Monday of the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102912.cfm

There's a fungus
among us

Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.

Saint Francis unintentionally made a name for himself by  confessing his sins to the friars who came to live with him, to the crowds who listened to him, and to anyone who happened along the way. He was often chastened by the Holy Spirit as he turned away from a foolish youth to become a saint. Rather than hide his shame, guilt and grief he exposed his sin to everyone as a way of atonement. 

I remember his good example as I consider my own foolish youth and my habitual sins, having outlived Saint Francis by more than twenty years. 

Saint Paul's admonition, which we hear in today's reading from Ephesians, smites between the eyes. Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you...

And his reasoning also smacks me upside the head: 

So do not be associated with them.For you were once darkness,but now you are light in the Lord.Live as children of light.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was in formation for the Franciscan Order and the priesthood, my classmates and I did not want to be regarded as set apart. We interpreted the Spirit of Vatican II as more congenial to the world around us: "We're all in this together; our goals are not dissimilar." Despite our daily prayers and a generally better class of associates, our conversation -- and mine in particular -- was often crude. I supposed the fusty old rules against cussing and swearing were out-dated. To be hip and to prove I was just a regular guy I often behaved worse than the hip people around me. I did not hesitate to see the movies and read the novels that sensible Catholics avoid. 

The habits formed in those early years have not dissolved with the passage of time. 

And so Saint Paul's admonition, that such things should not even be mentioned among you, nails me to the wall. 

But I have been blessed. The Good Lord gave me a lot more time to repent than he gave to Saint Francis, Saint Anthony or Saint Clare. And I need at least that much and more.