Tonight, we will continue exploring the 10
Commandments. We started with the 10th
and 9th, which dealt with the interior acts of the will. We then moved on to the 8th which
dealt with verbal sins. The 7th
began the section of commandments that dealt with exterior physical acts. We continue that section of the Commandments
tonight with the 6th commandment,
You shall not commit adultery
In the first part of this post, we will discuss chastity and
sexuality in general. In the second, we
will zero in specifically on marriage and family life.
This commandment deals with sexuality. It is important
to note the Church views sexuality as involving the total body and soul. In the
words of the Catechism (2332), sexuality incorporates” the capacity to love and to
procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of
communion with others.” This Commandment
incorporates all of human sexuality,
not just acts of intercourse.
Each of us has a sexual identity, male or female. Our differences, which are not just physical,
but moral and spiritual as well, are oriented towards the good of marriage and
family life. There is equal dignity between men and women, but not sameness.
How is sexuality related to the virtue of chastity? I have referenced chastity before but it is
important for our discussion of this commandment so here is the definition
again. You can see how it relates to
sexuality. 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, 2337).
Chasity involves both the proper living out of our sexuality
within ourselves, and also how we it “give it away” to others. All of the passions that make up our
sexuality must be under the control of the unified self. They have to be directed by the powers of
reason, as well as be under the influence of divine grace. To this end, study of morality is important,
as is prayer, self-discipline, and access to the Sacraments.
Chastity is both a virtue and a gift. It is under the
cardinal virtue of temperance, which
you may recall from a previous post is the moral virtue that moderates
the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. I listed it as one of the twelve fruits of the
Holy Spirit in a previous post. I defined the fruit there as moderation
and control of the physical appetites, not controlled by emotions when
faced with temptation. By doing
what we can on our part to live the virtue of chastity, we are more inclined to
be able to receive the gift of chastity.
It is a wonderful dynamic of Christian life that we can aim towards
something, and have the achievement of it be both of natural and supernatural
origin.
Chastity helps us practice love (charity) appropriately. It denotes how we best make a gift of
ourselves to another. This means not
just in the marital act, but also in friendship, and the bonds between priests
and religious in that state.
The Catechism calls out several sins against chastity, which
I did list in a previous post. I will
re-post here.
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.
7) Homosexual acts These are relations of a sexual nature between two persons of the same gender.
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.
7) Homosexual acts These are relations of a sexual nature between two persons of the same gender.
Seeing this last topic is so sensitive, and I have discussed
it before, I will simply repost here what the Catechism teaches in its entirety
so there is no misunderstanding. Perhaps
a topic for a separate post, there is a lot of intense conflict in the Church
these days because various groups and individuals are emphasizing one part of
the following teaching, and are not talking about it in its entirety:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who
experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the
same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in
different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of
grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law.
They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a
genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they
be approved.
2358 The
number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not
negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for
most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and
sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be
avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if
they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the
difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that
teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship,
by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely
approach Christian perfection.
Despite sexuality in some way being incorporated in all we are
and do, it is most acutely expressed in
the conjugal act between a man and a woman.
The sexual act is not just biological, but it is expressive of the
innermost being of the person, including the spiritual. The
act has two ends, the good of the spouses
, and the transmission of life. In other words, the act carries the two-fold
obligation of fidelity and fecundity.
Regarding fidelity, the
act is a total self-giving of one person to another. One, therefore, cannot execute this act, and
be committed to more than one person.
This is why this act is proper only within the bond of marriage. I have spoken about marriage in several posts
before, so there is no need to go into too much detail here. Here is a link to a one I did very early on
that speaks about the anxiety many feel about it today, as well as one I did
more recently on the Sacrament of Matrimony.
Regarding the second
end, fecundity, the act is naturally
fruitful, as in the beautiful words of the Catechism (2366), springs
from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment.” Any act that deliberately excludes this
possibility is therefore, unnatural, and immoral. In a
post I did on contraception, I wrote the following:
Let us read the exact
words of the Catechism on this matter, which quote the 1968 encyclical Humane Vitae. "Every action which, whether in anticipation
of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its
natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render
procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil." (p.2370) When
we introduce something to thwart fecundity, into to an act that is designed by
God to promote fecundity, we do grave evil. The conjugal act is
oriented towards a certain good and a certain truth as we have
seen. By interfering with these, contraception doesn't just do
that, it fosters dire consequences for humanity as a whole, as we have seen.
(The consequences I
was referring to were the ones that come with a decrease in population, which we have discussed
extensively in this blog. )
Children are indeed a gift,
not something we are owed, and certainly not to be discarded. Families,
especially large ones, are a sign of God’s blessing and the parent’s
generosity. Those who bear the
cross of not being able to bear children can still exhibit the traits of faithful
and generous love by adopting children or serving them in other ways.
Earlier, we listed sins as against chastity. Here are some sins specifically against marriage
(which I have also listed before).
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 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).
2) Divorce This is breaking of 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).
As I wrote then:
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.
We desperately need a renewal of appreciation for chastity,
sexuality, marriage, and family, in the world, and in the Church today. There is a battle going on, and we must take
a stand. There are those inside and
outside the Church who wish to minimize the importance of these teachings, or
even go as far to say they are optional, or that they might change. We
must resist the strong temptation to ignore these teaching. We are called to love with our whole selves, soul and body, and our sexuality is a part of that. It cannot be set aside. It is a part of who we are and if we seek to
repress it or direct it in places it should not, only bad things happen. Let us
strive to live this 6th commandment everyday, and with the help of
God, be victorious in the fight to be chaste, and win the prize of eternal life
.
Joseph most chaste, pray for us.
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