Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (June 16, 2017): Why does Jesus speak so strongly about adultery?.

Our Gospel reading for today contains a really tough message: Anything in your life that plays upon your vulnerabilities and contributes to sin should be gotten rid of, cut off, tossed away, ended, stopped, with no room for “Well maybe this time it’s okay.”

Attached to this message, like a top priority and a bottom line, is a warning about adultery. If we even just look at someone with lust, we commit adultery. If we have a valid marriage but divorce and remarry, we commit adultery (which is why the Church requires people to first prove that previous marriages were not true marriages before accepting another wedding).

Whatever contributes to adultery should be cut off, tossed away, ended, stopped, with no room for excuses and rationalizations.

Why is adultery so hugely significant as a sin? Why does Jesus speak so strongly about it? Why does he attach it to this particular teaching? Because relationships are the most important part of life. We can’t get to heaven without them!

The Father wants to — really, really, longingly wants to — spend eternity in wonderful relationships with his children. Jesus cared to the point of enduring a painful death to secure our future in heaven. The Holy Spirit works to make sure we have a good relationship with him here and now and forever more. And Jesus made it clear that the road to heaven is paved with love for one another.

Lust destroys relationships. When people are in lust (instead of in love), their relationship with God is ignored or — worse — broken. When one person inflicts his/her lust upon another, a wounded victim emerges.

We still remember all too well the scandal of representatives of Christ violating children with their lust, and we rightfully mourn because Christ himself has been violated by such terrible representation. But no less adulterous is lust toward an adult. We live in a world where lust between consenting adults despite marital status and gender is considered a healthy expression of love and the fulfillment of an important physical need. No one’s a victim, it seems, and therefore, why take a stand against it?

And yet, there is a victim. Lust is a violation of the image of Christ. It destroys the message of God’s fidelity. Lust in any form toward anyone is anti-evangelization.

We’re earthen vessels, as it says in today’s first reading, vulnerable to sin, belonging too much to the world, easily cracked. Nonetheless, we hold an important treasure within: God. With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, we can conquer our sinful desires and develop a pure love for God and empower a faithful, holy witness of love for others that helps more people embrace the pure love of Christ.

Dear Lord, grant me purity of heart so that Your Holy Spirit can work in me, producing good fruit and abundant blessings in my home. Amen.