In the name of freedom sex has very little to do with God or spirituality for people in our modern society. Heck, oftentimes it’s even devoid of any kind of real love or emotion! They consider themselves sexually free who see sex as nothing more than a physical sort of recreational activity and don’t let little things like God or morality get in the way of indulging in their every sexual desire – however disordered it might be. In their book Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Fr. Jose Granados and Carl Anderson beautifully illustrate how this is a false notion of what it means to be sexually free:
[T]he presence of divine love within conjugal union enriches our understanding of freedom. God’s presence in spousal love brings home to us that freedom cannot exist apart from grateful recognition of the original gift; freedom flourishes only when we realize that the whole of our existence in a free gift. Recall the scene in Dante’s Purtatorio when nightfall temporarily suspends the poet’s ascent of Mount Purgatory. To continue the path up the mountainside is to gain freedom, but after dark descends one can only walk either around the mountain or down it, but not up it. The upward path requires daylight, which symbolizes the divine love that makes freedom possible. It’s only in the liberating light of God’s love that we can outgrow the narrow confines of the self and climb the mountain of love for God and neighbor toward the crown that awaits us at its summit. (p. 76)
This passage reminds me of a recent column by Christopher West on Humanae Vitae and True Sexual Freedom – check it out!
Christian liberty is freedom from ego and a binding to God in all things – yes, even our sexuality!
Related post: Spice Up Your Sex Life: Invite God!