About the end of the world

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
November 26, 2024

IT’S understandable that since we are now at the end of another liturgical year, the gospel readings focus on this truth of our faith  – that both time and the world will end. Thus, in one gospel episode, Christ was asked about the signs that such end would be approaching. (cfr. Lk 21,5-11)

Thus, Christ responded: “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!” Looks like we are seeing these things nowadays. There are some people who are posing as the very son of God, etc. Let’s be warned.

Then Christ continued: “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified’ for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” There we have a clear indication of what to expect and the appropriate attitude we should have toward it.

Finally, he said: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”

We should be prepared for this eventuality by making sure that we are guided always by our faith and the almighty and merciful providence of God, instead of allowing ourselves to be played upon by our fears and worries. We should be eternity-ready. That is to say, prepared to see God during our judgment and eager to be with God, fully identified with him for all eternity.

In this regard, we should rather be aggressive in our pursuit of our ultimate goal, the proper attitude to have in this life. Of course, we should first of all have a clear vision of our goal in life, knowing how to translate that goal into stages, and then let’s stir up all our faculties to achieve that goal.

We can take St. Paul’s words as some kind of inspiring slogan: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24) Yes, our life is like a race. The Letter to the Hebrews said as much: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...” (12,1)

The good thing about this attitude is that it engages our faculties properly and helps us avoid getting lost, being held hostage by the allures of this world, wasting time, etc. We would always be on the move, and would know how to put order in our daily activities, knowing the right priorities, etc.

And what is the ultimate goal that we should pursue? None other than that we become another Christ, if not Christ himself, ‘alter Christus, ipse Christus.’ This is simply because we have been created by God to be his image and likeness.

That image and likeness of God is Christ who as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the pattern of our humanity, and as the Son of God who became man, is the redeemer of our damaged humanity.

Our creation is God’s project before it is our own. It is a work in progress that requires our cooperation precisely because as image and likeness of God, we have been endowed with intelligence and will that would enable us to correspond to God’s creative and redemptive action on us.

“My kingdom is not of this world”

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
November 22, 2024

WORDS of Christ in response to Pilate’s question, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” (Jn 18,33) That was when Christ clarified who he really was, and yet the poor Pilate and many of the Jews of that time could not get it.

These words are part of the gospel reading for the last Sunday of the liturgical year which is dedicated to Christ as King, the real King. (cfr. Jn 18,33-37) They remind us that our kingdom is not in this world. It is where Christ as our true King is – that is, in heaven from where we really originated and to where we are supposed to be destined in our definitive state of life.

These words remind us that our earthly life is a test whether what God wants us to be – that is, to be his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature – is also what we ourselves would want to be. This test actually takes place every moment of our earthly life. We are made to choose whether we would like to be with God through Christ who is the “way, the truth and the life”, or to be by ourselves only.

We should always be aware of this test and should try our best to make the proper choice, avoiding getting lost and swallowed up by the drama of our life here on earth. And so, we should sharpen our awareness of the real purpose of our life here on earth as we go through the varying situations, conditions and circumstances of our life.

We should be excited and eager to reach our real destination. And reaching it should not be a problem since we have been given all the means to achieve it. What can help is that at the end of each day, we remind ourselves of the real end and purpose of our life, and then examine ourselves how we are doing to approach that end.

We should develop a keen send of the real end and purpose of our life. This is unavoidable and indispensable. Even in our ordinary affairs, we take it for granted that we ought to have some idea of the end or purpose in mind before we move.

There should be at least the sensation that we are getting nearer it, knowing that one day more or one year more in our life is actually one day less or one year less in our life too. We should just be ready since we would not know when the zero-balance of this consequential equation would take place.

To get the sensation that we are getting closer to our final destination means that we are realizing that we are becoming more and more like Christ, who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. He should be the king, the everything for us.

Thus, we have to learn how to submit everything to him, especially our inmost self – the heart, the will and mind together with the emotions, feelings, etc. That is how we make Christ our king.

We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus,’ the goal and ideal that is meant for us, though we need also to do our part, free beings as are, to achieve that status. God, our Creator and Father, wants us to be that way, though he does not impose it on us without our consent that should also be shown with deeds and not just with intentions or words.

Even Christ had to pray

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
October 28, 2024

IT’S worthwhile noting that even Christ had to spend the night praying before he made that big decision of choosing his 12 apostles among the many disciples that he had at that time. (cfr. Lk 6,12-16) This could only mean that for Christ to be completely in union with the will of the Father, he had to pray.

There should be no doubt on our part that we too should learn how to pray not only from time to time but rather all the time, if we want to be completely in union with the will of God as we should. Christ is showing us the example, and we should just try our best to follow it. It’s what is proper to us.

Prayer should be like the breathing and the beating of the heart that we need to keep ourselves spiritually alive. It’s what would enable us to enter, start and keep sharing the very life of God as we are meant to do. Without prayer, we would put ourselves in an anomalous condition as we separate ourselves from the very source of our true identity and dignity.

We have to learn to pray all the time, converting everything into some form of prayer by doing it always with God and for God and not just by ourselves, motivated only by some earthly and temporal reasons. This is always possible and practicable because God has designed everything as a form to connect ourselves with him. It’s up to us to follow that design or not.

Ideally, everything should be an act of prayer, whether we are doing our sacred or mundane duties, whether things are good or bad for us, whether we are alone or in a crowd, etc.

Prayer should not be understood only in its sacred, solemn mode. It can lend itself to all the situations and circumstances of our life. It is practicable in any situation. We just have to develop the proper discipline which, of course, will require some training.

And just like any training, it at first has to be taught under a controlled environment. That is why, at the beginning we were taught as children to recite and put into memory some vocal prayers. We may not understand everything said there, but that at least initiates us to the practice of prayer.

Then further steps ought to be made. We have to learn how to exercise our faith, how to meditate and contemplate, how to find a proper place, time and even posture for it. And then how we can have presence of God the whole day, the rectitude of intention in all our actions, the habit of offering everything to God, and literally of conversing with God and discerning his will as we go on with our daily activities.

Let’s remember that without God who is our creator and source of all good things, we can only do evil. We would be like a branch cut off from the vine. We may manage to give an appearance of life and goodness, but without Him, we actually have and are nothing.

We have to be constantly aware that we cannot be simply on our own. We need God and we need to be with everybody and everything else. We have to overcome our tendency that we can afford to be isolated. We should never forget that we are always in communion and we need to make that communion alive and healthy. Prayer does that for us!

We are light-bearers

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
September 23, 2024

WE have to be more aware of this great responsibility of ours if we are to be consistent with our Christian identity. We should not be shy or afraid to show our Christian identity to everyone. Let’s show it in such a way as to inspire others to follow and love Christ.

Christ himself told his disciples: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.” And he continued: “For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.”

To top it all, he said that depending on whether we fulfill or fail to carry out this duty, there definitely would be serious consequences, for this is what Christ said in this regard: “To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” (cfr. Lk 8,16-18)

And so, we just have to be more aware of this most important duty that is actually incumbent on everyone of us, and not just on some special people. We know that we are all interrelated, obviously not biologically that only has a limited scope, but definitely to a large extent, politically, economically, socially, etc. The fact that we all live in the same one world somehow makes us all interrelated.

But there’s actually a more radical basis of our interrelation. And that is that we are all creatures of God, children of his, meant to be the people and the family of God. It is a relationship that is spiritual more than material, forged by a supernatural principle and not just something natural.

This basic truth about ourselves gives rise to the duty that we have to help one another spiritually more than anything else. It is in our spiritual bond that actually gives rise to all our other relations with everybody else according to the different aspects of our nature.

This is what is meant by our duty to inspire others. Etymologically, the word ‘inspire’ means to breathe into. And it definitely is not only air that we should breathe into others. We have to breathe a spirit that in the end is nothing other than the spirit of God, who is the original inspirator.

Obviously, we have to see to it that that we inspire others properly. And by that, we mean that the spirit we ‘breathe into’ the others even by our mere presence or by our words and deeds, should be the spirit of God.

And so, the question to ask ourselves at the end of the day is whether in all our dealings and transactions, the effect of the spirit of God which is charity was made, that is, that we managed to inspire, motivate and edify others.

Inspiring, motivating and edifying others are certainly not a result of a mere gimmick or ploy, a fruit of one’s intelligence and cleverness alone. These can only happen when we are vitally united with God whose essence is love. These are primarily a spiritual affair, driven by divine love.

Thus, when we say that the others should be left inspired, motivated and edified by us in all our dealings, we need to understand that we achieve those goals always in Christ, with God’s grace, and not just by our own human powers, though all these human powers should also be harnessed at the instance of grace.

Good governance and visioning

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 22, 2024

THAT gospel parable about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son (cfr. Mt 22,1-14) reminds us that we should be ready when God calls us to himself. In that parable, the king was frustrated because all those whom he invited refused to come. And so, he ordered his servants to call whoever they would meet in the highways and byways. Still, he expected that those who would come would at least be properly dressed.

This means that we should truly be prepared for the eventual call and invitation that God would give us so we can be with him as he wants us to be. In this regard, we have to know how to “govern” our life such that at any time we would be ready for this eventuality.

Yes, some art of good governance over our life should be learned. We just cannot be at the mercy of chance and fortune. We need to know and be constantly aware of the real and constant purpose of our life, and arrange our life in such a way that that purpose is always pursued.

Just like in any serious business enterprise, there has to be goals set, short-term and long-term plans made, regular reviews, auditing and pertinent modifications made. We should have the sensation that there is progress in the pursuit of the real purpose of our life. Of course, when we notice that the “balance sheet” at any given moment of our life shows a red rather than a black, we should immediately do something to correct it.

Knowing that the real progress in our life is ultimately measured in our love for God and for others, we should somehow try to echo some lyrics of an old Spiral Staircase song which goes this way: “I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow!”

We should have a clear vision of our ultimate and definitive eternal destination and able to relate everything in our life to that goal. For this purpose, we should develop the practice of making daily examinations of conscience.

In our spiritual life, it is important that we settle accounts with God regularly. In fact, saints and the Church herself have recommended that we make a daily examination of conscience just before going to bed.

This practice can only mean that we understand that our life is not just a natural, material, individual or social affair. Or that it is simply our own life. It would show that we know that our life is a life with God and with others, pursued and developed in the spiritual and moral spheres more than anything else.

We need to do some accounting of it not only for our own interest, but also and more importantly for the sake of God and of the others. It would show that we understand that our human acts – those that we do knowingly and freely and thus we are responsible for them – either lead us to our proper end or not. Thus, we understand that our human acts have a moral dimension and therefore need to be assessed by us.

It would also make us aware of our most basic duty as children of God to pursue our own personal sanctification and to cooperate in the continuing work of God’s redemption of mankind through personal apostolate.

This way, we can somehow feel secure that at any given moment we would be eternity-ready, prepared to see God for judgment when he would finally call us to himself!

Marriage and divorce

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 16, 2024

“SOME Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?’” (Mt 19,3)

This is the opening passage of the gospel of the Mass on Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time. It brings out the question of marriage and divorce that now is being hotly discussed in many parts of the country.

Some proponents of divorce claim that we seem to be backward since we are practically the only country that does not have a divorce law yet. It’s an argument that does not really need any serious attention. Truth is, we should be very proud that we do not have a divorce law, since divorce is from beginning to end an anomaly.

Divorce clearly goes against the very nature of marriage that is validly entered into by a couple. It breaks something that is supposed to be lifelong, regardless of the things that can take place in it.

As the couple vowed on their wedding day, they committed themselves to be wedded to each other “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

Of course, the nature of marriage is defined not by us but by God, the Creator. And as Christ himself said it clearly, when a marriage takes place, “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, a man must not separate.” (Mt 19,5-6)

Perhaps to explain it in more common language, we can say that in marriage it is presumed that it is love that motivates the couple to enter into it. And by definition, love is total self-giving which, in this case, since it involves the use of the body which cannot be shared with anybody else once it is given to one spouse, can only be entered into by one man and one woman and for a lifetime.

The difficulties and challenges the couple meet in their marriage are always to be expected. They always come, one way or another, in one form or another, whatever one’s state of life is. But if the couple is animated by their Christian faith, they know that these difficulties and challenges are the occasions and reasons for their love to grow even stronger and more meaningful.

The nature of marriage can be defined by just looking at it, discerning what it is supposed to be, what its purpose is, etc. It’s based on the nature itself of man who for his proper development needs an institution to perpetuate himself and his descendants in a way fit for his dignity.

And this can only be marriage as it is known up to now – a life-long commitment between a man and a woman, based on the fullness of love that includes the use of the body.

We are capable of entering into this commitment, and this commitment also in turn helps in developing us toward full human maturity. We are capable of this commitment because in spite of our changing conditions there is something in us – precisely our spirit, our soul, our heart and will – that enables us to remain constant and consistent even as we face varying circumstances.

That is why, more than our bodily senses and powers, we really have to take care of our spiritual faculties, because they are the main engine for our development and our fidelity in our commitments.

Let’s be ready to carry Christ’s cross

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 8, 2024

IF Christ is the pattern of our humanity, then we have to be ready to carry his cross which is his ultimate expression of love for us. To carry his cross is the ultimate way we can identify ourselves with Christ as we should.

We should not be afraid of the cross in whatever form it may come to us. If we carry the cross with Christ, we know that all our suffering has a positive and favorable aspect. It’s not all entirely bad and negative, though in itself it will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, there is something in it that can give us a greater good. We may refer to this advantageous aspect of suffering as the happy Good News or Gospel of Suffering.

Our pains and suffering are always the result of sin, ours and those of the others. They are the necessary consequence of our separation, whether temporary or permanent, from God from whom all good things come. (cfr. Ps 16,2; James 1,17) We may not be the direct cause of our own suffering, but in this world, we cannot escape the effects of sin, and so we must be ready for them just the same.

We have to remind ourselves that we are not meant to suffer. Our original as well as our ideal definitive state in heaven excludes suffering. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were in the state of original justice, where everything was in order and in harmony. No pain and suffering touched them, until they fell into sin.

And as the Book of Revelation would put it, in our definitive state of life in heaven “He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (21,4)

In this life, we have to expect and be prepared for the unavoidable pain and suffering. And this means that whether we are guilty or not of our pains and suffering, all we have to do is to go immediately to Christ who shows us how to handle our pains and suffering and who is ready to forgive us if ever we are guilty of suffering.

If we really want to truly love, we should be willing to suffer for the others out of love for God and for all souls. We need to realize that the willingness to suffer is the ultimate proof that our love is genuine. Love should not just be matter of goodwill, of benevolence, of doing some good to others. It has to go all the way to an eagerness to suffer for the others.

This is what Christ has done for us and has commanded us to do. Being both God and man, Christ should be seen by us as the epitome of true love which is the very essence of God that is also meant for us since we are supposed to be God’s image and likeness.

We have to be willing to suffer the way Christ suffered for all of us. That is what true love is. No wonder that Christ himself said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,13)

It is this willingness to suffer that would show how, like Christ, we can go all the way to giving ourselves completely to everyone, irrespective of how they are. That is also why Christ commanded us, as an integral component of true love, that we even love our enemies.

The monster of wokeness

By LANCE PATRICK C. ENAD, lancivspatricivs@gmail.com
July 24, 2024

Last July 22, 2024, Cebuano speaking social media blew up with denouncements of how an entitled man dressed as a woman publicly embarrassed a waiter and made the waiter stand for two hours just because the waiter referred to the transvestite, Mr. Jude Bacalso, as "Sir." Of course, people were quick to jump into the bandwagon of condemnation -and rightly so. What many don't realize however is that such brazen entitlement is a logical consequence of either tolerating or supporting wokeness.

Wokeness is the popular term for Adaptive Marxism. Marxism in its original form simplified reality into economic class struggle: the class struggle between the oppressor, the bourgeoisie and the oppressed, the proletariat. Adaptive Marxism, however, without economic paradigms, shifts the class struggle into whatever it has. For example, third wave feminism (first wave feminism which simply advocated for equality is acceptable) holds that all of reality is a gender class struggle between the oppressor (men/patriarchy) and the oppressed (women). And so, if there are any problems in the world it is because of being oppressed by men and if there is going to be any solution, it is going to be the domination by women. Another version of Adaptive Marxism is Critical Race Theory (eg, Black Lives Matter movement). For Critical Race Theory, all of reality is basically a class struggle between the oppressor -white people- and the oppressed -colored people.

The LGBTQ+ ideology and transgenderism is a category of Adaptive Marxism or Wokeness. Reality, therefore, is the struggle between the oppressor (homophobes and transphobes -which is anybody who disagrees with this ideology) and the oppressed (Homosexuals and/or Transgenders). This is why, in order to be liberated, those who profess this LGBTQ+/ Transgenderist ideologies hold that they need to assert themselves. So now, as in countries like Canada, the US, and the west in general, there are legislation which allows transgenders to legally change their biological sex, there are laws that criminalize refusing to use their preferred pronouns and identified genders. In short, institutionalized madness.

In the Philippines, this is basically pushed forward by things like SOGIE bill, the public celebration of pride month in schools and establishments, and by a general toleration by people, and by support by mainstream media. Heck even newsrooms reporting on the debacle are even using “her” to the transvestite man.

This is why people like that transvestite have the nerve to publicly embarrass a waiter for 'misgendering' him by calling him sir. He has the nerve to commit such brazen profanity because he believes he is in the right because of his transgenderist LGBTQ ideology being tolerated by society, being supported by Media, and not being opposed by voices that should. Politicians who want to be voted for do things to make themselves relevant to by fostering this ideology by sponsoring pride month celebrations, etc. People who should be speaking out against this like the clergy, are not doing so.

Anyone with common sense can see that just because a man had a surgery to make himself like a woman, does not make him a real woman. Anyone with a common sense can see that this ideology is a distortion of reality -which is what you get from an anti-metaphysical philosophy.

In short, people shouldn't be shocked.

People who have tolerated Transgenderism and LGBTQ should not be surprised at this. They have fed this monster by their tolerance and they should not be surprised how big it has grown.

We have been fed with Wokeness by main stream media, by ideologues, in small quantities until we no longer find wokeness repulsive. People need to wake up - you can say this is the real wokeness, lol. People need to realize that wokeness is poison. Wokeness is anti-christian. Wokeness is Satanic.

Do not tolerate sodomy. Do not tolerate any form of Adaptive Marxism. Do not support establishments that support LGBTQ ideology. Oppose degeneracy. Fight against the poison of wokeness. Fight against any ideology that tries to nullify the laws of God. Fight for the social kingship of Christ. Ave Christus Rex.

How to enter God’s kingdom

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
June 27, 2024

CHRIST said it very clearly. “It is not anyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Mt 7,21)

Indeed, we always have to be open to God’s will and ways that oftentimes can be quite challenging and unattractive, since they demand everything from us. They require a lot of sacrifice. We just have to realize as quickly as possible that this is the language of real love. God gives us his all. We should also learn to give our all to him. As a saying goes: Love is repaid with love.

This truth of our faith is somehow highlighted when Christ gave this apparently harsh response to somehow who expressed his desire to follow him. “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” (Mt 8,20)

When we truly love and follow Christ, we would have complete trust in his will and ways, regardless of the cost it asks of us. We know that his providence never fails. And the unavoidable suffering we can encounter along the way are actually golden occasions for us to learn some precious lessons, to grow in some virtues, and in the end to make ourselves more and more like Christ which is actually the purpose of our life here on earth.

We should just be ready for wherever God’s providence would take us. We have to be open to it all the time. Even as we make our plans and pursue them truly as our own, we should not forget that nothing in our life is actually outside the providence of God who can adapt himself to us, even in our worst situations and predicaments, and still lead us to himself.

Let’s always remember that God’s will is the source of everything in the universe. The whole of creation in all its existence, unity, truth, goodness and beauty starts from God’s will and is maintained by it. The entire range and scope of reality – be it material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, temporal or eternal – is “contained” there, not only theoretically but in vivo.

The task of looking, knowing and loving the divine will, therefore, has to be made more known by us, because we tend to simply have a superficial knowledge of God, restricting him to some sentimental considerations or to some images we form of him in our mind. Hardly would we get to know what he wants us to do in any given moment, if we are mainly guided by sentimental considerations and visual or conceptual images of him.

Getting to know and do God’s will is what actually would comprise the very substance of our relationship with him. That’s simply because that is what love is all about, what it entails, which is the very essence of God, as St. John affirmed (Deus caritas est). Love is deeds and not just sweet words or feelings. Real love is deeds done to correspond to God’s will for us.

We need to develop the proper attitude toward God’s will. We should first be aware that there’s such thing as God’s will, and not just God’s image. We should cultivate the desire to know, love and obey it until we can make as our own Christ’s very attitude toward his Father’s will, “Not my will, but yours be done,” and Mary’s words, “Be it done to me according to your word.”

Sanctifying sex

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail
June 5, 2024

THAT may sound like an impossible and quixotic thing, but truth to tell, not only would it be possible and practicable, but also and more importantly, it is an indispensable duty of ours, failing in which would be tantamount to degrading ourselves to the animal level, not to mention the ultimate failure of ours when we miss the real purpose of our humanity which is to be God’s image and likeness, sharers of his life and nature.

We are reminded of this duty in the gospel reading of the Mass on Wednesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time where Christ told some Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection that “when they (all of us actually) rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.” (cfr. Mk 12,18-27)

In other words, sex only has a temporal value. In our definitive state of life in heaven, when we are truly identified with God, we can still be male and female, but there would not anymore be any use for sex whose main purpose is to cooperate with God in creating another person.

In short, in heaven there is no more reproduction. The population is fixed, so to speak, and as Christ said, we would be behaving like angels, still with our bodies but which would already be completely spiritualized. That is, our bodily dimension with all its biological and other earthly components would be completely infused with the spirit of God, which is the spirit of love.

In our earthly life, we need to understand that sex has an important role to play. And that is, for us to cooperate with God in the making of man, something that should only be done only in the context of a lifelong commitment of marriage since the making of man and its indispensable need to be taken care of as human persons who are God’s image and likeness would require such commitment.

To sanctify sex means to understand its purpose and use according to God’s will and law about it. It should be trained to behave according to God’s will and law about it. But given our wounded nature, where it is very vulnerable to just follow the blind and erratic ways our hormones and other earthly factors, we really need God’s grace, first of all, and our all-out effort to attain its ideal condition.

Given how difficult this task can be, we have to understand that we may have to resort to some extraordinary means to keep our sexuality in its proper condition. In this regard, a saint once said: “To defend his purity, St. Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, St. Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, St. Bernard plunged into an icy pond…” (Escriva, The Way 143)

Indeed, we should not be surprised if we need to make use of some extraordinary means to keep ourselves on the right path with respect to how to sanctify sex. Sex should be a clear expression of love of God and of neighbor.