Some of the many evil effects of Lust

November 11, 2021 • 2 min

From The Sinner’s Guide, page 346
By Venerable Louis of Granada

Learn, too, how many sins spring from this one vice; for during this long captivity of the soul how often is God offended by thoughts, words, and desires, if not by actions?

The evils which it brings in its train are no less numerous than the sins it occasions.

It robs man of his reputation—his most important possession, for there is no vice more degrading or more shameful.

It rapidly undermines the strength, exhausts the energy, and withers the beauty of its victim, bringing upon him the most foul and loathsome diseases.

It robs youth of its freshness, and hurries it into a premature and dishonorable old age.

It penetrates even to the sanctuary of the soul, darkening the understanding, obscuring the memory, and weakening the will.

It turns man from every noble and honorable work, burying him so deeply in the mire of his impurities that he can neither think nor speak of anything but what is vile.

Nor are the ravages of this vice confined only to man himself. They extend to all his possessions.

There is no revenue so great that the exactions and follies of impurity will not exhaust; for it is closely allied to gluttony, and these two vices combine to ruin their victim.

Men given to impurity are generally addicted to intemperance, and squander their substance in rich apparel and sumptuous living.

Moreover, their impure idols are insatiable in their demands for costly jewels, rich adornments, rare perfumes, which gifts they love much better than they love the donors, their unfortunate victims.

The example of the prodigal son, exhausting his inheritance in these pleasures, shows how terrible is such a passion.