Remedies Against Carnal Desires and Impurity
"I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11
The Holy Church places before us how we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are to behave and to prepare for our future. Firstly, we are to provide a good example to others, even under distress: the world is set against the members of the Holy Church and looks for any reason to persecute us, which is why our First Holy Father, Pope St. Peter, teaches us to conduct ourselves as strangers and pilgrims, for even though we live in this wicked and secular world we only do so as visitors, for we belong to the glorious empire of Christ the King.
It is so important and crucial that we remember our eternal homeland (Heaven), and that we were created for this very time in history to assist in spreading Christ's empire in the world. We are pilgrims passing through, entrusted with a sacred task. If we lose sight of this, we risk losing Heaven. This truth must ever be before our eyes in all of our undertakings.
Our journey is towards our heavenly home and we must stay on the holy path prepared for us by Our Most Blessed Lord, which is why we are warned to avoid, at all costs, the carnal temptations of the world that are utterly opposed to the welfare of our soul. As St. Paul warns, "the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:4-6).
We all know that impurity and carnal desires are dangerous to your soul, so rather than merely condemning such sin let us reflect on its remedy: first, we need an intense hatred for this sin, a deep conviction against it, protection against dangerous occasions, mortification and, of course, sincere prayer.
The hatred and conviction against this sin is of supreme necessity in order to combat this vice and the only means of possibly winning the struggle against it. Our great example for this sin is St. Augustine, who before his great interior conversion had a mighty struggle against it. In him we have another St. Paul, who also struggled against sin, but it was God Himself who confided to them, and to us, "My grace is sufficient" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Frequent and sincere Confession coupled with worthy reception of Holy Communion is the surest armour against such attacks: it is the perfect Divine Medicine! In order to avoid the occasion of sin we must first examine and identify the root cause of such temptation: too much time on the internet is the greatest and most deadly occasion, and the serious Christian must set a daily limit and not be at variance of that standard. We must exercise great caution and prudence in this. As an example, there are sincere Christians who will attempt to search topics like "impurity" or "immodesty" in order for spiritual study, yet due to the subject matter, they often stumble across actual impurity and immodesty in their research, and are then thrust into a trap. It would be wise for the Christian to set limits on how much time they spend on the internet, even when they deem such time spent to be for a good cause and with good intentions. Time would be better spent and invested into reading spiritual books, prayer, and charitable works. We learn far more about the Faith through those means than through the internet.
The next deadly occasion is watching too much television; one cannot unsee such lascivious images that are captured and retained in our memory from these two enemies. If we could only forget such images as easily as we forget our holy obligations of prayer and spiritual duty.
And, alas, there are certain places and even people that we should avoid when possible. Laughing at sinful language and impure stories makes us cooperators of the sin of others, or when we use foul language in front of others, especially the innocent, we are guilty of the sin of scandal and poor example. Just as we avoid the sin of others, we must avoid inviting others into our own sin. Unless you truly abhour sin and set your heart to be mortified against such sin you shall not overcome it. This is why St. Paul teaches us they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences (Galatians 5:24).
We must also remember the promise of Our Lord in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8); for there is no home in heaven for those who continue to defile their body and soul with impurity.
Lastly, the greatest remedy against sin is prayer coupled with the frequent and worthy reception of the Sacraments. If you are not praying at least five decades of Our Lady’s Rosary every day, you cannot overcome any sin or vice. Prayer, which is the worshiping and meditation of God, as well as the petitioning of His favour, grace and mercy, builds the soul’s armour and defense.
Monsignor Sebastian and Joe Moreaux
