Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
God did not call us to impurity, but to holiness.
We note in today's First Reading how St. Paul contrasts the two, holiness on the one hand and impurity on the other.
Not because impurity is the only obstacle to holiness, not because it's the only sin, not because it's the most grievous sin, but because it's the one that's most frequently committed.
And also, not because it's the most grievous sin, but yet, grievous enough, not only to be an obstacle to holiness, but to salvation itself.
It is a mortal sin that separates from God.
So Paul contrasts these two in particular.
God called us not to impurity, but to holiness.
And our Lord, in positive terms, in the Beatitudes, tells us that purity is that one specific beatitude necessary to see God face to face as He is. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
And our Lord, whose sacred heart today we celebrate on this first Friday, wants us to make our hearts become like His.
So let's ask Him that grace today to make our hearts like His, pure like His.
To do so, I'll just share with you an excerpt of a sermon from St. Alphonsus.
He's good at filling his listeners and readers with disgust for impurity, and that's also good.
Fill us with disgust for impurity so as to give us a desire for holy purity.
St. Alphonsus, in one of his sermons, calls impurity hell's widest gate.
Again, not because it's necessarily the most grievous of sins.
No, there are others that are more grievous, but the widest gate because it's the one through which most souls enter.
It is by this gate, he says, that the greater number of the damned enter.
It's the most frequently committed of the sins, of the mortal sins.
The reason is because this vice proceeds from the natural inclination of the flesh.
That's why he says he relates a certain opinion of theologians that it's a vice so rooted in the flesh that even some demons who are pure spirits, although evil, nevertheless pure spirits, are so disgusted by this vice that they will not tempt souls to it.
So the higher those demons who were higher angels before their fall retain a certain disgust for the sin of the flesh to the point that they won't tempt to it.
They leave it to the lesser, to the lower of the fallen angels.
It's an interesting opinion.
The point is, it's a sin.
It's an inclination deeply rooted in the flesh.
Hence, because it's in the flesh, the person who is plunged in this infernal mire remains lodged in there and almost wholly unable to free himself again, which is in accordance with what is said by the prophet Hosea.
They will not set their thoughts to return to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known God.
The sin, because it flatters, makes us fall at once into the habit of it.
That's what makes it worse.
A habit, which some carry with them even to death.
You see persons, husbands, and even decrepit old men indulge in the same thoughts and committing the same sins they committed in their youth.
There's no such thing as just one innocent sin, particularly when it comes to impurity.
Impurity especially leaves behind it a lot of residue, so to speak.
A strong inclination.
So again, we should be on the guard against even one sin of any kind, but especially impurity.
So then St. Alphonsus enters into an imaginary dialogue between somebody who falls and himself.
Father, says the soul.
Father, you will say, how can I hold out against the innumerable temptations which assail me?
I am weak, I am flesh.
And St. Alphonsus replies, well, since you are weak, why don't you recommend yourself to God and to Our Lady?
Don't just make excuses.
Pray.
Yes, you are weak and God knows that.
Our Lady knows that.
Turn to them.
And since you are flesh, why don't you guard your flesh?
Guard the eyes.
Guard the senses.
Why do you gaze upon those objects from which temptations flow?
Later on, he'll go on, St. Alphonsus to remind us how it's necessary to avoid occasions of sin.
But here he says that apart from in and of itself being a terrible and disgusting sin, it also leads to further sins.
One of them being the sin of sacrilege.
Sacrilege is confessions and communions.
It's a sin according to him.
Disgusting even to some of the demons.
Very shameful to us.
So it leads to sacrilege.
But reason of the shame, which will not allow these impurities to be disclosed in confession.
Before the sin, the devil makes people think it's just a trifling sin.
Everybody commits it.
After the sin, he makes you think, it's so disgusting.
How can I possibly confess this?
I am so ashamed.
A clever creature, the devil.
And let us here remark in passing, furthermore, that it is a sacrilege of all things.
So sacrilegious communion is a sacrilege above all things that brings upon us sickness and death.
It comes from the flesh.
It afflicts the flesh.
Says the apostle, he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgments to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.
And therefore are many infirm and weak among you.
But after saying all this, St. Alphonsus says, okay, don't be crushed by my words.
My brothers, should you ever have been sunk in this vice, I do not bid you to be disheartened.
But arise at once from this foul and infernal pit.
Our Lord says, come to me all you who are burdened.
And I will give you rest.
I am meek and humble of heart.
Our Lord does not reject anybody.
No matter what sins he might have plunged himself into.
So beg of God immediately to give you light and to stretch out his hand to you.
And the first thing that you should do if you want to break with sin is break with the occasion of sin.
Without that, preaching and tears and resolutions and confessions are all lost.
Remove the occasions and then constantly recommend yourself to God and to Mary, the mother of purity.
A humorous example here of avoiding occasions of sin.
St. Alphonsus was very cautious about this point.
And he was careful not to put himself in any superfluous, in any unnecessary, even remote temptations of sin.
A humorous example is he once had to have a conversation with some, I think, noble lady in a room that was pretty empty.
There were just two chairs there.
So they begin the conversation.
And this was one of those persons that gets really close to you when she speaks to you.
So they began sitting pretty far apart.
But this lady, again, just gets really close to you when she wants to speak to you.
So she kept getting close, very close to St. Alphonsus.
And he, very politely, didn't want to offend her and say anything because he knew she didn't mean anything by it.
But would just slowly move away from her on this chair.
And she would get closer to him and he would slowly move away.
And for whatever reason, a fellow brother would be checking in on them.
I don't know for what reason, maybe he was bringing them tea or something.
And every time he would check in, they were in a different part of the room.
So the two chairs just kept moving around this empty room as she kept getting closer.
St. Alphonsus kept moving away.
The point is, avoid occasions, particularly the near occasions of sin.
And no matter how grievously you may be tempted, do not be discouraged by the temptation.
At once call to your aid Jesus and Mary, pronouncing their sacred names.
Because these blessed names have the power of making the devil fly and stifling the hellish flame within you.
And even if the devil persists, and he will, even if he persists, persevere in calling upon Jesus and Mary.
And certainly, you shall not fall.
Well, impurity is hell's widest gate.
Purity is that beatitude that our Lord says will permit us to see God one day.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
On this first Friday, let's ask our Lord's Sacred Heart for this purity of heart.
That we might see Him face to face one day, together with Our Lady and all the saints.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.