DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS: 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, Psalm 5:5-7, 12,
My Beloved, this is what You desire for Your people, that we fast and be satisfied with the unleavened bread of purity and sincerity.
Purity is one of the attributes of One who is Truth, Beauty, Perfection and Love. Our love for You must be sincere, if it is, then all that we do for love of You will be sincere as well.Sin, especially serious sin is hideous,it deforms the soul and if it remains unrepented it will kill it.
St. Paul has become aware of one outrageous sin that has been committed by one of the Christians in the church of Corinth. He speaks strongly and recommends that stern action be taken to expel the sinner from their midst for committing so heinous a sin which has brought eternal death to the man's immortal soul. St. Paul hopes that by exposing and alienating the sinner he would become contrite and repentant and ask for God's pardon and thus his soul would eventually be saved.
Every sin committed is as old as man and time only today it seems more rampant and they are committed openly and more shamelessly. The 'in your face' attitude of those who live immoral and amoral lives with the aiding and abetting of the media and the social icons who lead the culture of the day are hell bent on making the most hideous sins look attractive, beguiling and people are fed the false illusion that pandering to the flesh will make them happy. The horrific consequences of the life styles that are made popular by the culture are swept furtively under the carpet and made light of. The devastation caused to in terms of human lives and to the physical, spiritual, mental well being of people are ignored or denied vociferously, vigorously and vehemently. But a lie is a lie and remains so no matter how long and how hard we deny it or how cleverly we try to dress it up with high sounding words that are meant to deceive and take advantage of the stupid, the foolish, the weak and the ignorant.
The late Pope Paul VI was a prophet. he was right to shut and slam the door firmly on contraception for he knew that a little yeast when it is put into the dough will cause the whole to rise with a sulfurous stench. The Church foresaw the sad consequences of a society with a contraceptive mentality and we pray that the rest of the world will see it before it is too late.
6 The arrogant cannot stand before you. You hate all who do evil;
7 you destroy all who speak falsehood, who thirst for blood and live on lies; all of them the Lord detests.
12 But for those who take refuge in you, let them ever sing and rejoice. Let your deliverance shield them, that they may praise you in gladness – those who love your name, O Lord.
My Beloved how often we are exactly like the Pharisees - we are so busy and so consumed with following the letter of the law that we forget that we are called love and serve above and before all else. How often we see people paralysed by sin and instead of trying to free them for their burden of guilt we condemn them and make their life even more difficult to bear. Our lack of compassion hardens their hearts and we make it even more difficult for them to repent.
Taking our cue from You we too must be unafraid to speak out against the taboos that society places on us which only stifle love. Like You we must be ready to reach out to touch, heal and restore. Let us not drag those who do good down with our jealously, pettiness and self-righteousness but let us love them and support them int eh work of loving service that they offer.
Loving Lord may we imitate You as so many have done in the past and continue to do to this day and let us stand solidly beside those who are so desperately in need of love and healing.
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