The Church has always considered sex a precious and sacred reality. The Genesis account of human origins, together with much subsequent revelation, proclaims the divine origin and sacredness of human sexuality and its purposes, the divine institution of marriage and the dignity and nobility of women, who have been degraded in so many societies. The Old Testament describes the creation of man and woman and speaks of the divine origin of our sexuality. The accounts stress the purposes of human love and sexuality. Genesis emphasizes the way that sexuality should serve enduring and committed love.
Love is the norm of all Christian moral living.
And love is more than sex. Jesus knew that love is the greatest of all gifts. Sexuality is itself a powerful gift of God, but it needs to be guided by a wise and strong love. Jesus' teaching about love and sexuality is not simply a set of narrow rules. Its purpose is not to make us nervous, to quench love with cautiousness or stifle spontaneity, but to help us to be open and free.