Anyone called to be single?

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Yes. I have become convinced that I am called to the single, chaste, celibate life. And that is all I need to say about it.
 
LilyM said:
Not in my experience. I know too many deeply dysfunctional married people and too many perfectly normal singles for me to think so.
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So, where these dysfunctional married people normal singles before, and marriage made them dysfunctional? Or where they dysfunctional before marriage, and were attracted to other dysfunctional people, instead of “normal” people? What are these perfectly normal singles you know to do? Avoid marriage to stay “normal”? What book did Jesus refer to when challenged in Mt 19?
Genesis 1:27-31 “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Michael
 
Norseman82 said:
Well, let’s face it, people have been affected by it, either directly or indirectly by the messages they receive from the secular culture which doesn’t value marriage like it used to. And look at the results.
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True. On the other hand, people who married young and lost their husband/wife years later may not want to remarry because they still feel married to their departed spouse. They cannot love another as they loved their husband/wife. I would say these people should remain unmarried. It would not be fair to another prospective spouse if they could not give themselves fully to them.
 
JohnnyReb said:
True. On the other hand, people who married young and lost their husband/wife years later may not want to remarry because they still feel married to their departed spouse. They cannot love another as they loved their husband/wife. I would say these people should remain unmarried. It would not be fair to another prospective spouse if they could not give themselves fully to them.
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Yeah, that’s one thing, they are still in the grieving stage, and maybe they would be most compatible with someone else who lost their spouse, but they are living proof that they were open to marriage in the first place and are not the one’s I am referring to.
 
JohnnyReb said:
True. On the other hand, people who married young and lost their husband/wife years later may not want to remarry because they still feel married to their departed spouse. They cannot love another as they loved their husband/wife. I would say these people should remain unmarried. It would not be fair to another prospective spouse if they could not give themselves fully to them.
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This would appear to be consistent with Sacred Scripture. If Paul had been a widower, 1 Cor 7 might appear to harmonize more with 1 Tim 3 and 4, as well as Titus, and Mt 19.

Michael
 
Norseman82 said:
Well, let’s face it, people have been affected by it, either directly or indirectly by the messages they receive from the secular culture which doesn’t value marriage like it used to. And look at the results.
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Not all single women are feminist like you’ve mentioned. Some chose to be single because they found their love rooted in Christ alone, and feel that they cannot love anyone else like it.

:love:
 
passioncrosslov said:
Not all single women are feminist like you’ve mentioned. Some chose to be single because they found their love rooted in Christ alone, and feel that they cannot love anyone else like it.

:love:
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And what about married people and people seeking to be married? Don’t they have love for Jesus Christ? And is not love for Jesus Christ also manifested in love for each other?
 
Norseman82 said:
And what about married people and people seeking to be married? Don’t they have love for Jesus Christ? And is not love for Jesus Christ also manifested in love for each other?
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Of course, they love Christ but their love for Christ is mediate, through a spouse, and that’s beautiful. But those who chose a single life for the love of Christ alone love Him immediately, like that of a religious. To truly love someone (an opposite sex) in an intimate way is, which I think, the most beautiful and highest form of love that a human being could experience. Those who chose to love Christ immediately love Him with that very love, espousal love, and I don’t think they need to become a religious to have such a intimate relationship with Our Lord. But yet, it is a gift.

🙂
 
BarbaraTherese said:
I dont think any call or vocation is more important or immediate etc. than any other…the issue is to me God’s Will for a person and discerning it and living it and nothing is higher than that no matter what God’s Will may be…

Blessings - Barb:)
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_14_5.gifJMJ
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Have you read St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, or the Dialogue of St. Catherine? You might find them inspiring. But anyway, you are not wrong, just not thorough… Thanks for sharing!

😃
 
I have heard others ask this question. Here are a couple of answers that I have heard from priests:
  1. NO. A person is called to be married or is called to enter into the religious life.
or
  1. POSSIBLY. Because the greater modern trend can itself call a person into BLESSED SINGLEHOOD a person may be single and yet consecrated to God. (just like some members of the OPUS DEI)
In my opinion? No. Just because you either dedicate your whole self to God by entering the religious life or you dedicate yourself to your husband where togeter you help eachother reach sainthood.
 
Grace283 said:
I have heard others ask this question. Here are a couple of answers that I have heard from priests:
  1. NO. A person is called to be married or is called to enter into the religious life.
or
  1. POSSIBLY. Because the greater modern trend can itself call a person into BLESSED SINGLEHOOD a person may be single and yet consecrated to God. (just like some members of the OPUS DEI)
In my opinion? No. Just because you either dedicate your whole self to God by entering the religious life or you dedicate yourself to your husband where togeter you help eachother reach sainthood.
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Are you implying that those of us who are not married and not priests/religious are inferior?
 
lak611 said:
Are you implying that those of us who are not married and not priests/religious are inferior?
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Some of us are called to marriage and parenthood, but God hasn’t seen fit to send us a spouse yet.

I think the implication here, though, is that the choice is either/or, and that a lay person can’t intentionally remain single but unconsecrated for life. That’s a very traditional Catholic view, but I don’t know if it still holds true.
 
sure does feel that way sometimes.

I am finally after 25 years of single life beginning to get the idea that maybe, just perhaps, it just might be my lot in life.🤷

I guess you could call it “a calling”, feels more like a “sentencing” though.
 
Grace283 said:
I have heard others ask this question. Here are a couple of answers that I have heard from priests:
  1. NO. A person is called to be married or is called to enter into the religious life.
In my opinion? No. Just because you either dedicate your whole self to God by entering the religious life or you dedicate yourself to your husband where togeter you help eachother reach sainthood.
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I spoke with a priest years ago about this. I had made a “deal” with myself that if I had not married within a certain amount of time I would consider entering religious life.

He disagreed.

He told me that a calling to the religious life is not a negative; as in the absence of a conjugal life or the running away from conjugal life. He said that in order for him to be a good priest and have a true calling he first had to know that he would make a good husband and father and through that knowledge freely choose to be a husband to the Bride of Christ, His Church, and a father to Christ’s followers.

So to enter religious life as an either/or would not be appropriate IMO.
 
Well I feel that some people are called to the celebate single’s life and be a lay person. I am called to a celebate single’s life and thought I was called to priesthood, that one the jury is still out. But I am using my celebacy for prayer and obedience plain and simple. Plus it is the teaching of the church to be a virgin and be celebate till married plain and simple. I feel that it is a great way to live, It is easy to say that either you marry or be in religious life… well what if you can’t find Mrs Right and dioceses turn you down and you are too old for a religious order. what do you do then? I beleive that Jesus can call certain people to be single and virgin for life to dedicate more time to prayer and sacrafice as penance. scoob.
 
fraisinette said:
Some of us are called to marriage and parenthood, but God hasn’t seen fit to send us a spouse yet.
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I thought the Cathechism stated that we choose our own spouses?

But what you said underscores another view: that being single is more of a (hopefully temporary) state of life than a permanent vocation.
 
Grace283 said:
I have heard others ask this question. Here are a couple of answers that I have heard from priests:
  1. NO. A person is called to be married or is called to enter into the religious life.
or
  1. POSSIBLY. Because the greater modern trend can itself call a person into BLESSED SINGLEHOOD a person may be single and yet consecrated to God. (just like some members of the OPUS DEI)
In my opinion? No. Just because you either dedicate your whole self to God by entering the religious life or you dedicate yourself to your husband where togeter you help eachother reach sainthood.
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How about single lay people like St Catherine of Siena, and St Rose of Lima (both secular/lay Dominicans rather than nuns)? Their examples help many to reach sainthood so in that sense they perform that same function of wives.

And no-one can say they were less than totally dedicated to God in spite of not taking religious vows nor marrying in order to sanctify a husband.
 
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