SEXUAL MORALITY

In our Catholicism Study in St. Martha the speaker, Atty. Jess Moya talked about Sexual Morality. He presented and clearly defined a lot of controversies with regards to it and the stand of the Catholic Church when it comes to these matters. There are several controversial issues nowadays like premarital sex, contraception and artificial insemination and the 2 extreme attitudes related to it that were given light in this talk. These attitudes are both situated in opposite sides of the pole namely, the hedonist which is only after pleasure and the prude which regards sex as something dirty and evil. Through the help of the teachings of the Church which gives balance on these things, sex will take on a different meaning for us who strive to have an attitude that will develop in us, although may take time, the belief that sex is sacred. Virtue of Chastity requires an integration of sexuality within his/her person and self mastery and control of his/her passions (CCC 2337)

CCC 2339
Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. Sir. 1:22 "Among wisdom's treasures is the paragon of prudence..."
"Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."

SEXUAL GUIDELINES:
Sex outside marriage is a grave sin.

CCC 2390
In a so-called free union, a man and a woman refuse to give juridical and public form to a liaison involving sexual intimacy.

The expression "free union" is fallacious: what can "union" mean when the partners make no commitment to one another, each exhibiting a lack of trust in the other, in himself, or in the future?

The expression covers a number of different situations: concubinage, rejection of marriage as such, or inability to make long-term commitments. All these situations offend against the dignity of marriage; they destroy the very idea of the family; they weaken the sense of fidelity. They are contrary to the moral law. The sexual act must take place exclusively within marriage. Outside of marriage it always constitutes a grave sin and excludes one from sacramental communion.


-Within marriage: the spouses do nothing evil in seeking the pleasure and enjoyment of sex but they should keep themselves within the limits of just moderation.

CCC 2362
"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." Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:
The Creator himself . . . established that in the [generative] function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has intended for them. At the same time, spouses should know how to keep themselves within the limits of just moderation.

-Because sex is the handiwork of God, sex is by its nature something good, something sacred and holy. It is only when sex is torn from its holy framework of marriage and potential parenthood do evil enter in.

SIN AGAINST CHASTITY

1. Fornification: carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.
ex. Premarital sex (CCC 2353)

2. Adultery is an injustice. He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury to the sign of the covenant which the marriage bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse, and undermines the institution of marriage by breaking the contract on which it is based. He compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of children who need their parents' stable union. (CCC 2381)

3. Masturbation: By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
4. Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials. (CCC 2354)

5. Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.140 Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure. (CCC 2355)

6. Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them. (CCC 2356)

7. Homosexual acts
Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, (Gen 19:1-29; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Rom 1: 26-27; 1 Tim 1:9-10) tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (CCC 2357)

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. (CCC 2358)

Why marriage should only be between a man and a woman: (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:22-24)

Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. (CCC 2359)

In fact, according to our speaker there already is an existing group of homosexuals called "Courage" whose mission is live in chastity by controlling their perverted passions and desires.

NINTH COMMANDMENT: You must not commit adultery(Mt. 5:27)

The heart is the seat of moral personality: "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication. . . ." Mt. 15:19 " The struggle against carnal covetousness entails purifying the heart and practicing temperance:
Remain simple and innocent, and you will be like little children who do not know the evil that destroys man's life.
-Lust seeks the pleasure apart from the purpose

Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.(CCC 2351)

CCC 2515: Etymologically, "concupiscence" can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit." Gal. 5:16, 17, 24; Epf 2:3 Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins. Gen 3:11

PRACTICAL HELP:
1. Humility - Don't be too confident. 1 Cor 10:12 "The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall."
2. Going to confession - There is a flow of sanctifying grace everytime we go to confession and must avail of it whenever possible.
3. Be proactive. Avoid occasions of sins
4. Resolve to give God everything
5. Have a stronger good desire
6. Let images of motherhood overcome images of impurity. Women are life givers.
7. Remember the victims of your thoughts and actions
8. Remember who you are, a child of God
9. Remember that good is infinitely stronger than evil
10. Observe modesty. Don't fall into the trap of green or dirty jokes.
Eph 5:3-4 Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Avoid sexually provocative actions that could aggravate the existing reality of this slowly collapsing morality of this pervert generation. Abstain from actions that could arouse sexual appetite but instead promote purity and decency.

CCC-2521
Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.

2522
Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.

2523
There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.

2524
The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of being a subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person

SIN AGAINST PROCREATION
1. Artificial contraception: it is evil because it prevents an act of God.

CCC 2366
Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is "on the side of life," teaches that "it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life." "This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act."

CCC 2368
A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation. For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of morality:

When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts, criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with sincerity of heart.

CCC 2370
Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. 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:
Thus the innate LANGUAGE that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory LANGUAGE, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.

2. ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION & FERTILIZATION ("TEST TUBE BABIES")
-Heterologous artificial insemination (Donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus

CCC 2376
Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses' "right to become a father and a mother only through each other."

-Homologous artificial insemination

CCC 2377
Techniques involving only 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. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children." "Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses' union. . . . Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person."

"Donum Vitae" having a child is a gift, not a right

3. GENETIC MANIPULATION
-it is a total perversion of procreation to produce "designer genes or to resort to human cloning
-fixing genetic flaws for therapeutic purposes is ok.

-CCC 2275
"One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival."

"It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material."

"Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity" which are unique and unrepeatable.

END OF DISCUSSION


What gave me the inspiration to share about this talk is embodied in today's 1st reading when God rained down bread from heaven and tested whether the Israelites will follow or not. In the same way when we, like the Israelites believe after witnessing in our lives God's Almighty Power to provide for our need but sometimes still fail to follow instructions given to us by God through the Church and insist on our own perverted thoughts and beliefs. It is our duty to know more about our faith and follow what it teaches us through the Catholic Church. Amen. Hallelujah!

Exodus 16:1-5. 9-15
... “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not...“This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

The Lord has already given us everything we need but we still crave for something else. We sometimes doubt and question God's ability to get us through it all. We tend to resort to means that is of our own and not of God. Our rationalizing mind gets the better in us when we exclude in the equation the awesome truth of who really God is and what He is capable of doing in our life. Amen. Hallelujah!


P S A L M
Psalm 78:18-19. 23-24. 25-26. 27-28
R: The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
18 They tempted God in their hearts by demanding the food they craved...

There is a season and a reason. The farmers wait for the proper and optimum time to plant their seeds, cultivate and harvest. Things can not be done in a hurry. As in the following bible passages: Acts 17: 26-27...and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. Psalm 31:14-15..."You are my God." My times are in your hands;... Hebrews 4:16...So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help... We can learn a lot from these words of God and ponder on them before we make any rush decisions. We have to decide and act on things based on the Word of God and be guided by them at all times. The seed being spoken of in today’s gospel is the word of God. There is also a need to till the soil before we can plant the seed. When I was just a kid I used to pity the farmers who work under the heat of the sun while plowing the fields. It is clearly etched in my mind how they guide the plow being pulled by the carabao while their feet sink into the mud. The same way these farmers prepare the soil for a good harvest we, too must prepare ourselves in order to become the rich soil that bears fruit. Let us not waste the seed God has sown in our hearts. If we need to stay under the scorching heat of the sun and sink our feet into the mushy field of our lives why not, it will always be worth it knowing that the seed that God has planted will surely reap a bountiful harvest, Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 13: 1-9
...8 But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. 9 Whoever has ears ought to hear.”