The Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.
What does it mean to say that man is a sexual being?
God created man as male and female. He created them for each other and for love. He created them with erotic desires and the ability to experience physical pleasure. He created them to transmit life.
Being a man or being a woman is very deeply imprinted on the individual human person; it is a different way of feeling, a different way of loving, a different calling with respect to children, another way of believing. Because he intended that they should be there for each other and complement one another in love, God made man and woman different. That is why man and woman attract each other sexually and intellectually. When a husband and wife express their love for each other in bodily union, their love finds its deepest sensual expression. Just as God is creative in his love, so too man can be creative in love and give life to children.
Is there a priority of one sex over the other?
No. God endowed men and women with identical dignity as persons.
Both men and women are human beings created in God’s image and children of God redeemed by Jesus Christ. It is just as unchristian as it is inhumane to discriminate unjustly against someone because he is male or female. Equal dignity and equal rights, nevertheless, do not mean uniformity. The sort of egalitarianism that ignores the specific character of a man or a woman contradicts God’s plan of creation. (YOUCAT questions 400-401)
Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (2331-2336) and other references here.
Life-changing book from Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC: Consoling the Heart of Jesus
This text comes from the YOUCAT - an accessible expression of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a simple Q & A format. [Learn more here]
Copyright © 2011 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco. Sponsored by Lighthouse Catholic Media, NFP. Powered by Flocknote.
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