One day I went to the hospital and was asked to remove the top of my clothing so that my parameters could be taken. While dressed in a tank top, I tried to hang up my top which I had taken care to leave inside out, the member of the medical staff that I had in front of me told me that I should instead hang it right side up, so that if it gets germs, they won't come into direct contact with my skin when I get dressed.
God subsequently revealed to me the fabulous nature of this advice that he had allowed me to receive, applying to almost all areas, including that of Faith.
What better place than a hospital enclosure to realize that the inside of the garment had to be clean more than the outside; that the part that we do not generally see requires much more care than the part that we see; because this first is intimate to us and therefore would affect us more directly, more seriously.
Sometimes, when we dry clothes outside the house, we take care to put them inside out beforehand, so that in case they fall or get dirty, at least the outside would be preserved. No my brothers, no my sisters, what we must preserve as a priority is the side that would affect our health if it were dirty. It is the same in our life of faith, our primary concern should not be the image we project to others, but rather by that which has the most impact on our spiritual health.
We are so often preoccupied with the image we project to society that we overlook what is most important to us, our own real condition, then that of our family. How many family leaders do not leave their household hungry or in need, because they want to project the image of a kind or sympathetic uncle. No, far from us wanting to preach selfishness, we must be ready to let our own suffer for a time if the cause is worth it, but not for ephemeral and vanity matters.
Some young girls are ready to have an abortion after carrying an unwanted pregnancy while they are not yet married. Fearing the image of promiscuous girls that they could project. My dear ones, you are not going to turn yourselves into murderers, even worse of your own children, to preserve your image; and even certain elderly married couples are often tempted by this practice so as not to give the idea of not having control over their body. Dear young ladies, dear senior parents, our priority in all circumstances must be the gaze of the Lord, then our own and our real value and not an image of a “clean” or “disciplined” person. Cleanliness, true cleanliness, in general is only visible to God and us, it is on the hidden side, on the intimate side of our soul, of our life.
To stay about unwanted pregnancy, this bad perception is also unfortunately found within our Churches. How many times have we heard that a person has been excommunicated for an act of idolatry, practice of greed, fraud or drunkenness, or even for having been caught in the act of impudence? But when we notice a pregnancy, it seems obvious that we must carry out an excommunication? My dear brothers and sisters responsible for groups, let us sincerely ask ourselves the question of what is most important for the Church? Respect the Scriptures by excluding false brothers and sisters (1 Corinthians 5:9-13) or preserve our image as a “serious” Church. If the deliberate practice of sin is prohibited, whether veiled or visible to those outside, whether it causes scandal or not, as soon as God exposes the false brother or sister, he or she must be excommunicated. On the other hand, if a sister falls into fornication and immediately comes to confess her crime and is forgiven; but one or two months later, we realize that a pregnancy has resulted, then we do not have the right to exclude a sister in Christ to preserve our image, no my dear brothers and sisters.
My brothers and sisters, getting pregnant is not a sin, it is committing fornication or adultery which is. Excommunication cannot be based on pregnancy when the illicit sexual act which caused it has already been confessed and then forgiven by God and his Church.
May the Eternal God, in His Grace and Love, grant us the Grace not to follow the voice of the Pharisees who dwelt on what man sees, but may our priority be rather that which God Himself sees. Let us make our own this warning from the Lord Jesus Christ: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” (Matthew 23 :25-28)
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