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<b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>in today’s Gospel Jesus exposes the root problems behind sexual sin. Jesus says, "You have heard it said, </b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:italic">You shall not commit adultery.</span></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>
But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery with her in his heart."</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The act is certainly bad, of
course. It’s grounded in a dysfunctional attitude, a basic
misperception, a compromise of <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the soul. </span></b></span>In order to be aligned to the
God who is nothing but love, these underlying problems need to be
addressed.</span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Time
and again, we hear that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the Church’s moral demands</b></span>—especially in the
sexual arena—are too stringent, that the Church ought to conform itself
with societal expectations, or that huge pluralities of Catholics
themselves want to lighten the load. What do these
data prove? Well, nothing really, except that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Catholic moral teaching is
difficult. But so what? </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>To dial down</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>our moral ideals</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>is to compromise</b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the Church’s whole purpose. Jesus didn’t <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">dial down</span> the demands of love,
and neither does his Church.</b></span></span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br>
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