goofyjim:
But telling them AIDS is some divine retribution is enough to cause it. I have been chaste all my life but after discussing SSA with my local priest long ago I was confronted by a nasty newsletter from the condemned movement in Bayside, NY, that stated just that. So we can point out the sinfulness of the behavior but in a compassionate way.:twocents:
Properly understood, STD’s are a the *temporal consequence * of one
choosing sin. Not everyone who has been afflicted with STD’s has choosen sin, but demonstrates the collateral consequences of one’s sinful choices.
**1264 ** Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence, or metaphorically, “the tinder for sin” (fomes peccati); since concupiscence “is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (CCC)
Even then, as the CCC points out, “the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace.”:
1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.” (CCC)