490. What are the means that aid the living of chastity? (part 1)
(Comp 490) There are many means at one's disposal: the grace of God, the help of
the sacraments, prayer, self-knowledge, the practice of an asceticism adapted
to various situations, the exercise of the moral virtues, especially the virtue
of temperance which seeks to have the passions guided by reason.
“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 2340) Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal
promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice of an ascesis adapted
to the situations that confront him, obedience to God's commandments, exercise
of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer. "Indeed it is through
chastity that we are gathered together and led back to the unity from which we
were fragmented into multiplicity" (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 29, 40: PL 32, 796). (CCC 2341) The virtue of chastity
comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance,
which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with
reason.
Reflection
(CCC 2342) Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and
for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life (Cf. Titus 2:1-6). The effort required can be
more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed
during childhood and adolescence. (CCC 2343) Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection
and too often by sin. "Man… day by day builds himself up through his many
free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages
of growth" (FC 34). [IT
CONTINUES]
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