With all due respect to people on this thread, if we have a young man who wants to live a celibate life, even at age 25, shouldn’t we be encouraging this person?
I get the sense that we are all saying “Keep your options open because you’re young.” There are thousands of men and women who become consecrated lay people before age 25 and they commit themselves to a consecrated life, outside of the religious life. These men and women consecrate themselves until death.
There are religious and clerics who make vows of celibacy before the age of 25, until death.
We have had saints who committed themselves to lives of celibacy when they were in their teens.
Today we have communities for lay people, such as Modanna House. These young men and women join at age 18 by 21 they make a vow of celibacy until death. They are not religious. They do not live in community like religious do. They live in loosely structured settings where they get together once or twice a week. The rest of the week they go to work and bring the Gospel to their enviornment.
We have Secular Religious Orders where many members who are celibate make a vow of celibacy at age 21 and join as early as 16. In the USA this is not allowed, because the legal age of majority is 18. There is a conflict between the secular religious order and the state. Therefore, they can’t join until their 18th birthday.
I don’t understand the lack of encouragement to someone who does not feel the call to have a family. If one does not have a call to have a family, the obvious call is to a life of celibacy. We should encourage that call.
Then there are many people who marry for life by age 25. That is rarely discouraged. Rarely do we tell a 25-year old not to marry, but keep his options open and wait to see what God wants. We encourage them to be happy. Let’s encourage this person to be happy.
If someone said that they want to marry, but not have a family, then we have a problem. But the OP said that he is not in any relationship, because he does not want a family. It sounds to me, unless I misunderstand the OP, that he is ruling out marriage.
Celibacy is a state of life that should be encouraged. It speaks about the Kingdom of God and of the Church’s fidelity to her only spouse, Jesus Christ. It is a prophetic way of living, especially when it is embraced by a lay person. It makes a greater impact on those whom we meet and touch, because they expect celibacy from religious and clerics. Most people do not expect to find lay people consecrated to celibacy. Thus, when the individual has an opportunity to speak of life in the Kingdom of God in the here and now, he is speaking about eternity. This is a powerful witness that brings many to Christ.
Fraternally,
JR
