Monday of the
Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 13:1-11; Matthew 13:31-35)
Walking through a shopping mall, both men and women are
allured by the lingerie shop. The window
display arouses such interest that all wonder what can be inside. Of course, the apparel is meant to increase
the intensity of desire of a husband for his wife. In the first reading today the prophet Israel
uses such an image to describe the relationship between God and Israel.
The loin cloth described in the passage was to be worn by
men to cover their genitals. In public
the loincloth was worn under a tunic, but whether in private or in public it signifies
intimacy. The prophet himself states this
meaning: “As close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the
whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the
Lord.” The tragedy that Israel abandons
God for the fetishes of their neighbors is symbolized by the loincloth being buried
and rotting.
God has created humans as sexual beings so that they
might relate to one another. Genital
sexuality is reserved for a man and a woman to solidify their union. It becomes the proper environment for raising
children and thus for fulfilling God’s plan for creation. Quite unfortunately, humans often distort
this blueprint by making pleasure the purpose of sexual fulfillment. Like Jeremiah‘s rotting loincloth, such
practice cannot last long. We look to
Jesus, who reinforces the original teaching on sexuality in Genesis, as our
advisor in these affairs.
