In this post, we will speak of other sins that are also serious offenses against chastity, and/or true marriage.
We did mention chastity in a previous post, but let's recall again her definition, so we can see exactly what these sins go against:
Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift. (Catechism of the Catholic Church p.2337)
Therefore, any sin against chastity is a sign that our sexuality is not fully integrated in our person, there is not unity of man in our bodily and spiritual being, and we are not making a gift of ourself to another. For example, those who practice homosexual sex, are going against how their bodies are designed. This reflects disunity within oneself and lack of integration. As we tried to show in the last post, people who engage in homosexual sex are really not making a true gift to each other, even if they sincerely think and/or say they are.
With that as a backdrop, here are the other sins against this virtue of chastity as described in Part Three, Article 6, of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
1) Lust This is a desire for sexual pleasure for its own sake, not for any unitive or procreative purposes.
2) Masturbation This is deliberate stimulation of the sexual organs in order to derive sexual pleasure.
3) Fornication This is a carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman.
4) Pornography This is displaying deliberately sexual acts to third parties, removing them from the intimacies of partners.
5) Prostitution This is paying, or accepting pay, for sexual pleasure.
6) Rape This is the forceful violation of the sexual intimacy of another person.
What is the common feature to all of these? They take the natural sexual act (as described in the last post), which is ordered to the good of spouses, and to the generation of children, and distort it for purposes it is not created for. These sinful acts are for sexual pleasure alone, which is not the ultimate goal of sex. They are for purposes other than lasting intimacy between a man and a woman. They are all unnatural acts, even though unfortunately, they may seem natural for those who fail to control their urges, and consistently give in to them. They represent the actions of someone who, as we stated before, has not integrated his or her sexuality with his or her spirituality and morality, and whom is not therefore giving a total gift of him or herself to another, especially when he or she has sex with them.
In addition to these sins against chastity, the Catechism also lists sins that go directly against the good of natural marriage. However, to a degree, each can be considered a sin against chastity, as well, for reasons that should be evident.
1) Adultery This is sexual relations between two people, at least one of whom is married to another party.
2) Divorce This is breaking of the the marital covenant the two spouses entered into, which states they will love one another until death do them part.
3) Polygamy This is being "married" to more than one person at a time.
4) Incest This is sexual relations between relatives or in-laws.
5) Sexual abuse This is forced sexual activity by an adult on a child or adolescent. (The Catechism lists it here as it often connected to incest, but it can also be totally non-familial, as well.)
6) "Free unions" This is sexual relations between people who have not made a commitment to each other (living together before marriage would fall under this category).
What do all of these have in common? They go against the natural desire in the human heart of man for love that is exclusive, permanent, and life-giving, the kind of love that can only be found in natural marriage. They go against the good of the family; the source, fruit, and sustainer of that kind of love. They ultimately do not satisfy.
The degree to which an individual is culpable in all these offenses in both lists, as well as homosexual sex, can be mitigated by factors such as destitution, blackmail, or social pressure. However, the acts in and of themselves remain seriously sinful.
Unfortunately, reading through both these lists, one can see that members of the Church have not immune from these by any means. These sins, as well as that of homosexual acts, have unfortunately been committed by both lay and clergy in the Body of Christ. When a member of the Church commits these sins, they entice others to do the same. This is grave scandal. We must pray through the intercession of the chaste hearts of Joseph and Mary that these sins can be purged from the Church, so that she may once again shine in splendor before all the nations, and call others to a fully integrated bodily and spiritual life in Christ Jesus, the best life of all.
I offer final thought. Some may see these lists and say, "How can you put two consensual adults having sex (be it heterosexual or homosexual) on the same list as things like rape and prostitution and child abuse?" Well, besides the venerable saying that "a sin is a sin", I will also offer up the following: If we want to get rid of these severe problems of rape and child abuse, the only solution is to recapture the entire holistic, uplifting view of the human person and sexuality that the Church teaches. (There is more than what I spoke of in these recent posts, I encourage everyone to read the entire Part Three, Article Six of the Catechism, and/or summaries of Saint John Paul II's Theology of the Body to find out more. ) The sex abuse crisis (which was mostly a crisis of homosexual priests preying on adolescent boys) occurred in the Church because her members were not living the fullness of her teaching. The predators had disunity in their lives. They preached and maybe lived social justice, but definitely did not preach nor did they live sexual morality. Their spirituality was definitely not integrated! Those who looked the other way (i.e. bishops and religious superiors) were not convinced that their sexual behaviors were sins; rather, they just thought they were diseases that could be cured medically, and didn't necessarily need moral and spiritual healing. To root out what society deems serious sin, all sin must be called out and purged, regardless if society deems some sins not serious, or perhaps not even sins at all. We have to learn from our experience what happens when we only call out some sin, and not others.
The virtue of purity is connected to chastity. Those who are impure lust after others, which can lead to any or all of the sexual sins noted above. Jesus condemns impurity as much as he condemns any of these sexual acts:
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28)
Therefore praying for purity is important for us to do to help us in our struggle against the temptation to engage in any of these sins. I will close this post with this beautiful prayer for purity to good and chaste Saint Joseph.
Prayer of St. Joseph for Purity
Guardian of virgins and holy father St. Joseph
To whose faithful custody Christ Jesus, innocence itself
And Mary, virgin of virgins was committed:
I pray and beseech you
By these dear pledges, Jesus and Mary,
That being preserved from all impurity
I may with spotless mind,
Pure heart,
And chaste body,
Ever most chastely serve Jesus and Mary
All the days of my life.
Amen.
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