Lust is a most fierce enemy, that stains our souls, defiles our bodies, and ruins our neighbor

November 11, 2021 • 2 min

From The Sinner’s Guide, page 344
By Venerable Louis of Granada

CHAPTER XXXII.

REMEDIES AGAINST LUST.

SECTION I.

General Remedies.

Lust is an inordinate desire of unlawful pleasures. It is a vice most widely spread in the world; one that is most violent in its attacks, most insatiable in its cravings.

Hence St. Augustine says that the severest warfare which a Christian has to maintain is that in defence of chastity, for such combats are frequent, and victories rare.

Whenever you are assailed by this shameful vice resist it with the following considerations:

Remember, first, that this disorder not only stains your soul, purified by the Blood of Christ, but defiles your body, in which the thrice holy Body of Christ has been placed, as in a shrine.

If it be a sacrilege to defile a material temple dedicated to God’s service, what must it be to profane this living temple, which God has chosen for His dwelling?

For this reason the Apostle tells us: “Fly fornication. Every sin that a man doth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” [1 Cor. vi. 18.]

Consider, secondly, that this deplorable vice necessarily involves scandal to numerous souls and the spiritual ruin of all who participate in your crime.

This thought will cause the sinner to suffer the greatest remorse at the hour of death; for if in the Old Law God required a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, [Exod. xxi. 23, 24.] what satisfaction can be offered Him for the destruction of so many souls, purchased at the price of His Blood?