Excerpt from Romans 12:1-8

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Reflection by Christina Villa

I own a small leather-bound book titled "The Catholic Girl’s Guide," published 1918, edited by the Rev. Francis X. Lasance, apparently an expert on Catholic girls. I can't remember where I got it—a garage sale or used book store.  I thought it was funny. It is 670 pages of hand-wringing about chastity. You can open it up anywhere and find lines like this, from a chapter entitled, "The Faded Lily": "My daughter, you can form no idea how large is the number of those who sink into hell on account of sins of impurity."  Since this is a Catholic guide, sin comprises "thought, word, and deed."  So you can't even think about it.

But if we, and Fr. Lasance wherever he is, can stop thinking about sex for a moment, these old-fashioned words make sense. What "impurities" floating around in your head cause you to sink into a kind of low-grade, chronic hell? And keep you from being somewhat less than a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God?  Maybe the recall of that episode of "Housewives of the Jersey Shore" you watched. Or your obsessive worry about your credit score and your suspicion that your mechanic is cheating you, or your sadness about cellulite.

Someone once told me that a fine cure for anxiety is to ask yourself if your thoughts are worth having.  God accepts us however we are, and I'm told that nothing we can think or experience is foreign to God. Not foreign, perhaps, but what about holy? Never mind what Fr. Lasance means by "sins of impurity."  Consider instead what this scripture might mean by "holy and acceptable to God."   

Prayer

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

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