Fighting the good fight means just that- fighting. I've seldom seen fights that were one sided knock outs. Usually even the champion comes out with war wounds. This fight with lust is no different. Sometimes it is devastating when we fall- especially when we have been winning so many battles. Keep in mind that there is no dishonor in a soldier who falls fighting -only in a soldier who refuses to get up and keep fighting after he's fallen. This is a war. And just like all wars, we will not win every single battle. But just because you lose a battle it doesn't mean that you have lost the war. Fight! Get up. Dust yourself off. Ask for forgiveness. Go to confession. Make a firm resolution never to fall again. Do whatever it is takes to get back in the battle. Take a hard look at where you failed to follow your battle plan. Fix it and begin to conquer again!
Listen to the words of St. Josemaria Escriva:
Calmly, without scruples, you should think about your life, and ask forgiveness, and make a firm, specific and well-defined resolution to improve in one point and another: in that small detail which you find hard, and in that other one which usually you dont carry out as you should, and you know it.
'What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?' The cry is Saint Paul's.Courage: he too had to fight.
You are expecting victory, the end of the struggle... but it doesnt come—Thank God, as if you had already reached that goal, and offer him your feelings of impatience: "Vir fidelis loquetur victoriam", the faithful man will sing the joys of victory.
When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of Our Mother in Heaven, by realising how close she is to us, and by means of aspirations—She will defend us.
May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don’t abandon me, my Mother! —And recommend this prayer to others.
PRAY:
Remove, Jesus, that filthy crust of sensual corruption which covers my heart, so that I can feel and readily follow the touches of the Paraclete on my soul.
Listen to the words of St. Josemaria Escriva:
Calmly, without scruples, you should think about your life, and ask forgiveness, and make a firm, specific and well-defined resolution to improve in one point and another: in that small detail which you find hard, and in that other one which usually you dont carry out as you should, and you know it.
'What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?' The cry is Saint Paul's.Courage: he too had to fight.
You are expecting victory, the end of the struggle... but it doesnt come—Thank God, as if you had already reached that goal, and offer him your feelings of impatience: "Vir fidelis loquetur victoriam", the faithful man will sing the joys of victory.
When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of Our Mother in Heaven, by realising how close she is to us, and by means of aspirations—She will defend us.
May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don’t abandon me, my Mother! —And recommend this prayer to others.
PRAY:
Remove, Jesus, that filthy crust of sensual corruption which covers my heart, so that I can feel and readily follow the touches of the Paraclete on my soul.
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