1. Today we
resume our analysis on the relationship between what is ethical
and what is erotic. Our reflections follow the pattern of the
words Christ spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, with which he
referred to the commandment "You shall not commit adultery." At
the same time he defined lust (looking lustfully) as "adultery
committed in the heart." We see from these reflections that
ethos is connected with the discovery of a new order of values.
It is necessary to rediscover continually in what is erotic the
nuptial meaning of the body and the true dignity of the gift.
This is the role of the human spirit, a role of an ethical
nature. If it does not assume this role, the attraction of the
senses and the passion of the body may stop at mere lust devoid
of ethical value. Then man, male and female, does not experience
that fullness of eros, which means the aspiration of the human
spirit toward what is true, good and beautiful, so that what is
erotic also becomes true, good and beautiful. Therefore it is
indispensable that ethos should become the constituent form of
eros.
Fruit of
discernment
2. The
above-mentioned reflections are closely connected with the
problem of spontaneity. It is often thought that ethos itself
takes away spontaneity from what is erotic in man's life and
behavior. For this reason detachment from ethos is demanded "for
the benefit" of eros. Also the words of the Sermon on the Mount
would seem to hinder this "good." But this opinion is erroneous
and, in any case, superficial. Obstinately accepting it and
upholding it, we will never reach the full dimensions of eros.
That inevitably has repercussions in the sphere of praxis, that
is, in our behavior and also in the concrete experience of
values. Whoever accepts the ethos of Matthew 5:27-28 must know
that he is also called to full and mature spontaneity of the
relations that spring from the perennial attraction of
masculinity and femininity. This spontaneity is the gradual
fruit of the discernment of the impulses of one's own heart.
Need to be
aware
3. Christ's
words are severe. They demand from man that, in the sphere in
which relations with persons of the other sex are formed, he
should have full and deep consciousness of his own acts, and
above all of interior acts. They demand that he should be aware
of the internal impulses of his heart, so as to be able to
distinguish them and qualify them maturely. Christ's words
demand that in this sphere, which seems to belong exclusively to
the body and to the senses, that is, to exterior man, he should
succeed in being an interior man. He should be able to obey
correct conscience, and to be the true master of his own deep
impulses, like a guardian who watches over a hidden spring.
Finally he should draw from all those impulses what is fitting
for purity of heart, building with conscience and consistency
that personal sense of the nuptial meaning of the body, which
opens the interior space of the freedom of the gift.
Well, if man
wishes to respond to the call expressed by Matthew 5:27-28, he
must learn, with perseverance and consistency, what the meaning
of the body is, the meaning of femininity and masculinity. He
must learn this not only through an objectivizing abstraction
(although this, too, is necessary), but above all in the sphere
of the interior reactions of his own heart. This is a "science,"
which cannot be learned only from books, because it is a
question here in the first place of deep knowledge of human
interiority. In the sphere of this knowledge, man learns to
distinguish between what composes the multiform riches of
masculinity and femininity in the signs that come from their
perennial call and creative attraction, and what bears only the
sign of lust. These variants and nuances of the internal
movements of the heart can, within a certain limit, be confused
with one another. However, it must be said that interior man has
been called by Christ to acquire a mature and complete
evaluation, leading him to discern and judge the various
movements of his heart. It should be added that this task can be
carried out and is worthy of man.
In fact, the
discernment which we are speaking of has an essential
relationship with spontaneity. The subjective structure of man
shows, in this area, a specific richness and a clear
distinction. Consequently, a noble gratification, for example,
is one thing, while sexual desire is another. When sexual desire
is linked with a noble gratification, it differs from desire
pure and simple. Similarly, as regards the sphere of the
immediate reactions of the heart, sexual excitement is very
different from the deep emotion with which not only interior
sensitivity, but sexuality itself reacts to the total expression
of femininity and masculinity. It is not possible here to
develop this subject further. But it is certain that, if we
affirm that Christ's words according to Matthew 5:27-28 are
severe, they are also severe in the sense that they contain
within them the deep requirements concerning human spontaneity.
At the
price of self-control
5. There
cannot be such spontaneity in all the movements and impulses
that arise from mere carnal lust, devoid as it is of a choice
and of an adequate hierarchy. It is precisely at the price of
self-control that man reaches that deeper and more mature
spontaneity with which his heart, mastering his instincts,
rediscovers the spiritual beauty of the sign constituted by the
human body in its masculinity and femininity. Since this
discovery is enhanced in the conscience as conviction, and in
the will as guidance both of possible choices and of mere
desires, the human heart becomes a participant in another
spontaneity, of which "carnal man" knows nothing or very little.
There is no doubt that through Christ's words according to
Matthew 5:27-28, we are called precisely to such spontaneity.
Perhaps the most important sphere of praxis —concerning the more
interior acts—is precisely that which gradually prepares the way
toward such spontaneity.
This is a
vast subject which will be opportune for us to take up another
time in the future, when we will dedicate ourselves to showing
what the real nature of the evangelical purity of heart is. We
conclude for the present, saying that the words of the Sermon on
the Mount, with which Christ called the attention of his
listeners—at that time and today—to lust (looking lustfully),
indirectly indicate the way toward a mature spontaneity of the
human heart. This does not suffocate its noble desires and
aspirations, but on the contrary frees them and, in a way,
facilitates them.
Let what we
said about the mutual relationship between what is ethical and
what is erotic, according to the ethos of the Sermon on the
Mount, suffice for the present.
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 17 November 1980,
page 9
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