PURITY AND THE BEST REMEDY FOR LUST

How to be cured of the deadly sin that leads to hell "more than any other sin" (Our Lady of Fatima) and live a pure life of happiness!

Download the one-page Executive Summary HERE for mass distribution. This contains the result of research on several of  the best books on porn addiction, the writings of the saints on this topic, and my experience of mentoring many men in the struggle to keep pure.

All men are born wounded, inclined to evil, a tendency called “concupiscence”, a rebellion of the flesh against the spirit–the very root of the Culture of Death. “Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative [baby-making] and unitive [bonding] purposes.” (CCC 2351)  

To get cured of lust we take three steps: 1) Go to the best doctor.  2) Take the best medicines. 3) Live a healthy lifestyle. 

By doing these, we grow in the beautiful virtue called chastity or holy purity.

GO TO THE BEST DOCTOR: Ask Jesus to heal you.

For any illness of the soul, there is only one best doctor: Jesus, who said, Without me you can do nothing. “It is not possible to lead a clean life without God's assistance. He wants us to be humble and to ask for his aid.” (St. Josemaria)  Beg Jesus to grant us the virtue of chastity, the intelligent leadership of our sexual desires and the freedom of true love.

"Purity is the fruit of prayer," taught St. Mother Teresa. To attain purity, we have to cease trying to rely on ourselves (Benedict XVI) and cast our cares on God. (St. Augustine) A short biblical prayer is “If you wish, you can make me clean.” In the net, you can find many prayers for purity. The key is to repeat them with the humility of a powerless child.

TAKE THE BEST MEDICINES: Allow Jesus to heal you.

Jesus’ most powerful remedy for lust is his wounds. “By his wounds we are healed,” says the Bible. To heal us, Pope Francis taught, “Jesus invites us to behold these wounds, to touch them as Thomas did.” St. Josemaria advised: “Enter into the wounds of Christ crucified. There you will learn to guard your senses. You will have interior life.” “If an impure thought strikes me, I resort to the wounds of Christ. If the heat of lust rises in me, it is extinguished by recalling the wounds of Christ. I have not found a more effective remedy. In them I sleep soundly and rest unafraid,” wrote Abbot John of Fécamp, the most popular spiritual writer during the Golden Age of Christendom. St. Thomas, the teacher for everyone, points out that we overcome all temptations by going to Jesus on the cross. 

Recalling the passion and the wounds of Christ gives us (1) contrition for our sins that caused those painful wounds, (2) gratitude for all the graces that come from those merciful wounds, the source of the entire Church, and (3) love, in return for God’s ultimate expression of love.

Purity is pure love. And the key to love, life’s most important subject, said Pope Francis, is not our loving, but “allowing ourselves to be loved.” So let us center our life on the one truth behind all that exists: God loves us, died to save us and rose to give us his life. Making our minds and hearts revolve around Jesus’ loving deeds in Calvary is the secret to the sweet joy of daily life and our deep conversion from lust.

Always carry a crucifix and kiss it. Etch in your memory images and films such as the Passion of the Christ, which portray Jesus’ bloody sacrifice, and console him, and rejoice in his rising. His passion and rising are made present in the sacraments, giving us grace. Go often to Confession and the Eucharist. At Mass, “in your mind’s eye transport yourself to Calvary,” (St. Padre Pio) the outpouring of God’s infinite love.

Included in Jesus’ healing love are the truths about sexuality. He teaches these through his Catholic Church’s Theology of the Body. We need to flush out the diabolical lies that poison our culture and instead remind ourselves many times of God’s liberating truths—about Happiness, Love, Bodies, Sex, Chastity, and Holiness (HLBSCH).

Truth 1: HAPPINESS only comes from true love. Not from selfishness. Selfishness only produces the sadness of guilt. God who is love and supreme joy made us in his image: with mind and freedom. We brim with supreme joy by loving intelligently and willingly, like God.

Truth 2: LOVE means willing the good of the other person and total self-giving. Not fleeting, selfish feelings. Not animal instincts. Practice self-sacrifice to always prevent evil and do good to another.

Truth 3: BODIES are persons  to be reverenced, served and saved. Not objects to be used for selfish ends. A look of lust, taught Jesus, is “adultery in the heart”. Instead, thank God for the beauty of human bodies, and see Jesus in them.  

Truth 4. SEX is a sacred gift that enables us in marriage to make a gift of ourselves and of immortal beings. Not a toy. Humans are incarnate spirits. So we express total self-giving love not just by our souls, but also by our bodies, and sexuality. In marital sex, one expresses this love in the life-long gift of self and in the gift of children, working with God himself who creates their souls, making them his children.

Truth 5: CHASTITY is a joyful Yes to true love freed from selfishness through self-mastery. Not a negative. Since you cannot give a gift that you do not have, you have to master your body to be able to give it freely as a pure gift. Chastity is intelligent leadership of our emotions and sexual urges. As we discipline our appetite intelligently by eating right to be fit and healthy, we channel our sexual urges to be able to give real, flourishing and joyful love.

Truth 6:  SANCTITY is man’s great calling: to be one with God in the total gift of ourselves in marriage or in apostolic celibacy.  The quickest route to union with God is uniting ourselves with Mary, the one closest to Jesus. It is very effective to often offer your eyes, your heart, your desires, your urges, your whole self to Mary, as St. John Paul the Great did: Totus tuus, Maria. I am all yours, Mary. 

 

LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: Live Jesus’ life of love.

Be immersed in God’s love. Center your heart on Jesus’ boundless love for us, engrave in your mind his truths, and live a Christian life: prayer, service, generosity, hard work, sobriety, sincerity in spiritual direction and bouncing back at once after a failure since God's infinite mercy never wanes. When he pointed out that the “flesh is weak,” he urged us: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. So strive to pray at all times. (Mt 26:41; Lk 18:1)  Pray the Rosary by meditating on Christ’s life and words. 

Very important: preventive Confession and mentoring. When you feel weak, receive divine help offered in Confession. This is a very effective habit. St. Josemaria taught that humility (“I need help”) and sincerity form the foundation of victory: “if you open your heart wide, you will not be defeated.” An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. And Confession is Jesus' strengthening power. 
 

Strengthen your motivation to choose purity over lust. Emotions and urges are like noisy passengers in your car. No matter how noisy and nagging they may be, you are still in control of your free will, and responsible for your actions. Feeling a temptation is not the same as choosing it. Clearly, eternal hell is not an option; while God is Infinite Beauty, Deepest Happiness, and the Sole Satisfier of our hearts’ desires. Make a list of motives that will make you hungry to win the fight in purity and recall them again and again: to be capable of true love, to be a good, joyful and trusted person, etc. Remember: the hungrier fighter wins.

Scorn impure urges and fly away at once to Jesus and Mary. Sexual sins are filthy: shamefully egoistic, irrationally animalistic and destructively addictive. The “one last sin” is a poisonous trap that only leads to more and worse sins: a joyless spiral. Show forceful repugnance to the piggish temptation (“Yuck!”) then shun it fast. “You do not win by resisting, because the more you think about it, the more it sways you. You win by fleeing, avoiding unclean thoughts completely,” (St. Thomas Aquinas) and running to embrace Jesus on the cross, where we receive infinite love and boundless joy. Our mother Mary hugs us there.

Identify and avoid the triggers to lust. Avoid occasions of sin: images, sights, situations of boredom and loneliness. Check the moral content of movies (e.g., free CNS movie guide) and use computer filters (e.g. K9 Filter is free).

Be an active advocate of the New Sexual Revolution of the Theology of the Body.  If you live only to survive, you will fall off the edge pushed by the wild, raging current of the present Culture of Death. Take part in the exhilarating adventure of bringing about a new culture of true, total self-giving love. Read more about it (Chastity.org; Chastityproject.com). Spread it. You can, for example, spread the use of this article as a first step. :) 

Download the one-page Executive Summary HERE for mass distribution. 

These one-page leaflets have started going viral around the world. One leaflet was posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England"), in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada,  in Kenya and in Macau. To get the full collection, please see this: One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Going Viral!

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Paschal Mystery: Center of the Christian Life



  

PASCHAL MYSTERY: CENTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Discover the most essential teaching of the most authoritative teaching Council of our time

Download the free one-page Executive Summary here. 

WHAT IS THE CENTER OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE? 

The Paschal Mystery, which comprises his passion, death, resurrection, and glorification, stands at the center of the Christian faith because God’s saving plan was accomplished once and for all by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ. (Compendium of the CCC 112)

The Paschal Mystery is the center of the Christian life and the Christian year. This is above all the essential idea of the Second Vatican Council itself. (Benedict XVI, Feb 2013)

“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16) These words express the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus’ death on the cross is love in its radical form. By contemplating his pierced side, we understand that “God is love”, and discover the path along which our life and love must move. (Benedict XVI)

 “Jesus loves you: he gave his life to save you; and now he is living by your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.” Nothing is more solid, profound, secure, meaningful and wisdom-filled than this first and principal proclamation. All Christian formation consists of entering more deeply into this first proclamation. (Francis)

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT OF MAKING CHRIST’S PASCHAL MYSTERY THE CENTER OF OUR LIFE?

It grounds us.  The past event in Calvary in 30 A.D. is not just any center, but the “true center” around which all should revolve, especially our minds and hearts. “God loves us” is the bedrock reality of everything that exists. The air, the soil, events and trials are gifts of God the Amazing Lover—to unite us with him. This ultimate event of love “transcends all time while being made present in them all.” (CCC 1085) 

It makes us fall in love with Jesus, filling us with sweetness.  Love of God and others for him is the only goal of life, its bottom line. The Paschal Mystery is the only source of this love, giving it to us in the sacraments and in our contemplation of Jesus’ boundless love. Centering on Jesus’ love and sacrifice gives us a sense of joy and sweetness to which many saints have testified. “The death and passion of Our Lord is the sweetest and most compelling motive that can enliven our hearts.” (St. Francis of Sales) “The greatest pains are made sweet when one looks at Jesus on the cross.” (St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi)

It makes us a much better person. Centered on the Paschal event, we learn key habits for daily living: self-sacrificing service, humility, self-mastery, forgiveness, detachment from things, obedience, hope, etc.

It is the secret to a deep and constant conversion.  It is well-documented that the film The Passion of the Christ brought about a multitude of conversions. “The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced.” (CCC 1432)  “The most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the most efficacious means to convert hardened sinners.” (St. Paul of the Cross)

It is the most powerful cure for lust and all the evils of mankind.  The most common evil of our time that leads people to hell “more than any other sin” (Our Lady of Fatima) will be resolved if people are centered on the passion of Christ. “If the heat of lust rises in me, it is extinguished by recalling the wounds of Christ. I have not found a more effective remedy.” (Abbot John of Fécamp)  “All the remedies that humanity needs are found in the life and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta) “By his wounds, we are healed.” (Is 53:5; 1 Pt 2:24)

It is the shortcut. St. Josemaria’s habit of entering the wounds of Christ “led him to the highest peaks of spiritual life.” (Bl. Alvaro)

It identifies us with Christ.  His whole life was centered on this saving event and anticipated its power. (Cf. CCC 1115; Lk 24:26) 

HOW DO WE CENTER OUR LIFE ON THE PASCHAL MYSTERY?

See God’s love in everything and allow God to embrace you. The key to “the most important subject in life” –love—is not our loving, but “allowing ourselves to be loved by God”. (Cf. Pope Francis)

Treat the Paschal event as your greatest and most remembered book. “Know nothing except Jesus and him crucified.” (1 Cor 11:2)  Learn the Bible lesson of the Paschal event intently. “He who wants to keep on advancing in virtue and in grace should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus,” (St. Bonaventure) to console and thank him, and to say sorry to him for the wounds we caused.

Be lovingly centered on images of Christ’s saving passion. “As a Christian, you should always carry your Crucifix with you. And place it on your desk. And kiss it before going to bed and when you wake up: and when your poor body rebels against your soul, kiss it again... When you see a cross, think of the Blood of Christ poured out for you, and don’t deny him what he is asking you for.” (St. Josemaria)   Put in your phone images and videos that portray the historic saving event and use them to pray. Give importance to the God-given, factual image of the Crucified God: the Shroud.

Put your sins to death. “Christ rises in us, if we become sharers in his cross and death.” (St. Josemaria) “Pascha means the crossing-over. The Son of God crossed over from this world to His Father. What’s to gain in celebrating unless you cross over from the darkness of evildoing to the light of virtue?” (St. Ambrose)

Act with the highest dignity, confidence and joy. For “believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ”—Son of God, the King of the universe! (CCC 1003)

Love and serve others as “Jesus in disguise” (Mother Teresa). Their needs and sufferings are “the wounds of Christ”. (Francis)

Set the Eucharist and Confession as the most important priority of your life.  In them the risen Christ makes his Paschal Mystery truly present, and with the greatest power unites us to himself and his saving, glorious work. Christ in the Eucharist as Self-giving Love is the “center and the source of the Christian life.”  (LG 11)

Be acutely aware that in the Mass the risen Jesus makes present, through sacramental signs, “the bloody sacrifice of the cross” (Trent; CCC 1366) and his victorious resurrection. Active participation, promoted by Vatican II, actually means “greater awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its relationship to daily life.” (S Caritatis 52)  “In your mind’s eye transport yourself to Calvary.” (St. Padre Pio) “Offering the immaculate Victim [Jesus wounded on the cross], not only through the hands of the priest, but also together with him, they should learn to make an offering of themselves.” (Vat II, SC 48) Imagine and love Jesus as Mary saw him bleeding on the cross. And during Communion with the risen Jesus, rejoice with her and live a cheerful life of love of saving people.

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