400 YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY

YOUCAT Lesson 400

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

The Sixth Commandment—You shall not commit adultery

400  What does it mean to say that man is a sexual being?

God created man as male and female.  He created them for each other and for love.  He created them with erotic desires and the ability to experience physical pleasure.  He created them to transmit life.  [2331-2333, 2335, 2392]

My parents, Julian and Irma Bragg with granddaughter Jennifer (Noel and Barbara) Bragg.  Julian and Irma were married 64 years (1922-1986) when Julian passed away.  Mom cared for Julian in his declining years up to two weeks before his death.  The family doctor was amazed that she, an 81 year old woman, was able to do so much for so long for dad at their home before he passed away at the local hospital.  Mom died 11 months later. ….. 400

 Being a man or being a woman is very deeply imprinted on the individual human person; it is a different way of feeling, a different way of loving, a different calling with respect to children, another way of believing.  Because he intended that they should be there for each other and complement one another in love, God made man and woman different.  That is why man and woman attract each other sexually and intellectually.  When a husband and wife express their love for each other in bodily union, their love finds its deepest sensual expression.  Just as God is creative in his love, so too man can be creative in love and give life to children.  64, 260, 416-417

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’  …Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”  Genesis 2:18, 24

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave.  Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.  If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.”  Song of Songs 8:6-7

[2331-2333, 2335, 2392]

ARTICLE 6
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18.)¹¹³ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

  

You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28.)¹¹⁴ –CCC

* I. "MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM . . ."

2331 "God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image . . .. God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion." (Familiaris Consortio 11.)¹¹⁵ –CCC

 "God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them"; (Genesis 1:27.)¹¹⁶ He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply"; (Genesis 1:28¹¹⁷ "When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created." (Genesis 5:1-2.)¹¹⁸ –CCC

2332 Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others. –CCC

2333 Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out. --CCC