Getting Real About Chastity

Some of the greatest things about the Catholic blogging world are getting helpful advice right when you need it, clarifying your thoughts, and making spiritual friends who get you and can cheer you along in your faith journey.  

If you've been following my blog for any bit of time, you may have come across some posts where I confess to being a wee bit (and some days, a whole lot) apprehensive of the marital act.  Today I stumbled across these two excellent posts about chastity, marriage, and sex, which have helped me take a deep breath and relax a little.

Today's post has been on my heart for a while, but I think I'm just now finding the right words.  I've gotten a few emails recently asking about preparing for your wedding night, specifically when it comes to nerves and inexperience.  It seems to me that among our generation, there's plenty of talk about sex in a general sense, both in the Church and in the culture, but not a lot of discussion about, well, the nitty gritty of lovin'.  I've stumbled across a few Catholic sex blogs here and there, with well-intentioned advice, yet in my opinion (and it's just my opinion, mind you), they leave something to be desired.  They sometimes link to sources that are problematic or not credible, and the tone can strike me as lofty and elevated at a time when just getting real might be more effective.   

• Read more of Be Not Afraid: The Sex Post 

When I embraced chastity, I had people ask me, “How will you know when you’re ready for sex? How can you marry someone without knowing how the sex will be?”

I used to struggle with how to respond. How do you explain virtue and sacrament in a sentence?  Then I got married. As I stood before God, my fiance, and everyone I knew, we were asked these questions:

• Read more of All the Days of My Life: A Chastity Tale 

Thank you, ladies, for your friendship, vulnerability, and beauty.