II. The Battle for Purity
2520
Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins. But
the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and
disordered desires. With God's grace he will prevail
- by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with upright
and undivided heart;
- by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man: with
simplicity of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's
will in everything;312
- by purity of vision, external and internal; by discipline of feelings and
imagination; by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that incline us to
turn aside from the path of God's commandments: "Appearance arouses
yearning in fools";313
- by prayer:
I thought that continence
arose from one's own powers, which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish
enough not to know . . . that no one can be continent unless you grant it. For
you would surely have granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears and
I with firm faith had cast my cares on you.314
2521
Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the
intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain
hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It
guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the
dignity of persons and their solidarity.
2522
Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience
and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the
definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled.
Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or
reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.
2523
There
is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example,
against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain
advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far
in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which
makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of
prevailing ideologies.
2524
The
forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another. Everywhere, however,
modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual dignity proper to man. It is
born with the awakening consciousness of being a subject. Teaching modesty to
children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person.
2525
Christian purity requires a purification of the social climate. It requires of
the communications media that their presentations show concern for respect and
restraint. Purity of heart brings freedom from widespread eroticism and avoids
entertainment inclined to voyeurism and illusion.
2526
So called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous conception of human
freedom; the necessary precondition for the development of true freedom is to
let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of education can
reasonably be expected to give young people instruction respectful of the
truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and spiritual dignity of man.
2527
"The Good News of Christ continually renews the life and culture of fallen
man; it combats and removes the error and evil which flow from the ever-present
attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the morality of
peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and endowments of every age and
nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them to blossom, as it were,
from within; it fortifies, completes, and restores them in
Christ."315
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