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True love requires true freedom—and that’s why understanding the Sixth Commandment is so important. Hey it's Cathy and Jake, and here's another Catholic Kernel of Truth.

God actually has a beautiful plan for love, marriage, and sexuality. When we understand His design, we experience real freedom and joy—the kind of love our hearts are craving.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says: “You’ve heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you, everyone who looks at someone with lust has already committed adultery in their heart.” 

This begins on what is going on inside—our hearts, our desires, the way we see other people. Jesus cares about the whole person.

The reason God cares so much about sexuality is because He designed us—male and female—in perfect equality and complementarity.

God made us for love in the deepest sense, so that we may be a self-gift. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that God gave each of us a sexual identity that involves both body and soul. Sexuality is meant to be oriented toward marriage and family, where that love can be total, faithful, fruitful, and free. (CCC 2331-2334)

And all baptized Christians are called to chastity—not just single people or priests, but everyone. It looks different depending on your state of life: celibacy, faithfulness in marriage, or living chastity as a widow or widower. Chastity involves self-mastery and the cardinal virtue of temperance. (CCC 2337-2349)

Lust is the opposite of love. Love gives; lust takes. Lust sees someone as an object instead of a person.

The Catechism points out that sins of pornography, fornication, adultery, and masturbation are ways we can misuse God’s gift of sexuality. They isolate sexual pleasure from its real purpose: love and life together. (CCC 2396)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life.” The Catechism goes on to explain that those with same-sex attraction must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Same-sex attraction is a cross and those who choose to live a chaste life are living out this commandment. (CCC 2357-2358)

When man and woman give themselves totally to each other in marriage, they become co-creators with God. Marriage has this twofold purpose: the good of the spouses and the transmission of life.

And that’s why the Church teaches that contraceptives or sterilization go against God’s plan—they close off the openness to life. The Church does allow for Natural Family Planning, which is discerning to space out children for just reasons. It involves engaging during certain times of a woman's cycle. (2368-2370)

And just like us, some couples struggle with infertility. It’s a very heavy cross, yet the Catechism says a child is always a gift, not something “owed.” Techniques like IVF, sperm and ovum donation, surrogate uterus, and artificial insemination sadly separate procreation from the loving union of husband and wife. However even if a couple can't have a biological child, God can bring incredible spiritual fruitfulness when this suffering is united to Him on the Cross. (CCC 2376-2379)

So, to live this out practically, we must see people the way God sees them—as whole persons, body and soul. It means being intentional about what we look at online, how we think, and how we talk about love and marriage.

And when we mess up... that’s what confession is for. God isn’t waiting to tear us down; He wants to restore us to freedom and joy.

Here’s our challenge for you this week: Ask God to help you see others—and yourself—with His eyes. Where do you need healing in the area of love and chastity?

And remember, God’s plan for love isn’t about rules to punish you or make you feel bad about yourself; it’s about freedom to love fully. He wants our hearts to be whole.