Catholic Classics Day 20: Aim for the Highest Good (Introduction to the Devout Life)
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Nov 12, 2022 AI Snips
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Guard Against Small Indulgences That Tarnish Chastity
- Avoid familiar or immodest touching and sensory exposure to prevent gradual moral decline.
- St. Francis de Sales compares bodies to fragile glass and warns that small, repeated allowances (glances, words, touches) tarnish chastity over time.
Chastity Lives In The Heart Not Just The Body
- Chastity is rooted in the heart and can be lost through internal thoughts as well as external acts.
- St. Francis cites Saint Basil and Tertullian to show lustful thoughts can contaminate the heart even when the body remains physically undefiled.
Choose Chaste Company And Purifying Reading
- Avoid immodest or insolent company and instead seek chaste companions and holy reading.
- St. Francis warns corrupted souls spread impurity like basilisks while the Word of God purifies and assuages concupiscence like topaz.