Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

46 | GUIDE TO ONGOING FORMATION FOR PRIESTS

119. Because a celibate priest’s heart and body are reserved for God and his Church alone, the self-mastery of chastity is essential. The priest’s vocation is incompatible with any deliberate genital activity, alone or with another person. Any use of pornography or masturbation, for instance, is a grave sin (as it is for anyone else) and also a violation of his celibate promise. God in his mercy will heal and restore anyone who goes to him with a contrite heart, of course, but he also promises grace and help to a man who wishes to be free of these sins. 98 We cannot, and need not, settle for mediocrity in this area. Living our celibate commitment well is not only a key marker of human formation but a profound witness to a world steeped in the misery of sexual sin. Chastity is the virtue that enables men and women to love well, regardless of their vocation. “The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it.” 99 Everyone is called to give life to others, in the natural or supernatural order; and chastity strengthens and protects that capacity to love. This is no less true in the life of the priest, for whom chastity plays a vital role by directing his heart to the genuine good of those he serves. 120. 121. Celibacy does not exclude affection and friendship. In fact, a key marker of any healthy human life is the capacity to make and keep properly ordered friendships, one of the great goods of life. Jesus himself showed us the importance of friendship in his love for friends such as Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, as well as his Apostles. He spoke from his heart to his friends on the night before he died: “I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (Jn 15:15). Friendship is a good in itself, being a form of human communion and an example of neighborly love that Jesus identified as a key feature of a Christian life. Friendships are also a school of charity, a source of conso lation in difficult times, and a stimulus to courage when friends tackle 122. CAPACITY FOR FRIENDSHIP

98 “While it is true that today’s world poses various difficulties regarding the living of holy purity, it is all the truer that the Lord abundantly showers his grace and offers the practical means for practicing this virtue with joy and happiness.” DMLP, no. 82. 99 CCC, no. 2338.