488. What is chastity?
(Comp 488) Chastity means the positive integration of sexuality within the person.
Sexuality becomes truly human when it is integrated in a correct way into the
relationship of one person to another. Chastity is a moral virtue, a gift of
God, a grace, and a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
“In brief”
(CCC 2395) Chastity means the integration of sexuality
within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2337) Chastity means the successful integration of
sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and
spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and
biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is
integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and
lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore
involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
Reflection
(CCC 2338) 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 (Cf. Mt 5:37).
(Next question: What is involved in the
virtue of chastity?)
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