Purity - how

  • Thread starter Thread starter Januar
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Januar

Guest
Hello,

I am trying to reach purity (no self gratification) for almost three years now. My record is a bit less than two months.I would be happy if those of you who have had the same battles as I do and eventualy won, would write some tips on how to fight this battle of yours and how to know if I’m still on the right path or not. I envy all of you who live a pure life. Ever since I started to try and live a good catholic life, I wanted to be one of those who will always stay pure because of the Kingdom. It seems to me that this is impossible for me… I’m having really bad time fighting tempations. How did you do it? How could you pray and eventualy not to do what you actually wanted (well your flesh wanted it)? Did you know when your battles were over? How did you know? When you tried to live pure (with “This time for good” in your mind) and that feeling of motivation (feeling God close to you) was taken from you, how did you keep motivated? Some people say that they are sticking to it, because the fear of hell. I must say, that fear hasn’t done anything good for me… not a thing. Not long ago, someone posted a thread on this forum “5 out of 33,000 saved”, that is no motivation for me, fear does not motivate me, it takes my hope away. Please explain to me how was your last try that led to freedom different from the other attempts? How was your relationship with God different ? anything… please. I might have forgot to ask some of the questions that I wanted, but please, go beyond my questions and I hope that God will speak to me through your replys.

Oh, by the way, I go to mass almost every day (sometimes I am unable to go) and I go to confession at least once in a month.

Thank you so much!
 
It would be helpful if you tell us what you are already doing, are you doing anything to directly combat the flesh for example?

The war against the flesh is never over until the flesh returns to the dust from whence it came.
 
Purity can be a very difficult thing to achieve in regards to self-gratification; many people struggle with this in their respective quest to find God and live in their faith. Temptation is difficult; pray the Our Father and truly reflect on the last few lines: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Pray a Chaplet and or a Rosary. Whenever you feel that you are close to losing purity in a moment of “self gratification” as you state, just pray or call out for mercy. It can be difficult-I have struggled with similar issues. We are not perfect. Don’t do things out of fear but out of love for God. But just know that God will judge us all in the end; we are all sinners, but we have to strive and know that God is there to help us. Maybe find a devotion to a particular saint. I love Padre Pio very much; but be sure to find your own devotion if you feel the need. Hope this helps and that all works out. Just remember that with God anything is possible if it is in the will of God.

I cannot really help you though much more; it is a journey you need to figure out to the best of your ability and with the relationship you have with God. Overcoming struggles in life is not something that happens in a day or a week or a year; it is a lifetime since we are always able to sin in free will. Don’t take that as a challenge but an opportunity to show your love for God.

I might also add that reading theology would be a great idea. Augustine’s Confessions, Free Choice of the will, and Aquinas would be great. Of course, the Bible is probably your best bet for finding truth. But Augustine’s Confessions really deals with the specficis of temptation and working towards purity.

Tolle Lege, Tolle Lege: “Take up and read! Take up and read!”
 
Milesius :
What am I doing already, to fight temptations ? Well, I pray for a clean heart and go to daily mas, reading the Bible and other books. I just read Theology of The Body (it’s a great book).

I tried to give all my tempations to God, so He can deal with them… so far that has worked really good.

Hmm, this isn’t really something that directly fights the flesh right?

Thanks for your reply!

futurtheologian :
I can imagine that the fight lasts until a person dies, but there just must be some point of the battle where people can stop focusing only on purity and start improoving other parts of their lifes?

Thanks for your reply!
 
If you wish to defeat the flesh I advise you to attack the flesh directly.

Fasting, controlling your senses so that nothing can enter into you through them that might awaken the flesh to lust and keeping busy are the three primary ways to defeat the flesh.

Be sure to avoid gluttony and sloth as these two deadly sins strengthen the body so that it can defeat you and make you its slave.
 
Give up on the near occasion of the sin. Consider the near occasion the mortal sin of choosing to sin it is, since you always fall when you enter it.

Whatever entertainment you have that contains impurity, TV, magazines, etc. give up, throw away. This generally means giving up TV entirely, tossing it out.

Don’t think about the opposite gender, period. Put them aside.

Save the 3 Aves, morning and evening.

Identify the emotions that tempt you, that are near occasions or gateways towards impurity, and do not allow yourself to indulge in them or feel them any longer.

You likely have built in numerous bad habitual reactions that need to be retrained ultimately as well, with new emotional associations with the content in your mind instead of the temptation associations.
 
Shin, what did you mean by “Save 3 aves”? I don’t understand that, I’m sorry.
 
Three Ave Marias, morning and night, are a long term tried and true help in matters of purity.

I mean to write ‘say the 3’.
 
Do you think I should make some sort of praying schedule which I’d keep no matter if I am motivated or not? Any suggestions what to include?
 
Yes.

One should pray well before temptation and during it too.

You should try to do the 3 Aves, and the daily rosary. You’ll need more, but at least these.

There are many other good prayers, some short, some long… The devotion to Our Lady’s 7 Dolors… the Green Scapular prayer… the Miraculous Medal prayer… the St. Joseph Archconfraternity prayer… the Angelic Chaplet of St. Michael… the St. Gertrude the Great Prayer… the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget… 😃

Increasing the prayer life to continual prayer being a goal of the spiritual life, it’s safe to say, a person when praying properly is safe, when not, is not.

There’s the Pieta prayer booklet, and the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget prayer booklet and these are inexpensive and generally helpful.

You need to pray from the heart.
 
‘Without prayer it is impossible to resist temptations and to keep the commandments.’

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top