Sunday

**Writings from Catholic St John Bosco

What is the virtue of purity? Theologians tell us that by purity we mean a hatred, an abhorrence of everything against the sixth commandment. Any person, each in his own state, can preserve the virtue of purity. this purity is so pleasing to God that in every age he severely punished the vice that is contrary to it, and rewarded those who preserved it with wondrous deeds. From the earliest times in the world, when human beings, though not so numerous, had already descended into disorder, corruption, as the Scripture tells us: omnis caro corruperat viam suam,86God had rewarded purity. Enoch who was the only one to have kept his soul pure for God, was believed by God to be unworthy of remaining amongst such a sinful people, so God sent two of his angels who took Enoch away from the company of men,87 carried him to another place where he was then brought to Heaven by Jesus Christ after his death.
Let’s move on. Once mankind had multiplied on earth, they forgot about their Creator and gave themselves to carnal pleasures, the worst vices, the vice of dishonesty, impurity. God was so outraged by such iniquity that he promised to wipe out the human race with a flood all across the land. Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives were saved from this universal extermination.88 Why this preference for them? Because they had kept this beautiful and inestimable virtue of purity.

Prayer: Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Monday
Let’s move further ahead. After the flood the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves over to all sorts of foul deeds. God decided to eliminate them not with a flood of water this time, but with a flood of fire. But what did he do first? He cast his gaze on that unhappy city and saw that Lot and his wife had preserved their purity. He then immediately sent an angel to tell them to flee, because God wanted to incinerate all the people. As soon as thye had left the city a sea of fire, with terrible thunder and lightning rained down on that poor city and on all its inhabitants. Lot and his wife were saved from the fire, but his wife, out of curiosity, did not escape God’s wrath. The angel had forbidden them to look back when God’s punishment rained down on the inhabitants, but Lot’s wife, hearing so much noise that it seemed that all of hell had been provoked, could not resist turning around; and at that very moment she was turned into a pillar of salt.89 So though God had saved her from the common slaughter for her purity, he nevertheless wanted to punish her for the immodesty of her eyes, to show us that we need to be modest with our eyes, not satisfy every curiosity, otherwise we will be its victim, not only in our body as was Sarah, but also in our soul since our eyes are the portals through which the devil enters.

Prayer:  O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
*Act of Contrition

 

Tuesday
Let’s move on yet again. Go back in your thoughts to Egypt, and there you will see a young man who, because he did not want to consent to an infamous and immodest action his mistress wanted to force him into, suffered a thousand punishments and even prison.90 Who was he? Would God even allow Joseph to perish? No, wait and you will see him come out of prison and in an instant ascend the throne of Egypt; you will see that he alone with his advice saves not only Egypt from death, but Judah, Syria, Mesopotamia and a thousand other nations.91 But where does such glory come from you will ask me. From God, who wanted to reward Joseph’s heroic deed in not heeding blandishments. he wanted to reward his love for the beautiful virtue of purity, wanted to reward his constancy in preserving his heart chaste and pure at the cost of persecution and prison itself.
I would never finish if I wanted to recall all the deeds of this kind, and of Judith, because of whose purity God saved Judith from an entire army, or the chaste Susannah lifted up to Heaven, and of Esther who saved the Hebrew nation. But why did God work so many wonders for them? For their purity. Yes, the virtue of purity is so beautiful, so pleasing to God who at all times and in all circumstances never left those who preserved it without protection.

Prayer:   Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with Thy Glory.

 

Wednesday
But let’s keep going, since this is not enough. The much awaited time had come, the one whom the people had waited so long for, the Saviour of the world. But who was she of whom the Son of God, Creator of the Universe wished to be born? God turned his gaze on all the daughters of Zion and found one with whom he fell in love. Who was she? Mary most holy. The Saviour of the world was born of her, not through the work of man but through the work of the Holy Spirit, since God wanted to accomplish a wonder never done before and that would never happen again. Why so many privileges? To reward Mary’s purity. She was the purest, the most chaste of all creatures.
What do you believe would be the reason why our Divine Saviour loved to be with children so much, wanted to embrace them, if not because they had not yet lost the beautiful virtue of purity? The Apostles wanted to chase them away because of all their noisy chatter, but the Divine Saviour, calling them back, commanded them to let them come to him, sinite pueros venire ad me;92 telling them they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless they became simple pure and chaste like those children.93 Our Divine Saviour raised up a young boy and girl, but why? Because, so the Fathers interpret it for us, they had not lost their purity.

Prayer:   O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have resource to thee.
Thursday
Why did Jesus Christ show so much predilection for St. John? Did he want to go up Mt Tabor for his transfiguration? He wanted St. John with him.95 Did he want to go fishing with his apostles? Well then, he preferred to get into St. John’s boat. He went to Gethsemane, to the garden, but he wanted John with him.96 Hung upon the cross, he turned to John and said: “Son behold your mother; woman behold your son”.97 But why did Jesus entrust John to his mother, the greatest creature that had ever left God’s hands, and no greater would there ever be? Why such preference? Because, my dear boys, John more than all the other apostles had preserved the beautiful virtue of virginity, of purity. He allowed John to rest his head on his divine breast,98 why? Because John had preserved and possessed the beautiful virtue of purity. If Jesus loved all of his apostles with a particular love, he loved John more than all; the others believed that John would not have to die because Jesus had told Peter: and if I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?99 In fact St. John was the apostle who lived the longest. It was he whom Jesus Christ had see in spirit the glory enjoyed by those in Heaven who had preserved the beautiful virtue of purity in this life.

Prayer:  Soul of Christ, sanctify me, Body of Christ, save me Blood of Christ, inebriate me, Water from Christ’s side, wash me, Passion of Christ, strengthen me, O good Jesus, hear me, Within Thy wounds hide me, Suffer me not to be separated from Thee, From the malicious enemy defend me, In the hour of my death call me, And bid me come unto Thee, That I may praise Thee with Thy saints, and with Thy angels, Forever and ever, Amen.

Friday
[John] If Jesus loved all of his apostles with a particular love, he loved John more than all; the others believed that John would not have to die because Jesus had told Peter: and if I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?99 In fact St. John was the apostle who lived the longest. It was he whom Jesus Christ had see in spirit the glory enjoyed by those in Heaven who had preserved the beautiful virtue of purity in this life. He left it written in the Apocalypse that, entering the highest Heaven, he saw a crowd of souls dressed in white, with a girdle of gold and carrying a palm in their hands.100 These souls made a crown for the Lamb and followed him wherever he went. They sang such a beautiful hymn, so sweet that he could not comprehend such beautiful harmony and was outside of himself, and turning to the angel accompanying him, said: “Who are those surrounding the Lamb singing such a beautiful song that all the other blessed do not know how to sing?”. Then the angel told him: “They are the ones who have kept the beautiful virtue of purity, isti sunt qui cum mulieribus non sunt coniugati”.101
O what fortunate souls are they who have

Prayer:    O Come let us worship and fall down before Christ, O Son of God, Who didst rise from the dead, save us who chant unto Thee, Alleluia.

 

Saturday
Looking at this sea I thought of the sinner who is constantly in a storm like that sea was then. His conscience is always gnawing away at him and he never has peace and tranquillity. Sometimes he has a bit of recreation, and then pulls aside, sad. His friends invite him to enjoy himself, but his shoulders slump and he has no will to do so, because his heart is reproaching him, telling him: “You are no friend of God’s”. He goes to lunch and tries to be cheerful, trying to chase away all the thoughts gnawing at him, but meanwhile his heart tells him: “And if you should die now, while you are eating, you would be excluded from paradise and hell would be ready for you”. He goes to bed in the evening and tries to put aside the sad but just remorse of his conscience, telling himself: “I want to go quietly to sleep; at least I would be free of all these tormenting thoughts”. Indeed that evening he did not say his prayers in order to repress the remorse he felt. But all in vain because his heart tells him: “If you should die this evening you would go into eternity, disgraced before God”. So, he has no peace and tranquillity but is always caught up in a storm.
Prayer:  O come, let us worship God our King.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ our King and God.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and God.