Keep praying. Keep going to confession. Fast. Give alms. Do penance.
Exercise!
Get that energy out.
And understand. Understand that temptations will not go away.
With regard to temptations in the everyday world, there are usually enough distractions that the temptations don’t really bother me then. That wasn’t always the case. But for the most part, that is not where I have my troubles.
I used to struggle with lust a lot more than I do now. Mostly the temptations come to me when I lie down to go to sleep. They don’t come as often as they used to. I came to the realization that when I indulged these sexual thoughts, I was sinning against Jesus Christ in the women I was thinking about. God made men and women in His image and likeness. It’s a sin against the image of God.
Don’t look. If you’re flipping the channels and you see a half-naked woman, or worse, a Paris Hilton burger ad, change the channel. Look away. When you are at the grocery store, reward yourself with a candybar if you can make it to the cashier without looking at Shannon Elizabeth wearing next to nothing on the cover of some soft-core porn magazine.
Understand. Understand that if you objectify women in your heart, you will objectify them in your actions. Understand that you are invading the marriage covenant these women will make with their future husbands by commiting adultery with them in your heart.
Pray when you are not being tempted. Get to know the Lord. Spend more time with him and the temptations will decrease.
Know the difference! If an image of something sexual or pornographic comes into your mind, that’s biology. If you dwell on it, that’s lust. Don’t punish yourself for your biology. That can lead to frustration.
Surrender. You have concupiscence. Our souls are restless until they rest in the Lord. The most effective thing I do when I am faced with these temptations when I’m trying to go to sleep is that I remove myself IMMEDIATELY from the mental temptation. I say “no” to it (not out loud, but a very firm mental “no.” This is so very, very important. You MUST reject it. You have to forcefully send it away with a deliberate act of the will). I then focus on the face of Christ, pray for the person who has tempted me (she has a stake in this too, I don’t want my sin to bring a “woe” upon my temptress: Matt. 18:7 “Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!”), and picture myself as a child in Christ’s arms. I ask the Lord for mercy that I be allowed to fall asleep easily and soon. And I wake up the next day.
But don’t let your mind rationalize the sin. There are several major things going on in the lust (not when you are tempted, but when you indulge the temptations)…
- you are rejecting God
- you are wounding (venial) or entirely cutting off (mortal) God’s grace within you
- you are adding gravity to her sin if she indeed intentionally tempted you ("…woe to the one through whom they come")
- you are conditioning yourself to repeat this behavior
- you are preparing yourself to externalize this behavior
Confession! Pray! Fast! Give alms! Exercise! Rosary! Pick up the Bible and read your favorite verse! And don’t forget about that deliberate act of the will to send the temptation away. Ask the Mother of God to strike at the head of the beast that tempts you, protect you, and drive evil far from you. She has that power.
I hope that helps.