PURITY OF HEART AND SEXUALITY IN CONSECRATED VIRGINITY AND MARRIAGE

A Study on the Teaching of John Paul II in His Theology of the Body

Abstract

Human beings, whether as consecrated virgins or marital spouses,
are in a continuous search of a solution in the struggle to keep one’s
heart pure (honest, generous and innocent). Bl. Pope John Paul II
presented a profound and renewed reflection on the meaning of
human sexuality and the virtue of purity of heart based on a
personalistic perspective: a person is a blessing towards which the only
proper and adequate attitude is unselfish love. Understood this way, a
person does not admit of use and cannot be treated as an object of
use, and, as such, the means to an end. The call to virtue of purity of
heart in reference to human sexuality is an indispensable fact of
living faithfully to the commitment each Christian has made in his or
her vocational choice. Vocation demands self-giving and it is centralto both consecrated virginity and marriage, as the full gift of oneself
to God in a personalistic way. This dissertation highlights the virtue
of purity of heart as an interior truth experienced in the heart and
involving a positive commitment to sexual integrity that relies on the
love and reverence of God, of others and oneself. The virtue of purity
of heart in reference to sexuality is a new consciousness in Christ, and
a new attitude towards oneself and others.