Birds and the Bees

Discovering the true picture of love

Genesis 2:18-25

The LORD God said:  “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.

             One of the most ironic things about the Catholic Church – and quite frankly, a little irritating too – is how much we talk about “love."  And yet all our church leaders are celibate men!  Does that strike anyone else as a little odd??  We tell you whom you can marry and whom you cannot marry (gay marriage is out).  We tell people they have to get an annulment after a divorce, before they can get remarried.  We even tell people what they can and cannot do in the BEDROOM – no contraception and use Natural Family Planning.  In fact, at Immaculate Conception School, it’s a priest and a pediatrician who give the “Birds and the Bees Talk” to the 6th grade boys.  This year it is going to be Fr. Andrew, so mark your calendars!  People may rightly ask: “What could celibate priests possibly know about love and sex??”  Doesn’t celibacy undermine our credibility to talk about love?

             That would certainly be true except for one fact: priests don’t drink deeply a draught of human love, but we do drink deeply of divine love.  Or, changing the metaphor: you can wade into the river of love at its lower levels, or you can climb up to the peak from where it cascades down, and swim in the pool of God’s love.  You see, love is not first and foremost a human thing; it is first a divine thing.  In other words, love’s truest picture is God’s love, and in comparison to that, human love looks like a photo-negative.  God's love is what celibate priests try to experience and share.

             In the first reading from Genesis, God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a suitable partner for him.”  Critics of Catholicism will quickly say, “Ha!  See, priests should be married; the Bible says so!”  Not so fast.  Jesus will complete what his Dad said in Genesis by adding, “Some will be celibate for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:12).  In other words, some (meaning priests) will be celibate so they can teach others what love is like in its homeland of heaven, in the Kingdom of heaven.  You see, love is not what we think it is; love is what God thinks it is.  If you want to know what love is, ask someone who knows what God thinks.

             Would you please raise your hand if there’s someone you struggle to love?  Yeah, that would be pretty much the whole human race.  So, how will you know how best to love other people?  There are tons of self-help books and transcendental gurus lining the bookstore shelves.  Or you can swim up the river of love to its source, to gaze at the true picture of Love, that is, at God’s love.  And do you know what you’ll find when you get there?  Someone has already gotten there before you.  But don’t worry, we priests have been waiting for you!  Jump in, the water feels great!

            Praised be Jesus Christ!