Life & Family | Sexuality

Father Nicolás Schwizer explains the broad dimensions of purity.

by Father Nicolás Schwizer | Source: Schoenstatt Press

What is purity? To define it, often, the negative persists: it is something untouched, not soiled; to remain pure, such a thing does not have to be done, etc. Because of this, what is most important has been forgotten: its positive value. Neither should purity be limited to the sexual level because it is something much greater and broader than that.

According to Father Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, purity is the “clear and full transparency of God’s mark on us.” Upon creating us, God the Father placed an original mark on our heart. Purity is the “reflection of eternal beauty,” a reflection of the beauty of God.

Purity is a different way of viewing life: from God and with the eyes of God. Purity is a different way of loving: as God loves, as the Virgin Mary loves. In the sexual area, purity is realized by the understanding of the sexual relationship as God has wanted it from all time. In dressing too, purity demands of us to dress in such a way as to reflect the image of Christ or of the Virgin.

Intangibility. Intangibility, or being untouched, is something that we should desire beyond the physical plan. Most and foremost we should aspire for having pure thoughts. Father Kentenich says: “That which I renounce to possess, I also renounce to enjoy with any of my other senses.”

Being untouchable means concretely for the woman: The tendency to not be seen or examined: compared to a closed garden (Song of Songs 4:12). The tendency not to be touched: like a sealed fountain. The tendency to be exclusive, according to one’s own state of life.

To protect the castle of purity, Father Kentenich considers fundamental two protective walls: chastity and modesty.

Chastity. In paradise, before original sin, Adam and Eve did not have sentiments of chastity because they possessed full harmony between instincts, reason and will.

Shortly afterward, with original sin, in human nature was created a disorder in which reason and will alone can no longer restore harmony.

Therefore, God gave the human being a counterbalance for the instincts: the feeling of chastity. Father Kentenich makes a comparison with the eyelid: it spontaneously protects the eye from any strange element. It is a spontaneous reaction, not a voluntary one.

If we want to master an ordered and controlled instinctive life, we must cultivate permanently the sentiment of chastity. This is true especially for the woman because of her great influence over the man on the instinctive level. Father says: “Through the special care of this gift from God (the sentiment of chastity), woman appears as a mystery before man. In a marvelous and effective way, she puts in order the instinctive life of man, elevates it and brings forth great fruitfulness to their mutual relationship.”

Modesty. The other protective wall is modesty. It is a form of being, a natural style of life: in dressing, combing of the hair, behavior in general…..which does not seek drawing attention or placing oneself in the center. In addition to protecting purity and chastity, modesty leads to interior freedom.

The Covenant of Love: Living the consecration to Mary, the Covenant of Love with the Virgin, fosters in us the desire for paradise, for a complete transformation and divinization of our nature. The Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother awakens also in us the strength to overcome sin and the very weaknesses which have their origin in sin itself. Therefore, love and surrender to our Blessed Mother is very decisive in order to succeed in our battle for purity.

Questions for Meditation
1. What does this text tell me?
2. How would I define my style of dressing?
3. Do I seek help from the Virgin Mary to strengthen my purity?

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Translation: Carlos Cantú
Edited by: Catholic.net