Catechesis Notes for the Week — Sanctity of the One Flesh Union—In the Fifth Commandment, God protects His gift of life and the sanctity of human life.  In the Sixth Commandment God teaches us that this gift of life is brought into this world through the sanctity of the one flesh union in marriage.  The sexual union is both a physical and a spiritual union.  When a husband and wife come together in the physical intimacy of sexual intercourse, they are not just “having sex”; each is actually giving his or her very self to the other as an act of self-less love for the comfort and strengthening of the other.  This means that love in marriage moves out of the self to give of itself to the beloved. The question of the lover is not “what am I going to get out of this?” but “what am I going to give to the one I love?”  In marriage, there is no greater gift than to give oneself to his spouse.  This bond is so profound, intimate, and sacred that it is called “one flesh.”  The Church should not only condemn the self-centered sins of fornication and adultery against the Sixth Commandment but should also hold up the wonderful gift of human sexuality and how God intends it for the giving and receiving of marital love.  This is why the Catechism itself speaks in positive language about the Sixth Commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.”

CP260906