Tuesday, XXIII Week of Ordinary Time
(Colossians 2)
Paul uses several terms suggestive of carnal desire in the reading from the Letter to the Colossians today. Lest we think that sexual gratification is a peculiarly contemporary challenge, Paul reminds us that it has long caused human undoing. He speaks of “seductive” philosophy that can “captivate” and the need of “stripping off the carnal body” through a “circumcision” of “flesh.” People often allow wealth or power to undermine their stability, but sexual flights are more likely to unmoor humans from families and bob precariously on the sea of oblivion.
Christ offers us the way to salvation from this relentless urge. Paul urges us to anchor ourselves in him. “Rooted” in Christ we can stand up to desire choosing in its face what will truly bring us happiness. One young woman talked about the time she almost submitted to the desire for sex outside marriage but somehow found the courage to stop. Since that day, she said, she has worn a ring to hold the place where her wedding band will go to remind her of the gift she is saving for her future husband.
With the Internet sexual fantasies float freer than ever. If we are to overcome them we need to turn to Christ who is even more omnipresent. Assured of his love for us by his death on the cross, we will want to live for him. Not for sex or wealth or power, we will want to live for Christ.
