“For they shall see God”

That’s the promise Christ made in one of the beatitudes that he articulated. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” he said. (Mt 5,8) It’s a clear indication, coming from Christ himself, about how we can see God. It’s when we are pure in heart. It’s when we live the virtue of holy purity or chastity.

And holy purity, to be sure, is not simply a matter of not doing this or that, nor of avoiding falling into some sexual practices that we know are not proper to anyone, whether celibate or married. Holy purity is much more than that.

This virtue is actually a matter of ever growing in love of God, a continuous life-long process that involves always seeking God and following his commandments. In short, it is a matter of vitally identifying ourselves with Christ who is the fullness of the revelation of God to us and the very pattern of our humanity, the savior of our humanity damaged by sin.

We need to be aware of this basic law and principle, since it is only then that we can truly say we are loving God and thus enabled to live chastity as a consequence. Remember Christ telling us, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (Jn 14,15)

Loving Christ by keeping his commandments is simply another way of saying that we would have the same mind and spirit of Christ, that we would have the same desires and sense of purpose and mission that he had, that we would have the same reactions that he had to the different situations that he found himself in. In short, loving Christ is to live our life with Christ.

Only then can we achieve the more technical aspect of this virtue of holy purity which, as the Catechism defines it, is “the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.

“Sexuality, in which man’s belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

“The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.” (CCC 2337)

When we understand the virtue of holy purity in this way and live it accordingly, then the capacity of seeing God is established and strengthened, not only in some future time but even now. We would be able to see God in everyone and in everything. Our sexuality would not be an obstacle. Rather, it is what would enhance that capacity to see God.

That’s why that we should more openly talk about this virtue and about how it can be properly developed. Considering that this virtue is currently lived very badly, we need to step up our catechesis on it and our giving witness to it. Let’s hope that we can have credible models for this virtue.

Of course, we should not forget that pursuing this virtue will always involve some heavy drama. Let’s hope that we would not be easily scandalized by the failures that are unavoidable in this area. We should just move on, reassured that as long as there is struggle, victory is always assured. Christ will complete and perfect in us what we cannot accomplish for a number of reasons. (cfr. Phil 1,6)