Fr. Ed Broom, OMV Oblates of the Virgin Mary

Catholic Ignatian Marian Spirituality

THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY (II)

Where is the Blessed Trinity to be found? The Bible has numerous manifestations of the Blessed Trinity. We will give three!
1.   The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the Baptist. (Mt. 3:13-17). In this passage we hear the voice of God the
Father; we see Jesus the Son descending into the waters of the Jordan River;
finally the Holy Spirit— in the form of a dove—descends on Jesus.

 

2.   The Missionary mandate of Jesus before His Ascension into heaven. Jesus commands the Apostles (and us) with
these words: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 28:
19)

 

3.   Pauline greeting incorporated at the start of Holy Mass.  “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”
WHERE IS THE BLESSED TRINITY TO BE FOUND?
For all eternity the Blessed Trinity is in heaven.  The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and the mutual bond of love between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit.  There is no lacking or incompleteness is our Triune God.
However as St Thomas Aquinas accurately comments that love is expansive; love wants to share itself with others.  So God in time created the world out of nothing. The crown of creation was the creation of the human race, starting with the creation of Adam and Eve.
Jesus came to bring us life and life in abundance. Establishing the Church, the true “Sacrament of Salvation”, Jesus willed to introduce us into the life of the Blessed Trinity through the Sacraments, specifically, the Sacrament of Baptism.
Precisely in the moment of baptism, when the minister pours water on the head and pronounces the Trinitarian formula:  “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, then that child or adult becomes a living Temple of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
For that reason, the Church warmly exhorts its faithful to baptize the child as soon as possible, not simply to wash away the satin of Original Sin but even more important to initiate the wonderful start of a new family— the Blessed Trinity living within the soul
of the newly baptized!  How simple but how sublime!
This treasure of the soul living in the state of sanctifying grace and even more of the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity starting from the Sacrament of Baptism, should be guarded, protected, and cherished at all times.
For this reason the saints have been unanimous in preaching and teaching and living out the doctrine of renouncing sin— especially that of mortal sin—as the greatest of all evils!  The first degree of humility in the Ignatian Exercises is to prefer death over mortal sin. St Dominic Savio had as a motto on the day of his first Communion, “Death rather than sin!”   St Maria Gorretti allowed herself to be stabbed 14 times to her death in martyrdom saying to her assassin: “No it is a mortal sin and if we do it we can go to hell!”   This young martyr did not want
to lose the Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in her soul that came in the moment of Baptism.
Even though the Blessed Trinity is expelled from the soul who willingly chooses to commit a mortal sin, God is rich in forgiveness and is always willing to forgive anyone who repents, trusts in His Infinite mercy and returns through sacramental confession.   How consoling the words that the priest says over the repentant sinner concluding the Sacrament of Reconciliation:  “I absolve you of your sins in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the highlights of the Spirituality of the Carmelites— Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), and Therese of Lisieux— is that of the Indwelling of the Most Blessed Trinity in the soul of the person who is living in the state of sanctifying grace.
Living an interior life immersed in God and cultivating silence and recollection at any time and place, the spiritual soul can enter within and find the Triune God within and entertain these three Divine Guests at any time and in any place.
St. Catherine of Siena, one of the three women doctors of the church, would often return to what she called her interior cell. In this cell she could discover the bridegroom of her soul –Jesus the Lord. But also she could entertain the other two Guests—God the
Father and the Holy Spirit!
For this reason Pope Benedict XVI
insists on the indispensable need in the modern world for silence.  In silence the voice of the Triune God can be
heard and this intimate and profound dialogue can be achieved.   “Speak O Lord for your servant is
listening.”
A TRINITARIAN PRACTICE! Close your eyes and singly gently but with deep faith! “Father I adore you; lay my life
before you! How I love you……
Jesus, I adore you; lay my life before you! How I love you…..
Spirit, I adore you; lay my life before you! How I love you…”
By gently singing this simple Trinitarian song, the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will be ignited in your own cell, your own Interior Castle, and peace and joy will be yours!

 

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THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY

After many hours of prayer, reflection and writing, St. Augustine decided to take a break.   While walking along the seashore, he was fascinated to see what appeared to be a little boy who carried a pail with which he would run to the sea fill his pail, splash the water on the sand and run back and do the same.  Ceaselessly this process continued! Finally, the great theologian and saint stopped the child and inquired why he was doing this?  “I want to empty the entire ocean with my pail!” responded the child. Augustine replied, “That is impossible!”   Thereupon the child said,” It is much easier for me to empty the vast ocean into the sand with my pail than for you to comprehend the Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity!”
In that time St. Augustine was in the process of writing one of the greatest theological treatises on the Most Blessed Trinity in the history of the Church, which took him several years “De Trinitate”.The nature of a theological mystery is that it does not contradict reason but it transcends reason.   The essential message of this short anecdote is that true followers of Jesus should make a concerted effort to study, learn, assimilate and live out our faith. 

However we will never be able to comprehend completely the essence of the Mystery of God, and especially the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity.  Nonetheless, the Doctor of the Church St. Anselm asserts: “Faith seeks understanding”.  

Therefore, in a very humble and simple way we will offer a few ideas on this great Mystery of our faith—THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY.
MONOTHEISTIC TRINITARIAN INCARNATIONAL RELIGION—CATHOLICISM!  Seems to be big words but not overly difficult to explain. MONOTHEISM.  Moslems, Jews, Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics all have this common bond—monotheism, meaning we all believe that there is one God, not many gods which would be Polytheism.
TRINITARIAN— means one God, but three separate and distinct Persons.
INCARNATION—means that one of the Persons, the Second Person, Jesus Christ, took on flesh—became Incarnate—and became man.

THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY. The belief states there indeed is only one God, but there are three separate, distinct, Persons in the Trinity. The Father is the first Person in the Blessed Trinity, who we call the “Creator” and manifests infinite power.  Jesus had a tender and intimate relationship with the Father whom He called “Abba”—meaning, in very endearing terms, “Daddy!


The Son is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.  His name is JESUS. In Jesus are two natures: Divine and Human.  This means that Jesus is both God and man. The union of these two natures took place in the moment of the Annunciation/Incarnation when the Blessed Virgin Mary gave her consent to God through the mediation of the Archangel Gabriel.  When Mary gave her “Fiat”, saying: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord be it done to me according to your word”, in that moment the Incarnation took place. Jesus descended from heaven and entered into the womb of Mary. In the words of the Gospel of St. John we contemplate with awe: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  Theologians call this union of the Divine with the Human the “Hypostatic union”.   We honor this reality on March 25th, Christmas day, January 1 and the whole of the Christmas season— the
Incarnation and birth of Jesus, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.


Finally, the third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Many sublime names are given to the Holy Spirit: The Sanctifier, the Counselor, the Consoler, the Finger of God, the Breath of God, the Sweet  Guest of the soul and the Paraclete.The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are always united and at work together. In other words there is no divorce or separation or division among the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.  There exists always, unity, harmony and love!

The Trinity is family and of course the most perfect of all families. How, you might ask? A true family bonds in unity and love.  In the Trinity the Father loves the Son and eternally generates the Son; the Son, in turn loves the Father eternally.  Finally the Holy Spirit is actually the bond of love between the Father and the Son.  For that reason the mellifluous Doctor, St. Bernard, poetically calls the Holy Spirit the mutually kiss/embrace between the Father and the Son!

All families should strive to model their lives on the pattern of the Most Blessed Trinity.  Families are called to love, to live out the last and greatest commandment of Jesus that He left at the Last Supper: “Love one another as I have loved you.” St. Paul states that love is the bond of
perfection.  Furthermore authentic love must be manifested by unity.  Despite the greatest talents that family members may have, if they are divided among themselves, then that family is weak.  

How true the saying, “The chain is only as strong as the weakest link on that chain.”  The Blessed Trinity teaches us from all eternity the sublime value of love and the fortifying value of unity.  Armies, athletes, choirs, communities, families that have been assailed by a spirit of divisiveness will not stand nor gain victory!

 If it were not for Divine Revelation, meaning Jesus revealing the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and the church clarifying, teaching, explaining and expounding upon the Mystery of the Trinity, we would never have come to an awareness of such a sublime and wonderful mystery!

To the saints we give honor through the cult of “Dulia”. To the Blessed Virgin Mary we pay the highest honor and veneration through the cult of “Hyperdulia”. However, to the Trinity, one God and three distinct and separate Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we attribute the cult of “Latria”—meaning we praise and adore the Trinity. With these words may we praise the Blessed Trinity: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

 

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CHRISTIAN CRITERIA FOR CORRECT VOTING

 

As followers of Christ we have a double citizenship: our earthly home (that is only temporal) and our Heavenly
home where we will reside with God forever. Our effort should be to be good
citizens of both kingdoms.

Therefore, when election time
presents itself, we should have Christian-criteria for the correct casting of
our vote.   It is both a privilege and a
duty to vote. However, our voting should be cast not on subjective, worldly,
ambiguous criteria but on the truth and the promotion of the common good, of
the person, and the society as a whole.

 

This of course entails a properly formed conscience.  Every individual is born with a conscience in which he should reject all that is evil and pursue the good.  Due to secularism, materialism, hedonism, agnosticism and even atheism, the truth is not always clear.
There is objective and absolute TRUTH.   Jesus Himself said “I am the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life.”   Truth can be discovered in Jesus Christ, in His Mystical Body, the Church, through the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church presided over by the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father, the Pope. Therefore, our conscience and motivation for the voting of specific candidates must be made in the light of the Teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church.
A simple and easy-to-remember ACRONYM for the choice of political candidates is the simple 5-letter monosyllabic word
C.E.A.S.E.    Each of the 5 individual letters expresses what are termed the “Non-negotiables”— meaning that these
actions in and of themselves are intrinsically evil, seriously sinful and offensive to God the Creator, damaging to the individual as well as the common good of the society as a whole.  Let us aim to “ CEASE” the reality and promotion of these 5 intrinsically evil practices!
CLONING.    The human person should not come into
existence through biological engineering in a scientific laboratory uniting the
procreative material of some anonymous woman and some anonymous man, hoping for
the best results.  No!   The human person must come into existence
through the loving and mutual embrace of man and woman, husband and wife,
married sacramentally, from which results the conception of a human person with
an immortal soul and an eternal destiny!  
The end does not justify the means.
EUTHANASIA.   All human life is precious because human
life comes from God as one of His most precious gifts.    God gives life and only God has the right to
take life away.  Euthanasia, sometimes
termed “Mercy-killing” proposes ending lives that seem to be no longer
productive in the eyes of the world.  
Advanced Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson, prolonged dialysis—
these  degenerative, economically
burdensome conditions— according to the philosophy of Euthanasia merit
termination and extinction.  
Utilitarianism, a philosophy proposed by John Stuart Mill and Jeremy
Bentham in the mid- 19th century, maintained that the value of human
life was in direct proportion to economic wealth and prosperity.   Therefore infirm persons, aged and sick
people, retarded individuals have no real intrinsic value.  How contrary to the Gospel is this false
philosophical system.  Who were Jesus’
favorites?  The blind, sick, cripples,
lepers, the paralytics and the deaf and mute. 
 By the way, Jesus was not a rich
multi-millionaire.  Every person has
intrinsic value by his mere existence being created by God in His image and
likeness and destined for eternal glory.
ABORTION.   The primary criteria that should motivate
all followers of Jesus in the casting of the vote should be the posture on
human life from its inception.  Abortion
is the taking of the life of an innocent baby. Murder, killing, infanticide,
are other words for this atrocious reality.  
The saddest moment in the history of the United States of America
happened Jan 22, 1973 with the Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, in which
abortion—the killing of innocent babies from the 1st term up to 9
months– was legalized.  Close to 52
million babies have been murdered since. 
Stats are hard to calculate with perfection but more than a million a
year, about 4000 a day and close to every 20 seconds a baby is killed.   None of us wants to go before Jesus the
Judge on our day of judgment and have the blood of innocent babies on our
hands, mind, hearts, consciences and souls.  
For the love of God, your family, nation and eternal salvation, cast the
vote to defend the unborn.   Remember the
word of the Founding Fathers in the Constitution:  “Every individual is endowed with inalienable
rights of LIFE , liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  God is the origin and source of life and only
He has the right to end life.
SAME SEX MARRIAGE.   The future of the society depends on the primary fundamental and basic “mini-society” that we call family.  Blessed Pope John Paul II stated that the family is the basic cell of society and that the society depends on the
solidity of the family.  An authentic family is composed of man and woman, husband and wife, married sacramentally
with the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony for the purpose of procreating children and raising them as noble citizens for this world and the kingdom of heaven.  Two women living together, or two men living together cannot be called a family, much less if they were to adopt children.   In the beginning God created man and woman and for that reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and what God has united let no man rent asunder.  It was “Adam and Eve” and not “Adam and Steve!”
EMBRYONIC CELL EXPERIMENTATION.   Babies being created in the context of scientific
laboratories, once again is against the Natural Law as well as the Divine
Law.  We reiterate: the means by which human life comes into existence is through the mutual and loving embrace of the
man and woman, husband and wife in the conjugal act, from which conception is
achieved and at the same time Almighty God infuses an immortal soul.  Such unnatural concoctions such as egg and
sperm donation, fusion and conception, then freezing in refrigerators and
trying to determine which baby should be implanted and others discarded highly
offends God the Creator as well as the dignity of the human person.
In conclusion, take as moral guide for voting this simple and clear acronym: C.E.A.S.E.— meaning, we desire that
all of these intrinsically immoral practices, “the non-negotiables” be eliminated from the face of the earth. 
Cease fire; cease to exist these moral evils!  
Let us pray to the Lord of Life  for the following, May…..
CLONING!  Cease to exist!
EUTHANASIA!  Cease to exist!
ABORTION! Cease to exist!
SAME-SEX-MARRIAGES!  Cease to exist!
EMBRYONIC STEM-CELL RESEARCH!  Cease to exist!
May your vote be a determining factor to foster the Gospel of life and end the Culture of death. May Our Lady who said
“yes” to life intercede for us, our families, our country and the salvation of the world.  “Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

 

 

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RAVENOUS WOLVES TAMED BY THE SHEPHERD

Above all our battle is not with flesh and blood but against the evil spirits intent upon our destruction and eternal ruin.  Spiritual weapons must be armed and used for battle: prayer, penance, Confession, the Most Holy Eucharist, Marian Devotion, and knowledge of the Ignatian Rules for discernment. 

Nonetheless practical steps must be undertaken to prevent the ravenous wolf of pornography from entering our homes,
our families, ourselves, our children and wreaking disaster.  In other words, we must marshal forth the
spiritual and the practical in a harmonious whole.
In two prior articles we highlighted
the effects of pornography and the spiritual means to conquer this ravenous
wolf; now we will present practical steps that parents can take to help
themselves in this fight, but especially in aiding the sheep of their flock
from the invasion, penetration and devastation of this ugly and ravenous wolf
of pornography.
Indeed Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of his flock. Furthermore, we are called to be the Good
Shepherds to the flock—the children and teens—that God has entrusted to our
care for the protection and salvation of their immortal souls.   The Good Shepherd knows His sheep, knows
their voice and is even willing to lay down his life for all of his sheep as
well as each one individually. The following must be the strategy or game plan
for parents as Good Shepherds to their flock.
1.   VIGILANCE!  A constant vigilance and awareness of the
omnipresent enemy on the lurch who is ready to attack. St. Peter compares the
devil to a lion roaming around looking and waiting for the moment to
attack.  Parents must not live in fear,
tension, with stress and anxiety. But on the other hand, they must not be naïve
into thinking that their children are invulnerable and beyond temptation. In
this valley of tears nobody is immune from the assaults of the devil, the flesh
and the world. These three negative forces can be launched with respect to porn.  Lust comes from being sons and daughters of
Adam and Eve. The devil lies and seduces us into believing we have a right to
eat from the forbidden fruit; the world promises us true happiness is this
life— all these can be applied to the searching out of pornography. Jesus
warned us: “Stay awake and pray for we know neither the day nor the hour. For
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

2.   RELOCATE COMPUTER.   Logistics have great importance.  A teen that has a computer or lap-top in the
quiet of his room has the easiest access to Internet porn, if not during the
evening hours then he does in the early hours of the morning. Disconnecting the
computer and locating it in a public place— for example, right next to the
kitchen, where everybody moves about freely—can be of enormous help to deter
and prevent seeking out porn.

3.   COMPUTER FILTER.  Another positive suggestion would be that of
subscribing to a Computer filter that serves to “filter” and block out immoral smut
which we call pornography. There are various, but one that could be subscribed
to at a relatively low price would be SAFEEYES.COM.  Do it! It could save your sheep from the
wolf!

4.   SUPERVISION OF COMPUTER USE.   Good Shepherds that you are called to be,
parents could assign specific blocks of time in which their son/daughter would
be using the computer and be actually supervising the time and use.  Mom might be cooking and looking over her
shoulder at the same time.  Never forget
that pornography is a solitary sin that is done in the darkness. Jesus said it
clearly that sins are chosen to be done in darkness. Judas left Jesus and
rushed out into the darkness to betray the Lord.

5.   FRIENDS? Parents must keep tabs of the friends of their children.  There are many definitions of what a friend
is. (Many of these definitions I believe are false; these are pseudo-friends.)
A true friend is one in whose company and after he has spent time with this
friend has become a better, more pure, more holy, and more pleasing to God.  At home parents have a greater control on
their children, but outside it is a moral free-for all!  Therefore parents must know the caliber and
quality of their kid’s friends. A bad friend can prove catastrophic to your son’s
life!

6.   VISITS TO OTHER HOMES.   Following up on the concept of “Friendship”,
parents should not allow their teen son/daughter to visit casually and freely
alien and unknown homes. Why?  For the simple reason that in your home you might have set up the most disciplined
environment in town; whereas, in another home all is permitted!  Lewd magazines, cable, free access to the
internet and unsupervised T.V programs— all of these might be free of charge
in your son/daughter’s visit to their “Friend’s” house.  Why launch your child into the den of the
lions and wolves????

7.   CELL-PHONE/ “Smart-phone”/ Internet access. ‘ What is to be said now is highly explosive if ordered to many teens: no
cell-phone with access to the Internet. Why? Simple! In the free hours at anytime and anywhere your son/daughter
can access porn. Worse yet, they can pass on porn to countless numbers of
people throughout the whole world. Worse yet, your daughter can send indecent
messages of self. Once done and sent such a message can never, never, never,
never, be retrieved— meaning that your daughter can be labeled as cheap for
the rest of her life. This can jeopardize ongoing education, profession as well
as her future vocation in life. Parents be wise and Good Shepherds to the sheep
of your flock!

8.   SUPERVISION/ACCOUNTABILITY.  Parents, check-up frequently on exactly what
your teens are downloading and viewing. 
In all we have written remember this: much better preventive medicine
rather than curative medicine. In other words, much better to prevent your
young from falling into the mire and mud of pornography than to pull them out
of the polluted quicksand!

9.   SCREEN-SAVER!  Although it may seem to be of little importance, still placing a
Screen-saver with the picture of Jesus, Mary, the Angels and the saints or a
combination of the above can be of great utility. Why? St Teresa of Avila
asserts that one of the principle reasons why we sin is that we forget the
presence of God. If we know that an All-loving, all-kind, as well as an
All-just God is carefully peering down on all of our actions, this can prevent
us from eating the forbidden fruit of pornography.  Remember the Psalm:  “If I scale the highest heights of the mountain,
you are there; if I plummet to the depths of the sea, still you are there. Even
in the darkest moments of the night, You O Lord see me as if the sun were
beaming down on me at midday!”
10. COMPASSION AND MERCY!  If parents have discovered their teen is involved in the use of pornography, the worst thing would be to get angry and yell at him/her.  On the contrary, as  a Good and loving Shepherds to your wounded sheep now it is time to work on education, healing, open communication and team-work collaboration. In unity there is strength.  The devil loves to do all in the dark— the same with respect to pornography!  If this is brought into the light then spiritual as well as practical measures can be undertaken to heal, correct and save in time and in eternity.

 

Let us lift our eyes to Mary most holy and St Joseph her most chaste spouse and beg that she will cover  our minds, hearts, souls, children and our families with her most pure and powerful mantle of protection. O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee.       
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RAVENOUS WOLVES ON THE LOOSE: PORN, PART II—THE REMEDY!

God allows evil because He respects our free will, but God can always bring a greater good out of the evil that we do.  St. Augustine experienced this in his life. Half of his life was given over to pride and sensual pleasure. The second half of his life—after his conversion to the love of Christ—was given over to abundant fruits of holiness.  After his conversion Augustine coined the immortal phrase:  “Oh happy fault of Adam and Eve that resulted in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior.”   The sin of Adam and Eve was nothing less than a catastrophe, but the coming of Christ, His life, death and Resurrection (The Paschal Mystery) far superseded the evil of the Original Sin.

Similarly the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints if they simply have a limitless trust in the mercy of Christ. This is the beautiful teaching of Jesus in the modern spiritual classic of St Faustina  “The Diary of Divine Mercy in my Soul.”
Consequently, those who have fallen into the mire and filth of the Pornographic cesspool can reap fruits of salvation and redemption. Man, by his very nature is the epitome of fragility and weakness; we are made of clay as the prophet asserts. However, one of God’s attributes is that of His OMNIPOTENCE— this means very simply that God indeed is “All-powerful.”  There is nothing that goes beyond the Almighty, all-encompassing and all-embracing power of God.  Jesus said that  for man it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.  God indeed can move the mountains—of our greatest sins.   The Psalmist expresses the same concept:  “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth…”  As well as, “The Lord is my Shepherd there is nothing I shall want… (Psalm 23). St Paul reiterates this, “If the Lord is with
us who can be against us and, Paul also stated, “That when I am weak it is then that I am strong.”
All this being said, we must look up confidently to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, but also He is our Savior, Redeemer, our Rock, but most especially Jesus is our Doctor, Healer, the “Divine Physician” of body and soul!
SPIRITUAL STRATEGY TO CONQUER THE WOLF OF PORN
1.   HUMBLE ADMISSION.  Unfortunately many macho men blurt out to justify and to rationalize porn and other acts of immorality saying:  “Well men will be men; boys will be boys.”  This means that given that they are male then porn and sexual immorality is permissible. Wrong!  Two commandments  command  purity: the sixth and the ninth.  “Thou shall not commit adultery” and “thou
shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife.”  This applies to men and women. 
Also, one of the Beatitudes is: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they will
see God.”  (Mt 5:8) A pre-condition for
holiness, sanctification and salvation is purity for all men, women, boys,
girls, young or old, married or unmarried. No exceptions!

2.   CONFESSION!  Sin is moral sickness. It is indeed
infirmity. Sick people must admit their sickness and have recourse to doctors.  Spiritually sick people— sinners, and we all
fall into this category—must have recourse to the Spiritual doctor and that is
Jesus the Healer present in the person of the priest in the place called the
confessional.   There is a Spanish
proverb:  “No worse blind person than he
who does not want to see; no worse deaf person than he who does not want to
hear.”  This simply means that denial of
sin, rationalizing guilt will get us nowhere except profound depression,
anxiety and vicious habits!  We must admit
our problem with porn and bring it to Jesus the doctor in the confessional.
Jesus heals, saves, supports, encourages and strengthens us for the battle of
life to gain heaven.

3.   HUMILITY, PATIENCE AND TRUST IN HIS
MERCY.   Sacramental theology teaches a
principle called, “The Principle of graduality”.  This means that we cannot always overcome a
bad habit or vice immediately, but it takes time, human effort, but especially
the grace of God. One might have recourse to confession and fall. However, one
fall in a week is better than two falls every day! In pursuit of holiness God
allows weaknesses and falls so that we grow in humility, self-knowledge and
awareness and training for the spiritual battle.

4.   PRAYER!  Prayer is called the weakness of God and the
strength of man. Of course God is never weak, but He gives in to our constant
begging. Bartimeus the blind beggar recovered his sight precisely for this
reason: he kept begging and insisting— almost to the point of being a
nuisance—that Jesus might grant him what he desired, his sight. Addictions, especially to porn, must be
overcome by humble, constant, persistent, and confident prayer to the Lord of
the Universe. Remember what Jesus said: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be open.” (Mt 7:7)

5.   PENANCE.   On one occasion the Apostles asked Jesus why
they could not cast out the devils and Jesus said that only through prayer and
fasting would they be able to do it! 
Behind porn the devil is indeed present— seducing, lying, alluring and
deceiving; all of these are maneuvers of the devil, who Jesus said is a liar
and a murderer form the beginning. (Jn. 8). Therefore, establishing a
discipline of penance, mortification, or fasting can be another key weapon in
the conquering the enemy of porn.

6.   SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND STATE OF DESOLATION. The genius of St. Ignatius
of Loyola is bequeathing to the Church the Spiritual Exercises, the Jesuits,
thousands of letters of rich spiritual insight.  Still more, Ignatius bequeathed to the Church and the world at large
Rules for discerning the spirits.  The bad spirit and his suggestions must be rejected manfully and quickly; the good
spirit with his inspirations should be received.  In the context of the rules issues forth a
key concept: DESOLATION!  Desolation defined is when the soul feels sad, depressed, lack of peace, inclination to
low things—sensuality—lack of faith, hope and charity. And it is precisely in
this state of soul that the devil strives to attack us with temptations and he
knows our weakness; it is precisely in these moments of temptation that many
are prone to have recourse to the lie of porn, to give in to creature-comfort
and illicit pleasure that we call pornography.  All are prone to the state of desolation and it is in that moment that
we must make the decision to turn to God and seek His defense and strength
rather than to capitulate to the devil of porn. Spiritual life indeed is a constant
battle, but God is stronger than our weakness.

 

7.   LOVE FOR JESUS AND MARY.  Indeed porn is a false-god, an idol, the Bronze calf of the day.  A key element in conquering this sin is to get to know, love and grow in Friendship with Jesus.  In this Year of faith, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI challenges all to discovering a real and personal encounter with Jesus.  St Peter walked on the water when he had his eyes fixed on the eyes of Jesus, but when he lifted his gaze he sunk in the cold waters.  We too must not focus on anyone nor anything in our lives except Jesus, His will, and His Friendship. If not we will sink into the muddy and almost inextricable muds of porn. Jesus must be my Way, Truth, Life and constant Friend and Companion on the Highway to heaven!

 

 

 

We have outlined a “Spiritual strategy” to conquer the enemy of Pornography. In the following article, we will present practical steps for a proper use of the Computer and the Internet— both the spiritual and the practical steps must be applied.
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