"Holy Purity is granted by God when asked for with humility."

"Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to the Blessed Mother are not simply the best way, but in fact the only way to keep purity. At the age of 20, nothing but communion can keep one's heart pure. Chastity is not possible without the Eucharist." - St. Philip Neri

Gospel Text: (MT 5:27-32)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

“It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful)
causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

No two human beings are made for each other. Every human being is made for God. Marriages are not made in heaven. There are no prefabricated marriages. They are made right here on earth, day by day, by the sacrifices both persons are called upon to make. And marriages are not made by what comes naturally but marriages are made by what does not come naturally and that is self-sacrifice.

Our love of God, and our love for one another, must overflow to others. Scripture tells us that in marriage “two become one”. It is this very intimacy which is both the agony and the ecstasy of marriage, its greatest pleasure and its heaviest burden. Intimacy and vulnerability go together. Love is the greatest joy, and there is no greater suffering than that which is caused by love. “Ecstasy without agony is baloney.”

In marriage “two become one” but they must remain two - two well-defined unique persons who do not try to manipulate the other or seek to be submissive. Each must respect the uniqueness, the freedom and the conscience of the other, and share equally in the responsibility.

Marriage is a career. And like all careers it demands long preparation, hard work and self-sacrifice. Marriage is not only a career it is a multiple career. Teaching, for example, is a great career. There is no teaching done anywhere, in the elementary, secondary, college or post graduate systems, not all of it put together, can come close to the teaching that is done in the family, especially in the first three years of life.

Marriage is a multiple career which demands multiple skills. It demands the patience of a teacher, the technique of a psychologist, the diplomacy of a statesman, the justice of a judge, the humor of a comedian, the mercy of a confessor, and the philosophy of the salesman who says that the customer is always right.

The family is the fundamental unit of society and of the Church; as the family goes so goes the Society and the Church. And the Society and the Church are not going well today because the family is in crisis without precedent in history. Personal freedom is valued so highly that every commitment is seen as a threat to independence instead of an expression of personality. In such a culture the family, which involves a permanent commitment and a lot of self-sacrifice does not do very well. Extreme individualism and unbridled capitalism produce autonomous, competitive, consuming beings.

The purpose of the family is to raise human beings. And the function of the Christian family is to raise Christian human beings. And this cannot be subordinated to any other project. We have to make the family work. There is no substitute for it.