Step 15: Chastity

“Chastity is a name common to all virtues.”

--St. John Climacus

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been purchased at a price.  Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

--1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We live in an age that is hypersensitive about sexuality.  Our society is soaked in sex.  It is analyzed, trivialized, and advertised.  It’s glorified, vilified, and in the church, sanctified.  Sex is holy and like all holy things it is not to be taken lightly or handled carelessly.

Climacus is very sympathetic with the person who struggles with chastity.  He recognizes that our sexuality is a natural part of being human and that when we place limits on its expression we are going up against a powerful force.  He writes, “By what rule or manner can I bind this body of mine?  By what precedent can I judge him?  Before I can bind him he is let loose, before I can condemn him I am reconciled with him, before I can punish him I bow down to him and feel sorry for him.  How can I hate him when my nature disposes me to love him?  How can I break away from him when I am bound to him forever?  How can I escape from him when he is going to rise with me?  How can I argue with him when all the arguments of nature are on his side?”

Chastity is all about respect.  First of all it’s about respect for God who has given us the gift of our sexuality and spelled out for us how it is to be expressed.  Secondly, Chastity is about respect for others.  Sex is not simply a recreational activity and human beings are not objects to be used for our own gratification.  Sex is for marriage.  Sex is for the creation of new life.  And sex is for the creation and sustenance of a unique and uniquely powerful bond between two individuals.  Honoring God by honoring his directions for sexual expression allows God to bless our relationships.

Prayer:

Thank you, God, for the gift of sexuality.  Help us to use this gift in ways that glorify you.  Give us the strength to resist those forces and attitudes that cheapen and trivialize it so that it might be for us a pure expression of love, commitment and unity, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

St. John Climacus, pray for us.