saw that it was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and beautiful to behold, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. The devil first tempts us to look, then to desire, and afterwards to consent.
St. Jerome says that Satan requires " only a beginning on our part." If we begin, he will complete our destruction. A deliberate glance at a person of a different sex often enkindles an infernal spark, which consumes the soul. "Through the eyes," says St. Bernard, "the deadly arrows of love enters." The first dart that wounds and frequently robs chaste souls of life finds admission through the eyes. By them David, the beloved of God, fell. By them was Solomon, once the inspired of the Holy Ghost, drawn into the greatest abominations. Oh! how many are lost by indulging their sight!
The eyes must be carefully guarded by all who expect not to be obliged to join in the lamentation of Jeremiah: My eye hath wasted my soul. By the introduction of sinful affections my eyes have destroyed my soul. Hence St. Gregory says, that " the eyes, because they draw us to sin, must be depressed." If not restrained, they will become instruments of hell, to force the soul to sin almost against its will. " He that looks at a dangerous object," continues the saint, " begins to will what he wills not." It was this the inspired writer intended to express when he said of Holofernes, that the beauty of Judith made his soul captive.
