1 Cor 6:13-20
Foods are for the stomach, and the stomach is for foods; and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual immorality; it is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God raised up the Lord and he will raise us up too by his power. Do you not realise that your bodies are members of Christ’s body; do you think one can take parts of Christ’s body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Out of the question! But anyone who attaches himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Keep away from sexual immorality. All other sins that people may commit are done outside the body; but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you and whom you received from God? You are not your own property, then; you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God.
The Word of God is a great light to enlighten us. It brings clarity and always speaks into our time. When we act according to it, the blessing of God comes.
It is not the other way round that today’s time can correct the Word of the Lord because one knows better! No, it is the Word of God that brings divine light and not human wisdom. So let us listen carefully, especially in a time that often lives very far from these instructions of the apostle and perhaps does not like to hear these words. Nevertheless, they remain true!
Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. What dignity is bestowed upon it to be the dwelling place of God! In our weak human body the Lord wants to be at home and enlighten us. Everything in us should be permeated by the light of God, so that our thoughts and actions correspond to His will!
This dignity, indeed this calling, does not correspond in any way if our body and thus also our soul are disfigured by fornication. How is the Spirit of God to remain in us in the long term if we abandon ourselves to our disordered inclinations?
The suffering caused by disordered sexual lust, both to oneself and to others affected by it, is much greater in its effects than is commonly imagined. We diminish our own capacity to love and the integrity of the person is weakened, his inner strength, his inner oneness with God and himself, because he gives himself over to the passions!
We know that sexual relationship is meant for marriage.
Paul makes it clear to us that we unite ourselves with the person with whom a fornication takes place, with the corresponding bonds. So there is a degradation of the act and of the persons. This degradation also happens when fornication is directed towards ourselves. Then, as a consequence, our ability to love the other person is diminished or even closed off. I would also like to add that devotion to sexual fantasies is also a perversion. In the case of homosexual practices, there is also an element against the nature of a person.
It is not easy to resist the attractions of sexual pleasure. The hostage of pornography affects quite a few people and sometimes even those who actually want to live the way God wants them to!
So one must by no means trivialise the sin of fornication!
On the other hand, one should not lose courage when struggling with it. The temptation to disorderly sexuality hits a very weak spot with many people and God certainly has mercy on them if they strive for chastity and yet suffer defeat again and again. No one should therefore despair and also not fixate in an insane way too much on this issue.
Let us try with all our possibilities to resist temptations through a path of deepened prayer and in vigilance over our thoughts.
For those who have taken a vow of chastity, it is important to be vigilant and not to have too intense relationship with the opposite sex. This also applies, of course, to those who are married in relation to the other sex outside of marriage. And it also applies to adolescents to be vigilant and not to enter into the realm of a sexuality that separates from God.
In this context, I would like to draw attention to a audio play about St. Agnes, which is currently being prepared by Harpa Dei. It will be broadcast in some episodes from 21 of January. I will also try to publish a lecture on the subject of purity on YouTube.
Let us always remember that the Holy Spirit wants to dwell in us and what an honour it is to have our divine friend as our guest. It is to him that we can turn to help us avoid everything that could cloud him and to promote everything what could help us so that he is at home with us with great joy!
Harpa Dei accompanies the daily scriptural interpretation or spiritual teaching of Br. Elija, their spiritual father. These meditations can be heard on the following website www.en.elijamission.net
