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Modesty:
a virtue suffering erosion
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
News flash: Newlyweds who find themselves in Rome can wear their formal
wedding apparel, claim a front seat and receive a special blessing from
the Holy Father at his regular Wednesday audience. Certain criteria must
be met, however. Among the requirements laid out by the Vatican is the
fact that certain body parts cannot be exposed (bare shoulders and/or
cleavage). The Holy Father, it seems, takes Catholic teaching on modesty
seriously.
As a matter of fact, St. Peter’s Basilica has a dress code not just for
those who enter it for liturgical celebrations, but even for tourists.
If not properly dressed, they are advised to become so. Until they do,
they are barred entry.
In an era when quasi-nudity has become high fashion, such restrictions
are unbelievable to some. The fact remains that women particularly are
sexualized in commercials, in movies, on TV. Appreciated or not, the
erosion of modesty furthers the transformation of women into objects of
sexual gratification.
This isn’t my idea. It comes directly from the late John Paul II and a
1960 book he wrote as Karol Wojtla titled Love and Responsibility.
I can’t speak to how a lack of modesty in males affects the female
psyche, but there is no doubt about the impact on males when females
fail in modesty. Observe the eyes of males as they track the scantly
dressed female. They are not eyes of respect. Rather they track an
object to be used, albeit if only in fantasy.
No doubt there are those who adjust to nudity in its various forms as it
is thrown at us from all sides and fleshed out three-dimensionally
during these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, but not all.
Jesus had something to say about this. In talking about impurity, he
said: “You have heard the commandment, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’
What I say to you is: Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already
committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
Culture is a powerful magnet. Many apparently do not realize that in the
acceptance of a lack of modesty, “we” have bought into society’s
portrayal of woman as sexual objects. If we are serious about the call
to holiness received in the sacraments of initiation (baptism,
confirmation, holy Communion), we need to take a stand.
When administering the sacrament of confirmation this past spring, I
stressed that as Catholics we do not belong to Caesar or Paris Hilton or
Britney Spears or the latest hip-hop artist. Their appeal and language
should not set our agenda. Rather, we belong to God.
At baptism, we were claimed for Jesus Christ with a sign of the cross
made on our foreheads. In the sacrament of confirmation, we are sealed
with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and strengthened for our Christian
mission. In holy Communion, we receive the food that nourishes us for
the spiritual challenges of each week. These three sacraments call us to
embrace the values of Christ as articulated by the Catholic Church that
has come to us from the apostles. I want to believe candidates for
confirmation are serious about living this Catholic faith, including
their baptismal call to modesty and chastity. I found it ironic,
however, that a noticeable number of the teen-age girls who stood before
me to receive anointing with sacred chrism did so with partially exposed
breasts. Those who noticed this incongruity might wonder why parents
would allow such a thing. An observation of those parents establishes
that the lack of modesty is not limited to confirmation candidates.
The same phenomenon is experienced during weddings. Yet in fact
Catholics who are interested in wedding gowns that reveal less skin and
witness to religious faith and beliefs can find modest dresses. It
requires search, but such are available. The typical wedding dress in
the United States would not win admittance to St. Peter’s Basilica.
And, it doesn’t stop there. More than a few, males and females, come to
Mass with unacceptable body exposure. Bad enough some see no reason to
dress up for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (showing up as if going to a
picnic), but the failure to be modest is simply getting out of hand in
our society, so much so that many even fail to see what is
inappropriate.
The lack of modesty in dress may have become an acceptable practice in
America and in other parts of the world, but that does not make it
right.
Here is how the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults sums up
Church teaching on modesty: “Modesty is a virtue necessary for purity.
It flows out of the virtues of temperance, chastity and self-control. A
modest person dresses, speaks and acts in a manner that supports and
encourages purity and chastity, and not in a manner that would tempt or
encourage sinful sexual behavior. Modesty protects the mystery of the
person in order to avoid exploiting the other. This attitude instills in
us the patience and reserve we need for avoiding unbecoming behavior.
Modest relationships reflect the connection between the marital state
and sexual behavior. Modest behavior respects the boundaries of intimacy
that are imbedded in our natures by the natural law and the principles
of sexual behavior laid out in Divine Revelation. Modesty ensures and
supports purity of heart, a gift that enables us to see God’s plan for
personal relationships, sexuality and marriage.
“We need to maintain the concern for chaste living prayerfully in our
hearts. Faith is the proper foundation in the quest for a clean heart.
Growth in modesty requires loving support from family and friends as
well as wise counsel and the practice of virtues.
“The attitude of modesty is difficult to maintain in a culture that
prizes sexual permissiveness. Countless appeals for erotic satisfaction
assail us daily from all the major forms of communication. This
environment of indecency challenges all men and women of faith to choose
and to witness to modesty as a way of life and as a method for healing a
culture that has strayed from God’s plan for sexuality and marriage.
“Those who have accepted the approach of the permissive culture have
been persuaded that freedom is the right to do what we want to do, not
what we should do. At the beginning of Christianity, the apostles
preached and witnessed Christ’s Gospel to the permissive cultures of
Greece and Rome, a fact well-illustrated in St. Paul’s letters to the
Corinthians. Difficult as it was, the first preachers prevailed over the
allurements of the culture, won numerous converts, and encouraged the
virtue of modesty.
“The Church calls us to be signs of contradiction in an overly
eroticized society. All members of the Church should respond to the
immodest aspects of society and culture with a deep and conscious
spirituality. The Gospel can renew and purify what is decadent in our
culture and gradually can displace the attraction of sin. We must assert
Christ’s Gospel by word and witness to transform the moral tone of our
culture. This approach fosters virtue in the human heart and its
development through the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Chapter 33, pages
441-442).
The sacraments of initiation call us to follow Christ, not Caesar. That
includes an embrace of modesty. |
