Souldn't we be more inspired by preaching?
We are all mixed up. People don't believe in sin anymore. Our priests seem to be reluctant to speak with authority for fear of disturbing society.
That is too bad! Many Catholics separate after 25, 30 or even 40 years of married life, pretending they are not worse than such and such couple. We see lewd life all around us. Impurity is not even mentioned. People dump their spouse and children to go and live with someone else.
Yes, yes we need to be stirred up! We want to know what is right and what is wrong nowadays. Our youth like to discuss this matter with a good priest. How they search for truth! They like to call themselves "Born again" and they read the Bible. So, try to see how earnestly they crave for truth. They are not as bad as too many of us tend to think.
The Gospel is radical. It disturbs. If we are not roused by the reading of the Gospel or by preaching, it means that we do not understand the message or that the Word of God has lost its substance.
We do not have to go back to those moralizing sermons that overlooked the essence of the Good News brought forth by Jesus. We must preach love of God and neighbor.
On the other hand, we must not preach a weak love that smiles away any human wrongdoing. Infinite love is obtained through obeying God's laws.
Why not preach the saving Gospel with a forcefulness and conviction which reveals God's infinite love for us and urges us to turn to love Jesus with all our heart and to walk in His footsteps?
Only then will we comprehend our duties toward God and our neighbors, the very object of the great Commandment. In this way, we will be touched by human injustice and misery around us and be called to act to redress and heal what needs to be.
We will not be so-called Christians who indulge in the sins of the flesh. If Christ is at the center of our lives, if we are committed to Him, our lives will not be bogged down in lust. Our marriage, as far as we are concerned, will not become just an affair of a few years. In the eyes of youth, our life will not be a denial of the Gospel's values.
Therefore, it is by focusing on the central message of the Gospel and staying true to the religion of love exemplified in Christ that we manage to steer clear of sin. Sin is … in the wind. But Christ has delivered us from it. So, as Saint Paul wrote: "Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us live honorably as in daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh" (Rm 13: 13-14).
Through baptism, which has cleansed us in water and Spirit, we are all "reborn". Let us then, "be intent on things above rather than on things of earth" (Col 3: 1). "It is God's will that you grow in holiness" ... "each of you guarding his body in sanctity and honor, not in passionate desire as do Gentiles who know not God" (1 Th 4: 4-5).
Together, as members of the Church, let us draw our vigor from the Word of God, the Eucharist and all those treasures bequeathed to us by the Lord. I seem to hear the Lord admonish certain Catholics: "Wake up and strengthen what remains before it dies" (Rv 3: 2).