From heart to heart

Essays on purity

By: Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, Bishoy Boshra Behnam

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

If you happen to be agonizing under a sexual or emotional yoke, which is impeding your attempts to fast, pray, or serve, then your first priority is to know our Lord Jesus. Are you thirsting for a particular sin which you fancy - which could be sexual indulgence or a desire to accumulate wealth? Remember: our Lord Jesus alone is the Paradise of your soul - He is your soul's Bread and Water (John 6:35), your soul's Shepherd and Life (John 10:11), and your soul's Friend and Groom (John 11:25). Our Lord Jesus is beautiful and sweet. You cannot know Him unless you experience Him. If you do not know Him, you are incapable of loving Him, and if you are unable to love Him, then how can you live with Him, and through Him? For this reason, I cry to Him openly: "O Lord, reveal Yourself unto me. I desire to know You, since I wish to love You." In your pleading cries to Him, never assume that He is outside you or distant from you. Rather, He is within you, and closer to you than your own soul. If you seek to experience our Lord Jesus, pour out your heart candidly to Him, saying, "My Lord, I desire to love You, even though I do not wish to sacrifice anything for the sake of Your love, I choose to read erotic stories over Your Book, I delight in the company of evildoers while I drag my feet to stand before You, I prefer to visit my relatives over being in Your house. My Lord, enable me to love You." Saint Augustine was frank - he repeated similar, and stronger, words, and the Lord did not abandon him... This book discusses the following topics: Chastity in the positive sense, practical steps in a life of purity, the incarnate God and the life of purity, spirituality and withdrawnness, Christian youth and patriotism, the academic life of a young Christian Also it answers these questions: What is love? How can I free myself from lustful love?