Chastity August 20
. . . it is not by touch or passionate feeling alone but by one’s gaze also that lustful desires mutually arise (Rule of St. Augustine 22).
If I belong to someone by a pact of love (marriage, religious consecration), my behavior in that person’s absence testifies to his or her invisible presence.
· So, if I am spending time with you, you always feel that there are three of us.
· The way I dress and the way I am with you never invite you into the space
consecrated to the invisible one present.
· How I look at you and the way I greet you do not want to deceive you that you share
the intimacy reserved for the other person always at my side.
· In speaking and listening to you, I do not say words to you or expect to hear words
from you that betray the exclusivity of my pact with the other.
· In working with you, I do not neglect my responsibilities nor diminish my concern
for that other.
· To laugh and enjoy myself with you does not take away from the unique joy I know
with the person always at my side.
· In saying “until the next time” to you, I do not make promises that I cannot keep,
given my relationship to the unseen person present.
Am I clear with you that I belong to someone?
No one can take from you what you have in your stomach. (Basuto)
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