Marian Helper Winter 2012-2013

about it, and to the final third, no matter what you say to them, it will not matter — they will be obstinate. The girls have brought this up— that a woman has a right to control her own body. But lovingly, I point out to them that the child’s body is not the mother’s body. It is a separate human being. The child is an independent union of body and soul. Premarital sex? Let me begin by saying this: When I become a priest —God willing— there will be no kid who comes to my confessional whom I will not have the ultimate empathy for when it comes to their struggles with chastity. But what I’ve learned is that only through God’s grace can we live a chaste life. How do we achieve that grace? By asking for it. I’m finding very few people who are asking for that grace. The Church also teaches we need this grace even after we join in Holy Matrimony. Why? Because sexuality is not sim- ply a source of pleasure. It’s designed by God as a sacred covenant, an act of love shared in union with God. It’s a gift from God geared to the inner- most being of the person. That means that by engaging in sex outside of marriage, we commit purely a physical, selfish act that’s devoid of God. Our body seeks pleasure for pleasure’s sake only, which is a form of slavery. So let’s turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church : “Conjugal love … aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility” (1643). What I tell teens is that through marital love only, a man and woman make a covenant that says, “I am one with you, in body and soul. I want to spend my entire life with you. I love you so much that I want to create another life with you. I want another one like you in the world.” What’s interesting is that in the marital act, we’re most like the Trinity because in the Trinity the love between the Father and Son is so great it generates a third person, the Holy Spirit. That’s what’s so important about marriage. In the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, there is a quote I love: “I do not know yet whom I will marry, but I do not want to betray my future [spouse] today.” To support the education of Br. Chris and our other Marian seminarians, visit marian.org/seminarians. MH B R . C HRIS Continued from page 25 online with Facebook and Twitter. Share your faith ... Like us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/DivineMercyOfficial www.Facebook.com/MarianHelpers Follow us on Twitter @DivineMercy To read the rest of the interview, including Br. Chris’s advice for youth and parents with regard to substance abuse, gay marriage, and the practice of homosexuality, click HERE. Back to Index Back to cover