I need advice on "sins of the flesh"

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WalkWithMe123

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Thank you for taking the time to look at this. I am Catholic, and struggling with masturbation & pornography. I am at the point when I am aware it is wrong, and want desperately to stop, but it is overwhelming. I can make it 3-5 days after confession and then sin overpowers me. I need advice on how to stop this. I go to daily mass, confession weekly (for this very purpose) and am very much trying to have a personal relationship with Christ. All advice is welcome. Please help a young man who is falling.
 
WalkWithMe123 said:
Thank you for taking the time to look at this. I am 16, Catholic, and struggling with masturbation & pornography. I am at the point when I am aware it is wrong, and want desperately to stop, but it is overwhelming. I can make it 3-5 days after confession and then sin overpowers me. I need advice on how to stop this. I go to daily mass, confession weekly (for this very purpose) and am very much trying to have a personal relationship with Christ. All advice is welcome. Please help a young man who is falling.
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I believe you will find this post helpful, and it contains sites about Catholic support group called True Knights that give the help you need.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=43927

God bless you for seeking help. It is the Holy Spirit who is leading you to be aware that you need to be free of this.
 
I just tried those sites that were in that post, and it doesn’t bring one to where I thought it would. I’ll see if I can find out more. It was from an older thread.
 
Also, meditate on the Passion and on the Scourging at the pillar, because Christ endured that because of impurity. Have you seen the movie the Passion of the Christ?

God bless
 
A few suggestions, quick and to the point. As you seem to be knowledgeable in the faith I don’t think you need a lengthy sermon on this, so here are a just a few possibly helpful tips.

First, the rosary. It is our greatest weapon against sin. As was stated above, the scourging at the pillar, and the sorrowful mysteries in general, are great to meditate on when trying to overcome sins of the flesh. If you’d like, say a whole rosary with only the sorrowful mysteries. They help us to realize the consequences of our sins, help us to be sorry for them, and help us to thank Christ for his redemptive suffering.

Now, you seem to be a devout Catholic, so maybe you have tried / are using the rosary and still need more help. Try mortification. A minute of cold water at the beginning of your shower can be a great help. It is uncomfortable but not painful or harmful. This teaches us to deny our flesh and overcome our urges.

Third, develop a relationship with a saint who can pray to Christ for you. I recommend St. Jude the Apostle. He is the patron saint of hopeless causes, and struggling to overcome addictions can often feel very hopeless. He is a loving and powerful intercessor!

Lastly, though you probably know this, read from scripture every day!

Good luck, and my prayers to you!
 
Hello WalkWithMe. Even though I don’t know you, I have a lot of hope for you regarding this because you are humble enough to acknowledge your sin and your need for help. Humility is a powerful weapon against the devil and his temptations.

Obviously keep praying-- whenever the temptation comes on, ask God immediately for the grace to resist. Pray to Our Lady and also St. Joseph, a model of manly purity. Receive Communion (worthily) as often as you can, and spend time before the tabernacle – let Christ be near you to strengthen you. Offer up your struggle and your sacrifice in union with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, thus turning your trial into a powerful act of worship. Meditate often on the crucifix and how much Jesus LOVES YOU personally! You need to resolve to love Him in return, far more than any pleasure – He is well worth it. Think of these temptations as God’s invitation for you to prove your love for Him-- each time you resist, you will grow in grace and your soul will be all the more beautiful in His sight. He’s allowing you to be tempted only to draw you closer to Him.

Some more spiritual suggestions: Confess frequently with a firm resolve to commit the sin NO MORE. Reflect on the lives of the saints, especially the martyrs who submitted to torture and death rather than turn away from God (consider, for example, the story of St. Maria Goretti).

Some practical suggestions – you have to condition your body to go without this sin. As you successfully resist, this will (over time) become easier to do. You must IMMEDIATELY dispose of any pornography still in your possession. If you have to, try not to be alone (or to use your computer when alone) if it’s a source of temptation. Be careful what shows and movies you watch… Try to find other outlets for your energies – sports or exercise, for example. If you feel the urge come on, immediately fold your hands in prayer.

Believe me, this struggle can be for the glory of God. And few things are more precious to God than purity.

Best wishes to you, my friend. Keep believing and never give up hope. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
 
I notice you posted two different threads an hour apart. Anyway, I am surprised as many times as you have confessed, that the priest didn’t take this to heart, see the necessity in more talk, perhaps counsel you with helpful spiritual advice and guidance w/o having to wait and go online.

It takes concentration. When urges come about, ask St. Michael the Archangel. He is the Commander of God’s army and the war-cry of the good angels in battle against Satan and his army. He answers all our battles against God, even temptation. Just concentrate on him and he will fight it for you. You will notice a sudden change and you will feel differently.

Also, ask the Saints, as they are a great help as well. They have fought the good fight and made it to Heaven, and are also in the best position to help, b/c they can intercede before God on our behalf - all we have to do is ask! :crossrc:

All prayers go to God. Asking the saints to pray for us is no different than asking a friend or relative to pray for us. The saints have a special “in” with God by virtue of having made it to God’s Kingdom in Heaven.

These saints have a particular insight for helping those struggling with pornography, lust and impurity - here is a good page to guide you with that. You see, there are so many ways to be free.! :extrahappy: It just takes CONCENTRATION.

Instead of concentrating on the sin, concentrate on pleasing God and how happy it makes Him feel, and your desires will miraculously fade away b/c you don’t want to make God sad. But you must WANT to do it. You CAN do it. 👍 :yeah_me:

Sincerely:blessyou:,
CA
 
Masturbation Negates the God-given Telos of Sex in a Formless Anomie of Schizophreniform Disassociation…

Imbibe the blood-bought wisdom of Augustine: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

Know, the quicker you outgrow these irrational appetites of the flesh, the sooner and closer you shall draw to God. Irrational passions separate us from our existential Center, Who is God, the Center satisfying all desires in Super-Natural Happiness.

Even Naturally, Youthful Hedonism and Sensuality delivers a Worn-Out and Wasted Body to Old Age.

Remember, the sensual egoistic indulgence in unnatural sexual vice closes us off to the Presence of God in particular–as our sexuality is an intimate soul-space revealing the spiritual purity of the “Eye of the Heart”, the “Heart-Intellect”, our cross-way to God, where we can either seriously profane, or seriously revere the God and Source Who created us.

Remember in your Intellect the meaning of Human Love, the Telos (inner purpose) created by God for each bodily organ in His Created Order; and ultimate Christian Love as Agape, or Infinite, Self-Forgetting God-Love. Contrast Acts of Selfish Pleasure with Acts of Christly Agape in your mind.

Remember,egocentric, fleshliness-contaminated acts only solidify yourself in Lasciviousness and Impurity of Heart; and meditate on the Heroicalness of Virtue of the Saints. Saint Anthony the Monk as Combatant against Demons, or the Cistercian-inspired Templarian Soldier-Monks of olden days…

Know the Highest Happiness and Joy are only found in Acts of Pure Agapic Selflessness. The more Selfless and Christly you act, the more internally pacific (at peace) and deeply Happy you shall be.

Sensual pleasures are counterfeit, fake pleasures of daemonic ego-delusion and unmindful enslavement to the lower passions. The more you liberate yourself from passion-bound sensuality, the greater Liberty of Soul and Nobility of Soul shall be your reward.

Passions are the internal movements of the soul making us unheroically PASSIVE within our Spirituality, instead of ACTIVE determiners of our own personal life-path and Spiritual Ascension.

Making your Home in the Kingdom of Sensuality inevitably necessitates Spiritual Death in the Kingdom of Sorrow.

Reflect: if sensual pleasure constituted True Happiness, animals would be necessarily Happier than Man. Our Happiness is lodged in the Soul, while the Flesh is the Grave of the Soul.

Real and Substantial Pleasure is indissolubly interwoven with Spiritual Wisdom and Virtue.

Jesus was offered all the Present Kingdoms of this World-Aeon and their Associated Excesses by the Devil, who tempts us in Slavery to the Senses; but Jesus knew acceptance of them meant Unmanning Himself, Debasing Himself, Deserting His Own Soul.

The more there exists Misuse of your God-created bodily form in Sensualist errors, the more you Encoffin the Soul.

Drinking the Cup of Sensual Pleasure always carries Poison in the dregs…

Remember again the Telos or Teleology of Human Sexuality Implanted by God as a sacred gift for our good, and His larger overarching design. Sexuality exists in us for generative fecundity and the union of male-female complementary polarities in transcendent embrace.

Sexuality can exist in type of Isolation legitimately, but only as Ascesis of Chastity as the Gateway to the Over-World, or Heaven; and even Godly Marriage is a “Remembrance of Divine Love.”

Severing the Sexual self from its own intrinsic God-Ordained Telos in Isolated Acts of Dissociated Concupiscence * subordinates the Spirit to the Flesh in Soul-Dysfunction.

Sexuality must Prayerfully remain within the Transcendence of God, interpenetrating the Spiritual Order. Dostoevsky said: “When God is dead, everything is permitted.” Anarcho-Nihilist Negation of God equals Self-Murder in Essence.

Purified Innocence of Sexuality leads the way to Primordial Paradisal Bliss.*
 
There is a book you should get: Sayings of the Desert Fathers. You can find it on Amazon, probably.

They lived from the 300s to the 500s, in Egypt and elsewhere in the middle east. They write a lot about chastity. Some of the Desert hermits were women who had spent the first part of their lives as prostitutes, so they knew about sex and the power of sex.

You’re not alone in this. St. Augustine addresses it in his writings. The important thing is not to let the devil convince you that wrong is right. This is a strong temptation when we’re struggling, and the world always tells us to give up our struggle, that there is nothing really sinful about sin. As long as you keep the eternal word of God before you, accept the teaching of the Church, and pray, there is hope!

You are like a boxer, conditioning himself for combat. Even if you lose one match, there is another which you may win tomorrow! Remember, every time you refuse to give in to the temptation, you defeat the devils and heaven rejoices! Every time you refuse to entertain wicked thoughts, you become a little stronger.

God bless you always, brother!
 
The Philokalia is an INDISPENSABLE war-manual in spiritual combat. No punches are pulled with the ancient Desert-Fathers, especially in matters relating to the fallen flesh and sexual sin, and I consider each of these desert-fathers a wise Warlord of Spiritual Militancy.

The Ascetical writings of Isaac of Nineveh, or Isaac Syrus, are also wonderful battle-texts. Here is a half-decent translation:

archive.org/stream/IsaacOfNinevehMysticTreatises/isaac_of_nineveh_mystical_treatises_djvu.txt

~Modern Catholics simply seem, and probably actually do, lack the fiery idealism and ascetic, warrior-like passion of the ancient Desert Fathers!

Are there any modern Catholic figures of kindred fiery spirituality of martial, unflinching, arctic-ice-pure asceticism?
 
Hi ,I had the same struggle you had my brother.B79 gives a good advise. What I did was repented . First pray to Jesus and Mary to help you . Destroy all negative / evil materials you have movies ( anything that show flesh or flithly words ) , music , games , books and etc…Jesus said He respects those who respect the pupil of their eye.Make an altar at home have a crucifix , a bible , a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus .Divine Mercy picture ,Picture of our Blessed Mother or Statue.St Michael the Arc Angel and Favorite saint .Holy water. Make Jesus and Mary be King and Queen of your Heart and Home.
Concencrate yourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary wear the brown scapular with the crucifix.Do mortification .Fast for at least 9 days,Pray your rosary ,read the bible or spiritual books especially the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and suffering of our Blessed mother.Change what you watch and listen .Be ready for this one the Enemy will discourage you and temp you strong .Remember he can’t make you commit the sin unless you give in.When he gives suggestion in your thoughts resist them by saying no and saying a Hail Mary slowly or Jesus I love you until he leave you alone.Fight back Jesus , Mother Mary and your Angel will be there have courage Brother.Hold on to your crucifix or scapular and resist him ,you will win .Keep doing this until you are free from his bondage.Our Blessed Mother intersession is so powerful .She really crushes the head of the demon.Be close to Her and Jesus in Adoration,and the Holy Tabernacle. Sorry for the jumble words.But this is very serious ,I was a slave for years and this battle can be won with Mortification ,Fast,determination ,commitment and your will but you need Jesus and Marys help to win this battle.So I made these steps

1)Pray to Jesus and Mary to help you (concencrate yourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary /brown scapular)
2)destroy evil materials
3)built an altar (pray there)/Bless your house/room holy water.Rosary
4)repent(mortification and fast)
5)respect yourself and your sisters
6)read bible ,spiritual books and movies(Keep your mind busy)
7)Go to Holy Mass and Adoration when you can.
8)keep praying and resists the enemy
9)See a priest get a blessing
10) don’t give up, if all thing fail do it again.Keep on knocking on heavens door harder

Jesus and Mary Loves You,I hope this Help .God Bless You Mike
 
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