Listen to these enlightening homilies before you read the texts.
One of the unpleasant consequences of the economic crisis that struck our homeland was the observed increase in prostitution. The media even promoted this phenomenon as a necessary solution, portraying prostitution as just another profession, legally recognized throughout history, simply to satisfy the need for sexual release. This viewpoint is strongly supported by so-called “progressive” circles advocating for complete societal liberation. These groups reject any preservation of life within even the most basic moral framework and defend the absolute right of individuals to determine, with complete freedom, what they do with their bodies. These same circles proclaim that the world has changed, making any objection to this issue outdated and irrelevant.
Avoiding the Darkest Passions
In stark contrast to this trend stands the position of the Church, which is expressed clearly and lovingly toward the human person. The Church does not hide behind temporary interests or opportunistic motives, nor does it accept that modernization or contemporary emergencies provide an excuse to revise its teachings—especially on matters concerning human dignity and relationships with God and fellow human beings. For this reason, the Church continues to express its concern and distress over the rise and normalization of prostitution in our country. This phenomenon constitutes a blatant degradation of the human person and a sign of enslavement to deep and destructive instincts, which transform a person from a master of his nature into a slave of his impulses.
The Body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Church does not deny natural human processes but seeks to sanctify and elevate them in order to preserve morality and human dignity. In today’s scriptural reading, the Apostle Paul establishes the Christian stance toward fornication. He connects the human body with Christ, emphasizing that the Lord took on human flesh and sanctified it through His incarnation. This reality bestows upon the body honor, holiness, and spirituality. The reminder that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit establishes the respect and reverence due to it—an essential safeguard against any sinful deviation. On the contrary, surrendering to the fallen state of fornication constitutes, as has been said, “a rebellion against one’s own nature and, consequently, a corruption of it. It is the diabolical glorification of the self and a descent into a desecrated state that produces nothing but passions, illnesses, and ultimately, death.”
Human Dignity
The Church clearly advises and urges people to flee from fornication because, unlike other sins, it leaves deep physical and spiritual wounds—traumas that are difficult to heal and often lead to psychological and bodily suffering. It turns the human body into a vessel of pleasure, a mindless instrument for the gratification of base desires and instincts. It reduces individuals to disposable commodities, degraded instruments in the hands of unscrupulous and ruthless minds that sacrifice human dignity on the altar of profit. It wounds and dishonors the human body, stripping it of its right to health, well-being, and the flourishing youthfulness that is stolen and aged before its time.
The Church cannot turn a blind eye to the decline of human morality, and it will never cease to denounce it while protecting its wayward children. At the same time, however, it embraces those who, for reasons known only to themselves, have allowed themselves to fall into this state. It waits with open arms for the pain of their realization and their desire for repentance to become the foundation of their restoration.
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