In the third century a ceremony began for the public profession of consecrated virgins before the bishop, which has been restored to the Church in recent times.

We do know however that in Saint Augustine's time there were still virgins and continent men called confessors who continued to live in the world; they most likely lived alone or with their families, and would meet frequently in groups for common prayer and support. In 590 Gregory the Great also refers to celibate men and women living in the world, encouraging them to be generous, and not to fall into a lukewarm dedication.

In later centuries however, perhaps due to the barbarian invasions with the resulting chaos in society, and also due in part to the phenomenal growth of monasteries and convents, the charism of continence among the lay faithful in the middle of the world — motivated by the desire to imitate Christ and to spread his kingdom — largely disappeared from the Church. The practice of virginity or celibacy became almost exclusively restricted to ordained ministers and to those in religious orders.

End Notes

Cf. Gran Enciclopedia Rialp, Vol.5, section on "Celibato" n.1 (Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Rialp, 1991), 450.

A text from the Jewish Mishna (Keth.62b) speaks of the famous Rabbi Akiba who abstained from marital relations with his wife for twelve years in order to study the Torah. The Mishna (meaning Second Law) was a series of oral traditions on the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures; they were compiled and handed down by rabbis in the century following the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

With regard to the celibacy of the clergy, Stefan Heid and others have given ample evidence that the practice of continence, or abstaining from sexual relations, was part of a priest's and bishop's commitment, even if they were married. Through a scholarly analysis of New Testament sources and early Church documents, they demonstrate that the celibacy and continence of the clergy, including deacons, is a perennial tradition that has its roots in the life of Christ and his apostles, and was not a mere man-made law or juridical discipline from the fourth or fifth century. See Stefan Heid, Celibacy in the Early Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000).

Clement of Rome, Letter to Corinthians, Ch. 38.2. Quoted from Ancient Christian Writers, edited by J. Quasten and Joseph Plumpe (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Bookshop, 1946), 32.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp (n.5). from Ibid, p.98.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Philadelphians (n.4). from Ibid, p.86.

St. Justin Martyr, Apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius nn.15 and 29, taken from Ancient Christian Writers, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1997), 32.

Athenagoras of Athens, Apology to Marcus Aurelius, chapter 33, taken from Ancient Christian Writers, (London: The Newman Press, 1956), 74.

Ibid., chapter 34.

This statement was preserved in an Arabic document (see Leslie W. Barnard, Athenagoras [Paris: Editiones Beauchesne, 1972], 55). Also R. Walzer, Galen on Jews and Christians (Oxford, 1949), 19-20.

See Joannes Quasten, Patrology (Vol. I), (Utrecht-Antwerp: Spectrum Publishers, 1966), 58-59.

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Rev. Michael E. Giesler obtained his doctorate in theology form the University of Navarre (Spain). He is the author of a book and several articles on Sacred Scripture and the natural law, along with a series of audio tapes on the marks of the Church and the writings of Pope John Paul II. He has also recently published two books of historical fiction on the lives of the early Christians. He is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and co-founder of the Midwest Theological Forum, an educational service that sponsors conferences and workshops for diocesan priests. Father Giesler is a priest of the prelature Opus Dei; he was raised in Chicago and since 1989 has been stationed at the Wespine Study Center in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to his service to lay people, he has given many reflections and retreats to diocesan priests, along with individual spiritual direction.