Purification

Depart, depart, come forth from there,
  touch nothing unclean!
Out from there! Purify yourselves,
  you who carry the vessels of the Lord.     Is. 52:11

We can follow the world or we can follow Him. You can't have it both ways. Those who think that they can are in for a shock. Yes, we are all sinners...but there is a world of difference between sinners who turn toward his mercy and sinners who turn away from it. Jesus wants to save us all, He died on the cross for every single one of us. He will never turn away from anyone who sincerely asks for His mercy. But many don't believe they need His mercy and others believe they are good enough already. We ALL need grace and healing and this comes from The Divine Physician. He purifies us and this can hurt, but the pain is only temporary - Heaven is forever.

Lust

Wanton, lewd, lascivious satyr
Lies enchained by his master
Disrespect for others is his curse
For lust is love in reverse

Always hungry, never replete
Preys on souls with deceit
The more attempts to fill this hunger
The stronger the hold he lies under

Caught up in his misery
Lust sceams out his agony
" The cure for this is too hard for me
  For the cure for this is purity!"

Envy

He slithers around
Eyes of green
A writhing wraith
Petty and mean

With his lot is discontent
Tearing down is his bent


Of empathy, he is devoid
The fall of others gives him joy:
"Look at him, can't you see?
He's dumb, fat and cowardly.
The gifts he has should be for me
I deserve these more than he!"

Pride

Pride stands tall
His shoulders wide
Carries his ego
Clutched to his side
Yet the merest slight
Will pierce his hide

Head thrown back
He howls in pain
"What gall! I'm king!
 Are you all insane?!!"

Anger

Cold, hard eyes
Mouth drawn thin
Shakes his fist
At the slightest whim
Filled with rage
His heart too small
Chokes on ire
"What's wrong with you all!"

Sloth

Sloth
Long of face, his spirit weak
His brother's name is Apathy
Sullenly lifts his weary eyes
Slowly emits disheartened sighs:

" This is all too much for me
  too much effort it takes to speak
  The truth is hard to find you see,
  just leave me be...leave me be."

Gluttony

Gluttony doesn't always involve food, but overeating is a good example of it:

Round of face
Wide of seat
He bellows out
"Let's eat! Let's eat!
And when he's done
Rolls on the floor
" Tis not enough
please bring me more"

Greed

The face of greed is all too common in our society:

Beady-eyed and hard to miss
Also known as avarice
Hoards his stash
And shivers with glee
"There's none for you
Tis all for me!"

Hedged in

Before my conversion, the Lord hedged me in. Any path that I took that did not lead to Him was filled with roots, brambles and thorns. I stumbled and fell headfirst into them most of the time. The roots were the seven deadly sins. The brambles and thorns were the rotten fruit these bore.

These are the seven capital sins:

1. Pride
2. Greed
3. Gluttony
4. Lust
5. Sloth
6. Envy
7. Anger

The world is filled with these. Many don't even consider them sins any more. I will be writing more about them in a later post.