44. Affective maturity presupposes an awareness that love
has a central role in human life. In fact, as I have written in the encyclical
Redemptor Hominis, "Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that
is incomprehensible for himself; his life is meaningless, if love is not
revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it
and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.(126)
We are speaking of a love that involves the entire person,
in all his or her aspects - physical, psychic and spiritual - and which is
expressed in the "nuptial meaning" of the human body, thanks to which
a person gives oneself to another and takes the other to oneself. A properly
understood sexual education leads to understanding and realizing this
"truth" about human love. We need to be aware that there is a
widespread social and cultural atmosphere which "largely reduces human
sexuality to the level of something commonplace, since it interprets and lives
it in a reductive and impoverished way by linking it solely with the body and
with selfish pleasure."(127) Sometimes the very family situations in which
priestly vocations arise will display not a few weaknesses and at times even
serious failings.
In such a context, an education for sexuality becomes more
difficult but also more urgent. It should be truly and fully personal and
therefore should present chastity in a manner that shows appreciation and love
for it as a "virtue that develops a person's authentic maturity and makes him
or her capable of respecting and fostering the 'nuptial meaning' of the
body."(128)
Education for responsible love and the affective maturity of
the person are totally necessary for those who, like the priest, are called to
celibacy, that is, to offer with the grace of the Spirit and the free response
of one's own will the whole of one's love and care to Jesus Christ and to his
Church. In view of the commitment to celibacy, affective maturity should bring
to human relationships of serene friendship and deep brotherliness a strong,
lively and personal love for Jesus Christ. As the synod fathers have written,
"A love for Christ, which overflows into a dedication to everyone, is of
the greatest importance in developing affective maturity. Thus the candidate,
who is called to celibacy, will find in affective maturity a firm support to
live chastity in faithfulness and joy."(129)
Since the charism of celibacy, even when it is genuine and
has proved itself, leaves one's affections and instinctive impulses intact,
candidates to the priesthood need an affective maturity which is prudent, able
to renounce anything that is a threat to it, vigilant over both body and
spirit, and capable of esteem and respect in interpersonal relationships
between men and women. A precious help can be given by a suitable education to
true friendship, following the image of the bonds of fraternal affection which
Christ himself lived on earth (cf. Jn. 11:5).
Human maturity, and in particular affective maturity,
requires a clear and strong training in freedom, which expresses itself in
convinced and heartfelt obedience to the "truth of one's own being, to the
"meaning" of one's own existence, that is to the "sincere gift
of self" as the way and fundamental content of the authentic realization
of self.(130) Thus understood, freedom requires the person to be truly master
of oneself, determined to fight and overcome the different forms of selfishness
and individualism which threaten the life of each one, ready to open out to
others, generous in dedication and service to one's neighbor. This is important
for the response that will have to be given to the vocation, and in particular
to the priestly vocation, and for faithfulness to it and to the commitments
connected with it, even in times of difficulty. On this educational journey
toward a mature, responsible freedom, the community life of the seminary can
provide help.(131)
Intimately connected with formation to responsible freedom
is education of the moral conscience Such education calls from the depths of
one's own "self" obedience to moral obligations and at the same time
reveals the deep meaning of such obedience. It is a conscious and free
response, and therefore a loving response, to God's demands, to God's love.
"The human maturity of the priest - the synod fathers write - should
include especially the formation of his conscience. In order that the candidate
may faithfully meet his obligations with regard to God and the Church and
wisely guide the consciences of the faithful he should become accustomed to
listening to the voice of God, who speaks to him in his heart, and to adhere
with love and constancy to his will."(132)
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