Chastity

Chastity, Temperance, and Modesty

Mr. Pablo Cuadra Religion Class

What is chastity? •

Chastity is a word that means purity.

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Chastity is a virtue

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The word virtue means: inner strength or good habit.

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Chastity as an inner strength helps us to have control over our sexual energy and drives

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The practice of chastity helps us avoid behavior that is inappropriate or could be selfdestructive to one’s life and the lives of others.

What is Temperance? •

Temperance is another virtue related to the practice of chastity.

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Temperance aided by our reason helps us regulate the sources of pleasure such as: food, drink, and sex.

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The practice of temperance helps us maintain harmony and balance in our daily lives by helping us avoid excesses that can lead us to an unhealthy life, or to loose control of our lives through addictions and unhealthy attachments to peoples or things.

What is modesty? • •

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Modesty is the practice of delicate deserve. The practice of modesty or delicate reserve helps us to know when to refrain from doing something that is shameful or inappropriate in nature, that may as a consequence bring disrespect to our bodies and persona. The practice of delicate reserve prevents us from engaging in behavior that is of a disorderly nature and contrary to our Christian identity. People that practice modesty, for instance, know how to dress in a way that is not provocative, sexual, or inappropriate.

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The practice of the virtue of modesty helps us to train ourselves to be modest in the way we talk or the way we conduct ourselves both in public or in private. Temperance and Modesty are allies of the virtue of Chastity they help us to strengthen our resolve to live in a chaste life.

What is the Catholic view on Sex? • • • • • • •

Popular culture has distorted and ridiculed the Catholic notion on sex. The Catholic Church teaches that sex is a gift of God. Hence, sex is good, holy and ordain to a purpose. Sex is a tremendous creative power given to humanity by its creator. The misuse of this power has severe destructive and deadly consequences. Sex is has been ordained to the vocation of marriage. Only in the sacrament of marriage the gift of sex find its true purpose and fulfillment.

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The act of love and the gift of sex are conducive to two important dimensions in the sacrament of marriage: The unitive and procreative aspects of conjugal love. Sex outside of the covenant of marriage is not longer a gift of life, but rather a destructive force. An inordinate drive that leads to lust and sin.

How is faith and the practice of Chastity related? •

The practice of chastity strengthens our resolution to live our commitment to Christian values and morality. • We call this the Life in Christ. • The practice of Chastity helps us acquire a vision of the human person that is not blurred nor distorted by selfish motives or ulterior desires.

Chastity and the states of life • • •

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The Christian person is called to practice chastity in all states of life. Singled people are to practice chastity through abstinence (the refraining of sexual activity before marriage). Married people are called to practice chastity by protecting the dignity of the other through acts of love, respect, and sacrifice. This means avoiding behavior that is unchaste and aberrant to the state of marriage such as: swinging, bestiality, pornography, rape, prostitution, sadomasochism or any other unnatural, deviant behavior or anti-value that degrades and destroy the dignity of the human person.

What is an acquired virtue? • Chastity is an acquired virtue. • This means we cannot be chaste just by wishing to be chaste. • We must act and live in a chaste way. • This requires a resolution of the will and intellect towards the chaste life and an openness to the grace of God.

How can we live a chaste life in today’s society? • The Christians of today live in a society that is countercultural to the values of the Gospel. • We live in a secular society that drift further and further from the Lord and his message. • As Christian we can become beacons of hope by walking the walk; by adopting the faith and the courage to live as Christ lived.

Practical Tips •

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To develop the virtue of chastity we can considered the following steps:

1. Renew your way of thinking 2. Treat people like people and not like objects or commodities • 3. Avoid that which you know can lead you to act out sexually. • 4. Prayer and the Sacramental life. • 5. Allow good relationships and activities to fill your emptiness and boredom.

Renew Your Way of Thinking •

Renewing our thinking requires the ability to feed our minds with positive, healthy images and desires.

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It also involves an act of faith in our inherent goodness. God created us good. That means we have the capacity to do and think good things.

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If I believe that I am good I will do good things. If I convince myself that I am bad, I am going to act upon that belief. For instance, if we filled our mind with lust, filth and negativity our behavior will be influenced by these things, leading us to disappointing consequences.

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Treat people like people not like objects or commodities •

All of us, deep in our hearts, desire to be treated and loved in an authentic, permanent and respectful way. • We want this because we are humans endowed with dignity, reason and life. • We know when someone is trying to hurt us or just using us to their advantage. We do not like to be treated like things. • Unlike objects we have feelings and a sense of dignity (self-worth).

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The golden rule is an important component in living a chaste life. When we are able to see people as God’s children then, we will able to love them as God’s children.

Avoid the near occasion of sin •

We become what we do for instance, if we steal we become thieves.

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If we engage in unhealthy behavior our character eventually is going to become unhealthy.

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If we get close to the fire chances are we might get burnt.

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In order to practice chastity we need to recognize and avoid the situations or circumstances that we know invite us to act sexually. This might include certain places, people or things.

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The practice of chastity requires making appropriate changes in the type of music, movies or literature we hear, see and read.

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Remember, we will always find what we are looking for.

Prayer and honesty • • • • •

Prayer is the spiritual oxygen of every Christian person. Without a prayer life our spirit and resolve becomes disoriented and weak. Without God’s grace we cannot live a chaste life. Prayer and the sacraments predispose our will to the supernatural. If we honestly desire to live a chaste life God will give us the tools that we need to fight temptation.

Allow good relationships and activities to fill your emptiness and boredom •

To live a chaste life a person needs to develop good and healthy relationships and friendship.

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A sound social life is essential in the practice of chastity. Join a young adult group, a school club, a sport team or a volunteer group.

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Filled in your time with healthy activities such as sports or exercise. Remember, an idle life breeds trouble.

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Develop hobbies or pastimes that will boast your creativity and keep your mind focus on things that are positive and constructive, for instance: poetry, painting, gardening and so forth.

Summary • • •

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Chastity is a virtue, an inner strength, a lifestyle. We become chaste by living a chaste life, a day at a time. God’s grace, honesty and a commitment to what is good are the essential elements that we need to maintain our resolve to chastity. A healthy body, mind and soul will produce a healthy character. Remember, an honest heart will always have an honest answer and an honest resolution.

St Paul the Apostle • “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola “Take, Lord, all my liberty. Receive my memory, my understanding and my whole will. Whatever I have and possess, you have given to me; to you I restore it wholly, and to your will I utterly surrender it for your direction. Give me the love of you only, with your grace, and I am rich enough; nor ask I anything beside.”

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