Catholic Sexual Morality

“The Curran affair also illustrated a serious problem in post-conciliar moral theology that John Paul II would, at some point, have to address in detail.  Father Curran believed that lowering the bar of Catholic sexual morality was the pastorally appropriate response to the tangled lives of human beings, who had been struggling with chastity since Moses had been given the Ten Commandments.  For John Paul, whose pastoral experience was at least as extensive as that of most moral theologians, defining sin down was not, in the final analysis, pastorally sensitive, because it took the dramatic tension out of life and denied human beings the opportunity for moral heroism.  Repentance and forgiveness, not preemptive absolution, was the truer humanism.”  Witness to Hope by George Weigel

JMJ

 Compromising our human existence lowers the dignity of man as it lowers the opportunity for moral heroism.  The true reality and existence of man must be lived in its fullness with no hesitation to what is good and upright as beings made in the image and likeness of God.  The sexual morality that is lowered in its true definition creates in man a lowering of his very own existence in living.  He becomes ruled by his own passions and the true freedom that he is destined to have is led astray by those who preach against the true dignity of man.  The true man lives according to the real and authentic life where morality is not defined down but raised to a degree that draws man to his ultimate truth; a truth that clothes him with the character of moral heroism; a heroism that reflects the very life of Christ in repentance, forgiveness and the life of the Gospel.  A true humanism brings forth in man the occasion to rise against the culture of compromise and live according to the reality of truth where indeed tension will be accustomed in a world that questions the essence of good and evil in its existence.  Until man realizes and faces this reality, the dimension of true moral heroism in himself will not be fully realized and his life is but a grain that will not come to its fullness.  Unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die, it remains but a single grain, but if it die it will bring forth much fruit.  The fruition of man comes forth from truth itself and must be preached from the pulpits to every man and woman of the capacity and dignity he and she holds as children of the Most High God.  A man of no guile must be reflected in the priest, truly another Christ proclaiming to man the truth of what we are ultimately called to and destined to fulfill.  As Christians we must challenge ourselves towards a greater goal of high moral character that draws us to a heroic degree of charity towards the human body and towards the soul that lives within him.  In this challenge, compromise deadens the soul and lowers mans capacity towards the greatness he has been called to live as a follower of Christ.

 O Christ, Redeemer and Savior You reveal to Man Your own Eternal goodness by coming to us in the form of man to redeem us from our own wretched nature and raise us to a degree of sanctity that reflects the unity and charity of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  O Eternal Word made Flesh, You have sanctified the human body by coming to us in humility and share Your divinity with us by giving us your Mother.  Create in man the will to live according to Your Divine Plan, as Your Mother did in her humility and fiat.  May our lives be another fiat that heroicly responds to the consequences and circumstances that is placed before us so that the moral character of heroic virtue may come to its true reality.  May we challenge each other to live according to Your Divine Plan.  Sanctify your priests and protect them from compromise and a life that could lead to indifference and fear of the reality of truth.  Grant them the support they need from Your Holy Angels and the Mother of God so that they may be guarded from heresy and live according to the true dignity of the Gospel.  May our Holy Father, Your Vicar here on Earth, be protected and fortified with the strength of the Saints so that as he shepherds the flock, those who hear and those who see may truly live the life of the Gospel in all its truth and fullness and dignity.  O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions but in your mercy hear answer me.  Amen.