"Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing danger. When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying 'I shall not fall' - it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul."
St. Philip Neri
For Reflection:
What do I see as the connection between purity and humility? Do I exhibit pride by placing myself in the near occasion of sin? In what ways? I will confess my pride at the next opportunity.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Researchers are reporting an increase in child abuse, mostly in infants, during the recession, which raises new concerns about the impact the nation's struggling economy is having on the population.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In response to bioethicists who are offering thousands of dollars in prize money to anyone who can prove the controversial Gardasil vaccine injures girls, a group of mothers whose daughters were injured by the vaccine are challenging the experts to "put your science where your wallet is."
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
During an appearance in Princeton, New Jersey last week, a 77 year-old Gloria Steinem told the audience “There is no organization in this country or the world that is more important than Planned Parenthood.”
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"There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior's Passion. In all my difficulties, I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ. In them I sleep secure. From them, I derive new life."
St. Augustine
For Reflection:
Which one wound of Our Lord speaks most to my heart? How can meditation on this wound help me to fight off all of the temptations that assail me?
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A new study has found that despite the big promises of the Internet to allow unfettered free speech for all, Christian groups are among the few that are being censored online.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The ink has barely dried on a new civil unions law in Illinois and a same-sex couple is already suing two bed and breakfast establishments for refusing to rent space for their civil ceremony.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Video games have come a long way from those early days of "Pong" and "Pacman" and while some of today's sophisticated games can be good skill-builders for kids, others are dangerously violent.
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"As soon as you are tempted to impurity, endeavor to think of the Passion of the Savior of the world and make the following act: 'My God is nailed to a cross, and shall I consent to these unlawful pleasures?'"
St. Bernard
For Reflection:
To what extent do I meditate on the passion of Christ? How did His passion obtain for me the grace to resist temptation? Why, then, is meditation on His passion a good safeguard to all temptation including the temptation to impurity?
(See tomorrow's Grace Line to see what specific aspect of Christ's passion St. Augustine found effective in his fight against temptations of the flesh.)
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"Vigilance and prayer are the safeguards of chastity. 'Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation (Mark 14:38).' You should pray often and fervently to be preserved from temptations against purity, and for the grace to overcome them."
St. John Baptist de la Salle
For Reflection:
To prayer and fasting, St. John Baptist de la Salle adds one more safeguard for chastity. What is it? How can I apply it?
(Tomorrow's Grace Line adds yet another way to protect our chastity.)
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