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A man who has committed himself to Christ in an exclusive and total act of dedication gives Christ a claim on His entire life.

Those men called to the Priesthood who surrender family life with reluctance, as a sacrifice wrung from them by circumstance, are never as happy as those who are overwhelmed by the knowledge of God's love for them and see beauty and freedom in this total self-giving to God and His Will in imitation of Christ.

Those men called to the Priesthood who surrender family life with reluctance, as a sacrifice wrung from them by circumstance, are never as happy as those who are overwhelmed by the knowledge of God's love for them and see beauty and freedom in this total self-giving to God and His Will in imitation of Christ.

Christ promised huge rewards for all who leave 'houses, lands or children' for His sake; and His promise holds true today, for all who put their trust in Him and believe what He has said on this subject of consecrated virginity or celibacy.

In Being ordained to the Diaconate, a man leaps across the fence into a 'sacred space' which represents the life of the ordained celibate. When one day he speaks, as a priest, to the people, he will resemble Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes; therefore he should resolve that he will never speak, act or think in ways which Jesus Christ his Master, the Son of God, would not have done.

Priestly celibacy enables a man to move towards Heaven on an uncluttered highway, without distractions. He can be single-minded in Christ's service until his old age, when he can enter Heaven, and be rewarded for all Eternity for his self-giving, and enjoy the bliss of God's love, with all the Saints.

Christ's self-sacrifice, for the fulfilment of the Father's plan, was total. A priest, more than anyone, can only benefit his Sacred Ministry fully and the people he serves if he imitates His Master's self-sacrificing love even to accepting celibacy, willingly, so that he is totally committed to Christ and His Church, without reserve.

There is no easy way of being a Christian. The Lord asks each of us to sacrifice whatever impedes our particular vocation. Traditionally, He has asked priests to sacrifice hopes of marriage and parenthood. Religious make sacrifices to live the evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience. Married people too must be chaste, and faithful to each other, open to life, and making sacrifices to care for their families.

God understands the sacrifice of celibate men who serve Him. When priests have lived well, they have been Christ amongst others, and have drawn down grace in torrents upon a darkened world. These men, when they die, are greeted by Christ and Our Lady at the edge of Heaven; then they make their way to the Father, in the heights, Who sees in them the image of His Son.

Priests, especially, must not regret their state of life. We cannot avoid all suffering, in this life, but God can help us to bear it. No-one should envy people who have another vocation. Which is the greater sacrifice: doing without marriage, to become a priest, or suffering within a difficult marriage, to be faithful to the Lord's teaching? God the Father will reward all who make sacrifices for His sake, since He is just.

Celibacy is about love: Love wants to give up everything for the Beloved; and, for the priest, the Beloved is the Father Who has called him and asked him to act as His Son.

Christ is explaining to all who are called to be celibate priests that in their celibate state they can imitate Him, by His grace, not treating celibacy as a burden but a help to total self-donation to God, in the Church. They can be confident of receiving the necessary graces; and seminarians have the inestimable privilege of having Jesus Christ Really Present amongst them in the Blessed Sacrament of the tabernacle and altar.

There are many people who look upon the Church's teaching on celibacy as being something medieval that belongs to a time of fairy stories and superstition. They have no realisation that it is an heroic way of life on a par with the costly ventures undertaken by military forces. The military go out in order to save a nation, but the priests to save souls, by a radical way of life, like that of Jesus.