A Treatise on Human Sexuality

The desire for sexual gratification can become all-consuming. Every moment of every day can be possessed by this desire. One begins to meditate upon the act so as to experience the delights of passion.

I am thoroughly convinced that the sexual act is more than a natural instinct but rather a spiritual impulse. Maybe this is peculiar to me, I don't know. All that I do know is that I have never been able to fantasize about an abstract "super-babe." For me, I must know a person to fantasize about them. I must have more than visual stimulation. I must be able to remember a touch, a look, a smell. I must be able to hear a voice and imagine a response. These things are essential.

To this extent my wife is obviously the choice of fantasy. I can relate all of these things to her. I can recall moments of passion and seduction. I can imagine new delights and pleasures. And the wonderful thing is that I can usually experience these delights in reality. When these imaginations are fulfilled the act of love becomes a sacrament. I now have a tangible expression of that mystical desire upon which I meditated for so long. I have become the priest and she, the priestess, offering up our sacrifice of body and soul upon the altar of passion. We, in that moment, become one. We have entered into the mystery of divinity. We have become, in our own way, the imagio dei, the image of God. We two distinct personalities become "one flesh," one substance, just as God is three distinct personalities is one substance, one essence.

This union of man and woman is perhaps the greatest gift that humanity has been given besides life and salvation. Through this union we can create life. Through this union we can experience, even if briefly, true joy and bliss. The mystery of this union is the mystery of eternity itself, because these are things that we will experience permanently in the next life.

It saddens me to hear of adolescents having sexual intercourse. They are not old enough to understand the implications of the act. They certainly don't realize the sacredness of this activity. They defile themselves by having sexual relations at so young an age. They cheapen that which is holy. It is like an atheist going into church and partaking of the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Sure, he or she has taken the Bread and Wine, but they have missed the Mystery! They defile themselves, but not the Sacrament. To partake of the Sacrament one must believe in it and be part of the Church. To partake of the sacrament of love one must also believe and be a part of the other.

Passion and desire, fantasy and lust, are not bad in and of themselves. In the beginning God created them all, and when He had finished He said it was "very good." But it only remains good in a monogamous, marriage relationship. As long as it is in its proper sphere, the act of love-making is a truly beautiful thing. If you doubt this just read The Song of Solomon in the Bible. That makes for some good erotic reading! The passion found there between husband and wife should be an inspiration for us all. Their desire, for a time, had become all-consuming. Their every waking moment was possessed by desire. It was spiritual. It was "good." And it was given by God.