All are called in their own way to the practice of chastity, whether in married life or in a life consecrated to God. And to cultivate it, nothing is better than to keep in mind its exalted beauty. To this end, let us listen to some comments of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori on ‘the angelic virtue’.
Newsdesk (18/05/2023 13:30, Gaudium Press) “No one can appreciate the value of chastity better than the Holy Spirit. Now He says: All that is esteemed cannot be compared with a continent soul (Sir 26:20), that is, all earthly riches, all honours, all dignities, are not comparable to it. St. Ephrem calls chastity ‘the life of the spirit’; St. Peter Damian, ‘the queen of virtues’; and St. Cyprian says that through it the most splendid triumphs are attained. Whoever overcomes the vice contrary to chastity will easily triumph over all the others; whoever, on the contrary, allows himself to be dominated by impurity, will easily fall into many other vices and will make himself the defendant of hatred, injustice, sacrilege, etc.
Chastity makes man an angel: ‘O chastity, exclaims St. Ephrem, you make man like the angels’ (De Cast.). This comparison is very right, for angels live exempt from all carnal delights; they are pure by nature; chaste souls, by virtue. ‘By the merit of this virtue,’ says Cassian, ‘men resemble angels’; (De Coen. Int, 1. 6, c. 6) and St. Bernard: ‘The chaste man differs from the angel not on account of virtue, but of blessedness; if the angel’s chastity is more felicitous, man’s is more intrepid.’ (De mor. et off., ep., c. 3) ‘Chastity makes man similar to God Himself, who is a pure spirit,’ St. Basil affirms (De ver. virg.).
‘The Eternal Word, coming into this world, chose for His Mother a Virgin, for an adoptive father a virgin, for a forerunner a virgin, and St. John the Evangelist He loved with predilection because he was a virgin, and therefore He entrusted His holy Mother to him, just as He entrusts to the priest, because of his chastity, the Holy Church and His own Person.
Rightly, then, does the great Doctor of the Church, St. Athanasius, exclaim: ‘O holy purity, thou art the temple of the Holy Ghost, the life of the Angels, and the crown of the Saints!’ (De virg.).
Great, therefore, is the excellence of chastity; but also terrible is the warfare which the flesh declares to rob us of it. Our flesh is the devil’s most powerful weapon for enslaving us; it is therefore a very rare thing to emerge unscathed or even victorious from this combat. St. Augustine says that “the battle for chastity is the most fierce of all: it is repeated daily, and victory is rare” (Serm. 293). How many unfortunate people who have spent years in solitude, exclaims St. Lawrence Justinian, in prayers, fasts and mortifications, have not finally been carried away by the concupiscence of the flesh, have abandoned the devout life of solitude and have lost, through chastity, God Himself!’
Therefore, all those who wish to preserve the virtue of chastity must be extremely cautious: ‘It is impossible for you to remain chaste, says St. Charles Borromeo, if you are not continually vigilant over yourself, for negligence brings with it very easily the loss of chastity’.
Extracted from: Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, The School of Christian Perfection.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan