Reinforcing modesty and chastity

One news item in the States grabbed my attention recently and pushed me to the edge of disbelief. It claimed that there are now 110 million cases of sexually transmitted infections in the US. With 313 million population, that statistics is indeed high, though the report clarified that an individual can have multiple incidences.

What is even more horrifying is that 50% of the new cases come from the 15-24 age bracket. I've read somewhere before that in many American schools, the practice and even the culture of hook-up, casual relations, the so-called flings and one-night stands, have become prevalent. The news should come as no surprise then.

This is not to mention that in that country as in many others, the cases of infidelity and promiscuity continue to grow, sustained by a thriving if devouring sex industry and a legal system that is reinforcing rather than restraining this drift.

Take the case of the so-called gay or same-sex marriages, now the hot issue in the States. The proponents are cleverly packaging their position as asking simply for marriage equality before the law if only to claim some rights and benefits for married couples.

Their main argument is that marriage need not be between one man and one woman, since marriage need not be meant for procreation. Otherwise, according to them, many marriages of couples who have no children due to old age and other causes should not be considered as marriages.

That's indeed a strange argument because the very nature and main purpose of marriage is for procreation even if no children would result from it. It can have many other secondary purposes, but its main and irrenunciable purpose is procreation. Obviously, marriage should be driven by love in the first place.

If the marriage equality trick is followed, then it would not be an exaggeration that in the near future, marriage equality between man and gorilla or any other animal that can give some semblance of love, satisfaction and relief, some semblance of pleasure, should also be legalized. Anyway, it's not meant for procreation.

That this issue has gone as far as the Supreme Court of the US only reflects the extreme degree of moral crisis the country is suffering but not acknowledging. At least, one justice said he felt the move to approve same-sex marriage is putting the country in some uncharted waters.

But other political leaders, like the former president Clinton, said the country is now before another crossroad, and with the country's collective experience of crossroads, he felt it is now time to legalize same-sex marriage.

Ok, let's just leave that issue at that for the moment, wallowing in legalistic and political maneuverings. What is imperative now is intensify the campaign to clarify and spread the good news about modesty and chastity.

These are virtues that seem to be killed and buried by many people and countries today. These are virtues that now scream for a resurrection, obviously requiring nothing less than God's grace and also our all-out effort.

These are virtues that are badly understood, and of course lived in ways that are worse. Many now believe that these virtues, as defined by our Christian faith, are impossible to live. In fact, many now are demanding that the Church should change her teaching.

In short, the Church should stop being the Church of Christ. The Church should rather be the church of the people, a church of consensus, a church not anymore established by Christ but rather by us.

Modesty and chastity should now be more deliberately and actively taught to everyone, starting with the families and with the children even at their tender age. They are actually beautiful, positive virtues that enhance our dignity as persons, as citizens of our country and as children of God.

They show us who we are, what role our body and especially our sexuality play in the development of our personhood and in our relation with God and with others. They give us a complete but realistic and practicable, not a partial, distorted picture of ourselves.

They stress what is essential in our sexuality, and give out the do's and don't's in this delicate aspect of our life. They nourish our conscience and our spiritual life in a healthy way, and protect us from being dominated by the blind forces of emotions, passions and some dangerous social conditionings.

They empower us to love properly, protecting us from the many false forms of love that actually mask greed, lust and the like.

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