Human Dignity

It struck me forcibly in last Sunday's homily, given by a wonderful missionary priest, who has spent his whole life in SE Asia, that really the choices that we have to make, not to sleep around, not to act out of jealousy but to rise above all these temptations, are really so much about human dignity. And that is what purity of heart is: not using people but to have respect for each person as a child of God.

And I think what gave his homily force is simply his ability to live out this message in his own life. His great gentleness and love that emanates from him, that all around him have experienced, give credence to his message. To hold to standards which seem archaic in the modern world of how to treat people and ourselves is not always easy to live up to when I think of it in terms of "Thou shalt not..." as it seems harsh and joyless, but transformed into a notion of love and dignity of each person, lifts it into a higher plane and suddenly it all makes sense. And it is most certainly not joyless but a celebration of life and each person.