(TCWR. Eduardo Echeverria).
The second of a two-part essay in response to James Martin, SJ, on experience, respect, morality, and authority.
Fr. James Martin calls all Christians to conversion. He says, “What I mean by conversion is the conversion that all of us are called to by God and the conversion of minds and hearts that Jesus called for” (BB, 23). He adds, “LGBT people are called to be holy, as all of us are” (BB, 44). The crucial question I want to ask now is about the relationship between faith and morality in the context of the call to holiness. As Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa rightly notes, “there is no sanctity without obedience,” and thus “to say that all those baptized are called to holiness,” which Vatican II does, “is to say that all are called to obedience.” He adds, “St Paul speaks of obedience to faith (Rm 1:5; 16:26), of obedience to the teaching (Rm 6:17), of obedience to the Gospel (Rm 10:16; 2 Th 1:8), of obedience to truth (Gal 5:7), of obedience to Christ (2 Cor 10:5).”16 There is no sanctity without obedience, and there is no obedience without the gift of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, trusting fully in his saving work, following him, dying to self, and living for him who loved me and gave himself for me on the Cross (Gal 2:20; cf. Mk 8:34-36).According to the Catholic Church, there is an intrinsic and unbreakable bond between faith and morality. Jesus said, “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10; 1 John 5: 2-3). This question about the bond between faith and morality must deal directly with the eternal significance of the moral choices that people make, indeed, with their eternal salvation. In this light, we can understand why St. Paul consistently urges us to make choices that are worthy of the calling that we have received in Christ (Eph 4: 1; Phil 1: 27; Col 1:9). In particular, he identifies the risk posed by, especially but not only, sexual offenses: