The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 325: Battling for Purity (2024)

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

As Fr. Mike suggests, the battle for purity is never more difficult than in our own day. With God’s grace, we can prevail and find freedom from our temptations. Fr. Mike explains that we win this battle through chastity, purity of intention, purity of vision, and prayerful reliance on the Lord. He tells us how to pray for a pure gaze that allows us to see our brothers and sisters as God sees them. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2520-2533. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we will read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 325. We're reading paragraphs 2520 to 2533. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow

along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. Speaking of today, the notification for today is a big thank you. Thank you for everyone who has continued to pray for the production of this podcast.

Thank you for your financial gifts. We couldn't do this without you. We could not get to day 325 without you. So thank you so much. We're concluding today, the ninth commandment. And we're talking about the battle for purity and as well as the nuggets. But there's something so powerful about this,

this recognition that remember we said yesterday and pointed out that commandments nine and 10 are kind of recapitulations of commandments six and seven and that sense of being able to say, okay, let's go to the heart, the heart of things. And we might mention this before, but John Paul II, he talked about the ethos and the ethos is the inner world of a person,

the thing that draws us to some things and repels us from other things. And that what we're called to have is we're called to have this ethos that is like that of Jesus, right? The ethos of God himself, where we're drawn to the good and we're actually repelled by the bad. And so we're gonna talk a little bit about that here

as we talk about the battle for purity in our own hearts. So as we talk about the battle for purity in our own hearts. So as we talk about the battle for purity, let's also pray for purity because we know as we talked about yesterday, the pure in heart are the ones that will see God. And so we all want to see God and therefore we all need to have this purity of heart that can only come from God

and can only come from our cooperation and corresponding with God's grace. So let's call upon God's grace right now. Father in heaven, we praise you and bless you and we know that you want this for us. You want us to have purity of heart and you are inviting us into this battle for purity. You're inviting us into this transformation of our ethos, this transformation and healing of our hearts. But Lord God, we approach you with wounded hearts.

We approach you with hearts that have been twisted. And so we ask you to untwist what's been twisted in our hearts. We ask you to purify what has been distorted. And we ask you to please make us new so that we can love each other, so that we can love you in all things and in all ways. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ things and in all ways. In the name of

your son Jesus Christ we pray amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen. It is day 325 reading paragraphs 2520 to 2533. The battle for purity. Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins but the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires. With God's grace He will prevail, by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with upright and undivided heart. By purity of intention, which consists in seeking the true end of man, with simplicity

of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's will in everything, by purity of vision, external and internal, by discipline of feelings and imagination, by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that incline us to turn aside from the path of God's commandments, appearance arouses yearning and fools. By prayer, as St. Augustine reflected, I thought that continence arose from one's own powers, which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know that no one can be continent unless you grant it, for you would surely have granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears

and I with firm faith had cast my cares on you." Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity. Modesty protects the dignity of persons and their solidarity. Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships.

It requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence a reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet. There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements or against

the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies. The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness

of being a subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person. Christian purity requires a purification of the social climate. It requires of the communications media that their presentations show concern for respect and restraint.

Purity of heart brings freedom from widespread eroticism and avoids entertainment inclined to voyeurism and illusion. So-called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous conception of human freedom. The necessary precondition for the development of true freedom is to let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of education can reasonably be expected to give young people instruction respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and spiritual dignity of man.

The Good News of Christ continually renews the life and culture of fallen man. It combats and removes the error and evil which flow from the ever-present attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the morality of peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and endowments of every age and nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them to blossom, as it were, from within. It fortifies, completes, and restores them in Christ. In brief, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in

his heart. The Ninth Commandment warns against lust or carnal concupiscence. The struggle against carnal lust involves purifying the heart and practicing temperance. Purity of heart will enable us to see God. It enables us even now to see things according to God. Purification of the heart demands prayer, the practice of chastity, purity of intention, and of vision. Purity of heart requires the modesty which is patience, decency, and discretion. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. All right, there we have it, paragraphs 25, 20 to 25, 33,

including some nuggets at the end, about six or so of those nuggets at the very end. So this battle for purity, you know, when we hit the next section, the fourth and final pillar of the catechism, when it comes to prayer, one of my favorite sections in the pillar on prayer is called the battle of prayer, a battle for prayer.

Here right now in paragraph 25, 20 and following of prayer, a battle for prayer. Here right now in paragraph 2520 and following, we have the battle for purity. And so we just recognize that this is the case. And especially, you know, I remember hearing someone said this, I can't remember who it was exactly, but I was so encouraged by this. And I've passed it on to young men and young women

who find themselves struggling. I might've even already said this, it's been 325 days guys, I might repeat myself occasionally. But they said this, they said to the young people, or anybody really, struggling with purity. They said, you know, there's all these saints. In fact, we even have a great quote from St. Augustine.

You know, St. Augustine was known as a saint who had a definite past. And part of his broken past is a broken sexuality. And so, St. Augustine, at one point, the prayer is, or the story goes, so St. Augustine at one point, the prayer is, or the story goes that St. Augustine basically essentially is kind of a paraphrase maybe, he prayed out to God and he said, okay God, please make me chaste, but not yet.

And there's this recognition that he's like, okay, I know that this is good for me. I know that to be able to be chaste, to have this order in my heart, in order in myself, to have the right order, to have this purity of heart. I know that would be good. I know that would be best.

And I know that I want that, but there's that big, that big, but there, but not yet because there's something about our sins that makes us cling, hold onto them tightly. And in fact, they don't, we don't just hold onto them tightly. They oftentimes hold onto us tightly. In fact, in that same book in confessions, Augustine describes one of his friends who his issue wasn't necessarily sexual sins. His issue was the violence of the arena and the entertainment of that violence. And at one point he tells this whole story about how this man he had broken away from the violence. He had realized, you know, here's Jesus and Jesus has made a claim on me and so I'm not going to entertain

myself with violence. Now, this is this is apropos to our topic today because as you note, modesty would not simply be strictly speaking about what my eyes see when it comes to lustful kind of things, but also when it comes to any kind of carnal or any kind of base attraction, right? So here's this friend who was, was ensnared by this the violence of the the arena but because Christ had claimed him he had the beginnings of freedom the Holy Spirit had actually started the work of getting him freer and freer at one point though Augustine describes this moment where his friends were like no no come on into the arena and he wasn't going to go in he wasn't

going to go in and finally they get him to go in and he resolved like okay i'm going to go in here but i'm not going to look i'm not going to watch I'm going to keep keep my eyes on my toes like that's all I'm going to do I'm not going to look up but at one point you know the roar of the crowd made him look up and he saw the the violence in the arena and it said something Augustine described it like he was just instantly brought back to that that place of slavery he was instantly brought back to that place of powerlessness in the face of this brokenness that he had in his heart. Now, he had that when it came to violence.

Augustine had that when it came to his sexual inclinations. And we all have this, to some degree. We all have, not only do we hold our sins tightly to ourselves, but sometimes our sins become so strong in our lives that they hold back onto us. And so it can be so frustrating. It can be such a challenge to be in this battle for purity Here's the here's the word of encouragement that someone has once said Particularly when it comes to the battle for purity in the 21st century

Because we have these stories as I said and started saying about what 10 minutes ago about st. Augustine You think like wow, there's a guy who really struggled with this, but he, you know, he got freedom. That's amazing. You know what St. Augustine didn't have? He didn't have a magic rectangle in his pocket that could immediately call up any kind of pornography he could imagine. He did not have the internet. He did not have all the things that basically every person

from age seven to age 87 has at their fingertips. And so the word of encouragement is if you find yourself struggling in this battle for purity and you find yourself failing in the battle for purity, know that you exist in a time. You exist at a time and a place that no other Christian has ever had to face the battle for purity in the way that you are having to face the battle for purity. Does that make sense? Again, this is meant to be a word of encouragement.

It's kind of a word of caution as well. It's not a word of permissiveness though. Knowing that, okay, so this is the reality about, for all of us, is that we live in this world where the most violent things, the most vile things, the most perverse things are accessible, they are available, they are affordable, they are anonymous. These are the four A's or the three A's that make an even greater struggle in the battle for purity, whether that be like St. Augustine's friend, violence,

or be like Augustine himself when it comes to lust. This, you know, that stuff on the internet, it is available, right? It is affordable, it's free, and it is anonymous. And those things conspire together and they make it very difficult for someone who really wants to engage in the battle for purity. And yet at the same time, we can do this, and this is what paragraph 2520 says, we can do this by the virtue and gift of chastity, so we can cooperate with God's grace because God wants this for us And so we can say yes to this we also can develop the virtue by choosing this and now how do we choose this? By loving with an upright undivided heart a purity of intention

It goes on to say purity of intention Consists in seeking the true end of man with simplicity of vision the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's will and everything That sense of being able to say, okay I'm not a Christian sometimes I'm not Christian in only certain cases or certain circumstances But in all things I want to do God's will whether I'm in public or in private whether I'm in a place of Great strength or even a place of weakness to say at all moments, I want to do your will Lord God, but purity of vision, external and internal. This is so important. Purity of vision, external and internal,

by discipline of feelings and imagination. This recognition that there's, there's a time in which I would say, okay, here's the feeling that I feel. Let me order that feeling in the right way. Let me not feed certain feelings. Let me starve certain feelings because those are not the feelings that I want to have growing inside of me. Or imagination, that sense of we all have an imagination. Let me discipline that imagination.

Goes on to say, by refusing all complicity and impure thoughts that incline us to turn aside from the path of God's commandments. So just approving those impure thoughts. Also by prayer, and this is what Saint Augustine highlights in this quote here. He said, I thought that continence or chastity, right,

arose from one's own powers, which I didn't recognize myself. I'm like, I look at myself, I'm like, I can't do this. If this is all up to me, it's not there. I was foolish enough not to know, God, that no one can be continent unless you grant it. And that sense of being able to recognize that God desires freedom

for all of us. And part of this, part of this though is we get interior freedom by external and internal discipline. This is just so important for all of us. Not only God's grace, absolutely, we need God's grace. But internal freedom comes by internal and external discipline. And part of that discipline is paragraph 2521, which says, purity requires modesty, which is an integral part of temperance. And modesty isn't being prudish, just like being prudent isn't being prudish.

Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means what? Refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. And there's something about that that's so good for us. I mean, honestly, we live in a world that is just replete with images. Images, once again, let's go back to this, not only images of lust but also images of violence and to be able to recognize that there are some things that we don't, we do not need to see. And yet the human heart has been broken from the start. Right after God created us good and God made us in his image and likeness

Right from that first sin the human heart has been broken and so if you find yourself with this in this place of wanting to See what should be veiled? Wanting to pursue what should not be pursued wanting to grasp on to what should not be grasped on to it Just means you have the normal broken human heart But it also means that we have to have that discipline and refuse to unveil what should remain hidden. That modesty guides how we look at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.

We talked about this before, maybe a couple times now, but this recognition that there's this quote that's attributed to John Paul II, whether he said it or not, it seems to remain true. And it says, pornography, the problem with pornography, issue with it, is not that it reveals too much of the person, but that it reveals too little, right? It reduces a person to their parts. And so how do I look at a person and see the person?

And this is the key, because here's the thing, especially if you find yourself in a place where you think, how could I possibly do this? I look at members of the opposite sex or even members of the same sex, and I automatically jump to this place of use, automatically jump to this place of assessment. I don't have modesty of my gaze.

I don't know if I can see the person. You know, here's here's a great example I think this is a pretty good example. Once again, I mentioned my friend Nick the other day Nick will use the example of how God can transform our hearts and give us an interior freedom That we can actually in certain cases have an interior freedom where we do not desire to use in any way shape or form Another person that we recognize as beautiful. He gives the example of his sister. He says, my sister is very beautiful. He says, but there's something so great about how my heart approaches my sister because

my heart, when it comes to my sister, is incredibly well ordered. I can recognize that she is a beautiful woman without the desire to use her, without the desire to sexually objectify her. So he says, because of that, I don't need the commandment, thou shall not objectify your sister because I'm free of that. And that kind of freedom can be the kind of freedom that you have and I have

when it comes to anybody we can see. To be able to see the person and not just reduce them to their parts, to be able to see the goodness and dignity of the person automatically, just because we've trained ourselves so well by having that discipline of the virtue and gift of chastity by having purity of intention by having purity of vision by prayer and by having an attitude of modesty There can be something so powerful that we have a freedom

to be able to see the individual to be able to see the person and the individual to be able to see the person and not be tempted to reduce them to their parts not to be tempted to reduce them to our lusts paragraph 2523 says this it says modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies that's so good and that but that means it's not just a sometime thing, right? That means modesty is a ever present reality in our lives. That means that I'm guarding what I look upon. I'm guarding the entertainment that I have. I'm guarding the media that I look at.

In fact, remember Job, Job has this powerful line in the book of Job where he says, I've made a covenant with my eyes not to gaze upon a maiden. Essentially, you know, not to gaze lustfully upon a maiden. I've made a covenant with my eyes, not to gaze lustfully upon a maiden. And this could be any of us, whatever it is that we're attracted to, whatever it is we're tempted to gaze upon in such a way like I described yesterday, that person who was looking out the window and like, I'm going to take what's not mine to be I described yesterday, that person who was looking out the window and like, I'm gonna take what's not mine,

to be able to guard against that and say, no, I wanna have modesty in my vision. Not because I'm gonna be prudish, right? Not because I'm always looking away. Although that's the reality. Sometimes we're called to do that. Sometimes we're called to look away. But ultimately, that's not the goal.

Ultimately, the goal isn't just look away. Ultimately, the goal is I wanna be able to see, that's the the goal. Ultimately, the goal isn't just look away. Ultimately, the goal is I want to be able to see. That's the purity of heart part. I want to be able to look at another and see their goodness. I want to be able to look at another and yes, acknowledge their beauty, but even more deeply see their dignity that I don't lose the person because of the parts.

Does that make sense? But because of that, I can't just jump to that place. I have to have a vision of modesty. I have to have control of my thoughts, all these kinds of things that we're talking about. And it just begins by beginning, right? It only starts when I start. Remember St. Augustine's Prayer,

give me this chastity, Lord, but not yet. Rather than saying, okay, let me start now with what I'm looking at. Let me start now with whether I take that second glance or whether I take that third glance or whether I take that mental snapshot of that person to use for later, to be able to say, no, Lord, let me just see the person.

And having that prayer, Lord, and this is a prayer Christopher West will talk about a lot when he talks about that theology of the body. That prayer is, God, my heart's been twisted. My heart's been my heart is good Your heart is good that God gave you it's good But twisted and the prayer is God untwist in my heart whatever has been twisted by lust God untwist in my heart whatever has been twisted by lust so that I can see in this person My sister so I can see in this person my sister so I can see in this person my brother and have no desire to use them

but simply a desire to love them as you do and that's that's the call and that's the call to let it not just Could govern our actions but to allow God's grace and this discipline this modesty this vision To actually free our hearts our God untwist in my heart whatever has been twisted by lust so that I can see others as brothers and sisters. That's our prayer. And that's what it is in so many ways to have this purity of heart. That's what it is in so many ways

to follow the ninth commandment. That's so good. And this is actually what God wants for you. So we'll pray for it. And we actually have this discipline. That discipline often with God's grace will lead to freedom. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me.

My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.