Purity

“This greatest male Saint who ever lived was not a deacon, not a priest, not a bishop, not a pope, not a hermit, not a monk… he was a husband, father, and a worker.”  (Saint Josemaria).

Saint Joseph with the Young Christ (Francisco de Herrera the Elder)

We live in such a sexualised world.  Pretty much everything that we do in our world today is tied back to sex and sexualisation.

Think about the adjectives used to describe cars and phones and electronic equipment.  It is a very normal thing for an inanimate object to be described as “sexy”.  And what does that actually mean?  Literally that word means that the thing being described is attractive to someone else in a sexual manner.

Now, sex in itself is not a sinful thing.  Sex was given to us as a gift by God as a way of human beings showing love for their spouse and for the procreation of children.  However, as is the way with most things that the Evil One takes control over, the actual essence of the thing is subverted and exploited until it barely correlates with the original purpose.

Now, not only can procreation and sexual activity be completely separated, but marriage and sexual activity can also be completely separated.  And the result of this is a perversion of the gift that God provided to us.

To understand the depth of that perversion, one should only look at the model of sexual purity, Saint Joseph, the Foster Father of Christ…

When Saint Joseph was called to become the foster father of Christ, he was an ordinary man.  In fact, Saint Josemaria says “This greatest male Saint who ever lived was not a deacon, not a priest, not a bishop, not a pope, not a hermit, not a monk… he was a husband, father, and a worker.” 

And one of the reasons that he was so great is that he was so pure.  It is not that he loved the Blessed Virgin less and therefore was able to sacrifice his sexual life in order to have a life with her, it is that he loved her MORE.  Saint Joseph’s love for the Blessed Virgin (and for God) is so PURE that He is able to give away his earthly desires in order to accept the Holy Will of God.

“I don’t agree with the traditional picture of St Joseph as an old man, even though it may have been prompted by a desire to emphasize the perpetual virginity of Mary. I see him as a strong young man, perhaps a few years older than our Lady, but in the prime of his life and work.  You don’t have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth are no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures. Anyone who cannot understand a love like that knows very little of true love and is a complete stranger to the Christian meaning of chastity.” (Saint Josemaria, “Christ is passing by”, at 40).

And I have been reflecting on that today, as I think about purity…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.