19: Sexuality: Between Human Fulfillment and Abuse

The Church's position on sexuality is an important topic in human relationships. Cardinal Bernardin clarifies this position, stressing the importance of people understanding the Church's message and its traditional teaching. The Cardinal emphasizes that sexuality is a great gift of God that is central to our identity as persons and must not be abused. As Christians, we must strengthen the virtue of chastity by putting our sexual instinct at the service of love and development of the person God created. Human sexuality becomes very important when discussing the spirituality of marital intimacy. Profound spiritual intimacy and sexuality in a married couple are deeply related. An inability to be intimate can cause people to become lonely and embittered. In Christian asceticism, i.e., the diligent practice of love, an important common project and a mutual goal for both men and women is to be achieved personally and in the realm of the family. Women have to protect their human dignity and life when they are subject to random violence. Men must be aware of these realities since they are part of the problem; they must work to develop appropriate solutions among themselves.