Field Manual for our daily battles

This Field Manual contains
techniques and procedures in our daily personal battles against impurity.

WAYS AND MEANS TO LIVE HOLY PURITY
credits to Tuburan study center… hehehe

THE MAIN MEANS WILL ALWAYS BE THE SACRAMENTS: FREQUENT CONFESSION AND FREQUENT
AND WOTHY COMMUNION. THE NEXT GREAT MEANS ARE CONSTANT PRAYER AND CONSTANT
MORTIFICATION, OR SELF-SACRIFICE; THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT HOLY PURITY IS AN
“AFFIRMATION OF LOVE OF GOD”.

(FURTHERMORE, THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND AND OBSERVED CAREFULLY):

- Avoid idleness, for the devil waits for these moments to attack: “An
idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Do not entertain impure thoughts and
desires. To have them is natural, but to entertain them is sinful. Think of
something else. Change the topic and focus on the activity you have at hand.
Control your imagination and your memory. Daydreaming is at least a waste of
time. Maintain constant presence of God through your aspirations and short
prayers. It might be good to develop an interest in hobbies – for example,
playing the guitar – in order to fill up all the free time. Simply put, Keep
yourself always busy! (In my case, I’ve had a hard time learning how to play
the guitar, so I focused instead into breeding hamsters.)

- Guard your sight: “If you do not control your eyes, you might not be
able to control your hands!” Our Lord has said, “If you look at a
woman with lust, you already committed adultery with her in your heart”
(Mat. 5, 28). (Joshua Harris expounds on this in his book, Not even a hint).

- Declare war on pornography. Do all you can to clean up the environment around
you! Get rid of pornographic materials (if you have them), delete porno
pictures from the computer, remove pin-ups from your room, etc.

- Do not waste time, and endanger your soul by reading immoral printed
materials, such as indecent magazines and many romantic novels.

- Beware of bad pictures in the Internet. Never access or download such stuff.
If they pop-up, delete them right away with sorrow and disgust, for they offend
God and degrade the offenders. You would not want your mother to be exhibited
in such a way.

- Do not stare at the indecent posters and billboards found along the streets,
in the malls and other public places. Make acts of reparation and atonement for
the offences to God that these posters will lead to.

- The less TV you watch, the better. Unfortunately, apart from some for the
news and information programs, such as Discovery Channel, many others are
frivolous, sensual (sometimes sexual), and a waste of time. If you are fun of
sports, beware of sexy ads inserted during their transmission. Be ready to look
away, or even to switch off the TV set. Never rejoice with these filthy shows;
think that Jesus, your best Friend, is very much offended by them. In most
cases, it is not good for young people to have their own TV sets in their
private rooms. For this arrangement is open to many temptations.

- Select very well the movies you will watch. Never enter a movie theatre
without knowing the moral qualification of the film. It is easy to find out in
advance how the film is by accessing to www.usccb.org/movies. There, one can
find a moral assessment made by the US Conference of Bishops.

- Do not go to shows, discos, and dances that are frivolous or sensual.
Remember that to put oneself voluntarily in danger of sin is already a sin. Get
used to saying ‘no’ to bad invitations.

- Avoid conversations about impure events. Not even to deplore them. Impurity,
a modern saint has said, “sticks more than tar”. If your friends
crack green jokes or tell impure stories, try to change the topic. If this is
not possible, leave the group and go away. Remember: “Death rather than
sin!”

- Do not listen to music that contains sexy innuendos or expressions of double
meaning. (I used to like Andrew E’s music back during his hit song
“Humanap ka ng panget”, but his later songs proved distasteful to my
liking…)

- Avoid useless curiosity. Some people may tell you to explore sex to avoid
being ignorant of it. Take into account that you do not have to contract SARS
to know what this sickness is.

- Respect your body and the body of others. Take into account that the body is
meant to be the temple of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore, it is sacred.

- Respect the organs of generation. They were created by God to constitute His
Family, and to complete the number of the elect. Besides, they are the sources
of immortal life. Human life is sacred. Therefore, the sources of human life,
the sec organs, are also sacred. They are to be used in Holy Matrimony in the
way willed by God. They ought not be abused. Masturbation is self-abuse, a
misuse of the fountains of human life. It is an action gravely opposed to the
will of God and therefore, a mortal sin (Catechisms of the Catholic Church, n.
2352). It has to be confessed mentioning the number of offences, as accurately
as possible. At times, all that can be given is an estimate or an
approximation.

- Choose your friends well. If you associate with people who are obsessed with
sex and talk about it most of the time, you may end up corrupt like them. Be
brave and resist peer pressure.

In relationships with persons of the opposite sex, beware of the temptations to
indulge in petting, necking, passionate kissing and intimate touches; these
actions are also mortal sins. They are legitimate only between married people.
Unmarried people have no right to each other’s body. Those engaged in showing
affection ought to stop doing whenever they get so aroused that there is danger
of experiencing venereal pleasure. In other words, one cannot perform actions
that set in motion physical changes which, by their very nature, lead to the
sexual act. The latter is reserved for marriage. Pre-marital sex is the surest
way of cheapening the relationship between a man and a woman.

 

Pope John Paul II has stated, “Honest sexual ‘language’ demands a
commitment to life-long fidelity. You surrender your body to another person;
that signifies your own self to that person. Now, if you are not yet married, you
have to admit that possibility of changing your mind in the future exists. The
totality of the gift, therefore, would be lacking. Without the marital bond,
sexual relations are a lie.” It is a trivialization of the marital act.
What is purported as absolute, exclusive and for life, is only conditional,
open to others and temporary.

- Practice decency and dress modestly at all times. Beware of vanity. The
desire to be admired on account of ones physical appearance could cloud the
mind as regards the moral responsibility of being the cause of the sin of
another. What you wear and how you treat the intimate parts of your body should
reflect the respect you have for your body as temple of the Holy Spirit. In
beaches, locker rooms and dorms you should send the clear message that you
expect others to view you with respect. You do not want to be the cause of
their sin of scandal that our Lord condemned very harshly.

– Keep you heart under control. If you were to fall in love with the wrong
person, that is, a person with whom your conscience tells you that you should
not have a sentimental relationship, then, we ought to “fall out of
love” and to remember these three steps to solve the problem:

First: Physical separation. As much as possible, avoid any dealings with this
person: No visits, no phone calls, and no texting.

Second: Mental separation. Get this person out of your thoughts and of your
“day-dreaming”. When these thoughts come back, drive them away, time
and again, as if they were immodest imaginations.

Third: Substitution. We were created to love. We cannot be happy without
loving. We need to love. That is why, in this situation, its important to
intensify our love for Jesus; seeking Him more eagerly in the sacraments,
especially in the Holy Eucharist, and in your heart to heart conversations with
Him, i.e., in sincere prayer. While you are trying to forget the “wrong
person”, to counteract the feeling of loneliness, increase your dealing
with the pure and noble loves you have in your family and among you other
friends. In other words avoid being alone.

– Humbly ask God for it. Before retiring at night, it would be good to recite
three times the Hail Mary, asking for holy purity for yourself and for
everyone. It is also very effective to ask you Guardian Angel to help you in
this regard.