Life, death and resurrection of sexual morality

In the 30th year of the common era, better known in the “western world” as “A.D.”, when the first full moon of spring illuminated the night of Palestine, a young and free prophet called Jesus of Nazareth was arrested, summarily tried and sentenced by the Roman procurator to die on a cross at the request, and with the connivance, of the religious Sanhedrin.

His crime: having proclaimed in word and deed that “the Sabbath was made for life, and not life for the Sabbath”, that is to say, that the most absolute law of any State or society and of any Church or religion is subject to the goodness of life, not the goodness of life to any law, no matter how divine or imperial it should be. Both civil and religious authorities decided that the prophet was a threat for the established order and all of them together eliminated him, very early in the afternoon, on the eve of Easter. And today they would do – I mean, we do- it again.

But, Mary of Magdala, who loved Jesus who also loved her, with her eyes purified by tears, clearly saw that the crucified one was alive not to die again and she loved him even more body and soul. And she opened the eyes of Peter and of other members of her group and, once again, they became the wandering, creative and reformist movement of Jesus that they were before, with no other doctrine or authority that their memories of him, freely interpreted in the light of life. With no other law than the goodness of the ever new life.

One generation later, that memory started to change into doctrine, the presence became orderly cult, brother-sister equality transformed into clerical hierarchy, life became moral code. In the 4th century, Constantine’s century, the movement of Jesus became an established religion. Until today. And today we face a historical dilemma: we either recover the spirit of Jesus, the paschal flame of life that is constantly alive in everything, or we continue being prisoners of a religious system that became obsolete at least 300 years ago, and we allow time and the new generations to (rightfully) forget our creeds, cults and codes, and (unfortunately) even the subversive memory of Jesus, his life-renewing breath.

And what does all this preamble have to do with “life, death and resurrection of sexual morality”, the title I was given for this Easter reflection? It has a lot to do with the fact that current sexual morality is no longer alive and no longer makes one live, but it is dead and makes one die. And it would be better for it to lay dead in its thousand-year-old grave unless it should resurrect completely transformed by the paschal spirit of life. And it has a lot to do with the fact that the paschal life and death of Jesus should be for all Christian churches the basic criterion to paschally transform all their beliefs, rites and codes, and their complete teaching about sexuality. Thus, I wonder which ones would the signs and conditions be for us to say that sexual morality –stale name that should be replaced by “ethics of sexuality”– has “truly resurrected”? The following are some fundamental signs:

  • When churches, overall, and their leaders and “magisterium” in particular accept knowledge taught by history, psychology, anthropology, biology, medicine and sciences in general about all that in the field of sexual behaviour is good and healthy for personal and interpersonal life, and never teach anything that contradicts scientific data;
  • When they admire and celebrate that evolution selected, at least 1,200 million years ago, sexual reproduction –from algae to all types of animals– because it makes life more diverse and creative, and recognize that sexuality is a song to diversity –from plant pollination to complex mating rituals, dances and courtships– and definitely stop believing that some “God” dictated a unique form of sexual practice to be good and lawful;
  • When they can read with contemplative admiration the biblical Song of Songs which begins with these words: “Give me the kisses of your mouth! for your love is more delightful than wine”, and continues in that tone until the end, speaking without shame or morbidness of breasts and sex, of bodies that ignite and melt, of “pomegranate liquor”, and never mentioning the word “God” although it does not talk about anything else;
  • When they recognize the huge mutation that, for the first time in the 300,000 years of the Homo sapiens history, occurred in our generation: that reproduction became separate from sexual intercourse and that, therefore, sexual intercourse makes sense by itself whether or not it is aimed at reproduction; when the Vatican, therefore, abrogates Paul VI’s unfortunate Encyclical Humanae Vitae, published in 1968, which has caused so much useless and unfair suffering to the present generation of Catholics;
  • When they deeply rejoice because the mysterious and wise energy of life, in its amazing evolution, endowed sex with an ecstasy of pleasure, and they rejoice because of that, and do not only censor it but bless it as good, healthy and holy in itself, so healthy and holy as the pleasure of eating and drinking, of laying in the spring sun or listening to the peaceful song of the blackbird on its branch, with no limit other than not hurting themselves or others, and contemplate it as the epiphany of the holy Creativity of life which is God;
  • When the Catholic church, in agreement with the majority of religions and of the Christian churches, according to the silence of the entire Bible and a good part of the history of the very Catholic church, cease considering masturbation sinful and, in accordance with the biology and psychology and observation of such human behaviour in all human cultures and in other animal species, accept the natural and totally safe character of this sexual practice, and recognize its mistake and deeply regret the immense and oppressive anguish of guilty that it caused, particularly in recent centuries, for having considered it a mortal sin, deserving eternal hell…;
  • When they hurt from the enormous pain, shame and even disgust of themselves that for centuries have made LGTBIQ+ people feel, forcing them see themselves as sick, guilty, perverted or inverted, and sincerely ask for forgiveness, and recognize that love and sexual intercourse between LGTBIQ+ persons has the same dignity that love and sexual intercourse between heterosexual, canonically married persons, and bless both the former and the latter ones and equally accept them as sacrament of the Love and Life of God;
  • When, in a nutshell, the hierarchy and the so-called “magisterium” –which Jesus never wanted– free themselves from all prejudices, repressions and obsessions related to sexuality –which do not come from the Bible or from Jesus, but from philosophies like maniqueism and platonism, primarily through Saint Agustine and Saint Jerome–, prejudices and repressions of which they themselves were the first victims and imposed them on to everybody in the name of “God”, and finally open their eyes to see the human body and sex in all its wonderful diversity as a symbol of the beauty and fragility of life and as a call to care for and bless that diversity, never to condemn it or hurt it, and correct the Catechism and Cannon Law from beginning to end…

….. it will Easter for sexual morality in the Resurrection of Jesus, which is my way of saying and celebrating the permanent and universal Easter of life.

I think that we still have to wait for many first spring full moons before the resurrection of sexual morality occurs in the Catholic Church, but we will continue celebrating the Easter of Jesus every year and every day. And we will continue hoping, that is, letting us be encouraged by the spirit of the living crucified and anticipating in our life a bit of his Easter, forcing love to become flesh.

Aizarna, 28 de marzo de 2021

Translated by Mertxe de Renobales Scheifler