Lust
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “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.” (CCC 2351) It is listed under
“Offenses against chastity.”
relations as a good thing. But the desire for sex must be rightly ordered.
Sexual relations are reserved for a man and a woman in a covenantal,
sacramental marriage, always open to the gift of new life. So our desire
for sex should be properly ordered to this end. When our desire for sex
goes outside this proper order, it becomes lust. Lust is, at its core, selfcentered.
It seeks pleasure only for the self. Love, on the other hand, is
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other-centered. It always seeks the good of the other.
When one falls into lust, they’re really hitting on a sinful twofer, breaking
the sixth (You shall not commit adultery) and ninth commandments
(You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife). Both of those sections in the
Catechism quote the words of Jesus from Matthew 5:28 – “But I say to
you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed
adultery with her in his heart.”
Lust is a deadly sin because it leads to so many other sins against chastity.
The Catechism lists masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution
and rape. The virtue that counters lust is chastity.
For further study:
Matthew 5:27-30
CCC 1866, 2351, 2514, 2529-2530, 2542