The holiness of the body is very important for a Christian. Because our body is blessed and anointed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at the time of our baptism. It is in this body that we receive all the sacraments. Again it is the same body that is buried in a blessed grave and raised on the last day. Should we need more reasons to keep our bodies holy?
Now let us go through certain verses from the Bible.
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28)
Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? (1 Cor 6:16)
Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself 1 Cor 6:18)
…….that each one of you knows how to control your own body in holiness and honour, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God (1 Thes 4:4-5)
….make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires ( Rom 13:14)
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh (Rom 8:5)
And those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8)
The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (1 Cor 6:13)
For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness (1 Thes 4:7)
The gist of all these verses is simple. Adultery and fornication are grave sins. Looking at another person with lustful eyes is equivalent to committing the sin in heart. Those who indulge in such sins become one flesh by the very act. In other words, once they unite in a sexual relationship, their minds, interests, and thoughts will be similar or rather same. Because a single body cannot have different minds or different interests. As they are united in flesh, so are their thoughts, feelings and emotions!
The Scripture says that a lustful look at another person defiles the body of the person who looks. This bad look can happen in two ways. Either without the knowledge and consent of the other person or as a result of an active or passive invitation of that person by way of immodest or vulgar clothes or behaviour. In the first case the person looked at is not guilty at all.
As for the second category of persons who invite the eyes of others to their body knowingly, the gospel gives a stark warning. ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Mt 18:6-7).
It is not out of place to call such persons spiritual prostitutes, especially when they come to the church and prayer meetings in immodest dress or cause others to sin because of their conduct in holy places. With their action they are desecrating their bodies, the bodies of others and more importantly the sacred place in which they stand. It is the responsibility of parents and guardians to see that their wards abstain from such practices. It is their duty to correct their children who, in the name of fashion, wear clothes that seldom meet the minimum measures of decency expected in a place of worship. Unless they do it, they are in danger of its consequences, and they are making their children too share the same punishment. It is a real tragedy that someone has to teach Christians again about the need to come to the church properly dressed.
The weapon the devil uses to drag us into immoral acts is our own eyes. So we are advised to learn the virtue of custody of the eyes because our Lord has given us sufficient warning. ‘And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire’ (Mt 18:9).
The cause of temptation will always be there before our eyes. We cannot remove them, but surely we can ignore them. It is in our own interest to avoid them. Let us listen to the sage advice of a saint. ‘Be exceedingly careful to be chaste and modest in all your postures, whether sitting or walking, lying or playing. Immodesty is reprehensible both before God and the world. We would learn only on the day of judgement about how many souls have been lost in hell due to boys and girls roaming around immodestly dressed and their unchaste body contacts, which their parents do not forbid (The Testament of a Loving Father- St Kuriakose Elias Chavara).
Let us try to be exceedingly careful in the upbringing of our children because it is directly related to our salvation also, apart from theirs. A firm resolve on the part of parents, guardians, priests, and pastors is needed in this vital area so that no soul is lost in hell due to such sins.
( www.v-catholic.com)
