God and the Physical World

Involvement in the Physical World. Catholic doctrine often treats the physical world as an evil to be avoided. Mary, the most holy woman, is portrayed as a virgin. Priests and nuns are celibate. And monasteries are in remote, secluded locations.

By contrast, Judaism believes that God created the physical world not to frustrate us, but for our pleasure. Jewish spirituality comes through grappling with the mundane world in a way that uplifts and elevates. Sex in the proper context is one of the holiest acts we can perform.

The Talmud says if a person has the opportunity to taste a new fruit and refuses to do so, he will have to account for that in the World to Come. Jewish rabbinical schools teach how to live amidst the bustle of commercial activity. Jews don't retreat from life, we elevate it.

Catholic doctrine often treats the physical world as an evil to be avoided? No. When the Montanists made that claim during the second century the Catholic Church condemned and excommunicated them.

Jewish tradition teaches that, when the people Israel were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they had to remain celibate for three days. Ex 19:14 “So Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, ‘Be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman.’” The Jewish tradition continues that although the people had to abstain from sexual relations with their wives for only three days prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai, Moses chose to remain celibate for the rest of his life with the full approval of God. The rabbis say Moses knew that he was appointed to personally commune with God, not only at Mount Sinai but in general throughout the forty years of sojourning in the wilderness. For this reason Moses remained in the sanctity of separation to be at the beck and call of God at all times. See Midrash Exodus Rabbah 19:3 and 46.3. Catholics do not look at Moses’ celibacy even in marriage and conclude that celibacy is the Jewish ideal for married life, and so we wonder why some Jews look at Catholic chastity in clergy and religious life and conclude that celibacy is the Catholic ideal for married life.

Judaism observes niddah, the state of marital separation from the onset of a woman’s menstruation to its end and seven days afterward until she immerses herself in a mikva, ritual cleansing bath. Niddah prohibits sexual relations during most of the wife’s infertile time. Catholics know that, after a Jewish wife tells her husband that she is now clean and ready, the husband and wife eagerly come together as one flesh just as the wife is entering her fertile days, thus joyfully fulfilling God’s ancient command to Gen 1:22 “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Catholics also practice marital sexual discipline, prohibiting only offenses against chastity. These are CCC 2351 lust, CCC 2352 masturbation, CCC 2353 fornication, CCC 2354 pornography, CCC 2355 prostitution, CCC 2356 rape, and CCC 2357 homosexual activity. But under the marital canopy Catholic couples are encouraged to have frequent joyful sexual relations open to the transmission of life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2362, teaches:

The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union of the spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude. Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:

The Creator himself … established that in the [generative] function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has intended for them. At the same time, spouses should know how to keep themselves within the limits of just moderation.

Any Jew, or any Catholic, who would like to understand what the Catholic Church actually teaches on this subject is welcome to read Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body general audiences. (A “general audience” is a public speech by the Holy Father, usually given to crowds gathered at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.)