SEXUALITY

a) Impurities
b) Bodily values
c) Purity
d) Sins against Purity
e) Virginity
______________________________

a) Impurities

        God created man from the mud of the earth and gave him his spirit. And man lived. The human body and soul need each other and they also improve each other. The body makes the soul more humble by limiting its space and time. The soul cleans the body of all types of impurities.

        Impure acts and desires are everything that stains the body (as well as the soul) with dirtiness, whether they are:

-because of dark desires,
-because of dishonest acts.

        Impurity absorbs and distances good and loving intentions.

b) Bodily values

        The conception that the Christian moral has about the human body is very positive as:

-God himself wanted to become man,
-
Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily,
-the
Virgin Mary offered her body to the Holy Spirit,
-
Christians are God’s temples,
-
all of mankind is called to the resurrection of the flesh.

        Sexuality is both good and necessary, created and loved by God. If not, he wouldn’t have created it. The values of sexuality are:

-men and women mutually complementing each other,
-self-controlling our passions,
-deepening the marital union,
-procreating new lives out of love and humility,
-maturing in personality and human psychology.

c) Purity

        This is the virtue that helps us keep our bodies clean. It is acquired through the good habits of chastity, in the mind, memory, senses and imagination. It isn’t tainted by the sexual act, if this is done as it should be done, naturally and in the family.

        The fruits of purity are:

-sexual freedom,
-courage when there is temptation,
-humbleness to get up after falling.

        Purity is what prepares the way towards a good marriage (you can’t be dirty or stained on your wedding), and helps finish well what began well.

d) Sins against Purity

        Can be in thoughts:

-effeminacy: a man being inclined to womanly actions;
-idleness: entertaining oneself with curiosities;
-obscenity: speaking grotesquely about sex;
-lustful looks: wanting to possess what is someone else’s;
-indulgence: entertaining oneself with their imagination;
-pornography: seeing, hearing or talking about dishonest things.

        They can be through action:

-adultery: having sexual relations with a married person;
-fornication: having sexual relations before marrying;
-incest: sexual relations with a relative or consecrated person;
-masturbation: sexual act performed alone;
-homosexuality: sexual act done with a person of the same sex;
-animalism: having sex with an animal or as an animal;
-pedophilia: sexually abusing minors;
-prostitution: making profit from sex;
-sex business: using people as sexual products;
-rape: violently forcing someone to have sex.

        They can be by omission:

-lewdness: having no shame;
-worshiping the body: not denying the body whatever it wants;
-dangers: placing privacy at risk;
-bad company: getting carried away by negative influences;
-onanism: purposely doing the sexual act wrongly;
-lack of marital affection: denying the sexual act when your spouse wants it;
-demographic regulation: controlling how many children are born.

e) Virginity

        This is consecrating God through your body and soul, and all that is his with cleanliness. God must call us to this and we must receive a special grace, because "it is impossible for men but not for God".

        Virginity is given importance:

-to not scorn marriage,
-to signify in some way the kingdom of heaven.

        Living in perpetual virginity attracts all of God’s blessings, and promotes purity wherever it is. In eternal life, there will be much better things than this sexuality damaged by sin.

 

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Diocese of Cartagena-Murcia 
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th Catechism