Priestly Chastity
Fourth Meditation - Evils Arising from Impurity
I. With a view to understanding the purely supernatural Christian motives for being chaste, and in order to convince ourselves at the same time how useful we should find a deep and sustained study of the Holy Scriptures, let us meditate on eleven verses (9-20) of chapter six of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians:
"Make no mistake about it,"- or, as he repeats to the Ephesians (v, 6): "Do not allow anyone to cheat you with empty promises."
There is no moral theme where more deceptive persuasiveness is brought to bear; there is no other commandment of God that has unleashed more storms of protest and seduction: voices from the world around us, whisperings of the Serpent, hymns intoned by every age to the goddess of lust, the countless specious errors pledged to the defence of sensual gratification's imperial sway, dressed up though they may be in scientific garb; and the still fiercer voices from within: apparent physiological necessity, the delirious fury of desire, the magic palette of our imagination prone to exhaust every resource in an effort to depict libidinous pleasure as the acme of delight; and, more powerful than all the rest, the thrust of bad habit, capable of sweeping away the most resolute determination.
To all this the Apostle opposes in Christ's name the grave warning: "Do not allow anyone to cheat you with empty promises" - with promises devoid of meaning, illogical statements. For the terrible and unanswerable truth is:
"it is not the debauched. . . nor the adulterous; it is not the effeminate, nor the sinners against nature. . . that will inherit the kingdom of God." (9, 10)Add to these vile deeds the condemnation of all impure desire and complacency, about which our Divine Lord spoke:
The things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart: and those things defile a man. For from the heart come forth evil thoughts. . .adulteries, fornications. . . (Matt. xv, 18, 19)Now, make no mistake about it, and let no one cheat you with empty promises, none of these sinners will inherit the kingdom of God; or, as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, none of them "can claim a share in Christ's kingdom, God's kingdom."
I say to you that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt. v, 28)
As Esau gambled his birthright for a dish of lentil broth, the lustful man, for the sake of mere lewd delectation, even imaginary, deliberately embraced by the free will, gambles away his divine sonship, scraps the title-deeds of his divine adoption, casts from his soul the Spirit of Christ, remains disinherited in aeternum et ultra of the royal estate and patrimony of his Heavenly Father. Is the vile impure pleasure worth it?
II. "This is what some of you once were". . .
It was public knowledge; many of those Christians recently converted from paganism had given themselves up body and soul to the worship of Venus, to all the abominations of Corinth, the most corrupt city in Greece for centuries.
"Debauched, adulterers, effeminate, sinners against nature," that is what they were, it was no defamation of character to mention it in a public document, it was only too well known; but that was now a thing of the past, their penance and amendment was also the talk of the town. Which proves that, however deeply sunk into the mire, it is possible for a man to get out of it, and still more feasible for a man not to fall, if so far he has remained pure.
Chastity is, therefore, a definite possibility. In this matter, as in all others, God does not command the impossible. At the same time our own unaided efforts are not enough:
I knew that I could not be continent except God gave it. . . (Wisdom viii, 21)On what conditions does God give us this grace?
"That is what some of you once were; but now you have been washed clean, now you have been sanctified, now you have been jusified in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of the God we serve." (11)This grace is given us in that Name which alone of all names under heaven has been appointed to men as the Name whereby we are saved, and given us by that Spirit whereby the love of God is poured into our hearts, cleansing them of all defilement.
My own strength alone is not to be trusted. Boundless as the energy of the human will is, the primary force of visible creation, a force that routs armies, assaults strongholds, makes thrones and sceptres crumble to dust, leaps over mountains, bridles the tempest waves of ocean; what it has never accomplished, unaided, is the taming of its own fleshly passion, more brutal than all the unleashed elements; only the vigour of divine grace enables our will to rule victorious over concupiscence.
III. "But your bodies are not meant for debauchery." (13)
The body's purpose in life is not, as so many most erroneously maintain, sensual satisfaction. All men of wisdom, both of antiquity and in modern times, are agreed that the human body is the most wonderful mechanism in existence. Now, if God has assigned to the vilest little worm and to every part of the tiniest insect a definite purpose, would not He, the Creator of our bodies, assign also to our bodies, as a whole, some purpose worthy of its perfections? No, not for fornication, says St. Paul, were these bodies of ours appointed; their destiny is not sensual pleasure, in spite of their lively and intense craving for pleasure;
"they are meant for the Lord" (13),and here the word "Lord," the same as in other passages of the Apostle's writings, refers to Christ. So our bodies have Christ for their goal; and, what is more astonishing still, et Dominus corpori, the Lord has a claim over our bodies, and St. Paul seems to hint, there is a sublime sense in which Christ is meant for our bodies - a consequence of the Incarnation.
This is the final purpose of my body:
"And God, just as he has raised our Lord from the dead by his great power, will raise us up too."This body of ours, in appearance but a vessel of uncleanness and corruption, an unquenchable source of perverted appetites, is to be raised up, in the likeness, and sharing the splendour, of the Risen body of Christ, as Christ's escort; and in virtue of Christ's Headship of all the elect, made glorious and immortal. This is my body's destiny if, like Christ, I live a spotless life, mastering, by His grace, the body's animal instincts.
IV. "Have you never been told that your bodies belong to the body of Christ?" (15)
Our bodies are as much Christ's property as His own eyes or His own Heart; they belong to Him more than a child belongs to its parent and home; we are not just members of Christ's Household, we are part and parcel of Himself. Such is the mind of St. Paul, and such is my belief. Corpus Domino, et Dominus corpori.
Christ the Lord claims my body for Himself, claims it as much as He claims His own eyes and Heart. Will not my body, then, show every regard for those divine eyes, whose mere glance converted and melted the souls of men? Will not my body show respect for the Heart of Christ, where every divine Attribute and noblest human perfection were fused? Would my body, in the vehemence of passion, fling Christ into the mire? Would it see the Heart of Christ thrown on a refuse dump? The body is nothing less than one of Christ's members;
"and am I to take what belongs to Christ and make it one with a harlot?" (15)Would I give the eyes and Heart of Christ to a woman of the street, as a trophy of her conquest over mine? No, let there be no excuses - "I stain my body, but what is the body? omnis caro foenum " - because if I do not respect my own body as my own property, let me listen to St. Augustine: "Recognise Christ in thyself, spare Christ in thee." How much more profitable and noble it is to unite with the Lord than with flesh that is profaned, because
"the man who unites himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him." (17)Through union with Christ my very flesh becomes spiritualised.
Resolutions
1. Impure pleasure is not so worthy of esteem that we should sacrifice everything to it: our life, and perhaps the life of another, our honour as men and as priests, money, time, the honour of Christ and His Church, divine grace, heaven. The price is far too high; and since it cannot be bought for less, from now onward and for ever I renounce such a costly luxury. It is not for me, never. The clamourings of my unruly appetite will ever remain unheeded, its impulses will be shackled with ironlike fetters; I prefer death itself, the total disintegration of the flesh, to its sinful gratification.
2. The struggle I have to keep on waging, whether as victor or as vanquished, is a struggle that never abates; and the more I yield the fiercer the struggie becomes. Therefore, even though I may not feel I can brace myself up to real austerities, such as fasting, scourging, stinted sleep, very heavy work, etc. - and would to God I were given some of the strength He gives to His more faithful servants! - at least I shall adhere to the minimum: sobriety, regular work that keeps me sufficiently and properly occupied, sleep in moderation, no excess in food, temperance and sobriety in drink especially; no fussiness or softness; entertainments few and for a worthy purpose. Moreover, I shall keep vigilant watch over dangers, sighting them at a distance before they come too near and entangle me; and there shall always be a priestly composure in my bearing, never familiarities with women, much less in the exercise of my ministry. In short, I shall carry out in practice the order issued by the Apostle St. Peter:
"Be sober, and watch well." (1 Peter v, 8)_________________________
Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
No comments:
Post a Comment