Let's begin our reflections on human sexuality by making a necessary distinction between sexuality and genitality. Most people use the first word to apply to both, and thus create a blanket and almost useless kind of language that serves only to perpetuate myths and non-communication.
By sexuality, we mean that essential and all-pervasive complementarity between persons, and in a certain sense, between all living things. Life is attracted to life. Beauty is attracted to both beauty and brokenness - which is a good description of all that lives.
Life is fragmented and finite and yet part of a larger and attractive whole. We long to be one with this wholeness. We seem to need to give ourselves to the other, or at least, we are fascinated or attracted by it. One need only observe people in an airport, or on the street, or reading gossip or romance magazines, or listen to much of human conversation to know that people are energized and excited by other people.
This is sexuality. It is our energy for life and for communication. Without it, we would settle for a cold and metallic kind of life; all would be trapped in each one's own inner world with no need to reach out, no desire to care. The power of bonding, linkage, and compassion would be gone from the earth. At its core, therefore, sexuality is a constant expression of the Spirit.
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