>>8209759>Do any of you here struggle with Lust/masturbation?Almost every young Catholic man in the post-1960s world struggles with this. We've been inundated with porn from a very young age, our society is completely sex-crazed, everywhere in the media, everywhere in women's fashion, in the music we listen to and the movies we watch. it's even in the newspapers, with all these sex scandal stories. i'm not trying to excuse the sin, because it is a very grave sin, but it is also not entirely a young man's fault that he struggles, the entire world is designed to make the young Christian man struggle.
God knows our heart. if He allowed us to fall down, it is only that we learn to rely on Him even more.
As you advance in the spiritual life, Satan begins bringing out the old and powerful temptations. Often times the first rush of passion for the Lord makes it really easy to avoid sin, but then the passion fades and those temptations that we thought we'd conquered come back, stronger than ever.
remember that Satan's ultimate temptation is not to get you to fall, it is to get you to be discouraged after the fall.
before we sin; Satan is our "friend" he is so nice. he tells us it's no big deal, he tells us it's not our fault, he tells us it'll be fine, God will forgive us anyway, etc.
then once we fall he accuses us! tell us we're worthless, we're pathetic, we aren't worth saving, might as well give up, tells us we'll never be free of sin.
Jesus is very hard before we sin. he tells us to ignore the temptation, ignore the pain, do something else, fight your urges.
but after the sin, Jesus is the one who comforts us, forgives us, encourages us, reminds us of his sacrifice.
chin up! the battle is not yet lost!
