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Ángel Sánchez Palencia
Head of Department of Humanities
"Francisco de Vitoria" University

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Don't let them confuse you. The Catholic Church is not against sex or against love. Quite the opposite. The point is that the Church is in favor of true sexual love, a love which is healthy, strong and fertile, a love which shows what it means to be truly human. The Church is against what is ordinary, false, or worse. You would probably be very happy is someone loved you as deeply, faithfully, sincerely, wholeheartedly and transparently as the Church envisages.

In the Sermon on the Mount, recalling the sixth commandment, Christ proclaims: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'. But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28). (…) Why does Christ speak out in so forceful and demanding a way in the Sermon on the Mount? The reason is quite clear: Christ wants to safeguard the holiness of marriage and of the family. He wants to defend the full truth about the human person and his dignity.

John Paul II, Letter to Families Gratissimam sane, 2 February 1994, no. 20.

Commentary

Christ's message is very demanding. It goes against the hedonism of present-day society. It is quite the reverse of the "weak thinking" that is so fashionable at the moment. Christianity is strong thinking par excellence, which is why it shocks people. It proclaims an objective, eternal and universal truth, that is valid for everyone, for ever. Christ does not speak only for his contemporaries, but for the people of all times. Can we water down Christ's message in view of the weakness of men and women today? No, we cannot. Only the truth of Christ will allow us to live a full, truly human life, and have a marriage which is both happy and holy.