Posted February 25, 2015

See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

122. For each of us, the task of learning patience, generosity, forbearance, magnanimity, and other aspects of cruciform love is difficult enough. Pornography makes giving ourselves to other people and to God’s covenant even harder, even for the casual user. Masturbation is wrong for analogous reasons. When a person “enjoys” or rationalizes using pornography or resorting to masturbation, he or she leeches away the capacity for self-denial, mature sexuality, and genuine intimacy with a spouse. It’s little wonder that pornography plays a large role in many of today’s broken marriages. Pornography and masturbation can also attack the vocation of celibate persons precisely because they can seem so private.

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In its introduction, the document says its aim is to present “Catholic teaching in a way that is fresh, insightful, and accessible to contemporary Catholics and all people of good will.” The catechesis “offers a narrative beginning with our creation, soberly noting our fall and the challenges we face, but emphasizing God’s plan for our salvation. Love is our mission, and it is by loving God and one another that we will be fully alive.”

Each day in CatholicPhilly.com’s World Meeting of Families section you can reflect on the official Catholic teaching on the family presented in the catechesis, pray a special prayer together as a family or individually, and stay on top of breaking news about the events coming Sept. 22-27, 2015.

Order the catechesis for your home via Our Sunday Visitor, and visit WorldMeeting2015.org for more information on the events.

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