489. What is involved in the virtue of chastity?

The virtue of chastity involves an apprenticeship in self-mastery as an expression of human freedom directed towards self-giving. An integral and continuing formation, which is brought about in stages, is necessary to achieve this goal.


Veja este tema no Catecismo

Paragraph 2339

2339. Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. the alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.125 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."126

Paragraph 2340

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."127

Paragraph 2341

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.


Acesse nossos estudos biblicos:

How does the story of Judith, in particular, the episode of her cunning in Judith 11:1-16, teach us survival strategies in difficult times, according to the Bible?

What can we learn about divine justice from the Lord’s vengeance mentioned in Abdias 1:15?

How to experience communion with God?

What is the example of perseverance in waiting for God’s promises presented in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1:5-25?

How important is wisdom in mate selection and marriage according to Proverbs 18:22?

How is God’s justice manifested in the midst of suffering, according to Job 34:10-12?

What did Jesus teach about loving your neighbor? (Matthew 22:39)