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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 12 NOVEMBER
During the weekly audience on 12 November, the Holy Father delivered
the following address to more than ten thousand people gathered in the
Paul VI Hall.
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.
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