Homily for October 8, 2023
Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Custody of the Senses
It’s
very clear that the fruit that God comes looking for from His vineyard is the
fruit of holiness. He wants our lives to be holy, after He has nourished us
with the Sacraments and graces and the teachings of our Faith. And there are
lots of elements that go into a holy life – daily prayer, spiritual reading, discipline,
growing in virtue, self-sacrifice. But today I want to talk about a
little-discussed way to grow in holiness, which St. Paul speaks of in the
second reading: keeping custody of your senses.
St. Paul
instructs us to “guard out hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” If you have a
garden here in Monroe, you will most likely have to put a fence around it,
because the deer are always ready to ruin a good harvest. Likewise, for our
soul to produce a harvest of holiness, we have to guard it from the Evil One,
who wants to ruin the crop.
How do
we do so? By guarding our five senses. The outside world enters into our minds (our
thoughts) and our hearts (our desires) through our five senses. St. Paul says
the same thing: “Whatever is good, holy, or pure, brothers, think of these
things.” If good, uplifting, holy, inspiring things enter our eyes and ears,
then our thoughts and desires will be filled with good and holy things, and it
will be easy to become a saint. If violence, sex, blasphemy, coarseness enters
our eyes and ears, then our heart and mind will be sullied.
There
was a commercial a few years ago – I don’t remember what it was for – that featured
a man in a coffeeshop. He was typing on his laptop when he happened to look up
and see, across the café, a young couple who were kissing passionately.
He grimaced in horror and disgust, and then, embarrassed, he put his head down
and kept working. The tagline of the commercial was, “You can’t unsee things.”
That’s a pretty good reminder in the spiritual life – we can’t unsee things. So
what we put into our senses matters greatly.
After
all, what we see or hear becomes our thoughts, and our thoughts become our
words and actions, and these become our habits, and our habits become our
character, and our character becomes our destiny. So, as Christians, we must
practice custody of our senses. Someday our eyes will look upon the Face of
Jesus and Mary – someday our ears will hear the choirs of angels. So we keep
our senses preserved from the filth of sin, because they are meant to
participate in the glories of Heaven!
Any time
I bring this up, though, people tell me, “Oh, but it doesn’t affect me. I can
listen to filthy music or dirty comedians or watch violent or lewd movies and
it doesn’t affect me.” Ah, but it does – because we should naturally be ashamed
and shocked by sin, and if it we’re not bothered by it, it means we’ve become desensitized,
and that is definitely not a good thing! Our consciences should
naturally flee from evil, not become comfortable with it.
One
time, St. Dominic Savio, who became a saint while still a schoolboy in Italy,
happened upon some of his classmates looking at a dirty magazine. Always clever,
he said to his friends, “Hey, what are you guys looking at? Can I see it?” They
were surprised that he was interested, so they handed over the magazine – and Dominic
immediately tore it to shreds. But the boys protested, “What did you do that
for?” He replied, “Because one glance is enough to stain your souls!” The boys
replied, “Oh, but it’s not a big deal, it doesn’t affect us.” He replied, “This
is even worse – you have grown used to looking at filth!”
So – I challenge
you to examine what music you listen to, what TV shows and movies you watch,
what internet sites you visit. Would Christ enjoy listening to that music with
you? Would He enjoy that movie, or would He play that video game with you?
Maybe instead of reading People magazine, we can read the Lives of the
Saints. Instead of watching a movie with a bad scene in it, we can watch an
older movie which was entertaining but innocent.
The Lord
will someday come to your vineyard, the garden of your life. Will you be able
to say that you have preserved the sweetest, ripest fruits of holiness for Him?
Or have you let wild animals into your vineyard, to trample the fruits of
innocence and holiness, leaving Him with nothing but spoiled fruit?
St.
Dominic Savio once said, “The senses are like doors to the soul, and it’s up to
us if we wish to admit a devil or an angel.”
Whatever
is good, holy, and pure, think of these things – and holiness will be easy.
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