The Sexual and the Sacred

Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from February 13, 2005
First Sunday of Lent and World Marriage Day

"She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made loin clothes for themselves." Gen. 3:7

TALK OF LOINCLOTHS brings to mind the Virginia Assembly's discussion of "droopy drawers"!

Before they sinned Adam and Eve were comfortable together, in harmony with one another and with all of creation, vulnerable and naked. The effect of sin was to set them apart. The desire for power and knowledge got in the way. They were no longer at ease with one another. They could not be intimate. They put on clothes to hide their nakedness from one another.

What is sin? On Ash Wednesday we bore its mark on our foreheads. In the office, people pointed out the Catholics. They may as well have pointed out the sinners. If they were still wearing ashes on Thursday they could be called the unwashed. Bearing ashes is a way of acknowledging our need for conversion; "Repent and believe the good news".

Sin is not an unnecessary emotion in our new age of pretended innocence. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'sunde," from which we get the word 'asunder.' The best description of sin is what sets us apart. Sin tears us asunder. Many of Jesus' stories give pictures of apartness; the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son and Zaccheus up a tree. His lament over Jerusalem described the situation of sinful humanity: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would have gathered you as a mother hen would her chickens under her wing and you would not."

Today's gospel presents the seduction of sin as primarily a temptation to power, the desire for total control. Always winning an argument always being number one generates anger and conflict between nations and individuals. Anger gets in the way of oneness.

Engaged couples are asked in the focus questionnaire, "Do you consider the sexual life as one way of experiencing the sacred?" About one and ten answers "yes". The vast majority disagrees or is unsure. There is a puritanical streak in American culture. In many ways we are more American than Catholic. When as Catholics we assert that marriage is a sacrament what do we mean? We say it is a sign of God's presence and love. The bread and the wine, not the silver ciborium cup or the gold chalice, are clearly sacraments of Christ's presence, signs of the sacred. Just as surely your love and your lovemaking are sacred signs. Marriage is not just the ceremony or the vows. The priest officiates, but the couple are the ministers of the sacrament. They share the sacrament in rites and symbols and especially in the living our of their word. They enflesh the sacrament in their life together and in their physical intimacy.

The season of Lent is given to the church as a time to root out the sin, the anger, the control struggles that raise a barrier to intimacy. Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving we want to rise as an Easter people. The renewal of love among the couples of our parish, the restoration of intimacy in your life together, both by day and in your beds at night, are a powerful witness within a parish community of the mystical communion to which we are all called.