Untitled - Saints' Books

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INSTR. ix.] Exterior Mortification. 369
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see no evil, he shall dwell on high. Hence Job said that
he had made a covenant with his eyes never to look at
a woman, lest he should be afterwards molested by bad
thoughts: / made a covenant with my eyes,
that I would not
Gonzaga
St.
so much as think upon a 1
virgin? St. Aloysius
never dared to raise his eyes to look at his mother.
Peter of Alcantara abstained from looking even at his
brothers in religion: he knew them not by the sight, but
by the voice.
The Council of Tours tells priests that they should
guard against everything that can offend the eyes or the
ears. 3 But particular caution is
necessary for secular
priests, who frequent public places, or the houses of
seculars. If they permit the eye to look at every object
that is
presented to them, they shall scarcely preserve
chastity. Turn away thy face, says the Holy Ghost,
from a woman dressed up, for many have perished . . by
.
the beauty of a woman. 1 And, says St. Augustine, should
the eyes happen sometimes to fall on a woman, let us
take care never to fix them on her. 5 Hence it is neces
sary to abstain from going to balls, or profane come
dies, which are frequented by men and women; and
when through necessity a priest is
obliged to go to a
place in which there are women, he must pay special
attention to modesty of the eyes. Father Alvarez was
once present at a public degradation of a priest, but be
cause there were women present, he held in his hand an
1 "
Qui claudit oculos suos ne videat malum, iste in excelsis habitabit."
Isa. xxxiii. 15.
J
Pepigi foedus cum oculis meis, ut ne cogitarem quidem de virgine."
Job,
xxxi. i.
3 "Ab omnibus quaecunque ad aurium ct ad oculorum pertinent
illecebras, Dei Sacerdotes abstinere debent." Anno 813, can. 7.
Averte faciem tuam a muliere compta, et ne circumspicias speciem
alienam; propter speciem mulieris, multi perierunt." Ecclns. ix. 8.
5
Oculi "
vestri, etsi jaciuntur in aliquam, figantur in nullam." Reg.
ad serv. D . n. 6.
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