Sirach, Chapter 10, Verse 19-24
19 Whose offspring can be honorable? Human offspring. Those
who fear the LORD are honorable
offspring. Whose offspring can be disgraceful? Human offspring. Those who
transgress the commandment are disgraceful offspring. 20 Among relatives their leader is honored; but whoever fears God is honored among God’s people.
21 The beginning of acceptance is the fear of the Lord; the beginning of rejection, effrontery and pride.
22 Resident alien, stranger, foreigner, pauper—their glory is
the fear of the LORD. 23 It is not right to despise anyone wise but poor, nor
proper to honor the lawless. 24 The
prince, the ruler, the judge are in honor; but none is greater than the one who
fears God.
By the action of Jesus
Christ and the grace of the Eucharist we are no longer human offspring but the
very offspring of God.
As His offspring we
radiate a presence; it affects our whole being. The indwelling of the Holy
Spirit is real.
God’s Holy presence
changes us physically, mentally and in a deeper sense within the heart. We are
new people. In a similar way Moses face radiated this presence so much his face
had to be covered because its glowing terrified the Israelites. In earlier
postings we discussed how Sarah; Abraham’s wife was exquisitely beautiful at an
advanced age.
Those who radiate the
presence of God seek His will. They have the right intention giving all things
to God. They avoid mortal sin and obey the laws of God. They cherish God in
their hearts and seek to do those things that please God. At times we find
ourselves so engrossed with our day to day activities and worry about the
mundane; much like Saint Martha forgetting “the better part”. If we are to
radiate His presence we must be in His presence. Perhaps today would be a good
day to develop the practice of putting one item on your daily “To Do” list that
you know will please God.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
II. THE VOCATION TO CHASTITY cont.
Chastity
and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations
between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual
attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of
forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological
genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which
presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always
declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They
are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life.
They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under
no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who
have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination,
which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They
must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of
unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are
called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to
unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter
from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to
chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at
times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental
grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian
perfection.
There are a lot of websites
that deal with the subject of chastity. One such is Jason Evert’s author of
several books on the subject:
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