492. What are the principal sins against chastity? (part 1)

492. What are the principal sins against chastity? (part 1)     

(Comp 492) Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual acts. These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more grave.

“In brief”

(CCC 2394) Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life. (CCC 2395) Chastity means the integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery. (CCC 2396) Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2351) Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.   

Reflection

(CCC 2352) By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" (CDF, Persona humana 9). "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved" (CDF, Persona humana 9). To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability. [IT CONTINUES]

(The question: What are the principal sins against chastity? continues)