Making chastity doable

By Fr. Roy Cimagala. Fr. Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City. Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com


Obviously one of the biggest challenges facing people, especially the young, is how to live chastity. This has to be a continuing affair that everyone, as much as possible, should also be involved. Yes, we have to help one another here.

We just cannot throw in the towel that easily in this warfare. In fact, we should not, no matter how intimidating the battle, or how hopeless it looks. In our earthly life, chastity is more a matter of struggle than of a state. It’s dynamic, not a static virtue.

It cannot be understood in a very restrictive way, that is, the capacity not to fall into some ugly practices. It's a living component of love, and in love, anything goes. One is open to all possibilities, but there's always that desire to give oneself to the beloved, no matter what it costs.

As such it will always require fresh and ever renewed efforts, driven by new impulses of reason. It should never be allowed to go on automatic pilot. The constant and erratic movements of our hormones, the ever-present sting in our flesh all require an abiding vigilance and motivation.

This is not to mention the external elements—occasions of sins and temptations—that assault us in one of our most vulnerable spots. There has to be a concerted effort to dismantle the growing social structure that seems to foster impurity.

In its place, we should create a healthy and conducive environment for this virtue to take root, grow and mature. It should be a set of practical conditions and factors that are doable. Chastity should become second nature to us, enabled by grace and our correspondence.

I just would to gather some pertinent words of saints to support what I've just said. St. Augustine, for example, says: “To be truly chaste is to have your sight fixed on God and live as an offering to him.”

We need to cultivate this mentality. We cannot live simply pursuing our own plans and desires. We have to fall in love, and that can only happen if we our mind and heart are fixed on God, and because of that, they are also fixed on others in their proper hierarchy and ways.

How should we understand the implications of this need to love so as to live chastity? St. Gregory gives us an idea. “There are some who want to be humble without being despised. They want to be content with what they have without suffering need.

“They want to be chaste without mortifying their body... When they try to acquire virtues while fleeing from the efforts that virtue requires, it is as though they hoped to win a war by living comfortably in the city, without having anything to do with the combat on the battlefield.”

What's clear here is that we have to wage what's called as ascetical struggle, the constant effort to fill and keep our minds and hearts with love and all the expressions of goodness.

It's a struggle with endless frontlines. Even our weakness, physical or otherwise, can be a frontline where we can also win, if we know how to live out what St. Paul once said: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12,10)

Making chastity doable is a matter, first of all, of grace, but it's also a matter of ever-renewed struggle. St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, says the following relevant point:

“We have to fight against our passions by increasing our life of piety daily. I will never get tired of saying that nobody...can imagine they lack the necessary means for the fight. Nor will I get tired of repeating that if anyone abandons those means, they will fall.

“It's a clear symptom: when the energies of someone's soul are habitually enfeebled, when they are dull or their life is languid, you can be sure that they already abandoned the fight some time ago; that their hearts are empty of God and filled instead with selfishness, love of comfort, and the flesh...

“So feed your soul on God's love. Give it to him completely.”

Alas, this is a tall order! Hard, but not impossible. Thus, we need to help one another, giving good example and timely reminders, and doing all to make chastity doable to everyone.