Lesson 2:
The Meaning of Human Sexuality—the Two Becoming One
Romantic-Passionate Live vs. Deeper Human Love (God’s Love)
What do they look like?
Which one of these kinds of love would serve as a better foundation for a life-long
marriage and a healthy family life?
Who Am I? What am I made for?
You are my creation, and I created you in my image and likeness. This means you
are the only creatures who have the power both to love and forgive. I created you
with a body and a soul. I created you as either a male or female for specific
purpose. I created you out of love, and I created you for love.
Creation: Everything that God creates is good. Created things are signs of God’s love
and care for us. The most powerful signs of this love are other human persons.
We are made to love.
*Other people, especially our parents teach us to love by loving us first.
* We learn love by example.
 Jesus is the best example
 parents provide the first example
Image and Likeness: I am able to love and forgive like God! I am made to live in
communion of persons just like God does. So I have a mission to love like God—to
love God and my family first, and then to love others.
How is God a loving communion of Persons?
 He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three Divine Persons reach out
to each other in love.
 Human communion of love—the family
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Body and Soul: I am a human person created with a body and soul. My body and
soul are not separate rather they are united. My body reveals or expresses my
soul. My body is sacred because it is a sign of God’s loving plan for me.
“Male and female he created them.”
Sexuality (our maleness or femaleness) has a purpose.
 it reveals the way that we are called to love God and others
 practicing the virtue of chastity
o helps me to love as God wants me to love.
o helps me not to be selfish in my love for others
 Complementarity (comes from word “complete”)
o men and women are made for one another
o their bodies and souls complete one another
o only together (a man and a woman) can they bring new human life into
the world
Why did God make us male or female?
 So that we would recognize that we are made for love and that we need each
other.
 so that we could have a family—a loving communion that mirrors the images
God (the Trinity)
Marriage: Marriage is a public vow before God that husbands and wives make to
love each other as God does, to be faithful to each other, and to be open to new life.
The love in a marriage goes beyond feelings. It is a commitment to love each other
every day until death.
Their love for each other is called to be patient, forgiving, self-sacrificing, and
generous. Their mission is to mirror the love that Jesus has for the Church. Their
mission is mercy. They have to be merciful to each other as Jesus is merciful to us.
This is impossible without grace. Marriage is a sacrament. This means the
husband and wife have to use grace to love each other every day until death.
Why does marriage require the husband and wife to be faithful until death?
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because love is faithful, as God’s love is faithful.
dignity of human person is such that it deserves a life-long, faithful love.
children need their parents to have a strong and faithful love for each other
so that they come to understand what love really is and to know how to love.
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Youcat/Catechism of the Catholic Church
What is necessary for a Christian, sacramental marriage?
A sacramental marriage has three necessary elements: (a) free consent, (b) the
affirmation of a life-long, exclusive union, and a (c) openness to children.
The most profound thing about a Christian marriage, however, is the couple’s
knowledge: “We are a living image of the love between Christ and the Church.”
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