Chastity! What's all this talk about chastity? I thought I didn't have to worry about that since I am married. In a beautiful way, the Church paints a picture for us of what chastity is and why we are called to it regardless of our station in life. It is all about self-giving and living a life without duplicity. Not living a secret interior life that I thought I could "get away with" or not have to seriously deal with because "it's all under the Blood."
Here's what the Church teaches:
" The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech.
All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ,"135 the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.
"People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single."136 Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others.... This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.137
Those who are "engaged to marry" are called to live chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity."
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
As His redeemed people, Christ calls us to live a life enslaved to Him, and not our passions. Not only does He call us to this but empowers us to make it so. The sacrament of reconciliation and the act of frequent "confessing of my sins to one another" (a priest) as scripture exhorts, is a surefire way to gain grace directly from the giver of all grace. John Paul 2 went to confession weekly. Far be it from me to think that I need the sacrament less!
Through prayer, a daily examination of our conscience, and a docile spirit open to the salutary effects of the sacraments, we can live our Christian lives without duplicity.
"Immaculate Virgin Mary, I confide my chastity to your maternal heart. I ask your help to guard my senses, especially the eyes, for an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart. Knowing my pride, I pray for that humility which invites the mercy of God. Knowing that I am human, I shall not be surprised at the urge of concupiscence, but trusting in your care I rely on your protection and all the graces that I need from your divine Son. Amen."
Credit: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com