The Catholic Girl's Guide

Description

ref:12.7 (relations with opposite sex):

7. Beware of intimacies with a member of the opposite sex, for such a friendship is nearly always dangerous; still less ought you to entertain friendships which are unworthy of the name. I refer to sinful connections, or keeping company, that are the occasion of sin. This subject I shall treat at greater length in another place In the mean time I will make only one remark, namely this, that until you are at least eighteen years of age you should not keep regular company or cultivate familiar friendship with a person of the opposite sex.

ref:37.9 (idem):

6. Remember also that maidens who boldly fix their gaze upon persons of the opposite sex, doing this, not from mere curiosity, but with some measure of sensual desire, are either already unchaste, or will become so before very long. St. Bernard tells us that if persons of different sexes take deliberate satisfaction in contemplating each other and yet no sinful desires arise within them, it is a more wonderful thing than if a dead man were to return to life.

ref:42.4-5 (girls' 3 vocations):

1. Of the three paths before you when you stand at the parting of the ways one leads straight onward; it is the shortest, most direct way to heaven, and is known as the Religious life. The second trends away to the right; it also leads to the same bright, eternal goal, by a slightly circuitous route; it is the state of the unmarried in the world. The third road leads away to the left, into a hilly region; there are many pleasures and joys to be met with on that way, and also much toil and many sorrows; that is the married state. All these three states, I repeat most emphatically, are ordained by God; but any state is not fitted for any individual. Neither is it a matter of indifference to almighty God which state in life we choose for ourselves.

ref:46.35-56 (vocation of virginity):

1. You have seen, in my last three instructtions, how great is the happiness of those who have a Religious vocation. And you feel that this view of the subject is a correct one. Now let me tell you that one of the chief conditions and one of the greatest sacrifices of the Religious life can be fulfilled and accomplished without quitting the world. And that is indeed done by those girls who remain in the world and yet do not narry, but for the love of God preserve their virginity, and lead a chaste and holy life. In regard to this state some instruction is necessary. First of all, consider the true value of virginity.

[ref:46.52 (vocation to virginity in the world exceptional):]
2. A young girl may feel herself called neither to marry nor to become a Religious, but she may determine quite voluntarily to preserve her virginity while living in the world. In accordance with this resolution she may reject all offers of marriage, even the most advantageous. This case, however, is exceptional. To those for whom virginity has an attraction the all-wise Creator gives, as a rule, a desire for the Religious life, because it is in the cloister that virginity can be most easily and most surely preserved. Women who live in the world in a state of celibacy are, as a rule, those who, for some reason or other, have been prevented from either marrying or entering the cloister.

[ref:46.55 (being in the lesser-good state, analagous to Our Lady's not wanting to marry but preserve her virginity):]
4. […] why did He implant a longing for the cloister in her heart if this longing was never to be satisfied? It is plain that He acts thus in order to increase her merits. To find herself obliged to relinquish all hope of attaining the desired goal is the greatest and most painful of sacrifices. If she makes this sacrifice for the love of God, resigning herself to His will in a spirit of childlike submission, and striving to serve Him faithfully in the world, how great is the store of merit she lays up for herself in eternity!