Paul says clearly and forcibly that he would
desire all to remain unmarried like himself. However, in the next
verse he exempts from his advice those who do not control themselves.
What does he mean by this? There are some who have strong passions, or
who by self-indulgence have so strengthened their lower nature and
weakened their will-power, that lifelong continence seems beyond them.
Such persons, therefore, who know from experience that they will not
overcome temptation and sin, or who find the struggle too hard to
continue, he advises to marry.

We may now inquire whom Our Lord meant by those "to whom it is given."
Does He mean that the power of practicing virginal chastity is given
only to the selected few or to the many? St. Chrysostom, interpreting
His words, says that this gift of chastity "is given to those who
choose it of their own accord," adding that the "necessary help from
on high is prepared for all who wish to be victors in the struggle
with nature" (M. P. G., t. 58, c. 600). [1] St. Jerome tells us that
this gift "is given to those who ask it, who wish it and labor to
obtain it" (M. P. L., t. 26, c. 135). St. Basil explains that "to
embrace the evangelical mode of life is the privilege of every one."
(M. P. G., t. 32, c. 647.) To the sophistical objection that if all
persons practiced virginity marriage would cease, and so the human
race would perish, St. Thomas (Summa, 2a 2ae, Quaest. 189, art. 7)
gives the reply of St. Jerome, "This virtue is uncommon and desired by
comparatively few"; and then adds, "This fear is just as foolish as
that of one who hesitates to take a drink of water, for fear of drying
up the river."

Can it be said, then, that every boy and girl, with the exception
noted by St. Paul, is advised and exhorted to preserve virginal
chastity throughout life? To understand aright the answer to this
question, we must remember that there are two general courses of life,
the married and the unmarried, open to all; every person necessarily
being found in the one or the other. And each individual of the race
is privileged to make a free and voluntary choice of either condition;
no one having the right to interfere with this personal liberty, by
forbidding or prescribing wedlock to any properly qualified person.

Both these states have been created by God, and both are His gifts to
man. The nuptial tie, elevated to the dignity of a sacrament, is
likened by St. Paul to the union existing be