J1ST 033: Lust

Hey there and welcome back to the 3rd installment of the Lenten Podcast series on the Vices. Today's episode focuses on LUST, and, before I go into the details of this episode, I want to warn you that I felt I needed to use real language while discussing this topic. Nothing I say is vulgar or scandalous, and everything I say is strictly inline with Catholic Teaching, but I do use real, clinic names for things, so perhaps this is a earbud episode. And, onto the details! First of all, all of the wisdom in this episode comes straight from Venerable Fulton Sheen and his incredible book, Victory Over Vice. I simply dove a bit deeper on a few topics and made sure to apply this vice directly to the specific struggles of Catholic Women. Lust is the inordinate love of the pleasures of the flesh. Now, God created the flesh to give us pleasure, but the pleasure should always remain a MEANS, and not an END. Fulton Sheen rightly points out that sexual sin is so common that society at large doesn't even see it as a sin any more. The same is true, to some degree, even for Catholic women (like us!). Although we may not struggle with the BIG sins of sleeping around or porn, we do probably struggle with other sexual sins, namely mental fantasies. For this reason we need to protect ourselves and make sure that we aren't watching things on TV that will lead us to this type of lustful sin. Futon Sheen draws all of the lessons on Lust from Christ's words to Mary and John from the cross. As you recall, he says, "Woman, behold thy son; behold thy mother." The two major lessons here are: The only real escape from the demands of the flesh is to find something more than the flesh to love. Mary is the refuge for sinners who struggle with lust. Although I discuss lots of topics while unfolding these lessons, the major point I add to the work of Fulton Sheen is that as Catholic Married Women we need to not only root out sexual sins in our own lives, but also work to help our husband in his struggle with lust. So much more goodness in the recorded podcast, so head over and have a listen. And once you listen I would LOVE to hear any feedback you might have. Next week we will be diving into Pride! See you then, Your sister in Christ, Nancy