The Three Mirrors
BY JOE SIXPACK
Theresa, a young lady from a good Catholic family, had gone off to college, the first time in her life being on her own. When she settled in, she realized she’d left home without her hand mirror. Theresa called her mother and asked her if she could send the forgotten mirror. Theresa’s mother agreed and promptly sent a package.
When the package arrived, Theresa opened it to first find a note from her mother: “Enclosed are three mirrors. The first will show you as you are. The second will show you as you will be. The third mirror will show you as you ought to be.”
The first mirror she took out was her ordinary hand mirror, the one she’d left at home. Theresa said to herself, “This must be the mirror that shows me as I am.”
The second item she removed from the package was a picture of a human skull. Beneath the picture was this description: “This is what you will be.”
Theresa quickly pulled the third item from the package and unwrapped it. The third “mirror” was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Theresa had no problem understanding that her mother was telling her that she wanted her daughter to remain pure in her thoughts and desires so she would be like the Blessed Mother . . . what she ought to be.
Ours is a sex-saturated society. We’re constantly bombarded by mental sexual assaults from every direction: the way others dress, advertising, television, popular music, movies…the list could go on ad infinitum. This bombardment is especially difficult for young people, who still have the challenge of raging hormones, but it is no less difficult for adults in a culture that seems to believe everything is about sex.
In 1917, Our Lady of Fatima told Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco that more people go to Hell for sins against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments than any other sins. That was 1917, when all things impure and immodest were avoided at all costs. Imagine what it must be like today!
The Ninth Commandment forbids all deliberate impure thoughts, intentions, imaginings, desires, and feelings deliberately aroused or indulged in.
The great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (RIP) once told a story about a young boy who came to Confession while he was a parish priest. The boy confessed impure thoughts. Fr. Sheen asked if he had entertained the impure thoughts. The boy replied, “Gosh no, Father. They entertained me!”
Sheen’s little anecdote is humorous, but it makes a good point. Impure temptations aren’t sinful in themselves, but they do become sinful if they are deliberately aroused, indulged in, or consented to. These temptations must be rejected at once. No one is immune to such temptations.
St. Alphonsus Liguori was in his eighties when a young lady came to the elder bishop for an audience. She sat next to him on the sofa. St. Alphonsus leapt to his feet and exclaimed, “Not while hot blood pulses through my veins you won’t!” The great saint recognized that even such a remote temptation was deadly.
The main dangers to chastity are laziness, unbridled curiosity, bad company, excessive drinking and drug abuse, obscene talk, pornography, suggestive music and movies, and immodest dress. All of these things must be avoided.
I’m no less a man than St. Alphonsus was, and it makes me very uncomfortable when I see women coming to Holy Mass in the warm weather wearing shorts, dresses exposing most of the thigh, tight clothing accenting their curves, and tops made to be worn without a bra. It’s hard enough to avoid temptations outside of church, but to be assaulted by these things when I’m trying to worship God at Holy Mass is extremely difficult.
We’re morally obligated before Almighty God to do all we can to protect chastity of mind and body. Chastity may be protected by avoiding the dangers to chastity whenever possible, praying for God’s grace and help, going to Confession and Communion often, and cultivating a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Cultivating a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is probably the strongest defense we have to maintain a chaste mind and body. Our Lady is the most pure human person God ever created. Having been immaculately conceived, she never committed even a venial sin in her entire life. Our Lady is our best prayer partner and warrior to help us overcome temptation.
A priest once told me that when young people come to him in Confession with sins of the flesh, he tells them to avoid future temptations by imagining the Blessed Virgin Mary present in the place with them where they are being tempted, watching them. That definitely works to make the temptation flee — especially if you have cultivated a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Perhaps where people get themselves into the most trouble is while dating. If you’re interested in remaining chaste, avoid excessive petting (“making out” is the more crude term) and too much time in seclusion. Appropriate dress is also advised. Don’t worry about what’s in style; worry instead about the eternal destination of your soul and the temptations you are causing for your date. Indeed, dressing so that your date is tempted makes you guilty of the mortal sin of scandal.
Of course, all good habits of behavior begin at home. Parents, you must assert your parental authority to see to it that your children do the right thing. It’s not enough to simply love your children and see to it that their temporal needs are met. Your highest responsibility is to help your children to become holy and go to Heaven. So you need to set boundaries with your children…especially your adolescents.
Pay attention to and govern how they dress, what they listen to, what they watch on television and at the movies, whom they associate with, and what they’re doing on the Internet.
Fathers, you have the greatest responsibility of all. God made you the head of your family, as St. Paul repeatedly points out in his epistles, and He will demand an accounting of what you do and what you fail to do. So put on your “big boy pants” and be a true man — a Catholic man.
Of course you start this by setting the example. “Do what I say and not what I do” is not the way to be the spiritual leader of your household…not the way to be a Catholic man. It’s not manly. It’s not right. It’s time to become a real man.
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
