"I have come to realize that hunger and loneliness are not bad things: they are signs that I am made for something better and higher than this world, signs that I am meant to make room for God."
"We are all made with a God-shaped vacuum in our heart that can only be filled by the love of God in and through Christ," Eden reflected.
The ex-rock journalist wanted to impress upon her readers that their lives have meaning – here and now – and that they don't have to wait until marriage or a romantic relationship to feel fulfilled. But how could this be achieved in an age of growing existential loneliness?
"As I began to let Jesus enter more deeply into my heart and entire life, then I learned how to let other people enter into me in a deeper way," she asserted, acknowledging that her pledge to purity helped her become a better friend, daughter, and woman.
Chastity proved to surprise Eden. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the denying admonishment that she had anticipated.
In fact, Eden points out in her book that chastity does not deny love, but rather, shows men and women how to love more fully.
"Our chastity is how we become personally integrated, body and soul, so that we can really love fully in every relationship, in the manner that is appropriate to that type of relationship," she explained.
Although written as the "Catholic edition," Eden believes that everyone, even non-Catholics, can glean something from the Catholic Church's stance on sexuality, purity, and chastity.
"Everyone needs the good news and the Church's sexual teachings are part of the good news," she stated, saying that too often Catholics take for granted the treasury of Church teachings on the matter, seeing them as bitter pills rather than beautiful truths.
"To live a life of chastity is to live in the truth – the truth of the dignity that you and those you encounter have from being made in the image of God," she explained.
Eden ends her chastity book for grown-ups with a beautiful description of how chastity changed her life and worldview. Not only did it enhance the quality of her relationships, but it has also drawn out the beauty of other people.
"The world is no longer my meat market – it stopped being that for me years ago – and it is no longer my waiting room," Eden wrote.
"It is my cathedral, and every human being is a tabernacle of Christ."