Since the beginning of the Church, men have been ordained deacons, priests, and bishops. Each "degree" of Holy Orders requires the ordained to handle a unique set of responsibilities and to live a certain state in life. None of the degrees can be skipped. In other words, each priest is an ordained deacon and each bishop is an ordained priest.

The deacon plays a limited sacramental role in the Church. Yet, his knowledge and experience in family life and the "work-a-day" world equip him to bring secular-world insight to his role as deacon. What does a deacon do? He assists the priests and bishops in the administrative and pastoral care of souls. He uses the knowledge he's gained as husband, father, businessman, teacher, leader, etc., to empathize with those who seek his help, guidance, and compassion. A deacon brings a wealth of experience and insight to his ordained ministry. He may also bring with him a wife and children. Married men can become permanent deacons; but they cannot remarry if their wife dies. Single men who are ordained deacons cannot get married. Most priests are not married. Bishops cannot be married.

Here's a tough question for you. Who is called to live a chaste life: the married deacon, the celibate priest, or the bishop? Unless you answered "all three," you're incorrect. God calls every man and woman to live a chaste life from childhood until death.

My dictionary defines chaste as pure in thought and act, modest, abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse, free from all taint of what is lewd or salacious. After reading this definition, can you think of any man or woman, whether married or single, who is not called to live a chaste life? I can't.

I'm a married deacon. Yet, as a married man, I am, like every unmarried person, called to abstain from unlawful sexual intercourse, to reject impure thoughts, and to avoid lewd and salacious behavior. Every bishop, priest, religious, virgin, single, and divorced person is called to acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2332) tells us, "Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul." Man is comprised of both a physical body and an immortal soul. They are inseparable. When we sin against chastity we harm both body and soul. Unconfessed sins against the virtue of chastity condemn our body and soul to hell.

CCC 2333 says, "Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity." The Church calls each of us to act out of conscious and free choice, not by blind impulses within us or by mere external constraint, but by our deep, internal love for God and an immense desire to please Him.

Finally, CCC 2336 says, "Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins." In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." The Church has always taught that the sixth commandment (thou shall not commit adultery) encompasses the whole of human sexuality. Every man and woman, regardless of his or her state in life, sins against the sixth commandment when he or she ceases to be chaste.

Back in the 1999, Jason Evert, a young Catholic author and apologist, wrote a small, 32 page book on chastity entitled Pure Love. This short and easy-to-read book is the most pertinent I've read on this topic. I recommend you order yourself a copy from Catholic Answers¹. Then share its marvelous insight with your spouse, children, relatives, and friends. Today, Jason and his wife Crystalina give talks around the country on living a chaste life. The next time they speak near you, make plans to attend. It will be time well spent.

Pure Love reminds us that sex is a wonderful thing-an incredible gift from heaven! When you live a chaste life, you cease trying to manipulate others in order to receive self-gratification. Sex outside of marriage cheapens any relationship because it seeks intimacy without commitment and fulfillment without sacrifice. Mr. Evert tells us, "Mutual sacrifice intensifies love; mutual selfishness snuffs it out."

God does not create bad or evil things. Everything He creates is good and beautiful. Through our fallen nature and our tendency to sin, we take the good and beautiful creations of God and color them bad and evil. This is what man's misguided search for happiness and pleasure has done to sex: discolored it.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are models of chastity. Are you striving to remain chaste? God in His wisdom understands that either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets his passions and desires dominate and becomes unhappy. According to one's state in life, every man and woman is called to live a chaste life.

¹ You can reach Catholic Answers at 888-281-8000 or on the web at www.catholic.com.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 2332-65, 2394-95. Also, pull out your "Catholic" Bible and reference Mt 5:27-28, 37; 19:8-9; Mk 10:11-12; 1 Cor 6:15-20; 7:1-16; Gal 5:22-26; Titus 2:1-6.