SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE #4 - February 10th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

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SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE #4 - February 10th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

Editor's Note: This is a homily from Fr. Ben Daghir when he was a student studying for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a deacon when he delivered this message on the Feast of St. Scholastica, February 10, 2022.

Article:

Today we celebrate the Memorial of St. Scholastica. She was a virgin, celibate, and chaste spouse of Christ. 

The contemporary culture laughs at virginity, celibacy, and chastity - it mocks these virtues, and simply sees them as a weakness. 

God, on the other hand, calls many people to remain virgins for the sake of the Kingdom. Virginity, celibacy, and chastity are grounded not in the culture, but rather in Christ. 

There’s something particularly life-giving and powerful about virginal love. It participates in God’s love for humanity and Christ’s love for the Church. 

While preparing for this Memorial, of the Virgin St. Scholastica, I was reminded of one of the most influential books that I have read while in seminary. The book is written by Cardinal Cantalamessa and is entitled “Virginity.”

Cantalamessa discusses how God created the universe - ex nihilo, out of nothing. Therefore, only one party is involved in the creation of the universe. In fact, all the wild diversity of creation that we see from the stars to vast seas to plants, animals, and humans - all of this comes from God’s virginal love. Although the culture may laugh at virginity, the whole universe exists because of it. Virginal love is life-giving. 

We also see the outpouring of life through the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary. Mary gave birth to “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible.” Again, virginal love is life-giving.

Shifting from Creation and the Incarnation, we can turn our gaze to Christ on the Cross who wears the crown of Virginity. There we see the Virgin, the celibate, the chaste man - there we see our vocation, there we see happiness, and there we see life in its fullness.  

So, how do we respond to our contemporary culture that mocks virginity, celibacy and chastity?

G.K. Chesterton once stated, “Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts the culture the most.” 

The Virgin contradicts the culture to the extreme. Likewise, the celibate radically contradicts the culture. Quite similarly, the chaste person contradicts the culture in a beautiful way. 

May the Virgin St. Scholastica intercede for us that we become evangelists in the most convincing manner…by our witness. 

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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.