Here are ten scriptural passages, from the New Testament in particular, that every Catholic should know in order to stand up for the faith in these challenging times. Please note that these are subsequent to Christ’s own teachings on the commitment required for the good of marriage and chastity, as recounted in Matthew 19:1-12 and reflected in Mark 10:1-12. The below passages are in canonical order. Beyond the first passage, which is from John’s Gospel, the others are from the Pauline Letters and the Catholic Epistles.
1. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
2. “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
3. “Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
4. “So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Ephesians 4:17-24)
5. “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
6. “For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality…” (1 Thessalonians 4:2-3)
7. “For God did not call us to impurity, but to holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7)
8. “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
9. “So turn from youthful desires, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord with purity of heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)
10. “Beloved, I urge you, as aliens and sojourners, to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)
Please pray for those who are either struggling and/or striving to live chastely. Ultimately, we all are, because we are all called to purity: “A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit” (Psalm 51:12). We are all works in progress, and a sure way to reinvigorate a society reflective of God’s plan for human sexuality is through the witness of chaste, holy individuals. For those whom you know who are far from the Church, look at them with love before casting judgment; after all, lest we develop a Pharisaical outlook, we must recall that “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Let us look to the example of Mary to embrace chastity, and to the model of the Holy Family in order to support the sacramental nature, basis, and understanding of marriage in consideration of human sexuality and standards of morality. No one can ever have too much Chesteron, so let us close with one of his characteristically sagacious quotes about marriage and the family, whose “ordinariness” has the potential to renew and sanctify the culture in the modern era:
