On Celibacy

... friendship is so essential. Friendship helps us to know that we do not struggle alone, that even in our weakest moments we are loved. Friendship also offers us an opportunity for real intimacy outside of marriage. C.S. Lewis wrote, "Eros will have naked bodies; friendship, naked personalities."

“But married people are lonely, too, aren’t they Jenny?” he asked me.

I could only say yes. In each marriage, there are areas where the couple doesn’t meet perfectly. Rolheiser wrote: “If we are married, even if we are enjoying a healthy sexual relationship, nonetheless there will still remain, always, certain painful areas of inconsummation, places in our life and our soul where we sleep alone.”

On this side of paradise, we all experience some measure of loneliness, a restless searching that permeates the celibate season and continues into marriage. Although friends, spouses and family members meet many of our emotional needs, hidden within those needs are deep longings that can be fulfilled by God alone.

As we surrender those needs to the One who loves us best, we begin to trust that they will be met in due time. “Our hearts were made for You, O Lord,” Saint Augustine prayed. “And they are restless until they rest in you.”

From A Season of Celibacy - http://www.boundless.org/features/a0000941.html