CHAPTER 19
RESPECTING HUMAN SEXUALITY
1061: The first question that a new mother asks after the birth of her child is: "Is it a boy or a girl?" Human life is marked essentially by sexuality. It is fitting, them, that immediately after the Commandment on respect for life, there should come that which fosters proper respect for our sexuality -even before treating the social imperatives concerning possessions and truthful communication. The Sixth and Ninth Commandments treat 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.
1062: Human sexuality is God's gift to us. We are created according to God's image precisely as "male or female". It is not in lonely solitude but rather in relating to others through our sexual natures that we share in God's life of love and creativity. Despite all misuses and misunderstandings, our human sexuality is something good! It is a God-given power for love and generativity that we must learn to gradually integrate ever more fully within our total selves. To live and associate with others in interpersonal relationships, respecting their sexuality and proper bodily expressions, is the vocation of every disciple of Christ. This chapter will take up the specific Christian view of the basic nature and value of human sexuality and of sex, together with some of their related problems, in treating of the 6th and 9th Commandments.
Context
1063: Throughout the Philippine today, the Christian Filipino is caught up in a whirlwind of changing of man-woman relationships, and of the understanding of sexuality itself. The traditional chaste and modest "Maria Clara" ideal Filipino womanhood has quietly faded away. Highly praised in the past eras for being "mayumi, mahinhin, mamlinis ang puso at maganda," today's Filipina must face challenges posed by new career possibilities, new deamnds of family and community, and new economic and social situations. The direct influence of Christian faith on the sexual mores of Filipino daily life today is diluted by the growing impact of mass media: TV, the cinema, and magazines/ comics books with their blatant exploitation of sex.
The Filipino family is under tremendous moral strain. Economic pressures are breaking up family solidarity. Political trends tend to foster artificial means of birth-control, including such immoral means as sterilization and abortion. Social enticements from today's consumerist society promote the "good life" glorifying pleasure and sexual promiscuity.
1064: 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).From a Christian perspective this is extremely harmful for both men and women. While the Filipina is expected to be a virgin before marriage, and faithful within marriage, the Filipino male youth is constantly bombarded by the opposite "macho" image of what is means to be "tunay na lalaki." The socially accepted "querida system" is likewise castigated by the Document of the Plenary Council (cf. PCP II 587-89).
1065: In reaction, the current "women's liberation" movement aims to aims to free women from this state of injustice and subjugation which denies their true dignity. But some feminists fall into the trap of seeking equality by demanding the same licentious sexual irresponsibility as the "macho" male. This, of course, leads to just another form of women's enslavement and manipulation, with social consequences clearly manifest in the rampant pornography and prostitution.
Exposition
The Sixth Commandment
1066: The Sixth Commandment, "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14; Dt. 5-17), seems simple and direct. It forbids married persons entering into sexual union with someone other than their spouse. But for the ancient Israelites, this Commandment had more social significance than sexual. Its aim was to protect the family, the absolutely necessary basis for society. The family and marriage were viewed directly in terms of the two Genesis creation narratives. God created man and male and female so that man would not be alone (cf. Gn. 2:18), and to multiply and fill the earth (cf. Gn . 1:27f)
Sexuality, therefore, is for both completeness and procreation. Thus while focusing on the specific relationship of marriage, the sixth commandment actually touches on the upon the very nature of human sexuality, the entire range of man-woman relationships, and our common vocation to love and communion (cf. CCC 2331)
1067: As such, the Sixth Commandments has been plagued through history by cultural conditions and prejudices that have obscured its true intent. First, there was treated as "property " of the husband. The "double - standard" of morality from which Philippine society suffers today was clearly evidenced in the ancient law: a married woman was charged with adultery for having sexual relations with any man other that her husband, but a married man only when he had sexual intercourse with another married woman.
1068: Second, throughout history human sexuality has attracted more than its share of taboos, restrictive customs and laws. Licentious practice in society on one side frequently gave rise on the other to a quite unbiblical hostility among the "pious" toward sexuality and sex. Third, these two abusive trends tended to develop into a moralistic, legalistic rigidity regarding sexuality.
Actually, all these attitudes run counter to the truly liberating character of the Sixth Commandment, which is grounded on the authentic nature of our human sexuality, and of marriage as the model of complete human communion. But just what is this "authentic nature of human sexuality" from a Christian point of view?
A. Christian View of Human Sexuality
1069: The first thing to be made clear to every Christian Filipino is the difference between sexuality in general, and the sex act. The NCDP makes this point very well.
Sexuality is today understood in a more complete and integral sense than in the past when the focus was almost completely on the sex act. 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)
1070: This wider meaning of sexuality is reaffirmed by the Sacred Congregation for Education: "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 " (EGHL 4). "It is, in fact, from sex that the human person receives the characteristics which, on the biological, psychological and spiritual levels, make that person a man or a woman, and thereby largely condition his or her progress toward maturity and insertion into society" (DSCE1).
1071:The basis for this wider understanding of human sexuality is, of course, creation. Man and woman constitute two modes of "imaging" God and they fully accomplish such vocation not only as single persons, but also as couples, which are communities of love (cf. EGHL 26).
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" (FC 22 cf. CCC 2335).
PCP II forcefully opposed "all forms of discrimination and exploitation of women" and emphasized "the growing awareness of their dignity and equality with men" (PCP II 387). For the Filipino Christian, then, this basic equality of man and woman grounded on God's creation is the solid ground for an authentically Christian view of sexuality and of marriage.
1072: But this equality as persons does not entail any sex sameness that denies all distinctiveness of the sexes. On the contrary, 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 complementary is the ground for a third consequence: man and woman are called to mutual gift of self, to a reciprocity (cf. EGHL 24). By and through our sexuality we are called to live in a positive complementary relationship with one another. "The partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between persons" (GS 12), and constitutes the basic form of our co-humanity.
1073: Concretely, then, our sexuality is a relational power through which we can show understanding, warmth, openness and compassion to others. The fourth consequence, then, is simply that sexuality is for love- either married or celibate love (cf. NCDP 287). Sexuality orients every man and woman toward interpersonal dialogue, and contributes to their integral maturation by opening them up to the gift of self in love.
Sexuality, oriented, elevated and integrated by love, acquires truly human quality. Prepared by biological and psychological development, it grows harmoniously and is achieved in the full sense only with the realization of affective maturity, which manifests itself in unselfish love and in the total gift of self' (EGHL 6).
1074: 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.
God is love and in Himself He lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in His own image through love, and at the same time for love…God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion.
1075: But the affective life proper to each sex expresses itself in many ways characteristics of the different states in life. They are: 1) conjugal union for married person; 2) consecrated celibacy chosen freely for the sake of the Kingdom of God; 3)Christian youths before choosing marriage or celibacy; 4)single blessedness chosen by lay faithful (cf. EGHL 33). But in every case, each one of us, man or woman, called to a life of love which channels the gift of our sexuality and its energies into positive, supporting relationships. Such relationships build up a wholesome community wherein all are called and helped to express their personal uniqueness through their sexuality, integrated within their very persons
B. Biblical Perspective
1076: This Christian view of sexuality and marriage is supported and developed by the biblical narrative of God's relationship with Israel, His "Chosen People," through salvation history. 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). But sin entered and brought disorder into the couple's relationship to God and to each other. The sexual relationship, while remaining fundamentally good, often became a divisive force. Instead of feeling joy at the unique difference of the other sex, the partners experienced the selfish desire of possession (cf. Gn. 3:16). From a natural power of outward self-giving in genuine love, the human sex drive became open to the temptation of turning back on itself in self-centered hedonism.
1077: Despite the Old Testament's strong rejection of God as a sexual being, Yahweh's covenant with Israel was surprisingly portrayed in a marriage image. The stress was on the strength, depth and fidelity of Yahweh's love for His Chosen People: 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). God, moreover, forgave Israel when he proved to be an unfaithful spouse and promised to redeem her:
For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the Lord of hosts… The Lord calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, a wife married in youth and then cast off… For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back…with enduring love I take pity on you, says, the Lord, your redeemer (Is 54:5-8)
1078: In the New Testament Jesus bypassed all the detailed prescriptions and prohibitions of the Torah regarding sexuality and marriage. He focused rather on their essential dignity and value as created by God. The Pharisees and Scribes tried to trap Jesus into rejecting the Mosaic Law which commanded the stoning of an adulteress. But Jesus broke through their hypocritical moralistic legalism. In an exercise of authentic divine merciful love, Jesus brought the "elders" to a consciousness of their own sinfulness, while at the same time drawing the woman away from her sin (cf. Jn. 7:53 -8:11).
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 tow but one flesh. Therefore, let no man separate what God has joined" (Mt. 19:3-6).
1079: 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. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved his Church. He gave himself up for her…This is a great foreshadowing; I mean that it refers to Christ and the Church. In any case, each one should love his wife as himself, the wife for her part showing respect for her husband” (Eph. 5:25, 32 f). Paul himself boasted to the Corinthians: “I given you in marriage to one husband, presenting you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2)
This Pauline image of Christian marriage rests firmly on the conviction that our bodies are members of Christ.
Whoever is joined to the Lord become one spirit with him…You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you- the spirit you have received from God. You are not your own, you have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body “ (1Cor. 6:17-20)
C. Redeemed Sexuality
1080: 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 the. This restoration pertains not only to our relationship with God, but especially to the mutual interrelationships between men and women within the community and in family life. By word and example, Jesus revealed the true nature of our human sexuality and of marriage. More importantly through his own Resurrection, Jesus redeemed our whole persons, with all our instincts, powers and relationships, including our sexuality.
1081: Incorporated by Baptism into the Risen Christ, the Christian knows that his or her body, too has been vivified and purified by the spirit Jesus communicates. Faith in the mystery of the Risen Christ, which through His Spirit, actualizes and prolongs in the faithful Paschal Mystery, already begun thanks to the Spirit, who dwells in the just as pledge and seed of the total definitive resurrection” (EGHL 43).
1082: The family and the nation were part of Israel’s covenant with Yahweh. So for Christian toady, the marriage relationship between husband and wife, and the total area of human interpersonal relationships between man and woman are touched by the redeeming grace of Christ in his Spirit, and form an intrinsic part of the Kingdom of God.
1083: 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 perduring state for love, a love, which develops, heals and creates. “In the light of the mystery of Christ, sexuality appears to us a vocation to realize that love which the Holy Spirit instills in the heart of the redeemed.” (EGHL30)
1085 The Sixth Commandment, then when viewed through the eyes of faith in the Risen Christ far from restricting us, actually liberates from two “tyrannies”. The first is the tyranny of puritanical attitudes and misguided taboos regarding sexuality. The second is the tyranny of “independency” promoted by the so-called “new morality” that exalts casual sex while rejecting commitment and moral obligation. In rejecting fornication, and the forced violation of sexual integrity in rape, the Commandment is clearly protecting the personal dignity of both men and women, recalling their social responsibility against scandalizing the young (cf. CCC 2353, 2356)
Breaking through both tyrannies, the Christian view of sexuality and marriage presents the dignity and authentic freedom pf single and married life that is truly fulfilling and desirable and fruitful.
1086: For the married, the commandment enjoins a free and responsible fidelity to a conjugal union that is life-long (cf. CCC 2364 f) this means, first a joining of man and 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.” That it why it is right that the total giving of self in sexual intercourse be reserved for this state of marriage as a permanent covenantal bond of personal love. For only within such a communion does sexual union take on its full meaning and become truly human and creative.
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