Robert —

The Church has always taught that we may not mutilate ourselves. We may not destroy or incapacitate or compromise any bodily function unless health or survival depend on it, and, only then, in proportion to the benefit gained. God calls us to be free and full human beings, who can use our reason, with the aid of grace, to control our inordinate desires.

If you are truly repentant after such a deed as the one you are contemplating, you can confess the sin and be restored to receiving Communion but true repentance is the key.

In the Scripture you reference, Christ refers to those who become eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom, and says that he who is able to accept it, let him accept it.

It is therefore clear he is speaking about voluntary celibacy, not self-castration, because the activity he speaks of, is something that:

• is undertaken for the kingdom
• is something that is a calling, and
• difficult to bear.

Mary Ann

Hi, Robert —

Generally Matthew 19:12 is understood as a eunuch in a spiritual sense, i.e., one who renounces marriage. Castration would fall under the category of self-mutilation, which would be forbidden.
You also have to be very careful with surgical castration since no reputable doctor will do one except in the context of sex reassignment.

There is no spiritual enlightenment that comes with castration. In fact, you are deprived of the graces and rewards that come with battling sexual temptations. You can't expect an award for valor or a Purple Heart from God if you never went into battle. Sexual temptations are a means of attaining purity.

I am not sure what you mean by my sexual feelings have been my Achilles Heel. I think this is true for a lot of people, if not most people. I can't judge whether your struggle with sexual issues is harder than anyone else's; I can just say that nearly everyone struggles with sexual issues to a significant degree, and a great many struggle to an overwhelming degree so don't be discouraged simply because you have sexual issues; everyone does. You should consult a psychiatrist for many months before going through with this (not that it's acceptable if a psychiatrist endorses it).

Remember a few things:

1. This operation is irreversible.
2. You need to consult a psychiatrist and a reputable doctor (not the one who would do the operation) long beforehand, to establish the side effects.
3. This will inhibit, not enhance, your spiritual enlightenment.

Eric

OK, let's look at the verse. Starting at verse 8-12:

He said to them,

The context is Jesus's strict teachings on marriage, and the Apostle's reply that, if that is so,
it is better not to marry. So the context is celibacy: the voluntary choice not to marry.

Jesus replies,

Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.

• What word is he talking about? "It is better not to marry."
• What does "but only those to whom it has been given" mean?

He's referring to a vocation, a call and grace from God. So, not only is he talking about celibacy, he's talking about a vocation of celibacy given by God.

Then he goes on to discuss eunuchs, beginning For. Now when you see a For, you should always ask what it's there for. It means He's about to link what he just said about the vocation of celibacy to what He is about to say.

Now He discusses the term eunuch in three senses.

1. One, those who are born malformed in some way that has the effect of preventing reproduction.
2. Then he discusses "others were made that way by men." Here he is referring to true eunuchs; the castrated.
3. Finally he discusses "eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven." This kind of "eunuchhood" involves renouncing marriage for the kingdom of Heaven. In other words, those with a vocation to celibacy, as he was discussing earlier.

Note that He is distinguishing these men from the castrated ones.

He is laying out three categories:

1. those malformed at birth
2. those who are castrated, and
3. those who have a vocation to celibacy.

Finally he says, "He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." He is referring here to the last category: the vocation to celibacy which he discussed earlier. Remember what He said earlier: Not everyone can accept this word.

• What word?: "It is better not to marry."

If what you are arguing is true — that Jesus is not referring to the vocation of celibacy but to castration — you have to believe that Jesus is arguing that every man, if he can accept it, should be castrated. This makes no sense.

• Where does the priesthood come in?

Well, in the Latin Rite and western countries, the norm for priests is to take them from those who have a vocation to celibacy. This verse would also apply equally well to monks, however.

So to sum up, the context, which starts off by addressing the question of divorce and Jesus's strict views on monogamy, is that of whether it is better off to marry or not. Jesus says it is better not to marry, and then discusses three types of eunuchs, distinguishing those he is talking about [those who are eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven] from the castrated and malformed. Then he urges anyone who can accept a vocation to celibacy to do so.

Castration has never been accepted by the Church as a valid way to serve God. It has always been condemned as mutilation. In fact, there is one individual, Origen, who was well-known and well-respected in his day, except that he castrated himself. He was never made a saint, despite being equal to many saints, possibly due in part to his castration. Anyway, no one, of any respected opinion in the history of the Church, has ever read that verse as you are reading it.
In the Old Testament, those who were castrated were excluded from the assembly of the Lord, so Jesus would not have recommended that. With respect to your comment about interpreting this, let me ask you a question:

• Which is more likely to be correct, your personal interpretation or the one handed down from the Apostles and believed universally in the Church throughout its whole existence?
• By what authority do you decide against overwhelming odds that you are correct?
• Are you a Scripture scholar?
• Are you a history scholar?
• Have you studied ancient Judaism?
• What degrees do you have?

You said:
. . . this sentence must be taken literally since this is what He said.

To this I challenge you:

• Have you cut off your hands yet? (Matthew 5:30)
• Have you plucked out your eyes? (Mark 9:47)

When you have cut off your hands and your feet and plucked out your eyes, then you can go and get castrated.

• What does your psychologist/therapist think of your plans?

Eric