This is how Jesus began his ministry:

… Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Repent and believe in the gospel. This is what Jesus is calling us to do. In the first reading, God sent Jonah to make a final attempt to save the great city of Nineveh by calling the Ninevites to repentance or to suffer total destruction. The Ninevites repented and were spared. John the Baptist called for repentance. God wants us to repent.
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Last year, about this time, we initiated a series of homilies to examine the Seven Deadly Sins. We have already done five of these: Anger, Envy, Avarice, Gluttony and Sloth. (You may listen to or read these homilies by clicking on the homily link on the parish website.) We still have two more to examine: Lust and Pride. Today we will examine the Deadly Sin of Lust.

Sin is almost always a personal, selfish decision that separates us from God. All sin is serious, but some sins are more deadly than others, the Mortal and Capital sins that kill our souls, separating us from eternal life with God.

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One of the important things about prayer is that when you are in prayer you are also open to God. You have initiated a conversation. It is easier to receive what God has to say to us when we have opened the line of communication with God than when we have not opened communication with God. Jesus is teaching us today about staying in prayer.

Let’s continue our discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins. This will help us understand prayer.

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Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Jesus comments in today’s Gospel are all about discipleship.

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  And,
“… anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessionscannot be my disciple.”

Family relationships and possessions must be subordinated to the following of Jesus.  The idea is that priority in the lives of disciples of Jesus, of Christians, must go to the claims of Christ.  All other considerations are secondary, even those of family.

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There is a universal call from God to all mankind for their salvation, not just the Jews, as we heard in the first reading from Isaiah.

They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, . . . Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.

However, we cannot take our salvation for granted and ignore the call to conversion and repentance.  Throughout Sacred Scripture we are warned about being complacent about our salvation.  We are all called, but we cannot ignore God’s call to conversion and repentance.  The author of Hebrews tell us,

“So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.”

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We recently began to consider the Seven Deadly Sins, or the Seven Capital Sins.  The Church has been teaching and pondering the Seven Deadly Sins since the time of Jesus and St. Paul.  First we began with the sin of Anger.  Today we will continue with the Deadly Sin of Greed.

It is important to recall that sin is always a personal choice.  Mortal sin is fatal;  Mortal sin is like suicide; by your own choice you take your eternal life because mortal sin separates us from God.  Eternal life is only possible with God.  Only God is eternal.  There can be no eternal life separated from God.  Mortal sin is fatal because it separates us from our final destiny:  Heaven and our Salvation.  That is how we lose our Eternal Life.  It is always our personal decision.

The Seven Deadly Sins include:  Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Sloth or Laziness, Envy and Anger.

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Seven Deadly Sins-Anger

From the time I arrived at the parish I have desired to explore with you something you hear very little about these days, “The Seven Deadly Sins”, or the “Seven Capital Sins”.  The Church has been contemplating “The Seven Deadly Sins” since the time of Paul.  Later, Pope St. Gregory, Dante, and many others have written and taught about them.

Let’s understand a little more about sin.  Sin is simply a morally bad act. Sin separates us from God.  Mortal sin is deadly sin when it kills our love for God, and separates us from God.  Mortal sin is like suicide.  God does not kill sinners.  Sinners kill themselves through their own decisions.  There is no eternal life apart from God.  Mortal sin cuts us off from our final destiny: Heaven, our eternal Salvation.  The Seven Deadly Sins are mortal sins, because they are a “Source” of sin.  If you do these sins, you will be committing not one, but a series of sins that flow from them and cut you off from God.  That makes them deadly, when you lose eternal life.

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