A young woman burning with hunger and thirst for God said, Father, Scripture says that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23.) I beg you therefore, teach me how to destroy the very root of sin. Now, because the Father hated wasting time, he Gazed steadily into her eyeballs and spoke, you ask me dear child to teach you the greatest science in the world—the road to eternal union with the Omnipotent God.

1. SEE LYING TONGUE Page 9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES
Venerable Louis of Granada, The Sinner’s Guide Especially Chapters the chapters on the deadly
sins, the firm resolution and chapters 7,8,9,10
St Thomas Aquinas, as cited by various authors
St Catharine of Sienna, The Dialogue
St Alphonsus Ligouri, Preparation for death, The True Spouse of Christ, The Duties and Dignity of the
Priesthood, The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, Uniformity With the Will of God, and other
writings.
The conferences of Cassian
Thomas a kempis The imitation of Christ
Sister Josefa Menendez The Way of Divine Love
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat
St John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt Carmel, Living Flame of Love
St Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
If all the water in the world became one sea; oh, what a mighty sea it would be. And if all the men in the
world became one man, oh, what a mighty man he would be. And if all the trees in the world became one
tree; oh, what a mighty tree it it would be. And if all the axes in the world became one axe; oh, what a
mighty battle axe it would be. And if that one man took that one mighty axe, and cut down that one mighty
tree. And if that one mighty tree fell into that one great see. . . Oh what a mighty splash there would be.
The tree is the entire body of sin, the axe is grace and the sacraments, the sea is the time given us,
the man, is you and me.
This hand out is composed for the person who is determined to live a holy life as the saints did. It
will bring consolation for the person walking the “narrow road” that is the way of the Cross.
THE MISSION OF THIS BOOK immortales

2. A young woman burning with hunger and thirst for God said, Father, Scripture says that the wages of sin is
death (Rom 6:23.) I beg you therefore, teach me how to destroy the very root of sin. Now, because the Father hated
wasting time, he Gazed steadily into her eyeballs and spoke, you ask me dear child to teach you the greatest
science in the world—the road to eternal union with the Omnipotent God. Do you know you are looking for the
greatest treasure in all the world? Therefore, give me three good reasons why you ask it of me, and I will not delay to
teach you. She began, first, my soul is immortal (will never die) but sin will separate me from God for ever in the
fires that cannot be quenched (Mk 9:43-48). Second, the only thing that can ever connect me with the devil is sin;
and sin truly makes me a partner with the evil one (Wisdom 2:24). Third, I have come to know that sin is a thief.
My sins promised to give me pleasure, happiness, wealth, position, favour, comfort and power, but each time I
sinned I realized that sin is only a deceiver stealing peace, the friendship of God and every good thing from my poor
soul (John 10:10).
“It is not flesh and blood that revealed this to you”, said the priest, “but the Spirit of God. Therefore
we shall begin. However, since you said rightly that your soul shall never die, I will give you a new name by
which I shall call you from now on.” “What name?” She asked. “Immortales” he said. And she responded:
“Truly, My name is Immortaless for my soul lives forever. So be it.”
“Immortales”, said the priest. “Today, I teach you a secret. All the sin in the world come from only
seven deadly roots!” “What does that mean?” she asked. “If all the sins in the world may be described as one
tree, that tree has only seven roots”, said the priest. “Therefore, whoever is able to find these seven deadly
roots and destroy them is free from the slavery of sin.” “Do not delay, Father”, she said. “Be quick to teach
me this great secret.”
For the second time, he gazed into her eyes. With a deep sigh, his face broke into a fatherly, gentle
and loving smile. Then he said, “when you find them (the seven roots of sin), Immortales, my child, you will
be on the road to union with God.”
Dear reader, in whose hands God alone has placed this book, if you have a longing, a thirsting, a
hunger for God (Ps 63:1) you are lucky to be holding this book. If you have a burning desire to see the God
who made you face to face (Rev 22:4-5), then rejoice (even if you have been a sinner of habit) for it was to a
valley of very dry bones that the oracle of the Lord came (Ezekiel 37:2). Henceforth, therefore, I will call you
Immortales, for your soul can never die.
INTRODUCTION: The tree of Sin and its seven deadly roots (grave diggers)
If all the sins a person can commit is described as a single tree, this mighty tree of sin has only seven
roots, says Venerable Louis Granada (16th
century Dominican). The soul which is able to find and
destroy these seven deadly roots will be free from the slavery of sin. This was the firm belief of the
saints and the Desert Fathers (as Cassian records). Remember the words of the Master: whoever sins
is a slave (Jn 8:34).
Listen carefully Immortales. This mighty tree we may also call (false) self-love. Self-love is the
enemy of love of God from which all sins come. Each time you committed a sin, it was because you
chose what you wanted instead of what God wanted. A saint is a person who loves God more than

3. himself in all things (that is in thought, word deed and action); and does the will of God in all things.
Obedience is doing the will of God; disobedience is doing our will or the devil’s. To obey is to say you
love the one you obey; to disobey is precisely to say you love yourself or something else more than
God. Jesus tells us in John: The Father loves me because I obey Him (I lay down my life for my sheep!”
Therefore, Immortales, you must learn at once that to root out self love is the same thing as to root out
the seven deadly roots of sin.
What are the Seven deadly roots of the tree of sin? Louis of Granada calls them the mighty giants
which prevent our entry into Heaven. These are the seven vices or capital sins. Foulton Sheen calls
them the seven pall bearers (coffin carriers) of the soul. But because of the way they operate in
everyday life, we shall call them the seven grave diggers of the soul, or better still, the seven prisons
of the soul. In the Chronicles of the Leper King they are called the “seven soul killers”. 1 John 2:16
(KJV) gives us three sons of self-love: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
These are love of pleasure, love of riches, and love of honours. Love of pleasure produces three
deadly roots, lust, gluttony and sloth. Love of riches produces covetousness or greedy. Love of
honours produces pride. That root of sin we call anger (and hatred) is produced when something
prevents us from satisfying self-love. The root of sin called envy or jealousy grows into the soul
when we see others with something self-love wants to claim. These then are the seven deadly roots
of sin, the seven capital sins, the seven pall bearers (coffin carriers) or for operational reasons, the
seven grave diggers of the soul: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, envy or jealousy, and sloth. Louis of
Granada warns, “we must violently attack these mighty giants who prevent our entrance into the
Heaven.”
These then are the mighty deadly and rebellious seven and what they mean: pride (false love of
honour, excellence, etc), covetousness or greed (love of money and material things), lust (wrong
desire for sexual pleasure), anger and hatred (feeling of bitterness against a person and love of
revenge), jealousy or envy (feeling of sadness or sense of loss when something good happens to a
person), sloth (unwillingness to do our duty) and gluttony (a wrong love of drinking and eating).
They are the seven killers of the soul. The killers described by the Lord and Master in Mt 8:14
(parable of the sower) as thorns which strangle (choke) the tree of life, sucking it dry until it is dead
and useful only as firewood (gathered and burnt up). By filling the soul with the poison of self-love
( just as the snake poisons a body), they slowly kill the love of God in the soul. Accordingly a
contemplative has called them the “seven soul killers.”
Sadly, this handout deals with only pride, jealousy, anger and lust; covetousness, sloth and gluttony
are left out. This will be included in the book however.
BECAUSE THESE ROOTS OF SIN ARE HABITS, THEY ARE ESPECIALLY DEADLY

4. Each root of sin is a habit; that is why they are called the seven vices. St Thomas Aquinas teaches
correctly that a vice is a bad habit in operation (negative operational habit); and a virtue is a good
habit in operation (positive operational habit). The soldier of Christ (the combatant spirit) is the
person who without tiring, and without rest works hard to root out the vices and to plant the
virtues at the same time. The seven virtues which battle against the deadly roots of sin are, humility
(poison of pride), generosity or liberality (killer of covetousness or greed), chastity (destroyer of
lust), meekness (killer of anger), brotherly love (enemy of jealousy), diligence or hard work (enemy
of sloth), and temperance or control (destroyer of gluttony).
It is important to note that fasting, abstinence, works of self-denial are also very important and
strengthen the will in dealing with the vices.
THE METHOD OF THIS WORK
In uprooting the roots of sin, we shall use the method of the doctor. Treating each deadly root of
sin as a disease, we shall diagnose (describe, and say what it is and how it kills the soul); Next, in the
style of Venerable Louis of Granada (in his work “The Sinner’s Guide”, Chapters 30-38) we shall
provide the medicine or remedies just as the doctor does.
The mighty tree spoken of earlier is the tree of vice or sin. The man is you, Immortal. The axe is
virtue. The sea is the time given us in this life—in which we must bring down the tree of (the slavery
of) sin. We begin now with pride.
PRIDE
"The Devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked."
- St. Thomas More, 16th Century
"God is stern in dealing with the arrogant, but to the humble He shows kindness."
- Proverbs 3:34
"Hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to the love of God ..."
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2094
Overweening pride, arrogance, haughtiness: these have been the stuff of tragedy. Vanity, fussiness,
delicacy: the stuff of comedy. These are all forms of self-delusion, and paper-thin masks over rotting
features. Pride and vanity refuse the truth about who we are and substitute illusions for reality.
While vanity is mostly concerned with appearance, pride is based in a real desire to be God, at least
in one's own circle.
The first requirement of pride is spiritual blindness. Any glimpse of God reveals our frailty and
sinfulness, just as a well-lit bathroom mirror shows the flaws in our complexion. Like Oedipus, we
are driven to gouge out our eyes at the sight of our wretchedness and wander away from our

5. heavenly home, with no purpose or direction. Unlike Oedipus, we build up myriad illusions about
who we are and what we are about. We can busy ourselves with career, family and even church
work, thinking we are being driven by a strong work ethic, moral values or the fire of the Holy
Spirit. In reality, we may be running away from God by running away from ourselves. Nearly
everyone else can see that we are putting on a show, but not us. Our coworkers may hate us (they
are just jealous), our children may self-destruct or leave us (they are ungrateful), and we may never
truly pray but merely stand in the presence of a god we have created, but we still refuse to see.
The secret road, the secret ladder, the secret door to the Garden of Eden and indeed d road of the devil
to the heart of the human person
We come now to the first root of sin or grave digger of the soul, which is pride.
For the sake of caution, dear Immortales, we must say at once that pride is a proper gate of Hell.
This is because until the devil and countless angels fell through pride, Hell was empty. Accordingly
the Leper King has concluded that it was pride that opened the gates of Hell.
The terror and dreadfulness of pride should make you fly from it. Meditate on these truths: Pride
changed the home of the angels from Heaven to Hell forever; Pride changed them from wonderful,
great and brilliant creatures of light to ugly and wicked demons; Pride robbed them totally of light
and glory. Reflect says the Venerable Louis of Granada the prince of heavenly spirits becomes the
chief of devils because of his pride. His beauty and glory are changed into ugliness and shame. This
makes the prophet to cry: How have you fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How have you been cut down to the ground. . . For you have said in your heart, I will
ascend into heaven, I will lift up my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit also above
the congregation. . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most
High (Isaiah 14:12 ff). Thomas a Kempis asks: “If pride brought so great a destruction to Lucifer
and the angels who once looked upon Almighty God face to face, why do you think it will fail to
bring you who are only a human to total destruction.”
The devil told Adam and Eve that they would become like God if they disobeyed. They
drank the devil’s poison; they swelled up with pride; they stretched their hands’; they took the fruit.
They did not become like God. Their pride opened the gate of suffering, sorrow, pain, death, loss and
every evil under the sun. Consider the terrible effects of their pride: They exchanged the friendship
of God for the friendship of the devil. They lost the comfort of the Garden of Eden (the earthly
paradise) and embraced the harshness and difficulties of a life of hard labour. Giving up the gift of
life, they embraced death (the wages of sin is death– Rom 6:23). Carrying the pregnancy of pride (in
its full term), Cain gave birth to that jealousy which gave him the diabolical rage (anger) which
strengthened his arm to kill his brother.

6. Pride is a wrong (inordinate, disordered, false) love of, excellence, perfection, glory,
popularity, etc. Scripture gives it first place by identifying it as the source of all destruction
(Tobit 4:14). Louis of Granada call it “the most powerful of our enemies.” It is the most terrible
example of self-love. Like the witch king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgul, the captain of the nine
in JRR Tolkien’s celebrated The Lord of the Rings, pride is the rebel captain and lord of the seven
deadly sins, according to cassian and other spiritual writers. It grows out of a false knowledge of
God and self.
If you look in the dictionary of pride, you will find only three words: me, myself, I. The spirit
of pride will always ask others: “Do you know who I am?”
Pride is the dividing spirit per excellence. The Greek name for the devil is Diabolos. This
means the one who divides. Pride always produces the pattern of the diabolos. What does this mean?
Right after the first act of pride in the Garden of Eden, Adam was already divided against Eve
when he Blamed Eve for his sin (cf Gen 3:12). He attacked the same woman he had called “bone of
my bone; flesh of my flesh” (cf Gen 2:23). Pride divided Adam and God, Adam and Eve, Adam and
creation (Genesis 3:17 indicates that from then material hardship and suffering, sickness would come
to him from creation), and indeed it divided Adam against himself.
Another requirement of pride, indeed a symptom, is that each challenge to our pride drives us
harder to improve our illusion of productivity, sanctity or compassion. It has been said that the
definition of a zealot is "one who has lost sight of his goal, and so redoubles his efforts." We might
say the zealot works twice as hard to keep up appearances.
When we hear sermons about pride, or read this text, we may be tempted to think of all the people
we know who really need to read it. We need to read it. Pride is about us, and we would love to
retain our illusions by pointing to others, saying: "But they are very proud. I really don't think I'm
that great, but they do."
The best pride detector is this: how much are we bothered by the pride of others? And if we feel
attacked, is our response: "other people are worse."
A strong indicator of pride is competitiveness. There is nothing wrong with playing to win, provided
the joy is in the playing. If our happiness depends on defeating others or knowing our child is the
star of the team, we are building a world of illusion.
At death, all illusions are stripped away. God's judgment will not take into account our bank
balance, how much we own, how smart our children are or how much self-esteem we have. All that
will matter is whether He recognizes us (Matthew 25:12).
Immortales, I am sure that after all of these you are very sure that you not proud—that pride
cannot be found in you since it is such a fearful thing. You can be sure however that you are totally

7. wrong. It is very difficult to discover pride—it does not have a litmus test. Make no mistake about
it, if you begin to know that you are proud, then God has given you a great gift! St Augustine says it
is a stealth (secret) factor which sneaks in and destroys our good works and robbing us of our
reward.
However, since we have decided to proceed like a doctor, dear Immortal, we shall run a test by
means of the following questions. Upon the results the diagnosis shall be clear and indubitable.
Afterwards we shall provide some necessary medicine. Do not be afraid therefore to meditate on
these questions in all honesty for they will show to you a true picture of your soul so that you may
know with clarity exactly who you are.
*Am I the most important person around? Do I see myself as better than others? (This is a signal of
pride, and the fountainhead or source of all its sicknesses!)
THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE IS ASHAMED OF THE TRUTH THEREFORE, Pride
NECESSARILY gives birth to a lying spirit or attitude
Analysis of the lying spirit needed
*Am I ashamed to tell the truth about myself, family, situation?
*Do I lie about my position, kind of job, salary, status?
*Do I claim to have achieved or done things I haven’t done—do I claim to own what is not mine?
*Have I lied just to appear good before my friends, family, colleagues?
*Have I stolen just because I want to appear good?
*Did I have that abortion just because of the shame the shame the pregnancy would cause me.
*Did I command my daughter to have that abortion just because her pregnancy would bring me
shame.
Pride is a rebel captain, disobedient and bowing to no one
*Am I disobedient? (pride usually does not obey), when the spirit of pride obeys it is because of the
greater status of pride that will come as a benefit.
*Do I take correction? Do I become angry when corrected? Do I think that those who correct me do
not like me? (The spirit of pride does not enjoy correction).

8. *Am I always right? (spirit of pride is blind to its own faults)
*In my family, do I dictate or do I listen. Do I involve my wife, husband, children in decision
making?
PRIDE ENJOYS FLATTERY. The wine of pride is flattery according to the Leper King
*Am I disturbed or afraid when somebody tells me the truth about myself? Do I see those who
advise me as enemies? Do I gather around myself people who tell me only those things I want to
hear.
*Do I see everybody who criticizes me (or offers my work critique) as an enemy?
*Would I take extra trouble just to appear great or exalted in the eyes of others?
PRIDE IS VAIN GLORY AND AMBITION
*I enjoy talking about myself a great deal. I am quick to recall my achievements before others.
*I enjoy talking about the sins, failings and shortcomings of others, but slow to admit mine.
*When I have donated the most and worked the hardest but am not appreciated or recognized on
prize giving day, do I become sad and lose my peace of mind? (Do I remember that God alone gives
perfect reward or that Jesus was not recognized but crucified?)
*Must I be first at all cost? Do I become sad or loose my peace when I am not given first place. Or
when somebody else is at the centre of attraction?
*Must I win the election at all cost? Am I only happy when I am Choirmaster?
*Is it only at the time of election that I remember and spread all the bad news about my fellow
contestants?
*Do I believe that without me nothing will work?
THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE HAS NEVER BEEN A FORGIVING OR FORGETTING SPIRIT
*Am I able to forgive—does the remembrance of the command to forgive bring me pain. *Am I
ready to forget offences, wrongs, injuries done to me. (Beware! When the spirit of pride is wounded,
it never forgets!). vindictive
*When I am insulted; when somebody has lied against me; when my reputation is at stake, do I
quickly fly into anger?

9. ALWAYS RIGHT
The spirit of pride is always right. After Adam ate the fruit, God questioned him. Adam blamed Eve
for his action when he said: “it was the woman you put with me”.
*Am I able to receive and accept correction? Beware! When the spirit of pride is at work in us it is
very difficult to take correction. We feel insulted, underrated, unappreciated and misunderstood at
such a time.
*I must always have the last word in an argument, discussion, etc. This is a sure and true test for
pride. The argument or discussion must always be closed with my words.
*When I fail, do I blame myself (accept responsibility) or do I try to blame my wife, husband, child,
colleague, boss, employee. Do I blame other people for my sins?
*When I fall into sin, do I blame God? Do I accuse God of abandoning me, or do I try to see how I
alone (not anybody else) am responsible for my failure?
*when I go to confession, do I find it difficult to confess my sins—do I go an extra mile to justify my
sins?
*When last did I apologise? Do I have the humility to admit I am wrong by apologising to my wife,
child, employee, employer? (when the poison of pride enters between wife and husband all is lost!).
note that since the beginning of creation the spirit of pride has never produced a single act of
apology. When the person of pride is forced to apologize his anger increases with his apologising.
*After a quarrel or misunderstanding, do I always wait for the other person to start the
reconciliation? Do I keep malice?
*It is clear therefore that from pride alone a multitude of sins flow: anger, malice, quarrels, lies,
scandals, jealousy, abortion, even lust and acts of rape. Rightly then has somebody described pride
as the network manager of the seven vices.
It is at the grave that the battle against pride usually ends (In fact the entire spiritual combat of our
life). Pride attacks even the most vigilant of souls. Why? Because pride may come even from what is
most natural: our natural gifts, beauty and bodily grace, eloquence, spiritual gifts (healing,
preaching, charity), talents, our well earned achievements, social class, etc. However we must keep
before the eye of our soul that these are all vanities which we will have to leave behind in the grave.
Next we must consider that because all our gifts belong to God, we rob Him of His glory in every act
of pride! I will not speak more since St Frances de Sales in his Introduction to the Devout Life,
Chapter in the chapters on pride deals with these things in greater and richer detail and clarity.

10. It must be said that it is a very difficult thing to find living upon earth, a single person who is not
guilty of pride in one way or another; in a smaller or bigger measure. The saints had to deal with it
all the way. What is most important? The most vital thing is the ability to detect this powerful
enemy and to uproot it before it develops a taproot from day to day, moment to moment, at work,
at play, at home, etc.
Having done our diagnosis, Immortal, you know (1) exactly where you stand (2) that you are not
free from pride, unless the devil has plucked out the eye of your soul (3) the particular area where
you have to sit up and work. Since to know the sickness and not to have the medicine or remedy is
not much help, we must proceed without delay to provide medicine (or remedies) for pride. These
will come in form of reflections, or meditation seeds. This will be the most important part of our
work.
MEDICINE OR REMEDIES FOR PRIDE
Golden Rule Without a mistake, Immortales dear, the ordinary road by which God teaches us
humility is by allowing humiliations to come our way! Without humiliations we cannot become
humble. Therefore, with the Cure of Ars, let us embrace humiliations with thanksgiving to God
when they come our way. Let the truth not depart from your mind that the weightlifter cannot
become perfect unless he actually lifts heavy weights. The heavier he is able to lift the more
powerful he is—in like manner the greater humiliations we are able to bear the humbler we truly
are.
Heaven has never tolerated pride. The proud angels could not hold their place in Heaven but were
thrown (cast) out (Rev 12:9). No proud person enters the Eternal Humble Gate (i.e. the gate of
Heaven). Indeed the Almighty God swore that the proud shall crawl on their belly and eat dust (cf
Gen 3:14). In the Song of Mary (the Magnificat), Our Lady declares that God, showing forth the
strength of His arm scatters the proud of heart (Luke 1:51).
1. Be grateful to anyone and everyone. Treat even the things people are expected to do as great
gifts. Be grateful for your food, your change at Burger King, rain, life itself. Thank everyone.
2. Beg forgiveness of God for the sin of Pride. Go before Him in prayer every day or every few
hours and implore His mercy. The more this offends you, the more Pride you have.
3. Ask God for a spirit of Humility and Gratitude. Read Philippians 2:3-11 and imitate it.
Understand that without God's Grace, we will never cast away our illusions. Ask God to
break your pride and vanity using whatever it takes: illness, loss of friends, loss of family,
public humiliation. This is unbelievably difficult to request, and every fiber of our being
fights it. We protest it is not fair, or "God doesn't work that way." My friend, what good is
health, friends, family, a good reputation, if you have no real love for God, but only a hollow
illusion? In the end, all but true love for God is lost, so count all else but God as loss now.

11. The Golden medicine (remedy): without humility it is morally impossible to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.
Our Lord does not want us to make a mistake about this. Setting a little child in front of them He
gave a solemn warning: I tell you solemnly, unless you convert and become as little children,
you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 18:3-4). Hence it is correct to
say that humility is the gate of heaven.
The “mind of Christ” is humility; the mind of the Devil is pride! Let the mind of Christ be in you (Phil
2:5). If there is a “mind of Christ”, then there is also a mind of the devil. We are warned that it
should be the mind of Christ in us not the mind of the devil. Philippians 2:6-11 goes on to tell us
that the mind of Christ is humility (meditate on verse 8). The instruction of the Most High is to be
trifled with: Learn of Me for I am meek and humble (lowly) in heart (Matt 11:29). The Master
says with His own mouth that His mind is humility. The Saintly Josefa Menendez understands this
when she says in The Way of Divine Love that the least words of Our Lord must be treasured for
they give us “the mind of Christ”.
CONVERT THE FOLLOWING TO PERSONAL QUESTION FORM
What is the fate of the proud? God will scatter them as much as He scattered Lucifer and the rebel
angels: “He puts forth His arm in strength and scatters the proud hearted” (Luke 1:51)
What is the proud man to the Lord? He is an abomination according to the text of Proverbs:
“Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord. . . he will not go unpunished” (Prov 16:5). For
this reason St Alphonsus concludes that the proud are objects hatred and abomination before God!
The proud man is a robber, says St Alphonsus, because he claims for himself what rightly belongs to
God according to the text: “what have you that you have not received?” (1 Cor 6:7). On this
account also the proud man is a liar! For scripture says: “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1
Cor 15:10).

12. The proud are far from God for scripture says: “. . . He has respect for the lowly (humble), but the
proud He knows from afar” (Psalm 138:6)
If you will be perfect
The mind of “Christ” Same mind of Mary and the saints. Mary did not say that God had seen her
beauty, chastity, purity, etc., she said rather that because God had seen her humility (nothingness,
lowliness) all generations shall call her blessed (Lk 1:48). The mind of Mary was also that of Christ
which is humility and which also is the same mind of the saints. Indeed it was by humility that
Mary crushed the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15)
Our Lady and the saints we must constantly reflect on the humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
the saints if we are to conquer pride.
Seeds of meditation
Pride is the devil’s greatest weapon against the soul. It is the secret door through which the devil
enters in. Through this hidden door, he entered the garden of Eden and robbed our first parents
Adam and Eve. With the battleaxe of pride, Lucifer becomes efficient at cutting a soul down. The
demons cannot and do not carry a soul containing true humility to Hell. God has not given them
such power, for truly, God Himself is ever in such a soul.
*Prayer is the power: The remedy against every vice begins in prayer. Prayer indeed is the greatest
medicine because by it we receive all grace from God. Did not the Master say: “Ask and you shall
receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you?” (Matt 7:21). For what then
must you pray? Two things: the grace to discover (every motion of) pride and to destroy it with
humility. Humility is the one battleaxe that is most powerful in destroying the beast called pride
—it is the ultimate weapon. The ancient serpent fears the humble spirit even as he fears God, for
the spirit of humility is the spirit of God. Therefore, if you will wrestle and throw down Lucifer, you
must never tire in humility. By pride Lucifer fell; by Humility Mary became the Mother of God!
Every act of pride increases pride and destroys humility simultaneously. Every act of humility
increases humility and destroys pride. The two are enemies (opposed) just as light and darkness are
enemies. One is the spirit of God, the other is not.

13. *Pride is not the spirit of God: Above all else dear, you must make it your prime duty to remember
whenever the beast of pride attacks you that the spirit of pride has never been the spirit of God. It is
a spirit belonging to the devil, Hell and demons. The Leper Prince used to rebuke himself: Since
the creation of the world, no action of pride has been an action of God.
*Pride creates a devil: If all else fail, arm yourself with the words of St Augustine: “Humility makes
men angels, and pride makes devils.” At such times the leper prince used to rebuke himself thus:
“my pride will surely make me a devil. Indeed in Heaven there is not a single proud
person!”
*Pride is a gate of hell: When pride attacks you, remember that it was the pride of Lucifer and the
angels that opened the gate of hell. If pride brought these great spirits who once saw God eye to eye
to such a miserable end, how do I think that it will fail to destroy me. On the other hand he gives
grace to the humble (James 4:6)
*The devil is the guide in every act of pride. In much the same way the “mind of Christ” (Eph 2:5) is
the guide of a person in every act of humility.
*Every proud man, the Holy Spirit says, is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 26:5).
*Almighty God has confessed that he rejects the proud (James 4:6) and Mary confirms that He
scatters the proud hearted Luke 1:51): Because pride is foul, leprous, stinking and odious to God, the
person of pride is also destined to be rejected by God forever. Meditate therefore that pride is an
ultimate robber.
*Humility is the gate of Heaven: The Lord and Master of life makes it clear to us that humility is a
Heaven: “unless you convert and humble yourself like a little child, you will never enter the gate of
Heaven!” Matt 18:3
I am not better than my neighbour, by grace i am what i am (1 Cor 15:10)
PRACTICAL REMEDIES AGAINST PRIDE
1 take a smaller chair* Be the last to sit down* Offer somebody else* Offer somebody else the
responsorial psalm

14. SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THE LYING TONGUE
If the head of the coin is pride, the tail will be the lying spirit. According to the leper king, just as
water continually pours out of the broken bucket until it is totally empty, so too, lies continually
pour out of the proud soul until all its life energy is spent at the border of the grave. Death alone
brings an end to the temporal sickness.
The lying tongue is a proper spirit of hell. The lying tongue is totally opposed to God because
God is the very Truth (who can neither deceive nor be deceived, as the “Penny Catechism” says). It
is a prime evil because it stands at enmity with God. Just as the light and darkness are enemies, so
too the lie is enemy of truth. In the primeval combat (battle) Adam in choosing the lie of the devil
rejected the truth of God. The result was an incalculable degree of destruction. And Truth said to
the Leper King, “when Adam believed the devil’s lie, he began his procession to the grave!”.
Whatever remains in truth cannot be lost. The being of every creature is made and sustained
by truth. A prime truth of the mobile phone is that it must not enter water. To put it in water is to
lie about its being, in which case the phone will be destroyed, becoming thrash. When Adam stayed
in truth, his being was preserved. It is impossible for a thing whatsoever to remain in the centre of
its truth and be lost. The person who makes a firm resolution never to lie and keeps it destroys as it
were a countless host of demons!
Without a mistake, pride will make a person a devil in the end for every action of pride is also an
action of the devil according to kind. Since the creation of the world, it is clear that God has never
performed a single action of pride.. Hence the saying: “As bees create honey, so pride creates a
devil!” This is a specific character of pride. The warning is clear in scripture that God resists the
proud (James 4:6).
* immortal, is it not true that humility makes us look more and more like Christ; in the same way,
pride makes us look more and more like the devil.
JEALOUSY:
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
- Proverbs 14:30
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
- James 3:16
The first thief is that darkened and wicked spirit called Lucifer, the dragon, the primeval serpent or
the deceiver of the whole world (cf Rev 12:9). Fired by jealousy when he saw the beauty of the
Garden of Eden and the future glory of mankind, he sneaked and with a lying tongue robbed our

15. first parents. The Master points him out to us as the thief, the killer and the destroyer (cf John
10:10).
Therefore, the root of jealousy is in Hell (jealousy takes its root from Hell). The Fathers of the
Desert and the saints have called it a vice belonging to devils and an abomination in a human heart!
When possessed of jealousy, a person does not fail to produce an act of the devil, some killing, some
character assassination by gossip, some stealing and destroying, in a lesser or greater degree or
amount.
Notice at once Immortales that the evil one knows that he cannot make us like himself unless we
become jealous. Therefore he works sleeplessly to infect us with this poison of Hell.
When pride and jealousy lie together in one bed, they give birth to a monster called gossip or
backbiting. This spirit is a terribly destructive spirit. Detraction raillery, slander.
DICTIONARY OF JEALOUSY: the dictionary of jealousy contains only other people and their
achievements with nothing about self. The only records it keeps about self are pages of low self-
esteem and smallness.
The spirit of jealousy is happy when something evil or bad is happening
Jealousy in the mind of a human person is the poison of Lucifer reaching out to destroy a person just
as the jealousy of the serpent in the garden brought down from friendship to enmity with God.
Venerable Louis of Granada in introduction to the thirty-third chapter of his book, The Sinner’s
Guide, says
Envy or jealousy consists in grieving (sadness) at another’s good or repining at another’s happiness.
The envious man looks with hatred upon his superiors who excel him, upon his equals who compete
with him, upon his inferiors who strive to equal him.
The great sign (indicator) of jealousy is that the person feeling jealousy will be sad when something
good happens to his neighbour; or would be happy when something bad happens to his neighbour.
On this account the saints have called jealousy a special vice of demons. The jealous person is
usually afraid that something good will happen to his neighbour. Thus fear always grows out of
jealousy as the stem grows out of the root.
effects
What is Jealousy (a definition): When the soul killer called jealousy attacks a person, it is observed
as a constantly disturbing, bitter and unhappy feeling (in a lesser or greater degree, constant or
occasional) because something good has, is happening, or will happen to neighbour including, good
luck, possessions or wealth, position or power, advantage, beauty, talents, natural gifts, etc. An
attack of jealousy is like a bad fever. Sometimes the person suffering its attack may find it difficult
to enjoy any sleep because of a disturbing restlessness.

16. A sad effect is that it jealousy blinds the soul and distorts judgment. Working like cataracts work in
the eye lens, jealousy darkens of blinds the mind. It prevents a person from knowing or admitting
the truth. Jealousy makes a person see evil as good and mistaken good for evil.
The symbol of jealousy
The snake is used to represent jealousy. This is because jealousy is a stealth (secret) factor. As the
snake hides under the green grass, so too, jealousy hides away in the heart of the sinner, unseen and
unknown by the innocent victim until he receives the morals and deadly bite. Sometimes the snake
of jealousy grows in the heart of the host for one, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years or for a whole
lifetime. Oh! What a terrible thing to find in a soul!
Who can feel jealousy?
On account of fallen nature, we commonly feel jealousy from time to time, for one reason or
another, in a small amount or big amount. The only thing totally incapable of feeling jealousy is a
corpse in the mortuary. The saint therefore, is the one who knows how to recognize and deal with it.
Such a person may enjoy the possibility of being free from the bitter poison of jealousy.
Jealousy is found in the family, between brother and sister, father and son, daughter and mother,
etc. Those who come from polygamous homes are more familiar with its destructive effects. The
jealousy of Cain against Abel is a good example. Jealousy between brothers and sisters may last for
many years until death settles the matter. It is found at work, in the market place. It is found in the
Church. Even the Apostles were not free from it (before the resurrection) when John and James
asked Jesus to promise that they would sit one at the right and the other at his left in His kingdom.
This request started an argument amongst the twelve.
Who is the victim of jealousy?
According to Venerable Louis of Granada, the poison of jealousy or envy is directed towards three
kinds of people, namely, those superior to us, those who are our equals and those below us. First, a
person may be jealous of those he thinks are better off than himself or those placed over him.
Second, people are envious of their equals who are in completion with them, or because of the fear
that they may be promoted above themselves. Third, we may feel jealous of those below us when we
fear that they may someday equal us or become greater that ourselves.
Fear drives jealousy on
Fear quickly matures into jealousy! The devil is afraid of what man will become in the kingdom; and
that is why he is forever jealous of humanity. Immortales dear, it is important that you note at once
and, simultaneously without a mistake that that fear drives jealousy on. Just as darkness is never

17. found in the light, it is impossible for you to feel jealous without a fear. I challenge you to search
your heart deeply, then you will understand that if you are not afraid of somebody you can never
be jealous of her. For instance, no one is ever jealous of a street beggar, less a leper. Jealousy only
enters the heart of a woman when she becomes afraid that another woman will take her husband.
We are jealous of people when we are afraid that we cannot have what that person has, or what he is
capable of having.
What is the end of jealousy?
The end of jealousy is hatred! As the end of a woman’s pregnancy is the giving of birth, so too
jealousy, when it matures grows into that monster called Hatred, or at the least resentment. When
we fail to overcome those we are jealous of (or when they escape from us) we begin to hate, resent or
avoid them. Everything they do seems bad to us. It becomes very difficult for us to be pleased by
their actions. The story of David and King Saul is enough for our understanding of the point. The
envy of the Jews produced hatred against Jesus. The brothers of Joseph ended up hating him.
Cain’s jealousy matured into mortal hatred and diabolical rage. As they say that the idle man is the
devil’s workshop, it is true that the jealous mind is the devil’s incubator. In fact such a person is like a
host to a parasite.
In the Act of Jealousy who does a Person Resemble
The devil! In every act of jealousy a person resembles the devil and belongs to him. This is exactly
what the Holy Spirit says clearly in the verse where He warns us not to be like Cain, who belonged to
the devil and cut his brother’s throat (cf 1 John 3:12). On account of this fact the great St Augustine
has said, Almighty God, save not only Christians but all humanity from jealousy, for by this vice a person
resembles a devil. Every act of jealousy is something that the devil would have done himself.
How does Jealousy make person resemble the devil
Let us consider four reasons. (First, that it makes a person an enemy of the work of God, second
that it is entirely and without reservation destructive, and third that it brings the envious person no
profit or benefit, fourth, because it is a stealing spirit. But the stealing spirit is never the spirit of
God but the spirit of the devil according to John 10:10). Straightaway, the wise man says that by
envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of Wisdom 2:24.
Therefore it is impossible for us to be jealous and be on the side of God.

18. First, jealousy is a direct enemy of God because God is charity, and jealousy is a prime enemy of
charity. This means that if I am jealous, I am destroying the work of God in a person. Jealousy
usually attempts to tear down whatever good work God is doing in neighbour. This is exactly what
the devil did when he saw the good work God was doing in the life Adam and Eve, and the beauty of
the garden. He went and tried to destroy it. However, by attacking Adam and Eve, he was also
attacking God. It is clear therefore, Immortales that in this way Jealousy makes a person like a
devil. While God is building a person up, my jealousy is tearing down that building. On account of
jealousy being opposed to the charity or to God and His work, nearly all the acts of Jealousy are
mortal sins.
The story of David and King Saul who tried to tear down the beautiful work of God in the
life of David shows that King Saul who was formerly a friend of God had been transformed into a
monstrous enemy trying to swallow up the work of God in David by jealousy.
Second, because jealousy is utterly destructive, it makes a person resemble the devil.
Every act of Jealousy attempts destroys a work of God. Now, the Spirit of God is never destructive
spirit. On the other hand, without making a mistake, the spirit of jealousy is destructive—at least it
always has the capacity, ability, or the potency to destroy something good. This is the same thing
as to say that since the creation of the world no act of jealousy has brought about any good! When
it finds a home in person, the mind becomes a foul incubator where the devil breeds something
abominable. Such it was that from time to time like a foul river, the mind of King Saul produced
many evils against the good and innocent David; betrayal was in the heart of Judas; the Jews
prepared a cross and nails for the Redeemer.
Third, Because it Produces No Gain Jealousy Also Makes a Person Resemble a Devil
A notable author has said that if the devils in their furious anger and rage could drag Christ our
King and all those He has redeemed into the eternal fire of hell, they would not gain anything by it.
That is, it would not improve their lot. Not profit comes to the jealous person.
Consider the following meditations: When the Jews crucified Jesus because of their raging jealousy
(cf Mark 15:10), how much profit came to them? What profit came to Judas for betraying Jesus?
What gain came to Saul and the Jews when they stoned St Stephen to death? What profit came to
Cain the first murder of the human race? Jealousy therefore matures as a diabolic rage in a soul,
tearing and destroying for no profit. This is another reason for which it is called a vice of devils.
Fourth, Because it is a Stealing Spirit, Jealousy Renders a Person Like a Devil

19. We may say that according to the famous verse in John 10:10, the spirit of Jealousy is the spirit of
the thief the killer and the destroyer. The brothers of Joseph taught they could steal his favour with
Jacob by selling him into a foreign land. Cain believed he would enter into the favour of God when
Abel was no more. The Pharisees taught that with Jesus out of the way they would have his
popularity as the authority in the eyes of the people. When Shakespeare presents Julius Ceasar, he
is revealing the destructive malice in the heart of his friend Brutus and his cohort by which they
sought to steal for themselves his throne. Stealing, it does not carry away what was stolen
What is the Satisfaction of Envy?
The satisfaction of envy is a Diabolical Satisfaction. Envy satisfies devils in the same way that it
satisfies a human person. What does this mean? Envy is satisfied only when has destroyed or torn
something to pieces, or when it is able to prevent neighbour from enjoying what he himself does not
enjoy (often by destroying something). Lucifer wanted to make sure that Adam and Eve would not
enjoy the paradise that he had lost forever. Cain was satisfied when he saw his brother lying down
dead in cold blood. The Pharisees were only satisfied when the Saviour hung upon the Cross. This
character of envy unites a person with the demons, and makes a person a partner with the devil, the
primeval thief. According to the Leper King, a person of envy may also be called a devil.
According to the Leper Prince, in every act of envy, a human person and a devil, work hand
in hand (like the hand in the glove) to attempt some destruction of a work of God. He concludes
thus: “Indeed Jealousy unites a person to the devil first by intention and afterwards by action. ”
Is There Good Jealousy?
There is something which is a good or holy jealousy. This happens when we see something good in
neighbour, we admire it as good, love the person for it, thank God for it, and finally try to imitate or
better still emulate that thing in our neighbour for the glory of God and for our own good and
improvement. Such was the Holy jealousy that created the completion between St Basil the Great
and St Gregory Nazianzen that raised them to the beauty and height of sainthood. Each tried to
copy the good example and virtue of the other (even as students) only to give the first place to the
other. Holy jealousy or envy therefore is based upon the love of God and is entirely a holy and
blessed thing. On this account, the Leper Prince has cried out: “O that all men and women would
conceive this specie of jealousy!”
Having said so much, it would be difficult for us to confess that we are envious. To confess
and know the areas of envy in our life is a great work of the Mercy of God. However, an
examination of conscience based on the following questions will serve as a mirror for us and help us
know exactly where we stand. In the following examination you will observe that jealousy and pride
are often interwoven. In fact according to the leper prince, jealousy is the auxiliary (helper) of pride.
it is impossible to find jealousy without pride standing next to it. If I answer yes to the following

20. questions I can be sure without making a mistake that I have some jealousy from which I must
strive to free myself.
EQUALS
1 Do I think like this: I am successful only when I am able to equal my brother, sisters or
neighbour? In fact I am a failure if in any way I am not able to equal them, or to compete with
them. My neighbour is better than me or superior to me because he possess more than I do.
2 My sister’s children attend an expensive school. Do I lose my peace because my own children
attend a cheaper school? Though I do not have the money, must I go out of my way at any cost to
see that my children attend such a school?
3 When good news about opportunities come to me, do you try to hide it from family, friends,
colleagues, subordinates for fear someone else will benefit and make progress and become better
than myself?
4 Am I sometimes afraid that something good may happen to my equals who compete with me or
those of lesser rank than me?
5 Do I become uneasy when my colleagues (mates) rise above me by promotion, or when those
below my rank become my equals. At such times do I lose my peace?
6 Am I disturbed, vexed, or do I lose my peace because somebody is more beautiful or handsome
than myself?
7 Am I disturbed, vexed, or do I lose my peace because my brother of sister is a better singer or
speaker than myself?
8 My neighbour or member of my family has bought a new house. I am disturbed that it does not
belong to me. Do I wish it was mine? Am I able to look at him straight in the eyes and congratulate
him willingly and without an iota of pain or disturbance in my heart?
9 Am I in the habit of comparing myself to my neighbours, brothers or sisters, friends or colleagues?
Have I a habit of knowing exactly what possessions they have that I do not possess? Am I disturbed
that according to my calculation they have more than myself?
10 My neighbour or brothers’ daughter has received a new and important appointment or
promotion; what is my first reaction? Am I happy or have I mixed feelings?
11 Am I jealous of another’s spiritual gifts?
12 Do I hide the secret of my success without a good or positive reason? The secret of my success is
known to me alone. I am loved and praised for it. I am afraid to share it so that no one else will

21. enjoy the privilege because if I teach others, I may become less important or relevant. In fact there
is a chance that I will not be consulted anymore.
13 My neighbour or sister has a new dress so I must get one. They have a new car, I must get one
too. I have to be able to equal my neighbour in all things.
14 How do I react to family privileges?
15 Since I lost the election for Choirmaster, have I lost my peace. Am I at loggerheads with the new
Choirmaster?
16 My sister’s son studying abroad, therefore, mine must study abroad though have not the means
—a certain woman having sent her son abroad on such an occasion of jealousy, being unable to
sustain the fees ended up submitting her body to her rich friends who had asked for sex in order to
pay such fees.
Should we be jealous of the wicked, dishonest or the oppressor?
Though it is known to us that they have whatever they possess by stealing, lying or evil ways, we
are never to be jealous of them (in fact it is foolish to be jealous of them), what they deserve from us
is our pity and prayer because of the terrible punishment of God which awaits them on the day of
death when they (without a choice) are forced to leave the goods and opportunities of the poor they
have stolen behind at the border of the grave. About such, the Almighty God has said “Like sheep
they are driven to the grave where death shall be their shepherd” (Ps 49:14). Therefore, the person
who is jealous of the wicked or dishonest person is a big fool who is also in danger of losing his soul
on account of the defilement that envy will bring into his own soul.
REMEDIES FOR JEALOUSY
Much of what has been said will be sufficient to inspire a soul to give battle to the soul killer called
envy or jealousy. However following seeds of meditation and practical remedies will prove useful
against this deadly vice whose symbol is the snake or serpent.
Since the Lord and Master has said, “without me you can do nothing”, the first remedy is
prayer. The Lord has also said, “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the
door shall be opened to you” (Matt 7:21). Accordingly that remedy which does not begin in prayer
cannot succeed.” Consider also Mk 11:24, and the story of the widow and the unjust judge in Lk
18:1-8.
By envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of
Wisdom 2:24

22. *Every Christian must cast out this spirit of Lucifer! Therefore, the pilgrim soul must arm his or
herself with the truth that since the creation of the world, never has the spirit of envy or jealousy
been the spirit of God. If each person is a Temple of God (1 Cor 3:16-17) then we must cast out this
Arch spirit or vice of demons and Hell.
By jealousy I do not resemble God in whose image and likeness I was made (cf Gen 1:26); in
fact, envy makes me resemble the devils.
*By envy we both imitate the devil and are on his side says the wise man in the Book of Wisdom
2:24
We must arm ourselves with the meditation that jealousy is always an enemy of God. By jealousy a
person becomes an enemy of God—the jealous person is an enemy of God. Every good work in a
person is the work of God. While God is building in a person, jealousy is tearing down. Remember
above all else that God is Charity or love (1 Jn 4:16) and jealousy is directly opposed to charity.
*Jealousy creates an inferiority complex. No one is jealous of a beggar or leper. If we are
jealous of a person (it does not matter if we are king or pope) we are automatically below that
person. The jealousy of Cain placed him below Abel. Though Saul was king of Israel his jealousy
made him inferior to David who was only a servant boy. The jealousy of the Pharisees placed them
below the feet of the Jesus they sought to destroy.
*When I am jealous, my soul is blind! Jealousy blinds the eye of our soul and darkens the
light of understanding. What does this mean? When we are jealous of a person, it is difficult to
know, admit or accept the truth about that person. We become suspicious of the good actions of
that person. It becomes impossible to judge their actions (less their intentions) properly. In the
meantime we condemn them to incalculable and inexpressible suffering. Reflect that the victims of
our jealousy are often powerless to change our dangerous and simultaneously destructive opinions.
*While the spirit of jealousy is at work in me it is impossible for me to grow. Jealousy blinds my soul
to the natural and spiritual gifts that God has given me. Instead of looking inward and developing
these gifts, I will often be abroad wishing that the natural and supernatural gifts of others belong to
me.
The network of jealousy
Jealousy is entirely beastly. It is a sub-network manger (under pride) of many sins and vices.
Jealousy breeds lying, anger, hatred, theft, fornication, blackmail, lust, abortion, etc. When Mrs
Pecunia became jealous of her neighbours new car, she gave in to the sexual advances of her boss so
as to get some extra money to buy herself such a car. In the meantime she told her husband a
network of lies to explain her lateness at the office. Eventually she got pregnant for her boss while
her husband was on transfer. She decided to hide the whole issue by having an abortion. Fate was

23. not so kind to her when on account of a complication she bled to death. Accordingly the Ascetic
Scholar cried out: “Oh jealousy, eldest daughter of pride, O accursed envy which robs a person of all
good; which changes a person from the likeness of God into the likeness of a devil!”
Not one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of the primeval (first) thief who
driven by jealousy robbed our first parents Adam and Eve.
Practical Remedies
If I am gossiping or backbiting it is because my spirit is infected with jealousy! For when the spirit
of pride and jealousy mate (lie in one bed) they give birth to the monster called gossip or backbiting!
*When I am in a fit of jealousy I lose my peace and my blood pressure is likely to go up. Since
jealousy does not promote my health, I will try at every possible cost to fly away from it.
*When men and women gather and busy themselves with talking about the evil that such and such
a people have done their driver is the spirit of jealousy!
*The devil knows that praise destroys jealousy, and so he prevents us from praising the good works,
efforts and talents of others. To praise a person is to recognize the works or gifts of God in that
person. Therefore, I will attack jealousy directly by praising God and the good I see in my
neighbour. Such words as, “that is a beautiful dress”, “you look nice this morning”,
“congratulations, “you came first in the examination” will always be on my lips and mind. This is a
great way to attack the spirit of jealousy. When we realise something good and refuse to recognize it
the spirit of jealousy easily sneaks in. When I see something good in my neighbour, when my
neighbour has done well, has been promoted or is looking beautiful, I will pay him or her
complement.
*Saul did not know! He taught he was destroying David, but indeed he was attacking the future of
Israel and the Supreme work of God in David who was an ancestor of the Son of God Himself
Three disgusting rivers that flow out of jealousy: These are Slander, backbiting gossip and the
complaining spirit.
*Like the water pouring out of a broken bucket until it is utterly empty, slander backbiting and
gossip necessarily pour out of the person possessed of jealousy until his life’s energies are entirely
spent at the border of the grave where death brings an end to the corruption that flowed out of his
soul like a river.
ANGER AND HATRED:

24. "Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment"
- Matthew 5:22
"Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and
the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the
Kingdom of God."
- Galatians 5:19-21
The Greed of Power
In this form, earthly goods are chiefly a means to an end, which is really not that far off from a healthy
view. The money, real estate, cars are simply things used to achieve, wield and display personal power.
These things can be used to intimidate or bribe others, reinforce one's own illusions about what is
important or to build up a feeling of success. The "products of wealth," as the Jethro Tull song
("Slipstream") puts it.
The real problem here is more the desire for power than the actual greed. A common thread for sin in
general is that it is often borne out of fear. A fear of helplessness or loss of control can turn into a lust
for power as a way of preventing an undesirable situation. The parable of the man with an abundant
harvest is well worth considering.
To destroy our desire for power, we must be generous in granting power to others. When appropriate, be
submissive to others. Avoid jobs that are a temptation for a "power grab." Share credit for successes
with others, and claim a fair share of responsibility for failures being blamed on others. The idea is to
stop trying to control everything and everyone. In parenting, this means encouraging children to find
their own way, and respecting their choices. It does not mean abdicating legitimate responsibilities, but
loosening our grip on others' lives as well as our own. God will take care of us, He has the plan. We
can't control everything anyway, so we might as well learn to relax in God's hands.
The Greed of Fear
Fear is a poor motivator for virtue, but an excellent one for greed. Sometimes, greed is simply a desire to
have so much that we can't possibly run out. The stock market could crash, we could lose our jobs or
health, we could be sued. If we acquire enough stock, real estate, or T-bills, we think we will be safe
from want. This is an illusion. There is no perfect preventative for want, but even if there was it would
stand in opposition to the trust in God to which we are called. Jesus said, "Perfect love casts out fear."
Trust in God frees us from a need to build a massive buffer against poverty.
Part of the cure may be to embrace poverty. We may not become homeless, but we can learn to do with
less. Serious campers try to leave their campsite in the same state they found it. Ideally, there should be
no trace left when they move on. In the same way, try to use less of the world's goods. "Live simply,
that others may simply live." Once this kind of freedom is practiced, we realize that we don't need that
much, anyway. This knowledge, in turn, reduces our fear and builds a kind of strength and confidence.
The Greed of Acquisition and Enslavement
This is slavery, plain and simple. We can reduce ourselves to a small and cold desire to accumulate
more electronic gear, trading cards, antiques or other collectibles. It is far beneath the dignity of human

25. beings to enslave themselves to objects of their own making. It is well said that our possessions in some
ways may come to own us.
The obvious cure is to divest oneself of as much as possible, but another suggestion might be to consider
the grave. When we die, we take nothing with us. If we are bound by "disordered attachments" to
worldly goods, the separation forced upon us by death will be even more painful. If we are destined for
eternal glory, the temporary enjoyment of trinkets in this life is simply absurd. Meditation on this begins
to loosen the grip of objects on the heart.
"A mild answer calms wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
- Proverbs 15:1
the “diabolos”; “Spirit of Cain”; “Barrier-spirit”; “Accuser-spirit”; “Divider-spirit”; the “dragonian-
spirit”; the Spirit of Malice; the thief-of-peace”; “Communion with the devil”; “Dragonian”
Spirit”Litmus test “thief of peace”; the “remote control factor”; “mental slavery”.
If you become angry, do not let anger lead you into sin; do not stay angry all day. Don’t
give the Devil a chance (Eph 4:26-27). This text gives prepares us for the discussion on anger and
hatred. Immortales dear, we must fear anger. It appears to be a little thing. On the contrary, it is a
great destroyer of the soul. With anger, the evil one reaps a multitudinous harvest for hellfire.
“Communion” with the Devil Immortales dear, I would fly from anger because it gives
us a communion (participation, connectedness, closeness, sharing, etc) with the devil. What does
this mean? Anger satisfies human beings and demons in the same way—anger is satisfied when we
succeed in doing something evil to neighbour in the name of revenge, or at least when something evil
has happened to neighbour. Divine truth came to the Leper King that, The fire of anger only
quenches when something evil has happened to our neighbour. But to rejoice over evil is the office of
the demon. On the contrary doing good gives us a communion with God and all the Blessed (when
one sinner repents there is joy in Heaven).
Diabolos The Greek name for the devil is Diabolos. It means the one who tears apart or
divides into two. From the meaning of the name, it is clear that of the seven deadly sins, we
resemble (image) the devil most by anger because anger tears us away from neighbour, or divides
brother, sister, family, community and even against God. It is unmistakable that the first effect of
anger is division. Fly from anger Immortales dear because anger is opposed to the Spirit of God
whose effect is union. As anger divides, so the Spirit of God (meekness) unites. The Divider is the
devil who divides the will against the intellect.
The Accuser Spirit The Accuser is a proper name of Satan. When we will not let go of
anger we become one with the devil in being accusers! What does this mean? To be angry against
Anna Katta is the same thing as to accuse her of doing so and so, or such and such a thing to me.

26. In Rev 12:10, Satan is identified as the Accuser: Then I heard a voice shout from Heaven,
‘Victory and power and empire have been won by our God . . . now that the persecutor (the great dragon,
primeval serpent, devil, Satan, deceiver of the world—Rev 12:9) who accused our brothers day and
night before our God has been thrown down (cf Rev 12:10).
It takes the intervention of the Angel (angelic warfare) to prevent Satan from bringing an
accusation against Joshua the high priest (Zach 3:1ff). The Prime Accuser fires a deadly double
barrage of accusations against Job to bring upon him the woes and trials he was to suffer (cf Job
1:9-11 & 2:4-5)
Notice, Immortales dear, that the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, the angels
and the saints are not our accusers, rather in one way or another they are advocates (recommend us
to the mercy of God) for us, pleading the mercy of God for us. It is either we stand with the Holy
Spirit to be advocates for our neighbour or we stand with the devil to be the Accusers of our
neighbour. It is clear that by controlling anger we fence the devil out but by keeping anger we give
him a chance (cf Eph 4:27).
The Dragonian Spirit is the same as the Spirit of Cain or the Cainine Spirit
The form of the spirit that filled Cain before he became the first murderer of the human race
was the form of the Dragon (cf Rev 12:7 and Rev 12: 3-4). Filled with diabolical anger, that is
hatred, Cain found strength to kill his brother. Accordingly, when anger made its appearance in
Scripture, the Holy Spirit promptly gave it its true names: sin and crouching beast ready to devour
and swallow up the soul (cf Gen 4:5-7). When a person is filled with this kind of anger, he is ready to
destroy, tear to pieces, poison, kill, etc. This properly is also hatred. According to the Leper King,
when anger takes possession of a person he performs actions of the demon, as much as the
one who is possessed of meekness produces actions of God. It was in such mad rage that Saul
threw a spear at David to pin him to the wall. Notice that in the Text from Genesis above (4:5-7),
the Holy Spirit defines anger as “sin” which must be mastered.
Let the person of habitual anger listen to the Holy Spirit: “To hate your brother is t be a
murderer and to be dead without eternal life” (1 Jn 3:15). To enter heaven, I must let go of my
hatred.
Barrier Spirit Immortales, my dear child, the corruption goes deeper than you can know; at
least when you are angry against somebody it is difficult to pray for that person. At prayer, his
memory becomes a distraction for you! Because it divides, anger is also a Barrier spirit. This is
because by building walls between people, families, communities etc. To be angry often means that I
have fenced somebody out of my life, even if only for a brief moment. Once the devil has helped us
to build the walls he goes from one side to the other whispering wicked things, thereby working
great mischief.
Notice, Immortales, that we do not say good things about those against whom we are angry;
no, we say what the Devil would say. Show me the man who sings the praise of those against

27. whom he is angry. Rather we make a poor or bad report when their names come up. When
opportunities arise, we are slow to offer them any or to recommend them for any good positions or
favours!
The spirit of malice or the unforgiving spirit Anger is the driver of the unforgiving
spirit. Divine wisdom came to the Leper King thus: Kill anger and kill malice! Unless we kill
anger we have no power to forgive; but the power to forgive is the power of God, and this is not in
us! Notice Immortales dear that since the day of Adam to the present day, Lucifer has never
performed a single act of forgiveness! The statement, I will not forgive, is something belonging to the
demons. When we say it let us listen carefully to hear the devil speaking in us.
The “Great Thief of Peace Notice at once Immortales dear, that it is
impossible to be (truly) angry and at peace at the same time! Anger necessarily steals peace from the
soul. It came to the Leper King to understand that an unfailing way to know whether or not the
devil is present in a place is to measure the amount of anger present therein. Anger creates mental
agitation, but as Blessed Alphonsus says, mental agitation is not a gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Master tells us in the Parable of the Lost Sheep that Heaven rejoices whenever there is
union, so too the demons rejoice where anger is at work!
The Remote control factor The person in habitual anger is remotely “controlled”. Just as
with the remote control device you can control your TV from a distance, so too when I am
habitually angry I am a slave of the one against whom I am angry. This is true because whenever I
remember him, if I see him, or if his name is mentioned my wound of anger reopens and I end up
having a bad day.
Because I am remotely controlled in anger, the conclusion is that I suffer Mental Slavery
whenever I am in habitual anger. The person against whom I am angry is my slave master.
Whenever I remember him I wear again the burning chains of anger!
ANGER AGAINST GOD Hell throws a party and all the demons rejoice when they
succeed in making a soul angry at God. Anger against God is the posture of the demon whose back is
turned to God forever! Therefore, it is the special delight and joy of the devil to work anger against
God in a soul for he knows that the soul which is angry with God cannot and does not hear God who
alone can save her. Such a person is like the asp which confounds the snake charmer. The snake
charmer by playing upon his flute is able to charm a snake, but the asp is able to shut its ears
thereby frustrating the snake charmer.
WHAT THEN IS ANGER, Immortales Dear? According to Ven. Louis of Granada, Anger is the
feeling (spirit) that grows in us when we are unable to satisfy our self-love; that is when our attempt
to satisfy our self-love is frustrated, whatever the object of self-love may be. For instance, we react

28. with anger when people do not give us the respect our self-love is claiming whether we deserve it or
not.
The Anger Triad There are three in this family (only one specie!): The first born is Anger,
the second is Resentment (their sister), hatred is the last born. What does this mean Immortales?
They are related as an egg and the bird: Anger is the egg which hatches into Resentment (at this
stage we dislike and fly from the presence of those who make us angry—when their names are
mentioned, (like petrol poured upon a fire) we suffer (a complex or) an attack of combined negative
emotions, sometimes including feelings of inferiority; untreated, Resentment grows into Hatred in a
weak or strong degree.
The anger complex
Habitual anger is also the womb (incubator) of jealousy. If I am habitually angry I must end up
jealous; if jealous, I will never escape anger. When habitually angry, I will find myself sad when
something good happens to my opponent; but when evil happens to him I will rejoice without any
power to resist the wicked passion. Habitual anger means i will rejoice if evil should come to that
person (possibly death!) To be habitually angry is to deny good to the object of anger. They are
odious and disgusting to me. Even if they sang as beautifully as angels, their voice only incenses my
anger. No matter what good they do, they are not able to impress me. Habitual anger draws a battle
line against brothers, sisters, church members, etc. we do not want to sit at table or in the same car
with these people. When these people are praised, I say something poisonous to their reputation. I
avoid statements that will put them in a good light. The last thing I want to do is be on the same
team with these persons, and even worse to have to serve them.
Can anger be creative?
We must mention at the beginning that anger can be positive or negative (good or evil).
When it leads us to sacrifice ourselves for love of God and neighbour it is good and praiseworthy.
Such is the anger in which the Master cleansed the table, driving the traders and money changers
out. There are some instances when anger against self can be a powerful creative force. In this case,
it drives us on to overcome ourselves and to be better people.
SAD EFFECTS OF ANGER
The effect of this tearing apart (at its worst) is the beast called malice. Malice is a beastly spirit
precisely because malice is that “spiritual posture (position) in which the spirit turns its back to God
or neighbour; in this posture, the spirit entering an incommunicado state forms a shell of resistance
to neighbour and/or God. When anger does not produce malice, it produces a specie which may be
called communication break down—a situation in which people are not happy to talk to each other;

29. husband avoids wife; children close up against parent. In marriage, this communication breakdown is
the first seed of adultery. When Douleia stopped talking to her husband, she began confiding in a
co-worker who was also not at peace with his wife. In a little time they became regular and habitual
partners in adultery.
When the devil has divided or torn apart brother and sister, husband and wife, parent and
child, friends by anger, all that is left is for him to create camps and whisper in the dark in the ears
of both parties. Afterwards he will complete the destruction by himself. Anger and hatred therefore
tear apart or divide friends, brothers, sisters, husband and wife, family, society, nation, etc., apart.
REMEDIES for anger and hatred (the general remedies are mixed up with the particular remedies or
the instructions
The Golden Rule of Virtue (or the double edged sword or the two-fold weapon): Resolution and prayer
In order to enter the halls of victory we must have both resolution (firm decision) and
prayer. Immortales, the two are one—they are indeed like the two inseparable sides of the one coin.
To make resolution (firm decision) alone or to pray only is a foolish road. How would you my dear
Immortales describe a person who tried to drive a car without tyres, fly an aeroplane without wings
or fetch water with a basket? Stupid; even mad! Resolution and prayer therefore are like two feet
upon which we must walk to virtue. Resolution tells us what to pray for, that is, our prayer is
informed by our resolution. Divine Wisdom came to the Leper King thus: to make resolution
and not to pray is like fetching water in a basket or leaking vessel—a total waste of time. (I
knew I could not be continent unless I asked find)
1 We begin with a firm resolution never to be angry.
The firm (unshakeable decision) resolution tied to prayer is the foundation of our success. If we fail
to make an unshakeable resolution (decision) we will necessarily fail, or fail from necessity, and
remain helpless slaves carrying the chains of anger. What does this mean? You will conquer anger if
you imitate the archer who before firing his arrow, focuses on his target with a firm resolution NOT
to miss. According to Ven. Louis of Granada in Ch *** of The Sinner’s Guide (where he treats
thoroughly the importance of a firm resolution), without a firm resolution, we will never break the
chains of anger. Therefore to attempt to destroy the chains of anger without a firm resolution is to
be like an archer who unable to concentrate (focus) upon his target fires his arrows in vain like one
firing in the dark. Indeed, in my years of confessing anger and its sins, how many times did I fail to
make a firm resolution or to renew it?
Armed therefore the one hand with a firm resolution never to get angry and on the other
hand untiring prayer, Immortales dear, chase anger from the throne of your heart and God (Peace)

30. will be enthroned there. However if ever you fail, or fall to just anger, you must like a good captain
quickly retreat upon our knees, tell God you are sorry, renew our resolution and drive anger afresh
from the throne of your heart. In this way you will fulfil the petition in the Lord’s Prayer: Your
Kingdom come, Your will be done (in my heart) as the angels do in Heaven. Without such a firm
resolution (decision) you will not be different from a farmer who sews his seed in the river or one
who cultivates a farm in the desert!
2 Let the Mind of Christ be in you (Phil 2:5)
Unmistakably, habitual anger is the mind of the devil, was the instruction of Divine Wisdom to the
Leper King. Notice, Immortales my dear child that the Holy Spirit in the verse does not say: “let the
mind of the devil be in you”, rather, let the mind of Christ be in you (Phil 2:5). But what precisely is
the mind of Christ? The Master tells us Himself: “I am meek and humble of heart” (Matt 11:29).
The mind of Christ is humility. Without humility it is radically impossible to conquer anger! In the
moment of the deepest humiliation, He said “Father, forgive them. . .” The “litmus” (unfailing)
unfailing test that the mind of the devil is working in us is that we fail to say with the wounded
Jesus, “Father, forgive them”. How many times have we not said in a moment of great pain and
maybe lawful anger, “God, punish them”. Make no mistake about it, these are not the words of
Christ, neither is the Holy Spirit their “driver” of such words.
*Particular remedy: When anger assails my heart, I must say throughout the trial with St
Benedict, begone Lucifer, I am the Temple of God (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19), not the temple of anger.
*Particular remedy: To keep anger is to give the devil a chance (cf Eph 4:2627)
Particular remedy: to harbour anger is to keep a crouching beast in the heart (cf Gen 4:5-7).
3 The Cross is the only and true Doctor of anger for only forgiveness heals the heart. God the
Father Himself could only heal Himself As His WOUNDED AND DYING Son told Him, "forgive
them". therefore, the Father, taking the medicine-forgiveness from His son, drinks it, rubs it into
His own wounds and finds His own healing!
Indeed when He was challenged to pour out the fire of anger that would have JUSTLY
destroyed us all, He gave birth to the greatest act of mercy "Father forgive them. . . " the angrier we
are, the more we ought to forgive—the greater the opportunity God has given us to forgive and image
His Son. Just as (since the redemption, every sin is also an occasion for God to Prove His mercy by
forgiving, so too every offence by our neighbour is an opportunity for us to image Christ by forgiving!
Remedy Notice Immortales dear; the Spirit of God does not accuse us, rather it is the
Supreme Spirit of meekness forgiving us by looking with compassion upon our weakness. The Holy
Spirit does not divide us against God and one another, rather this is the Spirit that unites us with
God by cords of love and Forgiveness (receive the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins)
Like a parasite that eventually kills its host, anger and the deadly sins always end up killing the one
who offers himself as host to these foul tendencies.

31. Particular remedy: Scripture says that when we harbour anger we give the devil a chance (cf
Eph 4:26-27)
Particular remedy: Realise Immortales dear, that the secret by which the saints conquered
anger was constant resolution never to do anything in anger. Armed with this secret therefore,
resolve never to speak or act in anger; in fact do nothing at all in anger. Postpone the discussion,
argument, etc until a more peaceful time. Notice that often we regret, and sometimes have to eat
‘humble pie’ by apologising for words, actions and decisions made in anger.
Part rem: Each time you remember the offence done and are provoked to anger, remember
instead the sins you have committed against God realising that your enemy’s sin against you is
absolutely nothing compared with the smallest sin you had committed against an Eternal God
before whom the spotless Seraphim tremble.
Part rem: Reflect that you lose your licence to draw from the mercy of God if you fail to
forgive your enemy, for the Lord taught us to ask the Father to “forgive us our sins as we
(ourselves) forgive those who sin against us” (Matt 6:12).
Part rem: By an unforgiving attitude I seal up the fountain of mercy against myself (lock
myself) as the unforgiving servant did. His master withdrew the judgment of mercy he had earlier
given (cf Mt 18:23-35). The Master concludes the parable by a solemn warning: “That is how my
Heavenly father will deal you unless forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt 18:35).
Part resolution: before speaking a word, take a deep breadth and repeat to yourself
habitually some invocation to keep you in the mind of God such as, “come Holy Spirit, Come’,
Jesus, Jesus, Mary, Mary, over and over again.
Part Resolution: If you would deal with the devil with one fell blow, then make it a habit to
pray for those who offend you. St Alphonsus advises that we may take vengeance against those who
offend us! This kind of vengeance he calls “holy vengeance”. This is the habit of praying for those
who offend us, bringing them into the place of prayer and asking that God should free them from
evil. We will be transformed into gods should we do this for this is what He Himself did when He
said: “Father forgive them. . .” even as they nailed Him to the cross.
Part rem: In difficult moments, ask yourself, How did My Master Jesus heal Himself on the
Cross when He was provoked to the greatest and most Just anger? The answer: He forgave and
counselled His wounded Father to forgive! Had He not forgiven, Divine anger would have consumed
us all. Therefore, Immortales dear, at such times, you must forgive.
Part rem: To forgive my neighbour is to open to myself the door of forgiveness as is taught in
the text of Matt 6:12!
Part rem: in a moment of anger, bring yourself under control by reciting a Hail Mary, better
still glory be, or the Our Father.

32. Part rem: If it becomes so difficult, you can say at least in union with the idea of Blessed
Paul (Col 1:24): “Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, I forgive this person for love of you and for the
salvation of sinners! Indeed this is the whole spirituality of Our Lady of Fatima, the Blue Army and
the Block Rosary which is lost today when it is more needed than ever. Anger offers us the great
opportunity to be victims raised up upon the Cross with Christ! Indeed we can at least forgive this
persons in reparation for our own sins.
Part Rem: In habitual anger I am remotely “controlled”. Just as with the remote control
device I control my TV from a distance, so too when I am habitually angry I remotely controlled by
the person against whom I treasure anger. Whenever I remember my wound of anger reopens and I
wear again the burning chains of anger.
Because I am remotely controlled in anger, the conclusion is that I suffer Mental Slavery
whenever I am in habitual anger. The person against whom I am angry is my slave master. Whether
or not I am honest enough to admit it, I am not in charge; he is in control; I am not free to reject the
chains of anger but helplessly reach out for, and grab them.
Part rem: Hatred cannot pass through the gate of Heaven as the Holy Spirit says: “To hate
your brother is t be a murderer and to be dead without eternal life” (1 Jn 3:15). Therefore to enter
heaven, I must let go of my hatred.
If in anger you will not do the will of the devil and cause the devils to rejoice, then you must
take this instruction by which the Leper King gained great victory: 1) You must be silent! 2) Speak
to Jesus and Mary alone, if possible before the Blessed Sacrament. 3) Therein, report all to these hearts of
love. 4) Forgive (and promise to) forgive the offender for love of God, that is for Jesus and Mary.
COL 3:8-9 BUT NOW YOU MUST ALSO PUT OFF ALL THESE: ANGER, WRATH, MALICE,
BLASPHEMY, DIRTY TALK. ..
Because of its dividing effect Mareeya has concluded that it is the driver and vehicle of
jealousy, pride, greed, etc. The Leper King has called it a syndrome containing all the seven deadly
sins!
ADDENDUM: IMPATIENCE
Remedies for impatience

33. LUST
In the war of the devil to destroy mankind lust is the greatest weapon the evil one employs,
according to St Alphonsus.
In Learn at once at the very beginning, Immortales dear, that whoever truly conquers lust
has conquered the universe. This, says St Augustine, is the province where combat is frequent but
the victors are fewest! If you would understand the power of this vice, consider the following:
Solomon the wise becomes the foolish when because of his many women he became a worshipper of
idols! Samson the mighty man of battle, falling into the arms of Delilah becomes the slave of the
Philistines who fled before him in battle! David the faithful, having cast his eyes upon the beauty of
naked Bathsheba, he takes the wife of his neighbour and murders her husband! The emperor
Augustus Caesar falling from his throne lands in the arms of Cleopatra of Egypt! Because of the sin
of David, a whole nation is doomed to division! Dina is raped and a whole people perish in the
bloodshed of the sons of Jacob. We know of the invincible major general who did not fall until a
woman was sent to offer him the primeval “apple of eve!”
According to St Alphonsus, when the devil goes fishing with the other vices he goes (as it
were) with a hook, but with lust he carries a net, for with lust he gathers a holocaust, so that by lust
alone he harvests more for hell than he does with all the other vices. Lust is called by St Basil of
Selucia a living plague, and by St Bernadine of Sienna ‘a terrible gnawing worm’. Because as St
Bonaventure says, lust destroys the germs (seeds) of all virtues. Hence St Remigius says: “with the
exception of those who die in childhood, most people will be damned on account of this vice. Fr Paul
Segneri says that as pride filled hell with angels so lust has filled it with men.
What is lust?
Lust is sexual desire out of control—out of control because the sexual power being God’s own gift is
always good in itself. Precisely therefore, lust is righty defined as disordered sexual desire.
“Compared to a chaste soul, all the riches, all the titles, thrones, crowns and dignities of the
earth are contemptible” (St Alphonsus de Ligouri, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Part II, Instr
III). On account of this St Ephraim called chastity the very life of the spirit, and St Peter Damian the
queen of virtues (humility being their mother and foundation). The exceedingly blessed St Alphonsus
says that the one who conquers lust will certainly gain victory over the other vices, but the one who
is ruled by lust will also be enslaved by the others.
We have it from the mouth of Our Lord Himself in Matthew 22:30 that those who have lived
free from sexual sins are not different from angels where He says: They shall be as the angels of God in
Heaven. Revelation 14:14 says that in Heaven virgins flock after the Lamb! Chastity (of both the
married people and single people) is the virtue opposed to lust.

34. St Ephraim and St Bernard both teach that chastity transforms a man into an angel. St
Basil says that chastity makes a man like God who is a pure spirit. According to St Ambrose, “he
who has kept chastity is an angel; he who has lost it is a devil”, because (just as chastity is the queen
of the virtues) lust is the queen of many sins including theft, sacrilege, murder, rape and child sexual
abuse, masturbation, pornography, slander, lies, jealousy and anger, etc. The Leper King came to
understand that the lustful person little by little becomes capable of almost any crime—indeed Lust
makes a man do things that even beasts (animals) would not do!
Nature and Sad Effects of Lust
1 Blindness of the soul (They shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord –
Zeph 1:17).
Immortales, keep in mind the words of Blessed Alphonsus who reminds us that when a raven
finds a dead body, its first act is to pluck out the eyes; in the same way the first injury that sins of
lust (impurity) does to the soul is to take away the light of the things of God. The fornicator or
adulterer knows that if he dies in sin he will lose his immortal soul to the fires of hell, but seized by
passion, he throws the eternal truths into the dust bin and fills his soul with the passing pleasure of
sin! He counts as nothing the offence he gives to God and the scandal he gives to neighbour!
According to the Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, the first effect of the sin of impurity
(lust) is the blindness of the understanding (mind or intellect). Because the mind (understanding or
intellect) may be said to be the eye of the soul, lust blinds the soul! Therefore, the soul loses sight of
eternity. Hence St Augustine says that impurity robs the soul of the thought of eternity. When it
does not blind it totally it darkens it like one seeing through eye lenses filled with ugly cataracts!
2 The water of passion quenches the fire of reason (St Thomas Aquinas)
While pride runs away from shame, lust greedily embraces shame! Thus the Angelic Doctor makes
no mistake about the reality when he says that the water of passion quenches the fire of reason.
Solomon the wise became Solomon the worshipper of idols because lust! The same one who was
given more wisdom than any before him became a worshipper of idols! He disobeyed God by his
deep attachment to women, became a worshipper of Astarte and Milcom, the Ammonite
abomination... He built temples for foreign gods... On the mountain to the east of Jerusalem he
built a temple for the god of the Moabites! (cf 1 Kgs 11:1-8).
King David is no less an example. At his anointing the spirit of God took hold of him from
that day on (1 Sam 16:13).However, when he allowed the beauty of Bathsheba to take him, he
committed adultery with her, killed Uriah her husband and took her for wife!
The death of reason and animal type of behaviour When reason dies, animal behaviour takes
over. In acts of lust, reason is not at work. The result is that people begin to do things that only

35. beasts would do, and some things that are so abominable that even beasts would not do. Parent and
children, brother and sister mating (incest) is an animal type of action. Human beings and animals
mating (bestiality) is something that even beasts would not do for they mate with their own kind.
Homosexuality and lesbianism also represent something below animal behaviour. Rape is an
abomination flowing from the death of reason. The rapist loses his humanity and becomes some kind
of animal
2 The slavery and Obstinacy (stubbornness) of the will
This is the vice that taking hold of a person, the soul makes a 180 degrees turn from God and turns
towards Hell, not caring at all about the eternal fire into which it plunges itself should death sieze
suddenly upon her.
Immortales dear, learn at once that the special character of lust is the slavery of the will! The victim of
the demon is a slave; his will becomes stubborn like rock! This is the one vice by which the devils
most easily chain a soul to Hellfire! They who fall into this vice come out only with great difficulty;
some require a miracle of grace which God does grant sometimes after long tears. St Alphonsus
relates the story (told by Fr Biderman) of a young lustful man who had the habit of returning to
this sin. He was absolved on his deathbed by a priest (his confessor) in the midst of many tears of
repentance, thereby leaving much hope that he was in Heaven after his death shortly after. Later
the priest was at Mass when he felt someone pulling his chasuble; turning rund he saw a dark cloud,
which sent forth sparks of fire, and heard a voice saying that it was the soul of the young man who
had died. It related that after being absolved of his sin, he was tempted again, and yielding, he fell
into a lustful thought and was damned.
St Augustine says that, they that if we give ourselves up to the vice of lust, we will soon
acquire the habit of lust. The habit creates as it were the necessity of sinning. St Alphonsus
comments that the person who has this vice is like the vulture. How? Rather than fly away from the
corpse where it has begun to feed, it is content to wait to be killed by the hunter. As the sight of the
hunter cannot separate the vulture from the dead body it is eating, so too the fear of God, the
thought of the judgment, death, hell, are not enough to drive the person who has the habit of lust
from sinning! The Leper King cried out: “O abominable abomination, O chains harder to break than
iron!”
Lust is not a respecter of persons. It attacks old and young alike, even children! Old men and
women have equally messed themselves up by this vice. In women and men alike, the sexual power
does not die—it endures to the grave. Eighty year old men have messed themselves up with sixteen
year old girls. There are old women sleeping with young men. Why would a man or woman have
sexual relations with house-helps or in-laws living with them? Where are the bosses who pay
secretaries not only to do paper work but also “bed-work!”

36. Great Weapons and Chains of Lust: Pornography and masturbation, the modern slave-makers.
Fashion
Fr Justus Pokrzewinski, OP, addressing his Dominican brothers once described pornography as a
“cancer of the mind”. Cancer as we know is incurable. Pornography is a modern “slave maker” and
“slave master”. Pornography is a graveyard of the soul from which only God can raise it!
According to statistics about fifty percent of traffic on the goes to pornography sites! The
first industry to hit the one billion dollar mark on the internet is the pornography industry! Even
children carry pornography to school in cell phones! Pornography buries souls in the river of
masturbation! Let it be known that female masturbation was less common in the past. Today, there
is an astronomical rise in the number of women masturbating. Thanks to pornography.
Let it be known, O masturbating (fornicating, adulterous) soul, that just it is impossible for
the water to depart from the sea, so too it is impossible for you to break with these sins you deal
with pornography and all manner of lustful thinking!
Phone sex This is a new kind of weapon that the devil is employing. For all the good of
mobile devices, we have keep a special vigil! Children are special victims in these dark times. Parents
should keep a vigil over their children’s phones (if the children should use phones at all). They
should not forget that they will account for the phones and electronic devices they give to minors.
The bottom line is that “serious”, sinful and exceedingly harmful sexual traffic is passing through
our phones!
Fashion “Many fashions will come which will offend Our Lord”, said Our Lady
in 1917 to the three little children of Fatima. Fashion is reaping a rich and incalculable harvest for
Hell today. To greater extent women are responsible. When it comes to fashion it appears that
women know nothing about showing mercy! Let them hear the warning of the Holy Spirit: “Why,
you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin!”
(Rom 6:13). Bad fashion is a proper (veritable) weapon of the devil; women are usually the driver!
3 The lustful person may become a murderer (abortion is responsible for more death in the world
that all the wars in history)
Did you ever commit, perform, counsel or sponsor an abortion? Does it not make you a murderer?
David came to be a murderer because of his lust. The number of innocents killed in abortion in the
world yearly far outnumbers the number of lives lost the world wars! Many men have become
official sponsors of abortion! The wombs of women are becoming graveyards! What is the difference
between mortuary and abortuary? The blood of Abel cried out; the blood of aborted cry louder to
heaven. Lust is reaping a great harvest!

37. A lustful man may have many children he does not know about. A lustful woman may not
know the true father of her child! Lust is the true father of those children a man makes outside
marriage.
4 Lust wastes
The things wasted by lust are uncountable. It destroys a good reputation won over many years or
decades in a single day! It destroys trust and loyalty sometimes permanently! Lust wastes money. It
quickly reduces the beauty of a person to ugliness! It wastes precious time in no small way;
sometimes at the end of mistakes it wastes many years of a person’s life. Lust promises pleasure but
wastes away a persons youth. Lust has prevents young people from graduating, graduating,
completing their studies, or gives them bad grades! Lust is responsible for many dropouts and
irresponsible people.
REMEDIES AGAINST LUST
General remedies
1 In the combat against the “queen of vices”, weapons and human strength are simultaneously
useless. Prayer and flight alone are the weapons. Let us not be deceived, the saints teach us that
even if God gave us the chastity of angels, if we fly from temptation, we shall not fail to fall. We
must pray tirelessly and relentlessly no matter where we find ourselves, even if we have become as
vicious as prostitutes because Jesus came for sinners. And so the Wise Man said: And I knew that I
could not be chaste unless God gave it, therefore, I went to the Lord and besought Him (cf Wisd
8:3).
As is the case with the other vices, without a firm resolution (decision) not to return to sin,
we will be wasting time, grace and energy. Unless we arm our prayer with a firm resolution we may
be like a strong man fetching water from a deep well with a broken bucket. What a waste. The only
result is that our efforts will only lead us down “frustration street!” Prayer is like the rifle and the
resolution the bullet which we must fire tirelessly.
2 Without humility no one can conquer. Unless we admit that all our strength belongs to
God we will surely fall. We must not presume, telling ourselves that we will enter a place or
situation of temptation and come out safely. Presumption is a sin against the Holy Spirit. We must
humbly admit that if God does not sustain us we will surely fall. Armed with humility, we shall
avoid the devil’s “death dance”.
3 Do you not know that in attacking our confidence in the mercy of God, the devil is trying
to convince us that hope is a lie? To believe that hope is a lie is to offend the Holy Spirit.