Mar 24 Mon
Should I fight against my uncontrolled passions?
The Old Testament tells the story of Naaman, a Syrian, who caught leprosy. A maidservant had told him about a prophet in Samaria who could cure him. Naaman came and halted at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you shall be clean.”
Like Naaman's leprosy, our passions need healing.
Our senses are like the doors of the soul. They feed the soul continuously. Therefore, we must guard our senses, to avoid spiritual leprosy getting into our souls.
“Overindulgence. You satisfy your senses and faculties in whatever pool you meet. And you can feel the results: disconcerted purpose, scattered attention, deadened will, and accelerated concupiscence. Subject yourself once again to a serious plan that will make you lead a Christian life. Or you'll never do anything worthwhile."
“We have to fight against our passions by increasing our life of piety daily. Nobody can imagine they lack the necessary means for the fight. If anyone abandons those means, they will fall.”
“It's a clear symptom: when someone's soul is dull, and his life is languid, you can be sure that he abandoned the fight some time ago; that his heart is empty of God and filled instead with selfishness, love of comfort, and the flesh ...So feed your soul on God's love. Give it to him completely!" St. Josemaría
We must love God with our whole being, even with our body and our senses, which must be instruments in his service. This goal is a hard one, because the senses tend towards what is immediately pleasing and gratifying. That is why we must struggle.
St Gregory remarks: “Some want to be humble without being despised. They want to be happy with what they have but without lacking anything. They want to be chaste without mortifying their body ... They try to acquire virtues without the effort that virtue requires. It is as though they hope to win a war by living comfortably in the city, without having anything to do with the combat on the battlefield." Of course, they cannot win in that way.
The conquerors are those who remain awake and vigilant, who battle with the enemy, and who regularly mortify themselves. And these people are precisely the happiest. Because, to achieve happiness, you need a heart that is in love, not an easy life.
Then, “Life recovers shades and tones which impurity blurred. We find ourselves able to care for the needs of others, to share what is ours, to devote our energies to great causes. Temperance makes the soul sober, modest, and understanding. It fosters an attractive character that denotes intelligent self-control. Temperance does not imply narrowness, but greatness of soul.”
“Real deprivation is in the impure heart that gives up self-dominion, only to become enslaved by the first caller who comes along ringing some pathetic, tinny cowbell."
If we appeal lovingly to our Lady, as her children, temperance will bear fruit in us; and our heart, our senses, and our whole life will be filled with God.
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