Free Republic

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: HOW WE ARE TO ENCOUNTER SENSUALITY. WHAT THE WILL MUST DO TO ACQUIRE VIRTUOUS HABITS WHEN OUR CREATOR and sensuality struggle for possession of our hearts, victory will follow the side of Heaven, if we use the following tactics.1. The first impulses of the sensual appetite that oppose reason must be carefully checked, that the will should not give its consent to them.2. After this is done, they may be released in order to give them a greater setback.3. A third trial may be given in order to steel ourselves to repulse them with generous contempt. It is...

CHAPTER FOUR: HOW TO DISCOVER WHETHER WE DISTRUST OURSELVES AND PLACE OUR CONFIDENCE IN GOD   THE PRESUMPTUOUS MAN is convinced that he has acquired a distrust of himself and confidence in God, but his mistake is never more apparent than when some fault is committed. For, if he yields to anger and despairs of advancing in the way of virtue, it is evident that he has placed his confidence in himself and not in God. The greater the anxiety and despondence, the greater is the certainty of his guilt.The man who has a deep distrust of himself and places...

 __________________________________________________ What's Fasting Got to Do with It? by Father Dwight Longenecker I posted a video on my blog the other day from YouTube. It was an interview with a Romanian hermit. This grizzled old warrior was asked the most important element in a successful prayer life. He looked away with watery eyes then looked at the interviewer and replied, "Purity of the body."He understood that what we do with our bodies affects our souls and minds and what we do with our souls and minds affects our bodies. Every spiritual tradition teaches the same truth: you must have mastery over your...

The Best Kind of Fasting Fr. Miguel Marie Soeherman, MFVA 01/15/2007 — 2nd Monday, Ordinary Time (7am Mass — PCPA — Hanceville, AL)The question of fasting was at issue here. The people were very observant. They noticed how Our Lord’s disciples were not fasting while the Pharisees or John the Baptist’s disciples were. “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus asked. “As long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.”Our Lord’s response tells us about the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the OT, Yahweh was depicted...

CHAPTER THREE: OF TRUST IN GOD ALTHOUGH DISTRUST of self is absolutely necessary as we have shown it to be in the spiritual combat, nevertheless, if this is all we have to rely on, we will soon be routed, plundered, and subdued by the enemy. Unless we would be put to flight, or remain helpless and vanquished in the hands of our enemies, we must add to it perfect trust in God, and expect from Him alone succor and victory. For as we, who are nothing, can look for nothing from ourselves but falls, and therefore should utterly distrust ourselves;...