Avoiding the Slippery Slope: Weekly Message for 09-19-2023

Dear Friends,

This week we celebrate the Feast of St. Padre Pio. As I was reflecting on Father Pio’s writings, one that stuck in my mind was his warning against falling to temptations.

He said, “The best means of guarding yourself against temptation are the following: watch your senses to save them from dangerous temptation, avoid vanity, do not let your heart become exalted, convince yourself of the evil of complacency, flee away from hate, pray whenever possible.”

In reflecting on this quote, I thought what St. Pio is sharing is a pretty good spiritual life plan. He very simply states how certain temptations present the slippery slope. Google defines the slippery slope as “an idea or series of events that is hard to stop or control once it has begun and that usually leads to worse or more difficult things.”

St. Pio’s first advice is to watch your senses to save them from temptations. A few weeks back, I heard a presentation by the founder of Integrity Restored. Their mission is to help restore the integrity of individuals, spouses, and families  affected by pornography and pornography addiction. The speaker shared almost unbelievable statistics regarding how wide- spread this pandemic is and how young the users are when they first step onto the slope. He shared how incredibly addictive, aggressive, and alluring the images are for men and women—and that the average age of exposure is 8. EIGHT mind you.

I am a mother of four, and after this presentation, my husband and I recalled how horrified we were when 20 years ago our son searched the latest and greatest baseball bats available at Dick’s Sporting Goods via internet and his search was page-jacked to a pornographic site. He was deeply embarrassed, and we as his parents were so angry that his innocence was stolen from him at such a young age.

Fast forward to 2023, and what my son was exposed to then is nothing compared to what is two clicks away now, in the pocket of nearly every adolescent. Today children are victims of a culture war, but St. Pio has some consoling words. “The demon has only one door by which to enter into our soul: the will; there are no secret doors. No sin is a sin if not committed with the will. When there is no action of the will, there is no sin, but only human weakness.” This is very reassuring for parents!

The best strategy is to protect the view at the top and avoid the slope. However, for those who have descended that slope once, twice or every day, God still loves you more than you can imagine and wants to be your best friend. And Jesus in his incredible goodness extends forgiveness of sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Integrity Restored is an online resource that helps people free themselves from addiction to pornography and can be found at Integrity Restored.

St. Padre Pio suffered much spiritual warfare. He understood how the devil used things like sexuality, pride, laziness and hatred to tempt man into sin. But he also knew just how far God would go to save every man on earth though the crucifixion of his son. St. Pio himself suffered the stigmata, the wounds of Christ. He often preached, “Pray, hope and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”

Yours in the Heart of Jesus,

Donna

A great resource on RCSpirituality to check out for those who have slid down the slope can be found at Father of Mercies: A Retreat Guide on the Prodigal Son.