Chastity is the virtue that allows us to be able to focus our sexual desires, emotions, and attractions toward true love and toward our dignity. It is the good habit of having sexual self control so that we can direct our energy towards good and loving relationships that ultimately pave the way for happy marriages. 

All of us were made to love, to make a “gift of ourselves” for others. When a husband and a wife enter into the sexual embrace, they give each other their whole selves, in complete vulnerability and connection. What they communicate with their bodies is an expression of what they communicated with their vows, that they will love and cherish each other “until death do us part.” 

One of the things that chastity involves is abstaining from sex until marriage. But chastity is so much more than just abstinence, it is a lifestyle–a lifestyle of saying “yes” to real love. Chastity shows us how to respect ourselves and others by recognizing and upholding the goodness and dignity of the human body, bringing richness and beauty to our relationships and to our life.