Overcoming Vices/Building Virtue

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JLCecilia

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Anybody know some good resources for overcoming vices? I am constantly in ‘the box’ for gluttony, materialism and jealousy.

I LOVE the book of Sirach, but I have a hard time carrying God’s Word with me in my heart and putting it into practice. I work in a small office and one lady here brings in junk food on a daily basis. I am thin and don’t have any health issues (yet), but it’s just a personal discipline issue for me. I’ve even tried dedicating one hour at a time of fasting for special personal intentions, but it never seems to last. I always end up gorging myself till I’m sick.

Also having discipline issues in terms of money - just getting our debt paid down so we can really afford to do the things we want to. I’m unable to go shopping as I’d like, so I literally end up nickle-and-diming all my blow money on absolute junk.

In terms of jealousy - I struggle with depression and insecurity, so I get jealous when others are happy. Whenever they share good news I just start replaying all of the hardships of marriage and family life and being lonesome with no friends. I rarely laugh or smile and actually get somewhat annoyed at others’ joy or accomplishments.

My oldest is starting pre-school this year and I am going to be thrust into a whole new world of really having to deal graciously with others and crawling out from under my rock, not to mention, setting a better example for my children. I think my biggest obstacle is just seeing my mother’s decline and some of the insanely rude things she says and does - I do a lot of the same things that she does that make me so crazy. Every verbal exchange I have with others is like a challenge and for whatever reason I feel like I need to come out on top or correct the other person. Wish I could let go of this stuff.

Suggestions and prayers welcome. Thanks for reading and God Bless!
 
It sounds like you are half way there. You know what the problems are, you know what triggers these issues in you, so now you just need to find a way to fix it. Talk to Mother Mary, she has been a great help to me with my issues. And might I suggest a Therapist. I have one and she has been very helpful with working out the kinks and applying techniques.
Hope this helps
 
Listen to Fr. Rippenger’s sermons on the seven deadly sins at this link: sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html

He discusses Thomasin philosophy at length. He explains how the sins become vices, how they are related, and how to overcome vices with virtue.

It is all about grace. Prayer, the sacraments, and mortification are key.
 
You need to be humble and admit you need grace from God without which you can do nothing, and to pray for this grace before each of the temptations’ occasion, and during these temptations… and of course avoid the occasions as best is reasonable.

If you don’t have regular evening/morning/daily prayer, start that.

If at first you can’t resist and it’s biting off more than you can chew, aim for lesser results, and to make progress step by step.

In regards to eating, try to learn to eat for the nutritional value of food and the energy you need, not for pleasure. Find other spiritual pleasures to replace the temptation pleasures. Whatever they may be.
 
There are several books about spiritual combat: Introduction to the Devout Life, might be the best for you because he explains how to do mental prayer and how to use that to help you with bad habits. But Spiritual Combat is also extremely helpful, and St Francis de Sales, author of the Intro, carried it around with him in his pocket.

Overall, you need to pray, mental prayer rather than vocal prayer. You need to consider what you will do *instead *of engaging in the bad habit (like your co-worker brings out the junk food and you decide you will… deliver some papers to your boss, take a break and go outside, pray a decade of the Rosary, bring out your own healthy food to eat…). It’s all much more complicated than this extremely brief outline, and needs to be done leaning on God, and with the help of your Guardian Angel and with prayers from saints.

And decide which one to work on first, don’t try to work on all of them at the same time.
 
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