Recognize, Resist & Remember: One Cross that all are Called to Carry is Chastity
Alexandra Clark | The Daily Knight |Mass Conversions Interview
MassConverions did a 3 Part Series Interview with Fr. Samuel Waters on the topic of Chasity, see videos below.
Chasity is the virtue that every Catholic has to live their entire life no matter what state they are in. There is one Cross that all are called to carry from the time we are born till the day we die and that cross is chastity.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Chastity is the state of being chaste. Chaste comes from Latin castus, meaning “clean, pure.” The reality symbolized is cleanliness of mind. "O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory." The virtue and its reward is the right of the whole generation, young men and maidens, old men and children, the married, the widows and the single. That is, the purity of heart which is the condition of the vision of God.
St. John Bosco says “Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh.”
Some understand that the virtues of Chasity and Purity are the same thing and they are related but we can think of Purity as the trunk of the tree and from that branches out other virtues that are regulated and related to Purity, such as Chasity, Temperance, Modesty etc.
St. Thomas in his Summa quotes St. Augustine who says: "We must give praise to purity, that he who has ears to hear, may put to none but a lawful use the organs intended for procreation." Now the use of these organs is the proper matter of chastity. Therefore purity belongs properly to chastity.
St. Thomas further states that Chastity is a virtue to reign in the passions, because “chastity takes its name from the fact that reason "chastises" concupiscence, which, like a child, needs curbing, as the Philosopher states (Ethic. iii, 12). Now the essence of human virtue consists in being something moderated by reason, as shown above. Therefore it is evident that chastity is a virtue. Chastity does indeed reside in the soul as its subject, though its matter is in the body. For it belongs to chastity that a man make moderate use of bodily members in accordance with the judgment of his reason and the choice of his will.”
Overview:
Ø WE ARE called to Be Chaste in thought, word & deed.
Ø CHASTITY IS THE RIGHT ordering of the Sexual appetite.
Ø SEXUAL ACT IS FOR ONE Purpose - for the creation of children.
Ø Teaching our children SEX EDUCATION is to teach them the Virtue of Chastity
A) _ teaching them to Be Pure of thought
- how Combat sinful thoughts, - prayer/ mortification.
- Not fill our minds with garbage, no porn, bad movies, books or music
B) TEACHING them to BE Pure in Speech NO DIRTY Jokes [telling or listening] no foul taking about sex
C) TEACHING them to BE PURE IN ACTION.
- to Be Prudent around opposite sex
-No to BE ALONE w/ opposite Sex
-No touching, KISSING
- avoiding THE OCCASIONS of SIN and CONFESSION PROPERLY THIS SIN
1. You must have a Battle Plan to protect your soul. Practice virtue avoid sin.
2. We live in this fight sin. A Catholic is Required to Fight every time he is tempted.
3. Fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil
Remember Jesus said, we must guard our thoughts: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
We must purify our actions: “Be ye therefore Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect.”
Realize, when our Chastity is under attack:
1- from ourselves through impure thoughts
2- from the world through things we observe & see
3- from others who are tempting to misuse us as things for their pleasure
4- from temptations the devil may send us to act on
Thus, we should train our sensitivities to be offended by impurity to put us on alert for any attacks.
Remember:
1) Being ignorant of what Chastity is and how to live Chastely will not keep you innocent nor pure.
2) If you have children at home, teaching them about Chastity is essential to them being a Catholic and living the Catholic life.
3) If you are a young adult and your parents have not taught you about Chastity then you need to start educating yourself about it the sooner the better for you.
4) If you are still daydreaming about getting married and having children, take some of that wasted energy and think about how you are going to teach your future children how to be chaste.
5) If you are a married adult and still do not have a handle on how to be chased in this state of life, start studying, and fasting to get more self control.
6) If you are married and your children have left your home and you do not know about living a chaste life, start reading and studying.
7) If you have failed to teach your children about Chastity and failed to help them integrate this virtue into their lives, you have Penance to do.
1. PRAYER is our connection to God who is All Perfect. Pray for the Gift of Chastity
2. GUARD AGAINST what you see/hear/ and activities you involve yourself in
3. AVOID OCCASIONS OF SIN. Reflect how and where you commit this sin to avoid the pitfall
4. Make a GOOD CONFESSION with true repentance and firm resolve, do actions to improve
5. Know that we are all TEMPTED against Purity, don’t despair nor get lazy in this fight
6. FASTING, is the number one remedy to combat lust
Today, Sexual expression promotes immoral activity. Sexual Revolution has destroyed the proper order and understanding of sin. Many play with the fire of impurity and find themselves deeply drawn into the flames of lust. This sin is the only one we are told that the best plan to do is FLEE, not FIGHT directly. When the house is engulfed in flames we do not stay inside, we flee outside to safety. We can then have recourse to prayer which throws water on the flames.
St. Paul of the Cross said this in regards to the temptations against purity: “The lily becomes whiter and sheds a sweeter fragrance among thorns than when growing in the open soil. In like manner, holy virginity becomes more beautiful and more pleasing to God amid the thorns of combats and temptations. * God permits that kind of temptation in order to impress you with a deeper sense of your own nothingness, and to convince you that, deprived of His grace, you would be capable of commit ting the most heinous crimes. Therefore, act prudently, avoid all dangerous intercourse, watch over your eyes, your heart, and all your affections ; be very modest, be circumspect in all your actions, by night as well as by day ; love holy modesty. Do not act haughtily towards anybody, but, above all things, distrust yourself. At night sprinkle your bed with holy water; retire to rest with the greatest modesty; have your crucifix at hand, and if you are assailed by any bad thought, kiss the five wounds, and strengthen yourself by saying: " Behold the cross of Jesus ! Begone ! infernal spirits. I command you to do so in the name of the Holy Trinity, in the name of Jesus, my Saviour, and of Mary, the Mother of God. Distrust yourself, for we have seen the cedars of Libanus fall; distrust yourself always. It is necessary to fear, and to flee the occasions of sin. You must break off all intercourse with the person of whom you have spoken to me ; I see there a secret attachment, and, under a specious pretext, either false zeal or the devil is laying a fright ful snare for you, to cause you to fall down the precipice. In this kind of warfare we can conquer only by flight. Prayer, good reading, the frequentation of the sacraments, with the proper dispositions, and particularly the flight of idleness—these are, believe me, the means of sanctifying yourself.
Knowing how to avoid this sin
The opposite of Chasity is Lust & Lust has 8 daughters
St. Thomas Aquinas relies on the authority of Pope St. Gregory the Great to enumerate the so-called daughters of lust. In his Books of Morals, Pope St. Gregory speaks of pride as the Queen of Sins who after conquering a heart invites her generals to dwell within it. The generals of the queen of sins, according to Gregory the Great, are the seven capital vices: (1) Pride, (2) envy, (3) anger, (4) melancholy, (5) avarice, (6) gluttony, (7) lust. In turn, once one of the capital vices enters the heart, it calls forth its army of corresponding sins. Aquinas speaks of the army of lust as the daughters of lust. According to Pope St. Gregory the Great, the capital vice of lust spawns eight daughters:
Blindness of mind
Thoughtlessness [Inconsiderateness]
Inconstancy
Rashness [Precipitation]
Self-love
Hatred of God
Love of this World [Affection for this present world]
Abhorrence or Despair of a Future World [Dread or despair of that which is to come]
The capital vice of lust and her corresponding daughters convince the conquered heart to continue to engorge itself on pleasurable goods, especially sexual pleasures.
Teach your children:
Teaching children the virtues not sins. Today our world wants to expose kids to all sorts of sexual content, we must fortify them against the such and teach them the virtue of purity and how to guard their purity so that they are not corrupted. The sexualization of our children is the massive evil of our day.
The Forgotten Virtue of Chasity & What it Means for Each Soul & Family:
Read more click here.
Other helpful sources on the topic:
The Habit of Sin of Impurity Blinds the Soul
The evil inclination to sin is one of the greatest injuries that we have received from the sin of Adam. This made the Apostle weep when he saw himself impelled by concupiscence to the very evil which he abhorred. Hence it is so difficult for us, who are drawn to evil by this concupiscence and by so many enemies, to reach, without sin, the land of bliss.
It is very difficult for such a man to save his soul; because a bad habit blinds the understanding, hardens the heart, and thus makes the sinner obstinate till death.
First, a bad habit blinds the understanding. Why do the saints always implore light from God, and tremble lest they should become the greatest sinners in the world? Because they know that if they lose God's light they may commit the greatest crimes. How does it happen that so many Christians live obstinately in sin until they are lost in the end? Their own malice blinded them. Sin blinds them, and thus they are lost. Every sin produces blindness; the more sins are multiplied, the greater the blindness they produce.
God is our light; and therefore, the farther the soul is removed from God, the more blind, it becomes. His bones, says Job, shall be filled with the vices of his youth. As the light of the sun cannot enter a vessel filled with clay: so a heart replete with vices cannot admit the light of God. Fallen into the dark pit of sin, they do nothing but commit sins, they speak only of sins, they think only of sinning, and scarcely feel any longer that sin is an evil. The very habit of sin, says St. Augustine, does not allow them to see the evil which they do.
SEXUAL IMPURITY
'The fourth gate of Hell, (according to St. Alphonsus Liguori) which is impurity [sexual sins], and it is by this gate that the greater number of the damned enter. Some will say that it is a trifling sin. Is it a trifling sin? It is a mortal sin.
St. Antoninus writes that such is the nauseousness of this sin that the devils themselves cannot endure it. Moreover, the Doctors of the Church say that certain demons, who have been superior to the rest, remembering their ancient dignity, disdain tempting to so loathsome a sin. Consider then how disgusting he must be to God, who, like a dog, is ever returning to his vomit, or wallowing like a pig in the stinking mire of this accursed vice (2 Pet 2.22).
The impure say, moreover, “God has compassion on us who are subject to this vice, because He knows that we are flesh.” What do you say? God has compassion on this vice? But you must know that the most horrible chastisements with which God has ever visited the earth have been drawn down by this vice.
St. Jerome says that this is the only sin of which we read that it caused God to repent of having made man, for all flesh had become corrupted (Gen 6.6-12). And so it is, St. Jerome says, that there is no sin which God punishes so rigorously, even upon earth, as this. He once sent fire from Heaven upon five cities, and consumed all their inhabitants for this sin (Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen 18-19). Principally on account of this sin did God destroy mankind, with the exception of eight persons, by the flood. It is a sin which God punishes, not only in the other life, but in this also. Because, says God, you have forgotten Me and turned your back upon Me, for a miserable pleasure of the flesh, I am resolved that even in this life you shall pay the price of your wickedness (Ezek 23.35).
You say, “God has compassion upon men subject to this sin.” But it is this sin that sends most men to Hell. Our Lady of Fatima also said most go to Hell because of the sins of the flesh. St. Remigius says that the greater number of the damned are in Hell through this vice. Father Segneri writes that as this vice fills the world with sinners, so it fills Hell with damned souls; and before him St. Bernardine of Siena wrote: “This sin draws the whole world, as it were, into sin.” And before him St. Bernard and St. Isidore said that “the human race is brought under the power of the devil more by lust than by all the other vices.” The reason is because this vice proceeds from the natural inclination of the flesh. Hence St Thomas Aquinas says that the devil does not take such complacency in securing the commission of any other sin as of this, because the person who is plunged in this infernal mire remains lodged therein, and almost wholly unable to free himself again.
“No one is so obstinate in sin as the impure,” says St. Thomas of Villanova. Moreover, this vice deprives one of all light, for the impure man becomes so blind as almost wholly to forget God, says St. Laurence Justinian; which is in accordance with what is said by the prophet Hosea: They will not set their thoughts to return to their God; for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known God (Hos 5.4). The impure man does not know God; he obeys neither God nor reason, as St. Jerome says; he obeys only the sensual appetite which causes him to act like a beast. This sin, because it flatters, makes us fall at once into the habit of it, a habit which some carry with them even to death. You see husbands, and decrepit old men, indulge in the same thoughts and committing the same sins that they committed in their youth. And because sins of this kind are so easily committed, they become multiplied without number.
The Gravity of the Matter
Ask of the sinner how many impure thoughts he has consented to: he will tell you he cannot remember. But, brother, if you cannot tell the number, God can; and you know that a single willful immodest thought is enough to send you to Hell.
How many immodest words have you spoken, in which you took delight yourself, and by which you scandalized your neighbor?
From thoughts and words you proceed to acts, and to those innumerable impurities which those wretches roll and wallow in like swine, without ever being satisfied, for this vice is never satisfied. But, Father, you will say, how can I hold out against the innumerable temptations which assail me? I am weak, I am flesh. And since you are weak, why not recommend yourself to God, and to most holy Mary, who is the mother of purity? Since you are flesh, why do you throw yourself in the way of sin? Why do you not guard your eyes? Why do you gaze upon those objects from which temptations flow?…It is to be remarked, moreover, that this sin brings with it innumerable others: enmities, thefts, and, more especially, sacrilegious confessions and Communions, by reason of the shame which will not allow these impurities to be disclosed in confession. And let us remark here in passing, that it is sacrilege above all things that brings upon us sickness and death; for, says the Apostle Paul, “He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord”; and then he adds: “therefore are many infirm and weak among you.” (1 Cor 11.29-30)
And St. John Chrysostom, in explanation of that passage, says that St. Paul speaks of persons who were chastised with bodily infirmities because they received the Sacrament with a guilty conscience. My brethren, should you ever have been sunk in this vice, I do not bid you be disheartened, but arise at once from this foul and infernal pit; beg of God immediately to give you light, and stretch out His hand to you. The first thing that you have to do is to break with the occasion of sin: without that, preaching and tears and resolutions and confessions, all are lost.
Remove the occasions, and then constantly recommend yourself to God, and to Mary the mother of purity.
No matter how grievously you may be tempted, do not be discouraged by the temptation; at once call to your aid Jesus and Mary, pronouncing their sacred names. These blessed names have the power of making the devil fly, and stifling that hellish flame within you. If the devil persists in tempting you, persevere in calling upon Jesus and Mary, and certainly you shall not fall. In order to rid yourself of your evil habits, undertake some special devotion to our Lady; begin to fast in her honor upon Saturdays; contrive to visit her image every day, and beg of her to obtain for you deliverance from that vice. Every morning immediately after rising, never omit saying three “Hail Marys” in honor of her purity and do the same when going to bed;* and above all things, as I have said, when the temptation is most troublesome, call quickly upon Jesus and Mary. Beware, brother, if you do not be converted now, you may never be converted.
Taken from St. Alphonsus Liguori on the Four Gates of Hell: Impurity
The Virtue of Chastity, Explained and Defended
by Rev. Arthur Devine, 1897
1. Chastity enjoined by the Sixth and Ninth Commandments. The nature of this virtue. 2. The division and excellence of this virtue. 3. Virginity: its nature. How it may be lost and restored. 4. Chastity is a virtue most pleasing to God, proved by many considerations. 5. This virtue need not be confounded with the state of celibacy, or profession of the Evangelical Counsel. 6. Chastity conducive to health, proved by various authorities and extracts. 7. Objections against the practice of chastity answered. The 'wild oats' theory refuted by four considerations. 8. The falsehood that all young men exceed the bounds of morality exposed. 9. An answer to the excuse derived from the example of respectable old men who were once supposed to be immoral. 10. The state of future happiness, and special rewards to be bestowed in heaven on the pure of heart.
Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas for Purity O good Jesus, I know that every perfect gift and, above all others, that of chastity depends on the powerful action of Thy divine Providence; I know that without Thee a creature can do nothing. This is why I beseech Thee to defend, by Thy grace, the purity of my soul and of my body. And if I have ever received any impression whatsoever of a sentiment capable of soiling this ineffable virtue, do Thou, O supreme Master of my faculties, blot it out from my soul, that with a clean heart I may advance in Thy love and in Thy service, offering myself chaste all the days of my life on the most pure altar of Thy divinity. It is the Cross that I adore. The Cross of the Lord is with me. The Cross is my refuge. Amen.
In Christ Crucified and the Most Victorious Heart of Jesus.
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