Sens cnoty czystość w kontekście powołania do małżeństwa

Abstract

The source of chastity and unchastity is the human heart, in which the selection of motives for acting takes place. The heart remains chaste when the man perceives himself and his neighbor as persons gifted by God, and he wants the same good for everybody as God wants to give to man. Thanks to maintaining this truth chastity means a new criterion for humanity itself; a new perfection. Christ becomes the measure of humanity, as it is in Him that the fullness of life is revealed. Here the meaning of chastity is also revealed as Christ’s bodily revelation – also in the body of humanity. In the subjective relation “towards oneself’ chastity conditions the inner integrity. Owing to it a person, conscious of being a man or a woman, and in a way that is free from the dictate of lust, intensifies the sense of his or her sexual identity. In the vertical relation chastity is expressed in assuming the attitude of a person that is gifted and responsible for the gifts. Cognizing God with his or her pure heart, thanks to the work of grace, he or she deepens the self-awareness and self-determination. On the other hand the bodily dimension of the individual, marital and ecclesial life is transformed into the place where God reveals Himself. In the context of marriage chastity is revealed as connecting the personal bond with the mission – of love with fertility. Connecting these elements elevates marriage to the level of a genuinely and fully human act. Chastity is a necessary condition for joining these two elements and thanks to it responsible parenthood is possible, as the process of transmission of life, tending it and raising the offspring is permeated with love. Moreover, owing to this synthesis we may say that the marital bond was created by God.