Untitled - Saints' Books

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250 Material for Instructions. [PART n.
else could this be? Put a burning light into the hay,
and then say that there will be no blaze ! Like hay is
this nature of ours." 1 Hence it is not possible for a
man to expose himself voluntarily to the occasions of
against chastity and not fall into a precipice. We
should fly from sin as from the face of a serpent. Flee
from sin as from the face of a serpent? We fly not only
from the bite of a serpent, but also from contact with it
and proximity to it. We must also avoid the company
and conversation of persons who may be to us an occa
sion of yielding to any sin against purity. St. Ambrose
remarks that the chaste Joseph would not stop to hear
the first words of Putiphar s wife, but instantly fled
away, considering that there was great danger in wait
ing to listen to her. 3 But some one may say: I know
my duty; but let him attend to the words of St. Francis
of Assisi: I know what I
ought to do, but I know not
what I would do were I to remain in the occasion of
sin."
I. Let us examine the principal occasions that the
priest should carefully avoid in order to preserve chas
tity. It is necessary, above all things, to abstain from
looking at dangerous objects. Death is come up through
our windows? says the .
Prophet Jeremias Through the
windows: that is, through the eyes, as St. Jerome, St.
" 1
Gregory, and others say in their comments on this
passage. For as to defend a fortification it is not
enough to lock the gates if the enemy be allowed to
enter by the windows; so to preserve chastity all other
Num tu saxeus es, num ferreus ? Homo es, communi naturae
imbecillitati obnoxius; ignem capis,
nee ureris? Lucernam in feno
pone, ac turn aude negare quod fenum uratur. Quod fenum est, hoc
natura nostra est." In Ps. 50, horn. i.
a
a "Quasi facie colubri, fuge peccata." Ecdus. xxi. 2.
Ne ipsa quidem verba diu passus est; contagium enim judicavit,
si diutius moraretur." De S. fos. c. 5.
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Ascendit mors per fenestras."
Jer. ix. 21.