The Enemy
The Enemy in Your own Heart
1.In every warlike campaign, in every battle, the thing of chief importance is to be acquainted with the enemy, with his power and position, his plans, and the forces he has in reserve. The same thing holds good in regard to the spiritual conflict, especially that which is waged on behalf of the virtue of purity.
It is, first of all, to be observed that the enemy of chastity has planted himself firmly in the heart of every human being; and if I place before your eyes, my dear reader, this position of the enemy with all its dangers, do not allow it to terrify you to such an extent as to cause you to become faint-hearted.
2. In the world we notice two different things. We observe that even a child is ashamed if it is discovered when doing anything indecorous. We find something similar in the case of the ancient heathen; they sought to hide their sins from the eyes of their fellow-men under cover of the darkness of night. Not only on the tables of stone, which God gave to Moses upon Mount Sinai, but also in the book of conscience, it is written, "Thou shalt not offend against chastity." This is our first observation.
Now, who could believe that, in spite of the voice of conscience and the conviction of every nation that this vice is a shameful thing, people are so addicted to it! Whence comes this contradiction - this opposition to reason and conscience? St. Paul answers this question in the name of the whole human race: "I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord."
By these words the Apostle intends us to understand that our reason, our higher self, recognizes sin, especially sins against chastity, as an evil, and regards them with abhorrence; that there is, however, within us a concupiscence, an inclination, a proneness to evil, which allures us, and that this tendency can be resisted and overcome through the grace of Jesus Christ. It is precisely this concupiscence, this proneness to evil, resulting from original sin, which constitutes the first and the most dangerous adversary of holy purity; it is the enemy in our own heart.
An impure thought often steals unperceived into the heart; sinful images are awakened; the imagination clothes them with form and color; sensual desires are stirred up, and the individual finds himself all at once in danger of losing God, of forfeiting heaven and eternal happiness.
Two great mistakes are made concerning this enemy in our own heart and the temptations it excites. Some persons have an exaggerated dread of evil thoughts, but most persons fear them too little. I will say a few words on both points.
If, for instance, when you go to confession you were merely to say that unchaste thoughts enter your mind every day, your confessor would be utterly unable to judge as to the sinfulness of such thoughts. In spite of all these disgraceful suggestions and representations, your soul may be pure and white and stainless as a lily.
A mere thought, on account of which we are not to blame, and in which we take no pleasure, and which we do not desire, is no sin, but only a temptation, only an opportunity for conflict and conquest, a cause and source of eternal merit.
4. St. Augustine compares evil thoughts to the first sin in paradise, in which these three took part, viz., the serpent, Eve, and Adam. The serpent suggested to the mind of Eve the idea of breaking the command of God; Eve took pleasure in the thought, and advised Adam to carry it into action; Adam followed her advice and sinned.
The first beginning of an evil thought may be compared to the suggestions of the serpent. Eve represents the lower nature, which takes delight in the contemplation of sin; in the person of Adam we see the human will, which, agreeing to the proposal of Eve, completes the sinful act. If an impure thought enters our mind, it is not a sin, so long as our free will definitely refuses its consent, and we take no pleasure in it.
5. There are two ways in which our free will may give its consent.
In the first place we may sin through desire if we wish to have the opportunity of doing, seeing, or hearing that which is wrong, or we may sin in reference to the past if we reflect with satisfaction on sins into which we have fallen, and wish to commit them over again. These voluntary wishes and desires are grievous sins, as both faith and reason plainly tell us.
In the second place, the will may give its consent by merely finding pleasure in impure images and thoughts. And this taking delight, willingly and wittingly, this actual pleasure of the will in such images, not the mere impression on the senses, is also a grievous sin. Hence it follows that you must never fail to be on your guard against this enemy in your own heart, and not be careless in regard to impure thoughts.
@How blest is he who ne'er consents To any evil deed; How pure and beauteous is his life Who to God's law pays heed.
LXIII. The Enemy in Your Eyes
I. Sight is one of the greatest blessings which God has bestowed upon His creatures. The unfortunate man who has lost this precious gift, and is on this account doomed to spend his days in perpetual darkness, can alone appreciate its value aright.
And yet, in the case of how many persons would it net be the greatest benefit, and save them from eternal perdition, if they were to lose their bodily sight. To such individuals one might say what St. Severinus once said to a monk who implored him to ask of God the restoration of his sight. "My son," he said, "do not trouble yourself about the eyes of your body, but rather about those of your soul." To many young persons the saying of the prophet is applicable: "Death is come up through our windows (the eyes), it is entered into our house (the soul)." The enemy of purity enters into the human heart through the eye.
2. With what did the first sin begin in paradise? With a longing look Eve gazed at the luscious fruit which hung on the forbidden tree; that look excited a wish to taste the fruit; she yielded to the wish, gathered and ate the forbidden fruit, and gave some of it to her husband; thus was the first sin committed. And if at a period when as yet no evil concupiscence had stirred within the human breast, the eyes could work irretrievable ruin, how great, how terrible must be the result after the fall, when the enemy in our eyes works in concert with the enemy in our heart! When we see what came of a mere love of eating we may judge what a much stronger passion will do - unchaste, sensual desire kindled by bold, unguarded glances, and suffered to burst into fierce flames.
3. Experience teaches that unchaste looks very frequently lead men to a terrible end. We find examples of this in Holy Scripture The proximate cause of David's sad fall was a bold and sinful look; with this look, the entire edifice of his virtue crumbled away, all his good resolutions were rendered null and void, and he, the man after God's own heart, became a murderer and an adulterer. Putiphar's wife cast unchaste glances upon Joseph, committed adultery in her heart, and would fain have sinned in act as well as in desire.
Yet why should we turn to olden times in order to illustrate our meaning when our own daily observation furnishes only too many melancholy examples of the truth of our assertion?
4. Pay heed to the warning of Holy Scripture, and say: "I have made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not look upon anything dangerous, lest death should come up through our windows and enter into the soul." Be on your guard against the enemy in your eyes, lest it should gain power over you, and destroy both body and soul. What biting frost is to the flowers in spring, so is an impure glance to the lily of chastity.
5. The numerous indecent and shameless pictures and engravings to be found in the present day in the pages of certain periodicals and illustrated journals are an open grave of innocence. In cities such pictures are too often exhibited in shop windows and on billboards, or hawked about the streets. It is deeply sad to think how many souls are by this means soiled and ruined. This danger is a very great one for you, my dear young friend. Do not imitate those who say: "We are no longer children! It is quite allowable for us to see certain things, we have reached an age when we ought to be acquainted with such subjects 1" Young people who talk in this fashion are, alas! no longer children of God, or at least are not to be counted among His innocent children.
6. Remark in conclusion that those young men who boldly fix their gaze upon persons of the opposite sex, doing this, not from mere curiosity, but with some measure of sensual desire, are either already unchaste, or will become so before very long. St. Bernard tells us that if persons of different sexes take deliberate satisfaction in gazing at one another and yet no sinful desires arise within them, ii is a more wonderful thing than if a dead man were to return to life.
O Youth, preserve an undimmed eye
And keep thy heart without a stain:
The undimmed eye can look on high,
The unstained heart will peace attain.
The enemy in human form
1. "Company-keeping" is the occasion in which the enemy of chastity appears most frequently in human form. Upon this subject I will speak more at length another time; at present I wish to call your attention to the danger which lurks in the too great familiarity with persons of the other sex under any circumstance.
Such familiarity, though it may begin in a harmless way with a pure feeling of friendly liking, too frequently degenerates into a passion which blinds the understanding and leads to the committal of a thousand sins of impurity, first in thought, then in words, and later also in actions. Alas! how many young persons in this way succumb to the enemy of chastity in human form.
2. Before ail else, avoid clandestine and nocturnal meetings.
Martinian, who is honored as a saintly anchorite, led a pious life upon a mountain for a long series of years. On one occasion there came to him a woman who had lost her way in the wilderness, and implored him, in most affecting language, to give her shelter and protection. What did he do? Remembering his own weakness, he refused to 9 How her to set foot in his hut. He justly feared that in the form of this woman the enemy of chastity might appear, and bring about his fall. " Fire and straw do not do well together," was his fitting reply.
If, therefore, this holy man, who by years of penance had practised and confirmed himself in virtue, avoided an apparently necessary meeting with a woman, how much more has a young man, m whom sensuality is strong, and virtue weak, every possible reason to avoid similar occasions!
3. And in regard to this subject, I must warn you against another great danger! Those unfortunate women, whether married or single, those dregs of their sex who imitate the shameless wife of Putiphar, are still existing in the present day, and are oven more numerous than ever.
But if ever, when you come to live in large cities, such a diabolical serpent in human form should present itself to you in a more or less fascinating manner, O then do not delay, do not delay a single instant, I beseech and implore you by all that you hold dear and sacred, but act as Joseph formerly did in Putiphar's house, fly, fly immediately. Your only chance of salvation lies in flight!
4. The enemy of innocence is especially to be found in the form of immoral companions and associates. To this class chiefly belong those persons who, by their evil and immodest bearing, seek to lead you, and others also, to commit every kind of sinful and vicious actions. Such persons are the decoy birds of Satan, by means of which he seeks to entrap others. They are rotten fruit, which spoils that which is sound. They are graves full of corruption, which exhale a pestilential effluvium. Their lascivious and suggestive conversation is an insidious poison, which by imperceptible degrees effects the death of innocence.
These immoral companions do evil themselves, and by their example of immodesty incite others to imitate them.
After this fashion, intercourse with vicious companions corrupted, in days of old, the youthful Augustine. He has left to you, dear reader, in his repentant confessions, the example also of his tears and sorrow; he warns and exhorts you, if the enemy of your innocence presents himself in human form, to fly from him, as you would fly from a roaring lion threatening to devour you.
O Youth, if this shall be thy aim,
To lead a life that's free from blame,
Man's company thou oft must flee
And learn with God alone to be.
LXV. The Enemy in word and pen
1.It is very sad and deplorable that unbecoming and immodest conversation is so common in our day. Unchaste conversation is carried on in saloons and hotels, in streets and parks, in field and forest, at social gatherings and in workshops, on steamers and in railway coaches, on the way to church, and at the very church door.
Many persons in their perversity seem to find nothing amusing that does not refer to improper and scandalous things. He who can relate the most shameless anecdotes, or make the coarsest witticisms and lewdest play upon words is considered the best entertainer.
2. In the face of such conduct, your duty is plain. There is in our country a highly dangerous and poisonous snake, which makes a rattling sound with its tail, from which it derives its name of rattlesnake. When this rattling sound is heard, all men become aware that the vile reptile is not far off, and they take care that they are not bitten and poisoned. After a similar fashion do unchaste persons betray themselves by immodest words. If you hear any one talk in this way, remember that it is the sound of the rattlesnake; beware, and withdraw yourself in order that this snake, this devil's agent, may not kill your soul with the poison of unchastity. If it is at all feasible, leave such company! If this is not practicable, silence the foul mouth in one way or another, administer to the speaker a sharp, but well-deserved reprimand.
3. But the enemy of innocence works still greater ruin by means of books and periodicals, than even by words. An immoral book offers to its deluded victim a sweet but deadly draught in a glittering goblet. Other tempters, those with unclean tongues, are obliged when in the company of decent people to respect the laws of morality or conventionality; but improper and salacious literature sneaks in everywhere.
Immoral books are all the more dangerous because they are secret tempters; they ply their nefarious business stealthily and continually. You would be ashamed to remain for any length of time alone with a person of doubtful reputation; you would be careful not to confide in him, because you would fear that injury to your virtue might be the result. On the contrary, one is alone when reading a bad book, alone with the tempter; one can listen to him without being put to shame before others.
4. The number of these silent, but persuasive, tempters is legion nowadays. Like a second deluge, the endless number of bad books and periodicals that are prejudicial to innocence and morality pours itself over all strata of society, in cities and villages, extending its ravages even to remote mountain valleys. First in the turbid flood we find bad novels, and indeed the greater number of novels and romances are fraught with danger to morals. They almost all relate piquant, sensual love stories, heat the imagination by highly colored descriptions, and these again blind the understanding, enfeeble the will, and ensnare the heart.
The deadly poison is presented and swallowed with the sweet sugar of a showy, attractive style, and a highly interesting tale. But daily experience proves how ruinous are its effects.
5. Seek the advice of a priest or an educated Catholic layman with regard to the choice of books and periodicals. But do not keep any suspicious book or periodical near you, lest it should fare with you as it did with Eve in regard to the forbidden fruit.
Never allow yourself to be deluded by a striking, or high-sounding, title; but ask where the book comes from, that is, who is the author and where and by whom it is printed. If this is not stated, the book is presumably trash. Toss it into the fire!
Thank God, there is no longer a dearth of good, first-class novels by Catholic writers of distinction. Good novels certainly serve an excellent purpose. They are capable not only of entertaining, but also of instructing us and even of encouraging us in the way of holiness and perfection. Young people are inclined, however, to read fiction in excess of what is right and good. Even in regard to reading, there may be a passion that is to be restrained; it is termed a rage for reading. Beware of this. Exercise self-control; do not neglect your duties to gratify your passion for fiction and other light literature.
Pay heed, also, to the admonition of St. Augustine: " Nourish your soul with spiritual reading." Let not a day pass without a short spiritual reading, for instance, from the "Lives of the Saints," or Thomas k Kempis' "Following of Christ," or St. Francis de Sales' "Introduction to a Devout Life."
The pious author of "The Art of Being Happy," writes: "Everything we read makes us better or worse, and, by a necessary consequence, increases or lessens our happiness. Be scrupulous in the choice of your books; often ask yourself what influence your reading exercises upon your conduct. If after having read such and such a work that pleases you - philosophy, history, fiction - or else such and such a review, or magazine, or newspaper in which you take delight - - if you then find yourself more slothful about discharging your duties, more dry and cross toward your equals, harder toward your inferiors, with more disrelish for your state of life, more greedy for pleasures, enjoyments, honors, riches - do not hesitate about giving up such readings i they would poison your life and endanger your eternal happiness."
"Learning is more profound When in few solid authors it may be found; A few books, digested well, do feed The mind; much cloys, and doth ill humor breed." - Robert Heath.
"A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life," - Milton.
XLVI. The enemy in alcohol
I. Some persons assert that the word alcohol is derived from the Arabic "al-ghol," evil spirit. We will not seek to discover whether this is, or is not, really the case; one thing is true at any rate, namely, that immoderate or very great indulgence in alcoholic beverages has such deplorable consequences in regard to morality, that we can say with truth that an impure and evil spirit lurks therein. I mean the enemy of chastity. An eastern legend runs as follows: When Noe began to plant the vine, Satan offered to assist him, on condition that he should receive two thirds of the produce. He then watered the vine with the blood of a parrot, a lion, an ape, and a pig. And since then, so runs the legend, wine (alcohol) possesses this property, namely, that any one who partakes too freely of it, becomes boastful and loquacious like a parrot, furious like a lion, lascivious like an ape, filthy like a pig This story is, as I said, only a legend, a parable, but it depicts with admirable precision the ruinous effects of alcohol in regard to morality. We will mention here only one of these effects: alcohol prepares the way for sins against chastity; the enemy of innocence is present in alcohol.
2. The Wise Man in Holy Writ thus addresses the drunkard: "Thine eyes shall look after strange women and thy heart - speak perverse things." And Sirach remarks: "Wine and women make wise men fall off." And in Proverbs it is expressly Stated: "Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous." And St. Paul utters this impressive warning: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury" (Eph. v. 18).
3. The Fathers of the Church teach the same thing. They term intemperance the grave of chastity, because it is well-nigh impossible to preserve this delicate virtue in the presence of intemperance, which incites to luxury. For instance, St. Augustine writes: "Drunkenness is the mother of all scandalous actions, the sister of impurity, and the shipwreck of chastity." And in another place he exhorts us thus: "Let us flee from drunkenness, in order that we may not fall into unchastity."
As the flames of a fire by means of oil, so are the sensual desires of men aroused and intensified by excess in alcoholic drinks. Therefore St. Jerome says: "Impurity is inseparable from drunkenness." Who indeed does not know the ribaldry, the vulgar jokes and indecent songs, by means of which young men, when excited by drink, irritate and scandalize others.
4. The unavoidable connection of immorality with drunkenness is constantly confirmed by daily experience. We will give one instance only.
There are in England extensive property owners, whose possessions comprise towns and large villages. Some time ago, a number of them agreed, in order to suppress drunkenness, to close all the drinking saloons existing in their domains. What was the result?
It is related concerning a certain village in Lancashire that for seventeen years drinking saloons were permitted there; for the following fifteen none were allowed. During the former period immorality was rampant everywhere, so that it can be said with truth that in every alternate house an illegitimate child was born. During the subsequent fifteen years matters underwent a complete change, so that at present cases of immorality are of very rare occurrence.
XLVII. The Enemy in the Theater
1.The theater, the stage, is not merely nothing indifferent as regards religion and morality, but rather something either highly advantageous or extremely injurious. Undoubtedly the theater wields a powerful influence for good or evil. Good plays of a religious tendency raise the tone of morals. The histrionic art resembles the other arts - poetry, painting, rhetoric, sculpture, and music - in the elevating powers they exercise. For this reason the Catholic Church has taken the fine arts one by one into her service, and thereby aided them to attain their highest perfection. The mystery plays of the Middle Ages were employed by her as a means of religious teaching. For the same reason, Catholic educational institutions in our own day, convent schools, and colleges conducted by Religious, annually have theatrical entertainments. It is the same with Catholic guilds or societies for young men and young women, under the superintendence of priests. It is an innocent and harmless pleasure to attend such plays as these.
2. Dramas, on the contrary, which are performed by professional actors in the theaters of large cities, are frequently fraught with danger for young people. There the spirit of evil, evening after evening, dwells upon its old theme: the concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of life. Immorality is not seldom, at least indirectly, inculcated. Everything combines to half intoxicate youthful spectators, to lull to sleep their understanding and their will, and, on the other hand, to excite their imagination to its highest pitch, and to arouse sensuality.
The "American Magazine" for May, 1909, published an article on The Indecent Stage," in which Samuel Hopkins Adams says:
"At one period of the present theatrical season, one fifth of all the dramatic presentments in New York were of dubious character.
"Half a dozen of them were sheer physical brutishness - the appeal to the Yahoo that lurks within all of us, to the beast that we hold in a leash, out of respect to ourselves and due fellows. Sensuality, it is called, in men." He goes on to say that it would be a positive affront "to embalm, in cold print, the rancid innuendoes or the intimate indecencies" of a certain play - one of the most popular of the modern dramas of license.
3. A certain French writer of plays has himself given an indubitable proof of the immoral tendency of many plays. Why did he forbid his children to witness the performances of the dramas which he had written? For no other reason, than because he believed that their attendance at the theater on those occasions would be injurious to their morals. What a testimony does this afford to the deleterious character of too many plays!
Never go to a play that is performed at a theater of doubtful reputation.
4. Be on your guard lest your love for the theater develop into a passion. Seek rather to take delight in simple pleasures, which are within the reach of every one. Take delight in beholding the beauteous sights which God offers to our view in the works of creation. Strive by the practice of virtue to be yourself a spectacle to angels and to men. Thus will you, when the toil and suffering of life shall have come to an end, attain to that infinitely glorious sight, the vision of God.
Why should we fear youth's draught of joy,
If pure, would sparkle less?
Why should the cup the sooner cloy,
Which Christ hath deigned to bless?- Keble.
Lift, O Christian, lift thine eyes
To thy home beyond the skies;
Eternal bliss awaits thee there
With which earth's joys can not compare.
XLVIII. The enemy in places of Amusement
" Gather the roses while you may,
Too soon, alas I they fade away."
1.Thus sings the poet, addressing the young. Gladly and heartily do I concur in the sentiment thus prettily expressed, as long at least, as the tender flower of innocence - the lily of purity - remains intact.
It is, and always has been, a pleasure to me to give pleasure to young people - to be instrumental in procuring for them innocent amusements. My heart rejoices when I see young folk merry and engaged in harmless play.
Bear this in mind, I pray you, when I utter a word of warning with regard to the danger of certain worldly amusements.
2. Very frequently does the enemy of innocence make his appearance in that favorite resort of young people - the ballroom or dance-hall.
That dancing is, as a rule, fraught with grave perils in regard to chastity, no sensible man will think of denying. I do not mean to say that dancing is in itself, and under all circumstances, a dangerous thing. On the contrary, in and by itself it is a perfectly harmless amusement; that is to say, moving about in time to the music is no more to be objected to than any other kind of gymnastic exercise. Indeed, in many excellent Catholic schools the pupils are occasionally allowed to amuse themselves by dancing. In this case no danger to innocence can possibly exist, any more than when brothers and sisters, or other near relatives, dance together. For these family gatherings the only evil is that they tend to awaken and foster a taste for what so often proves to be a dangerous amusement.
3. Thus we see that dancing is not, in itself, a danger to chastity; it is rendered perilous only by the circumstances attending it A great deal depends on the person with whom one dances. If the dancers are of opposite sexes, and not very closely related to one another; if they are quite young, and therefore more likely to have their passions kin died in the intoxication of the dance - then the amusement may assume a dangerous character. An illustration will explain my meaning.
To carry a lighted candle about without any guard against the flame is assuredly not dangerous, but useful and necessary. But if you were to light a fire close to a heap of dry hay, or to take a lighted candle into a room where there had been an escape of gas, What a catastrophe might be the result!
With regard to public dances you will do well if you refrain from attending any save those which are conducted under the auspices of Catholic organizations or Church societies and with the sanction of your pastors.
Father Slater, S.J., in his "Manual of Moral Theology " makes the following observations on the subject under consideration
"Dancing may be a perfectly innocent amusement and it may be a dangerous occasion of sin. No general rule, therefore, can be given as to when dancing must be avoided. Much depends upon the company who join in the dance, upon the way of dancing, and upon the subjective disposition of ' the dancers. If there be nothing objectionable in any of these respects, there is no reason why a young man or a young woman should not be allowed to dance with due caution. If there be ground for objection, and especially if sin has already been frequently committed in similar circumstances, there is an obligation to abstain, unless the occasion of sin is necessary and can be made remote by taking proper precautions. If sin only follows occasionally, there will be no strict obligation to abstain from dancing, provided due precautions be taken in future."
5. The fact is, the enemy of innocence generally meets and allures the young man amid scenes of noisy worldly festivity - at amusement resorts, concert halls, parks, gardens, summer camps, moonlight parties, pleasure excursions, and picnics. The amusements to which people give themselves up on such occasions, and which fascinate them these games, carousals, and masqueradings, these sentimental plays and sensuous musical performances, these flirtations and drinking bouts, all have for their object, not moderate and wholesome recreation, but sensual enjoyment, such as unduly excites the imagination, arouses the passions, results in physical and mental depression, enervates the will, makes one indifferent to duty, and opens the door to violent temptations
The circumstances that attend such festivities certainly constitute rocks on which innocence may easily be wrecked.
6. Another reprehensible practice which is prevalent in some places, even among country lads, consists in roaming about at night, perhaps past midnight, drinking at intervals, behaving in a vulgar and boisterous manner, annoying and insulting women, disturbing people in the midst of their slumbers by shouting and singing, and indulging in scandalous pranks.
This is certainly very objectionable conduct, a very equivocal pastime; and yet to many young people it appears to cause enjoyment. A decent, self-respecting young man will not engage in such sport, which is fraught with danger to innocence. From such "pleasures" as these he will turn with horror.