Catechism
Readings: Paragraphs 2331 - 2400
The Sixth Commandment:
You shall not commit adultery.
This chapter explores the broad topics of nature of male and
female and their innate value, chastity, fidelity, fecundity (fruitfulness) and
children, and the offenses against the dignity of marriage: adultery and
divorce. “The tradition of the Church has understood
the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality.” 2336 The chapter defines love, a strange thing
for most people, I suspect, who think they already know the definition. They are likely mistaken.
“Love is the free self-giving of the heart. The most
beautiful form of love on earth is the love between man and woman, in which two
people give themselves to each other forever.
All human love is an image of divine love, in which all love is at
home. Love is the inmost being of the
Triune God. The more a person loves, the
more he resembles God. Love should
influence the whole life of a person, but it is realized with particular depth
and symbolism when man and woman love one another in marriage and become ‘one
flesh’” YOUCAT Q402
“Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality
within the person, an inner unity of body and spirit. 2337 The alternative is clear: either man governs
his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and
becomes unhappy. 2339 The virtue of chastity comes under the
cardinal virtue of temperance, which
seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason. Self-mastery is a long and exacting
work. One can never consider it acquired
once and for all. It presupposed renewed
effort at all stages of life. 2341-2 Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when
sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes. The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for
whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purposes. 2351-2
Fornication is carnal union
between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of
persons and is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young. 2353 Rape is always an intrinsically evil
act. Graver still is the rape of
children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education
of children entrusted to them. 2356 Based on Sacred Scripture which presents
homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered.’
Under no circumstances can they be approved. The number of men and women who have
deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual
condition; for most of them it is a trial.
They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. (They) are called to chastity.” 2357-9
“The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union
of the spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance
of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in
joy and gratitude. The spouses’ union
achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and
the transmission of life. These two
meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated. 2362-3
Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping
one’s given word. St. John Chrysostom
suggests that young husbands should say to their wives: I place your love above
all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a
different mind than you. “ 2365
“Fecundity: The
Church, which is on the side of life, teaches that each and every marriage act
must remain open to the transmission of life.
Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood
of God. Married couples should regard it
as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children,
thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator. 2366-7 Methods of birth regulation based on
self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the
objective criteria of morality. In
contrast, every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act or in
its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences,
proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible is
intrinsically evil. 2370 Techniques that entail
the dissociation of husband and wife, donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate
uterus, are gravely immoral. 2376
Techniques only involving the married couple (homologous artificial
insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain
morally unacceptable. They dissociate
the sexual act from the procreative act.”
2377
“A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The ‘supreme gift of marriage’ is a human
person. A child may not be considered a
piece of property, an idea to which an alleged ‘right to a child’ would lead.” 2378
“Adultery is an injustice.
He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He compromises the good of human generation
and the welfare of children who need their parents stable union. 2381 Divorce is a consented, to live with each
other till death. Contracting a new
union, even if it is recognized by civil of a divorce decreed by civil law;
this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law.” 2386
“The sexual act must take place exclusively within
marriage. Outside of marriage it always
constitutes a grave sin and excludes one from sacramental communion. 2390 Carnal union is morally legitimate only when
a definitive community of life between a man and woman has been
established. Hum love does not tolerate ‘trial
marriages.’ It demand a total and
definitive gift of persons to one another.” 2391
“A person who lives chastely is not the plaything of his
lusts but, rather, lives his sexuality deliberately, motivated by love, and as
an expression of that love. … Now if a
man has one woman for sexual pleasure, a second to whom he writes love poetry,
and a third with whom to have children, then he is exploiting all three and
really loves none of them. Q404 Everyone is called to love. We are destined to give our lives away; many
do so in the form of marriage, others in the form of voluntary celibacy for the
sake of the kingdom, others by living alone and yet being there for
others. All human life finds its meaning
in love. Q406 Masturbation is an offense against love
because it makes the excitement of sexual pleasure an end in itself. The Church does not demonize masturbation,
but she warns against trivializing it.
In fact many young people and adults are in danger of becoming isolated
in their consumption of lewd pictures, films, and internet services instead of
finding love in a personal relationship.”
Q409
Q416: What are
the essential elements of Christian marriage?
A: (1) Unity: Marriage is a
covenant that by its very nature brings about bodily, intellectual, and
spiritual union between a man and a woman; (2) Indissolubility: Marriage lasts ‘until death do us part;’ (3) Openness to offspring: Every marriage
must be open to children; (4) Commitment to
the spouse’s welfare. If one of the two
spouses deliberately excludes one of the four points listed above at the time
of their wedding, the sacrament of Matrimony does not take place. For Catholics there is no marriage without a
church wedding. In that ceremony Christ
enters into a covenant with the husband and the wife and generously endows the
couple with graces and gifts. A Christian
marriage is not a game, however, but rather the greatest gift God has devised
for a man and a woman who love each other.” Q425
