Nothing to feel shame about, their are far worse deeds committed than self amusement ,
Phil, just stop.
If you want to hold this position, fine. It’s your soul. But when you come into a public arena, speaking as a self-identified Catholic, deliberately speaking by the authority of age-wrought wisdom things that are antithetical to Catholic doctrine, you cause scandal. And that is itself a grave sin because by it you lead others to sin.
The Catholic Church has clearly defined masturbation as a grave sin. Yes, there are worse deeds committed, but that doesn’t lessen the gravity of this sin. It deforms the intellect and erodes the will. It is not a matter of mere amusement. There’s no such thing as an isolated, personal sin.
Sex is a biological expression of the essential nature of God: Love. And love is the self-gift for the good of the other. Masturbation deforms the meaning of self-giving love and turns human sexuality in on itself. Masturbation is essentially selfish, while true human sexuality is essentially other-oriented. In authentic human sexuality, there is a lover and a beloved, and the life that springs from that mutual love. In masturbation, the lover is the beloved, and the act is barren.
The way masturbation deforms the intellect is that through this practice of self-love, the treatment of an essentially other-oriented aspect of your biology as self-oriented, one begins to treat other aspects of human nature as self-oriented. The immediate area affected is normal sexual activity. One begins to treat other people as objects to be used rather than people to be loved. Why? Because through masturbation that’s exactly how one treats oneself. Your own body, which is you, becomes an object for self-satisfaction. So, if you treat yourself as an object, how much more will you treat others as objects? Eventually, this will extend to all areas of human interaction. You begin to see normal, everyday interactions as sexual. Filial (or brotherly) intimacy becomes homosexual. Polite interactions with members of the opposite sex become flirtatious. Familial intimacy becomes incestuous. Etc.
It erodes the will because as one becomes addicted to the endorphins released into the brain during the act, one becomes less able to deny oneself such pleasure. In time, this weakness permeates to most other areas of one’s life. The person becomes short-tempered, easily aroused, argumentative, slothful, gluttonous, etc. In other words, one seeks instant gratification.
One may be able to ward these effects for a time if other virtues are cultivated and affirmed. But, this sin diminishes those other virtues, making them less than they could be.
As Catholics, we do not promote a culture of shame. Christ came to free us from the weight of sin. However, that doesn’t mean that sin isn’t shameful. It just means we shouldn’t let it dominate us, but rather we should use it as motivation to be better lovers for our beloved Lord. In other words, it shouldn’t be “I’m evil” kind of shame, but rather, “Christ deserves better, so I will be better” kind of shame. Anyone who’s married knows that the first kind of self-pitying shame doesn’t help anybody, but the second kind can help make the marriage flourish.
So, it’s good for those who fall into this sin to feel shame, as long as it’s the right kind of shame. And let’s be clear, this is a sin, and it is grave.
