Chastity

“There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior’s Passion. In all my difficulties, I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ. In them I sleep secure. From them, I derive new life.”
St. Augustine

For Reflection:
Which one wound of Our Lord speaks most to my heart? How can meditation on this wound help me to fight off all of the temptations that assail me?

Chastity

“As soon as you are tempted to impurity, endeavor to think of the Passion of the Savior of the world and make the following act: ‘My God is nailed to a cross, and shall I consent to these unlawful pleasures?'”
St. Bernard

For Reflection:
To what extent do I meditate on the passion of Christ? How did His passion obtain for me the grace to resist temptation? Why, then, is meditation on His passion a good safeguard to all temptation including the temptation to impurity?
(See tomorrow’s Grace Line to see what specific aspect of Christ’s passion St. Augustine found effective in his fight against temptations of the flesh.)

Chastity

“Vigilance and prayer are the safeguards of chastity. ‘Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation (Mark 14:38).’ You should pray often and fervently to be preserved from temptations against purity, and for the grace to overcome them.”
St. John Baptist de la Salle

For Reflection:
To prayer and fasting, St. John Baptist de la Salle adds one more safeguard for chastity. What is it? How can I apply it?
(Tomorrow’s Grace Line adds yet another way to protect our chastity.)

Chastity

“Chastity is a virtue which we do not have strength to practice unless God gives it to us, and God does not give this strength except to someone who asks for it. But whoever prays for it will certainly obtain it.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori
For Reflection:
Do I really want to acquire the virtue of chastity? Why or why not? If not, what sin is hidden in this? If so, am I willing to pray for it?

Chastity

“He who has resolved to contend with his flesh and conquer it himself struggles in vain. For unless the Lord destroys the house of flesh and builds the house of the soul, the man who desires to destroy it has watched and fasted in vain.”
St. John Climacus

For Reflection:
How can I build “the house” of my soul so that I may overcome any temptation to sin against chastity? What are three specific ways I can employ beginning now?
(See tomorrow’s Grace Line for one saint’s suggestion.)

Chastity

“Lust served became a custom, and a custom not resisted became necessity.”
St. Augustine

For Reflection:
In this quote, St. Augustine gives us keen insight into the bondage of lust. How does it place us in chains? How can I specifically stop serving lust and start serving chastity?
(See tomorrow’s Grace Line for one suggestion.)

Chastity

“Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.”
St. Augustine

For Reflection:
What is the connection between what we look at and what we do? How is it that the eye is the messenger of the heart? What fills my eyes? How can religious artwork in my home and in my office, in my car and in my area of recreation help me to remain chaste?

Chastity

“Purity? They ask. And they smile. They are the very people who approach marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned minds. How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: this man reads the life of Jesus Christ.”
St. Josemaria Escriva
For Reflection:
Why does an unchaste life lead to “worn-out bodies” and “disillusioned minds?” Does my bearing and conversation speak of my relationship with Jesus Christ?
 

Chastity

“Guard your eyes that they may not look upon anything contrary to purity; your ears, that they may not listen to evil conversation; your mind, by banishing from it all suggestive thoughts; your heart, by stifling impure desires at their very birth.”
St. John Baptist de la Salle

For Reflection:
How may I apply this sound advice to my life?