VIDEO TRANSCRIPT What is the truth of Church teaching on sexuality and love? Word on Fire Catholic Ministries 8.56 minutes November 7th, 2012

Transcription

1 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT What is the truth of Church teaching on sexuality and love? Word on Fire Catholic Ministries 8.56 minutes November 7th, 2012 FR. ROBERT BARRON: One of the most common complaints about Catholicism is that it's the religion of 'no', especially in the area of sexuality. It appears as though, when the rest of the culture is moving in a much more progressive direction in that regard, the Church seems to be kind of a crabbed, old-fashioned, puritanical, fingerwagging-no religion.

2 First, I'll make a distinction between two types of 'no'. There's 'no' pure and simple, by which I mean a 'no' to something positive. Think of someone who is jealous and someone's success appears to them, and they say no to it and simply try to undermine it. Or think of a racist who sees the object of his irrational hatred and he says no to him and tries to undermine him. Those are just negations, pure and simple. But there's another kind of 'no', which you might say is a no to a 'no'. Something negative is going on and you say no to it. In fact, you're in service of a higher yes. Think of it as a no to a no, which is a double negative. It constitutes a great yes. An example of this is any

3 golf coach worth his salt will say no far more often that he says yes. That's because there are a thousand ways to swing a golf club improperly. So, you say no to all of those. But it is in service of the great yes, which is the right way to swing the golf club. I m going to suggest that the Church's no in regard to sexuality is a no of the second type. It's not puritanism. It's not a negation of the body or pleasure or sexuality. It's a no to a no. It's a no to a distortion of what sexuality ought to be. What is the great yes? What is the Church's view of what sex ought to be? I suggest looking at Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter twelve. We find this line that is fascinating. Paul says, "I urge

4 you therefore by the mercies of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship." Now, here's Paul talking to a first century audience that was well aware of this practice of sacrifice. What would an ancient Israelite do? He d bring to the temple of Jerusalem an unblemished animal, lamb, sheep or boar, and he would sacrifice the animal to Yahweh as a sign of forgiveness, reparation, communion or thanksgiving. What was he doing? He was aligning himself, thereby, to God. He was bringing his mind, his will and his whole person into line with Yahweh.

5 No ancient Israelite ever thought for a second that God needed these sacrifices. Think of some of the pagan gods and goddesses who seem to need our worship. That's not true in the Bible. But, the ancient Israelite knew he needed sacrifice because in the very act of sacrifice, he was becoming conformed into God. Paul says, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. He means to construe your whole life as an offering by which you become conformed to God. Now, take one more step. Who is this God that Paul is urging the Romans to sacrifice to? It's the God who is disclosed in Jesus Christ as love. Look in First John and we

6 find that famous line, God is love. Therefore, when we live in God, we live in love. Now, put the logic together. To sacrifice the whole of yourself to God, is to become conformed to God. But God is love, therefore to sacrifice the whole of your life mind, will, passions, emotions, body, sexuality, everything in you is being transformed into love. What s the Church's teaching on sexuality? It s that your sexuality is meant to become a vehicle of love. It's meant to be conformed unto love. When it slides off of that conformity, that is when the Church says, no! When it becomes what it's not supposed to be, then the Church says no to that no. It's in service of the great yes.

7 Let me make it just a little more specific. So, does the Church for example say no to rape, sexual abuse, and to manipulation? Yes. Those are obvious betrayals of love. So, of course, the Church says no to those. But does it also say no to sex outside of that total mutual commitment in love that we call marriage? Yes because sex is meant to be a vehicle of love within that context. Now push it further. The Church also says no to a conscious and deliberate blocking of the procreative function of sex. Yes because that is meant to be another way of expressing love. It says no to egregious violations of love such as rape and sexual abuse and so on. It

8 also says no to these more subtle betrayals of love. I know a lot of people would walk today and say, 'Look, sure we should condemn rape and sexual abuse but when it comes to other expressions, shouldn't we allow people much more personal flexibility?' Forgive me again for these golf examples, but I can't help it. Someone's working with a good golf teacher. He will correct his egregious faults, the basic things you're doing wrong. Why? Anyone who really wants to have an excellent swing wants that coach to press it further. He ll want him to press beyond just the egregious problems, and say, Here are some more subtle, finer points that you need to

9 work on. He'll want him to keep saying no to these inadequate expressions of a golf swing. Furthermore, he'd want his teacher to hold him up the highest ideals. Don't just hold up to me some junior player or decent weekend golfer, hold up to me Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus, and Rory Mcilroy. Hold up to me the best golfers you can think of. I want them to be the high ideals. See, the point is, we would never tolerate such leniency and mediocrity when it comes to areas of life that we take seriously. Oh, just correct the major problems and do whatever you want. Would you accept that if you were trying to learn a musical

10 instrument? Would you accept that if you're trying to swing the golf club? Would you accept it in any area of life that you take seriously? That was just the serious stuff, get rid of that. Then the rest is to do what you want? No, no, no. When people are serious about something, they want that very refined, steady correction so that they might come to excellence. So, the Church is trying to bring us into conformity with the love that God is at all levels, including the level of sexuality. That's why the Church corrects us, cajoles us, encourages us and holds up to us the very high ideal. Should the Church dial down its ideals because we often fail? No. Of course we often fail,

11 just as we often fail to hit the golf ball properly. It doesn't mean you dial down the high ideals. The Church holds those up to us continually. See, the bottom line is, the Church's many no's are so strong because it's yes to what sex ought to be is so ringing.