RESPECTING HUMAN REED 4

CHRISTIAN
SEXUALITY MORALITY
God created man in His image; in the divine
image He created him; male and female He
created them. God blessed them, saying:
“Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and
subdue it. . . . God looked at everything He
had made and he found it very good.” (Gn
1:27f,31)
The first question that a new mother
asks after the birth of her child is:

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

 The Sixth And Ninth Commandments Treat Of This
Respect For Human Sexuality In Two Areas:

a) in the relationships between

men and women according to their
social status (single or married),
and
b) in regard to interior lustful
dispositions of the heart.
Human sexuality is God’s GIFT
to us.

We are created according to God’s

image precisely as
“MALE OR FEMALE.”
To live and associate with others
in interpersonal relationships,
respecting their sexuality and
proper bodily expressions, is the
vocation of every disciple of
Christ.
 CONTEXT
The Christian Filipino is caught up in a
whirlwind of changing patterns of man-woman
relationships, and of the understanding of
sexuality itself.

The traditional chaste and modest “Maria

Clara” ideal of Filipino womanhood has quietly
faded away.
The Filipino family is
under tremendous moral
strain.
Together with all these changes, PCP II
denounces the persistence of the
“double-standard” of morality in
Filipino sexual attitudes and
relationships (PCP II 582)
 I. THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

“You shall not commit adultery”

(Ex 20:14; Dt 5:17)
This Commandment had more social
significance than sexual. Its aim was
to protect the family, the absolutely
necessary basis for society.
 Sexuality, therefore, is for both
human completeness and procreation.
The Sixth Commandment has been
plagued through history by cultural
conditions and prejudices that have
obscured its true intent.
1. First, there was the ancient patriarchal
distortion of marriage wherein the wife
was treated as “property” of the husband.
2. Second, throughout history human
sexuality has attracted more than its share
of taboos, restrictive customs and laws.
3. Third, these two abusive trends tended to
develop into a moralistic, legalistic rigidity
regarding sexuality.
A. CHRISTIAN VIEW OF HUMAN
SEXUALITY
 Today sexuality signifies an essential
dimension of the whole person, by which he/she
enters into relationship with others. It thus
touches every aspect of personal life, and has to
be developed by all men and women just as life
itself must be (NCDP 287; cf. CCC 2332).
“Sexuality is a fundamental component
of personality, one of its modes of being,
of manifestation, of communicating with
others, of feeling, of expressing and of
living human love. Therefore it is an
integral part of the development of the
personality”
The first consequence of this fundamental truth of
creation is that “in creating the human race ‘male and
female’ God gives man and woman an equal personal
dignity, endowing them with the inalienable rights and
responsibilities proper to the human person”
The second consequence of God’s creative
action is that by their distinctive sexuality, man
and woman are both different and
complementary, not only in their physical and
biological being, but reaching down to the depth
of their moral and spiritual being (cf. CCC
2333).
This complementarity is the ground for a
third consequence: man and woman are
called to mutual gift of self, to reciprocity.
 Sexuality, oriented, elevated and
integrated by love, acquires truly human
quality.
John Paul II develops this in Familiaris Consortio by
relating creation directly with love. For love is the key
to:

1) God, the personal loving Creator,

2) His creating act through love, and
3) the human persons created in His likeness precisely
as man and woman for love.
 The affective life proper to each sex expresses
itself in ways characteristic of the different states
in life. They are:
1) conjugal union for married persons;
2) consecrated celibacy chosen freely for the
sake of the Kingdom of God;
3) Christian youths before choosing marriage or
celibacy; and
4) single blessedness chosen by lay faithful
 B. BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

First there was the simple innocence of original

creation when “the man and his wife were both
naked, yet they felt no shame” (Gn 2:25).
“I will espouse you to me forever: I will
espouse you in right and justice, in love and
mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity and you
shall know the Lord” (Hos 2: 21f).
Again, when questioned by the Pharisees about
divorce, Jesus reiterated the Creator’s original meaning
of sexuality. “‘A man leaves his father and mother and
clings to his wife, and the two of them become one
body’ (Gn 2:24). Thus they are no longer two but one
flesh. Therefore, let no man separate what God has
joined” (Mt 19:3-6).
St. Paul used this same text (Gn 2:24) to teach that
Christian marriage takes on a new meaning. It
symbolizes the intimate love relationship between
Christ and the Church.

St. Paul himself boasted to the Corinthians: “I have

given you in marriage to one husband, presenting you
as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).
C. REDEEMED SEXUALITY
In paying the price of our redemption, Jesus
Christ wished most of all to restore human
relationships to what God intended before
original sin distorted and corrupted them.
Through his own Resurrection, Jesus
redeemed our whole persons, with all our
instincts, powers and relationships,
including our sexuality.
VATICAN II BRINGS OUT THIS REDEMPTIVE
FORCE OF CHRIST’S LOVE:

Authentic married love is caught up into divine

love and is directed and enriched by Christ’s
redeeming power and the saving activity of the
Church. Thus the spouses are effectively led to
God and are helped and strengthened in their
lofty role as fathers and mothers (GS 48).
Sexuality and marriage, then, are not just
biological facts for Christians. Rather, renewed
by God’s love through Christ Jesus in the Holy
Spirit, they are a real personal power and a
perjuring state for love, a love which develops,
heals, and creates.
For the married, the commandment enjoins a free and
responsible fidelity to a conjugal union that is life-long
(cf. CCC 2364f).

This means, first, a joining of a man and a woman in

the fullness of their personal lives - a real, complete
communion at all levels.

Secondly, it means a permanent, enduring bond that is

“for keeps.”
The high human costs of adultery and
of divorce are often covered up by
phrases like “having an affair.”
His grace is ever present. God’s fidelity to the
Covenant holds firm and with it our human
covenants; in them alone will we find our true
human freedom and love.
II. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

“You shall not covet your

neighbor’s wife” (Ex 20:17)
“From the mind stem evil designs — murder,
adulterous conduct, fornication, stealing, false
witness, blasphemy. These are the things that
make a man impure” (Mt 15:19f).
 We can pray King David’s psalm of
repentance: “A clean heart create for me, O
God, and a steadfast spirit renew within
me” (Ps 51:12).
 Christ perfected this teaching in his
Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard
the commandment, ‘You shall not commit
adultery.’ What I say to you is: anyone
who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his
thoughts” (Mt 5:27f).
A. THE VIRTUE OF CHASTITY
Chastity here refers to the wholesome integration of
one’s sexuality within one’s person. This creates in us
an inner harmony and unity of body and spirit that
grounds our integrity as persons and in our self-giving
in love (cf. CCC 2337-47).
In the Christian view, chastity by no means
signifies rejection of human sexuality or lack of
esteem for it: rather, it signifies spiritual energy
capable of defending love from the perils of
selfishness and aggressiveness, and able to
advance it towards its full realization (FC 33).
Chastity deals with our external acts but
precisely as expressing the inner
“yearnings of our heart.”
Chastity or purity of heart, then, can be a
major, decisive factor in Christian
“growing up.”
The self-control developed by a chaste
heart frees us from our selfish self-
centeredness, and opens us to the
penetrating realization of our need for
others.
Growing up to full maturity involves
discernment.
B. EDUCATION FOR CHASTITY
What is of utmost importance in the
education and practice of chastity is
motivation.
We can see that: affective sex education
must relate to the totality of the person and
insist on the integration of the biological,
psycho-affective, social and spiritual
elements.
 A true formation is not limited to
informing the intellect, but must pay
particular attention to the will, to feelings
and emotions [and to] virtues such as
modesty, temperance, respect for self and
for others, openness to one’s neighbour.
Especially for the Filipino, this long process of
education in chastity ought to be centered in the
family. This is so because chastity is FOR
LOVE. It opens out naturally in friendship (cf.
CCC 2347). Now, in our culture the family is
the first and most natural setting wherein the
Filipino experiences being loved and loving.
 John Paul II develops this:
Education in love as self-giving is also the
indispensable premise for parents called to
give their children a clear and delicate sex
education.
 Moreover, this education for chastity in the
family will not be effective if not supported and
developed in the school, the parish and the
Christian community.
For the Catholic Filipino this involves fostering
an active, personal and community prayer life,
love for the Eucharist, reception of the
sacrament of Reconciliation, and devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary and to other saints who
excelled in the practice of chastity.
C. PURITY CALLS FOR SELF-CONTROL
Since chastity or purity of heart is directed
toward love, it pertains directly to all
persons according to their different states
of life (cf. CCC 2349).
Self-control is demanded by chastity of both
single persons and of married couples. In both,
this “mastering of oneself” is an integral part of
the formation of good character and the spirit of
self-sacrifice (cf. CCC 2339).
The chastity of the single person is seen in
both virginity chosen for the sake of the
Kingdom and single-blessedness.
Chastity for both married and single also
combats the search for solitary sexual
pleasure in masturbation (cf. CCC 2352).
 Homosexuality represents another grave
impediment to the integral sexual growth of a
person. St. Paul condemns both male and female
homosexual acts as God’s punishment for idolatry,
the worship of unnatural lust (cf. Rom 1:18-32).
But care must be taken to distinguish between a
condition of homosexual orientation, for which the
homosexual cannot be held responsible, and
homosexual acts (cf. CCC 2357-59).
Finally, the virtue of chastity and purity of heart stand
in direct opposition to prostitution and pornography (cf.
CCC 2354-55).
 A prostitute is robbed of his/her
dignity as a person by being reduced
to a mere means for the selfish
pleasure of the buyer. There is
absolutely no commitment, no love, no
service of life.
 Pornography propagates the sexually
obscene and licentious in a dehumanizing
and exploitative manner.
 SUMMARY

The Gospel portrait of Jesus is one of a man

who was completely at ease with his own
sexuality and with both men and women.
Thus, the Christian ideal of sexuality and marriage is
based directly on Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and
Savior. From him we learn that sexuality is a matter of
the whole person as created by God, and therefore
sacred; that it deals with relationships that come from
the heart, and therefore ultimately involves
commitment to love and the service of life.
 INTEGRATION

Catholic sexual morality is based clearly on the

doctrines that:
l) God created every human person precisely as male
or female in His own image and likeness;
2) that the Risen Christ has healed and perfected our
whole persons, including our sexuality, through
3) the Holy Spirit, received from God, indwelling in
our bodies.
 We need this integration to think and act
responsibly, with due respect for the sexuality
and marriage of others.