1 Corinthians 6:11
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The essence of Catholic moral exhortation is always, "Become what you are." The world since Marx, Freud and Darwin constantly tells us that underneath the veneer of civility we are concern only about power, sex, and survival. That's why when some public figure is caught in a sin we are told by the gossip tabloids "That's what he's really made of." But the faith says the contrary. It tells us that our sins do not name us and that we are ultimately meant for God. Our sins make us anonymous, take away our names, destroy our true identity. They do not name us. Paul's exhortation today is written, not to people who are living holy lives but to people who are not. As always, he cries, in essence, "Become what you are! Take up the dignity that is already yours in Christ. You can be better than this!" Christ means to give us a name. Which is to say, He means to make us saints.
