Embracing The Spirit Holy of Holy Purity

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"Purity makes possible clarity of the intellect and strength of the will."

Previously, I posted a sermon on St. Bernardine and Holy Chastity and Purity.   Also, I mentioned that I wanted to make a few comments regarding the sermon to exhort further my friends on the topics.  And while this blog is open to the public, I will address whoever ends up reading this as if you were my own, dear friends for some time.  Many of my friends may already be living in the spirit of holy chastity, but since the subject is hardly ever discussed at all despite the fact that our culture is directly opposed to it, I think it's good discuss it here.

One could be chaste, but not in the full sense.  The interior life must mirror the exterior habits, otherwise, eventually the exterior habits will be compromised, because sin begins with a thought.  Therefore, for one to live chastely according to one's state, the spirit of chastity must be embraced.  Marriage, for example, is not an excuse to not abide in the spirit of chastity.   The spirit of chastity is of God, as it is of the gift of holy purity.  If a person abhors chastity as a hardship, they will find marriage very difficult, to say the least.   We are meant to prefer in our hearts those things that are of grace, the gifts that are of God imparting Himself to us, over all the creatures of the earth.   If we find ourselves called to the state of holy marriage, we should still have holy chastity as something to obtain as great a degree as possible according to our state and constantly. 

Some of the common pitfalls even among Catholics where the spirit of the world leads a soul rather than the spirit of chastity are:

1.)  All forms of music, art, other entertainment that, although it is not diametrically opposed to the spirit of chastity, it celebrates more the selfish motivations of vanity/ego, and the lesser passions over the will.  Rock and pop music, at its very essence, deliberately seeks to accomplish this.   Even such music with lyrics that are intended to be reverential to God, fall short because of the underlying means is to celebrate Self, yet in the name of worship to God. 

2.)  Absence of the mortification of the sense of taste.  While a person may even pride themself on fasting once a week, and/or doing the minimum of abstaining from meat on Fridays (according to the norm Church requirements), they may always wish to have their food seasoned and prepared in such a manner that it is most pleasing to their tastes.  This is one of the Deadly Sins, although it doesn't have to do with portions, yet it is gluttony all the same.  The stronger the resistance to mortification of the tongue, the weaker the resistance of the wounds of concupisence.  While it is ok to enjoy your food occasionally, it should hardly be the rule for every meal. 

There should be times when we celebrate God and His goodness sharing with us an abundance of necessary goods, such as food.  Such celebrations, however, should be done well, but directed in our hearts first out of love and gratitude to God above all creation.   The love of the spirit of mortification is also opposed to immoderation or scrupulosity.  For example, the sick and dying may benefit from a carefully prepared meal to one's taste because the tastes or desire to eat at all may very well be diminished, and it is prudent in such situations to coax the patient to eat.

Everything in moderation!  We cannot expect to mortify our senses to the degree held by saints who lived on Holy Communion and water alone.  However, we can offer up, for example, 2 to 3 of 3 meals each day, and/or have Sunday and Holy Days, and other public celebrations as exceptions.  The key is to be humble about it, and desire more to grow in virtue in order to more readily chose and execute the will of God as He wills it, as this practice strengthens the will.

2. b.)  Mortification can be denying anything that is licit, yet not necessary to doing the Holy Will of God.  First and foremost, mortification of the taste must be acknowledged, as it is closely linked to the wounds of concupisence.  There are many other things that we can abstain from, however, which may be useful to purifying our will. 

A gentleman might abstain from having company or a meal at a restaurant, and rather, do the opposite of his whim, and remain alone at home.  You might say, "What is the point of that?"   The point is that while it is not a bad thing to have lunch with a friend, if always you choose for yourself what is most desireable to yourself, how then will your desires be quieted enough ever to hear the Voice of God?   Not only would you eventually not be able to act upon His Holy Will, but His voice will become as if it were silent to you.  Instead, it will become drowned out by your own will's voice, prefacing each thought with, "I want..." or "I will..."   or even, "What do I want?"   And while this may not always show to be devisive against the lower passions, it contributes to their weakness all the while it weakens the will's desire to please God on the whole.   "Sacrifice," as The Little Flower of Jesus, St. Therese, had said, "teaches the heart to love."    Since love is an act of the will, what love could one spare who so frequently did his own will and was careless in not desiring to discern the Will of God in day to day matters?   While a person might frequently confuse zealousness for love and say, "I am willing to DIE for the holy Faith!" would our Lord choose such a foolhardy soul for so great an honor as martyrdom?   Answer:  Probably not, as long as the little battles are hardly attempted let alone won, such a crown will never be presented.   We must will first to die to ourselves, since it is hear where an even greater battle.   "How could this be?" you may ask, when so many modernist apologists of the day would have you believe that our first objective as Christians is to evangelize.  This activism mentality will do your soul no good.  Also, all the knowledge, even theological scholarship will do no good to get you to heaven, unless you put first, God's will in the forefront of your mind, heart and actions.  Our primary concern should be to love God by desiring conformity to His Will.

(Another recommended reading:  THE STORY OF A SOUL)

3.)  Always trying to will what God gives you.

 

One thing I've noticed is that those people with the greatest amount of holy purity always seem to make the largest impression on me.   I've noticed also, that others who strive to be devout Catholics express the same.  It seems that those who have deliberately done the most to put God first in their hearts have a greater capacity to love.  But of course, this stands to reason, since God is Love Itself, the source of all love.   This reasoning goes against the new age thinking, that puts humanity at the center, even so far as to claiming that the highest good is what man can do for man, rather than the highest good being God Himself (the heresy of immanentism).   Those friends or even acquaintances, even those with whom we may have lost contact, or who have since passed from this world, who loved God to the degree that they embraced holy purity, seem to leave indelible impressions on hearts that (at least) aim to seek God alone.  Perhaps, it is Christ's love that we recognize in others, by grace, that leaves such lasting impressions.

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In memory and dedication to Daniel Ziglinksi +,

who although having left this world on the vigil of the Ascension, May 15, 2010,

remains in memories held by his friends and families, and many countless other hearts he touched.

May the memory of his desire to seek and please God continue to be an inspiration to us to seek
God alone.

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Sermon on the Feast of St. Bernardine, Holy Purity and Chastity

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Here is a sermon that begins with a little bit about St. Bernardine, who I wrote a little bit about regarding his devotion to St. Joseph.  St. Bernardine, besides having a devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and promoting the devotion to St. Joseph (his holy example and powerful intercession), but he was also a great promoter of chastity (which goes hand in hand with devotion to the foster father of Jesus).

There are some personal remarks I wish to make on this in the near future.   Although I generally do not like to make personal remarks on my blog, I wish to do so to exhort my friends to pursue with increase rigor both devotion to St. Joseph and to holy purity and chastity. 

Since Blogger doesn't make easy (not impossible, just not very easy) to upload audios unless they are already on another server, I decided to make this audio into a video and then upload it here.  As a result, some of the pictures do not always coincide with the concurrent audio.  Also, the very beginning of the audio did not get recorded.  All it was anyway was a part of the introduction where the priest mentions some virtues of St. Bernardine, whose feast was celebrated this past Thurday.

Speaking of holy purity, here is ... A Great Website on St. Gemma

Theology of the Body --- NOTHING NEW HERE

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Half truths are often more dangerous than a full blown lie.

What you are about to read here might be construed by some as "devisive".   Infact, it is intended to be.  The truth has a way of dividing those who wish to accept it and those who wish to put up walls against it.  This devisivness, however, is not meant to be an end but a biproduct of the means --- that it might cause one to pause and consider who decides what is authentic Catholic spirituality, and how to live a life of love of God as a true Christian.

Not but a few weeks ago, four speakers --- 2 men and 2 women, held a conference on the subject of living a life in purity.  Although I did not attend, I spoke with a friend who did attend after having read an article on the event in a Catholic newspaper.

The article pointed out some good points, albeit, quite basic.  It even pointed out that the war against the culture of life, against the virtue of purity, is also a spiritual warfare (this is something Catholics have said since the time of the Apostles).  One of the speakers said quite aptly, "“It’s not about sacrifice,” he said. “It’s about sanctification.”  Amen!   The speaker also reportedly said that 'the commandments are not the product of a controlling God, but of a loving God.'   Excellent!   This is true.

Both the article and what my friend told me about the conference did not at all surprise me.  The emphasis of the talks were about leading others by living a life of valor.   But what was NOT emphasized or even stated as far as I can tell (and judging from what I already know about the speakers, I can say this is no surprise to me) was what work precisely was required in order that a man lead a "life of valor" in purity.  

Let me back up and make a quick observation from a wider view:   MOST Catholics today (let alone those who call themselves by the name of "Christian" yet who are not in the one, holy, universal church with apostolic authority), are constantly receiving the message to "go out and evangelize" and "go out and lead others" as their 'good work' to others.  This would be good IF this message wasn't the end but a means, and then only a means when one had discerned it was God's call.  Those who wish to lead, after all, God says should learn to be servants.   What makes this message spiritual dangerous, however, is that it makes leading others an end to itself in Catholic spirituality.   This is a false belief.   Yes, faith without works is dead, but works without faith are also dead.   Leading others is supposed to be a biproduct of the end for which we seek, not the end itself. 

But what is the means to holiness, or more specifically in the context of the message of purity, what is the means to purity, or living a life of "valor"?   It means setting out to become a saint.  This starts with the interior life, not with the actions, rather, the actions must be born of the interior life, in order to become not merely cultivated actions lacking consistency, but become habitual acts of virtue.

It is said that what makes a saint is not how many times a person has fallen, but that he got back up quickly ever time he had fallen.   What needs clarification in this statement is that it can not be said that a person who is living a saintly life falls repeatedly into mortal sin, or even fully deliberate venial sins.   Yes, a person must quickly get back into the grace of God by means of the Sacraments as soon as possible, but this repentance is only part of the process.  One must employ the normal means of growing in holiness in order to prevent falling into mortal sin in the first place.   However, this is rarely ever discussed today even by priests.

Before saying what is required of one wishing to prevent vices of lust and vanity (the two means by which men and women, respectively, tend to fall into sins that are opposed to purity), let their be some clarity here as to what authentic Catholic spirituality is not:   Authentic Catholic spirituality is not simply moderation in terms every activity that is within the norm within the culture that glorifies and normalizes vices against purity.   The many, very popular modern theologians would have you believe that even the virtue of religion most be moderated in even the frequency of its observance just as in the same way that one commits to physical exercise.  Moderation, to them, means compartmentalizing religion and the acts, both interior and exterior that are religious in nature), to one, sequestered area of one's life. 

In this sense, yes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to remain out of sin for most people, even with the supernatural efficacy of the Sacraments.   How is that?  The Sacraments of the Church work ex opere operatis, from the disposition of the recipient which comes ex opere operato, the work done.  

Then, how is one's disposition become an obstacle to purity?   Whenever an individual has a disordered attachment to sin -- even a venial sin --- and/or a disordered attachment to even a lawful good, therein lies the obsacle to God's grace in the Sacraments.   In other words, God doesn't position the obstacles, we do.

Now here comes the part that you didn't get from the modernists:

In order to remain in the grace of the Sacraments, three additional things must be practiced:

1.)  Avoid all unnecessary near occasions of sin.

•Review of Sins Against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments

•Springtime Review

•Women and Children First: Holy Purity

•Sounding the Trumpet Against Pornography

•Sins of Lust: The Consequences against Purity

•Priests by Name Only and Not By Deed

•Maintaining Purity: By Virtue of by Force

•Modesty: The Virtue that Guards Purity

•Modesty of the Eyes

•Holy Matrimony and NFP

•Sins of the Flesh

•Kissing a Vocation Goodbye

•On Dating

•Occasions of Sin and Company Keeping

Here's one, quick and very practical suggestion in this area: 

get rid of your television. 

2.)  Practice daily mortifications of the senses that tend to lead you into sin. 

•Lent, Fasting, Abstinence, and Penance

•Fighting Temptation and Conquering Sin

•The Virtue of Humility

•Habitual Aim: Feel Good, Look Good, and Being Good

•Appetites: Temptations and Lemonade

•Predominant Fault: Identifying It and Battling It

•Predominant Fault: Particular Resolution and Examination

As a general rule, women fall by their ears and men by their eyes.  Women, be careful with what  you hear, men with what you see.  Women must practice modesty of dress and overall decorum and not take part in conversations that have elements of impurity which are so common today.  Men must also do the same in decorum and conversation, but they must also pay special care to practice mortification of the eyes.

Also, very necessary year round, but especially during Lent, mortification of the senses, most particularly of taste, should be practiced daily. 

3.)  Practice daily mental prayer.

•Mental Prayer, part 1: A Conversation with Christ

•Mental Prayer, part 2: Dryness and Distractions

•Mental Prayer, part 3: Preparing for Mental Prayer

Sermons on Prayer and Interior Life

 Also:  The Seven Mansions of Prayer

Without these three things, one not only will likely fall out of grace, but they will begin to fall deeper and deeper into spiritual dispondency, and believe in and settle for spiritual mediocrity.  They will shoot for Purgatory (either intentionally or unintentionally) and rather than a supernaturalized hope, they will formulate theology that maintains a false hope which presumes upon God in lieu of the interior work He truly expects of them.  This is precisely why it is so dangerous that many false prophets preach only the side of God's mercy and the need for all men and women to become "leaders" . In fact, if one is constantly thinking that to be Christian they must be a leader, and make THAT the priority over establishing and maintaining authentic, catholic spirituality, they put their very salvation at further peril.  When the ego is stroked into Pharisaical mode, "Look at me, I am a light to the world", with the shallow expectations to be a sinner who strives at the very least of what God asks (to keep the commandments), when they almost inevitably fall into mortal sin they take others with them by their scandal.   The interior life is not merely an option for those who wish to live in a monastary.   The interior life is the origin of every good external act.  Even good acts, in of themselves, do not bear holy lasting fruit and do not please God unless they are done out of Sanctifying grace.+

Purity, by St. Francis De Sales

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St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622)
On Purity

PURITY is the lily among virtues — by it men approach to the Angels. There is no beauty without purity, and human purity is chastity. We speak of the chaste as honest, and of the loss of purity as dishonour; purity is an intact thing, its converse is corruption. In a word, its special glory is in the spotless whiteness of soul and body.

No unlawful pleasures are compatible with chastity; the pure heart is like the mother of pearl which admits no drop of water save that which comes from Heaven, — it is closed to every attraction save such as are sanctified by holy matrimony. Close your heart to every questionable tenderness or delight, guard against all that is unprofitable though it may be lawful, and strive to avoid unduly fixing your heart even on that which in itself is right and good.
Every one has great need of this virtue: those living in widowhood need a brave chastity not only to forego present and future delights, but to resist the memories of the past, with which a happy married life naturally fills the imagination, softening and weakening the will. Saint Augustine lauds the purity of his beloved Alipius, who had altogether forgotten and despised the carnal pleasures in which his youth was passed. While fruits are whole, you may store them up securely, some in straw, some in sand or amid their own foliage, but once bruised there is no means of preserving them save with sugar or honey. Even so the purity which has never been tampered with may well be preserved to the end, but when once that has ceased to exist nothing can ensure its existence but the genuine devotion, which, as I have often said, is the very honey and sugar of the mind.
The unmarried need a very simple sensitive purity, which will drive away all over-curious thoughts, and teach them to despise all merely sensual satisfactions. The young are apt to imagine that of which they are ignorant to be wondrous sweet, and as the foolish moth hovers around a light, and, persisting in coming too near, perishes in its inquisitive folly, so they perish through their unwise approach to forbidden pleasures. And married people need a watchful purity whereby to keep God ever before them, and to seek all earthly happiness and delight through Him Alone, ever remembering that He has sanctified the state of holy matrimony by making it the type of His own union with the Church.
The Apostle says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" [Heb. 12, 14] by which holiness he means purity. Of a truth, my daughter, without purity no one can ever see God; [Matt. 5,8] nor can any hope to dwell in His tabernacle except he lead an uncorrupt life; [Psalm. 15, 1,2] and our Blessed Lord Himself has promised the special blessing of beholding Him to those that are pure in heart.

How to Maintain Purity

BE exceedingly quick in turning aside from the slightest thing leading to impurity, for it is an evil which approaches stealthily, and in which the very smallest beginnings are apt to grow rapidly. It is always easier to fly from such evils than to cure them.
Human bodies are like glasses, which cannot come into collision without risk of breaking; or to fruits, which, however fresh and ripe, are damaged by pressure. Never permit any one to take any manner of foolish liberty with you, since, although there may be no evil intention, the perfectness of purity is injured thereby.
Purity has its source in the heart, but it is in the body that its material results take shape, and therefore it may be forfeited both by the exterior senses and by the thoughts and desires of the heart. All lack of modesty in seeing, hearing, speaking, smelling, or touching, is impurity, especially when the heart takes pleasure therein. S. Paul says without any hesitation that impurity and uncleanness, or foolish and unseemly talking, are not to be "so much as named" among Christians. The bee not only shuns all carrion, but abhors and flies far from the faintest smell proceeding therefrom. The Bride of the Canticles is represented with "hands dropping with myrrh." a preservative against all corruption; her "lips are like a thread of scarlet," the type of modest words; her eyes are "dove's eyes," clear and soft; her "nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh towards Damascus" an incorruptible wood; her ears are hung with earrings of pure gold; and even so the devout soul should be pure, honest and transparent in hand, lip, eye, ear, and the whole body.
Remember that there are things which blemish perfect purity, without being in themselves downright acts of impurity. Anything which tends to lessen its intense sensitiveness, or to cast the slightest shadow over it, is of this nature; and all evil thoughts or foolish acts of levity or heedlessness are as steps towards the most direct breaches of the law of chastity. Avoid the society of persons who are wanting in purity, especially if they are bold, as indeed impure people always are. If a foul animal licks the sweet almond tree its fruit becomes bitter; and so a corrupt pestilential man can scarcely hold communication with others, whether men or women, without damaging their perfect purity — their very glance is venomous, and their breath blighting like the basilisk. On the other hand, seek out good and pure men, read and ponder holy things; for the Word of God is pure, and it will make those pure who study it: wherefore David likens it to gold and precious stones. Always abide close to Jesus Christ Crucified, both spiritually in meditation and actually in Holy Communion; for as all those who sleep upon the plant called Agnus castus become pure and chaste, so, if you rest your heart upon Our Dear Lord, the Very Lamb, Pure and Immaculate, you will find that soon both heart and soul will be purified of all spot or stain.
Excerpts taken from: Introduction to the Devout Life : Chapters XII and XIII