Ruth's Book I

Chastity and the Body of Christ

     I will not dwell long on the virtue of chastity, each one of us, whether married or single, knows what it means to be chaste; but, it is well for us to remember that Christ’s human body and Mary’s human body were exactly like ours and that they are our models of chastity.

    “Do you not know,” St. Paul said, “that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

    When we take into our bodies the Sacred Host — the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ — can we not think then of Christ, not only being part of our soul and our intellect, but our body as well — in short, a part of our whole humanity?

     It is a beautiful fact that our bodies are temples of God. Believing this, we humbly keep in mind, that our bodies are really nothing more than animated clay, dust, and a handful of assorted chemicals, not worth very much of themselves. We cannot fail to grasp the sheer wonder of how these bodies of ours have been elevated to something more valuable than a pure gold chalice that holds the Blood of Christ. Our bodies are more precious than a gold tabernacle which houses the Sacred Host. Why? Because, kept chaste, they are a living home of God.

     St. Paul said, “If anyone destroys the temple, God will destroy him, for holy is the temple of God — you who receive His Most Precious Body are the temple of God.”

     St. Paul also said, “Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you? You are not your own, for you have been bought at a great price.”

     We human beings normally are not loners. We are a social lot. We like to mingle and laugh and enjoy ourselves with other human beings. It is pleasant to know that personal holiness does not mean we must forego the pleasures of life. What it does mean is that we should keep the presence of God in all our human activities at all times.

     We will close with these remarks on chastity. It is impossible for the world to appreciate the idealism of chastity. There is so much confusion and trouble on the surface of life, so much weakness and rebellion in fallen human nature, that people find such idealism unbelievable. But, this idealism can be believable, and it is attainable. It should be the deliberate aim of every Christian man and woman.