Posted on 10/08/2014 10:29:54 AM PDT by Morgana
There’s a necessary humility in acknowledging our utter inability to live chastely outside the grace of God. The first step, it seems to me, is to acknowledge our complete need for God in winning the battle. Thomas Merton wrote that “real self-conquest is the conquest of the self by the Holy Spirit.” This is most true in the battle for chastity.
St. John Cassian teaches that human effort alone will never make someone chaste:
If we really desire to enter into this spiritual combat on the same terms as the spostle (2 Tim. 4:7), let us concentrate our every effort at dominating this unclean spirit by placing our confidence not in our own forces but on the help of God. Human effort will never be able to win through here. For the soul will be attacked by this vice as long as it does not recognize that it is in a war beyond its powers and that it cannot obtain victory by its own effort unless it is shored up by the help and protection of the Lord (5)
God’s grace is necessary for all virtue, he continues, but a “special gift” is necessary for chastity:
In a certain sense, to escape the flesh is to remain in the body while surpassing nature: to remain surrounded by fragile carnality but not to feel the stings of the flesh. Thus it is impossible, as we have said, for us to fly to such an exalted and heavenly reward on our own wings, unless the grace of God lift us up from the slime of the earth by the gift of chastity. There is no virtue which renders the lives of carnal men more similar to that of the angelic spirits than the attainment and the gift of chastity. As the Apostle says, while still living on earth they have their homeland in heaven (Phil 3:20). They already possess in their fragile flesh here in this life that which the saints are promised to possess in the future when they have left their carnal corruptibility behind (6).
“Carnal corruptibility” sounds a little stuffy and theological. But we all know the truth of our hearts: like St. Paul says, so often we do that which we don’t want to do, and don’t do that which we desire to do. That’s our carnal corruptibility, and we all have it. (I seem to have it in spades!)
Acknowledging our utter need for the grace and special aid from God to win the virtue of chastity, however, does not mean that we just sit by and let him win the victory. No—we need to strive for the virtue, in the way an athlete readies himself for a contest:
Hear what the apostle says: “Everyone who enters a contest abstains from all things” (1 Cor. 9:25). Let us inquire what are “these things” that he mentions so as to acquire instruction for spiritual combat comparable to the carnal combat. For those who desire to struggle according to the rules in this visible contest do not have the freedom to use just any foods that appetite might suggest, but only those laid down as the training regime for those battles. Not only must they abstain from forbidden foods and all drunkenness and tippling, but also from inertia, idleness and ennui [listlessness] so as to increase their strength by daily exercise and assiduous concentration (7.1).
If we’re going to achieve chastity, we have to exercise, and build patterns in our lives that replace the patterns of the past. We have to forego certain things we find desirable, fixing our eyes on a goal for the higher good. We need spiritual disciplines, like frequent attendance at Mass, frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, reading of Scripture, prayer, reading the Divine Office, etc.
If we sometimes despair at our failures, or the seeming impossibility of living a chaste and continent life, these words from St. Leo the Great can bring us comfort:
And lest we should be led by despair into sheer inaction, he promises that the divine power shall make those things possible which are to man impossible from his own lack of power… In him therefore we find our model of patience, in whom we have our hope of life eternal; for if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him (2 Tim. 2:12), since, as the apostle says, he that says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk as he walked (1 John 2:6). Otherwise we make a vain presence and show, if we follow not his steps… and assuredly they would not be irksome to us, but would free us from all dangers, if we loved nothing but what he commanded us to love.
The challenge for me is to trust that God makes the impossible possible. I long to see chastity integrated into my life like it was integrated into the lives of Mary, the Mother of God, and her chaste spouse, St. Joseph, as well as in all of the other great saints of the Church who have gone before us. I thank God for the example of someone like David: even though he committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged to have her husband killed in order to marry her, God still forgave him. It has always comforted me to know that David, such a passionate man who clearly had strong sexual urges was still called “a man after God’s own heart.” It has always helped me to realize that God’s forgiveness and redemption are so powerful that, after our mistakes, the rewriting of the story makes the story that much better. Christ the Redeemer came from the line of the union of David and Bathsheba, giving flesh to the words of St. Paul when he tells us, “where sin is, grace abounds.”
I also find inspiring the example of St. Augustine, who battled so much with unchastity. His words in the Confessions echo how often I have felt in my life, when he said, “Give me chastity…but just not yet!”
St. Augustine ran the race though, even if reluctantly at first—something I find myself sometimes doing too. Thank God we have saints like Augustine to pray for us, saints who also knew the delights of sexual pleasure, and how enticingly such pleasure can lure us away from that which we truly desire. And from he who will truly fulfill us.
St. Augustine, pray for us.
Mary, Mother Most Chaste, pray for us.
St. Joseph, Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
King David, pray for us.
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Daniel Mattson is a writer and public speaker who focuses on sharing the good news of the Catholic Church's teaching on sexuality and chastity. The story of his conversion to the Church from a life of active homosexuality is one of the three stories featured in the Courage Apostolate's new documentary, Desire of the Everlasting Hills.
He entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in 2010, primarily because of the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. His message is simple: the path to fulfillment and peace for the person who lives with same sex attractions can only be found in the teachings of the Catholic Church. He is a frequent speaker at events across the country, including at Catholic high schools, parishes, seminaries and Diocesan clergy gatherings and conferences. He often appears on Catholic Radio programs such as the Al Kresta Show, the Teresa Tomeo Show and Catholic Answers Live. He has been a guest on EWTN's, Life On The Rock, and will be appearing soon on the EWTN program Women of Grace. His writing has appeared in First Things, Crisis Magazine, Catholic Answers Magazine and other Catholic publications.
His personal blog is LettersToChristopher.wordpress.com, and his writing can also be found at JoyfulPilgrims.com. He can be contacted for speaking engagements at letterstochristopherblog@gmail.com. When not speaking or writing, Daniel enjoys his career as a professional orchestral musician.
The bible is more than sufficient, I was just hoping for a few more examples before considering your premise. It just doesn’t seem well supported and since I am not a bible scholar I thought you could provide me with your thorough exegeses since it’s your claim.
Now you are implying that I don’t accept the bible as a valid source and do me the added dishonor with your dishonest apology.
Why would this absolve them of their obligation?
Just because Jesus is personally seeing to his own obligation to ensure his mother is cared for in no way absolves any other [half-]siblings.
+1
Sorry.
Most of what we know about Jesus and His family comes from the New Testament, specifically the four Gospels, Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John. Earlier you were asking for the names of Jesus’s brothers and sister. Here you go:
=
“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?”
Mark 6:3
Sorry I don’t have their birthdays for you.
+1
So now Catholics wrote the Bible? News to the Apostle and the Jews.
only my Church has the right to translate the Bible.
You'd think then they would have done a better job writing the scriptural proofs for much of their doctrine instead of having to rely on their tradition.
If you are a non-Catholic then you probably are a follower of these people.
What translation of the Bible do you own?
I returned to the Catholic Church a few years ago.
You can disagree with the following if you like. I'm just sharing this explanation given by the pastor of my church. Assuming I remember the explanation correctly, he said that...
Joseph was a much older widower who already had grown children. At the time, some young girls (Mary being one of them) were selected to remain lifelong virgins. Joseph agreed to marry Mary to care for her - not in the way a man and woman would marry. When Mary was found to be pregnant, at first accusations were made against Joseph.
Because Joseph was so much older, that's why he is not standing at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. (He would've died by that time.)
So, anyway, Joseph's children would be the siblings that everyone keeps referring to.
That's my understanding of it.
**Why don’t you believe me **
Because you didn’t tell me which denomination or church you were affiliated with.
You didn’t answer my question.
When it comes to the meaning of words in the Bible, I ask those who disagree with me to tell me what the following sentence means:
“John is gay.”
Most say, it means John is a homosexual.
I answer, No, the sentence was written in 1914 and means John is happy.
When I ask wiser ones the question, they realize how words change and ask me when it was written. And I respond, if you need context for my question, why do you not need context for the Bible?
This year at work, a black supervisor called me “brother.” Am I his blood brother? No, I’m white. He called me “brother” because we have the same occupation.
Jesus’ “brothers” and “sisters” were cousins and other relatives, as you believe.
“Man is being filled with error; everything deceives him. This error is natural and without Grace, ineffaceable.” - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
All the divisions on these threads over biblical interpretations actually strengthen my belief that God left the pope, the head of the church, as the source of unity and authority (1 Tim 3:15).
“so that they may all be ONE, as you, Father, are in me and I in you”
-John 17:21
“that they may be ONE as we are ONE” - John 17:22
“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in ONE place together” - Acts 2:1
“The Father and I are ONE.” -John 10:30
“Behold, how good it is, and how pleasant,
where brethren dwell as ONE!” -Psalm 133:1
That of course is simply speculation...that Joseph was previously married and had other children before he married Mary.
I don’t go there. I don’t speculate. I don’t know. I have no problem believing that Mary and Joseph had a happy normal marriage and that other children followed Jesus’s birth. This, however, conflicts with an ideological view among some that Mary was ALWAYS a virgin and that her marriage with Joseph was never consummated, even though there isn’t a shred of evidence in the Bible remotely suggesting this. The good Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply and Mary and Joseph did just that.
BTW-—I first learned Jesus had brothers and sisters in bible study class at my church (a Catholic church) and the class was taught by a CATHOLIC priest. The priest simply taught the Bible as it is written and didn’t try to make up things along the way or make any effort to twist words or meanings in order to satisfy any particular dogma or doctrine. I am truly grateful for that.
I first saw the thread title CHASTITY IS WON BY GOD ALONE! and said Amen!
Then I read the thread.
Now I return to the title CHASTITY IS WON BY GOD ALONE, say Amen! and run screaming from the thread in terror...
The information at this link explains more:
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-ever-virgin
Again, we all can agree to disagree. But that’s the explanation that makes the most sense to me.
Again. Why not simply accept what is written in the Bible and avoid speculation?
Whether Mary and Joseph ever consummated their marriage and produced other children or not, it doesn’t change anything, at least not for me.
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