By the Publisher,
Love One Another! 1/2003 → True Love Waits - Pure Hearts
Dying of AIDS, but at peace with God, Frank, aged 22, addressed
a final letter to his peers with a dramatic appeal not to ruin
and debase love through immoral sexual behavior. Toward the end
of his short life, he had undergone a powerful conversion and
a deep experience of the love of Christ. Hence his appeal to his
peers that they should stop abusing love, and come to believe
that only Christ tells the whole truth in matters of love and
sex.
To reject moral law in the area of human sexuality, to treat
sexual pleasure as an ultimate good, is to condemn oneself to irresponsibility
and unbridled selfishness. All good things utilized without reference
to the laws of love lead not to maturity in love, but to the slavery
of selfishness. They recoil upon the head of the abuser. To flout
the laws of nature, to scorn moral norms, is to court self-destruction.
Frank learned this the hard way. Unbridled sex leads to death. That
is why he turns to his peers with his dramatic appeal: “Stop
abusing love, I beg you, let Christ enter your lives before it is
too late!”
In the developed West, the fruits of free-for-all sex are horrifying:
AIDS, 38 different sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), cervical
cancer, rape, pedophilia, sexual perversions, and even the legally
sanctioned mass murder of unborn children. It is now clinically
proven that teenagers are not physically mature enough to engage
in sexual relations; their immune systems are not yet fully developed.
Sexologists are sounding the alarm. At a recent gynecology symposium
in Stuttgart, Dr. Lars Westrom of Lund, Sweden, observed, “Viral
and mycotic genital infections are spreading epidemically among
our teenage populations, often without overt symptoms. The consequences
of these infections include sterility, numerous childbearing complications,
fetal injury, cancerous growths and deaths”.
And what is responsible for this? Westrom minces no words here.
It is “the propaganda of moral license, which promotes adolescent
sexual activity. We hear all kinds of talk about sexual techniques
and contraception, but no one mentions the negative effects of premature
sex, which can remain with us for the rest of our lives.”
Radio, TV, and popular magazines are constantly peddling their message
of total sexual freedom, separating sex from love and responsibility,
i.e. from any coherent concept of personhood. Those who succumb
to this message embark on a road that leads to spiritual and physical
self-destruction. As sex addicts, they become regular consumers
of the international sex industry. This is a powerful industry with
vested interests in contraception, abortion, pornography, and even
the production of cosmetics. Thanks to its enormous propaganda machine,
the industry has claimed many more innocent victims than laissez-faire
capitalism claimed during the last century. A recent issue of Quotidien
de Paris ran an advertisement for a moisturizing skin care product
containing human embryo extract. Thus, the bodies of children killed
in their mothers’ wombs are frozen and transported (from eastern
Europe among other places) by cosmetics firms to produce “high
quality” skin care products! (Ironically, certain animal embryos
are protected by conservationist agencies.) What we have here are
clear signs of a “culture of death”.
Today we witness the appalling practice of dealing in human flesh
for the purposes of prostitution. According to United Nations statistics,
about 35 million women and children are offered up in sex parlors
around the world as luxury items for depravity. There are special
agencies in the USA which rent out boys and girls for sex according
to age and complexion of skin. That which is most intimate and holy
in a person is being destroyed. The appalling consequences of sex
run amok in the developed West have caused many people to come to
their senses. Thousands of young unbelievers across the world are
converting to faith. In the midst of a culture of death fixated
on consumption and exploitation, they are discovering an oasis of
love, freedom and life in the Church. Soon after her conversion,
Tatiana Gorycheva of Russia writes: “Just yesterday we acknowledged
no norms, no authority. Today we have accepted the helping hand
of that wonderful thing called our Church. We have accepted the
commandments and truths given to us for all time by God Himself.
By proclaiming these truths in and out of season, the Church stands
alone in opposing a stupefying ideology of life without God –
an ideology which distorts the human person. In the Church, the
individual is able to reach full maturity.” (Nous, convertis
d’Union Soviétique, Editions Nouvelle Cité).
Christ Himself is present in the Church. He is always at work defending
our dignity, enabling us to experience love, life and freedom in
their fullness. If He makes great demands on us, it is because He
loves us and wants the best for us. If at any time we been hurt
by people of the Church (after all, aren’t such people also
sinners like ourselves) we should remember that our suffering is
also the suffering of Christ. So let us forgive with all our hearts,
just as Christ forgives us. It
is truly a marvel that despite such overarching evil so many
young people refuse to be manipulated.
True Love Waits, a new “chastity” movement in the
US is calling on young people to abstain from sex and sexual activity
before marriage. This movement is made up of people for whom beauty,
love and truth represent enduring values. These people are banding
together to resist the universal obsession with pornography. Theirs
is a resounding “NO” to brutal social pressure, which
would invade the intimate precincts of their lives and turn them
into slaves of perversion and selfish consumption. They want to
love chastely, to preserve the purity of their hearts and the radiance
of their eyes. They will not abide disorders in the areas of love
and life. They are opposed to contraceptive techniques and any genetic
manipulation which reduces that supreme masterpiece, the child,
to the level of a serial product that can be passed or discarded,
depending on whether or not it passes “quality control”.
These young people know that sex is not a mere toy to be played
with, but a sublime gift of God to be used in the service of life
and responsible love. That is why sex can express love and provide
happiness only within marriage. These people approach life in a
spirit of purity and self-control. Only such conduct can bring true
happiness and freedom. The faces of these young people radiate happiness
and the light of God. Needless to say, such an attitude requires
considerable courage in our over-sexed world. These days it takes
courage to say: “Because I love you, I will not go to bed
with you until we are married.”
We receive such courage from Jesus Christ, through prayer and
the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. The love of Christ
is meek and mild, but, when received with a trusting heart, it is
all-powerful and capable of conquering every evil. Even the most
promiscuous and desperate of sex addicts can be set free and made
pure. For Christ there is no such thing as a person too dirty or
too impure. There are no hopeless cases. Why not consider joining
this movement? Have the courage to go against the current of license
and depravity that would overwhelm and destroy all the young people
of the world! Persuade others not to buy magazines or books which
promote pornography and loose morals. Express your disapproval to
newsstand owners where pornographic materials are sold. Buy only
from newsstands where such materials are not visible, and encourage
merchants not to participate in their sale. Write encouraging letters
to publishers of good magazines and authors of morally wholesome
radio and TV programs. Express your disapproval to those who contribute
to the corruption of morals. Only those willing to fight for chastity
come to true maturity. It is the maturity that enables people to
take responsibility for the future of their society and the world.
We invite all our readers to join our “Crusade for Love”
by giving Christ their personal pledge to abstain from sex until
after they are married. Thousands of young Americans have already
made such a commitment. Take fifteen-year-old Linda for example.
Her face radiates purity and joy. She informs us that it was her
parents who encouraged her to save sex for marriage. After a solemn
meal on St. Valentine’s Day, her father presented her with
a ring, saying: “Your mother and I want you to wear this ring.
Let it be a token of your offering yourself to Christ and your resolve
to put off sex until marriage”. After this, they prayed together
for her perseverance. Linda plans to give this ring to her husband
on the night of their honeymoon. Why not consider joining such young
people? It is never too late. Give yourself to Jesus. He will heal
all your wounds. Place your trust in His love, and say the words
of the prayer as found on page 55. By making this pledge, you will
become part of a heroic movement opposing Satan’s campaign
of corruption. Among those who have suffered martyrdom for the cause
of chastity are Maria Goretti, Karolina Kozka, a group of young
Ugandans, burned alive for refusing to pander to their leaders’
homosexual appetites, a Zairian girl, speared to death by a soldier
in 1962 for refusing to have sex with him and a host of other boys
and girls. By joining this movement, you will allow Christ to bring
forth out of the world’s present mire of selfishness and perversion
that greatest of wonders – True Love. We look forward to receiving
your letters.
The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!"
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