Morals Videos

Virginity Is Beautiful by Rosemary Vivianne of Secret of the Rosary Films. Credits at the end of the video. The Church teaches that there are three vocations in life for human beings: the married life, the single life and the life of a religious. The moral norm for a call to the single life or religious life is that of virginity. The moral norm for those who are called to a married life but are not yet married is also virginity. Morally, virginity signifies the reverence for bodily integrity which is suggested by a virtuous motive. Thus understood, it is common to both sexes, and may exist in a women even after bodily violation committed upon her against her will. Physically, it implies a bodily integrity, visible evidence of which exists only in women. The Catholic Faith teaches us that God miraculously preserved this bodily integrity, in the Blessed Virgin Mary, even during and after her childbirth (see Paul IV, Cum quorundam , 7 August, 1555). There are two elements in virginity: the material element, that is to say, the absence, in the past and in the present, of all complete and voluntary delectation, whether from lust or from the lawful use of marriage; and the formal element, that is the firm resolution to abstain forever from sexual pleasure. It is to be remarked, on the one hand, that material virginity is not destroyed by every sin against the sixth or ninth commandment, and on the other hand that the resolution of virginity extends to more than the mere preservation of bodily integrity, for if it were restricted to material virginity, the resolution, at least outside the married state, might coexist with vicious desires, and could not then be virtuous. It has been sometimes asked whether there is a special virtue of virginity; and in spite of the affirmative answer of some authors, and of the text of St. Thomas, II-II:152:3, the statement of which cannot be taken literally, the question must be answered in the negative. Formally, virginity is but the purpose of perpetually preserving perfect chastity in one who abstains from sexual pleasure. Ordinarily this purpose is inspired by a virtue superior to that of chastity; the motive may be religious or apostolic. Then the superior virtues of charity or religion will ennoble this purpose and communicate to it their own beauty; but we shall not find in it any splendour or merit of another virtue. The resolution of virginity is generally offered to God under the form of a vow. The counsel of virginity is expressly given in the New Testament; first in Matthew 19:11-12, where Christ, after reminding His disciples that besides those who are unfit for marriage by nature, or by reason of a mutilation inflicted by others, there are others who have made the same sacrifice for the kingdom of heaven, recommends them to imitate these. He that can take, let him take it. Tradition has always understood this text in the sense of a profession of perpetual continence. St. Paul again, speaking (1 Corinthians 7:25-40) as a faithful preacher of the doctrine of the Lord (tamquam misericordiam consecutus a Domino, ut sim fidelis), formally declares that marriage is permissible, but that it would be better to follow his counsel and remain single; and he gives the reasons; besides the considerations arising from the circumstances of his time, he gives this general reason, that the married man is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided ; whereas he that is without a wife directs all his care to his own bodily and spiritual sanctification, and is at liberty to devote himself to prayer. The Church, following this teaching of St. Paul, has always considered the state of virginity or celibacy preferable in itself to the state of marriage, and the Council of Trent (Sess. XXIV, Can. 10) pronounces an anathema against the opposite doctrine. Some heretics of the sixteenth century understood Christ's words, for the kingdom of heaven , in the text above quoted from St. Matthew, as applying to the preaching of the Gospel; but the context, especially verse 14, in which the kingdom of heaven clearly means eternal life, and the passage quoted from St. Paul sufficiently refute that interpretation. Reason confirms the teaching of Holy Scripture. The state of virginity means a signal victory over the lower appetites, and an emancipation from worldly and earthly cares, which gives a man liberty to devote himself to the service of God. Although a person who is a virgin may fail to correspond to the sublime graces of his or her state, and may be inferior in merit to a married person, yet experience bears witness to the marvellous spiritual fruit produced by the example of those men and women who emulate the purity of the angels.

RABBI RACHEL SABATH BEIT-HALACHMI, PH.D.: THE ETHICS OF COMMANDMENT AND THE ETHICS OF CONSCIENCE, Global Beit Midrash lecture, Nov. 15, 2009, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel

The Tiger Woods high-profile sexual scandal have captured headlines around the world. This should serve as a sober reminder to all of us of the danger of letting down our own moral guard, and lead us to ask ourselves if we could do something similar. http://www.gnmagazine.org/video/12032009-tiger-woods-transgressions.htm

David Hartman: Spiritual Opportunities and Dangers of Halakha, Lecture 2 David Hartman, founding President of Shalom Hartman Institute, will focus on the clash of modernity and traditional Judaism in his fall-winter 2009 series of public lectures, which began in October and will run through December 2009. This is the third lecture in the series.

Dr. Micah Goodman - A JEWISH APPROACH TO ETHICS: ACTIONS OR VIRTUES? - Lecture to Global Beit Midrash participants in Boca Raton, Florida, Oct. 25, 2009, from Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel