Clear love

In today’s first reading, St. Paul uses very strong language about a very bad situation: a prominent member of the Church in Corinth openly engaged in grossly immoral behavior. Most of the members of the Church there seemed to be focusing on the warm fuzzies of their faith life and not attending to the terrible scandal in their midst. St. Paul urges them to expel the individual. Moreover, St. Paul says that he has pronounced judgment upon the individual and that they are to hand the man over “for the destruction of his flesh so that his life may be saved.”

We are all imperfect. We all fall short. What differentiates us from the offender in today’s reading is his obstinate lack of repentance. The “everything’s alright” mode of the Corinthians is not doing the man any favors. He must be brought to understand his peril, even if strong measures are needed.

The most important lesson of this reading is the absolute need for us to recognize our imperfections and our own sinfulness: to repent, to ask God’s forgiveness and grace, and to change our lives.

The other important lesson is that we do no one any favors when we close our eyes to the truth of right and wrong, when we let people among us continue in grave sin because of a mistaken belief that moral confrontation is always “unchristian.” We must always love, and that includes always being honest and clear.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.