Street of First Doctrine
40. What Is Chastity?
Street of First Doctrine: first Catholic doctrine for souls learning how to believe, pray, and live.
"Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God." - Matthew 5:8
Chastity is the that governs sexual desire according to God's law and the person's state of life. A beginner must learn chastity because is not optional. The body belongs to God, and the soul cannot make peace with .
The catechism answer is simple: Chastity is the by which a person keeps in thought, word, deed, dress, desire, and relationships according to God's commandments and his state of life.
Chastity protects love from becoming appetite.
The question is not, "How far can I go?" It is, "How can I keep my body and soul faithful to God?"
The soul often looks for boundaries to approach. The chaste soul looks for order, reverence, , and .
begins when the person stops bargaining with sin.
Chastity is lived according to state of life. The unmarried must abstain from sexual acts. The married must live the marriage bond faithfully, lawfully, and with reverence for God's purpose. Priests and religious bound to celibacy must keep their vowed continence with seriousness.
No state allows .
God's law governs the body in every condition of life.
Chastity includes the interior life. thoughts that come unwillingly are , not sins unless the will consents. But the soul must not deliberately entertain thoughts, images, memories, or fantasies.
Consent makes the danger personal.
The clean heart rejects promptly and asks for .
speech wounds chastity. Dirty jokes, suggestive talk, crude language, boasting about sin, and making light of all train the soul downward.
The tongue can corrupt the imagination of others. This may also become .
The chaste person speaks with reserve and reverence.
Chastity requires . Dress should respect the body as belonging to God, not invite attention, blur the distinction of sex, or make vanity the rule of public life.
Men should dress with masculine reserve. Women should dress with feminine , ordinarily in dresses or skirts as the clear feminine attire, and with care that the body is not displayed for vanity or provocation.
is toward one's own soul and toward others.
Relationships must be governed by . Courtship should be ordered toward lawful marriage, not emotional possession, secret sin, or bodily familiarity.
A person should avoid private situations, forms of touch, conversations, and habits that inflame desire before marriage or outside the order of marriage.
Love does not ask another soul to sin.
Occasions against chastity must be removed firmly: images, entertainment, secret device use, bad companions, sinful messages, idle browsing, and places where repeatedly falls.
The soul that keeps the occasion is still keeping a path back to sin.
needs watchfulness, not confidence in weakness.
Falls against chastity should be confessed honestly, without hiding, excusing, or giving unnecessary detail. The penitent should state the kind and number of mortal sins as far as possible and receive counsel with .
No one should despair. Many souls have fought and become clean by , confession, prayer, mortification, and removing occasions.
Christ can , but the soul must cooperate.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. The soul should ask her help in against .
The Hail Mary, the Rosary, custody of the eyes, dress, and prompt flight from danger are strong helps.
The Christian should not be ashamed to seek a mother's protection.
The soul must learn that chastity governs thoughts, words, deeds, dress, desires, and relationships.
The soul must learn that every state of life has its own rule of .
The soul must learn to reject consent promptly.
The soul must learn to remove occasions of .
The soul must learn to confess honestly and hope in .
Chastity is the by which a person keeps in thought, word, deed, dress, desire, and relationships according to God's commandments and his state of life.
A beginner should ask: Do I guard my eyes? Do I speak purely? Do I dress ? Do I avoid occasions of ? Do my relationships lead toward God? Do I confess falls honestly and concretely?
Chastity is not for the body. It is reverence for the body under God, and of heart for the vision of God.