^,v-scVi | FeJix F. A-n.s IN OFFENSE by Felix The Catholic Hour* IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O. M. Cap., Ph. D., Litt. D., Professor of Religious Education at the Catholic University of America, and at Trinity College, Washington, D. C. Six addresses delivered in the Catholic Hour, produced by the National Council of Catholic Men, and broadcast . through the courtesy of the National Broadcasting Company and associated stations. (On Sundays from May 1 to June 5, 1938) Page May 1 What is Chastity? 5 May 8 The Clean of Heart 14 May 15 Purity of Speech 25 May 22 Aids to Chastity 34 May 29 The Building of Character 46 June 5 The Christian Home 57 National Council of Catholic Men Producer of the Catholic Hour 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C. Printed and distributed by Our Sunday Visitor Huntington, Indiana Nihil Obstat Donald Shearer, 0. M. Cap., Ph. D. Censor Deputatus Imprimi Potest Ignatius Weissbruch, 0. M. Cap. Provincial Imprimatur * JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D. D. Bishop of Fort Wayne ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For permission to use copyright material from Sex Education and Training in Chastity, by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, grateful acknowledgment is made to Benziger Brothers, publishers. DEDICATION To Mary Immaculate The Mother of God and the Mother of Men ' i FOREWORD The sex mania prevailing in our country today is cor- rupting the morals of the nation. The National Council of Catholic Men regard this situation as a challenge to the man- hood of our land. At the same time they recognize that the national consciousness of the menace offers an opportunity for presenting to the American people the claims of God in behalf of chastity. In their endeavor to bring home to our countrymen this most important message, the National Council of Catholic Men were assisted by the courtesy of the National “Broadcasting Company and its associated stations who placed at their service the nationwide Catholic Hour net- work for a series of discourses on the general theme, “In Defense of Chastity,” delivered on the six Sundays from May 1st through June 5th, 1938. In this way this important mes- sage reached every week an audience of millions of people. The response from the radio audience was enthusiastic, and this is true of the reactions received both from Catholics and from non-Catholics. Hence the National Council of Catholic Men are hopeful that the work thus inaugurated will continue under God to bear fruit a hundredfold. The six discourses presented herewith in printed form should help all who are willing to promote the cause of decency. The Topics for Study and Discussion appended to each discourse should stimulate individuals as well as groups to devise further plans for promoting the practice of decency. Teachers and leaders of discussion clubs will find these topics helpful in studying what is certainly a need of the hour and therefore the will of God. The bibliography printed on pages 68-69 makes no claim to completeness, but is selective in that the compiler strove to present only those titles that would help the reader in choosing wisely from what is a veritable deluge of literature on sex. It should be noted in particular that the bibliography has been restricted to include titles by Catholics only. Non- Catholic literature on this delicate subject, though it be writ- ten with the best of intentions, can never measure up to our Catholic ideal of chastity. This non-Catholic literature ig- nores the essential aids of prayer. Confession, and Holy Communion, and, what is worse, will at times urge or at least tolerate what is a crime in the sight of God. We now have ample Catholic literature in the field, and conse- quently there is no need for Catholics reading any but Cath- olic books on the moral aspects of sex. The National Council of Catholic Men fully realizing that “every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James I: 17), kindly ask the reader to pray that their efforts in behalf of chastity—that wonderful Gift of God which is so much scorn- ed in these latter days—may be blessed abundantly by Him without Whom they can do nothing. ©eabWled WHAT IS CHASTITY? Address Delivered on May 1, 1938 This is the first day of May, the month that we Catholics consecrate to Mary, the Mother of God and the Mother of men. Many non-Catholics will join us today in paying tribute to the Mother of Jesus. A non-Catholic poet describes her as being “our tainted nature’s solitary boast”. We rightly call Mary the Virgin most pure and the Mother most chaste. Chas- tity was always dear to. her immaculate heart, and therefore it is appropriate that we should make this virtue the subject of the talks to be given in the Catholic Hour during the month consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We need the help of the Bles- sed Virgin to deal properly with this delicate subject. Whenever any speaker or writer undertakes to deal wfith chastity he is venturing upon holy ground where only angels dare to walk with freedom, while human beings must there be filled with deepest hu- mility and tread there with greatest circumspection. Still, we trust confidently that God, the Giver of chastity, as well as His Holy Mother, will bless everyone who undertakes in our day the defense of chastity. Today there is urgent need for defending this virtue. The need of the hour is always the Will of God, and of the need of defending chastity today there can be no doubt. Sex mania is prevailing in our country today, and parents realize that something must be done quickly to protect our young people from this menace. Moth- ers and fathers are alarmed over the growing im- morality of the young. They are asking anxiously: What can we do to save our children from the con- tamination of vice? 6 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY This anxiety on the part of parents represents both a challenge and an opportunity. In ancient Rome when the enemy was laying siege to one gate of the city, the Roman soldiers went out by another gate to make new conquests. While Satan is striving with might and main to corrupt the morals of our people, every Christian must regard his attack as a personal challenge. The sex menace of today repre- sents not only a personal challenge to each one of us but also an opportunity for every follower of Christ to prove anew the undiminished power of God’s grace. Today all Christian men and women must follow the example of the Fathers of the Early Church who in the face of a decadent civilization pleaded for the miracles of Christian chastity and virginity. And while pagan Rome was reveling in debauchery, Christian Rome gave us the Agneses and the Cecilias and the Sebastians. The present crisis in morality calls for the same action on our part. The arm of God is not shortened. Our Holy Father in Rome has issued the call to direct action. Our op- portunities for action were never greater than they are at the present moment. The Church is the only institution which has survived the general collapse of the past few years and it is the only institution which has the key to recovery. Men admit freely that recovery in the moral order must precede every other kind of recovery, but they do not always see that the Church offers the only means to that moral recovery. To achieve this moral recovery we must fight valiantly in defense of chastity. Chastity is so prec- ious a thing for the individual, the nation, and the race that we must bend every effort to preserve it among young and old. WHAT IS CHASTITY? 7 No human being can be good or truly happy with- out chastity. Rob any human being of chastity and you take from him his self-respect; for chastity is essentially reverence for one’s self—a clean body and a pure soul. We can never understand what chastity is unless we know what reverence is. Reverence is a deep re- spect mingled with love and awe, as for a holy per- son or place or thing. It is the feeling that the Cath- olic experiences when he kneels to receive Holy Com- munion. Reverence is a strong sentiment of respect and esteem, sometimes mingled with a trace of fear. This is the feeling that the American citizen has when he attends a session of the Supreme Court of the United States. Reverence is among the highest of human feelings. St. Paul tells us even of Christ that “in the days of his flesh—he was heard for his reverence” (Hebrews Y:7). All culture is based on reverence. Reverence is, in fact, as Canon Sheehan tells us, “the secret of all religion and happiness. Without reverence, there is no faith, nor hope, nor love. Rev- erence is the motive of each of the Commandments of Sinai—reverence of God, reverence of our neigh- bor, reverence of ourself. Humility is founded on it ; piety is conserved by it; purity finds in it its shield and buckler. Reverence for God, and all that is asso- ciated with Him, His ministers, His temple, His ser- vices—that is religion. Reverence for our neighbor, his goods, his person, his chattels—that is honesty. Reverence for ourselves—clean bodies and pure souls —that is chastity.” Once we have a (dear idea of what reverence is, it should not be difficult for us to have a clear concep- 8 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY tion of what chastity is: reverence for ourselves — dean bodies and pure souls—that is chastity. Why should we feel reverence for ourselves? We are the children of God, tempies of the Holy Ghost, members of the mystical body of Christ, and pros- pective citizens of Heaven. Just consider God’s gifts to you and you will realize why you must feel rever- ence for yourself. God has given you: first, your body which is His temple; second, your soul, made to His image and likeness; third, His grace which makes you His child. Yes, you must feel reverence for yourselves for God has made each of you only a little less than the angels. He has crowned you with glory and honor. Each and everyone of you must feel reverence -for your body which is the house of God because God dwells in you. God is not far from everyone of you for in Him you live and move and are. Every- one of you may say of himself what St. Agnes said of herself: “I have with me an angel of the Lord as guardian of my body.” God lives in you by His power in keeping you alive, but also by His grace in making you His Child. A Christian should have no difficulty in recogniz- ing his body as something sacred, the house of God. When he was baptized his body was made holy with the water of Baptism poured on his head. If he was given Catholic Baptism his body was also anointed by the priest with consecrated oil and chrism. Later, at Confirmation, the Bishop again anointed his body with holy chrism. When the Catholic receives Holy Communion, Jesus Himself comes to live in his heart, and his body in very truth becomes a chalice. The body of every Christian is indeed the house of God. St. Paul expressed this truth emphatically when he WHAT IS CHASTITY? 9 wrote to his fellow-Christians : “The temple of God is holy, which you are” (I Corinthians 111:17). You are rightly horrified when you read of the King who murdered St. Thomas, the Archbishop of Canterbury, before the Altar of God. You feel that this King committed a double crime by shedding blood in the holy place. In the same way you recog- nize that it is a desecration to commit sin with so holy a thing as is the human body. When St. Paul heard that some Christians were using their body for impurity, he pleaded with them : “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Corinthians 111:16). In another part -of the same letter to the Corin- thians St. Paul reminds these Christians: “Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? . . . Glorify and bear God in your body” (I Corinth- ians VI: 15, 20). St. Peter likewise exhorts all Chris- tians to bear in mind their great dignity: “You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation” (I St. Peter 11:9). Keeping in mind the indwelling of God a Chris- tian will feel reverence for himself, and that both for his body and his soul. The very same considera- tions should inspire a Christian to have reverence for every human being he ever meets. As long as a man is loyal to what is divine in himself, he will re- cognize God in his fellowman. He will recognize that whatever makes him feel reverence for himself must inspire him to feel reverence for every other human being. It is only God who knows what is in a man’s heart. As far as we human beings can judge, we should believe that every human being we meet is a child of God. Hence the reverence that we feel for ourselves we should feel for every other human 10 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY being. Here is the solid foundation for chastity. Reverence for ourselves should inspire us to keep our minds pure and our bodies clean. Reverence for every other human being that we meet should inspire us never to do anything that might sully his mind or body, and to do everything within our power to help him in keeping his mind pure and his body clean. To put it briefly, we might say that both a Christian lady and a Christian gentleman will find it helpful always to act on this principle : May my modesty be such as will attract everyone I meet to worship the Triune God who dwells in me. Dear Friends, you need never fear that this view of chastity will deprive you of any decent or any legi- timate pleasure. On the contrary, just because chas- tity will keep your self-respect it will make for your happiness. Happiness is pleasure without regret and without remorse. Using your body as a holy thing and as a sacred trust given you by your Maker, you will realize in your own lives the fulfillment of Christ’s promise: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (St. Matthew V:8). Christ here promises to the chaste happiness both here and hereafter. In Heaven the clean of heart shall see God face to face, and on earth they are seeing God not only in themselves, but in every fellow-being. That way happiness lies. Christ never meant that His followers should kill their body or deprive the body of any pleasure in keeping with God’s holy will. Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson interprets Christ’s conception of chastity very properly when lie writes : “We do not rise to our full spiritual stature by eradicating passions. The ideal man is not a passionless man. He is rather one whose passions are turned into the right channel. WHAT IS CHASTITY? 11 The ideally pure man is not the sexless man; he is the man who loves violently what he ought, as he ought.” Chesterton brings out the same truth in fewer words: “Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong ; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.” Chastity does not mean that friendship must be cold or frigid. Quite the contrary is true. For the very reason that chastity is based on reverence, it will make for perfect love and the finest kind of friendship. You can not really love a person if you do not feel a certain reverence for him. When friends no longer respect each other, they may indeed con- tinue associates for a time, but they have broken the bond of union. If two friends sin together against chastity, they will first lose respect for each other, then their love will die, or, all too often, turn to hate. It is a mutual respect which makes friendship last- ing. It is significant that even in our prisons the men committed for sex crimes are not accepted in the company of the so-called decent element of crim- inals. For 1900 years there have been large numbers of loyal followers of Christ, and that both married and unmarried, who found happiness in chastity. To single out but one of the millions of the married, we have the testimony of Daniel O’Connell who said of his faithful and beloved wife: “She gave me thirty- four years of the purest happiness that man ever enjoyed.” To mention again but one of the millions of the unmarried who found happiness in chastity we have St. Francis of Assisi. He was of an ardent nature and because he loved Christ with his whole soul, he found room in his heart for noble friend- ships with both men and women. St. Francis illus- 12 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY trates the truth that the nearer you are to the heart of God the nearer you are also to the heart of hu- manity. You show your love of God best through love for one another. It is a Catholic principle that the antithesis of spirituality is not humanity but brutality. Man is never more truly human than when he is most spiritual, and never spiritual when he is not human. Because St. Francis was clean of heart he saw God even on earth in his fellowmen. St. Francis was Brother Joy because he loved God and loved people for the sake of God. Do you wish to be happy? St. Francis shows you the direct route to happiness. To be truly happy you must be chaste. You cannot be happy unless you are chaste. WHAT IS CHASTITY? 13 TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION 1. Why do we call Mary the Virgin most pure and the Mother most chaste? 2. Give a practical example to illustrate the principle, “The need of the hour is the will of God.” 3. Every age in the history of the world has thought its own morals the worst. Is there any circumstance that makes the sexual immorality of our age worse than that of some previous ages (see Kirsch, Sex Education and Training in Chastity, pp. 14-22) ? What can you do personally to remedy this situation? 4. Give two reasons to prove that the sexual immorality of our day presents both a challenge and an opportunity to all Christians. 5. Do you agree with the American writer who says: “Lack of reverence is our national sin”? Why? Do you know any magazine that makes for irreverence? 6. What can you and your friends do to decrease the cir- culation of that magazine? 7. What arguments can you add to those given in the talk why every human being must be chaste? 8. In the United States every sixth marriage ends in divorce. Do you think that the practice of birth control may be responsible in part for this high divorce rate? Why? Do you think that the practice of birth control would make for the loss of self-respect between husband and wife? Why? > 9. Give two reasons to prove that sexual necessity is a myth (see Kirsch, Sex Education and Training in Chastity, pp. 207-221). 10. How would you prove to a boy or girl that we can not . be happy unless we are chaste? 11. In the book list on pages 68-69 check those titles that are; 1) in your public library; 2) in your parish library; 3) in your pamphlet rack; in your home library. THE CLEAN OF HEART Address Delivered on May 8, 1938 Our country is today paying tribute to the moth- ers of the nation. Every worth-while man or woman is today repeating the sentiment if not the exact words of a great American : “All that I am or can be I owe under God to my angel mother.” In paying tribute to our mothers we are doing a very Christ-like thing. Christ was always most loyal to His Mother, and even when He died for us upon the cross on Calvary Hill, in that last hour, in the un- utterable agony of His death, He was mindful of His Mother as if to teach us that this holy love for our mother should be our last worldly thought, the last point of earth from which the soul should take its flight to heaven. And in His dying hour Christ gave to each and every one of us His own Mother to be our mother so that now we must truthfully call Mary not only the Mother of God but also the Mother of men. I think that the subject of today’s talk is in keeping with the reverence we feel both for our mother on earth and our Mother in Heaven. In dis- cussing the subject “The Clean of Heart” we are doing our part to perpetuate one of the most precious lessons taught by a mother to her child — personal purity. Personal purity is impossible without a clean heart. The whole problem of clean living is primarily a question of the mastery of the mind over the body. We all have had personal experience of the intimate connection between our mind and our body. If you are deeply embarrassed you will probably blush. As THE CLEAN OF HEART 15 long as your mind dwells upon the subject of your embarrassment, the blood continues to rush to your face. Your will power cannot control the blood supply. The only way to stop the blushing is to focus your mind on some other subject. Sorrow, a mental condition, may cause loss of appetite, a bodily condition. Fear may cause marked distur- bances in the digestive tract. * Because of this intimate connection between mind and body we may lay down the rule : to have a pure body a person must first have a pure mind. This rule is in keeping with our definition of chas- tity: reverence for ourselves—clean bodies and pure souls—that is chastity. Christ stressed the essential need of the clean mind when He said: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (St. Matthew V:8). Christ also brought out the close connection between impure thoughts and impure actions when He declared: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com- mitted adultery with her already in his heart” (St. Matthew V:28). The Old Testament is likewise emphatic in condemning impure thoughts for it in- sists: “Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs V:16). In general we may say that we are what our thoughts are. You are as pure as the thoughts you think. To have a clean body, it is necessary first to have a clean mind. To keep a clean mind we must control our thoughts. But it is not always easy to control thoughts of sex. In order to learn of various means that might be helpful in controlling these thoughts I submitted in writing the following question to 500 priests: What means would you recommend to train people to control sexual thoughts? Here are 16 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY the replies received from 368 priests listed in the order of frequency of mention : Receive Communion frequently. Be frank in confession. Pray when you are tempted. Think often of God living in you. Get a clear idea of what is really sinful in this matter. r Work hard and play hard. Control your eyes. - . • Watch your reading. Seek wholesome distractions when tempted. Avoid daydreaming. Keep your memory pure. Don’t expect to have bad thoughts. Don’t play with dangerous thoughts. Keep physically and mentally healthy. Be calm when you are tempted. Keep interested in worth-while things. * Everyone familiar with the fruits of Holy Com- munion knows that frequent Communion makes for purity of mind. The Bread from Heaven will pro- duce heavenly thoughts, and the Body and Soul of the God-Man received into our hearts lets us par- take of Divinity. St. Augustine has Christ say to the soul: “Come and receive: have no fear: I shall not be changed into you, but you will be changed into Me.” It is significant to find among the answers given by Notre Dame University stu- dents the following statements about the fruits of Holy Communion : Holy Communion has given me the power to banish * For further details the reader is referred to Kirsch, Sex Education and Training in Chastity (Benziger Brothers, New York), p. 231. THE CLEAN OP HEART 17 impure thoughts, for which I had a seemingly uncon- querable desire before I began daily Communion. The fact that I went to Communion this morning and am going again tomorrow always comes to my mind when I am tempted, and I lose all desire for sin.* In his excellent booklet, The Difficult Command- ment, Father Martindale shows how harmful it may often be to fight directly against bad thoughts. The more a person tells himself not to think of a thing, the more, obviously, he is keeping his mind upon it. The more he struggles against it, the more his imagination gets excited. If he says : “I will not think of onions ; I will not think of those onions ; onions are things I must not think about”—why, onions get so stuck in his mind that his very eyes begin to water. Hence it will be well not to think about one’s “bad” thought at all, but to think of something else. When you notice a bad thought in your mind think or say quickly : “Jesus, help me; Mary, pray for me”. Many people are helped in the case of a persistent bad thought if they make a small Sign of the Cross over their heart. It is always helpful to be able to do something, and therefore, it is a good thing if we have a hobby we can turn to. But what will an individual do at night when he can not get up and start carpentering, or take apart his radio set? Here Father Martindale advises a man to turn to what he likes to think about—some wholesome interest of his. Let him recall incidents from his favorite novel, or some exciting play in a football game; or recall the finest compliment he ever got, or the best joke he ever heard. But if he hasn’t any such interests, he must still think of something * A selection of student testimonials, Frequent Communion forCollege Men, has been made and is distributed by No- tre Dame University. 18 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY positive—however absurd—like composing a base- ball team of the nine fattest men he knows. He will think easily of four; the three next will be difficult to find; the last two, almost impossible. But his “bad” thought will have gone miles away. Or if he has ever had a narrow escape while motoring—and who has not had such an experience ?—let him recall the scene, and imagine what might have happened if he had not swerved his car sharply to the right. He is still shaking with the fright, but there will be no room for emotions of any other kind ! Of course, no method will ever be devised that will keep dangerous thoughts from coming to one’s attention. According to the judgment of an old mis- sionary, we can not expect rotten thoughts to stay out of our mind until half an hour after our death. But with the help of God and the exercise of strong will power, we can avoid harboring these thoughts. As the saying is, “We cannot prevent the birds from flying about our heads, but we can keep them from coming down and making nests in our hair”. Just as physical nature abhors a vacuum, so mental laws demand that in waking moments the mind be occu- pied. The most effective way of keeping out mis- chief is to keep wholesome interests in the mind. One of the most wholesome results of athletic games is that they give boys and girls so much to think and talk about. The general condition of the body has much to do with the quality of our thoughts. If we train our young people to take plenty of exercise, not to over- eat, to keep away from liquor, to retire at an hour that will allow them eight hours of sleep, to sleep with the window open, to get up when they first awake and take a bath, preferably a cold one, they THE CLEAN OF HEART 19 will find it less difficult to keep their body strong and their mind clean. The reason for the advice on guarding our eyes and controlling our reading is obvious. A young man used to think himself immune; he believed nothing would affect him, and hence he considered himself free to see or read anything. However, he now admits that he is paying the price for his in- discretions in that his fancy and memory often annoy him with what he learned in his early years. There is nothing that we see or read but makes some difference and leaves some sort of impression. All these impressions will be stored in the subconscious mind, and the consciousness, whenever the sex urge is experienced, will tend to recall whatever has been experienced or seen or heard on the subject. While it is necessary for us to guard against impure thoughts, we must not be over-anxious in the matter. Some well-meaning people are scrupu- lous on this point and see a sin where there is no sin at all. It may help us therefore to examine briefly what is meant by a sinful impure thought. Theologians distinguish between a thought about something bad and a sinful thought. If you see in your morning paper the report of a murder, it is, of course, no sin to think of that mur- der. But it would be dangerous for you to continue for any length of time in picturing that murder to yourself in so personal a way as to run the risk of becoming violently angry over the affair or even of desiring to go out and commit murder yourself. As long as you merely think in a cool impersonal way of the crime, you will think about ivhat is bad. But this thought of yours becomes a sinful thought only when you picture the crime in your mind in so per- 20 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY sonal a way as to arouse either violent anger in yourself or the desire to commit murder yourself. The same is true in thinking about impure actions, with this difference however: it is far more dan- gerous to think of what is impure than to reflect on a crime like murder. In thinking about impure actions there will be a mortal sin of thought in the . following case: first, if the person pictures himself as enjoying sexual pleasure; and, second, if he, at the same time, fully realizes the seriousness of the situation (hence he commits no mortal sin if during his thinking he is only half-awake) ; and, third, if he deliberately consents to continue thinking the im- pure thought. Or, in other words, the three con- ditions necessary to make an impure thought a mortal sin are the following: (1) the impure thought must be seriously wrong; (2) the person thinking this thought must know that his thinking is seriously wrong; (3) the person must fully con- sent to this serious wrong. Father John M. Cooper in his Religion Outlines for Colleges (Vol. I, page 185), lays down the fol- lowing as “a rough working rule” covering most cases of impure thought: “Mere thought or imagi- nation about things unchaste, however vivid or per- sistent it may be, does not in itself constitute sin; such thought or imagination about unchaste acts becomes sinful when either desire or physical pas- sion is aroused by the thought or imagination and is deliberately consented to.” Catholics will be helped in this matter if they are frank in Confession and tell their Confessor about any difficulties in this regard. In case a per- son is not certain whether he has yielded to the thought, that is, dwelt unnecessarily on it because THE CLEAN OF HEART 21 he was deriving pleasure from it, or in order to draw pleasure therefrom—he should not spend any time scrutinizing whether he lingered over the thought or not. Dwelling on the thought would simply revive it, and would excite the imagination anew. Let this person simply say in Confession that he has had bad thoughts, and accuse himself of any guilt there may have been in God’s eyes. If he thinks he has deliberately taken pleasure in the thoughts, he should say so; if he is sure he did, he should say that. In case he habitually tries to get rid of thoughts, he may take the benefit of the doubt and feel free from the obligation of confessing the thoughts. But he should not spend time over the actual thoughts, either when preparing for Confes- sion, or at any other time. It may also be advisable for some persons not to expect to have bad thoughts. If a person is always going about in a panic that he is going to be tempted, he will be tempted. Boys may be in a de- plorable condition of nerves over some quite ordi- nary thing, like bathing. They get into the habit of thinking they would be tempted, and end by sup- posing that there is a fate about it, and so give up. Father Martindale wisely warns the young man that he has let himself get into the dreadful state in which everything does suggest “bad” thoughts to him, simply because he has thought of those things over and over again, and has (one might say) carved a sort of channel in his brain for such thoughts to flow down. On the other hand, a man can by cheerful self-control become able to think very much what he pleases. To some extent it is true that a man can train himself to be his own master in so far that he will 22 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY make up his mind not to be affected by what he sees or hears ; and if he does not expect that it will affect him, it may happen that he is not affected. Such a result would imply full success, and most persons may be still far from that. Still, it is the direction in which a man must be going, and a great deal can be accomplished by a hopeful outlook ! “The root of the whole matter is the mind. As your thoughts are, so (almost invariably) will be your behavior. At least, no man’s behavior is likely to be bad unless his thoughts are bad first.” A person’s thoughts are his real personality. It stands to reason that perfect control of thought cannot be gained overnight. A beginning must be made early in training the child to banish thoughts of greed, stinginess, hatred, spitefulness, and so forth, and the habit of thought control thus formed will assist greatly in transferring the ability to the field of sex. Some people have found it helpful to habituate themselves to say the prayer of the Roman Missal: “0 almighty and most merciful Lord, favorably consider our prayers, and deliver our hearts from temptation to evil thoughts that we may deserve to become worthy dwelling places of the Holy Ghost.” Others have found it helpful to bless them- selves and their beds before retiring for the night, and then to trust calmly in the Lord. Some people, however, need to be warned not to give way to the physical impulse to bless themselves in public or to make grimaces, as the reactions will be harmful. But violent temptations attacking a person when he is alone may be banished effectively by blessing one’s self or by strolling off for a visit to a nearby church. THE CLEAN OF HEART 23 Persons who grow despondent over the persis- tence of temptations should remind themselves that God may be using this means to keep them humble, to make them depend upon Himself, and to train them to be charitable towards others, who may have even more serious temptations to combat. Every temptation overcome will be a source of new grace and greater merit, and will assist in developing character. Such considerations will prevent a oerson from developing a complex of worry over the situation. As long as you are determined to belong to God, even the worst temptations of the Devil cannot harm you. Cast all your care on God for He has care of you. That anchor holds always. God will never desert you. God is always loyal and faithful to you, and will never suffer you to be tempted be- yond your strength. His grace is always sufficient for you. Even though all the powers of Hell attack you at once, you must say to yourself: One with God is always a majority. 24 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION 1. How would you explain to a young person that to have a pure body he must first have a clean mind? 2. What advice would you give to a person who insists that it is impossible for him to remain pure? Tell him: (1) what he must avoid; (2) what he must do. 3. Expose the fallacy of this statement: “It is not what I think but what I do that is really important.” 4. Give the arguments that you would use to prove to a girl of eighteen that she is adopting a dangerous policy when she says: “I am old enough to stand any kind of reading. Ignorance is not innocence and the more I know of sin the easier it will be for me to avoid moral dangers.” 5. Why is it dangerous to indulge in daydreaming ? 6. Make your own list of the means that you would recom- mend as helpful in controlling sexual thoughts. Arrange the items in the order of greatest helpfulness. 7. Do you approve of this advice: “Fight your bad thoughts ? ” Give two reasons for your answer. 8. Would you mark the following true or false: “A person frequently tempted by impure thoughts may gain much merit for heaven?” Why? 9. What should you tell the priest in Confession in case you are doubting whether you took wilful pleasure in a bad thought ? 10. Check in the bibliography on pages 68-69 (1) the books that you have read; (2) the books that you plan to read soon. PURITY OF SPEECH Address Delivered on May 15, 1938 Somebody has said recently : “Give us a chaste nation and America will be saved.” But we cannot have a chaste nation unless we develop among our millions of Americans a deep reverence for clean minds and pure bodies. Americans are known the world over for insisting that cleanliness is next to godliness. Unfortunately, not all Americans realize that to keep the body truly pure one must first have a clean mind. As a man thinks so he is. And if you wish to know what a man thinks, you need merely watch his talk. As a man thinks habitually so he talks. Christ expressed this truth more fully when he said: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (St. Luke VI:45). But our speech is important for further rea- sons. Not only dees a person’s speech reveal what is in his mind but his speech also reacts upon his mind and character. What he says will stimulate anew his thought and action. And when we recall how deep is the influence of our speech upon our environment we recognize still more how important a duty it is for both men and women to keep clean their speech. However, I realize how difficult it is to keep clean the speech of young people, and therefore I addressed the following question in writing to 500 priests: What means would you advise for habit- uating our young people to be chaste in their talk? Three hundred and sixty priests answered the ques- 26 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY tion. I herewith give their replies listed in the order of frequency of mention : Inform young people betimes about the mys- teries of life and instruct them that the sub- ject is not to be discussed with their com- panions. Explain the difference between vulgar talk and unchaste talk. Expose the vileness of unchaste speech. Explain Christ’s warning about the punishment of those who give scandal. Warn against magazines and other literature that deal with filth. Raise the tone of the school or the club. Expose the foolishness of boasting about sinful knowledge or sinful experiences. Use your influence against vulgarity and # blas- phemy on the stage and in the movies. Create a group spirit against dirty talk. Show the danger of corrupting others through impure talk. * Much would be gained if parents would realize that their children have a strict right to learn the facts of life from the proper source. The curiosity of children in this matter is legitimate. And parents should therefore answer the questions of the little people frankly and truthfully from the beginning and by thus encouraging mutual confidence, the child will gradually acquire all the knowledge necessary. By answering the questions of the children truth- fully the parents will have an invaluable opportunity of giving their children God’s viewpoint on sex for * For further details see Kirsch, Sex Education and Train- ing in Chastity, p. 231. PURITY OF SPEECH 27 the rest of their lives. First impressions are the deepest. What a protection for the child to realize that God lives in him and that therefore his body is a very holy thing ; that his whole body is the mar- velous handiwork of God ; that God has assigned to every member of the body a specific function; that sex is a power given by God as a sacred trust. Sex knowledge that is imparted by mother or father in childhood is generally received without shame or avidity, being then of no special emotional signifi- cance. Hence parents will avoid any later mutual embarrassment by answering frankly all the ques- tions about sex asked by their children. If parents will give adequate and satisfactory information to their children at home, these young people need never talk about sex with their play- mates and school companions. Parents will create the proper tone at home by insisting that certain subjects are family matters which should not be talked about outside the home circle. Such family affairs are money matters or intimate things in general, and information about the mysteries of life should be included in the category. While we must make every effort in behalf of purity of speech, we must beware of exaggerations in this regard. Hence it is necessary to distinguish between what is impure and what is only coarse, vulgar, improper, or in bad taste. Some people have erroneous notions on this point, and therefore may regard as sinful what is merely vulgar. We cannot call anything unchaste, or a sin against purity, unless there is therein such wilful sexual pleasure as the person in question has no right to enjoy, or to describe for the enjoyment of others. As long as there is no question of forbidden sexual pleasure, 28 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY there can be no question of impurity in the theo- logical sense. However, very obscene conversations if carried on among young people are sinful. But references, for instance, to the eliminatory functions which nature strongly prompts should be performed privately, are vulgar, but not obscene. Vulgar references to these functions are inelegant, yet not obscene or unchaste in the theological sense of the word. Therefore even the crude mentioning of these functions in coarse jokes, stories, and anec- dotes is not to be classified as unchaste speech. It is not only the home that can create the proper tone for the conversation of our young people. Teachers can accomplish a great deal in creating the proper tone in a school. Let me tell you of the good impression gained by a new student when he was confronted with the tradition against vulgarity prevailing among the boys at one of our Catholic colleges. It was the boy’s first meal in the college dining hall. A student made a vulgar remark and laughed, thinking he had cracked a joke. Every other boy at the table except the new student, to use the language of the campus, “jumped” the of- fender— vigorously and seriously. The offender tried to laugh that off and then the head of the table gave him orders: “One more crack like that out of you and we’ll find you a place where you can eat out of a trough.” That settled the incident. It certainly made a very good first impression on the new boy. But, alas! so high a moral tone is not at all common today. The Church and the school may be inculcating sublime ideals, may demand self-control and chastity in word and deed, and outside the Church and the school, nay, perhaps even at home PURITY OF SPEECH 29 the youth will witness the grossest immorality. He will even be ridiculed for his attempts to remain chaste. He will hear and read that what the Church and the school insist upon is a remnant of a bygone age when people were priest-ridden, superstitious, ignorant, or lacked the opportunity for “enjoying life". These contradictory standards will prove a dreadful temptation. This temptation is all too common today, and therefore, we must train the youth, if we wish him to remain chaste amid a hos- tile environment, to stand on his own two feet, to recognize no authority except that of his own con- science and the representatives of God. He must learn to brave the jeers of the crowd, to be not only a man in the world but a man against the world. He must realize that one with God is a majority. He must strive to be not common, but uncommon, for in an environment without high moral tone common life will make common characters. He may say “yes" to the crowd as long as his conscience per- mits, but must say “no” quite emphatically whenever his conscience says “no". In this way the boy will develop a sense of per- sonal honor. And the sense of honor is a strong asset in fighting the dangers of immorality. Some people are impure because they have lost their sense of -honor; among adolescents, particularly, a sense of honor may prove one of the foundation stones of chastity. All who are engaged in the movement for a better world in the next generation can ill afford to neglect the aid to be derived from developing a fine sense of honor among our boys and girls. Anyone engaged in a crusade for purity of speech must reckon with the strange tricks that hu- man respect plays in this matter. From a false sense 30 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY of honor, people try to appear immoral in the eyes of their companions. In a group they lose the self- respect to which they cling most tenaciously when alone, but which escapes them as soon as they mingle with the crowd. While they are with the crowd they try to appear as bad as possible. Their dirty talk may be for them a smoke screen or a mere boast. It is therefore necessary for teachers and other leaders of young people to build up in boys and girls a sturdy self-respect that will remain with them in the wildest crowd. Our young people must learn to act in a crowd as they think in solitude. The world is usually ready to take you at your own valuation; but you must first show the world that you value yourself. Let a Christian boy or girl remember what the world expects of Christians and let their speech always be up to that high standard. They will do well to follow these two rules : ( 1 ) not to let anyone leave their company thinking more cheaply of Chris- tians; and (2) always to help, rather than to hurt, the weak. No man advertises his weakness, and in a mixed group one cannot know who is weak and who is strong. A man was appalled, even almost physic- ally sick, when he was told that he was the one who had (without suspecting it) sent a hitherto innocent lad to a house of sin. One pastor found it helpful to circulate among his young men a cartoon showing two men telling each other spicy stories while a small boy was eavesdropping. The caption on the cartoon read: “When a feller needs a friend!” The most impressive warning ever given to a person tempted to corrupt the young is that uttered by Christ: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, PURITY OF SPEECH 31 and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea” (St. Matthew XVIII :6). What is said of vile talk is even more true of vile songs. One writer admits that he recalls vividly the words of a “smutty” song which he heard when a boy, which he has never repeated in speech, but which he can never forget. He admits that there are many things which he once learned laboriously, and which he would gladly remember, but can not recall. What a lesson for those who are apt to be free and easy in the presence of the young! There remains the further problem: when peo- ple in a group tell vile stories, ought a person to make an attempt to stop the bad talk ? If the person happens to be in control of the group, he should seek an opportunity of changing the topic of conver- sation. However, there may be occasions when a man or woman is not in control, yet cannot leave the group, and cannot stop the telling of a bad story. However, the individual need never participate in the enjoyment of a smutty story, and he need never tell it elsewhere. Our young people should be trained to make it a rule never to tell a bad story. Many a young man who has become addicted to the use of profane or obscene language merely to make an impression, might be brought to his senses if he recalled the base ingratitude of insulting God Who dwells within him and Who gives him the power of speech. How can he dare to say in the presence of God what he would never dare say in the presence of his mother. Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, and a man who uses for obscene speech the tongue on which Christ’s Sacred Body rests in Com- munion, is repeating the crime of the Traitor. He then and there gives evidence of a yellow streak. 32 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY Several pastors report good results from dis- tributing among their men a small card entitled No More Indecent Stories. The card describes graphic- ally the harm that may be wrought by one who is in the habit of telling vile stories : Suppose only one person each month heard and en- joyed your smutty jokes. That would make twelve a year. And suppose each of these again interested only one person a month in such tales. Even at this low rate the bad seed which you sowed would multipy and bring forth 4,000 dirty jokes a year! Would to God that these 4,000 souls committed only the one fault of listening to these smutty jokes! But people, especially the young, think over these vile stories, repeat them in their minds, arouse themselves to immoral thoughts, desires and even actions. . . * It is the bad taste developed by impure stories, whether told or heard or read, that so easily leads to sin. How urgent is the duty therefore for all lovers of chastity to join in the crusade for purity of speech and reading. Realizing the tremendous importance of purity of speech it will be well for each and everyone of us often to ask God’s help in the control of our tongue. May I ask all of you therefore now to join with me in this short prayer: “Q Lord Jesus Christ, put a guard upon my mouth; give discretion to my lips; let my conversation be modest always. Amen.” •• * Franciscan Herald Press. Chicago. > PURITY OF SPEECH 33 TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION 1. How would you prove the truth of this statement: “Give us a chaste nation and America will be saved ?” 2. Why is a person’s speech an index to his character? 3. What are your favorite topics of discussion with your friends? Which of these topics prove you are a person of refinement? 4. Make a list of the occasions when you might tactfully correct improper speech in others. 5. Why do even good people sometimes try to appear worse than they really are? How would you prove to a man that by so doing he shows himself to be a coward? 6. Have you noticed from your friends’ conversation that there is a close relationship between a person’s reading and his conversation? What practical conclusion must you draw in consequence to govern your own reading? What can you and your friends do to decrease the circu- lation of immoral books and magazines? 7. Use the material in Father Martindale’s The Difficult Commandment, pp. 27-42, to write a short paper for your discussion club or for your own benefit on “Lies Told to Excuse Immoral Talk.” 8. Which will prove more disastrous: To expose a twelve- year-old boy to typhoid germs or to vile talk? Give reasons for your answer. Of Dirty Stories, by Father Daniel A. Lord, S.J., will supply you with the best reasons for your answer. 9. A man said to his sixteen-year-old daughter: “To let you read an immoral book or magazine is almost as bad as to let you sit up alone for hours at night listening to vile stories of a sex pervert.” What reasons can you give to prove that this father was right? 10. If you want to raise the tone of conversation prevailing in a particular group you will find the ways and means of doing so in Kirsch, Sex Education and Training in Chastity, pp. 240-260. 11. In the book list on pages 68-69 check those titles that should be read: (1) by married people; (2) by unmarried people; (3) by boys; (4) by girls; (5) by both boys and girls. AIDS TO CHASTITY Address Delivered on May 22, 1938 The practice of chastity has never been an easy job. The Sixth Commandment has always been the Difficult Commandment, but it is doubly difficult in our day. The literature of the day, the popular magaziile, the scandal sheet, the theater, the fash- ions, sports, dances, night clubs, road houses, and bathing beaches have conspired to flaunt sex pub- licly. It has struck “sex o’clock” in America and it is made almost impossible for people to keep their minds off the subject. Yet, my dear friends, there is no reason why we should be discouraged in our fight for chastity. I take it that each and everyone of us is eager to re- main chaste and to help in the fight to make Amer- ica chaste. The dangers confronting us on all sides should not discourage us, but should challenge us to seize what is an opportunity to prove we are men and women of character. Every temptation should challenge us to remain chaste. Every temptation offers us an opportunity to prove our loyalty to Christ. We should have no fear in our fight for chas- tity. The arm of God is not shortened. One with God is always a majority. The promise of the Bible still holds true: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it” (I Corinthians X: 13). If we ever feel anxious in the fight we .must cast all our care on God for He hath care of us. God’s grace will always prove sufficient for us (II Corinthians XII, 19). Without God we can do noth- AIDS TO CHASTITY 35 ing; but with Him we can do everything: we can do all things in Him Who strengthens us. God is fighting for us, yet He demands that we do our own part manfully. God Who created us without our consent, will not save us without our co-operation (St. Augustine). In our fight for chastity we must carry on as we do in all our endeavors for good : pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on ourselves. To encourage us in our fight for chastity we must remember that despite the prevailing sexual immorality, millions are remaining chaste. Look- ing at this miracle of God’s grace we must say to ourselves: Yes, with the help of God I too, can be pure. In our fight to remain pure we must not forget that as long as we are steadfastly determined to re- main pure, we will be pure with the help of God. Every one must say of himself : I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul. Every person can do what he is determined to do. Let everyone carefully consider whether he has ever found God fail him in trial, when his own heart had not failed him first; and whether he has not found strength greater and greater given him according to his need; whether he has not gained clear proof on trial that he has a divine power lodged within him, and a certain conviction withal that he has not made the extreme trial of this divine power or reached its limits. Grace ever outstrips prayer. Cardinal Newman reminds us that Abra- ham ceased interceding ere God ceased from grant- ing. Joash smote upon the ground but thrice, when 36 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY he might have gained five victories or six. All have the gift of grace, many do not use it at all, none can ever exhaust God’s goodness. One wraps the gift of God in a napkin, another gains five pounds, another ten. God’s gift will bear thirty-fold, or sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold. We know not what we are or might be. As the seed has a tree within it, so men have within them angels. What an incentive must these thoughts be for us to give to our boys and girls the proper appre-^ ciation of chastity; for, once they have the proper appreciation of that virtue, it will be theirs, since they can acquire what they are determined to acquire. A great soldier and statesman said of him- self, “I make circumstances,” when referring to his \ achievements in politics and in war. How much truer is that statement with regard to gaining the victory over the temptations of the flesh ! Let priests, parents, and teachers awaken in our young people the spirit of the conqueror-—their supernatu- ral ability which otherwise may always remain dormant. There is a nobility that lies in their souls, sleeping, perhaps, but never dead. Splendid evidence of this nobility inherent in the souls of our young people was given in the re- plies received from Catholic college men in reply to this question: What means have you found best in overcoming temptations ? Seventy- three per cent of the more than 1,000 replies mentioned supernatural aids. While we know these supernatural factors to be more important, yet we should never underesti- mate the help to be derived from natural sources. The natural remedies listed by these young men may be classified into mental, moral, and physical fac- tors. Those mentioned most frequently are: When AIDS TO CHASTITY 37 you are tempted, change your thoughts ; think of the consequences ; think of your mother; practice self- respect; avoid the occasions; use your will power; keep busy ; do something. Yes, natural means are a help in remaining chaste. We may well place before our young people the ideal of the college athlete of whom the college boys say with pride: “A man who never did any- thing to hurt his body or his soul”. A great help to * — chastity is to keep oneself busy and deeply interest- ed in work and play. The idle man or woman is on dangerous ground. There was much wisdom in the practice of the ancient Jews in letting every boy learn some manual trade. The hermit of old was wise when he commanded the youth who was assailed by bad thoughts to keep active all day long. The youth confessed after trying the experiment for three days: “My bad thoughts are all gone; during the day I have no time to think of them, and at night I am so tired that I cannot keep awake”. A proper amount of work is healthful in every way both for the growing boy and for the growing girl, and par- ents should be on the alert to provide opportunities for such activity. The life of the youth, however, need not be all strenuousness. The joy of comradeship, interest in men and affairs, sports and games, fun and laugh- ter, poetry, music, and art will all find their place. These appeal to various instincts and natural ten- dencies of a boy and girl and afford different outlets for their energies, while at the same time they de- velop them along several lines. While their more strenuous activities are equipping them for the ser- ious business of life, these lighter activities equip them to utilize and enjoy the leisure moments of 38 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY their later years. The Christian educators of the past who achieved the finest results never underesti- mated the importance of wholesome recreation for the young. St. John Bosco loved noisy and lively recreations. His instructions were simple: “Make all the noise you wish: jump, run, shout at will. Engage in gymnastics, declamations, dramatics. Keep busy.” Much would be gained if we could get our young people to appreciate what is real joy. As no flower can develop properly without the sun, so our young people cannot develop properly without joy. The life and spirit of the home, the school, and the Church must abound with joy. St. Paul rightly in- sists: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Philippians IV :4). St. Francis of Assisi was fond of saying to his Friars: “Let those who belong to the Devil hang their heads ; we ought to be glad and rejoice in the Lord”. He who was called Brother Joy realized that vice is born, not of joy, but of joylessness. We shall obtain splendid results by adopting the preventive system of the saints. This preventive system puts boys and girls in the moral impossi- bility of sinning. It turns their energy into the proper channels and so keeps them away from sin. The presence of the priest or teacher elevates the recreational standard; his mere interest, if mani- fested, in a basketball team, in a group of the Cath- olic Boys’ Brigade, or in a trodp of the Boy Scouts or of the Girl Scouts, will often be enough to prevent profanity and immoral talk. These natural helps will accomplish a great deal. Parents and teachers must make skillful use of sub- stitution and sublimation in the control and direc- AIDS TO CHASTITY 39 tion of the sex instinct. Our boys and girls must be shown that they can do what they are determined to do, that the spirit can control the flesh, and that they need never despair of attaining the high des- tiny of man. Their sense of shame, innate in fallen humanity, must be transformed into the protective power of genuine Christian modesty. Control of the imagination, manual labor, and active sports are valuable helps. I agree with Agnes Repplier : “The children to be pitied, the children whose minds be- come infected with unwholesome curiosity, are those who lack cheerful recreation, religious teaching, and the fine corrective of work. A playground or a swim- ming pool will do more to keep them mentally and morally sound than scores of lectures on sex hy- giene”. Yet our young people have a right to all the sex instructions they need to protect them from the dangers of today. Proper sex instruction given at the right time will help to keep them chaste. God’s truth will make them free of needless fears and support them through many a battle of the years ahead. Parents therefore have the strict duty to impart this information just as soon as there is need on the part of the child. A good rule for parents is to give the information, first, in accordance with the symptoms of curiosity—the child’s curiosity in such matters is legitimate and he has a right to have his questions answered frankly and sincerely; sec- ondly, give the information in accordance with the child’s physical development. Here watchful par- ents may have to anticipate questions on the part of the child. Another wise rule tells us to give all in- formation needed so that the child will not be help- less when the changes, either physical or psychical, 40 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY of adolescence, come into his life; and secondly, so that the information will not come first from the wrong source. It is undoubtedly better to give the necessary instruction a vear too soon than one hour too late. In our day and country such instruction is needed much earlier than most parents imagine. No definite rule can be laid down to cover all cases. Every single case must be treated individ- ually. The important thing is that all Christian par- ents be convinced of their duty in the matter, and then we may safely commit the choice of the proper time to their judgment. If only all parents would realize what a privilege is theirs when they are called upon to give to their child God’s truth with regard to the mysteries and facts of life. Some par- ents have found it advisable to offer direct oppor- tunities to their children for the asking of ques- tions, for example, in connection with their exami- nation of conscience with regard to the Command- ments when preparing for their first Confession. Subsequent Confessions would then provide further opportunities. In this way parents may train their children to come to them for whatever information they wish to have. What a protection for the child to have received from his mother or father his first lesson in chas- tity—that his body is a holy thing because it is the dwelling place of God. If mother and father thus give their confidence to their boy or girl from the very beginning, they will probably find that in the critical years of adolescence when the child dis- covers the other sex, and when he is passing through the fire and water of the fiercest tempta- tion, he will again turn to his parents for the knowl- edge needed then to guide him aright. AIDS TO CHASTITY 4i While this knowledge is necessary and most helpful, yet it alone will not give the young person the strength to do what is proper. For the strength to do what is proper we must fall back upon religion as representing our best aid to chastity. Among the religious aids, Confession and Communion are for Catholics the most important. Cardinal New- man wrote: “It is the boast of the Catholic Church that it has the gift of making the young heart chaste; and why is this, but that the Church gives us Jesus Christ for our food, and Mary for our nursing Mother?” A special fruit of Holy Com- munion is the aid It gives in fighting off the tempta- tions of impurity. Holy Communion is indeed “the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins” (Zach. IX:17). Saint John Bosco made splendid men of some 200,000 boys, of whom 6,000 became zealous priests. He used to say: “I know only two educational instruments—Holy Communion and the rod, and I have given up the rod and use only Holy Communion”. Our young Catholic people who re- ceive into their hearts the Virgin Christ in Holy Communion day after day can be pure. Thousands of them are remaining pure. The Religious Survey conducted at Notre Dame University a few years ago dealt specifically with what Holy Communion accomplishes, and the ans- wers given by the students are a revelation of the miracles wrought by the Holy Eucharist. For in- stance, in answer to the question: Has frequent Communion lessened your temptations, 417 college men replied “yes”, and only 40 answered “no”. In answer to the question : Has It made you more care- ful to avoid sin, 488 college men replied “yes” and only 100 answered “no”. 42 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY The remarks made by the college students them- selves are even more impressive and more signifi- cant than figures. We find the following remarks in answer to the request: Please state frankly your own experience with frequent Communion: Daily Communion has transferred me from a spineless jellyfish into a man. , It has invested me with a holy strength for use in persistent combat with evil and temptation. Glancing backward I see a record of advance against a vice that exactly follows my increase in devotion towards the Blessed Sacrament. Daily Communion has entirely broken my habit of profanity. Frequent Communion has made me realize that genuine happiness exists on this earth only when a man’s heart is fed with the Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord. Arguments against this idea are only means of self-deception. It has given me the power to banish im- pure thoughts, for which I had a seemingly un- conquerable desire before I began daily Com- munion. * These statements of college men prove clearly that for Catholics there is no better aid to chastity than the practice of frequent Communion. Confession is likewise, for Catholics, an essential aid to chastity ; and one of the fine fruits of frequent Communion has been that it has developed a deeper appreciation of the blessings of the Sacrament of A selection of student testimonials, Frequent Communion for College Men, has been made and is distributed by Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana. AIDS TO CHASTITY 43 Penance. The majority of frequent communicants have not the slightest human respect about the matter of Confession. They agree with every word that Cardinal Newman says about the help and in- spiration received in the confessional: If there is a heavenly idea in the Catholic Church, looking at it simply as an idea, surely, next after the Blessed Sacrament, Confession is such. And such is it ever found in fact—the very act of kneeling, the low and contrite voice, the sign of the cross hanging, so to say, over the head bowed low, and the words of peace and blessing. Oh, what a soothing charm is there, which the world can neither give nor take away! Oh, what a piercing, heart-subduing tranquility, provoking tears of joy, is poured, almost substantially and physically, upon the soul, the oil of gladness, as Scripture calls it, when the penitent at length rises, his God re- conciled to him, his sins rolled away for ever! This is confession as it is in fact ; as those bear witness to it who know it by experience. A priest who has been zealous in reclaiming the un- happy victims of impurity says that he has never known Confession to fail in the case of those who gave it a fair trial. While natural means will prove helpful in re- maining chaste, the best aid will always be that of religion. Faith teaches us that chastity is a gift of God. And it is to God that we must turn for the means to preserve this gift. “Watch ye, and pray,” says Our Lord, “that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark XIV :38). St. Peter tells us: “Be sober and 44 IN DEFENSE OF CHASTITY watch : because your adversary the devil, as a roar- ing lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter V:8). The whole Christian tradition, by the voice of the Fathers, theologians, mystics, and ascetics, has propounded these evangelical and apos- tolical principles and has insisted upon them. Apart from these principles, no training in chastity is pos- sible. It is in the domain of sex that parents and edu- cators must realize that One greater than they must bless the work if it is to be at all effective. Professor F. W. Foerster, though not a Catholic, frankly con- cedes that religion is essential: “Real chastity and the real avoidance and overcoming of great tempta- tions is (except in rare' instances) not possible at all without the educative and elevating influence of religion, at any rate in the case of strong natures”. This eminent authority believes that religion is so fundamental and indispensable that without it the young, especially those of strong temperament, will strive in vain to live continently and to banish and overcome violent temptations. All this is an elo- quent illustration of the text of St. Paul : “But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . continency . . . ” (Gal. V :34), as well as of the Book of Wisdom: “I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was : I went to the Lord, and be- sought Him” (VIII :21). May I therefore ask each of you friends of the radio audience to join now in St. Agnes’ prayer for purity: “Let my body perish rather than my soul sin. Let me keep my thoughts pure and my love holy, so that both in body and soul I may remain like Christ, my Beautiful Model, always wonderful.” AIDS TO CHASTITY 45 TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION 1. Why is the Sixth Commandment the Difficult Command- ment? 2. What would you say to a man or woman who would con- tend that it is impossible to remain chaste? For a de- tailed treatment of this problem see Kirsch, Sex Educa- tion and Training in Chastity, pp. 207-221. 3. Is a person a coward if he keeps away from bad com- panions ? Why ? 4. In our striving to remain chaste, why should we always keep busy at work or at play? 5. What helps you more in your efforts to remain pure — the thought: “I must be pure”, or the thought: " I can be pure?” Why? 6. Make a list of all the means you have found helpful in overcoming temptations. Arrange these means in the order of their helpfulness. 7. Write a letter to a boy or girl