In sexualising everything in the world we have robbed it of its ecstasy…
We live in a world that sexualises everything.
We live in a world where the word “sexy” is applied to people (adults and children), cars, clothes, shoes, accessories, interactions, jobs, food… In other words, we live in a world where the gift of sexual intercourse – which God gave to Adam and Eve as the first humans created when He told them to go forth and populate the earth – has been reduced to a mere commodity.
Now, I say this without judgement, but in Western Culture (and in culture from many other parts of the world as well), one-night stands and “hooking up” are becoming increasingly normalised. People – human souls – are chasing pleasure for the sake of pleasure itself rather than true connection and lasting happiness. Our literature and popular culture supports this – celebrities are praised for their revealing fashion choices, and our musicians write music full of profanities and explicit sexual content. And our politics supports this – through the guise of inclusion and political correctness, which is just another way of saying that nobody is allowed to speak the truth – because if they did that they would be offending another person.
And I have been reflecting on that offensiveness and on that fear of giving offence. You see, a whole generation of children are being raised and taught that there is no one moral right or one moral truth. A whole generation of children are being taught that they can be male or female irrespective of the biology of their bodies, because the biology of their bodies is not an indication of truth. In other words a whole generation of children are being taught that they can rely on nobody and nothing other than their own feeling, emotion and whim in this moment.
And that is a frightening thing. You see, I – as a woman – am affected by a myriad of emotional experiences every single day of the week. If we just take it right down to basic biology, the hormonal changes that are a natural part of my biology, will affect my mood multiple times a day – and that is assuming that I do not have any problem with the regulation of these hormones. At any time of the day or night I could love my husband or hate him. And without understanding – using the reason and intellect and will that God so lovingly bestowed on me – I would be no better than an animal and I would simply get up and walk away based on a mood.
And I have been reflect on that today, because when we think of ecstasy today we think of it in sexual terms as a form of sexual gratification and fulfilment. But this was not always the case… The word was traditionally used to represent the fulfilment received through a closer interaction with God – because it was designed to mean a closer and more intimate connection as a result of love…
I saw a painting by Caravaggio, of Saint Francis of Assisi in an ecstasy and it occurred to me that in sexualising everything in the world we have robbed it of its ecstasy, and instead we are trying to replace that TRUE ecstasy with a passing emotion that is as easily washed out of my soul as water down a drain in the rain…
And it seems to me, that this in itself is a terrible terrible waste…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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