Freedom From Sin is Freedom for Life

Original Entry Date: October 21, 2014 ‘The Cross becomes a new center of gravity for bringing together what is divided.’ Pope Emeritus Benedict Anyone who wrestles with sexual sin (or been impacted by those who do) understands the divided soul. On the one hand, we long to give ourselves to others meaningfully, with integrity; on the other hand, we are driven and derided by vanities. These addictions are distortions of what is good—each of us, no matter what our sins, has ceased to be a good gift for others. But split off from that value, our needs for love and significance become mistaken for erotic ones and we cease to do the hard work necessary to value a whole person. Divided souls unwittingly divide others and become users. The good news: Jesus Christ has the last word on disordered desire. In his amazing book ‘Heart of the Gospel’, Christopher West contends that Christ’s death and resurrection can transform our desires by liberating our hearts from the domination of lust. No matter how deep the soul’s divide, or the misbegotten desires that flow from it: Jesus longs to unite Himself to our humanity and so restore His life-giving purposes for it. That has huge implications for our sexuality, as God has given our bodies, in the words of John Paul II, the awesome power ‘to express love, and precisely that love in which the human person becomes a gift and through this gift fulfills the very nature of his being and existence.’

God reconciles us to the gift that we are! For me, that means that I am not free unless I am reconciled to the generative, focused power of my masculine sexuality and am intent on working that out lovingly in relation to the opposite gender. No small thing for a person divided by gender inferiority and same-gender attraction! The same applies to a woman who for very good reasons has no reason to believe that a man is or could be a good gift to her humanity. That man has come, and His name is Christ Jesus. His purpose at Calvary was to pull up the dividing walls of sin (in all its facets) and to unite one new humanity (Eph.2:14-18). That applies both to our personal and interpersonal commitments. I can say without shadow that the unity my wife and I experience after 33 years together has become the earthy, creative ground of our common existence. Its abundance leaves ‘gay’ life in the dust. Let’s not empty the Cross of its power. For the ‘homosexual’ and others under lust’s power, the Gospel is life-shaking, life-giving news. *Andrew and Annette celebrate their 40th anniversary this year.