SEE LYING TONGUE Page 9

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES

Venerable Louis of Granada, The Sinner’s Guide Especially Chapters the chapters on the deadly sins, the firm resolution and chapters 7,8,9,10

St Thomas Aquinas, as cited by various authors

St Catharine of Sienna, The Dialogue

St Alphonsus Ligouri, Preparation for death, The True Spouse of Christ, The Duties and Dignity of the Priesthood, The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, Uniformity With the Will of God, and other writings.

The conferences of Cassian

Thomas a kempis The imitation of Christ

Sister Josefa Menendez The Way of Divine Love

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

St John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt Carmel, Living Flame of Love

St Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

If all the water in the world became one sea; oh, what a mighty sea it would be. And if all the men in the world became one man, oh, what a mighty man he would be. And if all the trees in the world became one tree; oh, what a mighty tree it it would be. And if all the axes in the world became one axe; oh, what a mighty battle axe it would be. And if that one man took that one mighty axe, and cut down that one mighty tree. And if that one mighty tree fell into that one great see. . . Oh what a mighty splash there would be. The tree is the entire body of sin, the axe is grace and the sacraments, the sea is the time given us, the man, is you and me.

This hand out is composed for the person who is determined to live a holy life as the saints did. It will bring consolation for the person walking the “narrow road” that is the way of the Cross.

THE MISSION OF THIS BOOK immortales

A young woman burning with hunger and thirst for God said, Father, Scripture says that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23.) I beg you therefore, teach me how to destroy the very root of sin. Now, because the Father hated wasting time, he Gazed steadily into her eyeballs and spoke, you ask me dear child to teach you the greatest science in the world—the road to eternal union with the Omnipotent God. Do you know you are looking for the greatest treasure in all the world? Therefore, give me three good reasons why you ask it of me, and I will not delay to teach you. She began, first, my soul is immortal (will never die) but sin will separate me from God for ever in the fires that cannot be quenched (Mk 9:43-48). Second, the only thing that can ever connect me with the devil is sin; and sin truly makes me a partner with the evil one (Wisdom 2:24). Third, I have come to know that sin is a thief. My sins promised to give me pleasure, happiness, wealth, position, favour, comfort and power, but each time I sinned I realized that sin is only a deceiver stealing peace, the friendship of God and every good thing from my poor soul (John 10:10).

“It is not flesh and blood that revealed this to you”, said the priest, “but the Spirit of God. Therefore we shall begin. However, since you said rightly that your soul shall never die, I will give you a new name by which I shall call you from now on.” “What name?” She asked. “Immortales” he said. And she responded: “Truly, My name is Immortaless for my soul lives forever. So be it.”

“Immortales”, said the priest. “Today, I teach you a secret. All the sin in the world come from only seven deadly roots!” “What does that mean?” she asked. “If all the sins in the world may be described as one tree, that tree has only seven roots”, said the priest. “Therefore, whoever is able to find these seven deadly roots and destroy them is free from the slavery of sin.” “Do not delay, Father”, she said. “Be quick to teach me this great secret.”

For the second time, he gazed into her eyes. With a deep sigh, his face broke into a fatherly, gentle and loving smile. Then he said, “when you find them (the seven roots of sin), Immortales, my child, you will be on the road to union with God.”

Dear reader, in whose hands God alone has placed this book, if you have a longing, a thirsting, a hunger for God (Ps 63:1) you are lucky to be holding this book. If you have a burning desire to see the God who made you face to face (Rev 22:4-5), then rejoice (even if you have been a sinner of habit) for it was to a valley of very dry bones that the oracle of the Lord came (Ezekiel 37:2). Henceforth, therefore, I will call you Immortales, for your soul can never die.

INTRODUCTION: The tree of Sin and its seven deadly roots (grave diggers)

If all the sins a person can commit is described as a single tree, this mighty tree of sin has only seven roots, says Venerable Louis Granada (16th century Dominican).

The soul which is able to find and destroy these seven deadly roots will be free from the slavery of sin. This was the firm belief of the saints and the Desert Fathers (as Cassian records). Remember the words of the Master: whoever sins is a slave (Jn 8:34).

Listen carefully Immortales. This mighty tree we may also call (false) self-love. Self-love is the enemy of love of God from which all sins come. Each time you committed a sin, it was because you chose what you wanted instead of what God wanted. A saint is a person who loves God more than himself in all things (that is in thought, word deed and action); and does the will of God in all things. Obedience is doing the will of God; disobedience is doing our will or the devil’s. To obey is to say you love the one you obey; to disobey is precisely to say you love yourself or something else more than God. Jesus tells us in John: The Father loves me because I obey Him (I lay down my life for my sheep!” Therefore, Immortales, you must learn at once that to root out self love is the same thing as to root out the seven deadly roots of sin.

What are the Seven deadly roots of the tree of sin? Louis of Granada calls them the mighty giants which prevent our entry into Heaven. These are the seven vices or capital sins. Foulton Sheen calls them the seven pall bearers (coffin carriers) of the soul. But because of the way they operate in everyday life, we shall call them the seven grave diggers of the soul, or better still, the seven prisons of the soul. In the Chronicles of the Leper King they are called the “seven soul killers”. 1 John 2:16 (KJV) gives us three sons of self-love: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. These are love of pleasure, love of riches, and love of honours. Love of pleasure produces three deadly roots, lust, gluttony and sloth. Love of riches produces covetousness or greedy. Love of honours produces pride. That root of sin we call anger (and hatred) is produced when something prevents us from satisfying self-love. The root of sin called envy or jealousy grows into the soul when we see others with something self-love wants to claim. These then are the seven deadly roots of sin, the seven capital sins, the seven pall bearers (coffin carriers) or for operational reasons, the seven grave diggers of the soul: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, envy or jealousy, and sloth. Louis of Granada warns, “we must violently attack these mighty giants who prevent our entrance into the Heaven.”

These then are the mighty deadly and rebellious seven and what they mean: pride (false love of honour, excellence, etc), covetousness or greed (love of money and material things), lust (wrong desire for sexual pleasure), anger and hatred (feeling of bitterness against a person and love of revenge), jealousy or envy (feeling of sadness or sense of loss when something good

happens to a person), sloth (unwillingness to do our duty) and gluttony (a wrong love of drinking and eating). They are the seven killers of the soul. The killers described by the Lord and Master in Mt 8:14 (parable of the sower) as thorns which strangle (choke) the tree of life, sucking it dry until it is dead and useful only as firewood (gathered and burnt up). By filling the soul with the poison of self-love ( just as the snake poisons a body), they slowly kill the love of God in the soul. Accordingly a contemplative has called them the “seven soul killers.”

Sadly, this handout deals with only pride, jealousy, anger and lust; covetousness, sloth and gluttony are left out. This will be included in the book however.

BECAUSE THESE ROOTS OF SIN ARE HABITS, THEY ARE ESPECIALLY DEADLY

Each root of sin is a habit; that is why they are called the seven vices. St Thomas Aquinas teaches correctly that a vice is a bad habit in operation (negative operational habit); and a virtue is a good habit in operation (positive operational habit). The soldier of Christ (the combatant spirit) is the person who without tiring, and without rest works hard to root out the vices and to plant the virtues at the same time. The seven virtues which battle against the deadly roots of sin are, humility (poison of pride), generosity or liberality (killer of covetousness or greed), chastity (destroyer of lust), meekness (killer of anger), brotherly love (enemy of jealousy), diligence or hard work (enemy of sloth), and temperance or control (destroyer of gluttony).

It is important to note that fasting, abstinence, works of self-denial are also very important and strengthen the will in dealing with the vices.

THE METHOD OF THIS WORK

In uprooting the roots of sin, we shall use the method of the doctor. Treating each deadly root of sin as a disease, we shall diagnose (describe, and say what it is and how it kills the soul); Next, in the style of Venerable Louis of Granada (in his work “The Sinner’s Guide”, Chapters 30-38) we shall provide the medicine or remedies just as the doctor does.

The mighty tree spoken of earlier is the tree of vice or sin. The man is you, Immortal. The axe is virtue. The sea is the time given us in this life—in which we must bring down the tree of (the slavery of) sin. We begin now with pride.

PRIDE

"The Devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked." - St. Thomas More, 16th Century "God is stern in dealing with the arrogant, but to the humble He shows kindness." - Proverbs 3:34

"Hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to the love of God ..." - The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2094

Overweening pride, arrogance, haughtiness: these have been the stuff of tragedy. Vanity, fussiness, delicacy: the stuff of comedy. These are all forms of self-delusion, and paper-thin masks over rotting features. Pride and vanity refuse the truth about who we are and substitute illusions for reality. While vanity is mostly concerned with appearance, pride is based in a real desire to be God, at least in one's own circle.

The first requirement of pride is spiritual blindness. Any glimpse of God reveals our frailty and sinfulness, just as a well-lit bathroom mirror shows the flaws in our complexion. Like Oedipus, we are driven to gouge out our eyes at the sight of our wretchedness and wander away from our heavenly home, with no purpose or direction. Unlike Oedipus, we build up myriad illusions about who we are and what we are about. We can busy ourselves with career, family and even church work, thinking we are being driven by a strong work ethic, moral values or the fire of the Holy Spirit. In reality, we may be running away from God by running away from ourselves. Nearly everyone else can see that we are putting on a show, but not us. Our coworkers may hate us (they are just jealous), our children may self-destruct or leave us (they are ungrateful), and we may never truly pray but merely stand in the presence of a god we have created, but we still refuse to see.

The secret road, the secret ladder, the secret door to the Garden of Eden and indeed d road of the devil to the heart of the human person

We come now to the first root of sin or grave digger of the soul, which is pride.

For the sake of caution, dear Immortales, we must say at once that pride is a proper gate of Hell. This is because until the devil and countless angels fell through pride, Hell was empty. Accordingly the Leper King has concluded that it was pride that opened the gates of Hell.

The terror and dreadfulness of pride should make you fly from it. Meditate on these truths: Pride changed the home of the angels from Heaven to Hell forever;

Pride changed them from wonderful, great and brilliant creatures of light to ugly and wicked demons; Pride robbed them totally of light and glory. Reflect says the Venerable Louis of Granada the prince of heavenly spirits becomes the chief of devils because of his pride. His beauty and glory are changed into ugliness and shame. This makes the prophet to cry: How have you fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How have you been cut down to the ground. . . For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will lift up my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit also above the congregation. . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12 ff). Thomas a Kempis asks: “If pride brought so great a destruction to Lucifer and the angels who once looked upon Almighty God face to face, why do you think it will fail to bring you who are only a human to total destruction.”

The devil told Adam and Eve that they would become like God if they disobeyed. They drank the devil’s poison; they swelled up with pride; they stretched their hands’; they took the fruit. They did not become like God. Their pride opened the gate of suffering, sorrow, pain, death, loss and every evil under the sun. Consider the terrible effects of their pride: They exchanged the friendship of God for the friendship of the devil. They lost the comfort of the Garden of Eden (the earthly paradise) and embraced the harshness and difficulties of a life of hard labour. Giving up the gift of life, they embraced death (the wages of sin is death– Rom 6:23). Carrying the pregnancy of pride (in its full term), Cain gave birth to that jealousy which gave him the diabolical rage (anger) which strengthened his arm to kill his brother.

Pride is a wrong (inordinate, disordered, false) love of, excellence, perfection, glory, popularity, etc. Scripture gives it first place by identifying it as the source of all destruction (Tobit 4:14). Louis of Granada call it “the most powerful of our enemies.” It is the most terrible example of self-love. Like the witch king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgul, the captain of the nine in JRR Tolkien’s celebrated The Lord of the Rings, pride is the rebel captain and lord of the seven deadly sins, according to cassian and other spiritual writers. It grows out of a false knowledge of God and self.

If you look in the dictionary of pride, you will find only three words: me, myself, I. The spirit of pride will always ask others: “Do you know who I am?”

Pride is the dividing spirit per excellence. The Greek name for the devil is Diabolos. This means the one who divides. Pride always produces the pattern of the diabolos. What does this mean? Right after the first act of pride in the Garden of Eden, Adam was already divided against Eve when he Blamed Eve for his sin (cf Gen 3:12). He attacked the same woman he had called “bone of my bone; flesh of my flesh” (cf Gen 2:23). Pride divided Adam and God, Adam and Eve, Adam and

creation (Genesis 3:17 indicates that from then material hardship and suffering, sickness would come to him from creation), and indeed it divided Adam against himself.

Another requirement of pride, indeed a symptom, is that each challenge to our pride drives us harder to improve our illusion of productivity, sanctity or compassion. It has been said that the definition of a zealot is "one who has lost sight of his goal, and so redoubles his efforts." We might say the zealot works twice as hard to keep up appearances.

When we hear sermons about pride, or read this text, we may be tempted to think of all the people we know who really need to read it. We need to read it. Pride is about us, and we would love to retain our illusions by pointing to others, saying: "But they are very proud. I really don't think I'm that great, but they do."

The best pride detector is this: how much are we bothered by the pride of others? And if we feel attacked, is our response: "other people are worse."

A strong indicator of pride is competitiveness. There is nothing wrong with playing to win, provided the joy is in the playing. If our happiness depends on defeating others or knowing our child is the star of the team, we are building a world of illusion.

At death, all illusions are stripped away. God's judgment will not take into account our bank balance, how much we own, how smart our children are or how much self-esteem we have. All that will matter is whether He recognizes us (Matthew 25:12).

Immortales, I am sure that after all of these you are very sure that you not proud—that pride cannot be found in you since it is such a fearful thing. You can be sure however that you are totally wrong. It is very difficult to discover pride—it does not have a litmus test. Make no mistake about it, if you begin to know that you are proud, then God has given you a great gift! St Augustine says it is a stealth (secret) factor which sneaks in and destroys our good works and robbing us of our reward.

However, since we have decided to proceed like a doctor, dear Immortal, we shall run a test by means of the following questions. Upon the results the diagnosis shall be clear and indubitable. Afterwards we shall provide some necessary medicine. Do not be afraid therefore to meditate on these questions in all honesty for they will show to you a true picture of your soul so that you may know with clarity exactly who you are.

*Am I the most important person around? Do I see myself as better than others? (This is a signal of pride, and the fountainhead or source of all its sicknesses!)

THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE IS ASHAMED OF THE TRUTH THEREFORE, Pride NECESSARILY gives birth to a lying spirit or attitude

Analysis of the lying spirit needed

*Am I ashamed to tell the truth about myself, family, situation?

*Do I lie about my position, kind of job, salary, status?

*Do I claim to have achieved or done things I haven’t done—do I claim to own what is not mine?

*Have I lied just to appear good before my friends, family, colleagues?

*Have I stolen just because I want to appear good?

*Did I have that abortion just because of the shame the shame the pregnancy would cause me.

*Did I command my daughter to have that abortion just because her pregnancy would bring me shame.

Pride is a rebel captain, disobedient and bowing to no one

*Am I disobedient? (pride usually does not obey), when the spirit of pride obeys it is because of the greater status of pride that will come as a benefit.

*Do I take correction? Do I become angry when corrected? Do I think that those who correct me do not like me? (The spirit of pride does not enjoy correction).

*Am I always right? (spirit of pride is blind to its own faults)

*In my family, do I dictate or do I listen. Do I involve my wife, husband, children in decision making?

PRIDE ENJOYS FLATTERY. The wine of pride is flattery according to the Leper King

*Am I disturbed or afraid when somebody tells me the truth about myself? Do I see those who advise me as enemies? Do I gather around myself people who tell me only those things I want to hear.

*Do I see everybody who criticizes me (or offers my work critique) as an enemy?

*Would I take extra trouble just to appear great or exalted in the eyes of others?

PRIDE IS VAIN GLORY AND AMBITION

*I enjoy talking about myself a great deal. I am quick to recall my achievements before others.

*I enjoy talking about the sins, failings and shortcomings of others, but slow to admit mine.

*When I have donated the most and worked the hardest but am not appreciated or recognized on prize giving day, do I become sad and lose my peace of mind? (Do I remember that God alone gives perfect reward or that Jesus was not recognized but crucified?)

*Must I be first at all cost? Do I become sad or loose my peace when I am not given first place. Or when somebody else is at the centre of attraction?

*Must I win the election at all cost? Am I only happy when I am Choirmaster?

*Is it only at the time of election that I remember and spread all the bad news about my fellow contestants?

*Do I believe that without me nothing will work?

THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE HAS NEVER BEEN A FORGIVING OR FORGETTING SPIRIT

*Am I able to forgive—does the remembrance of the command to forgive bring me pain. *Am I ready to forget offences, wrongs, injuries done to me. (Beware! When the spirit of pride is wounded, it never forgets!). vindictive

*When I am insulted; when somebody has lied against me; when my reputation is at stake, do I quickly fly into anger?

ALWAYS RIGHT

The spirit of pride is always right. After Adam ate the fruit, God questioned him. Adam blamed Eve for his action when he said: “it was the woman you put with me”.

*Am I able to receive and accept correction? Beware! When the spirit of pride is at work in us it is very difficult to take correction. We feel insulted, underrated, unappreciated and misunderstood at such a time.

*I must always have the last word in an argument, discussion, etc. This is a sure and true test for pride. The argument or discussion must always be closed with my words.

*When I fail, do I blame myself (accept responsibility) or do I try to blame my wife, husband, child, colleague, boss, employee. Do I blame other people for my sins?

*When I fall into sin, do I blame God? Do I accuse God of abandoning me, or do I try to see how I alone (not anybody else) am responsible for my failure?

*when I go to confession, do I find it difficult to confess my sins—do I go an extra mile to justify my sins?

*When last did I apologise? Do I have the humility to admit I am wrong by apologising to my wife, child, employee, employer? (when the poison of pride enters between wife and husband all is lost!). note that since the beginning of creation the spirit of pride has never produced a single act of apology. When the person of pride is forced to apologize his anger increases with his apologising.

*After a quarrel or misunderstanding, do I always wait for the other person to start the reconciliation? Do I keep malice?

*It is clear therefore that from pride alone a multitude of sins flow: anger, malice, quarrels, lies, scandals, jealousy, abortion, even lust and acts of rape. Rightly then has somebody described pride as the network manager of the seven vices.

It is at the grave that the battle against pride usually ends (In fact the entire spiritual combat of our life). Pride attacks even the most vigilant of souls. Why? Because pride may come even from what is most natural: our natural gifts, beauty and bodily grace, eloquence, spiritual gifts (healing, preaching, charity), talents, our well earned achievements, social class, etc. However we must keep before the eye of our soul that these are all vanities which we will have to leave behind in the grave. Next we must consider that because all our gifts belong to God, we rob Him of His glory in every act of pride! I will not speak more since St Frances de Sales in his Introduction to the Devout Life, Chapter in the chapters on pride deals with these things in greater and richer detail and clarity.

It must be said that it is a very difficult thing to find living upon earth, a single person who is not guilty of pride in one way or another; in a smaller or bigger measure. The saints had to deal with it all the way. What is most important? The most vital thing is the ability to detect this powerful enemy and to uproot it before it develops a taproot from day to day, moment to moment, at work, at play, at home, etc.

Having done our diagnosis, Immortal, you know (1) exactly where you stand (2) that you are not free from pride, unless the devil has plucked out the eye of your soul (3) the particular area where you have to sit up and work. Since to know the sickness and not to have the medicine or remedy is not much help, we must proceed without delay to provide medicine (or remedies) for pride. These will come in form of reflections, or meditation seeds. This will be the most important part of our work.

MEDICINE OR REMEDIES FOR PRIDE

Golden Rule Without a mistake, Immortales dear, the ordinary road by which God teaches us humility is by allowing humiliations to come our way! Without humiliations we cannot become humble. Therefore, with the Cure of Ars, let us embrace humiliations with thanksgiving to God when they come our way. Let the truth not depart from your mind that the weightlifter cannot become perfect unless he actually lifts heavy weights. The heavier he is able to lift the more powerful he is—in like manner the greater humiliations we are able to bear the humbler we truly are.

Heaven has never tolerated pride. The proud angels could not hold their place in Heaven but were thrown (cast) out (Rev 12:9). No proud person enters the Eternal Humble Gate (i.e. the gate of Heaven). Indeed the Almighty God swore that the proud shall crawl on their belly and eat dust (cf Gen 3:14). In the Song of Mary (the Magnificat), Our Lady declares that God, showing forth the strength of His arm scatters the proud of heart (Luke 1:51).

1. Be grateful to anyone and everyone. Treat even the things people are expected to do as great gifts. Be grateful for your food, your change at Burger King, rain, life itself. Thank everyone.

2. Beg forgiveness of God for the sin of Pride. Go before Him in prayer every day or every few hours and implore His mercy. The more this offends you, the more Pride you have.

3. Ask God for a spirit of Humility and Gratitude. Read Philippians 2:3-11 and imitate it. Understand that without God's Grace, we will never cast away our illusions. Ask God to break your pride and vanity using whatever it takes: illness, loss of friends, loss of family, public humiliation. This is unbelievably difficult to request, and every fiber of our being fights it. We protest it is not fair, or "God doesn't work that way." My friend, what good is health, friends, family, a good reputation, if you have no real love for God, but only a hollow illusion? In the end, all but true love for God is lost, so count all else but God as loss now.

The Golden medicine (remedy): without humility it is morally impossible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Our Lord does not want us to make a mistake about this. Setting a little child in front of them He gave a solemn warning: I tell you solemnly, unless you convert and become as little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 18:3-4). Hence it is correct to say that humility is the gate of heaven.

The “mind of Christ” is humility; the mind of the Devil is pride! Let the mind of Christ be in you (Phil 2:5). If there is a “mind of Christ”, then there is also a mind of the devil. We are warned that it should be the mind of Christ in us not the mind of the devil. Philippians 2:6-11 goes on to tell us that the mind of Christ is humility (meditate on verse 8). The instruction of the Most High is to be trifled with: Learn of Me for I am meek and humble (lowly) in heart (Matt 11:29). The Master says with His own mouth that His mind is humility. The Saintly Josefa Menendez understands this when she says in The Way of Divine Love that the least words of Our Lord must be treasured for they give us “the mind of Christ”.

CONVERT THE FOLLOWING TO PERSONAL QUESTION FORM

What is the fate of the proud? God will scatter them as much as He scattered Lucifer and the rebel angels: “He puts forth His arm in strength and scatters the proud hearted” (Luke 1:51)

What is the proud man to the Lord? He is an abomination according to the text of Proverbs: “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord. . . he will not go unpunished” (Prov 16:5). For this reason St Alphonsus concludes that the proud are objects hatred and abomination before God!

The proud man is a robber, says St Alphonsus, because he claims for himself what rightly belongs to God according to the text: “what have you that you have not received?” (1 Cor 6:7). On this account also the proud man is a liar! For scripture says: “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10).

The proud are far from God for scripture says: “. . . He has respect for the lowly (humble), but the proud He knows from afar” (Psalm 138:6)

If you will be perfect

The mind of “Christ” Same mind of Mary and the saints. Mary did not say that God had seen her beauty, chastity, purity, etc., she said rather that because God had seen her humility (nothingness, lowliness) all generations shall call her blessed (Lk 1:48). The mind of Mary was also that of Christ which is humility and which also is the same mind of the saints. Indeed it was by humility that Mary crushed the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15)

Our Lady and the saints we must constantly reflect on the humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints if we are to conquer pride.

Seeds of meditation

Pride is the devil’s greatest weapon against the soul. It is the secret door through which the devil enters in. Through this hidden door, he entered the garden of Eden and robbed our first parents Adam and Eve. With the battleaxe of pride, Lucifer becomes efficient at cutting a soul down. The demons cannot and do not carry a soul containing true humility to Hell. God has not given them such power, for truly, God Himself is ever in such a soul.

*Prayer is the power: The remedy against every vice begins in prayer. Prayer indeed is the greatest medicine because by it we receive all grace from God. Did

not the Master say: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you?” (Matt 7:21). For what then must you pray? Two things: the grace to discover (every motion of) pride and to destroy it with humility. Humility is the one battleaxe that is most powerful in destroying the beast called pride—it is the ultimate weapon. The ancient serpent fears the humble spirit even as he fears God, for the spirit of humility is the spirit of God. Therefore, if you will wrestle and throw down Lucifer, you must never tire in humility. By pride Lucifer fell; by Humility Mary became the Mother of God!

Every act of pride increases pride and destroys humility simultaneously. Every act of humility increases humility and destroys pride. The two are enemies (opposed) just as light and darkness are enemies. One is the spirit of God, the other is not.

*Pride is not the spirit of God: Above all else dear, you must make it your prime duty to remember whenever the beast of pride attacks you that the spirit of pride has never been the spirit of God. It is a spirit belonging to the devil, Hell and demons. The Leper Prince used to rebuke himself: Since the creation of the world, no action of pride has been an action of God.

*Pride creates a devil: If all else fail, arm yourself with the words of St Augustine: “Humility makes men angels, and pride makes devils.” At such times the leper prince used to rebuke himself thus: “my pride will surely make me a devil. Indeed in Heaven there is not a single proud person!”

*Pride is a gate of hell: When pride attacks you, remember that it was the pride of Lucifer and the angels that opened the gate of hell. If pride brought these great spirits who once saw God eye to eye to such a miserable end, how do I think that it will fail to destroy me. On the other hand he gives grace to the humble (James 4:6)

*The devil is the guide in every act of pride. In much the same way the “mind of Christ” (Eph 2:5) is the guide of a person in every act of humility.

*Every proud man, the Holy Spirit says, is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 26:5).

*Almighty God has confessed that he rejects the proud (James 4:6) and Mary confirms that He scatters the proud hearted Luke 1:51): Because pride is foul, leprous, stinking and odious to God, the person of pride is also

destined to be rejected by God forever. Meditate therefore that pride is an ultimate robber.

*Humility is the gate of Heaven: The Lord and Master of life makes it clear to us that humility is a Heaven: “unless you convert and humble yourself like a little child, you will never enter the gate of Heaven!” Matt 18:3

I am not better than my neighbour, by grace i am what i am (1 Cor 15:10)

PRACTICAL REMEDIES AGAINST PRIDE

1 take a smaller chair* Be the last to sit down* Offer somebody else* Offer somebody else the responsorial psalm

SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THE LYING TONGUE

If the head of the coin is pride, the tail will be the lying spirit. According to the leper king, just as water continually pours out of the broken bucket until it is totally empty, so too, lies continually pour out of the proud soul until all its life energy is spent at the border of the grave. Death alone brings an end to the temporal sickness.

The lying tongue is a proper spirit of hell. The lying tongue is totally opposed to God because God is the very Truth (who can neither deceive nor be deceived, as the “Penny Catechism” says). It is a prime evil because it stands at enmity with God. Just as the light and darkness are enemies, so too the lie is enemy of truth. In the primeval combat (battle) Adam in choosing the lie of the devil rejected the truth of God. The result was an incalculable degree of destruction. And Truth said to the Leper King, “when Adam believed the devil’s lie, he began his procession to the grave!”.

Whatever remains in truth cannot be lost. The being of every creature is made and sustained by truth. A prime truth of the mobile phone is that it must not enter water. To put it in water is to lie about its being, in which case the phone will be destroyed, becoming thrash. When Adam stayed in truth, his being was preserved. It is impossible for a thing whatsoever to remain in the centre of its truth and be lost. The person who makes a firm resolution never to lie and keeps it destroys as it were a countless host of demons!

Without a mistake, pride will make a person a devil in the end for every action of pride is also an action of the devil according to kind. Since the creation of the world, it is clear that God has never performed a single action of pride.. Hence the saying: “As bees create honey, so pride creates a devil!” This is a specific character of pride. The warning is clear in scripture that God resists the proud (James 4:6).

* immortal, is it not true that humility makes us look more and more like Christ; in the same way, pride makes us look more and more like the devil.

JEALOUSY:

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. - Proverbs 14:30 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. - 1 Corinthians 13:4 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. - James 3:16

The first thief is that darkened and wicked spirit called Lucifer, the dragon, the primeval serpent or the deceiver of the whole world (cf Rev 12:9). Fired by jealousy when he saw the beauty of the Garden of Eden and the future glory of mankind, he sneaked and with a lying tongue robbed our first parents. The Master points him out to us as the thief, the killer and the destroyer (cf John 10:10).

Therefore, the root of jealousy is in Hell (jealousy takes its root from Hell). The Fathers of the Desert and the saints have called it a vice belonging to devils and an abomination in a human heart! When possessed of jealousy, a person does not fail to produce an act of the devil, some killing, some character assassination by gossip, some stealing and destroying, in a lesser or greater degree or amount.

Notice at once Immortales that the evil one knows that he cannot make us like himself unless we become jealous. Therefore he works sleeplessly to infect us with this poison of Hell.

When pride and jealousy lie together in one bed, they give birth to a monster called gossip or backbiting. This spirit is a terribly destructive spirit. Detraction raillery, slander.

DICTIONARY OF JEALOUSY: the dictionary of jealousy contains only other people and their achievements with nothing about self. The only records it keeps about self are pages of low self-esteem and smallness.

The spirit of jealousy is happy when something evil or bad is happening

Jealousy in the mind of a human person is the poison of Lucifer reaching out to destroy a person just as the jealousy of the serpent in the garden brought down from friendship to enmity with God.

Venerable Louis of Granada in introduction to the thirty-third chapter of his book, The Sinner’s Guide, says

Envy or jealousy consists in grieving (sadness) at another’s good or repining at another’s happiness. The envious man looks with hatred upon his superiors who excel him, upon his equals who compete with him, upon his inferiors who strive to equal him.

The great sign (indicator) of jealousy is that the person feeling jealousy will be sad when something good happens to his neighbour; or would be happy when something bad happens to his neighbour. On this account the saints have called jealousy a special vice of demons. The jealous person is usually afraid that something good will happen to his neighbour. Thus fear always grows out of jealousy as the stem grows out of the root.

effects

What is Jealousy (a definition): When the soul killer called jealousy attacks a person, it is observed as a constantly disturbing, bitter and unhappy feeling (in a lesser or greater degree, constant or occasional) because something good has, is happening, or will happen to neighbour including, good luck, possessions or wealth, position or power, advantage, beauty, talents, natural gifts, etc. An attack of jealousy is like a bad fever. Sometimes the person suffering its attack may find it difficult to enjoy any sleep because of a disturbing restlessness.

A sad effect is that it jealousy blinds the soul and distorts judgment. Working like cataracts work in the eye lens, jealousy darkens of blinds the mind. It prevents a person from knowing or admitting the truth. Jealousy makes a person see evil as good and mistaken good for evil.

The symbol of jealousy

The snake is used to represent jealousy. This is because jealousy is a stealth (secret) factor. As the snake hides under the green grass, so too, jealousy hides away in the heart of the sinner, unseen and unknown by the innocent victim until

he receives the morals and deadly bite. Sometimes the snake of jealousy grows in the heart of the host for one, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years or for a whole lifetime. Oh! What a terrible thing to find in a soul!

Who can feel jealousy?

On account of fallen nature, we commonly feel jealousy from time to time, for one reason or another, in a small amount or big amount. The only thing totally incapable of feeling jealousy is a corpse in the mortuary. The saint therefore, is the one who knows how to recognize and deal with it. Such a person may enjoy the possibility of being free from the bitter poison of jealousy.

Jealousy is found in the family, between brother and sister, father and son, daughter and mother, etc. Those who come from polygamous homes are more familiar with its destructive effects. The jealousy of Cain against Abel is a good example. Jealousy between brothers and sisters may last for many years until death settles the matter. It is found at work, in the market place. It is found in the Church. Even the Apostles were not free from it (before the resurrection) when John and James asked Jesus to promise that they would sit one at the right and the other at his left in His kingdom. This request started an argument amongst the twelve.

Who is the victim of jealousy?

According to Venerable Louis of Granada, the poison of jealousy or envy is directed towards three kinds of people, namely, those superior to us, those who are our equals and those below us. First, a person may be jealous of those he thinks are better off than himself or those placed over him. Second, people are envious of their equals who are in completion with them, or because of the fear that they may be promoted above themselves. Third, we may feel jealous of those below us when we fear that they may someday equal us or become greater that ourselves.

Fear drives jealousy on

Fear quickly matures into jealousy! The devil is afraid of what man will become in the kingdom; and that is why he is forever jealous of humanity. Immortales dear, it is important that you note at once and, simultaneously without a mistake that that fear drives jealousy on. Just as darkness is never found in the light, it is impossible for you to feel jealous without a fear. I challenge you to search your heart deeply, then you will understand that if you are not afraid of somebody you can never be jealous of her. For instance, no one is ever jealous of a street beggar, less a leper.

Jealousy only enters the heart of a woman when she becomes afraid that another woman will take her husband. We are jealous of people when we are afraid that we cannot have what that person has, or what he is capable of having.

What is the end of jealousy?

The end of jealousy is hatred! As the end of a woman’s pregnancy is the giving of birth, so too jealousy, when it matures grows into that monster called Hatred, or at the least resentment. When we fail to overcome those we are jealous of (or when they escape from us) we begin to hate, resent or avoid them. Everything they do seems bad to us. It becomes very difficult for us to be pleased by their actions. The story of David and King Saul is enough for our understanding of the point. The envy of the Jews produced hatred against Jesus. The brothers of Joseph ended up hating him. Cain’s jealousy matured into mortal hatred and diabolical rage. As they say that the idle man is the devil’s workshop, it is true that the jealous mind is the devil’s incubator. In fact such a person is like a host to a parasite.

In the Act of Jealousy who does a Person Resemble

The devil! In every act of jealousy a person resembles the devil and belongs to him. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit says clearly in the verse where He warns us not to be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and cut his brother’s throat (cf 1 John 3:12). On account of this fact the great St Augustine has said, Almighty God, save not only Christians but all humanity from jealousy, for by this vice a person resembles a devil. Every act of jealousy is something that the devil would have done himself.

How does Jealousy make person resemble the devil

Let us consider four reasons. (First, that it makes a person an enemy of the work of God, second that it is entirely and without reservation destructive, and third that it brings the envious person no profit or benefit, fourth, because it is a stealing spirit. But the stealing spirit is never the spirit of God but the spirit of the devil according to John 10:10). Straightaway, the wise man says that by envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of Wisdom 2:24. Therefore it is impossible for us to be jealous and be on the side of God.

First, jealousy is a direct enemy of God because God is charity, and jealousy is a prime enemy of charity. This means that if I am jealous, I am destroying the work of God in a person. Jealousy usually attempts to tear down whatever good work God is doing in neighbour. This is exactly what the devil did when he saw the good work God was doing in the life Adam and Eve, and the beauty of the garden. He went and tried to destroy it. However, by attacking Adam and Eve, he was also attacking God. It is clear therefore, Immortales that in this way Jealousy makes a person like a devil. While God is building a person up, my jealousy is tearing down that building. On account of jealousy being opposed to the charity or to God and His work, nearly all the acts of Jealousy are mortal sins.

The story of David and King Saul who tried to tear down the beautiful work of God in the life of David shows that King Saul who was formerly a friend of God had been transformed into a monstrous enemy trying to swallow up the work of God in David by jealousy.

Second, because jealousy is utterly destructive, it makes a person resemble the devil.

Every act of Jealousy attempts destroys a work of God. Now, the Spirit of God is never destructive spirit. On the other hand, without making a mistake, the spirit of jealousy is destructive—at least it always has the capacity, ability, or the potency to destroy something good. This is the same thing as to say that since the creation of the world no act of jealousy has brought about any good! When it finds a home in person, the mind becomes a foul incubator where the devil breeds something abominable. Such it was that from time to time like a foul river, the mind of King Saul produced many evils against the good and innocent David; betrayal was in the heart of Judas; the Jews prepared a cross and nails for the Redeemer.

Third, Because it Produces No Gain Jealousy Also Makes a Person Resemble a Devil

A notable author has said that if the devils in their furious anger and rage could drag Christ our King and all those He has redeemed into the eternal fire of hell, they would not gain anything by it. That is, it would not improve their lot. Not profit comes to the jealous person.

Consider the following meditations: When the Jews crucified Jesus because of their raging jealousy (cf Mark 15:10), how much profit came to them? What profit came

to Judas for betraying Jesus? What gain came to Saul and the Jews when they stoned St Stephen to death? What profit came to Cain the first murder of the human race? Jealousy therefore matures as a diabolic rage in a soul, tearing and destroying for no profit. This is another reason for which it is called a vice of devils.

Fourth, Because it is a Stealing Spirit, Jealousy Renders a Person Like a Devil

We may say that according to the famous verse in John 10:10, the spirit of Jealousy is the spirit of the thief the killer and the destroyer. The brothers of Joseph taught they could steal his favour with Jacob by selling him into a foreign land. Cain believed he would enter into the favour of God when Abel was no more. The Pharisees taught that with Jesus out of the way they would have his popularity as the authority in the eyes of the people. When Shakespeare presents Julius Ceasar, he is revealing the destructive malice in the heart of his friend Brutus and his cohort by which they sought to steal for themselves his throne. Stealing, it does not carry away what was stolen

What is the Satisfaction of Envy?

The satisfaction of envy is a Diabolical Satisfaction. Envy satisfies devils in the same way that it satisfies a human person. What does this mean? Envy is satisfied only when has destroyed or torn something to pieces, or when it is able to prevent neighbour from enjoying what he himself does not enjoy (often by destroying something). Lucifer wanted to make sure that Adam and Eve would not enjoy the paradise that he had lost forever. Cain was satisfied when he saw his brother lying down dead in cold blood. The Pharisees were only satisfied when the Saviour hung upon the Cross. This character of envy unites a person with the demons, and makes a person a partner with the devil, the primeval thief. According to the Leper King, a person of envy may also be called a devil.

According to the Leper Prince, in every act of envy, a human person and a devil, work hand in hand (like the hand in the glove) to attempt some destruction of a work of God. He concludes thus: “Indeed Jealousy unites a person to the devil first by intention and afterwards by action. ”

Is There Good Jealousy?

There is something which is a good or holy jealousy. This happens when we see something good in neighbour, we admire it as good, love the person for it, thank God for it, and finally try to imitate or better still emulate that thing in our

neighbour for the glory of God and for our own good and improvement. Such was the Holy jealousy that created the completion between St Basil the Great and St Gregory Nazianzen that raised them to the beauty and height of sainthood. Each tried to copy the good example and virtue of the other (even as students) only to give the first place to the other. Holy jealousy or envy therefore is based upon the love of God and is entirely a holy and blessed thing. On this account, the Leper Prince has cried out: “O that all men and women would conceive this specie of jealousy!”

Having said so much, it would be difficult for us to confess that we are envious. To confess and know the areas of envy in our life is a great work of the Mercy of God. However, an examination of conscience based on the following questions will serve as a mirror for us and help us know exactly where we stand. In the following examination you will observe that jealousy and pride are often interwoven. In fact according to the leper prince, jealousy is the auxiliary (helper) of pride. it is impossible to find jealousy without pride standing next to it. If I answer yes to the following questions I can be sure without making a mistake that I have some jealousy from which I must strive to free myself.

EQUALS

1 Do I think like this: I am successful only when I am able to equal my brother, sisters or neighbour? In fact I am a failure if in any way I am not able to equal them, or to compete with them. My neighbour is better than me or superior to me because he possess more than I do.

2 My sister’s children attend an expensive school. Do I lose my peace because my own children attend a cheaper school? Though I do not have the money, must I go out of my way at any cost to see that my children attend such a school?

3 When good news about opportunities come to me, do you try to hide it from family, friends, colleagues, subordinates for fear someone else will benefit and make progress and become better than myself?

4 Am I sometimes afraid that something good may happen to my equals who compete with me or those of lesser rank than me?

5 Do I become uneasy when my colleagues (mates) rise above me by promotion, or when those below my rank become my equals. At such times do I lose my peace?

6 Am I disturbed, vexed, or do I lose my peace because somebody is more beautiful or handsome than myself?

7 Am I disturbed, vexed, or do I lose my peace because my brother of sister is a better singer or speaker than myself?

8 My neighbour or member of my family has bought a new house. I am disturbed that it does not belong to me. Do I wish it was mine? Am I able to look at him straight in the eyes and congratulate him willingly and without an iota of pain or disturbance in my heart?

9 Am I in the habit of comparing myself to my neighbours, brothers or sisters, friends or colleagues? Have I a habit of knowing exactly what possessions they have that I do not possess? Am I disturbed that according to my calculation they have more than myself?

10 My neighbour or brothers’ daughter has received a new and important appointment or promotion; what is my first reaction? Am I happy or have I mixed feelings?

11 Am I jealous of another’s spiritual gifts?

12 Do I hide the secret of my success without a good or positive reason? The secret of my success is known to me alone. I am loved and praised for it. I am afraid to share it so that no one else will enjoy the privilege because if I teach others, I may become less important or relevant. In fact there is a chance that I will not be consulted anymore.

13 My neighbour or sister has a new dress so I must get one. They have a new car, I must get one too. I have to be able to equal my neighbour in all things.

14 How do I react to family privileges?

15 Since I lost the election for Choirmaster, have I lost my peace. Am I at loggerheads with the new Choirmaster?

16 My sister’s son studying abroad, therefore, mine must study abroad though have not the means—a certain woman having sent her son abroad on such an occasion of jealousy, being unable to sustain the fees ended up submitting her body to her rich friends who had asked for sex in order to pay such fees.

Should we be jealous of the wicked, dishonest or the oppressor?

Though it is known to us that they have whatever they possess by stealing, lying or evil ways, we are never to be jealous of them (in fact it is foolish to be jealous of them), what they deserve from us is our pity and prayer because of the terrible punishment of God which awaits them on the day of death when they (without a choice) are forced to leave the goods and opportunities of the poor they have stolen behind at the border of the grave. About such, the Almighty God has said

“Like sheep they are driven to the grave where death shall be their shepherd” (Ps 49:14). Therefore, the person who is jealous of the wicked or dishonest person is a big fool who is also in danger of losing his soul on account of the defilement that envy will bring into his own soul.

REMEDIES FOR JEALOUSY

Much of what has been said will be sufficient to inspire a soul to give battle to the soul killer called envy or jealousy. However following seeds of meditation and practical remedies will prove useful against this deadly vice whose symbol is the snake or serpent.

Since the Lord and Master has said, “without me you can do nothing”, the first remedy is prayer. The Lord has also said, “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you” (Matt 7:21). Accordingly that remedy which does not begin in prayer cannot succeed.” Consider also Mk 11:24, and the story of the widow and the unjust judge in Lk 18:1-8.

By envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of Wisdom 2:24

*Every Christian must cast out this spirit of Lucifer! Therefore, the pilgrim soul must arm his or herself with the truth that since the creation of the world, never has the spirit of envy or jealousy been the spirit of God. If each person is a Temple of God (1 Cor 3:16-17) then we must cast out this Arch spirit or vice of demons and Hell.

By jealousy I do not resemble God in whose image and likeness I was made (cf Gen 1:26); in fact, envy makes me resemble the devils.

*By envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of Wisdom 2:24

We must arm ourselves with the meditation that jealousy is always an enemy of God. By jealousy a person becomes an enemy of God—the jealous person is an enemy of God. Every good work in a person is the work of God. While God is building in a person, jealousy is tearing down. Remember above all else that God is Charity or love (1 Jn 4:16) and jealousy is directly opposed to charity.

*Jealousy creates an inferiority complex. No one is jealous of a beggar or leper. If we are jealous of a person (it does not matter if we are king or pope) we are automatically below that person. The jealousy of Cain placed him below Abel.

Though Saul was king of Israel his jealousy made him inferior to David who was only a servant boy. The jealousy of the Pharisees placed them below the feet of the Jesus they sought to destroy.

*When I am jealous, my soul is blind! Jealousy blinds the eye of our soul and darkens the light of understanding. What does this mean? When we are jealous of a person, it is difficult to know, admit or accept the truth about that person. We become suspicious of the good actions of that person. It becomes impossible to judge their actions (less their intentions) properly. In the meantime we condemn them to incalculable and inexpressible suffering. Reflect that the victims of our jealousy are often powerless to change our dangerous and simultaneously destructive opinions.

*While the spirit of jealousy is at work in me it is impossible for me to grow. Jealousy blinds my soul to the natural and spiritual gifts that God has given me. Instead of looking inward and developing these gifts, I will often be abroad wishing that the natural and supernatural gifts of others belong to me.

The network of jealousy

Jealousy is entirely beastly. It is a sub-network manger (under pride) of many sins and vices. Jealousy breeds lying, anger, hatred, theft, fornication, blackmail, lust, abortion, etc. When Mrs Pecunia became jealous of her neighbours new car, she gave in to the sexual advances of her boss so as to get some extra money to buy herself such a car. In the meantime she told her husband a network of lies to explain her lateness at the office. Eventually she got pregnant for her boss while her husband was on transfer. She decided to hide the whole issue by having an abortion. Fate was not so kind to her when on account of a complication she bled to death. Accordingly the Ascetic Scholar cried out: “Oh jealousy, eldest daughter of pride, O accursed envy which robs a person of all good; which changes a person from the likeness of God into the likeness of a devil!”

Not one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of the primeval (first) thief who driven by jealousy robbed our first parents Adam and Eve.

Practical Remedies

If I am gossiping or backbiting it is because my spirit is infected with jealousy! For when the spirit of pride and jealousy mate (lie in one bed) they give birth to the monster called gossip or backbiting!

*When I am in a fit of jealousy I lose my peace and my blood pressure is likely to go up. Since jealousy does not promote my health, I will try at every possible cost to fly away from it.

*When men and women gather and busy themselves with talking about the evil that such and such a people have done their driver is the spirit of jealousy!

*The devil knows that praise destroys jealousy, and so he prevents us from praising the good works, efforts and talents of others. To praise a person is to recognize the works or gifts of God in that person. Therefore, I will attack jealousy directly by praising God and the good I see in my neighbour. Such words as, “that is a beautiful dress”, “you look nice this morning”, “congratulations, “you came first in the examination” will always be on my lips and mind. This is a great way to attack the spirit of jealousy. When we realise something good and refuse to recognize it the spirit of jealousy easily sneaks in. When I see something good in my neighbour, when my neighbour has done well, has been promoted or is looking beautiful, I will pay him or her complement.

*Saul did not know! He taught he was destroying David, but indeed he was attacking the future of Israel and the Supreme work of God in David who was an ancestor of the Son of God Himself

Three disgusting rivers that flow out of jealousy: These are Slander, backbiting gossip and the complaining spirit.

*Like the water pouring out of a broken bucket until it is utterly empty, slander backbiting and gossip necessarily pour out of the person possessed of jealousy until his life’s energies are entirely spent at the border of the grave where death brings an end to the corruption that flowed out of his soul like a river.

ANGER AND HATRED:

"Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment" - Matthew 5:22

"Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." - Galatians 5:19-21

The Greed of Power

In this form, earthly goods are chiefly a means to an end, which is really not that far off from a healthy view. The money, real estate, cars are simply things used to achieve, wield and display personal power. These things can be used to intimidate or bribe others, reinforce one's own illusions about what is important or to build up a feeling of success. The "products of wealth," as the Jethro Tull song ("Slipstream") puts it.

The real problem here is more the desire for power than the actual greed. A common thread for sin in general is that it is often borne out of fear. A fear of helplessness or loss of control can turn into a lust for power as a way of preventing an undesirable situation. The parable of the man with an abundant harvest is well worth considering.

To destroy our desire for power, we must be generous in granting power to others. When appropriate, be submissive to others. Avoid jobs that are a temptation for a "power grab." Share credit for successes with others, and claim a fair share of responsibility for failures being blamed on others. The idea is to stop trying to control everything and everyone. In parenting, this means encouraging children to find their own way, and respecting their choices. It does not mean abdicating legitimate responsibilities, but loosening our grip on others' lives as well as our own. God will take care of us, He has the plan. We can't control everything anyway, so we might as well learn to relax in God's hands.

The Greed of Fear

Fear is a poor motivator for virtue, but an excellent one for greed. Sometimes, greed is simply a desire to have so much that we can't possibly run out. The stock market could crash, we could lose our jobs or health, we could be sued. If we acquire enough stock, real estate, or T-bills, we think we will be safe from want. This is an illusion. There is no perfect preventative for want, but even if there was it would stand in opposition to the trust in God to which we are called. Jesus said, "Perfect love casts out fear." Trust in God frees us from a need to build a massive buffer against poverty.

Part of the cure may be to embrace poverty. We may not become homeless, but we can learn to do with less. Serious campers try to leave their campsite in the same state they found it. Ideally, there should be no trace left when they move on. In the same way, try to use less of the world's goods. "Live simply, that others may simply live." Once this kind of freedom is practiced, we realize that we don't need that much, anyway. This knowledge, in turn, reduces our fear and builds a kind of strength and confidence.

The Greed of Acquisition and Enslavement

This is slavery, plain and simple. We can reduce ourselves to a small and cold desire to accumulate more electronic gear, trading cards, antiques or other collectibles. It is far beneath the dignity of human beings to enslave themselves to objects of their own making. It is well said that our possessions in some ways may come to own us.

The obvious cure is to divest oneself of as much as possible, but another suggestion might be to consider the grave. When we die, we take nothing with us. If we are bound by "disordered attachments" to worldly goods, the separation forced upon us by death will be even more painful. If we are destined for eternal glory, the temporary enjoyment of trinkets in this life is simply absurd. Meditation on this begins to loosen the grip of objects on the heart.

"A mild answer calms wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." - Proverbs 15:1

the “diabolos”; “Spirit of Cain”; “Barrier-spirit”; “Accuser-spirit”; “Divider-spirit”; the “dragonian-spirit”; the Spirit of Malice; the thief-of-peace”; “Communion with the devil”; “Dragonian” Spirit”Litmus test “thief of peace”; the “remote control factor”; “mental slavery”.

If you become angry, do not let anger lead you into sin; do not stay angry all day. Don’t give the Devil a chance (Eph 4:26-27). This text gives prepares us for the discussion on anger and hatred. Immortales dear, we must fear anger. It appears to be a little thing. On the contrary, it is a great destroyer of the soul. With anger, the evil one reaps a multitudinous harvest for hellfire.

“Communion” with the Devil Immortales dear, I would fly from anger because it gives us a communion (participation, connectedness, closeness, sharing, etc) with the devil. What does this mean? Anger satisfies human beings and demons in the same way—anger is satisfied when we succeed in doing something evil to neighbour in the name of revenge, or at least when something evil has happened to neighbour. Divine truth came to the Leper King that, The fire of anger only quenches when something evil has happened to our neighbour. But to rejoice over evil is the office of the demon. On the contrary doing good gives us a communion with God and all the Blessed (when one sinner repents there is joy in Heaven).

Diabolos The Greek name for the devil is Diabolos. It means the one who tears apart or divides into two. From the meaning of the name, it is clear that of the seven deadly sins, we resemble (image) the devil most by anger because anger tears us away from neighbour, or divides brother, sister, family, community and even against God. It is unmistakable that the first effect of anger is division. Fly from anger Immortales dear because anger is opposed to the Spirit of God whose effect is union. As anger divides, so the Spirit of God (meekness) unites. The Divider is the devil who divides the will against the intellect.

The Accuser Spirit The Accuser is a proper name of Satan. When we will not let go of anger we become one with the devil in being accusers! What does this mean? To be angry against Anna Katta is the same thing as to accuse her of doing so and so, or such and such a thing to me. In Rev 12:10, Satan is identified as the Accuser: Then I heard a voice shout from Heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire have been won by our God . . . now that the persecutor (the great dragon, primeval serpent, devil, Satan, deceiver of the world—Rev 12:9) who accused our brothers day and night before our God has been thrown down (cf Rev 12:10).

It takes the intervention of the Angel (angelic warfare) to prevent Satan from bringing an accusation against Joshua the high priest (Zach 3:1ff). The Prime Accuser fires a deadly double barrage of accusations against Job to bring upon him the woes and trials he was to suffer (cf Job 1:9-11 & 2:4-5)

Notice, Immortales dear, that the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints are not our accusers, rather in one way or another they are advocates (recommend us to the mercy of God) for us, pleading the mercy of God for us. It is either we stand with the Holy Spirit to be advocates for our neighbour or we stand with the devil to be the Accusers of our neighbour. It is clear that by controlling anger we fence the devil out but by keeping anger we give him a chance (cf Eph 4:27).

The Dragonian Spirit is the same as the Spirit of Cain or the Cainine Spirit The form of the spirit that filled Cain before he became the first murderer of the human race was the form of the Dragon (cf Rev 12:7 and Rev 12: 3-4). Filled with diabolical anger, that is hatred, Cain found strength to kill his brother. Accordingly, when anger made its appearance in Scripture, the Holy Spirit promptly gave it its true names: sin and crouching beast ready to devour and swallow up the soul (cf Gen 4:5-7). When a person is filled with this kind of anger, he is ready to destroy, tear to pieces, poison, kill, etc. This properly is also hatred. According to the Leper King, when anger takes possession of a person he performs actions of the demon, as much as the one who is possessed of meekness produces actions of God. It was in such mad rage that Saul threw a spear at David to pin him to the wall. Notice that in the Text from Genesis above (4:5-7), the Holy Spirit defines anger as “sin” which must be mastered.

Let the person of habitual anger listen to the Holy Spirit: “To hate your brother is t be a murderer and to be dead without eternal life” (1 Jn 3:15). To enter heaven, I must let go of my hatred.

Barrier Spirit Immortales, my dear child, the corruption goes deeper than you can know; at least when you are angry against somebody it is difficult to pray for that person. At prayer, his memory becomes a distraction for you! Because it divides, anger is also a Barrier spirit. This is because by building walls between people, families, communities etc. To be angry often means that I have fenced somebody out of my life, even if only for a brief moment. Once the devil has helped us to build the walls he goes from one side to the other whispering wicked things, thereby working great mischief.

Notice, Immortales, that we do not say good things about those against whom we are angry; no, we say what the Devil would say. Show me the man who sings the praise of those against whom he is angry. Rather we make a

poor or bad report when their names come up. When opportunities arise, we are slow to offer them any or to recommend them for any good positions or favours!

The spirit of malice or the unforgiving spirit Anger is the driver of the unforgiving spirit. Divine wisdom came to the Leper King thus: Kill anger and kill malice! Unless we kill anger we have no power to forgive; but the power to forgive is the power of God, and this is not in us! Notice Immortales dear that since the day of Adam to the present day, Lucifer has never performed a single act of forgiveness! The statement, I will not forgive, is something belonging to the demons. When we say it let us listen carefully to hear the devil speaking in us.

The “Great Thief of Peace Notice at once Immortales dear, that it is impossible to be (truly) angry and at peace at the same time! Anger necessarily steals peace from the soul. It came to the Leper King to understand that an unfailing way to know whether or not the devil is present in a place is to measure the amount of anger present therein. Anger creates mental agitation, but as Blessed Alphonsus says, mental agitation is not a gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Master tells us in the Parable of the Lost Sheep that Heaven rejoices whenever there is union, so too the demons rejoice where anger is at work!

The Remote control factor The person in habitual anger is remotely “controlled”. Just as with the remote control device you can control your TV from a distance, so too when I am habitually angry I am a slave of the one against whom I am angry. This is true because whenever I remember him, if I see him, or if his name is mentioned my wound of anger reopens and I end up having a bad day.

Because I am remotely controlled in anger, the conclusion is that I suffer Mental Slavery whenever I am in habitual anger. The person against whom I am angry is my slave master. Whenever I remember him I wear again the burning chains of anger!

ANGER AGAINST GOD Hell throws a party and all the demons rejoice when they succeed in making a soul angry at God. Anger against God is the posture of the demon whose back is turned to God forever! Therefore, it is the special delight and joy of the devil to work anger against God in a soul for he knows that the soul which is angry with God cannot and does not hear God who alone can save her. Such a person is like the asp which confounds the snake charmer. The snake charmer by playing upon his flute is able to charm a snake, but the asp is able to shut its ears thereby frustrating the snake charmer.

WHAT THEN IS ANGER, Immortales Dear? According to Ven. Louis of Granada, Anger is the feeling (spirit) that grows in us when we are unable to satisfy our self-love; that is when our attempt to satisfy our self-love is frustrated, whatever the object of self-love may be. For instance, we react with anger when people do not give us the respect our self-love is claiming whether we deserve it or not.

The Anger Triad There are three in this family (only one specie!): The first born is Anger, the second is Resentment (their sister), hatred is the last born. What does this mean Immortales? They are related as an egg and the bird: Anger is the egg which hatches into Resentment (at this stage we dislike and fly from the presence of those who make us angry—when their names are mentioned, (like petrol poured upon a fire) we suffer (a complex or) an attack of combined negative emotions, sometimes including feelings of inferiority; untreated, Resentment grows into Hatred in a weak or strong degree.

The anger complex

Habitual anger is also the womb (incubator) of jealousy. If I am habitually angry I must end up jealous; if jealous, I will never escape anger. When habitually angry, I will find myself sad when something good happens to my opponent; but when evil happens to him I will rejoice without any power to resist the wicked passion. Habitual anger means i will rejoice if evil should come to that person (possibly death!) To be habitually angry is to deny good to the object of anger. They are odious and disgusting to me. Even if they sang as beautifully as angels, their voice only incenses my anger. No matter what good they do, they are not able to impress me. Habitual anger draws a battle line against brothers, sisters, church members, etc. we do not want to sit at table or in the same car with these people. When these people are praised, I say something poisonous to their reputation. I avoid statements that will put them in a good light. The last thing I want to do is be on the same team with these persons, and even worse to have to serve them.

Can anger be creative?

We must mention at the beginning that anger can be positive or negative (good or evil). When it leads us to sacrifice ourselves for love of God and neighbour it is good and praiseworthy. Such is the anger in which the Master cleansed the table, driving the traders and money changers out. There are some instances when anger against self can be a powerful creative force. In this case, it drives us on to overcome ourselves and to be better people.

SAD EFFECTS OF ANGER

The effect of this tearing apart (at its worst) is the beast called malice. Malice is a beastly spirit precisely because malice is that “spiritual posture (position) in which the spirit turns its back to God or neighbour; in this posture, the spirit entering an incommunicado state forms a shell of resistance to neighbour and/or God. When anger does not produce malice, it produces a specie which may be called communication break down—a situation in which people are not happy to talk to each other; husband avoids wife; children close up against parent. In marriage, this communication breakdown is the first seed of adultery. When Douleia stopped talking to her husband, she began confiding in a co-worker who was also not at peace with his wife. In a little time they became regular and habitual partners in adultery.

When the devil has divided or torn apart brother and sister, husband and wife, parent and child, friends by anger, all that is left is for him to create camps and whisper in the dark in the ears of both parties. Afterwards he will complete the destruction by himself. Anger and hatred therefore tear apart or divide friends, brothers, sisters, husband and wife, family, society, nation, etc., apart.

REMEDIES for anger and hatred (the general remedies are mixed up with the particular remedies or the instructions

The Golden Rule of Virtue (or the double edged sword or the two-fold weapon): Resolution and prayer In order to enter the halls of victory we must have both resolution (firm decision) and prayer. Immortales, the two are one—they are indeed like the two inseparable sides of the one coin. To make resolution (firm decision) alone or to pray only is a foolish road. How would you my dear Immortales describe a person who tried to drive a car without tyres, fly an aeroplane without wings or fetch water with a basket? Stupid; even mad! Resolution and prayer therefore are like two feet upon which we must walk to virtue. Resolution tells us what to pray for, that is, our prayer is informed by our resolution. Divine Wisdom came to the Leper King thus: to make resolution and not to pray is like fetching water in a basket or leaking vessel—a total waste of time. (I knew I could not be continent unless I asked find)

1 We begin with a firm resolution never to be angry.

The firm (unshakeable decision) resolution tied to prayer is the foundation of our success. If we fail to make an unshakeable resolution (decision) we will necessarily

fail, or fail from necessity, and remain helpless slaves carrying the chains of anger. What does this mean? You will conquer anger if you imitate the archer who before firing his arrow, focuses on his target with a firm resolution NOT to miss. According to Ven. Louis of Granada in Ch *** of The Sinner’s Guide (where he treats thoroughly the importance of a firm resolution), without a firm resolution, we will never break the chains of anger. Therefore to attempt to destroy the chains of anger without a firm resolution is to be like an archer who unable to concentrate (focus) upon his target fires his arrows in vain like one firing in the dark. Indeed, in my years of confessing anger and its sins, how many times did I fail to make a firm resolution or to renew it?

Armed therefore the one hand with a firm resolution never to get angry and on the other hand untiring prayer, Immortales dear, chase anger from the throne of your heart and God (Peace) will be enthroned there. However if ever you fail, or fall to just anger, you must like a good captain quickly retreat upon our knees, tell God you are sorry, renew our resolution and drive anger afresh from the throne of your heart. In this way you will fulfil the petition in the Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom come, Your will be done (in my heart) as the angels do in Heaven. Without such a firm resolution (decision) you will not be different from a farmer who sews his seed in the river or one who cultivates a farm in the desert!

2 Let the Mind of Christ be in you (Phil 2:5)

Unmistakably, habitual anger is the mind of the devil, was the instruction of Divine Wisdom to the Leper King. Notice, Immortales my dear child that the Holy Spirit in the verse does not say: “let the mind of the devil be in you”, rather, let the mind of Christ be in you (Phil 2:5). But what precisely is the mind of Christ? The Master tells us Himself: “I am meek and humble of heart” (Matt 11:29). The mind of Christ is humility. Without humility it is radically impossible to conquer anger! In the moment of the deepest humiliation, He said “Father, forgive them. . .” The “litmus” (unfailing) unfailing test that the mind of the devil is working in us is that we fail to say with the wounded Jesus, “Father, forgive them”. How many times have we not said in a moment of great pain and maybe lawful anger, “God, punish them”. Make no mistake about it, these are not the words of Christ, neither is the Holy Spirit their “driver” of such words.

*Particular remedy: When anger assails my heart, I must say throughout the trial with St Benedict, begone Lucifer, I am the Temple of God (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19), not the temple of anger.

*Particular remedy: To keep anger is to give the devil a chance (cf Eph 4:2627)

Particular remedy: to harbour anger is to keep a crouching beast in the heart (cf Gen 4:5-7).

3 The Cross is the only and true Doctor of anger for only forgiveness heals the heart. God the Father Himself could only heal Himself As His WOUNDED AND DYING Son told Him, "forgive them". therefore, the Father, taking the medicine-forgiveness from His son, drinks it, rubs it into His own wounds and finds His own healing!

Indeed when He was challenged to pour out the fire of anger that would have JUSTLY destroyed us all, He gave birth to the greatest act of mercy "Father forgive them. . . " the angrier we are, the more we ought to forgive—the greater the opportunity God has given us to forgive and image His Son. Just as (since the redemption, every sin is also an occasion for God to Prove His mercy by forgiving, so too every offence by our neighbour is an opportunity for us to image Christ by forgiving!

Remedy Notice Immortales dear; the Spirit of God does not accuse us, rather it is the Supreme Spirit of meekness forgiving us by looking with compassion upon our weakness. The Holy Spirit does not divide us against God and one another, rather this is the Spirit that unites us with God by cords of love and Forgiveness (receive the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins)

Like a parasite that eventually kills its host, anger and the deadly sins always end up killing the one who offers himself as host to these foul tendencies.

Particular remedy: Scripture says that when we harbour anger we give the devil a chance (cf Eph 4:26-27)

Particular remedy: Realise Immortales dear, that the secret by which the saints conquered anger was constant resolution never to do anything in anger. Armed with this secret therefore, resolve never to speak or act in anger; in fact do nothing at all in anger. Postpone the discussion, argument, etc until a more peaceful time. Notice that often we regret, and sometimes have to eat ‘humble pie’ by apologising for words, actions and decisions made in anger.

Part rem: Each time you remember the offence done and are provoked to anger, remember instead the sins you have committed against God realising that your enemy’s sin against you is absolutely nothing compared with the smallest sin you had committed against an Eternal God before whom the spotless Seraphim tremble.

Part rem: Reflect that you lose your licence to draw from the mercy of God if you fail to forgive your enemy, for the Lord taught us to ask the Father to “forgive us our sins as we (ourselves) forgive those who sin against us” (Matt 6:12).

Part rem: By an unforgiving attitude I seal up the fountain of mercy against myself (lock myself) as the unforgiving servant did. His master withdrew the

judgment of mercy he had earlier given (cf Mt 18:23-35). The Master concludes the parable by a solemn warning: “That is how my Heavenly father will deal you unless forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt 18:35).

Part resolution: before speaking a word, take a deep breadth and repeat to yourself habitually some invocation to keep you in the mind of God such as, “come Holy Spirit, Come’, Jesus, Jesus, Mary, Mary, over and over again.

Part Resolution: If you would deal with the devil with one fell blow, then make it a habit to pray for those who offend you. St Alphonsus advises that we may take vengeance against those who offend us! This kind of vengeance he calls “holy vengeance”. This is the habit of praying for those who offend us, bringing them into the place of prayer and asking that God should free them from evil. We will be transformed into gods should we do this for this is what He Himself did when He said: “Father forgive them. . .” even as they nailed Him to the cross.

Part rem: In difficult moments, ask yourself, How did My Master Jesus heal Himself on the Cross when He was provoked to the greatest and most Just anger? The answer: He forgave and counselled His wounded Father to forgive! Had He not forgiven, Divine anger would have consumed us all. Therefore, Immortales dear, at such times, you must forgive.

Part rem: To forgive my neighbour is to open to myself the door of forgiveness as is taught in the text of Matt 6:12!

Part rem: in a moment of anger, bring yourself under control by reciting a Hail Mary, better still glory be, or the Our Father.

Part rem: If it becomes so difficult, you can say at least in union with the idea of Blessed Paul (Col 1:24): “Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, I forgive this person for love of you and for the salvation of sinners! Indeed this is the whole spirituality of Our Lady of Fatima, the Blue Army and the Block Rosary which is lost today when it is more needed than ever. Anger offers us the great opportunity to be victims raised up upon the Cross with Christ! Indeed we can at least forgive this persons in reparation for our own sins.

Part Rem: In habitual anger I am remotely “controlled”. Just as with the remote control device I control my TV from a distance, so too when I am habitually angry I remotely controlled by the person against whom I treasure anger. Whenever I remember my wound of anger reopens and I wear again the burning chains of anger.

Because I am remotely controlled in anger, the conclusion is that I suffer Mental Slavery whenever I am in habitual anger. The person against whom I am

angry is my slave master. Whether or not I am honest enough to admit it, I am not in charge; he is in control; I am not free to reject the chains of anger but helplessly reach out for, and grab them.

Part rem: Hatred cannot pass through the gate of Heaven as the Holy Spirit says: “To hate your brother is t be a murderer and to be dead without eternal life” (1 Jn 3:15). Therefore to enter heaven, I must let go of my hatred.

If in anger you will not do the will of the devil and cause the devils to rejoice, then you must take this instruction by which the Leper King gained great victory: 1) You must be silent! 2) Speak to Jesus and Mary alone, if possible before the Blessed Sacrament. 3) Therein, report all to these hearts of love. 4) Forgive (and promise to) forgive the offender for love of God, that is for Jesus and Mary.

COL 3:8-9 BUT NOW YOU MUST ALSO PUT OFF ALL THESE: ANGER, WRATH, MALICE, BLASPHEMY, DIRTY TALK. ..

Because of its dividing effect Mareeya has concluded that it is the driver and vehicle of jealousy, pride, greed, etc. The Leper King has called it a syndrome containing all the seven deadly sins!

ADDENDUM: IMPATIENCE

Remedies for impatience

LUST

In the war of the devil to destroy mankind lust is the greatest weapon the evil one employs, according to St Alphonsus.

In Learn at once at the very beginning, Immortales dear, that whoever truly conquers lust has conquered the universe. This, says St Augustine, is the province where combat is frequent but the victors are fewest! If you would understand the power of this vice, consider the following:

Solomon the wise becomes the foolish when because of his many women he became a worshipper of idols! Samson the mighty man of battle, falling into the

arms of Delilah becomes the slave of the Philistines who fled before him in battle! David the faithful, having cast his eyes upon the beauty of naked Bathsheba, he takes the wife of his neighbour and murders her husband! The emperor Augustus Caesar falling from his throne lands in the arms of Cleopatra of Egypt! Because of the sin of David, a whole nation is doomed to division! Dina is raped and a whole people perish in the bloodshed of the sons of Jacob. We know of the invincible major general who did not fall until a woman was sent to offer him the primeval “apple of eve!”

According to St Alphonsus, when the devil goes fishing with the other vices he goes (as it were) with a hook, but with lust he carries a net, for with lust he gathers a holocaust, so that by lust alone he harvests more for hell than he does with all the other vices. Lust is called by St Basil of Selucia a living plague, and by St Bernadine of Sienna ‘a terrible gnawing worm’. Because as St Bonaventure says, lust destroys the germs (seeds) of all virtues. Hence St Remigius says: “with the exception of those who die in childhood, most people will be damned on account of this vice. Fr Paul Segneri says that as pride filled hell with angels so lust has filled it with men.

What is lust?

Lust is sexual desire out of control—out of control because the sexual power being God’s own gift is always good in itself. Precisely therefore, lust is righty defined as disordered sexual desire. “Compared to a chaste soul, all the riches, all the titles, thrones, crowns and dignities of the earth are contemptible” (St Alphonsus de Ligouri, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Part II, Instr III). On account of this St Ephraim called chastity the very life of the spirit, and St Peter Damian the queen of virtues (humility being their mother and foundation). The exceedingly blessed St Alphonsus says that the one who conquers lust will certainly gain victory over the other vices, but the one who is ruled by lust will also be enslaved by the others.

We have it from the mouth of Our Lord Himself in Matthew 22:30 that those who have lived free from sexual sins are not different from angels where He says: They shall be as the angels of God in Heaven. Revelation 14:14 says that in Heaven virgins flock after the Lamb! Chastity (of both the married people and single people) is the virtue opposed to lust.

St Ephraim and St Bernard both teach that chastity transforms a man into an angel. St Basil says that chastity makes a man like God who is a pure spirit. According to St Ambrose, “he who has kept chastity is an angel; he who has lost it is a devil”, because (just as chastity is the queen of the virtues) lust is the queen of many sins including theft, sacrilege, murder, rape and child sexual abuse, masturbation, pornography, slander, lies, jealousy and anger, etc. The Leper King

came to understand that the lustful person little by little becomes capable of almost any crime—indeed Lust makes a man do things that even beasts (animals) would not do!

Nature and Sad Effects of Lust

1 Blindness of the soul (They shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord – Zeph 1:17).

Immortales, keep in mind the words of Blessed Alphonsus who reminds us that when a raven finds a dead body, its first act is to pluck out the eyes; in the same way the first injury that sins of lust (impurity) does to the soul is to take away the light of the things of God. The fornicator or adulterer knows that if he dies in sin he will lose his immortal soul to the fires of hell, but seized by passion, he throws the eternal truths into the dust bin and fills his soul with the passing pleasure of sin! He counts as nothing the offence he gives to God and the scandal he gives to neighbour!

According to the Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, the first effect of the sin of impurity (lust) is the blindness of the understanding (mind or intellect). Because the mind (understanding or intellect) may be said to be the eye of the soul, lust blinds the soul! Therefore, the soul loses sight of eternity. Hence St Augustine says that impurity robs the soul of the thought of eternity. When it does not blind it totally it darkens it like one seeing through eye lenses filled with ugly cataracts!

2 The water of passion quenches the fire of reason (St Thomas Aquinas)

While pride runs away from shame, lust greedily embraces shame! Thus the Angelic Doctor makes no mistake about the reality when he says that the water of passion quenches the fire of reason. Solomon the wise became Solomon the worshipper of idols because lust! The same one who was given more wisdom than any before him became a worshipper of idols! He disobeyed God by his deep attachment to women, became a worshipper of Astarte and Milcom, the Ammonite abomination... He built temples for foreign gods... On the mountain to the east of Jerusalem he built a temple for the god of the Moabites! (cf 1 Kgs 11:1-8).

King David is no less an example. At his anointing the spirit of God took hold of him from that day on (1 Sam 16:13).However, when he allowed the beauty of Bathsheba to take him, he committed adultery with her, killed Uriah her husband and took her for wife!

The death of reason and animal type of behaviour When reason dies, animal behaviour takes over. In acts of lust, reason is not at work. The result

is that people begin to do things that only beasts would do, and some things that are so abominable that even beasts would not do. Parent and children, brother and sister mating (incest) is an animal type of action. Human beings and animals mating (bestiality) is something that even beasts would not do for they mate with their own kind. Homosexuality and lesbianism also represent something below animal behaviour. Rape is an abomination flowing from the death of reason. The rapist loses his humanity and becomes some kind of animal

2 The slavery and Obstinacy (stubbornness) of the will

This is the vice that taking hold of a person, the soul makes a 180 degrees turn from God and turns towards Hell, not caring at all about the eternal fire into which it plunges itself should death sieze suddenly upon her.

Immortales dear, learn at once that the special character of lust is the slavery of the will! The victim of the demon is a slave; his will becomes stubborn like rock! This is the one vice by which the devils most easily chain a soul to Hellfire! They who fall into this vice come out only with great difficulty; some require a miracle of grace which God does grant sometimes after long tears. St Alphonsus relates the story (told by Fr Biderman) of a young lustful man who had the habit of returning to this sin. He was absolved on his deathbed by a priest (his confessor) in the midst of many tears of repentance, thereby leaving much hope that he was in Heaven after his death shortly after. Later the priest was at Mass when he felt someone pulling his chasuble; turning rund he saw a dark cloud, which sent forth sparks of fire, and heard a voice saying that it was the soul of the young man who had died. It related that after being absolved of his sin, he was tempted again, and yielding, he fell into a lustful thought and was damned.

St Augustine says that, they that if we give ourselves up to the vice of lust, we will soon acquire the habit of lust. The habit creates as it were the necessity of sinning. St Alphonsus comments that the person who has this vice is like the vulture. How? Rather than fly away from the corpse where it has begun to feed, it is content to wait to be killed by the hunter. As the sight of the hunter cannot separate the vulture from the dead body it is eating, so too the fear of God, the thought of the judgment, death, hell, are not enough to drive the person who has the habit of lust from sinning! The Leper King cried out: “O abominable abomination, O chains harder to break than iron!”

Lust is not a respecter of persons. It attacks old and young alike, even children! Old men and women have equally messed themselves up by this vice. In women and men alike, the sexual power does not die—it endures to the grave. Eighty year old men have messed themselves up with sixteen year old girls. There are old women sleeping with young men. Why would a man or woman have sexual

relations with house-helps or in-laws living with them? Where are the bosses who pay secretaries not only to do paper work but also “bed-work!”

Great Weapons and Chains of Lust: Pornography and masturbation, the modern slave-makers. Fashion

Fr Justus Pokrzewinski, OP, addressing his Dominican brothers once described pornography as a “cancer of the mind”. Cancer as we know is incurable. Pornography is a modern “slave maker” and “slave master”. Pornography is a graveyard of the soul from which only God can raise it!

According to statistics about fifty percent of traffic on the goes to pornography sites! The first industry to hit the one billion dollar mark on the internet is the pornography industry! Even children carry pornography to school in cell phones! Pornography buries souls in the river of masturbation! Let it be known that female masturbation was less common in the past. Today, there is an astronomical rise in the number of women masturbating. Thanks to pornography.

Let it be known, O masturbating (fornicating, adulterous) soul, that just it is impossible for the water to depart from the sea, so too it is impossible for you to break with these sins you deal with pornography and all manner of lustful thinking!

Phone sex This is a new kind of weapon that the devil is employing. For all the good of mobile devices, we have keep a special vigil! Children are special victims in these dark times. Parents should keep a vigil over their children’s phones (if the children should use phones at all). They should not forget that they will account for the phones and electronic devices they give to minors. The bottom line is that “serious”, sinful and exceedingly harmful sexual traffic is passing through our phones!

Fashion “Many fashions will come which will offend Our Lord”, said Our Lady in 1917 to the three little children of Fatima. Fashion is reaping a rich and incalculable harvest for Hell today. To greater extent women are responsible. When it comes to fashion it appears that women know nothing about showing mercy! Let them hear the warning of the Holy Spirit: “Why, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin!” (Rom 6:13). Bad fashion is a proper (veritable) weapon of the devil; women are usually the driver!

3 The lustful person may become a murderer (abortion is responsible for more death in the world that all the wars in history)

Did you ever commit, perform, counsel or sponsor an abortion? Does it not make you a murderer? David came to be a murderer because of his lust. The number of innocents killed in abortion in the world yearly far outnumbers the number of lives lost the world wars! Many men have become official sponsors of abortion! The wombs of women are becoming graveyards! What is the difference between mortuary and abortuary? The blood of Abel cried out; the blood of aborted cry louder to heaven. Lust is reaping a great harvest!

A lustful man may have many children he does not know about. A lustful woman may not know the true father of her child! Lust is the true father of those children a man makes outside marriage.

4 Lust wastes

The things wasted by lust are uncountable. It destroys a good reputation won over many years or decades in a single day! It destroys trust and loyalty sometimes permanently! Lust wastes money. It quickly reduces the beauty of a person to ugliness! It wastes precious time in no small way; sometimes at the end of mistakes it wastes many years of a person’s life. Lust promises pleasure but wastes away a persons youth. Lust has prevents young people from graduating, graduating, completing their studies, or gives them bad grades! Lust is responsible for many dropouts and irresponsible people.

REMEDIES AGAINST LUST

General remedies

1 In the combat against the “queen of vices”, weapons and human strength are simultaneously useless. Prayer and flight alone are the weapons. Let us not be deceived, the saints teach us that even if God gave us the chastity of angels, if we fly from temptation, we shall not fail to fall. We must pray tirelessly and relentlessly no matter where we find ourselves, even if we have become as vicious as prostitutes because Jesus came for sinners. And so the Wise Man said: And I knew that I could not be chaste unless God gave it, therefore, I went to the Lord and besought Him (cf Wisd 8:3).

As is the case with the other vices, without a firm resolution (decision) not to return to sin, we will be wasting time, grace and energy. Unless we arm our prayer with a firm resolution we may be like a strong man fetching water from a deep well with a broken bucket. What a waste. The only result is that our efforts will only lead us down “frustration street!” Prayer is like the rifle and the resolution the bullet which we must fire tirelessly.

2 Without humility no one can conquer. Unless we admit that all our strength belongs to God we will surely fall. We must not presume, telling ourselves that we will enter a place or situation of temptation and come out safely. Presumption is a sin against the Holy Spirit. We must humbly admit that if God does not sustain us we will surely fall. Armed with humility, we shall avoid the devil’s “death dance”.

3 Do you not know that in attacking our confidence in the mercy of God, the devil is trying to convince us that hope is a lie? To believe that hope is a lie is to offend the Holy Spirit.

4 Never forget that the pleasure offered by the devil is never free. According to Fr Nicolas Okeke, OP., to take the pleasure is the same as to pay with your immortal soul—the only coin with which you pay for such pleasure is your soul!

Instructions or particular remedies

I am the Temple of God! Therefore I must preserve its purity if possible with my life, because to sin with my body is to destroy the temple of God as the Holy Spirit says: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Holy Spirit is living in you? If anyone should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple (1 Cor 3:16-17). Keep away from fornication. All other sins are committed outside the body; but to fornicate is to sin against your own body. Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. . .” (1 Cor 6:18-19). If I destroy it by sin, with which body shall I enjoy eternity?

In time of temptation I must repeat habitually “I am the temple of the God” (1 Cor 3:16), not a temple of lust. The prayer is both an exorcism and a petition. Repeating the Holy Names of Jesus and over and over again (or upon our Rosary beads) is a great prayer for scripture says: “At the mention of the name of Jesus, all beings in Heaven, on the earth and in the underworld shall bow”.

Law of diminishing returns Governed by the law of diminishing returns, the appetite is never satisfied—it is ever a crying baby, ever crying louder—the more you feed it, the hungrier it becomes. Immortales dear, you do not need to taste the corruption or wear the chains to know it. In its nature it ever craves for more, but the more you feed the beast, the less satisfied you are. Therefore, it is better never to feed it no matter how much it cries!

Cultivate spiritual intimacy Till I find someone to Marry Jesus and Mary will take the place of a boyfriend or girlfriend in my life.

Cultivate spiritual virginity No one should be discouraged because they have lost physical virginity. No. Jesus calls all unmarried people to a true and

real virginity of spirit. This is based upon a personal arrangement and covenant with Jesus to remain faithful to him in purity until He sends us a husband or wife if He wills it. A person may never have had sex but may have lost “true” virginity by wilfully desiring in his imagination all day. Though more wholesome when complete in body and spirit, the reality of virginity can go beyond the body. St Mary of Egypt is a great example much the same as the woman caught in adultery.

Music, reading, recreationSome people do better by identifying what kind of recreation is helpful in time of trial. Some keep a book around and read till they fall asleep. Some listen to music. A study of one’s’ sexual nature is each one’s responsibility. The saying is also useful here, the idle mind is the devils workshop. Therefore, at all cost we must avoid idleness. Good exercise, tennis, jogging, etc are great helps. A young man took to the watching of the life of the saints and good films and movies.

Flight

Because the entry point of lust into the soul is through the five senses-seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting, all the senses must together as one fly from temptation. “Be cautious as the dove, and wise as a serpent” says the Lord. St Augustine commenting on the text cries out: “Christians love your head!” The dove remains safe, not by fighting but by flying; the serpent stays alive by running under the green grass. Indeed let us be like the serpent which upon seeing the enemy hides its head under the green grass. On this battle ground, the brave and mighty enter and die, but the cowards fly and survive for the next day’s battle. The senses must all fly, for as St John of the Cross says, the senses are the like the windows of the soul. When the senses are guarded, lust does not easily enter in!

The flight of the eye All five senses must fly from the enemy, for his traps are everywhere and he never lacks willing slaves whom he feeds like pigs with the filth of impurity: The eye must fly. We must keep a strict custody of the eye not to look upon any object that may cause temptation, whether it be a moving object or a TV, on our phones or laptops, etc. Does it not impress you, Immortales dear that about chastity, Holy Job made a covenant with his eyes? “I have made a covenant with my eyes never to gaze upon a virgin” (Job 31:1). Notice that he does not say a woman but virgin, that is even the innocent and harmless. Much of the entertainment on TV today, including musicals is not chastity compatible! In the name of modernity, many evils sneak under the carpet of good.

The flight of the ear If the ear fails to fly from temptation, the flight of eye would be in vain. When people go drinking, conversation easily becomes the

source of much temptation. Flight of the ear for one person may be the deletion of a phone number, for another the erotic trigger may be in the music the one listens to.

The flight of the sense of touch The sense of touch is important in a grave degree. Immodest touching is a source of many sexual sins. If we are to cultivate chastity, we must be very careful to avoid or to touch others in an immodest manner. Touch has its own vocabulary and is capable of speaking louder than words. It is a grave evil to suggest to people erotic intention through “secret” or “discreet” touching. This would include all the acts “open” touching that may or may not lead to sex including kissing and improper hugging.

Flight of the sense of smell There are those who confess to finding some perfumes or deodorants too erotic to their sense of smell. It is possible for smell to arouse a person seriously. Since this is the reality, Christians ought to be modest in their choices and use of these things. If assailed, one must find a way to protect oneself from such odours.

Flight of the sense of taste You must strive to mortify your sense of taste. A certain young girl was so attached to barbecue (kibab, suya) that it was the constant cause of her relapsing into fornication. Generally, people hold that alcohol excites their sexual appetite. According to St Thomas Aquinas, “when Bacchus (Greek god of wine) is awake, Eros (Greek god of sex) is alive.” In this regard, alcohol does not help clear thinking. The number that fall through alcohol is as plenty as the sand on the seashore! It is a perfection to be able to observe if certain foods tend to increase one’s erotic feelings. Some hold that abstaining from sweet things do them good.

Flight from friends of bad advice and conduct is of prime importance Many eople lose chastity because of the company of careless friends they keep. People get initiated into all sorts of evils including drugs.

As a rule Do not remain on the ground if you fall. Rise at once and give war to the enemy. This is the rule off battlefield combat. No soldier falls down and concludes it is over while his enemy cuts him to pieces or binds him in chains. No, he rises! Much more then must we rise in the spiritual combat (see The Spiritual Combat, by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli) The longer you remain on the ground, the deeper the wound will get, the more you will repeat the depraved action. The stronger the chains will grow, the weaker your resistance. Even before we think about it God is always asking us to rise. Returning to confession early is a veritable sign of great

progress. Learn from the cat. When it is thrown down, its back NEVER touches the ground!

NEVER be discouraged. Remember that trial is a kind of purification, and that God wills to permit that some be tried much more than others. This is usually the case for those chosen for a high and rare perfection. NEVER GIVE UP THE STRUGGLE!

NEVER linger in a place of temptation, else you become like the fish gazing upon the fish deadly fish hook disguised as a juicy sweet earth worm. Like the fish, if you look long enough you will soon bite your own death. Fly from places where temptation habitually resides.

Don’t go clubbing. Dance and drink are powerful erotic triggers. If you must go out, better to have your wife or husband with you. If single, see that you go with a friend. Just as the bats come out by night, the devil needs privacy to act.

Therefore, when in need of privacy be slow to go behind doors. There are many wonderful open places that offer sufficient privacy for positive intimacy. Going to church together and lingering in the serene atmosphere is great. If there are nice and healthy eateries around, take the chance, a drink or two will not cost too much. Take the counsel of St Jerome: Men and women are like fire and straw (especially when alone), and the devil does not cease to blow so that there will be a conflagration (fire). Remember that if Lot had not pitched his tent near Sodom, he would not have become an inhabitant of Sodom.

Sex is not breakfast To be involved intimately with somebody who thinks sex is not so different from breakfast is to be heading for destruction! The fundamental question to ask in choosing a spouse is, “will this person bring me closer to God and peace (help me find salvation and fulfilment), or will he bring me nearer to sorrow and damnation. When I am with this person, do I find that I offend God more or love him or her more? Straightaway, there must be a spiritual agreement. To enter a relationship in which my friend does not know the difference between breakfast and sex is a prime tragedy. The person I am considering MUST share my sexual values.

Bad fashion is a proper (veritable) weapon of the devil; women are usually the driver! Listen to the warning of the Holy Spirit: “Why, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin!” (Rom 6:13). I will not only avoid, but also discourage bad fashion. I will therefore give my designer “chastity friendly” specifications!

The dead snake under green grass is a contradiction. They only die when they depart from the green grass. Therefore, I will ever fly from bad company and temptation.

Promote and speak well of virginity for both male and females

Two is better than one, so always go with a friend

Break all ties—adulterous relationships, phone numbers, etc.

GIFT LOVING IS A SLAVERY The person who is a lover of gifts cannot escape the trap of lust. Gifts open the door of the heart! According to Sr Theodoret, IHM, the gift and the giver are like the needle and the thread. Once the needle has passed through the cloth, there is nothing to prevent the thread from entering. The covetous person is often a slave of lust. The road through which the giver enters the heart is often the gift. Once inside, he is difficult to deal with.

The amorous gift-giver is not giving me his or herself. No one feeds the Christmas goat because he loves it. No. They feed it so as to make it fat enough for Christmas. So too the amorous giver of gifts only feeds his victim fat enough for his consumption and for hell. The gift itself is not different from the cord by which the goat is tied to the tree. For many are unable to leave their sexual slave-masters because of the gifts that keep them bound to them and ultimately to hell. When they try to run away the giver ties them down by giving more gifts. They are indeed lost.

Let us take the counsel of the wise man: “Do not stare at a virgin, in case you and she incur the same punishment” (Eccl 9:5). “Keep your eyes to yourselves in the streets of the town, do not prowl about its unfrequented quarters.” (Eccl 9:7). “Turn your eyes away from a handsome woman; do not stare at the beauty. . .” (Eccl 9:8). Woman’s beauty has led many astray; it kindles desire like a flame. Never sit down with a married woman, or sit at table with her drinking wine, in case you succumb . . . and in you fall down to your ruin (cf Eccl 9:9)

In dealing with all the vices, let us follow the counsel of Venerable Louis of Granada who says that to kill a lion when young is an easy task, but to master one when fully grown is insufferably difficult. In the same way, anybody at all can uproot a tree when only a few days old, but to uproot the fully grown tree is not an easy task. Let us deal with vice before it grows strong into a formidable army against us.

BY PORNOGRAPHY, THE DEVIL BURIES MANY SOULS IN THE GRAVE YARD OF MASTURBATION AND ALL MANNER OF DEPRAVED SEXUAL SINS AND LUSTFUL THOUGHTS. MOST TERRIBLE (and in full battle array) IS THE PORNOGRAPHY THAT WALKS ON THE STREET IN THE NAME OF FASHION.

COVETEOUSNESS (Spirit of the Self-robber)

(illustration: man on death bed turns his back to the priest and angel who have come to assist him, rather he locks his eye upon the bags of gold out of which snakes (symbol of the deceiver) are crawling. In life his eye was fixed upon material things, and so in death the same

You cannot serve both God and Mammon! (Matt 26:41)

Because we are Temples of God (1 Cor 3:16-17, 1 Cor 6:19), we are to be possessed of God not of mammon. Mammon possession is usually subtle, unnoticed but very real. What we mean here by mammon possession is simply to be possessed of a love of material things.

WHAT IS COVETOUSNESS

Greed is located in the appetite for material things. According to Venerable Loius of Granada, greed or covetousness a disordered desire for riches or material things. Essentially we must have the courage to call it by its true name: Covetousness is “the spirit-of-greed”—if I am covetous I am also greedy, else we will be deceiving ourselves and fail to root this deadly spiritual “disease” out of our souls!

Covetousness or greed is also the “lust of the eye” (1 Jn 2:16); accordingly, Eve also fell by the lust of the eye as Scripture says: “the woman ‘saw’ that the tree was good to eat and ‘pleasing to the eye . . .’” (Gen 3:6).

PRIDE, SELFISHNESS AND COVETOUSNESS ARE THREE IN ONE.

Divine Wisdom came to the Leper King thus: “the root of greed is in the spirit of selfishness.” Hence, the selfish person will of necessity be greedy or covetous. The question of the greedy person is never “you” but “I”. Now this is also the question of the spirit of pride—in the dictionary of pride there are only three words, namely, me, myself, I. If I am selfish, I do not need to run any test for pride because it is my resident spirit from which my acts of covetousness and greed flow.

Usage and love

To use is not the same thing as to love. God made material things for our use. Whatever you love possesses you—it is impossible to love something without being possessed by it. Therefore, we are to love God and use material things for his glory and the salvation of neighbour. Possessed by Mammon, we produce acts of greed.

Immortales dear, the appetite for material things contains “mortal danger” as the Master has warned: it is impossible to serve both God and Mammon (cf Matt. Let the words of His Divine Majesty clarify this:

No one can be slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be slave of both God and money! (Matt 6:24)

The meaning of the text was given to the Leper King thus:

It is clear that when the covetous soul is faced with the temptation of bowing to material things (money or, creatures) or to God, it chooses the material (the creature and passing) thing, and turning its back to God, it bows to a material thing! Essentially, this is idolatry—the worship of a false god! And this is a damnable thing for the man who worships grass (a passing and perishing thing) will not fail to perish like grass (cf Isaiah 40:6-7). He worships Mammon, not God because in trials, he bows not to God but to Mammon!

Therefore the Holy Spirit says that those who bow to material things thus are the same as cattle doomed to slaughter! (cf Ps 49:12); The grave is their home forever, their lasting residence! (cf Ps 49:11); They are like sheep driven to the grave where death will be their shepherd! (cf 49:14).

In the background the wisdom of the warning of Master begins to crystallize: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?” (********************)

It is on this account that Fr Collins Akhigbe, OP has cried out, “O unfair exchange, O abominable exchange, on account of mere passing pleasure, men exchange Heaven and eternity for passing things.”

Greed: The Spirit of the Self-Robber and Self-Hater (the Eternal Father in the Dialogue of St Catherine of Sienna)

Note at once Immortales dear, that the covetous or greedy person is always and ever a self-robber because by turning to material things instead of God, he robs himself of eternity, the friendship of God and grace.

The covetous spirit does three kinds of evil in every act of greed. First, by choosing a material thing, it shows it does not love God (you cannot love both God and Mammon—Matt 6:24). Second, by failing to give to neighbour, it shows it does not love neighbour. Third, by failing in the commandment to love it proves that it hates itself (is a self-hater) because God has provided that without loving our neighbour it is impossible for us to be saved. And so it is that in every act of greed, the covetous person is not loving himself, but rather robbing and hating himself. His true god is a material thing, the work of his hands as the Psalmist says.

The hook of Hell (illustration)

As the fisherman hides the deadly hook under the earthworm, so too the Evil-one hides the “hook of Hell” under the glamour (shining appearance) of riches (material and passing things). Therefore it was fitting that the Holy Spirit call covetousness a trap (the devil’s hook deadly hook) in 1 Tim 6:9-11 in these biting words:

They that chase riches fall into the temptations and traps of the devil. They are trapped in foolish and dangerous ambitions which eventually drown them in death and destruction. For the love of money (material things) is the root of all evil (cf 1 Tim 6:9-11).

The wisdom of the fool, according to Mr Anin-die, is total foolishness. This is the very truth about the covetous person for he exchanges immortality for mortality; heaven for hell, truth for money, sex for money. According to the Leper King, the covetous exchange eternity for grass—O horrid reality! He would sell justice just to get promotion. Sell her body for more cash. His foolishness will become clear to him when in the fires of Hell when he finds that that he was forced to leave all the comforts for which he sold his immortal soul to the devil behind in the grave and that he has entered eternity poor FOREVER even like Dives (the rich man) who neglected Lazarus the poor

Material Slavery

The lover of material things is always and ever a slave; his soul is buried in material things even before hell claims him. Do not be deceived for his immortal soul answers to money instead of God, and so it was necessary for the Master and Lord to warn in Matt 6:24: you CANNOT serve both God and MAMMON!

It is profitable to note that human beings are easily trapped by the spirit of materialism. Material things have a false lustre (they shine before the undiscerning eye). It is in wisdom that the Church asks us at baptism: “do you reject sin and the glamour of evil?” “Do you reject Satan and his empty promises?” Some are virtually lost already on account of what they have gathered through fraud and lies. Super-rich, they are like vampires drinking the blood of the poor masses and the nation, for by their fraud they destroy the future of the poor and whole nations.

SOME MARKS OF GREED (covetousness)

1 To be stingy, that is tight-fisted or to grieve (be sad) before or after giving (without a good reason. Accordingly, even a beggar or leper can be stingy as long as he cannot share happily the little he has!

2 One who longs (has an appetite) for his neighbours goods.

3 Happy to borrow; sad to pay back.

4 The giver of bad gifts: The person who possess good things but gives bad gifts—he gives what is old, spent and of little value. However, the poor who share whatever they have, though they be old please God by giving such gifts and sometimes show greater generosity than the rich (the case of the widow who put in only two coins demonstrates the point).

5 The lover of gifts According to Sr Theodoret, IHM, the gift and the giver are like the needle and the thread; for once the needle has passed through, it is impossible to stop the thread from passing. Is it not true that when a woman closes the door of her heart, a gift may easily opens it—in opening the door to embrace the gift, she also opens the door of her heart!

The lesson is taught in Homer’s Odyssey, when the city of Troy fell because she stupidly received the “Trojan Horse” which the Greeks had left outside her gates as a gift. When the priest of Apollo saw it he told the king: “Burn it”, but the king disobeyed. As Troy fell into destruction and slavery because of her failure to discern the gift of the enemy, so many are chained to the slavery of sin on account

of not discerning well their appetite for gifts and those who keep them enslaved by the gift. Is it not true that when they try to break the chains, their gift-givers make the chains ten times stronger by offering greater gifts and more money! And so these scorpions of Hell (as St Alphonsus rightly surnames them), their slave-masters or false friends drive them on to Hell even as the horseman rides the helpless horse.

They are as many as the sand on the seashore who go around chained to Hell because of the appetite for gifts as 1 Tim 6:9-11 confirms—“the devil’s trap is what the Holy Spirit uses to describe their situation. They exchange their soul for a passing gift.

WHO IS THE COVETOUS PERSON

It is clear that no one would like to be described as covetous or better still greedy. However if I desire truth in my heart and want the Holy Spirit to reveal to me the true picture of my soul, then I must summon the courage to question myself according to the following:

1 Am I sad when I have to give? I do not enjoy pay-day very much because I have to give so much though I have the money.

2 Did I steal? While not all acts of stealing have greed as their cause (as blameworthy as they may be), the greedy person would often steal or at least profit himself by withholding the goods, privileges and rights of others.

3 Have I detained my neighbours goods without a just cause. Have I withheld my workers salaries?

4 Am I sad to pay back a loan or money I lent though I have the money?

5 Have I found it difficult to share?

6 Must I get a new dress because my neighbour has bought a new dress?

7 Have I gathered things I did not need nor even use—houses, cars, clothes, shoes, etc?

8 Are my accounts always a treasured secret simply because the poorer knowing what I have may come to beg? Have I lied about how much I possess?

9 Did I without a just cause (good and sufficient reason) hide what I have for fear that someone may beg from me?

10 Have I given sex just for money, promotion, to secure a job?

11 I am in a lustful relationship just for financial gain? This may be a sign of greed.

12 Do I keep the company of bad friends just for the material benefit?

12 Have I lied or cheated so as to have more?

13 Do I see the poor as necessarily dirty and unkempt?

14 Am I a member of a cult for material benefit?

15 I have watched my neighbour go hungry in a helpless condition when I could have broken my bread in two.

16 Am I guided in my choices in life by material things or by spiritual reasons? In essence, do I put God first in these issues?

17 Have I remained in a relationship that keeps me away from God because of material gain?

REMEDIES

The person who does not begin in prayer will prove to be a fool in the end. The lust of the eye is not a small enemy. The pilgrim soul must pray for light to understand its covetousness for like the other vices, we battle to the grave. We must pray for the virtue of generosity and contentment. They are like two sides of the same coin. Generosity is vain without contentment and contentment is a lie without generosity. Consider the words of Foulton Sheen: “the non-contented person, though he is a pope or king is always unhappy; but the contented person is always happy even when he has not enough.”

Much of what has been said above will serve well for meditative remedies. However, owing to the nature of this vice, it is fitting that we gather various categories of remedies. The reader is free to draw them accordingly as he is inspired.

ILLUMINATIONS (part 1): secrets of the Evil-One

When the evil one tempts creatures to exchange the everlasting good for a passing good; eternal life for earthly pleasure, he does not tell man the following truths (among others) or at least lies about the following:

1 That at the border of the grave it will finally become clear to the lover of material things that he spent his life’s energy gathering dust! That all through life the devil was robbing him; but worse still that he assisted the devil in robbing himself! This picture is shown to us in the parable of Lazarus and Dives the rich man who entered eternity so radically poor that he has to beg for a drop of water! What a wretched poverty!

2 That upon his deathbed, he comes to face the truth that his love of passing things was a chain that kept him far from God and helplessly bound to Hell!

3 That upon his death bed, a person will come to realise that all his money is dust! No matter what he possesses, it cannot help him. He cannot carry money, land, anything at all, he becomes poorer than the poorest beggar. The only thing a person can carry out of this world (as it was told to the Leper King) is the God he kept in his heart. The soul is utterly powerless to carry any material thing across the border of the grave. Ven. Louis of Granada says, at this point the memory of his money will only bring him sorrow for like it or not, he must leave it behind for the greedy who are waiting for him to die so they can share the money they never worked for! St Alphonsus says (in his Preparation for Death) that the sight of his wife, children and loved ones around his deathbed will only serve to increase his sorrow and confusion for like it or not, he must leave them behind. The wisdom of Isaiah 40:6, that all flesh is grass, and its glory that of the flower of the field which flowering in the morning dies by evening becomes self-eloquent!

REMEDIES (Part II)

ILLUSIONS & DELUSIONS

The great deception of material things

The devil is the ultimate liar. Lying about every thing, he turns the truth upside (Rev 12:****). He hurries to confuse us about material things which already (on account of concupiscence) create a great but grave and false delusion which comes in many variants as enumerated below:

1 One is the delusion that he more you possess the happier you are as if to possess money is the same thing as to be happy. On the contrary the more you possess, the more your cares and worries increase. The Leper King has said: “The more gold I gathered the more my sorrow increased! But Wisdom came to teach me that the more I could give, the happier I can become.” The richer nations of the world record more suicide cases and meaninglessness in life than do the poorer nations. It is easy to test the fact anywhere in the world that the person who is unable to give (share) is always a sad person; while the one who gives freely is

always a happier person. The truth then is the more I can give, the happier I become!

2 A second is that money is the essential solution to life’s problems.

Its falsity is self-demonstrative. Money creates more problems than it solves. Once we turn our backs to God, our material money becomes a curse; the whole sum is spent for the devil. Precisely because then we are only able to use it to serve our pride, jealousy, anger, lust, gluttony and sloth and ultimately the world and the devil (the case of the evil in the more prosperous nations make it clear: Murder, homosexuality, women marrying women with licence to adopt children, etc). We can only use material things creatively when God is our counsellor!

We must know and conclude with the Leper King that “without God our money is our curse!” For all the good things are able to do with money, God remains the essential solution to our problems.

3 False security

Because of the ease of living the rich enjoy because of their possessions, they come to see money as security. But they are deceived because though they may buy health insurance, life insurance, fire insurance, they are not able to buy death insurance. Money does not insure that your husband will be faithful to you, rather, because he is rich more women will chase him. Money does not insure that your children will be responsible, rather the case is that the children of the rich are usually less disciplined, more proud and very wasteful. Money does not insure against hypertension or diabetes, on the contrary, the rich have more of these sicknesses! As the Psalmist says “A man’s life is not made secure no matter how much he owns—even is his wealth should increase!” (Ps 49:****)Our essential security is God Himself, for while the insurance policies of the world end on the deathbed, God alone gives the “everlasting insurance” in Christ His Son. As the Holy Spirit says: “This is eternal life (as it were eternal security), to know the Father and Jesus Christ. . .” (John *****)

REMEDIES (Part III)

GENERAL AND SPECIFIC REMEDIES

The example of the Master must impregnate our minds:

1 Meditate that the Lord, Master and Creator of gold was not born in a palace of Gold (not in the house of Herod) but in a cave which served as a manger, there to

be honoured not by men but animals. From the throne of the manger He instructed: a person is not what he possesses (any material thing), but what he is in the sight of God. Contemplating the Divine Child in the manger (the third joyful mystery) Wisdom came to the Leper King thus: “The Lord has run away from Gold, let the fool pursue it”.

2 Meditate that the Master did not build a house for himself: He left no house to his memory! In some cultures you are not considered successful until you have built a house. The Master puts our human traditions to shame when He proclaims: “foxes have holes; birds have nests; but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head!”

3 This is no trifle! Meditate pilgrim soul that when the Master died on the Cross, he was buried as it were in a borrowed tomb!

4 The Master was entirely detached from money. Recall that Judas was the treasurer. When they demanded of him the temple tax, having no money, He paid by performing a miracle—he asked Peter to go fishing to find the coins in a fish!

5 It is the office of the pilgrim soul to cherish the command of the Loving Master: “Store up riches for yourselves in Heaven, where thieves do not steal or moths destroy” (*********************). And again, “use money “tainted” as it is to win yourself friends in Heaven so that when money fails you they may welcome you into everlasting life (*********************). Notice that the Master describes money here as something “tainted”; but whatever is tainted is polluted, corrupted or contaminated. How easily do not material things taint and warp even a good mind!

In all of these, the Master teaches us that useful as material things may be, attachment to them is the same as to be in the danger of losing one’s soul to the eternal fire!

6 Let us follow the counsel of St Augustine who says: “the end of all material things is the grave”. Realizing this, said the Leper King, I became careful how I gathered knowing that my grave would swallow it all up.

7 The Lord has promised according to Proverbs 19:17: “He who gives to the poor lends to me and I will surely repay him”. Holy Alphonsus cries out: “The Immortal God chooses to be a debtor to mortal man.” Indeed who can calculate the blessedness of those the Lord has decided to owe!

8 If this promise does not charm your heart, reflect then that if you will not share your riches yourself, others will come and share it when you are dead, and then it will bring you no profit but judgment.

9 Reflect that whatever excess you have does not belong to you. It belongs properly to the poor! The excess you keep will become your own bitter judgment. Not to share it is to rob the poor whom God has chosen you to bless.

10 Manager of God’s gifts

Whoever has more than he needs (even if it is a penny) must realize that by giving him so much, God is placing in his hands the gifts destined for those who have little. Therefore, God is appointing him an honourable manager or administrator of His material gifts, and as the Parable of the Talents (********) picture, he will account at judgment for every penny. The excess money in your account does not mean buy a new car while the poor around you are dropping out of school and the sex market is recruiting prostitutes right under your nose. You shall not fail to account for their sins. The money was never yours, no matter how hard you worked, you could never have prospered without good health, God given opportunity and in fact God could have chosen to make you a rock or rat anyway! Wake up to the reality that attached to your material gifts is a great trial waiting for you. Take the title, “Steward” or “Manager” or better still “Administrator of the Temporal Gifts of God”. Then God will bless you beyond your capacity to receive.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

It will become clear to me at the covetous person at the border of the grave when he realized that he has been robbed by the Evil-One. (Isaiah 40:6)

Generosity and contentment

*********** When the world wants to know whether or not a man is rich, they measure his bank account. They ask, how much money and possessions has he? But if you asked God the same question, He would answer: measure size of his heart; how much love is in his heart?

Sorrow not that you lack material things, rejoice rather that you possess in your heart true spiritual riches! This precisely is the meaning of the Easter text: “. . . you must look for the things in Heaven, where Christ is. . . Let your thoughts be on Heavenly things not on the things that are on earth. . . (cf Colossians 3:1-4).

Forbid that you are rich in the sight of men but poor in the sight of God!

Read the whole text and gather shorter remedies.

SORROWS OF SATAN 1 the person detached from material things conquers the devil in countless ways. He is free from the chains of greed.

MARYEXCESS YOU HAVE IS NOT YOUR OWN

The contented man is always happy even when he is poor! The man who is not contented is always sad even if he were as rich as a king as exalted as a pope (Foulton Sheen).

Covetousness makes a person resemble the devil in that while the devil bowed to himself, a created thing, the covetous also bow to themselves and other created things.

they freely choose eternal burning who run away from temporal burning today.

all opposed to love see Paul on love in Corinthians

deadly sin as appetites. anger is apetite of returning pain for pain