1. Sex is a promise of love

Marriage is the complete and lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, when they promise to love each other wholeheartedly, to remain faithful to each other for the rest of their lives, and to welcome children (if they are given that gift) and build a family together.

2. Sex is for unity and procreation

Sex is the natural expression and fulfilment of the promise of love; it unites a husband and wife in the closest intimacy, and it allows them to be open to the gift of a child.

3. Sex is a gift of self

When a husband and wife make love, they are saying to each other: “I love you without reserve; I give you my whole self; I accept your gift of yourself to me; and together we are open to the gift of new life that may come from our love”.

4. Sex outside of marriage distorts love

Sex before or outside marriage is wrong: It means we are trying to share the intimacy and pleasure of married love without the total commitment or the openness to new life that can only be found in marriage. And so love becomes distorted and damaged.

5. Sex requires a lifelong commitment

Even long-term relationships between a man and a woman, without the bond of marriage, do not have that lifelong commitment and stability that should be an essential part of sexual love and family life.

6. Sex is for a man and a woman

In same-sex relationships, there is not that fundamental openness to children that is an essential part of married love. It’s not just that some same-sex couples happen to be unable to have children; it is that these relationships by their very nature are closed to the possibility of new life.

7. Unmarried people are called to chastity

When sex is separated from marriage, the same core difficulties are present: a love that seeks the intimacy of sex without a lifelong commitment or an openness to new life. All of us who are not married, whatever reasons there are, whatever situations we are in, are called to live a chaste life and a life of sexual abstinence.

This blog is extracted from our booklet A Way of Life for Young Catholics. Young Catholics will be inspired to live their faith more deeply with this practical, down-to-earth advice on daily life from a university chaplain.

To find out more about living the faith as a young Catholic, order your copy of A Way of Life for Young Catholics now.