Single life isn't always the unhappy lot of those who just can't seem to find a spouse. On the contrary, it can be a holy vocation within the lay state lived out, often in a hidden way, by souls who have had an authentic encounter with Christ.

Here, author Luanne Zurlo sheds light on this little-understood vocation discerned and embraced by a small but growing number of single persons who neither marry nor enter religious life.

These souls are joyfully single for a greater purpose, nourishing both the world and the Church with the unique spiritual strengths and graces that God gives to souls who deliberately remain single for Him "€" in the world but not of it.