A little Advice from St. Augustine

Since the terms used in the quote above of saint Augustinus are not commonly used nowadays, I prepared their explanation (according to www.dictionary.com ):

continence - self-restraint or abstinence, especially in regard to sexual activity

continent - exercising or characterized by restraint in relation to the desires or passions and especially to sexual desires

So continence and continent can be seen as equivalents for abstaining from pmo or abstaining from sexual sins.

Yes, nobody can be free from pmo sins and weakness unless God gives it. And the traditional Catholic teaching about grace tells us that most graces are given to us only after we have asked for them.

St. Alphonsus Ligouri wrote about it either in his sermon 'on impurity '
Below some excerpts from it:

'' The vice of impurity also brings with it obstinacy. To conquer temptations, particularly against chastity, continual prayer is necessary. ”Watch ye, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”...........

But how will the unchaste, who are always seeking to be tempted, pray to God to deliver them from temptation? They sometimes, as St. Augustine confessed of himself, even abstain from prayer, through fear of being heard and cured of the disease, which they wish to continue. “I feared,” said the saint, “that you would soon hear and heal the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to be satiated, rather than extinguished.”............

Let us, then, come to the remedies. These are two great remedies prayer, and the flight of dangerous occasions. Prayer, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, is the safeguard of chastity.

Thus, it is impossible for us to conquer this vice without God’s assistance. Hence, as soon as temptation against chastity presents itself, the remedy is, to turn instantly to God for help, and to repeat several times the most holy names of Jesus and Mary, which have a special virtue to banish bad thoughts of that kind. I have said immediately, without listening to, or beginning to argue with the temptation. When a bad thought occurs to the mind, it is necessary to shake it off instantly, as you would a spark that flies from the fire, and instantly to invoke aid from Jesus and Mary.
.........
As to the flight of dangerous occasions, St. Philip Neri used to say that cowards that is, they who fly from the occasions gain the victory. Hence you must, in the first place, keep a restraint on the eyes, and must abstain from looking. ''

 

Awesome material, thank you for sharing.