My dear child and for all concerned souls,
I want talk about a tough question. Cremation. I will use my own words, so God help me, inspire me oh Lord.
Cremation has become a very common funeral practice.And I have seen everywhere. I also have seen family members at my husband`s family do it, that is very sad. I have seen them take the ashes home. A horrible practice!! As a traditional catholic, I reject it. Before Vatican II cremation was condemned , no priest would accept such a thing. With the coming of Vatican II we had several changes in all levels, changes in everything, tolerance in order to please the people, and one of the several changes was the acceptance of cremation. Now many Catholics are having cremation . Even that the popes after Vatican II say it is ok to have cremation, we should not follow this pagan practice.
I do believe this horrible practice came from paganism and atheism.They don't believe in the resurrection of the dead.In our Catholic creed that we pray every Sunday mass, i just wonder if they understand what it means" I believe in the ..communion of the saints, the resurrection of the dead.." At the end of the times our bodies will be back to life again, the flesh will be back to the bodies. And what about the ashes? they have no body! The cremation is a very atheist practice, to deny the resurrection of the body at end of times.
The will of God is to bury the body, not to burn. God created our bodies out of love,and then come stupid people and want to destroy what God made it. Everything that God makes, the devil want to destroy it !!
See the paradox :
God created human life, the devil created death, abortion, euthanasia
From God natural conception. From the devil, contraception, sterilization, artificial conception
God created the marriage, the devil created the divorce
From God, sacrament of marriage by the Church. From devil, marriage by the judge, cohabitation
God created marriage between one man and one woman, the devil created gay marriage
From God purity, chastity, modesty. From the devil, sex before marriage, pornograpy, immodesty.
From God, burial of the body. From devil, destruction of the body by cremation.
We should obey God! We should be holy as God is Holy. We should respect human life that was created by God. We should respect also all God`s creatures.
What to do when our loved ones die? we should bury them. We should arrange a Catholic funeral for them, at Traditional Latin Mass. The prayers at the funeral mass at new mass are short and changed. At Traditional Latin Mass, otherwise, it is complete and better prayers for the dead. I strong recommend at Latin Mass, even that you don't understand one word at Latin. But God and His angels do ! Latin is a sacred language. Please pray for the souls in Purgatory. Thank you.
May God bless you forever.
Guiding the youth and adults in how to act, how to conduct according to God`s laws. Keep the Faith!
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Thursday, July 17, 2014
The Book of Tobias teaches spouses to practice chastity
The
Book of Tobias teaches spouses to practice chastity
Another great story of virtue and chastity found in the Old Testament Scripture is the story of the holy youth Tobias in The Book of Tobias or Tobit. Not surprisingly, this book is sadly missing from most protestant “bible” versions. Sad to say, being controlled by the devil and impurity, it is not hard to understand why the devil was allowed to fool the protestants to reject this biblical book since they are such fierce enemies of all sexual purity and morality.
The Book of Tobias describes how the holy youth Tobias was commanded by almighty God through the Archangel Raphael to never perform the marital act for the sake of lust and that he shall be “moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham” he “mayest obtain a blessing in children”. Tobias, who was a holy, chaste and virtuous person of course consented to this admonishment by the Holy Angel Raphael and answered God in his prayer, saying to Him that: “not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity [children], in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever”, thus showing us a great and edifying example of marital purity, and the necessity for all to perform the marital act for the sole purpose of procreation of children and the love of God, if they want to perfectly please Our Lord rather than their own fleshly lusts and desires.
The holy youth Tobias approached his bride Sara after three days of prayer and chastity, not for fleshly lust but only for the love of posterity, having been instructed by the Archangel Raphael that to engage in the marital act he shall “be moved rather for love of children than for lust” so “that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children”. Our Lord’s words about “the seed of Abraham” refers to those who are going to be saved from Hell by Christ’s redemptive blood since God solemnly revealed in the New Testament Scripture that “if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29) The “blessing in children” obviously refers to an abundant blessing of offspring blessed by God for those who perform the marital act for the sole motive of procreation rather than the satisfaction of their sexual lust.
The practice of observing chastity for three days after one gets married as the Holy Bible and the Church have always told us to follow, is something that God’s Holy Word considers to be vitally important, and that is why every couple should follow this biblical advice of praying together or individually in chastity, purity and holiness for three days before consummating their marriage. In truth, after they have consummated their marriage, they should also continue this practice of prayer for three days before they perform every marital act since Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself commanded “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Our Lord’s words in the Bible are not to be followed only once, but should be practiced every day even until death in order to increase grace and virtuous living.
Notice
how Our Lord and God in the biblical Book
of Tobias
clearly promises that all those who pray and abstain from the marital
act for three days before having marital relations shall receive the
inestimable graces of receiving “sound
children”
on the third night and that they shall be admitted “into
the society of the holy Patriarchs”
on the second. The honor of being “admitted
into the society of the holy Patriarchs”
is of course too great to even describe in human terms since the Holy
Patriarchs were the most beloved friends of God because
of their purity. The blessing on the third night of “sound
children may be born of you”
obviously means that those couples who do not perform the marital
act for the sake of lust or too often and who are virtuous and wait
for three
days in accordance with the promise of Holy Scripture, will give
birth to a child without birth deformities or defects. This may be
hard for many to believe, but this is really and truly what Holy
Scripture is promising and saying. In truth,
“married women who have observed mutual fidelity and have
neither known anything outside of themselves not even themselves
except the desire for children, if they continually give alms and
observe God’s precepts as well as they can, will merit happily
to be associated with holy Job, Sara, and Susanna, along with the
Patriarchs and Prophets.” (St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermon
6:7, 6th century)
It is indeed very sad to see that no one today, whether married or unmarried seem to care anything about these promises and wonderful, virtuous deeds of chastity and purity and that so few people actually try to practice any of these virtuous deeds we have just seen and read about, that will produce these remarkable and wondrous graces from Our Lord and which He promised He would bless a virtuous couple and their offspring with. One would think that even a worldly or ungodly couple would appreciate the grace of receiving a child that is sound and without deformity and that they—if they believed in God or were aware of these promises—would act in accordance to the words of the Holy Scripture; but now neither “Catholics” or so-called Christians nor any else of the world seem to care anything about these words of our Lord that promises the inestimable grace and blessing of receiving a sound child free from all birth deformities or defects, and the honor of being admitted “into the society of the holy Patriarchs”.
The words in the Book of Tobit also shows us that spouses must remember their bond with the Lord first and foremost and that the fleshly or physical part of the marriage must always come secondhand.
By practicing this highly and virtuous act of abstaining from marital relations for three days, the devil’s might and power over married couples is undoubtedly thwarted and diminished. Holy Scripture thus advice spouses to be “joined to God” for three days in prayer before performing the marital act. Not only that, but spouses should always fervently pray to God before every marital act in the future and ask Him to protect them from falling into sin, and also after the marital act in order to ask Our Lord to forgive them if they committed any sin during the act of marriage. This is the safe road of the fear of God that every righteous man or woman should follow if they wish to enter Heaven.
By the grace of God, let us not live like pagans or heathens anymore who only searches for ways to please their flesh and the world and others, but let us rather strive to please God our heavenly Father and our spiritual nature; and that is also why we all, (whether married or unmarried) who have resurrected with Christ from the dead, and from our old sinful nature, must leave every form of carnality and impurity behind, instead looking up and embrace Our Lord in the purity of the heart and of the body, longing for what is above, and for high and spiritual things. “This then I say and testify in the Lord: That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Who despairing, have given themselves up to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness. But you have not so learned Christ.” (Ephesians 4:17-20)
Contrary to the world today, Saint Augustine, writing On the Good of Widowhood in about A.D. 414, describes the pure mindset of the Holy Jews and Patriarchs during the Old Testament era, telling us how they would willingly have chosen a life of perpetual chastity rather than the marital life had it been known to them that children could be had in another way than through sexual intercourse: “Forsooth different in the times of the Prophets was the dispensation of holy females, whom obedience, not lust, forced to marry, for the propagation of the people of God, that in them Prophets of Christ might be sent beforehand; whereas the People itself also, by those things which in figure happened among them, whether in the case of those who knew, or in the case of those who knew not those things, was nothing else than a Prophet of Christ, of whom should be born the Flesh also of Christ... Whence also holy women were kindled, not by lust of sensual intercourse, but by piety of bearing; so that we most rightly believe of them that they would not have sought sensual intercourse, in case a family could have come by any other means. And to the husbands was allowed the use of several wives living; and that the cause of this was not lust of the flesh, but forethought of begetting, is shown by the fact, that, as it was lawful for holy men to have several wives living, it was not likewise lawful for holy women to have intercourse with several husbands living; in that they would be by so much the baser, by how much the more they sought what would not add to their fruitfulness.” (St. Augustine, On the Good of Widowhood, Section 10)
Another great story of virtue and chastity found in the Old Testament Scripture is the story of the holy youth Tobias in The Book of Tobias or Tobit. Not surprisingly, this book is sadly missing from most protestant “bible” versions. Sad to say, being controlled by the devil and impurity, it is not hard to understand why the devil was allowed to fool the protestants to reject this biblical book since they are such fierce enemies of all sexual purity and morality.
The Book of Tobias describes how the holy youth Tobias was commanded by almighty God through the Archangel Raphael to never perform the marital act for the sake of lust and that he shall be “moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham” he “mayest obtain a blessing in children”. Tobias, who was a holy, chaste and virtuous person of course consented to this admonishment by the Holy Angel Raphael and answered God in his prayer, saying to Him that: “not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity [children], in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever”, thus showing us a great and edifying example of marital purity, and the necessity for all to perform the marital act for the sole purpose of procreation of children and the love of God, if they want to perfectly please Our Lord rather than their own fleshly lusts and desires.
Tobias
6:22; 8:9 “And when the third night is past, [after praying to
God for three days in chastity] thou shalt take the virgin with the
fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust,
that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing
in children… [Tobias said:] And now, Lord, thou knowest,
that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only
for the love of posterity, in which thy name may be blessed
for ever and ever.”
Tobias
6:16-17 “Then the angel Raphael said to him [Tobias]: Hear me,
and I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail.
For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God
from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their
lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them
the devil hath power.”
The holy youth Tobias approached his bride Sara after three days of prayer and chastity, not for fleshly lust but only for the love of posterity, having been instructed by the Archangel Raphael that to engage in the marital act he shall “be moved rather for love of children than for lust” so “that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children”. Our Lord’s words about “the seed of Abraham” refers to those who are going to be saved from Hell by Christ’s redemptive blood since God solemnly revealed in the New Testament Scripture that “if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29) The “blessing in children” obviously refers to an abundant blessing of offspring blessed by God for those who perform the marital act for the sole motive of procreation rather than the satisfaction of their sexual lust.
The practice of observing chastity for three days after one gets married as the Holy Bible and the Church have always told us to follow, is something that God’s Holy Word considers to be vitally important, and that is why every couple should follow this biblical advice of praying together or individually in chastity, purity and holiness for three days before consummating their marriage. In truth, after they have consummated their marriage, they should also continue this practice of prayer for three days before they perform every marital act since Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself commanded “that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Our Lord’s words in the Bible are not to be followed only once, but should be practiced every day even until death in order to increase grace and virtuous living.
Our
Lord spoke to Tobias through the Archangel Raphael, saying:
“But thou [Tobias] when thou shalt take her, go into the
chamber, and
for three
days keep thyself continent from her, and give thyself to nothing
else
but to prayers with her.
… But the second night thou shalt be admitted into the society
of the holy Patriarchs. And the third night thou shalt obtain a
blessing that sound children may be born of you. And
when the third night is
past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved
rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of
Abraham thou mayst obtain a blessing in children.”
(Tobias 6:18, 20-22)
It is indeed very sad to see that no one today, whether married or unmarried seem to care anything about these promises and wonderful, virtuous deeds of chastity and purity and that so few people actually try to practice any of these virtuous deeds we have just seen and read about, that will produce these remarkable and wondrous graces from Our Lord and which He promised He would bless a virtuous couple and their offspring with. One would think that even a worldly or ungodly couple would appreciate the grace of receiving a child that is sound and without deformity and that they—if they believed in God or were aware of these promises—would act in accordance to the words of the Holy Scripture; but now neither “Catholics” or so-called Christians nor any else of the world seem to care anything about these words of our Lord that promises the inestimable grace and blessing of receiving a sound child free from all birth deformities or defects, and the honor of being admitted “into the society of the holy Patriarchs”.
The words in the Book of Tobit also shows us that spouses must remember their bond with the Lord first and foremost and that the fleshly or physical part of the marriage must always come secondhand.
By practicing this highly and virtuous act of abstaining from marital relations for three days, the devil’s might and power over married couples is undoubtedly thwarted and diminished. Holy Scripture thus advice spouses to be “joined to God” for three days in prayer before performing the marital act. Not only that, but spouses should always fervently pray to God before every marital act in the future and ask Him to protect them from falling into sin, and also after the marital act in order to ask Our Lord to forgive them if they committed any sin during the act of marriage. This is the safe road of the fear of God that every righteous man or woman should follow if they wish to enter Heaven.
St.
Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence, A.D. 419: “Whosoever
possesses his vessel (that is, his wife) with this intention of
heart, [that is, for the procreation of children] certainly does not
possess her in the "disease of desire," as the Gentiles
which know not God, but in sanctification and honor, as believers who
hope in God. A man turns to use the evil of concupiscence, and is not
overcome by it, when he bridles and restrains its rage, as it works
in inordinate and indecorous motions; and never relaxes his hold upon
it except when intent on offspring, and then controls and applies it
to the carnal generation of children to be spiritually regenerated,
not to the subjection of the spirit to the flesh in a sordid
servitude. That the holy fathers of olden times after Abraham, and
before him, to whom God gave His testimony that "they pleased
Him," thus used their wives, no one who is a Christian ought to
doubt, since it was permitted to certain individuals among them to
have a plurality of wives, where the reason was for the
multiplication of their offspring, not the desire of varying
gratification.” (Book 1, Chapter 9 - This Disease of
Concupiscence in Marriage is Not to Be a Matter of Will, But of
Necessity [for the Procreation of Children])
God’s
Holy Word is clear. Spouses are to engage in the marital act moved
rather for love of children than for lust. They are also to practice
chastity from time to time (Ecclesiastes 3:5; 1 Corinthians 7:5).By the grace of God, let us not live like pagans or heathens anymore who only searches for ways to please their flesh and the world and others, but let us rather strive to please God our heavenly Father and our spiritual nature; and that is also why we all, (whether married or unmarried) who have resurrected with Christ from the dead, and from our old sinful nature, must leave every form of carnality and impurity behind, instead looking up and embrace Our Lord in the purity of the heart and of the body, longing for what is above, and for high and spiritual things. “This then I say and testify in the Lord: That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Who despairing, have given themselves up to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness. But you have not so learned Christ.” (Ephesians 4:17-20)
Contrary to the world today, Saint Augustine, writing On the Good of Widowhood in about A.D. 414, describes the pure mindset of the Holy Jews and Patriarchs during the Old Testament era, telling us how they would willingly have chosen a life of perpetual chastity rather than the marital life had it been known to them that children could be had in another way than through sexual intercourse: “Forsooth different in the times of the Prophets was the dispensation of holy females, whom obedience, not lust, forced to marry, for the propagation of the people of God, that in them Prophets of Christ might be sent beforehand; whereas the People itself also, by those things which in figure happened among them, whether in the case of those who knew, or in the case of those who knew not those things, was nothing else than a Prophet of Christ, of whom should be born the Flesh also of Christ... Whence also holy women were kindled, not by lust of sensual intercourse, but by piety of bearing; so that we most rightly believe of them that they would not have sought sensual intercourse, in case a family could have come by any other means. And to the husbands was allowed the use of several wives living; and that the cause of this was not lust of the flesh, but forethought of begetting, is shown by the fact, that, as it was lawful for holy men to have several wives living, it was not likewise lawful for holy women to have intercourse with several husbands living; in that they would be by so much the baser, by how much the more they sought what would not add to their fruitfulness.” (St. Augustine, On the Good of Widowhood, Section 10)
The virtue of Chastity helps people become victorious in battles
The
virtue of Chastity helps people become victorious in battles
according to the Book of Judith
As we have already seen from the example of the Holy Scripture, God commanded those who are engaged in war to always remain chaste during their war in order to become victorious. The Book of Judith in the Holy Bible is another great example of how the Jewish people was saved from death and triumphed over their enemies through the holy fear, virtue and chastity of a holy woman named Judith.
The book describes how Judith and the Jewish people was being occupied by a heathen army and that all seemed as though they were going to either starve to death or be butchered by the enemy army. God, however, had other plans and choose a virtuous and chaste woman to single-handedly save the Jewish people from certain death.
Our Lord also teaches us in the New Testament Holy Scripture that a widow will become more blessed if she do not remarry, just like in the case of the holy widow Judith who stayed unmarried after the death of her husband. “But more blessed shall she be, if she so remain, [that is, a widow] according to my counsel; and I think that I also have the spirit of God.” (1 Cor. 7:40)
This passage clearly shows us that God desires both men and women to stay chaste and unmarried after their spouse have died, and that the virtuous and chaste life of all who stay chaste are “more blessed” and beloved by God when compared to those who remarry and have children for the love of God. In truth, God is infinitely more honored by those souls who, for His sake, offers up their purity and chastity as a holocaust to Him, since the marital life is more sensual with many cares and worries that draws us away from God and perfection.
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Chastity and Purity is undoubtedly a direct proof that God loves the chaste and pure with a special love, since God has never loved nor will ever love anyone (whether angel or saint) more than Her. In The Revelations of St. Bridget, Our Lord explicitly revealed this truth about Our Lady in the following words, “The angels and other saints bear witness that your love for me was more ardent and your chastity more pure than that of any other, and that it was more pleasing to me than all else. Your head was like gleaming gold and your hair like sunbeams, because your most pure virginity, which is like the head of all your virtues, as well as your control over every illicit desire pleased me and shone in my sight with all humility.
You are rightly called the crowned queen over all creation - “queen” for the sake of your purity, “crowned” for your excellent worth.” (The Revelations of Saint Bridget, Book 5, Revelation 4)
In truth, the love and practice of the virtue of chastity draws down many great blessings on mankind, and victory in war is just one of them, as we have just seen. Too few today, however, are able to see or appreciate the great worth of this angelic virtue.
As we have already seen from the example of the Holy Scripture, God commanded those who are engaged in war to always remain chaste during their war in order to become victorious. The Book of Judith in the Holy Bible is another great example of how the Jewish people was saved from death and triumphed over their enemies through the holy fear, virtue and chastity of a holy woman named Judith.
The book describes how Judith and the Jewish people was being occupied by a heathen army and that all seemed as though they were going to either starve to death or be butchered by the enemy army. God, however, had other plans and choose a virtuous and chaste woman to single-handedly save the Jewish people from certain death.
Judith
15:11 “For thou [Judith] hast done manfully, and thy heart has
been strengthened, because thou hast loved chastity,
and after thy husband hast not known any other: therefore also the
hand of the Lord hath strengthened thee, and therefore thou shalt be
blessed for ever.”
Judith
16:26 “And chastity was joined to her virtue, so that she knew
no man all the days of her life, after the death of Manasses her
husband.”
As
we can see from these verses, the love and practice of the virtue of
chastity is not a vain or useless practice, but it is in fact a
virtue so dearly loved by God that He showers humanity with countless
of graces and helps of different sorts because of it.Our Lord also teaches us in the New Testament Holy Scripture that a widow will become more blessed if she do not remarry, just like in the case of the holy widow Judith who stayed unmarried after the death of her husband. “But more blessed shall she be, if she so remain, [that is, a widow] according to my counsel; and I think that I also have the spirit of God.” (1 Cor. 7:40)
This passage clearly shows us that God desires both men and women to stay chaste and unmarried after their spouse have died, and that the virtuous and chaste life of all who stay chaste are “more blessed” and beloved by God when compared to those who remarry and have children for the love of God. In truth, God is infinitely more honored by those souls who, for His sake, offers up their purity and chastity as a holocaust to Him, since the marital life is more sensual with many cares and worries that draws us away from God and perfection.
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Chastity and Purity is undoubtedly a direct proof that God loves the chaste and pure with a special love, since God has never loved nor will ever love anyone (whether angel or saint) more than Her. In The Revelations of St. Bridget, Our Lord explicitly revealed this truth about Our Lady in the following words, “The angels and other saints bear witness that your love for me was more ardent and your chastity more pure than that of any other, and that it was more pleasing to me than all else. Your head was like gleaming gold and your hair like sunbeams, because your most pure virginity, which is like the head of all your virtues, as well as your control over every illicit desire pleased me and shone in my sight with all humility.
You are rightly called the crowned queen over all creation - “queen” for the sake of your purity, “crowned” for your excellent worth.” (The Revelations of Saint Bridget, Book 5, Revelation 4)
In truth, the love and practice of the virtue of chastity draws down many great blessings on mankind, and victory in war is just one of them, as we have just seen. Too few today, however, are able to see or appreciate the great worth of this angelic virtue.
Be chaste before receive Holy Communion
The
figure of the Eucharist requires people to be chaste in order to
receive it, teaching us to be chaste for three days before receiving
the Eucharist
Another example of chastity in the Old Testament is found in The First Book of Kings (also called First Samuel) where the future King David, being on the run from King Saul, asks the priest Achimelech for some food to alleviate his and his friends’ hunger.
Just like in the case of The Book of Exodus where God demanded the people to be chaste for three days before receiving His Holy Word, so the figure and sign of the most Holy Eucharist in the Old Testament time also refers to the three days of chastity before receiving it. We see the three day standard of practicing chastity before receiving the Holy Eucharist in these words: “Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy.” (1 Kings 21:5)
Likewise, the reception of the Word of God by the people of Israel in The Book of Exodus after three days of chastity signifies that there is a necessity for all to be chaste for three days in order to receive the Word of God (Our Lord Jesus Christ) made flesh in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Old Testament could not be more clear on the beneficial nature of chastity, and that it is necessary for a person to practice it for three days before receiving the Most Holy Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Law and the Old Testament, every time God commanded the people to “sanctify” themselves this meant that they were to be chaste for a period of time as evidenced from The Book of Exodus, as we saw above. The commandment to the people to “sanctify” themselves that were given by God and His Prophets and Priests in the Old Testament are quite often used in the Old Testament, but most people who read the Old Testament do not understand that the Jewish sanctification actually meant to practice the virtue of chastity for a certain amount of time. “The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Psalms 36:18)
The Jews of the Old Testament time also understood how the practice of chastity would benefit them both spiritually and physically and that is also why the common practice of many of the Jews who entered into military life (as we saw in the case of King David and his men) were to remain chaste and sanctify their life in order to receive the grace of God to become victorious in battle. Indeed, God Himself directly commanded the Jews to always be pure and chaste when they were to engage in a war or a battle: “When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep thyself from every evil thing. If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp. And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp.” (Deuteronomy 23:9-11)
When one remembers that God commanded the Jews to always practice chastity in both war and peace time, it is not hard to understand why in the cases when they lost their wars, their lack of chastity was a main reason (if not the greatest reason) why they lost their battles and their independence.
The Christian Crusaders also practiced chastity like the Jews and did penance in order to become victorious in battles against the heathen. Many times God also revealed through supernatural revelations to the Christian combatants just like He did to the Jews that unless they were virtues and pure, they would lose future battles. The order of the Knights Templar was one of these virtuous orders who solemnly took vows of chastity and perfect purity, constantly waring against the Devil, the flesh and the world on one side, and the Heretic, Saracen, Muslim or Infidel on the other. They were a kind of warrior monk; a new breed indeed in the Christian world; and because of their spectacular purity, a few numbers of the Crusaders could miraculously defeat a multitude of infidels, who were much more numerous and stronger than they were themselves. These pure servants of Christ also wore a white dress which signified their inner purity. In The History of the Knights Templar, by Charles G. Addison, we read the following words concerning this: “To all the professed knights, both in winter and summer, we give, if they can be procured, white garments, that those who have cast behind them a dark life may know that they are to commend themselves to their Creator by a pure and white life. For what is whiteness but perfect chastity, and chastity is the security of the soul and the health of the body. And unless every knight shall continue chaste, he shall not come to perpetual rest, nor see God, as the apostle Paul witnesseth: Follow after peace with all men, and chastity, without which no man shall see God...”
Indeed, the necessity for us all to “sanctify” ourselves is crucially important, and especially so when we are to receive Our Lord’s Holy Body and Blood. Speaking about the reception of the Holy Eucharist, St. Jerome expresses himself in the following terms in his Commentary on The Gospel of Matthew: “If the loaves of Proposition might not be eaten by them who had known their wives carnally, how much less may this Bread [the Eucharist] which has come down from heaven be defiled and touched by them who shortly before have been in conjugal embraces? It is not that we condemn marriages, but that at the time when we are going to eat the flesh of the Lamb, we ought not to indulge in carnal acts.” (Epist. xxviii, among St. Jerome’s works)
For the same reason, in the year 1679 A.D., Pope Innocent XI addressed all priests in an encyclical, teaching them how married people are to be instructed and disposed in order to be able to receive the Most Holy Body, Blood and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist: “In the case of married persons, however, let them seriously consider this, since the blessed Apostle does not wish them to "defraud one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that they may give themselves to prayer" [cf. 1 Cor. 7:5], let them advise these seriously that they should give themselves more to continence because of reverence for the most holy Eucharist, and that they should come together for Communion in the heavenly banquet with a purer mind.” (Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689), From the Decree C. S. Conc., Feb. 12. 1679, Denzinger #1147)
Pope Innocent XI also added additional instructions on how both the married as well as all others are to be instructed and disposed for the reception of Our Lord’s Body and Blood in the following words: “It will be of benefit, too, besides the diligence of priests and confessors, to make use also of the services of preachers and to have an agreement with them, that, when the faithful have become used to frequenting the most holy Sacrament (which they should do), they preach a sermon on the great preparation for undertaking that, and show in general that those who by devout zeal are stirred to a more frequent or daily partaking of the health bringing Food, whether lay tradesmen, or married people, or any others, ought to understand their own weakness, so that because of the dignity of the Sacrament and the fear of the divine judgment they may learn to revere the celestial table on which is Christ; and if at any time they should feel themselves not prepared, to abstain from it and to gird themselves for a greater preparation. … Furthermore, let bishops and priests or confessors refute those who hold that daily communion is of divine right...” (Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689), From the Decree C. S. Conc., Feb. 12. 1679, Denzinger #1149-1150)
So a good advice to pious persons is that they remain chaste for three days before receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in the same way as the Jewish people were commanded by God to practice chastity for three days before they received the Word of God in the Old Covenant; and just like David and his men had to be chaste and pure for three days before they received the figure and sign of the Body of Christ in the Old Law. The honor that a chaste and virtuous person gives to Christ and the Holy Eucharist by practicing the virtue of chastity for three days before receiving the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is, simply said, inestimable. The biblical Commentary of First Kings also teaches us this fact, mentioning that “If this cleanness was required of them that were to eat that bread, which was but a figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament [the Eucharist]; how clean ought Christians be when they approach to our tremendous mysteries?”
In fact, the Catholic Church has always admonished and taught spouses that there is a necessity to abstain from the marriage debt for at least three days before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist of the Mass in order to obtain blessings from God, while also recognizing and admonishing spouses that “The dignity of so great a Sacrament [of the Eucharist] also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion”.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent speaks much of the necessity of purity and preparation before receiving the Holy Eucharist. In the section “On the Sacrament of Matrimony” it teaches that the three days standard of observing chastity before receiving Communion was taught by their predecessors, thus indicating that the Tradition of the Church always taught this truth: “But as every blessing is to be obtained from God by holy prayer, the faithful are also to be taught sometimes to abstain from the marriage debt, in order to devote themselves to prayer. Let the faithful understand that (this religious continence), according to the proper and holy injunction of our predecessors, is particularly to be observed for at least three days before Communion, and oftener during the solemn fast of Lent. Thus will they find the blessings of marriage to be daily increased by an abundance of divine grace; and living in the pursuit of piety, they will not only spend this life in peace and tranquility, but will also repose in the true and firm hope, which confoundeth not, of arriving, through the divine goodness, at the possession of that life which is eternal.”
In the section “On the sacrament of the Eucharist, Preparation Of Body” The Catechism of Trent corroborates the fact that the story of David in the Bible shows us that we must both fast and be chaste before receiving the Holy Eucharist: “Our preparation should not, however, be confined [only] to the soul; it should also extend to the body. We are to approach the Holy Table fasting, having neither eaten nor drunk anything at least from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion. The dignity of so great a Sacrament also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion. This observance is recommended by the example of David, who, when about to receive the showbread from the hands of the priest, declared that he and his servants had been clean from women for three days. The above are the principal things to be done by the faithful preparatory to receiving the sacred mysteries with profit; and to these heads may be reduced whatever other things may seem desirable by way of preparation.”
Indeed, there is a “great necessity of this previous preparation” for all who presume to receive the Most Holy Body of Our Lord: “We now come to point out the manner in which the faithful should be previously prepared for sacramental Communion. To demonstrate the great necessity of this previous preparation, the example of the Savior should be adduced. Before He gave to His Apostles the Sacrament of His precious Body and Blood, although they were already clean, He washed their feet to show that we must use extreme diligence before Holy Communion in order to approach it with the greatest purity and innocence of soul.” (The Catechism of Trent, On the sacrament of the Eucharist, Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion)
Considering all of the above, it is clear why The Catechism of Trent, in the Chapter about the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion, rightly declared that he who dares to approach the Holy Eucharist “without this preparation [of purity] not only derives from it no advantage, but even incurs the greatest misfortune and loss,” which directly contradicts the lustful and depraved world who teaches that God does not require any kind of special purity in order to receive Him: “In the next place, the faithful are to understand that as he who approaches thus prepared and disposed is adorned with the most ample gifts of heavenly grace; so, on the contrary, he who approaches without this preparation not only derives from it no advantage, but even incurs the greatest misfortune and loss. It is characteristic of the best and most salutary things that, if seasonably made use of, they are productive of the greatest benefit; but if employed out of time, they prove most pernicious and destructive. It cannot, therefore, excite out surprise that the great and exalted gifts of God; when received into a soul properly disposed, are of the greatest assistance towards the attainment of salvation; while to those who receive them unworthily, they bring with them eternal death. Of this the Ark of the Lord affords a convincing illustration. The people of Israel possessed nothing more precious and it was to them the source of innumerable blessings from God; but when the Philistines carried it away, it brought on them a most destructive plague and the heaviest calamities, together with eternal disgrace. Thus also food when received from the mouth into a healthy stomach nourishes and supports the body; but when received into an indisposed stomach, causes grave disorders.” (The Catechism of Trent, On the Sacrament of the Eucharist; and the Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion)
Indeed, in The Revelations of St. Bridget, Jesus also tells us that we will be punished if we receive Him in the Eucharist with a wicked or impure heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to St. Bridget, saying, “When the words ‘This is my body’ are spoken, the bread becomes the Body of Christ that people receive, both the good and the wicked, one person as much as one thousand, according to the same truth but not with the same effect, for the good receive it unto life, while the wicked receive it unto judgment.” (The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 4, Chapter 61) And so, “as the sacred feasts approach, observe chastity with your wives for several days preceding, so that you may approach the Lord’s altar with a peaceful conscience.” (St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 19:3)
Before the apostasy of the 20th and the 21st century, it was commonly known by the faithful of the Church that the Church taught married spouses to abstain for at least three days from marital relations as well as that all people (except the sick or weak) were to fast from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion in order for the servants of Christ to be pure and better disposed to receive the Holy Eucharist. Nowadays, however, since people are worldly and lustful, they either reject or ignore this ancient Church teaching. It is indeed obvious that Christians who receive the true Body of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist rather than just a figure or shell of it as the Jews did in the Old Law, should minimally practice as much chastity or even more purity than those in the Old Law did, since this is only reasonable and just. The true Body of Christ is of infinitely more value and deserving of honor than the figure of it, and yet most so-called Christians of today do not even practice as much virtue as the Jews in the Old Law did.
Already in the 6th century, Pope St. Gregory the Great, in his Epistle to Augustine, Bishop of the English, rightly declared that God demands from us purity and chastity when we are to receive Him in the Most Holy Eucharist of the Mass, since this was even required in the Old Law which was only a sign of the Eucharist. He said,
The infinite value of the many and great graces and special friendship of God that lustful people lose because of their inordinate love of this fleshly act is, simply said, impossible to estimate, since a single Grace is truly of more worth than the whole of the universe combined. “He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the King [of Heaven] for his friend.” (Proverbs 22:11)
Many Popes and Saints, as we have seen, tried to get all Christians to practice chastity before they received the Eucharist. It is clear that this is an Apostolic Tradition, since the Church, from the beginning, tried to admonish and teach Her children to always abstain from the sexual act before receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, in the year 866, Pope St. Nicholas the Great wrote a letter to Boris, prince of Bulgaria, and explained the reason for abstaining from marital relations on Sundays and holy days, saying that: “If we must abstain from worldly labor on Sundays, how much the more must we be on our guard against fleshly lust and every bodily defilement.” And so, it is certain that the Church always have taught that Christians are to remain chaste before receiving the Eucharist. St. Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-543 A.D.), who was a fierce promoter of chastity before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist, wrote concerning “a good Christian” in the following way: “That man is a good Christian who, as often as the sacred feasts come around, in order that he may receive Holy Communion more serenely, observes chastity with his wife during the few preceding days, that he may presume to approach the Lord’s altar with a free and serene conscience because of his chaste body and pure heart.” (Sermon 16:2)
Jonas, Bishop of Orleans from 818 to 843, scolded married folk for “irreverently coming” to church after engaging in marital relations. Not only were these married folk “so indiscreet as to come up as far as the altar,” lamented Jonas, but they also received “the Body and Blood of Christ.” Jonas warned those soiled with the “uncleanness” of their marital activity: “Let them understand that they should only enter Christ’s Church and receive His Body and Blood with a clean body and a pure heart.” (Jonas of Orleans, De Institutione Laicorum) St. Caesarius of Arles adds: “Who is unable to advise that, as often as the sacred solemnities approach, chastity with one’s own wife should be observed several days preceding, so that the altar of the Lord may be approached with an upright and pure conscience. Indeed, if a man communicated without chastity, he will receive judgment where he might have had a remedy.” (Sermon 1:12)
Origen (c. 182-254 A.D.) in his Treatise on the Passover, Exegesis of Exodus 12, explains that the Holy Bible teaches us that we must receive the Holy Eucharist with: “Your loins girded.” He then goes on to explain what this means: “We are ordered, when we eat the Passover [the Eucharist], to be pure of bodily sexual union, for this is what the girding of the loins means [in the Holy Scripture]. Thus Scripture teaches us to bind up the bodily source of seed and to repress inclinations to sexual relations when we partake of the flesh of Christ.”
The amount of Popes, Fathers and Saints that could be quoted concerning the absolute necessity to be chaste before the reception of the Holy Eucharist and the Body and Blood of Christ is almost endless. Gratian, in his Marriage Canons From “The Decretum”, which is based largely on the authority of the Church Fathers (written in the 12th century), clearly shows us how this Apostolic Tradition of observing a period of chastity before receiving the Holy Eucharist was firmly established and believed by the faithful in the Early Church. However, these quotations and Early Church Canons also clearly shows us the necessity of abstaining from marital relations not only before Receiving the Sacraments of the Holy Mass, but also on all Holy Days. Gratian writes,
Now, then, when exactly must one start to observe chastity and purity if one wants to receive the Eucharist in accordance to the ordinances of the Church? The Bible is clear on this point in The First Book of Kings: “And the priest answered David, saying: ‘I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women?’ And David answered the priest, and said to him: ‘Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before [that is, three days in total when adding the same day he received the bread], when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this [third] day in the vessels.’” (1 Kings 21:3-5) This biblical text shows us that spouses must be chaste on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, if they are to receive the Most Holy Eucharist on a Sunday. This means that they must be chaste for two whole days before the reception of the Eucharist, as well as completely chaste on the whole day they also received the Holy Eucharist.
These three days also correspond perfectly to Our Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection, which is the mold that all Christians must form themselves after if they want to be saved. “Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God: So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto justice. But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but have obeyed from the heart, unto that form of doctrine, into which you have been delivered.” (Romans 6:3-17) Douay Rheims Bible Commentary explains the verses in Romans 6:6 in this way: “Our old man: Our corrupt state, subject to sin and concupiscence, coming to us from Adam, is called our old man, as our state, reformed in and by Christ, is called the new man. --- Body of sin: The vices and sins, which then ruled in us, are named the body of sin.”
In truth, if we are dead to the world, we shall live forever with Christ. Therefore, every time we will receive the Holy Eucharist, we must be chaste for two days before we receive it, as well as on the day we receive it. For example, if we want to also receive it on a Friday apart from the normal time on the Sunday, we must be chaste on the days of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, if we also decide to receive it on the Sunday, we must continue to be chaste on Saturday and Sunday. Those, however, who choose to perform the marital act on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, are obliged to abstain from the Eucharist that Sunday so that the next week, they may receive it in a state of perfect purity.
It must be said, however, that no one that is married should perform the marital act on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, since these days signify Our Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection which is what we all must conform to if we wish to be saved, by putting to death our old sinful, fleshly and sensual nature and man, and by being resurrected in Christ, rising to heaven in purity and chastity as a new spiritual man that has been freed from our former Body of sin: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols.” (Colossians 3:1-5)
Another example of chastity in the Old Testament is found in The First Book of Kings (also called First Samuel) where the future King David, being on the run from King Saul, asks the priest Achimelech for some food to alleviate his and his friends’ hunger.
1
Kings 21:2-5: “And David said to Achimelech the priest: ‘…Now
therefore if thou have any thing at hand, though it were but five
loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find.’
And the priest answered David, saying: ‘I
have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if
the young
men be clean,
especially from women?’
And David answered the priest,
and said to him: ‘Truly,
as to what concerneth women, we have refrained
ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and
the
vessels
of the young men were holy.
Now this way is
defiled,
but it shall also be
sanctified
this day in the vessels.’”
Haydock
Commentary explains
some very noteworthy and interesting things about these remarkable
verses: “Verse
4. If the
young men be clean,
&c. If this cleanness
was required of them that were to eat that bread, which was but a
figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament
[the Eucharist]; how clean ought Christians be when they approach to
our tremendous mysteries? And what reason hath the Church of God to
admit none to be her ministers, to consecrate and daily receive this
most pure sacrament, but such as devote themselves to a life of
perpetual purity. (Challoner) --- Verse
5. Vessels,
i.e., the bodies, have been holy;
that is, have been kept from impurity (Challoner)…
Septuagint, "my men are all purified." (Calmet) ---
Defiled.
Is liable to expose us to dangers of uncleanness, (Challoner) as we
shall perhaps have to fight. (Haydock) --- Sanctified.
That is, we shall take care, notwithstanding these dangerous
circumstances, to keep our vessels
holy;
that is, keep our bodies from every thing that may defile us.
(Challoner)”Just like in the case of The Book of Exodus where God demanded the people to be chaste for three days before receiving His Holy Word, so the figure and sign of the most Holy Eucharist in the Old Testament time also refers to the three days of chastity before receiving it. We see the three day standard of practicing chastity before receiving the Holy Eucharist in these words: “Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy.” (1 Kings 21:5)
Likewise, the reception of the Word of God by the people of Israel in The Book of Exodus after three days of chastity signifies that there is a necessity for all to be chaste for three days in order to receive the Word of God (Our Lord Jesus Christ) made flesh in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Old Testament could not be more clear on the beneficial nature of chastity, and that it is necessary for a person to practice it for three days before receiving the Most Holy Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Law and the Old Testament, every time God commanded the people to “sanctify” themselves this meant that they were to be chaste for a period of time as evidenced from The Book of Exodus, as we saw above. The commandment to the people to “sanctify” themselves that were given by God and His Prophets and Priests in the Old Testament are quite often used in the Old Testament, but most people who read the Old Testament do not understand that the Jewish sanctification actually meant to practice the virtue of chastity for a certain amount of time. “The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Psalms 36:18)
The Jews of the Old Testament time also understood how the practice of chastity would benefit them both spiritually and physically and that is also why the common practice of many of the Jews who entered into military life (as we saw in the case of King David and his men) were to remain chaste and sanctify their life in order to receive the grace of God to become victorious in battle. Indeed, God Himself directly commanded the Jews to always be pure and chaste when they were to engage in a war or a battle: “When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep thyself from every evil thing. If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp. And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp.” (Deuteronomy 23:9-11)
When one remembers that God commanded the Jews to always practice chastity in both war and peace time, it is not hard to understand why in the cases when they lost their wars, their lack of chastity was a main reason (if not the greatest reason) why they lost their battles and their independence.
The Christian Crusaders also practiced chastity like the Jews and did penance in order to become victorious in battles against the heathen. Many times God also revealed through supernatural revelations to the Christian combatants just like He did to the Jews that unless they were virtues and pure, they would lose future battles. The order of the Knights Templar was one of these virtuous orders who solemnly took vows of chastity and perfect purity, constantly waring against the Devil, the flesh and the world on one side, and the Heretic, Saracen, Muslim or Infidel on the other. They were a kind of warrior monk; a new breed indeed in the Christian world; and because of their spectacular purity, a few numbers of the Crusaders could miraculously defeat a multitude of infidels, who were much more numerous and stronger than they were themselves. These pure servants of Christ also wore a white dress which signified their inner purity. In The History of the Knights Templar, by Charles G. Addison, we read the following words concerning this: “To all the professed knights, both in winter and summer, we give, if they can be procured, white garments, that those who have cast behind them a dark life may know that they are to commend themselves to their Creator by a pure and white life. For what is whiteness but perfect chastity, and chastity is the security of the soul and the health of the body. And unless every knight shall continue chaste, he shall not come to perpetual rest, nor see God, as the apostle Paul witnesseth: Follow after peace with all men, and chastity, without which no man shall see God...”
Indeed, the necessity for us all to “sanctify” ourselves is crucially important, and especially so when we are to receive Our Lord’s Holy Body and Blood. Speaking about the reception of the Holy Eucharist, St. Jerome expresses himself in the following terms in his Commentary on The Gospel of Matthew: “If the loaves of Proposition might not be eaten by them who had known their wives carnally, how much less may this Bread [the Eucharist] which has come down from heaven be defiled and touched by them who shortly before have been in conjugal embraces? It is not that we condemn marriages, but that at the time when we are going to eat the flesh of the Lamb, we ought not to indulge in carnal acts.” (Epist. xxviii, among St. Jerome’s works)
For the same reason, in the year 1679 A.D., Pope Innocent XI addressed all priests in an encyclical, teaching them how married people are to be instructed and disposed in order to be able to receive the Most Holy Body, Blood and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist: “In the case of married persons, however, let them seriously consider this, since the blessed Apostle does not wish them to "defraud one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that they may give themselves to prayer" [cf. 1 Cor. 7:5], let them advise these seriously that they should give themselves more to continence because of reverence for the most holy Eucharist, and that they should come together for Communion in the heavenly banquet with a purer mind.” (Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689), From the Decree C. S. Conc., Feb. 12. 1679, Denzinger #1147)
Pope Innocent XI also added additional instructions on how both the married as well as all others are to be instructed and disposed for the reception of Our Lord’s Body and Blood in the following words: “It will be of benefit, too, besides the diligence of priests and confessors, to make use also of the services of preachers and to have an agreement with them, that, when the faithful have become used to frequenting the most holy Sacrament (which they should do), they preach a sermon on the great preparation for undertaking that, and show in general that those who by devout zeal are stirred to a more frequent or daily partaking of the health bringing Food, whether lay tradesmen, or married people, or any others, ought to understand their own weakness, so that because of the dignity of the Sacrament and the fear of the divine judgment they may learn to revere the celestial table on which is Christ; and if at any time they should feel themselves not prepared, to abstain from it and to gird themselves for a greater preparation. … Furthermore, let bishops and priests or confessors refute those who hold that daily communion is of divine right...” (Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689), From the Decree C. S. Conc., Feb. 12. 1679, Denzinger #1149-1150)
So a good advice to pious persons is that they remain chaste for three days before receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in the same way as the Jewish people were commanded by God to practice chastity for three days before they received the Word of God in the Old Covenant; and just like David and his men had to be chaste and pure for three days before they received the figure and sign of the Body of Christ in the Old Law. The honor that a chaste and virtuous person gives to Christ and the Holy Eucharist by practicing the virtue of chastity for three days before receiving the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is, simply said, inestimable. The biblical Commentary of First Kings also teaches us this fact, mentioning that “If this cleanness was required of them that were to eat that bread, which was but a figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament [the Eucharist]; how clean ought Christians be when they approach to our tremendous mysteries?”
In fact, the Catholic Church has always admonished and taught spouses that there is a necessity to abstain from the marriage debt for at least three days before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist of the Mass in order to obtain blessings from God, while also recognizing and admonishing spouses that “The dignity of so great a Sacrament [of the Eucharist] also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion”.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent speaks much of the necessity of purity and preparation before receiving the Holy Eucharist. In the section “On the Sacrament of Matrimony” it teaches that the three days standard of observing chastity before receiving Communion was taught by their predecessors, thus indicating that the Tradition of the Church always taught this truth: “But as every blessing is to be obtained from God by holy prayer, the faithful are also to be taught sometimes to abstain from the marriage debt, in order to devote themselves to prayer. Let the faithful understand that (this religious continence), according to the proper and holy injunction of our predecessors, is particularly to be observed for at least three days before Communion, and oftener during the solemn fast of Lent. Thus will they find the blessings of marriage to be daily increased by an abundance of divine grace; and living in the pursuit of piety, they will not only spend this life in peace and tranquility, but will also repose in the true and firm hope, which confoundeth not, of arriving, through the divine goodness, at the possession of that life which is eternal.”
In the section “On the sacrament of the Eucharist, Preparation Of Body” The Catechism of Trent corroborates the fact that the story of David in the Bible shows us that we must both fast and be chaste before receiving the Holy Eucharist: “Our preparation should not, however, be confined [only] to the soul; it should also extend to the body. We are to approach the Holy Table fasting, having neither eaten nor drunk anything at least from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion. The dignity of so great a Sacrament also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion. This observance is recommended by the example of David, who, when about to receive the showbread from the hands of the priest, declared that he and his servants had been clean from women for three days. The above are the principal things to be done by the faithful preparatory to receiving the sacred mysteries with profit; and to these heads may be reduced whatever other things may seem desirable by way of preparation.”
Indeed, there is a “great necessity of this previous preparation” for all who presume to receive the Most Holy Body of Our Lord: “We now come to point out the manner in which the faithful should be previously prepared for sacramental Communion. To demonstrate the great necessity of this previous preparation, the example of the Savior should be adduced. Before He gave to His Apostles the Sacrament of His precious Body and Blood, although they were already clean, He washed their feet to show that we must use extreme diligence before Holy Communion in order to approach it with the greatest purity and innocence of soul.” (The Catechism of Trent, On the sacrament of the Eucharist, Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion)
Considering all of the above, it is clear why The Catechism of Trent, in the Chapter about the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion, rightly declared that he who dares to approach the Holy Eucharist “without this preparation [of purity] not only derives from it no advantage, but even incurs the greatest misfortune and loss,” which directly contradicts the lustful and depraved world who teaches that God does not require any kind of special purity in order to receive Him: “In the next place, the faithful are to understand that as he who approaches thus prepared and disposed is adorned with the most ample gifts of heavenly grace; so, on the contrary, he who approaches without this preparation not only derives from it no advantage, but even incurs the greatest misfortune and loss. It is characteristic of the best and most salutary things that, if seasonably made use of, they are productive of the greatest benefit; but if employed out of time, they prove most pernicious and destructive. It cannot, therefore, excite out surprise that the great and exalted gifts of God; when received into a soul properly disposed, are of the greatest assistance towards the attainment of salvation; while to those who receive them unworthily, they bring with them eternal death. Of this the Ark of the Lord affords a convincing illustration. The people of Israel possessed nothing more precious and it was to them the source of innumerable blessings from God; but when the Philistines carried it away, it brought on them a most destructive plague and the heaviest calamities, together with eternal disgrace. Thus also food when received from the mouth into a healthy stomach nourishes and supports the body; but when received into an indisposed stomach, causes grave disorders.” (The Catechism of Trent, On the Sacrament of the Eucharist; and the Necessity Of Previous Preparation For Communion)
Indeed, in The Revelations of St. Bridget, Jesus also tells us that we will be punished if we receive Him in the Eucharist with a wicked or impure heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to St. Bridget, saying, “When the words ‘This is my body’ are spoken, the bread becomes the Body of Christ that people receive, both the good and the wicked, one person as much as one thousand, according to the same truth but not with the same effect, for the good receive it unto life, while the wicked receive it unto judgment.” (The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 4, Chapter 61) And so, “as the sacred feasts approach, observe chastity with your wives for several days preceding, so that you may approach the Lord’s altar with a peaceful conscience.” (St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 19:3)
Before the apostasy of the 20th and the 21st century, it was commonly known by the faithful of the Church that the Church taught married spouses to abstain for at least three days from marital relations as well as that all people (except the sick or weak) were to fast from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion in order for the servants of Christ to be pure and better disposed to receive the Holy Eucharist. Nowadays, however, since people are worldly and lustful, they either reject or ignore this ancient Church teaching. It is indeed obvious that Christians who receive the true Body of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist rather than just a figure or shell of it as the Jews did in the Old Law, should minimally practice as much chastity or even more purity than those in the Old Law did, since this is only reasonable and just. The true Body of Christ is of infinitely more value and deserving of honor than the figure of it, and yet most so-called Christians of today do not even practice as much virtue as the Jews in the Old Law did.
Already in the 6th century, Pope St. Gregory the Great, in his Epistle to Augustine, Bishop of the English, rightly declared that God demands from us purity and chastity when we are to receive Him in the Most Holy Eucharist of the Mass, since this was even required in the Old Law which was only a sign of the Eucharist. He said,
“Furthermore
it is to be attentively considered that the Lord in mount Sinai, when
about to speak to the people, first charged the same people to
abstain from women. And if there, where the Lord spoke to men through
a subject creature, purity
of body was required with such careful provision that they who were
to hear the words of God might not have intercourse with
women, how much more ought those who receive the Body of the Almighty
Lord to keep purity of the flesh in themselves, lest they be weighed
down by the greatness of the inestimable mystery! Hence also it is
said through the priest to David concerning his servants, that if
they were pure from women they might eat the shew bread; which they
might not receive at all unless David first declared them to be pure
from women.” (Selected Epistles of St. Gregory, in "Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers", Volume XIII, Book XII, Epistle LXIV)
It
is a sad fact to have to relate, but carnal Christians who reject
purity and holiness before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist of the
Mass show a lack of estimation and appreciation for the Body of
Christ by their worldly and pleasure seeking lifestyle, showing
themselves to be lovers of the flesh and of the world rather than of
Our Lord. It is an utter disgrace and blemish on every Christian (who
have received countless of more graces than the Jews of the Old Law)
to practice less virtue than the Jews in the Old Law did. This lack
of virtue is undoubtedly also one of the main reasons of why the
Church’s members have been decreased drastically during the
20th century and why so many of them were allowed to fall into
immorality and apostasy from God. The Holy Bible is crystal clear
when it says that: “whosoever
shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily,
shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord. But let a
man prove himself: and so let him eat of that Bread, and drink of the
chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord.
Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep.”
(1 Corinthians 11:27-30)
Our
Lord Himself tells us in The Revelations of St. Bridget that
there is an absolute necessity for all to receive Him in purity and
chastity. Our Lord spoke to St. Bridget in a revelation, saying:
“I am like a ruler who fought faithfully in the land of
his pilgrimage, and returned with joy to the land of his birth. This
ruler had a very precious treasure [the most Holy Eucharist]. At its
sight, the bleary-eyed became clear-sighted, the sad were consoled,
the sick regained their strength, the dead were raised. For the
purpose of the safe and honest protection of this treasure, a
splendid and magnificent house of suitable height was built and
finished with seven steps leading up to it and the treasure. The
ruler entrusted the treasure to his servants for them to watch over,
manage, and protect faithfully and purely. This was in order that the
ruler’s love for his servants might be shown and that the
servants’ faithfulness toward the ruler might be seen.
“As
time went on, the treasure began to be despised and its house rarely
visited, while the guardians grew lukewarm, and the love of the ruler
was neglected. Then the ruler consulted his intimate advisers
concerning what was to be done about such ingratitude, and one of
them said in answer: ‘It is written that the neglectful judges
and guardians of the people were ordered to be hanged in the sun.
However, mercy and judgment are your nature; you are lenient toward
all, for all things are yours and you are merciful toward all.’
“I
am the ruler in the parable. I appeared like a pilgrim on earth by
virtue of my humanity, although I was mighty in heaven and on earth
by virtue of my divinity. I fought so hard on earth that all the
muscles of my hands and feet were ruptured out of zeal for the
salvation of souls. As I was about to leave the world and ascend into
heaven, I left it a most worthy memorial, my most Holy Body, in order
that, in the same way that the Old Law could glory in the ark, the
manna, and the tablets of the covenant, and in other ceremonies, so
the new man could rejoice in the New Law—not, as before, in a
shadow but in the truth, indeed, in my crucified body that had been
foreshadowed in the law. In order that my body might be given honor
and glory, I established the house of the Holy Church, where it was
to be kept and preserved, as well as priests to be its special
guardians, who in a certain way are above the angels by reason of
their ministry. The one whom angels fear to touch due to a reverent
fear, priests handle with their hands and mouth.
“I
honored the priests with a sevenfold honor, as it were, on seven
steps. On the first step, they should be my standard-bearers and
special friends by reason of the purity of their mind and body, for
purity is the first position near to God, whom nothing foul can touch
nor adorn. It was not strange that marital relation was permitted to
the priests of the law during the time in which they were not
offering sacrifice, for they were carrying the shell, not the nut
itself. Now, however, with the coming of the truth and the
disappearance of the figure, one must strive all the more fully for
purity by as much as the nut is sweeter than the shell. As a sign of
this kind of continence, first the hair is tonsured, so that desire
for pleasure does not rule over spirit or flesh.
“…
My grievance now, however, is
that these steps have fallen apart. Pride is loved more than
humility, impurity is practiced instead of purity, the divine lessons
are not read but the book of the world, negligence is to be seen at
the altars, God’s wisdom is regarded as foolishness, the
salvation of souls is not a concern. As if this were not enough, they
even throw away my vestments and scorn my weapons. On the mountain, I
showed Moses the vestments that the priests of the law were to use.
It is not as though there were anything material in God’s
heavenly dwelling, but it is because spiritual things cannot be
understood except by means of physical symbols. Thus, I revealed a
spiritual truth by means of something physical in order that people
might realize how much reverence and purity are needful for those who
have the truth itself—my Body—given that those who were
wearing but a shadow and a figure had so much purity and reverence.
“Why
did I reveal such magnificence in material vestments to Moses? It
was, of course, in order to use them to teach and symbolize the
magnificence and beauty of the soul. As the vestments of the
priests were seven in number, so too the soul that approaches the
Body of God shall have seven virtues without which there is no
salvation. The first vestment of the soul, then, is
contrition and confession. These cover the head. The second is desire
for God and desire for chastity. The third is work in honor of God as
well as patience in adversity. The fourth is caring neither for human
praise nor reproach but for the honor of God alone. The fifth is
abstinence of the flesh along with true humility. The sixth is
consideration of the favors of God as well as fear of his judgments.
The seventh is love of God above all things and
perseverance in good undertakings.
“These
vestments, however, have been changed and are now despised. People
love to make excuses and smooth over their guilt instead of going to
confession. They love constant
lasciviousness instead of chastity.
They love work for the benefit of the body instead of work for the
salvation of the soul. They love worldly ambition and pride instead
of the honor and love of God. They love all kinds of redundancy
instead of praiseworthy thrift, presumption and criticizing God’s
judgments instead of the fear of God, and the clergy’s
thanklessness toward everyone instead of God’s love toward all.
Therefore, as I said through the prophet, I shall come in
indignation, and tribulation shall give them understanding… My
mercy shows pardon to them all and endures them all. However, my
justice calls for retribution, for I cry out each day and you see
well enough how many answer me. Nevertheless, I will still send out
the words of my mouth. Those who listen will complete the days of
their lives in that joy that can neither be expressed nor imagined
because of its sweetness. To those, however, who do not listen, there
will come, as it is written, seven plagues in the soul and seven
plagues in the body. They will find this out, if they think and read
about what has been done. Otherwise, they will quake and quail when
they do experience it.” (The
Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 4,
Chapter 58)
Again,
God’s holy word is clear that there is “A
time to embrace, and
a time to be far from embraces.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:5)
But most people, however, refuse to obey these words of Our Lord
which says that one must practice chastity from time to time.
Instead, they choose to act in a gluttonous way in the marital act by
overindulging in it even though it is contrary to reason to have more
marital relations than what is necessary.The infinite value of the many and great graces and special friendship of God that lustful people lose because of their inordinate love of this fleshly act is, simply said, impossible to estimate, since a single Grace is truly of more worth than the whole of the universe combined. “He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the King [of Heaven] for his friend.” (Proverbs 22:11)
Many Popes and Saints, as we have seen, tried to get all Christians to practice chastity before they received the Eucharist. It is clear that this is an Apostolic Tradition, since the Church, from the beginning, tried to admonish and teach Her children to always abstain from the sexual act before receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, in the year 866, Pope St. Nicholas the Great wrote a letter to Boris, prince of Bulgaria, and explained the reason for abstaining from marital relations on Sundays and holy days, saying that: “If we must abstain from worldly labor on Sundays, how much the more must we be on our guard against fleshly lust and every bodily defilement.” And so, it is certain that the Church always have taught that Christians are to remain chaste before receiving the Eucharist. St. Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-543 A.D.), who was a fierce promoter of chastity before receiving the Most Holy Eucharist, wrote concerning “a good Christian” in the following way: “That man is a good Christian who, as often as the sacred feasts come around, in order that he may receive Holy Communion more serenely, observes chastity with his wife during the few preceding days, that he may presume to approach the Lord’s altar with a free and serene conscience because of his chaste body and pure heart.” (Sermon 16:2)
Jonas, Bishop of Orleans from 818 to 843, scolded married folk for “irreverently coming” to church after engaging in marital relations. Not only were these married folk “so indiscreet as to come up as far as the altar,” lamented Jonas, but they also received “the Body and Blood of Christ.” Jonas warned those soiled with the “uncleanness” of their marital activity: “Let them understand that they should only enter Christ’s Church and receive His Body and Blood with a clean body and a pure heart.” (Jonas of Orleans, De Institutione Laicorum) St. Caesarius of Arles adds: “Who is unable to advise that, as often as the sacred solemnities approach, chastity with one’s own wife should be observed several days preceding, so that the altar of the Lord may be approached with an upright and pure conscience. Indeed, if a man communicated without chastity, he will receive judgment where he might have had a remedy.” (Sermon 1:12)
Origen (c. 182-254 A.D.) in his Treatise on the Passover, Exegesis of Exodus 12, explains that the Holy Bible teaches us that we must receive the Holy Eucharist with: “Your loins girded.” He then goes on to explain what this means: “We are ordered, when we eat the Passover [the Eucharist], to be pure of bodily sexual union, for this is what the girding of the loins means [in the Holy Scripture]. Thus Scripture teaches us to bind up the bodily source of seed and to repress inclinations to sexual relations when we partake of the flesh of Christ.”
The amount of Popes, Fathers and Saints that could be quoted concerning the absolute necessity to be chaste before the reception of the Holy Eucharist and the Body and Blood of Christ is almost endless. Gratian, in his Marriage Canons From “The Decretum”, which is based largely on the authority of the Church Fathers (written in the 12th century), clearly shows us how this Apostolic Tradition of observing a period of chastity before receiving the Holy Eucharist was firmly established and believed by the faithful in the Early Church. However, these quotations and Early Church Canons also clearly shows us the necessity of abstaining from marital relations not only before Receiving the Sacraments of the Holy Mass, but also on all Holy Days. Gratian writes,
“That
spouses may not lawfully render each other the debt during times of
prayer, St. Jerome writes in a certain sermon, saying: "A man
should abstain from the Flesh of the Lamb when he renders the debt to
his wife. You know, most dear brothers, that one who renders the debt
to his wife cannot devote himself to prayer, nor can he eat the Flesh
of the Lamb." Also: "If those who touched women could not
eat the Showbread [that was the mere sign of the future Eucharist
described in the biblical book of 1st Sam. 21:4], how much more
should those who have not refrained from matrimonial embrace refrain
from touching and violating the Bread Come Down from Heaven? Now, we
do not condemn marriage, but when we are to eat the Flesh of the
Lamb, we ought to forego carnal works."
“Also, [Saint] Augustine,
[in Sermon ii of the Temporal Cycle, that is, for the Second Sunday
of Advent]: "One should abstain from conjugal union on the
solemnities of the saints. On Christmas and other festivals we ought
to abstain, not only from the company of unbelieving concubines, but
also from our own wives." Also, [Saint] Ambrose, in his sermon
on the Lord’s Coming: "On fast days one ought also to
abstain from one’s wife. Brethren, you should abstain, not only
from every impurity, but you should also carefully hold yourself back
from your own wives. Let no one have relations with his wife. The
same, on the First Letter to the Corinthians [Chapter 7]: If a wife
is taken for procreating children, not much attention needs to be
dedicated to that. What is necessary for conception and childbirth
shows that one can abstain from works of the flesh on feast days and
rogation days, as the law demands at those times."
“Also, Augustine, in his
book Questions on the Old and New Testaments, [Question cxxvii],
says: "One must refrain from one’s wife on certain days.
Sometimes a Christian may lawfully approach his wife, at other times
he may not. On the rogation days and fast days, one may not lawfully
approach her, because one should then abstain even from lawful
things, in order to entreat and pray more easily. Hence the Apostle
[1 Cor. 7:5] says that spouses should abstain for a time by mutual
consent, to devote time to prayer. For according to the law [cf. Is.
58:4], one may not sue and fight during fasts, although one might
afterwards." Also, [Saint] John Chrysostom: "Without
continence, one does not truly do penance. One who claims to do
penance and master himself by self-denial speaks in vain if he does
not abandon the bed-chamber [cf. Joel 2:16] and add continence to his
fasting."
“Also, [Pope Saint]
Gregory, [to the Questions of Augustine, Bishop of the English, Reply
10]: "A man should refrain from entering a church after sleeping
with his wife… We do not suggest that marriage is wrong, but
because lawful conjugal relations cannot occur without lust, one
should abstain from entering a sacred place… Lawful union of
the flesh must be for the sake of offspring, not for lust, and
fleshly intercourse for having children, not for satisfying vice…
But since, in the act of union, men are dominated, not by desire to
procreate offspring, but by lust, spouses do have something to regret
in their union."
“Gratian: The following
forbid the celebration of marriage on days of abstinence. Hence in
the Council of Laodicea, [A.D. 363-364, canon 52]: "Marriages or
feasts may not be celebrated during lent." Also, from the
Council [Lateran Council of 649] of Pope [Saint] Martin, [canon 48]:
"The feasts of the martyrs may not be celebrated during Lent,
but the offering may be made in their memory on Saturdays and
Sundays. Neither feasts nor weddings may be celebrated during Lent."
Also, from the Council of Lerida [A.D. 546]: "Weddings may not
be celebrated from Septuagesima until the Octave of Easter, during
the three weeks before the feast of St. John, and from Advent until
Epiphany. If any do so, let them be separated [excommunicated]."
Also, [Pope Saint] Nicholas, to the questions of the Bulgarians,
[A.D. 866, Letter 99]: "I
think it no way possible to take a wife or have any celebrations
during the season of Lent."” (Gratian,
Marriage Canons From The
Decretum (Vulgate
Edition), Case Thirty-Three, Question IV, Part 1 and 2)
Thus,
“As often as you come to church and wish to receive the
sacraments of Christ on a feast, observe chastity several days before
it, so that you may be able to approach the Lord’s altar with a
peaceful conscience. Devoutly practice this also throughout Lent,
even to the end of the Pasch, so that the Easter solemnity may find
you pure and chaste. In fact, a good Christian should not only
observe chastity for a few days before he communicates, [that is,
before he receives the Holy Eucharist] but he should never know his
wife except from the desire for children. A man takes a wife for the
procreation of children, not for the sake of lust. Even the marriage
rite mentions this: ‘For the procreation of children,’ it
says. Notice that it does not say for the sake of lust, but ‘for
the procreation of children.’
“… So,
too, we read in the Old Testament that, when the Jewish people were
about to approach Mount Sinai, it was said to them in the Lord’s
teaching: ‘Be sanctified, and be ready against the third day,
and come not near your wives,’ [Exodus 19:15] and: ‘if
any man be defiled in a dream by night, let him not eat of the flesh
of the sacrifice of salvation, lest his soul be cut off from his
people.’ [Deut. 23:10; Lev. 7:20] If after defilement which
happens to us even unwillingly we may not communicate [receive the
Eucharist] unless compunction and almsgiving come first, and fasting,
too, if infirmity does not prevent it, who can say that there is no
sin if we do such things intentionally when we are wide awake?
“…
Since
no man wants to come to church with his tunic covered with dirt, I do
not know with what kind of a conscience he dares to approach the
altar with his soul defiled by dissipation. Evidently, he does not
fear what the Apostle said:
‘Whoever partakes of the Body and Blood of the Lord unworthily
will be guilty of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.’ [1 Cor.
11:27] If we blush and fear to touch the Eucharist with dirty hands,
we should fear much more to receive the same Eucharist within a
polluted soul. As I mentioned, we have been
created in our soul according to God’s image. Now, if you put
your image on
a tablet of wood or stone, and someone impudently wanted to shatter
that image
with stones or to stain it with dirt, I wonder whether you would not
take up
arms against him, I ask you, if you are so jealous of your image that
was painted on a lifeless tablet, what kind of an injury do you
suppose God suffers when
His living image in us is defiled by dissipation? Therefore, if we do
not restrain
ourselves for our own sake, let us do so for the sake of God’s
image according to which we have been made.
“Above
all, no one should know his wife when Sunday or other feasts come
around. Similar precautions should be taken as often as women
menstruate, for the Prophet says: ‘Do not come near to a
menstruous woman.’ [Ezech. 18:6] If a man is aware that his
wife is in this condition but refuses to control himself on a Sunday
or feast, the children who are then conceived will be born as lepers,
or epileptics, or perhaps even demoniacs. Lepers are commonly born,
not
of wise men who observe chastity on feasts and other days, but
especially of farmers who do not know how to control themselves.
Truly, brethren, if animals without intellect do not touch each other
except at a fixed and
proper time, how much more should men who have been created according
to
God’s image observe this? What is worse, there are some
dissolute or drunken men who sometimes do not even spare their wives
when they are pregnant. Therefore, if they do not amend their lives,
we are to consider them worse than animals. Such men the Apostle
addresses when he says: ‘Every one of you learn how to possess
his vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the
Gentiles who have no hope.’ [1 Thess. 4:4,5] Because what is
worse, many do not observe proper chastity with their own wives, they
should give abundant alms, as I said above, and forgive all their
enemies. Thus, as we mentioned, what has become defiled by
dissipation may be cleansed by constant alms giving.”
(St.
Caesarius of Arles, Sermon
44)
Now, then, when exactly must one start to observe chastity and purity if one wants to receive the Eucharist in accordance to the ordinances of the Church? The Bible is clear on this point in The First Book of Kings: “And the priest answered David, saying: ‘I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women?’ And David answered the priest, and said to him: ‘Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before [that is, three days in total when adding the same day he received the bread], when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this [third] day in the vessels.’” (1 Kings 21:3-5) This biblical text shows us that spouses must be chaste on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, if they are to receive the Most Holy Eucharist on a Sunday. This means that they must be chaste for two whole days before the reception of the Eucharist, as well as completely chaste on the whole day they also received the Holy Eucharist.
These three days also correspond perfectly to Our Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection, which is the mold that all Christians must form themselves after if they want to be saved. “Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God: So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of justice unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto justice. But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but have obeyed from the heart, unto that form of doctrine, into which you have been delivered.” (Romans 6:3-17) Douay Rheims Bible Commentary explains the verses in Romans 6:6 in this way: “Our old man: Our corrupt state, subject to sin and concupiscence, coming to us from Adam, is called our old man, as our state, reformed in and by Christ, is called the new man. --- Body of sin: The vices and sins, which then ruled in us, are named the body of sin.”
In truth, if we are dead to the world, we shall live forever with Christ. Therefore, every time we will receive the Holy Eucharist, we must be chaste for two days before we receive it, as well as on the day we receive it. For example, if we want to also receive it on a Friday apart from the normal time on the Sunday, we must be chaste on the days of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, if we also decide to receive it on the Sunday, we must continue to be chaste on Saturday and Sunday. Those, however, who choose to perform the marital act on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, are obliged to abstain from the Eucharist that Sunday so that the next week, they may receive it in a state of perfect purity.
It must be said, however, that no one that is married should perform the marital act on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, since these days signify Our Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection which is what we all must conform to if we wish to be saved, by putting to death our old sinful, fleshly and sensual nature and man, and by being resurrected in Christ, rising to heaven in purity and chastity as a new spiritual man that has been freed from our former Body of sin: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols.” (Colossians 3:1-5)
CHASTITY: THE ANGELIC VIRTUE
My dear child,
Be chaste before and inside the marriage. Chastity is a great virtue. Pray to God to remove all your sinful thoughts from your mind. Don`t watch sinful TV shows! Don`t watch sinful images online and in the magazines! Be chaste in body, soul and mind!
Now read this article:
CHASTITY: THE ANGELIC VIRTUE
Pope
Pius IV, Council of Trent, Sess 14, Nov. 11, 1563, on
Matrimony: “If
any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the
state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and
more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be
united in matrimony; (Matt. 19:11; 1 Cor. 7:25) let
him be anathema.” (Denzinger 980)
St.
John Chrysostom, A.D. 392: “That virginity is good I do
agree. But that it is even better than marriage, this I do confess.
And if you wish, I will add that it is as much better than marriage
as Heaven is better than Earth, as much better as angels are better
than men.” (The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2:
1116)
CHASTITY
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE OLD LAW
In
this day and age, there are very few who speak or write about
chastity since the world have become so lustful and sensual, but
chastity is in fact one of the virtues that is most taught in the
Holy Scripture. While most of the verses about chastity are found in
the New Testament (which we will examine after the Old Testament
passages on chastity), there are also some very noteworthy ones in
the Old Testament Scripture which shows us that both the married and
the unmarried Jews of the Old Law also were commanded by God to
practice the virtue of chastity.Chastity is a virtue above other virtues according to the Book of Exodus
It is described in The Book of Exodus how God, when He spoke to Moses and told him to tell the Jewish people that He wanted them to “be to Me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation”, that God wanted all of the Jews (married as well as unmarried) to practice one specific virtue for three days before they were able to meet Him and enter into a covenant and union with Him and receive the Ten Commandments, and that virtue was chastity: “He [Moses] said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives.” (Exodus 19:15)
Exodus
19:9-11,14-15 “The
Lord said to him [Moses]: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness
of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may
believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the
Lord. And he [God] said to him [Moses]: Go to the people, and
sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.
And
let them be ready against the third day: for on the third day the
Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount
Sinai. … And
Moses came down from the mount to the people, and
sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments, He said to
them: Be
ready against the third day, and come not near your wives.”
Unless
the people had practiced chastity for three days, they would not have
received the grace to appear before God and receive His Laws. The
remarkable thing about this is that God first chose to tell the
people to practice chastity before He told them about the Ten
Commandments. The reason why Our Lord did this was to show us how
much He values and wants us to practice the angelic virtue of
chastity, thus showing us all that we must be very pure and holy when
serving God.The Haydock Bible Commentary explains the verses of Exodus 19 in the following way: “Ver. 10. [and let them wash their garments], with their bodies, as the Jews understand by this expression. They were also to abstain from their wives, &c. By which exterior practices, they were admonished of the interior purity which God required. All nations seem to have adopted similar observances of continence, washing themselves, and putting on their best attire, when they appeared before God. See Herodotus, &c. (Calmet) --- Ver. 15. [come not near your wives]. St. Paul recommends continence when people have to pray, 1 Corinthians 7. [Even] On the pagan temple of Epidaurus, this inscription was placed, "Let those be chaste who enter here" (St. Clement of Alexandria, strom. 5)”, and so, it is not strange that, if even pagans who do not know God observe the virtue of chastity at some times for the sake of serving their false god or gods, that Christians who are reborn through Christ’s Blood should adopt an even greater and more virtuous and chaste lifestyle than the pagans did, adding many more periods of chastity since this is only right, even by those who are married, as St. Paul suggests.
It is of course not a coincidence that the virtue that God commanded the Jewish people to practice in order to become sanctified and be worthy to appear before Him and enter into a covenant with Him, was chastity. This moment when the Jewish people were to first meet Our Lord and enter into a Covenant with Him and receive the Ten Commandments was one of the greatest moments in the history of the Salvation of mankind and a once in a lifetime event. God solemnly bound Himself to the Jewish people through this spectacular event, and yet, God only asked that one specific virtue was to be practiced before meeting with Him, and that was chastity.
From this biblical example alone it is easy to see for an honest person who does not love his flesh and the sensuality of the world just how much God loves and appreciates that men and women practice the virtue of chastity. This example from Holy Scripture also shows us that God wants even married people to practice chastity. In truth, we see that God Himself classifies the act of observing chastity for a while for even the married as a part of becoming “sanctified” and worthy to appear before Him according to the words in the Holy Bible, contrary to what many lustful people now teach. Chastity is simply in a class of its own when compared to most of the other virtues, but too few people in the world care for or appreciate the inestimable graces that are received by people who practice chastity. It is undoubtedly so that a refusal to practice chastity, whether inside or outside of marriage, is one of the greatest causes of why most people are damned to burn in Hell for all eternity. This truth was also revealed to us by Our Lady of Fatima, who said: “The sins which lead most souls to hell are sins of the flesh... Many marriages are not good; they do not please Our Lord and are not of God!”
One of the major problems that plagues Protestants and other heretics of today is that they have little or no understanding of the ancient custom of taking a permanent or temporal vow of chastity, even in marriage. This has occurred since in their short 475 year history, they have no examples of good and virtuous people doing such things in their inherently fleshly, impure and lustful religion. When a Protestant thinks of marriage, he automatically thinks that sex must occur and that he is allowed to perform all kinds of lascivious, perverse, unnatural or lustful sexual deeds while married, but that is obviously not the way Jewish or even early Christian people thought of or viewed marriage.
Living a celibate life within marriage was not unknown in Jewish tradition. It was told that Moses, who was married, remained continent the rest of his life after the command to abstain from sexual intercourse (Exodus 19:15) given in preparation for receiving the Ten Commandments, and that the seventy elders also abstained thereafter from their wives after their call, and so did Eldad and Medad when the spirit of prophecy came upon them. Indeed it was said that the prophets became celibate after the Word of the Lord communicated with them (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 19; 46.3; Sifre to Numbers 99 sect. 11; Sifre Zutta 81-82, 203-204; Aboth Rabbi Nathan 9, 39; Tanchuman 111, 46; Tanchumah Zaw 13; 3 Petirot Moshe 72; Shabbath 87a; Pesachim 87b, Babylonian Talmud).
Jewish tradition mentions that, although the people had to abstain from sexual relations with their wives for only three days prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:15), Moses chose to remain continent the rest of his life with the full approval of God. The rabbis explained that this was so because Moses knew that he was appointed to personally commune with God, not only at Mount Sinai but in general throughout the forty years of sojourning in the wilderness. For this reason Moses kept himself “apart from woman”, remaining in the sanctity of separation to be at the beck and call of God at all times; they cited God’s command to Moses in Deuteronomy 5:28 (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 19:3 and 46.3).
Moses understood how he was called by God to a more perfect and pure service than the rest of the Jewish people, and thus spoke accordingly, saying:
“‘If
the Israelites, with whom the Shechinah spoke only on one occasion
and He appointed them a time [thereof], yet the Torah said, Be ready
against the third day, come not near a woman: I, with whom the
Shechinah speaks at all times and does not appoint me a [definite]
time, how much more so!’ And how do we know that the Holy One,
blessed be He, gave His approval? Because it is written, Go say to
them, Return to your tents, which is followed by, But as for thee,
stand thou here by me. (The Babylonian Talmud Seder Mo'ed,
Shabbath, Vol. II, tr. Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman, Rebecca Bennet
Publications, 1959, p. 411-412)
“Thus, Moses said: ‘If
in connection with Mount Sinai, which was hallowed only for the
occasion [of Revelation], we were told: Come not near a woman
(ib. XIX, 15), then how much more must I, to whom He [God] speaks at
all times, separate myself from my wife?’”
We
also have information from the Jewish traditional teachings on Moses
and his chaste and pure marriage after Sinai. In truth,
“it
was God Himself who told him [to separate himself from his wife], for
it says, "With him do I speak mouth to mouth" (Num. XII,
8). R. Judah also said that it was told him directly by God. For
Moses too was included in the injunction, "Come not near a
woman", thus all were forbidden; and when He afterwards said:
"Return ye to your tents" (Deut. 5:30) He permitted them
[to their husbands]. Moses then asked: "Am I included in them?"
and God replied: "No; but As for thee, stand thou here by Me"
(Deut. 5:31).” (Midrash Rabbah Exodus, XLVI. 3, tr.
Rabbi Dr. S.M. Lehrman, Soncino Press, NY, 1983, p. 529)
There is quite much about chastity in the Jewish tradition and writings, but the Jews of today, however, speak nothing or near to nothing about this. When for the sake of the Torah (i.e., intense study in it), a rabbi would abstain from relations with his wife, it was deemed permissible, for he was then cohabiting with the Shekinah (the Divine Presence) in the Torah (Zohar re Gn 1:27; 13:3 and Psalm 85:14 in the Discourse of Rabbi Phineas to Rabbis Jose, Judah, and Hiya).
Jewish tradition also mentions the celibate Zenu'im (Chaste ones) to whom the secret of the Name of God was entrusted, for they were able to preserve the Holy Name in “perfect purity” (Kiddushin 71a; Midash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 3:11; Yer. yoma 39a, 40a). Those in hope of a divine revelation consequently refrained from sexual intercourse and were strict in matters of purity (Enoch 83:2; Revelation 14:2-5). Indeed, Philo (Apol. pro Judaeis 1X, 14-17), Josephus, (Antiq. XVIII. 21) and St. Hippolytus (Philosophumena IX, IV, 28a) wrote on the celibacy of the Jewish Essenes hundreds of years before the discovery of their settlements in Qumran by the Dead Sea.
Philo Judaeus (c. 20 B.C.-50 A.D.), a Jewish philosopher, described Jewish women who were virgins who have kept their chastity not under compulsion, like some Greek priestesses, but of their own free will in their ardent yearning for Wisdom: “Eager to have Wisdom for their life-mate, they have spurned the pleasures of the body and desire no mortal offspring but those immortal children which only the soul that is dear to God can bring forth to birth” (Philo, Cont. 68; see also Philo, Abr. 100). For “the chaste are rewarded by receiving illumination from the concealed heavenly light” (Zohar 11. 229b-230a). Because “if the understanding is safe and unimpaired, free from the oppression of the iniquities or passions... it will gaze clearly on all that is worthy of contemplation” (Philo, Sob. 1.5). Conversely, “the understanding of the pleasure-loving man is blind and unable to see those things that are worth seeing... the sight of which is wonderful to behold and desirable” (Philo, Q. Gen.IV.245)
St. John Damascene (c. 676-749 A.D.), a Christian theologian, describesof Moses and the Israelites concerning purity, “Did not God, when He wished the Israelites to see Him, bid them purify the body? [Ex. 19:15; Num. 6:2] Did not the priests purify themselves and so approach the temple’s shrine and offer victims? And did not the law call chastity the great vow?” (An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV, Chapter XXIV.--Concerning Virginity). Why so few people today speak or write about chastity and purity is not hard to guess since almost all men and women, whether married or not, are filled with impurity, lust-fulness and sensuality. This is also the reason why God performs less miracles and why He reveals Himself to less people nowadays. Indeed, since almost all are entrenched in the flesh, this greatly hinders their spirituality and conversation with God. God, however, is never far away from those who seek and love purity and chastity. Thus, “If you long for God to manifest Himself to you, why do you not hear Moses, when he commands the people to be pure from the stains of marriage, that they may take in the vision of God [Ex. 19:15].” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity, Chapter XXIV, ca. 335-395 A.D.)
Kisses and touches performed for sensual and lustful motives are condemned as mortal sins
Kisses and touches performed for sensual and lustful motives are condemned as mortal sins by the Catholic Church and Her Saints for both married and unmarried people alike.
Pope
Alexander VII, Various Errors on Moral Matters
#40, September 24, 1665 and March 18, 1666:
“It is a
probable opinion which states that a kiss is only venial when
performed for the sake of the carnal and sensible delight which
arises from the kiss, if danger of further consent and pollutionis excluded.”.
Jean
Gerson, Oeuvres Complétes: “Several doctors [of
Divinity] maintain that willingly fostering wicked carnal thoughts in
order to enjoy oneself is a deadly sin, even without doing the deed.
Be sure, however, that kisses, gazes, and fondling, mainly caused
by such wicked and lustful thoughts, without anything more, is an
even greater sin. … it is even worse if these kisses do
not respect the honesty which is usually kept in public.
“… Is
it a sin to kiss? I answer that kisses between spouses who
maintain the same modesty as the kiss of peace at church, or who do
them openly, are without sin. If they do them so immodestly [and lustfully]
that I cannot be more precise, it is an abominable deadly sin. If kisses
are made between strangers and publicly, as a sign of peace, by
friendship or kinship, without wicked thought, there is no sin. They
could be dangerous between clerics, or people of the same sex or
lineage, or in a secret place, and in a prolonged way.
The
Church’s moral teaching that condemns kisses “performed
for the sake of the carnal and sensible delight” might come as
a surprise to many married couples who thought that this was lawful
to do within a marriage. Now some people will indeed be quick to
suggest that this statement only applies to unmarried people. However
the truth of the matter is that there is not a single indication in
the decree that even remotely suggests this. This
objection is also easily refuted by considering the wording and
reason behind the decree, which of course applies both to the married
and unmarried people. Note that “pollution” is an
older term used to describe “ejaculation” or “discharge
of semen” other than during lawful sex.
The Free Dictionary,
The Origin & History, pollution: c.1340, "discharge
of semen other than during sex," later, "desecration,
defilement" (late 14c.), from L.L. pollutionem (nom. pollutio)
"defilement," from L. polluere "to soil, defile,
contaminate,"
Therefore,
according to the above Church condemnation, even if spouses or
unmarried people do not consent to do anything more than the act of
kissing itself and don’t commit any other sexual sin or act, it
would still be considered as a mortal sin for
them to be kissing “for the sake of the carnal and sensible
delight” even if “danger of further consent and pollution
[or ejaculation] is excluded.” This, of course, is true
both before, during, and after the marital act, and applies
both to married and unmarried people alike. Thus, spouses
may never kiss each other in a sensual way or in this way
provoke themselves into sexual lust or “pollution,”
either as an act that is separated completely from the marital act or
as an act that is committed in relationship to the marital act
(foreplay), even if pollution or ejaculation is excluded.
Again,
the condemned proposition specifically mentioned that kisses “for
the sake of the carnal and sensible delight which arises from the
kiss” is mortally sinful even though “danger of further
consent and pollution [or ejaculation] is excluded” so that no
one, whether married or unmarried, should get the idea that they
would be allowed to kiss another person for sensual pleasure as long
as they did not proceed any further than that.
This
point is important to mention since many lustful couples use all
kinds of unnecessary acts before, during and after sexual relations.
They try to excuse these shameful acts by claiming that they cannot
complete the sexual act without them. However, their sinful excuse is
condemned by this decree alone.
Now,
the main reason for why the act of kissing for the sake of venereal
pleasure is mortally sinful according to the teachings of the
Catholic Church, the saints, and theologians, is because it’s
lust and serves no reasonable purpose other than wickedly
arousing the selfish sexual desire of the spouses while not being
able to effect the conception of a child. This fact then shows us
that sensual kissing is a completely selfish and unnecessary act with
no other purpose than to inflame a person’s shameful lust,
which is contrary to virtue and the good of marriage. Again, unless
husband or wife are totally degenerated, the mere thought of having
sex with their spouse should be enough to inflame their lust and make
them ready—at least on the part of the husband. And if this is
true with mere thoughts, how much more with kisses and touches?
There
can be no doubt about the fact that many men who are ignorant about
sex and women would be in danger of “pollution” by the
mere thought of, or act of, sensual kissing or touching. It happens
even today amongst some men, mostly in young men who are unlearned in
the ways of lust—if one can call it that. That’s why the
condemned proposition that tried to excuse this mortal sin
even mentioned if “pollution is excluded,” as if wanting
to argue that only ejaculation or climax (or pollution) was the
mortal sin and not also the evil intention of seeking the pleasure.
However, as we all could see above, whether pollution actually
happens or not, sensual kisses was still condemned as a mortal sin
according to God’s Holy Law.
The
fact that many men today have no danger of pollution from sensual
kisses or touches does not make it lawful or right either. Because it
is obvious that the act is not made lawful just because some men have
hardened their hearts and become perverted. Simply said, all kisses
and touches performed for the sake of sensual or fleshly pleasure is
condemned as a mortal sin by the Catholic Church.
Master
Jean Charlier de Gerson (13 December 1363 – 12 July 1429),
French scholar, educator, reformer, and poet, Chancellor of the
University of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and
one of the most prominent theologians at the Council of Constance,
had the following interesting things to say about lustful kisses,
touches, contraception and about sensually arousing oneself:
Jean Gerson, Oeuvres
Complétes: “Several doctors [of Divinity] maintain
that willingly fostering wicked carnal thoughts in order to enjoy
oneself is a deadly sin, even without doing the deed. Be sure,
however, that kisses, gazes, and fondling, mainly caused by such
wicked and lustful thoughts, without anything more, is an even
greater sin. … it is even worse if these kisses do not
respect the honesty which is usually kept in public.
“… You
have committed the sin of lust: If you have fondled and stroked
yourself on your shameful member until you obtain the dirty carnal
pleasure. If you initiated such sins with others, by words, kisses,
fondling, or other signs, or immodest paintings. … If you
committed this sin differently from Nature ordered, or against the
honesty that belongs to marriage. … If you wanted to be
desired and lusted after for your beauty, your behavior, your
clothes, makeup, dancing or dissolute gazes.
“… What
a young boy should tell in confession: I sometimes stroked myself
or others, urged by disorderly pleasure; I fondled myself, in my bed
and elsewhere, something I would not have dared to do if people
had been there. Sometimes the priest cannot absolve such
fondling. If they are not confessed and the details given, whatever
the shame, one cannot be absolved, and the confession is worthless:
one is destined to be damned for ever in Hell. The action and the way
it has been done must be told.
“… Is
it a sin to kiss? I answer that kisses between spouses who
maintain the same modesty as the kiss of peace at church, or who do
them openly, are without sin. If they do them so immodestly
[and lustfully] that I cannot be more precise, it is an abominable
deadly sin. If kisses are made between strangers and
publicly, as a sign of peace, by friendship or kinship, without
wicked thought, there is no sin. They could be dangerous between
clerics, or people of the same sex or lineage, or in a secret place,
and in a prolonged way.
“… Is
it a mortal sin to eat and drink in order to carnally arouse oneself?
Yes, if it is out of wedlock, and even with one’s spouse, if it
is to enjoy a pleasure which is not required in marriage.
“… The
fifth commandment is: thou shall not kill.
… They commit this sin who succeed, in whatever way, in
preventing the fruit which should come from carnal intercourse
between man and woman [such as by NFP, contraception or abortion]. …
It is forbidden for two people, married or not,
to do any kind of lustful fondling without respecting the way and the
vessel Nature requires for conceiving children [that is, one
cannot perform “extra” sexual acts not able to procreate
in themselves or that are not intended for procreation]. It is worse
when it is outside of the natural way [unnatural sexual acts], either
if it is out of wedlock or even worse, within it [that is, all
unnecessary and non-procreative sexual acts within marriage are
considered as worse sins than when they are committed outside of
marriage].
“Is it
permitted for spouses to prevent the conception of a child? No: I
often say that it is a sin worse than murder [hence that
contraception or NFP is equivalent to murder]. It is a sin which
deserves the fires of Hell. Briefly, any way of preventing conception
during intercourse is dishonest and reprehensible.”
Kisses, touches,
hugs, caresses etc. can of course be sinful or non-sinful
depending on why they are performed. All kisses,
touches, hugs, and caresses performed for the sake of lust or
sensual pleasure is mortally sinful and must always be avoided at
all cost by all people at all times. Natural touches, kisses, hugs,
caresses, embraces and the like (such as those performed by family
members and by lovers in public) are not sinful provided they are
not performed for the sake of sensual or lustful reasons.
Spouses must be aware though, for even though it is not sinful to
embrace one another out of affection and love, also during the marital
act, excess or unreasonability in embracing happens easily during
the heat of concupiscence, and this is certainly sinful. Also, if
spouses hug or kiss each other out of affection and they perceive
that their lust is aroused by this act, they must immediately cease
with this deed that is arousing their lust or be guilty of the
mortal sin of unlawfully inflaming their lust.
It
is clear from the evidence thus far covered that sensual kisses and
touches are not only mortal sins, but in fact also sins against the
Natural Law. That means that any person who thinks it’s right
to kiss or touch for the sake of carnal pleasure or lust is a heretic
against the Natural Law, and as such, are therefore outside the
Church of God and thus excluded from salvation. Everyone without
exception who have kissed or touched someone or something for the
sake of sensual pleasure proved by their deed that their primary or
secondary purpose for doing this inherently evil, selfish and
shameful deed was not the lawful motive to procreate or quench
concupiscence, but rather the sinful and unlawful gratification and
excitation of their shameful lust like brute beasts without any
reason. No, it would be an insult to beasts to call these vile
spouses beasts! It would be more accurate not to call them beasts,
but demons, since beasts have no reason, and thus are blameless. In
truth, such husbands and wives are lower in their actions than the
beasts of the Earth! “Bodies corrupted by lust are the
dwelling places of devils.” (St. Hilary of Poitiers, On
the Gospel, Matt. 11:2-10)
Everyone
without exception that kisses and touches “for the sake of the
carnal and sensible delight which arises” from these acts, are
committing a mortal sin against the Natural Law. How so, you might
ask? Well, I answer that it is easy to prove. First of all, acts of
lust for the sake of pleasure are completely selfish, shameful and
unnecessary for conception to occur. Second, consider how people will
not kiss or touch their spouse in a sexual way or for carnal pleasure
in front of other people (unless they are totally degenerated). And
consider that they would be very ashamed if their parent, child or
friend walked in on them when they were committing this shameful,
selfish and unnecessary act with their spouse. It is thus clear that
their conscience tells them that it is an inherently evil, shameful
and unnecessary act; and yet, though they know this truth in their
conscience, they nevertheless refuse to feel this very same shame
when they are committing this act of lust in the presence of God and
Mary and all the Saints and Angels in Heaven.
Some
people may object that there are many other events that are shameful
and that are not yet inherently sinful such as soiling one’s
pants or being forced to show oneself naked to other people against
one’s own will. This objection, however, fails to notice the
obvious difference between 1) people committing acts of lust with a
desire or longing; and 2) events which are shameful but who are not
desired or longed for by a person in a sensual way.
Acts
of lust are acts performed for the sake of a pleasure and are
performed with the will and purpose of satisfying a sensual desire
while the events or acts of soiling one’s pants or being forced
to show oneself naked to other people is not a desire or lust that is
sought after. Thus, these people do not desire that these events
should happen. If those people who endured the events of soiling
their clothes or naked exhibition against their will would sensually
desire or lust for that these shameful events would happen in the
same way that a man or a woman lust for and desire that acts of lust
happen, they would indeed be declared the most disgusting perverts.
Who but a complete and satanic pervert would sensually desire or lust
after soiling their pants or being exhibited naked?
When
Our Lord was going to be crucified, He was forced to be without any
covering for His private parts for a while before someone handed Him
something to cover Himself with. Our Lord was obviously ashamed for
having to appear naked before a lot of people, but He didn’t
desire that this should happen, and most importantly, He didn’t
lust at it when it happened! and so, there was no fault in Him. If,
however, a person should lust or desire (in a sensual way) that he or
she should appear naked before other people (such as nude models), he
or she would commit a mortal sin and be a pervert.
Consequently,
it is not a mere shameful act that is sinful, but the shameful act
that is performed with the intention of pleasing oneself
sensually—that is sinful. Kissing for the sake of a venereal
pleasure is a completely selfish act that only serves to increase
lust, and as such, is against the natural law just like gluttony is
against the natural law. It is indeed very similar to the sin of
gluttony. One could say that those who commit this sin are gluttonous
in the marital act. It is completely self evident that no one ever
needed to break God’s law by kissing or touching their spouse
in a sexual way in order to perform the marital act. No one ever
needed to kiss or touch in a sensual way in order to be able to make
a child. This is just a selfish, shameful and condemned excuse used
by sexually perverted, morally depraved people in order to try to
enhance or inflame their sexual pleasure. Kisses and touches must not
and cannot be used to satisfy sensual pleasure as is totally clear
from the above Church condemnation and from the words of Jean Gerson
(and as we will see, St. Thomas Aquinas).
A
good example of how people who get married today sin by kissing each
other is the kiss that the husband and wife perform after the wedding
ceremony. It is obvious that those who kiss each other in a
lascivious and shameful manner are following what they have learned
from the world and the media by watching perverted and evil shows,
series and films, and that as a consequence of watching this filth,
their shame and conscience have been completely smothered due to
their lust and sensuality. Only people who have had their conscience
seared with a hot iron could ever dare to kiss another human being in
a shameful and lascivious manner, or for the sake of venereal
pleasure, and this is much more true in the case of those who do this
evil deed in public and in front of other people, and by this act,
maliciously tempt other people to sins of impurity and sensual
thoughts and desires. People who get married as well as anyone else
who want to show affection towards someone close to them must instead
learn to kiss them in a pure way as brothers and sisters kiss each
other, or as modest married people in public kiss each other, for
this is the only kind of kiss that God allows.
Tertullian, Against
Marcion, Book I, Chapter 29, A.D 207: “For He [God]
bestowed His blessing on matrimony also, as on an honorable estate,
for the increase of the human race; as He did indeed on the whole of
His creation, for wholesome and good uses. Meats and drinks are not
on this account to be condemned, because, when served up with too
exquisite a daintiness, they conduce to gluttony; nor is raiment to
be blamed, because, when too costly adorned, it becomes inflated with
vanity and pride. So, on the same principle, the estate of matrimony
is not to be refused, because, when enjoyed without moderation, it is
fanned into a voluptuous flame. There is a great difference between a
cause and a fault, between a state and its excess. Consequently it is
not an institution of this nature that is to be blamed, but the
extravagant use of it; according to the judgment of its founder
Himself, who not only said, "Be fruitful, and multiply,"
[Genesis 1:28] but also, "You shall not commit adultery,"
and, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife;" and
who threatened with death the unchaste, sacrilegious, and monstrous
abomination both of adultery and unnatural sin with man and beast.”
St.
Thomas Aquinas condemns lustful kisses and touches for married and
unmarried people alike as mortal sins
Now
we shall look at what St. Thomas Aquinas has to say about kisses and
touches.
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Q. 154, Art.
4:
“Whether
there can be mortal sin in touches and kisses?
“Objection
1: It would seem that there is no mortal sin in touches and
kisses. For the Apostle says (Eph. 5:3): "Fornication
and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named
among you, as becometh saints," then he adds: "Or
obscenity" (which a gloss refers to "kissing and
fondling"), "or foolish talking" (as "soft
speeches"), "or scurrility" (which "fools call
geniality---i.e. jocularity"), and afterwards he continues (Eph.
5:5): "For
know ye this and understand that no fornicator, or unclean, or
covetous person (which is the serving of idols), hath inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God," thus making no further
mention of obscenity, as neither of foolish talking or scurrility.
Therefore these are not mortal sins.”
“[St.
Thomas Aquinas] Reply to Objection 1:
The Apostle makes no further mention of these three because they
[kisses and touches] are not sinful except as directed to those that
he had mentioned before [i.e.
fornicators, unclean and covetous people (married people can of
course also be unclean
and covetous
too as we have seen)].”
“Objection
2: Further, fornication
is stated to be a mortal sin as being
prejudicial to the good of the future child’s begetting and
upbringing. But these are not affected by kisses and touches or
blandishments. Therefore there is no mortal sin in these.”
“[St.
Thomas Aquinas] Reply to Objection 2: Although
kisses and touches do not by their very nature hinder the good of the
human offspring, they proceed from lust, which is the
source of this hindrance: and on this account they are mortally
sinful.”
Notice
that St. Thomas here said that kisses and touches was mortal sins in
the general sense if “they proceed from lust”, and that
he did not say that “it depends on whether they occur in
the context of marriage/fornication or not” or that “this
is what decides or determines whether it becomes sinful.” Thus,
it is totally clear from this definition of St. Thomas that he views
the lustful intention
when performing these acts as the source
of the mortal sin itself, and not simply because they occur in
context of marriage or not (as we shall also see further down).
That
is why St. Thomas even rejects in Q. 154, Art. 1 as
lascivious and unlawful “acts
circumstantial to the venereal act, for instance kisses,
touches, and so forth”. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “We
may also reply that "lasciviousness" relates to certain
acts circumstantial to the venereal act, for instance kisses,
touches, and so forth.” (Summa Theologica, II-II,
Q. 154, Art. 1) And so it is clear that St. Thomas taught that all
non-procreative and unnecessary sexual acts are sinful and against nature.
“[St.
Thomas Aquinas general reply to all the objections:] On the
contrary, A lustful look is less than a touch, a caress or a
kiss. But according to Mat. 5:28, "Whosoever shall look on a
woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in
his heart." MUCH MORE
THEREFORE ARE
LUSTFUL KISSES AND OTHER LIKE THINGS MORTAL
SINS.”
This means that St. Thomas views
lustful kisses “and other like things” as worse
sins than adultery or fornication! This is probably due to the fact
that St. Thomas views sexual sins that cannot serve for procreation
as worse sins than those that can.
“Further,
Cyprian says (Ad Pompon, de Virgin., Ep. lxii), "By their very
intercourse, their blandishments, their converse, their embraces,
those who are associated in a sleep that knows neither honor
nor shame, acknowledge their disgrace and crime." Therefore
by doing these things a man is guilty of a crime, that is, of
mortal sin.”
“I answer
that, A thing is said to be a mortal works/sin in two ways.
First, by reason of its species, and in this way a kiss, caress, or
touch does not, of its very nature, imply a mortal sin, for it is
possible to do such things without lustful pleasure,
either as being the custom of one’s country, or on account of
some obligation or reasonable cause. Secondly, a thing is said to be
a mortal sin by reason of its cause: thus he who gives an alms, in
order to lead someone into heresy, sins mortally on account of his
corrupt intention. Now it has been stated above [I-II, Q. 74, A. 8],
that it is a mortal sin not only to consent to the act, but also to
the delectation [or pleasure] of a mortal sin. Wherefore
since fornication is a mortal sin, and much more
so the other kinds of lust [1] it follows that
in such like sins [that is, sins of lust] not only consent to the act
but also consent to the pleasure is a mortal sin. Consequently,
when these kisses and caresses are done for this pleasure [lust] it
follows that they are mortal sins, and only in this way
are they said to be lustful. Therefore in so far as they
are lustful, they are mortal sins.”
[1]. “and
much more so the other kinds of lust…”
i.e., lust committed both inside and outside of marriage. And by the
way, St. Thomas also views sexual sins committed within
a marriage as worse
sins than those
committed outside of marriage, as we shall see further on.
And
for those objecting that St. Thomas was referring only to the
unmarried people here since he mentioned the word “fornication”
in some instances (but not others), we will provide the following
quote by him refuting this argument:
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologica,
Supplement, Q. 64. Art. 1, Reply to Objection 3: “If the
husband
[refuses to pay the marital debt without a just cause] . . . then he
sins, and his wife’s
sin, should she
fall into FORNICATION
[adultery, impure thoughts or masturbation] on this account, is
somewhat imputable to him. Hence he should endeavor to do his best
that his wife may remain continent.”
Hence,
it is totally clear from above that when St. Thomas was mentioning
the word “fornication,” he was using it to refer to the
sins of the unmarried and married people alike. And we know that this
is the case, for when St. Thomas condemned lustful kisses and touches
above as mortal sins – in the Second Part of the Second Part,
Q. 154, Art. 4 – we know that he was referring to both,
since, as he said, all
fornicators, all
unclean people and all
covetous was included in this category of mortal sinners
(see objection 1 and reply to objection 1).
That
is why, again, St. Thomas Aquinas rejects as lascivious and unlawful
“acts circumstantial to the venereal act, for instance kisses,
touches, and so forth” (Summa Theologica, II-II,
Q. 154, Art. 1). And so, as should be obvious, it is clear that St. Thomas
taught that all non-procreative and unnecessary sexual acts are sinful
and against nature.
The
main point we can gather from this explanation of St. Thomas that he
so eloquently gives to us is that kisses and touches for sensual
pleasure is completely unnecessary for procreation of children and
serves nothing but a shameful, selfish, sinful and condemned lust.
They are therefore mortal sins and are unreasonable and unnatural.
Pope
Alexander VII, Various Errors on Moral Matters
#40, September 24, 1665 and March 18, 1666: “It is a
probable opinion which states that a kiss is only venial when
performed for the sake of the carnal and sensible delight which
arises from the kiss, if danger of further consent and pollution
is excluded.” – Condemned statement by Pope Alexander VII. (Denz. 1140)
Jean
Gerson, Oeuvres Complétes: “Several doctors [of
Divinity] maintain that willingly fostering wicked carnal thoughts in
order to enjoy oneself is a deadly sin, even without doing the deed.
Be sure, however, that kisses, gazes, and fondling, mainly caused
by such wicked and lustful thoughts, without anything more, is an
even greater sin. … it is even worse if these kisses do
not respect the honesty which is usually kept in public.
“… Is
it a sin to kiss? I answer that kisses between spouses who
maintain the same modesty as the kiss of peace at church, or who do
them openly, are without sin. If they do them so immodestly [and lustfully]
that I cannot be more precise, it is an abominable deadly sin.”
In conclusion: To be on
the safe side and to become perfect, spouses should never touch,
kiss or even see each other naked during intercourse. Kissing and
touching before intercourse are also particularly problematic as they
lead to intercourse that is not governed by a desire to procreate.
Spouses should also never walk around at home undressed or partially
dressed. Women especially should never walk in their underwear or
naked in the presence of their husband, as this behavior without a
doubt will incite his lust. This specific problem we have today of
people walking around naked or dressed like whores in public or at
home was typically unheard of before in society, as most men and
women in the past was much more well dressed and modest, even at
home. As an example demonstrating this fact, consider how women’s
underwear looked like just 200 years ago. Believe it or not, but
these underwear were in fact more modest than what many women
wear as skirt or dress in public today!
Athenagoras
the Athenian (c. 175 A.D.): “On behalf of those, then, to whom
we apply the names of brothers and sisters, and other designations of
relationship, we exercise the greatest care that their bodies should
remain undefiled and uncorrupted; for the Logos again says to us, “If
any one kiss a second time because it has given him pleasure, [he
sins];” adding, “Therefore the kiss, or rather the
salutation, should be given with the greatest care, since, if there
be mixed with it the least defilement of thought, it excludes us from
eternal life.”” (A
Plea for the Christians,
Chapter XXXII.--Elevated Morality of the Christians.)
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