When God created man and woman He created human sexually. Do you know why human sexuality is beautiful? Everything God creates is beautiful. Everything God creates has purpose and value. And everything God creates is meant to draw us, His children, home to Him in heaven. Gen 1:27-28, 31 says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiple, and fill the earth and subdue it.’…And God saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good.”

Human sexuality is a powerful desire that thrives within most men and women. At times it can consume our entire being. It is God’s hope that each one of us will harness this powerful desire and direct it toward God and His plan for us. The Church teaches that our sexuality can be properly expressed in two ways: first, in a celibate commitment as a priest, a member of a religious order, or an unmarried person; or second, in a sacramental marriage where the spouses share their life with each other and procreate with God the creator. Whether unmarried or married, we are called to shun impure thoughts, desires, words, and actions. Promiscuous sex is a grave sin against God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2334-35) says, “Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God. Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity.” Fecundity is the ability to be fruitful, to multiple. Sexual pleasure is the most forceful and intense natural pleasure. It is God’s gift to husband and wife. When husband and wife share the intensity of sexual pleasure and the warmth and intimacy of marital love, they open themselves to full communion with God in bringing forth new life.

What is chastity? My American Heritage Dictionary defines chastity as the act of abstaining from illicit sexual acts or thoughts. My Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Dictionary says this about chastity, “The virtue that regulates one’s sexual thoughts, desires, and actions. For the married person, chastity tempers the desire for legitimate marital acts for the good of the spouse and the family; for the unmarried person, chastity prohibits all willful sexual thoughts, desires, and actions. Primarily a natural virtue, chastity helps one to see the dignity of other persons as children of God and not as sexual objects.” Many people have the misconception that chastity is only pertinent to the unmarried individual. Every man and woman is called to chastity. CCC 2394 tells us that Christ is the model of chastity; and, each baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state in life. A chaste person never uses another person as a sexual object. Instead, the chaste person treats another person with all the dignity God gives each son and daughter.

Don’t confuse abstinence with chastity. They do not achieve the same end. When a man or woman practices sexual abstinence, he or she avoids sexual pleasure. Doesn’t “abstinence” sound like a temporary situation? It is. Chastity is a permanent way of life that begins at puberty and continues until death. When a baptized person lives a chaste life, he finds peace and strength in his ability to focus on God, [spouse], family, and friends. The chaste person does not allow sexual temptations, passions, and desires to dominate his life---morning, noon, and night.

The Church understands that living a life of chastity is an ongoing challenge. No one wakes up one morning and declares that from that moment on they will live a chaste life and never again be tempted by sexual desires. The CCC says that chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery; and that self-mastery is a long and exacting work. Chastity is a moral virtue. We must work daily to successfully make any virtue a permanent part of our life. Our apprenticeship must include prayer, participation in the sacraments, and the effort to focus our attention away from ourselves and toward others. The chaste person recognizes and avoids the offenses against chastity. These offenses include lust, masturbation, fornication, adultery, pornography, prostitution, and rape.

Let’s close with a small part of Saint Paul’s insight on sexual immorality found in his First letter to the Corinthians. “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord…Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? …Avoid immorality…Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? ...Therefore glorify God in your body.” One does not glorify God in his body if he does not respect his body; and one does not respect his body if he does not recognize and accept God’s design for his body. Just as God raised the Lord from His earthly death, He will also raise us from our earthly death. Some of us will be raised to newness of life in heaven; and some of us will be raised to endless suffering in hell. Strive always to lead a chaste life, love God first and foremost, and treat others with the respect and dignity they deserve as sons and daughters of God.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 2331-59, 2394-6. Also, pull out your “Catholic” Bible and reference Gen 1:27-31; 5:1b-2; Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18; Mt 5:27-28; 1 Cor 6:12-20; Gal 3:27; Tit 2:1-6.