3rd Sunday of Lent 11.3.07 Purity
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Just to think of our bodies as houses of any sort would be some progress.
Because we do to our bodies what we would not do to our houses.
Sexual impurity is like bringing in the rubbish bin and tipping it over the lounge room floor, and no one would do that, but nearly everyone it seems suffers from impurity.
Not just in this generation but ever since Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness. Original Sin put us into disorder so that our passions and desires are not in the right place.
And the disorder concerning the human body itself is one of the worst affected areas resulting from the original sin.
St Paul addresses his generation and says that any sort of impurity should not even be mentioned among the saints.
What about now when indecency of every kind is spoken of, displayed and even paraded down the main street? Plus we have television, films, and internet to magnify the occasions of sin.
It is hard for us to keep our eyes averted from so much obvious indecency, but we must do so.
Purity, like all the virtues, comes from God and is planted inside us when we receive the Holy Spirit.
We are made pure by our baptism and this is confirmed in Confirmation.
We have the gift; we just need to develop it.
We need in our society, not just the commandment, which is not enough by itself. We have to re-educate, rebuild what has been lost.
People just forget who the real God is. Impurity in all its forms is really idolatry, the worship of a false god – be it the god of pleasure, of attempted independence, of the human body itself.
They say: what is wrong with taking pleasure in the human body? Nothing, if it is in union with God’s will, and everything if against God’s will.
Remember we are HIS temple, not our own. We would not bring false gods into this church; nor can we use our bodily temples to worship false gods.
They say: yes, but there are worse sins than impurity. What about justice? Fine, we will attend to justice too, but we must also be pure. We cannot justify one kind of mortal sin by saying we don’t commit another kind.
They say: But it’s only my body; it’s not really me that’s doing these things. I am still a good person.
Our bodies R us. We understand this when it comes to violence. If I am bashed in the street, I don’t say, Oh that was just my body, it wasn’t really me.
But if I commit adultery, I say, Oh that’s just my body doing that, it wasn’t really me.
In other words I am still a good person even if I let my body do impure things. No, it cannot be.
I am what I do, and what my body does, I do, and therefore I am impure. And the temple needs a steam clean.
And when we get that clean we will feel a lot better.
We need to get our houses (temples) in order so that we can desire things the right way round and experience what it is God is trying to give us.
So far we haven’t been waiting around long enough for Him to have a chance to reach us.
May the Lord help all who struggle in this area and enable us to take control of our own bodies – a vital step on the way to holiness.
‘Use your body for the glory of God’ (1 Co 6,20)
