Beauty or Object of Pleasure?

We continue with our discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins.  Today we look at lust.  Lust and love are two different things.  When we love someone we care about their needs.  We do what we can to help them because we understand them to be a “person” with a special dignity given by God.  We love someone for who they are, not what they look like.

Lust, on the other hand, is largely based on physical traits.  In lust, we look at the other person, not as a person, but as an object.  The object is mainly a means to achieve sexual pleasure as a physical act.  We can “lust” for a person and still love them.  Often, it is some one’s physical traits that initially attracts us to them.  It becomes lust when the physical is all we are concerned with.  When we act out lust, we are failing to treat the person as a person with dignity who deserves to be loved.

Lust can dominate our actions and lead to sins of adultery and fornication.  Sexual intercourse is meant to be between two people in a loving and committed relationship.  Does lust control your actions?  Ask yourself, “when you meet a new person (or just hanging out with friends) do you think about about their physical traits (i.e. how nice a body they have) or do you interact with them on a deeper level of conversation talking about who they are and what is important to them?

What’s more important? What’s on the outside or inside?  If you only think about the “outside of a person” then you need to learn to control your lust.  When we see a beautiful person, it can be natural to be attracted to them.  But we must control our thoughts to focus on the person, not just as an object, but as a child of God.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff