PURITY - IMPOSSIBILITY?

[Denise]

PURITY - IMPOSSIBILITY?

NO - PROVES ST DOMINIC SAVIO: His motto, Death but not Sin

NO - TEACHES POPE PIUS XII: God does not command the impossible, but in
commanding serves notice that one do what he can, and pray for what he
cannot, and He helps us to accomplish it.

"The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the
flesh."

These are the words of Jacinta, one of three children to whom the
Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at Fatima.

As one means of preventing souls from damning themselves we offer the
following article aimed especially toward aiding and inspiring men and boys
in the necessary virtue of purity; and this because, probably as never
before, do males find themselves so confronted with wholesale
exhibiting-and-denuding-process increasingly undertaken by the opposite sex.

The majority of young boys are almost certain to fall into sins of
impurity since they are hardly prepared to wage war on the overwhelming
temptations about them. For how many receive clear instruction as to
mortifying their senses, especially their eyes, that they may prevent impure
thoughts which in turn are the breeding ground of impure actions?

Even among those whose obligation it is to form character in the young,
there has been noticed a compromising, rationalistic attitude which strays
far from that example given us by the saints and our own Holy Fathers.

This is evident in the promotion even by parish groups, of dances,
picnics and other worldly affairs for the young which only whet their carnal
appetites. More deplorable is it, that while such practices are increasing,
due to the high material standard of living in this country, there is an
almost total absence of instruction in sensible mortification. At the same
time it is wondered: where are all the vocations to the religious life?

We ourselves have helped to slay them.

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Above all, heed the Holy Catholic Church, THE pillar of truth, the ONE
divinely ordained guide in morality for all who care to hear.
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"BLESSED ARE THE PURE OF HEART . . ." John V, 8

God's Gift to us . . .
Saint Dominic Savio (1842-1857)
-- a refutation to all who sneer at purity as an impossibility.
-- an inspiration to all who would subject their flesh to
reason and not vice versa.

15 years and the grace of God . . . . This boy attained sainthood in the
fulfillment of duties familiar to any schoolboy. Here cited is an instance
of how he used his free will in attaining purity of mind and body.

Dominic's great devotion was to the Mother of God. Every day he offered
her an act of mortification. He would never stare at girls; he used to
control his eyes on his way to school through the city streets. Sometimes,
his friends might be lost in gaping at some exciting sight, but when they
asked Dominic about it he had not even seen it. One boy angrily questioned
him, "What are your eyes for if you don't use them to see what's going on?"

"I'll use them to look at the face of our Blessed Mother in Heaven when
I go to see her," was the prompt reply.

He had a special love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When in church
he always knelt before her altar, begging her for the grace of keeping his
heart free from every impure desire. "Mary," he would pray, " I always want
to be your son. Let me die rather than commit a single sin against
chastity."

He had to force himself to control his eyes, for he was by nature very
quick to observe things. He told a friend, "When I first made up my mind to
control my eyes, I found it was not easy. Sometimes it gave me a violent
headache." And yet he achieved such complete mastery that those who knew him
admitted that they had never seen him even glance at anything that might in
any way be immodest.

"The eyes are two windows," he would say. "We can let anything pass
through, an angel or a devil, to take over our hearts."

- VALUABLE INSTRUCTION FROM PIUS XII -
Excerpted from Pope Pius XII Encyclical Letter On Holy Virginity, March 25,
1954
(Italics our own - paragraphs numbered according to encyclical.).

21. . . . It must be . . . admitted that as a consequence of the fall of
Adam the lower faculties of human nature are no longer obedient to right
reason, and may involve man in dishonorable actions.

36. In order to acquire this perfect mastery of the spirit over the senses,
it is not enough to refrain from acts directly contrary to chastity, but it
is necessary also generously to renounce anything that may offend this
virtue nearly or remotely; at such a price will the soul be able to reign
fully over the body and lead its spiritual life in peace and liberty. Who
then does not see, in the light of Catholic principles, that perfect
chastity and virginity, far from harming the normal unfolding of man or
woman, on the contrary endow them with the highest moral nobility.

49. Indeed, St. Methodius, Bishop of Olympus, compares virgins to martyrs,
and St. Gregory the Great teaches that perfect chastity substitutes for
martyrdom: "Now, though the era of persecution is gone, yet our peace has
its martyrdom, because though we bend not the neck to the sword, yet with a
spiritual weapon we slay fleshly desires in our hearts." Hence a chastity
dedicated to God demands strong and noble souls, souls ready to do battle
and conquer "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."

51. Wherefore, if there are any "who do not feel they have the gift of
chastity even though they have vowed it, let them not declare they cannot
fulfill their obligations in this matter. "For," says the Council of Trent,
quoting St. Augustine, "'God does not command the impossible, but in
commanding serves notice that one do what he can, and pray for what he
cannot,' and He helps us to accomplish it." This truth, so full of
encouragement, We recall to those also whose will has been weakened by upset
nerves and whom some doctors, sometimes even Catholic doctors, are too quick
to persuade that they should be freed from such an obligation, advancing the
specious reason that they cannot preserve their chastity without suffering
some harm to their mental balance. How much more useful and opportune it is
to help the infirm of this type to strengthen their will, and to advise them
that not even to them is chastity impossible, according to the word of the
Apostle: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may
be able to bear it."

52. Here are the helps, commended to us by our Divine Redeemer, by which we
may efficaciously protect our virtue: constant vigilance, whereby we
diligently do all that we can; moreover, constant prayer to God, asking for
what we cannot attain by ourselves, because of our weakness. "Watch and
pray, that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but
the flesh is weak." A vigilance which guards every moment of our lives and
every type of circumstance is absolutely necessary for us: "For the flesh
lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh." But if anyone
grants however little to the enticements of the flesh, he will see himself
quickly pulled toward those "works of the flesh, which the Apostle lists,
the basest and ugliest vices of man.

53. Hence we must watch particularly over the movements of our passions and
of our senses, and so control them by voluntary discipline in our lives and
by bodily mortification that we render them obedient to right reason and God's
law: "And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with the vices
and concupiscences." The Apostle of the Gentiles says this about himself:
"But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I
have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." All holy men
and women have most carefully guarded the movements of their senses and
their passions, and at times have very harshly crushed them, in keeping with
the teaching of the Divine Master: "But I say to you, that whosoever shall
look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her
in his heart. And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it
from thee. For it is expedient for thee that thy whole body be cast into
hell."

It is abundantly clear that with this warning Our Saviour demands of us
above all that we never consent to any sin, even internally, and that we
steadfastly remove far from us anything that can even slightly tarnish the
beautiful virtue of purity. In this matter no diligence, no severity can be
considered exaggerated. If ill health or other reasons do not allow one
heavier corporal austerities, yet they never free one from vigilance and
internal self-control.

54. On this point it should be noted, as indeed the Fathers and Doctors of
the Church teach, that we can more easily struggle against and repress the
wiles of evil and the enticements of the passions if we do not struggle
directly against them, but rather flee from them as best we may. For the
preserving of chastity, according to the teaching of Jerome, flight is more
effective than open warfare: "Therefore I flee, lest I be overcome." Flight
must be understood in this sense, that not only do we diligently avoid
occasions of sin, but especially that in struggles of this kind we lift our
minds and hearts to God, intent above all on Him to Whom we have vowed our
virginity. "Look upon the beauty of your Lover," St. Augustine tells us.

55. Flight and alert vigilance, by which we carefully avoid the occasions of
sin, have always been considered by holy men and women as the most effective
method of combat in this matter; today however it does not seem that
everybody holds the same opinion. Some indeed claim that all Christians, and
the clergy in particular, should "take the risk" and put their chastity to
the test in order to show whether or not they have the strength to resist;
therefore, they say, let young clerics see everything so that they may
accustom themselves to gaze at everything with equanimity, and thus render
themselves immune to all temptations. For this reason they readily grant
young clerics the liberty to turn their eyes in any direction without the
slightest concern for modesty; they may attend motion pictures, ever those
forbidden by ecclesiastical censorship; they may peruse even obscene
periodicals; they may read novels which are listed in the Index of forbidden
books or prohibited by the Natural Law. All this they allow because today
the multitudes are fed by this kind of amusement and publication and because
those who are minded to help them should understand their way of thinking
and feeling. But it is easily seen that this method of educating and
training the clergy to acquire the sanctity proper to their calling is wrong
and harmful. For "he that loveth danger shall perish in it"; most
appropriate in this connection is the admonition of Augustine: "Do not say
that you have a chaste mind if your eyes are unchaste, because an unchaste
eye betrays an unchaste heart."

61. Moreover there is another argument worthy of attentive consideration: to
preserve chastity unstained neither vigilance nor modesty suffice. Those
helps must also be used which entirely surpass the powers of nature, namely
prayer to God, the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist, a fervent
devotion to the most holy Mother of God.

62. Never should it be forgotten that perfect chastity is a great gift of
God. For this reason Jerome wrote these succinct words, "It is given to
those, who have asked for it, who have desired it, who have worked to
receive it. For it will be given to everyone who asks, the seeker will find,
to the importunate it will be opened." Ambrose adds that the constant
fidelity of virgins to their Divine Spouse depends upon prayer. With that
fervent piety for which he was noted St. Alphonsus Liguori taught that there
is no help more necessary and certain for conquering temptations against the
beautiful virtue of chastity than instant recourse to God in prayer.

63. To prayer must be added frequent and fervent use of the Sacrament of
Penance which, as a spiritual medicine, purifies and heals us; likewise it
is necessary to receive the Eucharist, which, as Our predecessor of happy
memory Leo XIII asserted, is the best remedy against lust. The more pure and
chaste is a soul the more it hungers for this bread, from which it derives
strength to resist all temptations to sins of impurity, and by which it is
more intimately united with the Divine Spouse; "He who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood, abides in Me and I in him."

64. The eminent way to protect and nourish an unsullied and perfect
chastity, as proven by experience time and again throughout the course of
centuries, is solid and fervent devotion to the Virgin Mother of God. In a
certain way all other helps are contained in this devotion; there is no
doubt that whoever is sincerely and earnestly animated by this devotion is
salutarily inspired to constant vigilance, to continual prayer, to receive
the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.

65. That virginity owes its origin to Mary is the testimony of Athanasius,
and Augustine clearly teaches that "The dignity of virginity began with the
Mother of the Lord." Pursuing the ideas of Athanasius, Ambrose holds up the
life of the Virgin Mary as the model of virgins. "Imitate her, my
daughters...! Let Mary's life be for you like the portrayal of virginity,
for from her, as though from a mirror, is reflected the beauty of chastity
and the ideal of virtue. See in her the pattern of your life, for in her, as
though in a model, manifest teachings of goodness show what you should
correct, what you should copy and what preserve . . . She is the image of
virginity.

66. But it is not enough, beloved sons and daughters, to meditate on the
virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary: with absolute confidence fly to her and
obey the counsel of St. Bernard, "Let us seek grace and seek it through
Mary."


MODESTY STANDARDS

How do we know what the Church approves?
Has She given specific standards of modesty in dress?

Yes. On January 12, 1930, the Sacred Congregation of the Council, by
mandate of Pope Pius XI, issued emphatic instructions on modesty of dress to
all Bishops, directing them to insist on these prescriptions of September
24, 1928:

"We recall that a dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper
than two fingers' breadth under the pit of the throat, which does not cover
the arms at least to the elbows, and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the
knees. Furthermore, dresses of transparent material are improper."

" Let parents keep their daughters away from public gymnastic games
and contests; but if their daughters are compelled to attend such
exhibitions, let them see that they are fully and modestly dressed. Let them
never permit their daughters to don immodest garb."

The feminine loss of the sense of modesty is indicated by Pope Pius
XII who says, "How many girls there are who do not see any wrong doing in
following certain shameless styles like so many sheep. They certainly would
blush if they could guess the impression they make and the feelings they
evoke in those who see them" (July 17, 1954).

"O Christian mothers, if only you knew the future of distress and
peril, of shame ill-restrained, that you prepare for your sons and daughters
in imprudently accustoming them to live hardly clothed and in making them
lose the sense of modesty, you would be ashamed of yourselves and the harm
done the little ones whom heaven entrusted to your care, to be reared in
Christian dignity and culture."

The opinion which allows custom to decide the question of modesty is
refuted by Pope Pius XII in one short sentence, "There always exists an
absolute norm to be preserved" in modesty of dress. (Nov. 8, 1957.) Custom
pays little attention to absolute norms, but is a product of another false
principle, "The majority cannot go wrong." "Modesty is a matter of custom"
is just as wrong as "Honesty is a matter of custom."

WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO TEACH "WHAT IS CUSTOMARY DOES NOT AFFECT US?"

Pope Pius XII, again, calls this application of an ancient principle to
modesty one of "the most insidious of sophisms." He calls attention to the
fact that some use this sophism "in order to brand as old fashioned the
rebellion of honest people against fashions which are too bold." (Nov. 8,
1957.)

The pronouncements of the Popes seem to make no distinctions for various
types of garments. Thus, Pope Pius XII states that "An unworthy and indecent
mode of dress has prevailed," without indicating any distinction of place,
"on the beaches, in country resorts, almost everywhere, on the streets,
etc." (Aug. 20, 1954). Further, His quotation of the "ancient poet" as
saying that "Vice necessarily follows upon public nudity" (Ibid.) applies to
all places, beach or elsewhere. American Modernists will be shocked to learn
that His Eminence Enrique Cardinal Pla Y Daniel, Archbishop of Toledo,
Spain, issued the following directives in 1959:

"A special danger to morals is represented by public bathing at
beaches, in pools and river banks . . . Mixed bathing between men and women
which nearly always is a proximate occasion of sin and a scandal, must be
avoided."


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The more the memory blots out His Passion, the more it will be enslaved by
impurity.
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Comments from Jacinta, one of the three Fatima seers, just before her death:
"The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh."
"Many marriages are not of God, and do not please our Lord."
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From a Blue Army of Our Lady publication. IMPRIMATUR: Most Rev. Geo. W.
Ahr., S.T.D. Bishop of Trenton


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