Many people assume chastity is something you need until your wedding day and then leave behind. The Church teaches something richer. Chastity is a virtue for every state of life, and married couples are called to live “conjugal chastity” (CCC 2349). Far from limiting married love, chastity is what keeps it truly loving. Saint John Paul II spent much of the closing part of the Theology of the Body on this point.
What chastity actually is
The Catechism defines chastity as “the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being” (CCC 2337). It is not repression and it is not fear of the body. It is a kind of inner harmony in which desire serves love rather than ruling over it.
The Church also says that chastity “includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom” (CCC 2339). A person who is mastered by their impulses is not free. A chaste person can say yes or no with real freedom, which is exactly what makes a full gift of self possible.
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Sources
- CCC 2337 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Chastity and the integrity of the person
- CCC 2339-2343 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Self-mastery and the law of gradualness
- CCC 2347-2349 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Chastity in friendship and the various forms of chastity
- CCC 2362 Catechism of the Catholic Church, The love of husband and wife
- 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 Saint Paul on mutual self-giving in marriage
- TOB 1979-1984, Man and Woman He Created Them John Paul II, General Audiences on conjugal chastity