The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights several regulations and guidelines for how a catholic human being should live. The reading I focused on from the Catechism dealt with the 6th commandment which stated "You shall not commit adultery." In this article, The Catechism tells about such themes as sexuality, marriage and its purposes, chastity as a virtue, forms of chastity, offenses against chastity,(lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution), homosexuality, conjugal fidelity, fecundity of marriage, artificial birth control, rhythm method of birth control, gift of children, offenses against the dignity of marriage, free union, and trial marriages. .
In his sermon on the mountain, Jesus describes the sin of adultery to his listeners. He states that "Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This statement goes to show how seriously wrong adultery really is. Adultery stems from the theme of sexuality. The Catechism describes sexuality as "Affecting all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul." The union between a man and a woman in marriage is the main way to show our appreciation to God for creating man and woman in his image. .
Chastity is another main theme in the teaching of the Catechism in this article. The virtue of chastity involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift. Chastity means not giving into the temptations lay forth upon us and to stay true to God and yourself. There are various forms of chastity, which comes from the cardinal virtue of temperance. The three forms of chastity are that of spouses, that of widows, and that of virgins. On the flip side of this beautiful idea of chastity there are many offenses which go against God's will. These offenses include, lust, masturbation, fornication, and pornography. The worst offense of all is Rape, which is the forcing of sex on a partner without there consent.
