Confused

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justaman

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My wife and i have a good relationship overall, but it has no intimacy due to her lack of interest. I feel the need to satisfy certain feelings which i do, but then wonder if that is really wrong or not. At times i also will use materials for stimulation mentally for this. I feel confused.
 
My wife and i have a good relationship overall, but it has no intimacy due to her lack of interest. I feel the need to satisfy certain feelings which i do, but then wonder if that is really wrong or not. At times i also will use materials for stimulation mentally for this. I feel confused.
Physical intimacy is a part of Christian marriage and should only be denied when there is a good reason (health problems, etc.).

Has your wife mentioned why she is not interested?

Also, I’m not so sure about the “materials for stimulation”–are you talking about porn? That is not allowed in a Catholic marriage and could very well be part of your problem as many women feel they have to “compete” with the women depicted in porn. You are only allowed to desire your wife.
 
Yes, both self-stimulation/gratification and use of porn/images are wrong. You should discuss this with your priest in Confession.

You and your wife should seek to determine what is causing her lack of interest. Perhaps it has a physical component, a mental component, or both. Start with urging her to get a physical exam and discuss it with her doctor. Then, perhaps some Catholic counseling with a priest or counselor would be in order.
 
My wife never has had that much interest in sex, and it went way down after children. We have discussed this but some things are not going to change and I feel this is one of them which is very fustrating. I feel it is just ot worth the effort after some point, and kinda feel like I am gegging with is demeaning. I need the intimacy of a physical relationship along with the mental side though, but if it’s not there the urges do not go away.

I was have researced and have been told that self stimulation was not mentioned in the bible as being wrong, I have not fouund a passage that shows it is wrong. I was raised Catholic and was told early on it was wrong when caught as a teenage boy by my parents. I do agree about the materials, but sometimes cannot help myself from fustration.

I feel stuck.
 
I was have researced and have been told that self stimulation was not mentioned in the bible as being wrong, I have not fouund a passage that shows it is wrong. I was raised Catholic and was told early on it was wrong when caught as a teenage boy by my parents. I do agree about the materials, but sometimes cannot help myself from fustration.
All sexual acts outside of completed intercourse in marriage are a violation of the Sixth Commandment. Self-stimulation is a disordered use of your sexual faculties.

From the Catechism:

2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. “Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.”

2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.
I feel stuck.
You are not an animal. You have intellect and will. You have the ability to control yourself and act with virtue. Pray and sacrifice, build virtue by acting virtuously. The virtue of chastity includes self-mastery. I suggest you read the entire Catechism section on the Sixth Commandment.
 
Here’s a hint for you, there is actually less intimacy when one spouse has a porn habit. Using porn and self stimulation trains you to be selfish with your sexuality, and on many levels, that is going to be coming across to your wife. You don’t think she is worth the effort because you have the easy solution of turning to pornography. How satisfying is that? Probably pretty empty.

Challenge yourself. Learn some self discipline. Learn that love is sacrificual. Show your wife that you are willing to sacrifice, that she means that much to you. Open yourself up and make yourself vulnerable to her. That is totally different than begging. For women, a lot of the satisfaction from relations comes from the emotional connection. Open yourself up to that, and you will probably find that you have a wife that is a lot more interested in you than you could have imagined.
 
My friend, do not come here if you’re looking for impartial advice. This is an area dominated by the woman-can-do-litle-to-no-wrong side of the fence - not that I’m saying anyone who has posted is of that camp at all. I’m talking about the general tendencies.

If you’re wife had posted the same thing, already we’d hear: you’re having an affair, b) you’re addicted to porn, c) divorce him, he’ll probably beat you, d) are you sure you have a valid marriage, he probably came into the marriage with no intentions to be faithful.

These are legitimate concerns in some marriages, mind you, but they seem to be the first card played when a woman posts. Men are not held in high regard here - again, in general. Men are suspect, at best, and their motives need to be questioned at every turn.

Now, as to your specific post, you have my sympathy. Very few women will admit that men do have needs. The “animal” comment was quite telling. I’m not suggesting that you shoudl get what you want whenever you want it, but by the same token, you have different drives than your wife. If you’re meeting her emotional, spiritual and physical needs, then you have some reasonable expections for reciprocity of needs being met.

Can you determine if it’s a physical comfort issue, such as she is experiencing pain, or it’s emotional, or even a mental thing from her past? If you can get to the cause, then you can perhaps work on helping her to overcome it. If you have a good marriage otherwise, then she can’t be happy knowing she’s making life so hard for you.

You have to fight the good fight against sin, but don’t let the Pharasee’s get you down. Do the things you need to do towards God, your wife and your children and pray for help. Don’t let into the temptation without a huge fight. Be honest with your wife and tell her that you are tempted to sin and need her help. Try and make it an “us” thing - not the sin, but overcoming your mutual problems.
 
From Corinthians we see:

1 Corinthians 7: 4-5

4 A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife.

5 Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control.

From Pope John Paul II:
John Paul II also says that if the only reason a couple is having sex is to transmit life, then they may be in danger of using each other rather than loving each other (see Love & Responsibility p. 233).

Also, John Paul describes the “beatifying experience” of conjugal union as a foretaste of the joys of heaven (see TB, Dec 16, 1981 and Jan 13, 1982). In Love & Responsibility, by his detailed discussion of the husband’s responsibility - out of authentic love for his wife - to see that she achieves sexual climax (see Love & Responsibility pp. 270-278).

CCC States:

V. THE GOODS AND REQUIREMENTS OF CONJUGAL LOVE

1643 "Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter - appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and affectively, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility. In a word it is a question of the normal characteristics of all natural conjugal love, but with a new significance which not only purifies and strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of making them the expression of specifically Christian values."152
The unity and indissolubility of marriage

1644 The love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses’ community of persons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh."153 They "are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving."154 This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common faith and by the Eucharist received together.

1645 "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection."155 Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive.156
  • The fidelity of conjugal love
1646 By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of themselves which they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement “until further notice.” The "intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them."157

1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1).

III. THE LOVE OF HUSBAND AND WIFE

2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament.

2361 "Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death."143

"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."145 Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:

2364 The married couple forms "the intimate partnership of life and love established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent."147 Both give themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two; from now on they form one flesh

Check out the Christopher West, Books on Theology of the Body. Great resource for helping a couple through issues like these.

Bottom line is, if your wife has some physical ailment, try and find out the cause as “1ke” suggest. She has made a vow to God and you to be a partner in Holy Matrimony, if she consistently and repeatedly breaks that vow of her own free will, she is sinning and destroying your marriage of her own accord.
 
www.marriagebuilders.com Maybe you could spend some time reading the book, “His Needs, Her Needs” with her?

Are your children young? Maybe she is feeling completely exhausted and you are one more person to satisfy.

Are your children really young? Has she been seeing her doctor? It could be post partum.
 
My wife and i have a good relationship overall, but it has no intimacy due to her lack of interest. I feel the need to satisfy certain feelings which i do, but then wonder if that is really wrong or not. At times i also will use materials for stimulation mentally for this. I feel confused.
I would echo the suggestions that you and your wife speak to a physician and a priest/catholic counsellor. There is probably soemthing physical or psychologically wrong if she does not desire sex.

It is wrong fro your wife to withhold marital intimacy, except for illness, etc., and it is wrong for you to masturbate. You shouldn’t feel bad about wanting to have sex with your wife, it’s the most natural thing in the world, and a key component of Christian marriage.

I also suggest you both read one of Christopher West’s book on the Theology of the Body.

God Bless and Good Luck!
 
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