By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, Catholic Exchange, March 30, 2023
Father Ed Broom is an Oblate of the Virgin Mary and the author of Total Consecration Through the Mysteries of the Rosary and From Humdrum to Holy. …
Jesus stated with great clarity that sin is actually slavery; He came to give us freedom, the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. Saint Augustine, who was actually a slave to his sexual passions until he was 31, later on in The Confessions stated: “O Lord, you have made our hearts for thee; our heart is not at peace until it rests in thee.” Augustine stated himself that he could not conquer his sexual addiction right away; such was the case that he was known to have said: “Lord, give me chastity, but not yet.”
Addictions and slavery are many. In a real sense, we are all born with a void or hole, an empty vacuum in our souls. It must be filled! Either it will be filled with God Himself or a false god, an idol, a fake, a reflection but not the reality. Once again Saint Augustine taught: “The human heart is called to love. However, we must choose the object of our love and then love with all our heart.” If the object of our heart, which is actually a Person—Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—is not discovered, then there is a real danger! The danger is that we can easily fall in love with a false-god, and there are many, and we can be both addicted and enslaved. ….
