“You have heard that it was said to them of old: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole body go into hell.”
Human beings are the masterpiece of God’s visible creation. Each one contains a magnificent story, harrowing trials, and is unfathomably loved by God. While the act of adultery is a blot upon the beauty of marriage, such a deep representation of God’s love for you, to harbor lust in any form is to defile the image of Jesus in oneself by regarding someone else as anything less than a precious treasure in the hand of God. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). You are called to have the eyes of Christ towards all, looking at each person in the way that He sees them, as a shining gem that deserves the riches of the love of God: “Having the glory of God, and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal” (Apocalypse 21:11). The beauty of one human soul surpasses that of all the visible delights of this world, and it is both Christian dignity and duty to be appropriately reverent in the presence of the heart of another: “Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). “Be continually with a holy man, whomsoever thou shalt know to observe the fear of God” (Ecclesiasticus 37:15), for in being consistently with those whose minds are aimed entirely heavenward, “thy stature is like to a palm tree” (Song 7:7), it is easy to forget eros between people and aim for divine love, the fire that burns in the Sacred Heart to love His people. While human nature will always lean towards base inclinations, matters of faith are a strong binding: “Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). The Lord then, to set in place the horrifying nature of sin, even of the heart, shows the zeal with which you should cut off opportunities of sin. To bring your whole being into the service of God is to die entirely to sin: “So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Newness of life is to live in love. What lies outside your duties, then, should be given to the contemplation and service of God: “Being then freed from sin, we have been made servants of justice” (Romans 6:18). If God is the Spouse of your soul, then you exist for Him, for He lives for you. When you seek Him, predominately in the Scriptures and adoration, you will know Him, and when you know Him, you will love Him, and will desire to seek all the more: “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single,” that is, the eye of your mind fixed entirely on the love of God, “thy whole body will be lightsome” (Luke 11:34). This is not to neglect duty, but to turn your affections entirely to God. The only thing He asks of you is all that you are, soothingly nothing more, but also nothing less: “I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies” (Song 6:2). “I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous” (Exodus 20:5), jealous for your love. It is one thing to remove from you near occasions of sin, that you may not fall into sin, ah but salvation is so much more than simply not sinning! It is about falling in love with GOD. Nothing will purge sin like knowing how loved you are, which can only be fully given to you by Love Incarnate. It is said of St. Anthony of the Desert that a monk came to him, wondering that the monk practiced more rigorous asceticism than Anthony, yet Anthony was more sought. The saint replied, "It's because I love God more than you do." Any degree of asceticism without the love of Jesus is, at best, imperfect, but always choosing Him by always choosing love is to keep yourself steadfast in His love: “Abide in my love” (John 15:9).