Thursday of the
Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 6:19-23; Luke 12:49-53)
The ancient city of Pompeii was buried under a river of
volcanic lava in 79 A.D. Then in the
late 1800s, it was uncovered to give a three-dimensional snapshot of life in
the Roman Empire. The view is not always
edifying. One house has a statuette of a
boy lifting his phallus with the opening of the gate to salute a visitor. Perhaps even more than people today, Romans
were obsessed with sex. For this reason
St. Paul, writing not long before Pompeii disappeared, comments to the Romans on
sexual license.
In general Paul’s letters indicate that many people
became Christians as a way out of sexual enslavement. Christianity provides a support group to help
people cope with an oversexed environment. It also promises the grace of the
Holy Spirit to pursue a virtuous life.
Paul emphasizes in today’s reading another reason to forego extramarital
sex. He writes that the effect of sexual
sin is death in contrast to eternal life Christianity offers.
Sex, like all creation, is a natural good for which we should
thank God. However, it has been
corrupted through sin so that it now appears as much a threat as a benefit. For this reason we need to be careful about
our dealings with it. We should not
think of sexual intimacy as inherently impure or sinful. Yet we cannot declare
it good outside marriage.
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