Daily, we wage a spiritual battle, daily are thousands of choices set before us, some good and some bad, choices that afford us an opportunity to grow closer to God or further away.

For, while we strive to live with, in and through Christ, sin is a powerful force, deceiving us to believe good where there is only evil, fulfillment where there is only emptiness, and love where there is only hate.

That is why, in one of the most graphic and strongest ways possible, Jesus calls us to not just account for our sin, but to do everything in our power to root it out, to cut off our hands, our foot, or to pluck out our eyes. Granted, He does not mean it literally, the way an early Church Father by the name of Origen took it, but to do everything in our power to fight against it, to realize that, indeed, we are engaged in a spiritual battle, with an enemy who does not play fair, an enemy who does not play by the rules, and one who will find any way to cause us to fail, any way to lead us away from God, and not just lead us away temporarily, but eternally, where as Jesus puts it: “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”

For, whether we believe it or not, our souls are a spiritual commodity, and while God wants to see each and every one of ours with Him again, we have the choice as to whether or not that will happen. That is why Jesus is so clear and so serious, because, despite what we think, despite what we believe, just as there is a Heaven there is also a Gehenna, a place outside of Jerusalem that earned an evil reputation where human sacrifices were made of children, involving fire, a place that Jesus equates with what we call hell.

In the past, when someone would get up here and preach on the reality of hell, it would be known as preaching “fire and brimstone.” I want you to know that that is not my purpose, however, I also want you to know that if I failed to say anything about it, I would also be failing you, but, even more so, when we fail to acknowledge these spiritual realities, we can never understand the intensity of the battle that is daily waged on our souls and, in fact, we tend to underestimate the power that sin truly has.

For, sin, at its core, is a rejection of God, in every way, and the more we persist in our sin, the more we separate ourselves from Him. In other words, we have the power to divide ourselves from God Himself, think about that, we, a mortal, finite being, have the freedom to sever all ties with an immortal and infinite being, and, we only can, because God has given us that power. And, we do so with that same gift that God has given everyone, the ability to choose, perhaps a little simplistically put, but, essentially, to say “yes” to Him or “no.”

Yet, when we leave this world, that choice carries, as it were, as does the separation, so that as we were in life we are as in the afterlife, only the separation is no longer temporary but eternal. Incidentally, the same is true when we say “yes” for we have created the capacity within us, here on earth, to experience Heaven, whereas, with sin we have neglected to create this capacity.

That is why sin is so serious, that is why Jesus speaks with such graphic detail, not to scare us but to motivate us, to call us to take our spiritual lives seriously, to work towards holiness, to fight for holiness, despite the cost, to, in the words of the early Church Father, Cyril of Jerusalem: “Wrestle for thine own soul, especially in such days as these.”

In fact, not long ago, someone faulted me with being too serious and told me I needed to lighten up, reminding me that life was too short. As a priest, however, whose identity I grow in each day, I realize that I have been given a great responsibility, of dealing with your immortal souls, it’s my job, and it is a serious matter. That is why all of us, myself included, should recognize that same value of each of our souls, take care of them, and give them what they need.

For, in the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, with whom I leave you with today: “Sanctity does not consist in great concerns. It consists in struggling to ensure that the flame of your supernatural life is never allowed to go out.”