I would eliminate any form of media that de-sensitizes you to sexual immorality. Do you watch any television shows or movies that glorify fornication or show people immodestly dressed or engaging in acts that you wouldn’t, yourself, do before you are married? Do you read any magazines that contain advertisements showing partially-dressed women? Do you spend time with people who talk about sexual immorality lightly? Do you listen to secular music?
Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to chastity then just refraining from sexual acts in your own life. Chastity is also about our thoughts. What we allow into our minds through our eyes and ears all has an enormous impact on how we think.
Just look at our society, 20 years ago. Homosexual acts were still pretty socially unacceptable, but as the media has increasingly portrayed homosexual “relationships” as being acceptable on television, our society is quickly becoming de-sensitized to the sheer repulsiveness of sodomy…an act so heinous that it had entire cities burned to the ground during biblical times.
I, personally, came from an especially un-chaste past before I converted to the faith. Here are some of things I do to help myself grow in chastity (I’m a long ways from perfect, but maybe this can at least be a starting point for you!)
- No cable connection (my television set is hooked directly to my computer and I have a wireless keyboard so I can stream good Catholic content such as Mother Angelica, Michael Voris, etc… over the internet and watch it from the dinner table, while cleaning, etc…)
- No movies that I wouldn’t want a young child watching (if something is bad for a child, then why is it OK for an adult? I try to avoid not only movies that contain sexual immorality, but also movies that have profanity… as you can imagine my movie shelf is quite compact
)
- Avoid looking at women while in public. Even if they are not flagrantly immodest in dress, once you start trying to be chaste you are going to find that Satan is going to work all that much harder to drag you back into sin (expect that even women who are dressed in average clothing will start to become a source of temptation). If you can avoid the first glance then that’s great, but at the very least stop yourself from looking back for a second. Pray a Hail Mary as soon as you feel yourself being overcome with desire, our Holy Mother will help you!
- Daily rosary! This one is very important. No matter how busy your day is, make sure to pray your rosary daily (there are huge promises attached to doing so).
- No secular music. I’ll listen to the local christian radio station while in the car… sometimes, though, silence is just nice!
God bless, and don’t feel overwhelmed by any of this. I know this seems like I am suggesting that you “disconnect” yourself from society (and, in fact, that is exactly what I am suggesting). I promise, however, that this life will be so much more satisfying and joy-filled then one that is still immersed in the world. Satan will use fear to try to hold you to worldly attachments, but please focus on how the Saints live their lives and don’t see this as being an insurmountable task (focus on prayer and personal holiness, God will take care of the miracles!) To quote a Saint:
