By Oliver Oliveros, Catholic Exchange, April 26, 2024
Oliver Oliveros is a revert to Catholicism. He fell away from the Church when he went to university. Twenty-seven years later, the grace of God brought this prodigal son back to the faith. He is an editor in the Los Angeles area and volunteers at his parish’s teen ministry.
I am sure lust is a difficult subject matter for religion teachers to discuss with their teenage students. Once our young people reach puberty, and the secular world encroaches on their sense of morals, it is harder to convince them that lust is no friend to the soul. A teenager may not bother to make a distinction between lust and libido; or secularism may convince them that money, sex, power, and social media fame are what will fulfill their emotional void. But any adult who has learned from their years of errors knows very well that vices bring us to the road of ruin. All the promises of happiness from the kingdom of darkness are just counterfeit fulfillment. Lust is no different. It leads you to long for counterfeit beauty (porn) or counterfeit joy (meaningless flings) or substitute intimacy (masturbation). Lust may be a slick conman, but it carelessly leaves behind such immense rot that it is not hard to notice that we have been duped.
The sexual revolution mentality of the 1960s has been an insidious stronghold that has eroded our spiritual and family values through the decades. In our current digital age, we see plenty of individuals on social media and podcasts bragging about their “high body count” as if this behavior puts them on top of some made-up social hierarchy. And apparently, promiscuity is not enough of a moral injury. Digital technology has proliferated access to porn, which further degenerates a nation struggling with mental health problems, including addictions. ….
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