We know that when someone has sex outside of marriage, the person sins. But is it a sin because called tells us so, or does God tell us what is a sin? This question is commonly discussed in many Catholic circles. I would like to speak of the question but from another direction. When we are living outside of sin, we are loving God and others.

An Example: Chastity is a virtue and an act of love for God and your neighbors. There is a group in the United States that have an expression: “I am living my husband even though I have not met him yet.” I looked at the expression on a T-shirt during the March for Life in Washington, D.C. I could not comprehend what the expression meant until I spoke with the woman selling the t-shirts. She said to me that her chastity is an act of love for her future spouse and her future children. She is preparing a gift for them, her virginity when she marries.

How powerful is the expression. It is true as well.

We can say not to sin in various levels. God calls us to do it through love. Therefore, one can say “no” to sin in obedience to God. This is good. But when someone says “no” to sin as an act of love for a future family, this is acting in love for God and one’s neighbor. This is best, because our neighbors and God are looking at our lives as a sign of how much we love them.

A person’s loved ones can pardon him, if he were to fall into sin, but they would need to pardon him because there were hurt spiritually by his acts of sin. The acts against temptation therefore are acts of love for God and for our neighbors. Those in our lives today and those in our lives in the future. Why should one say “no” to sin? for the love for God and His people.

God Bless You
Fr. Robert J. Carr

Originally written in Spanish