Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for they shall see God. (Mt. 5:8) According to our Blessed Mother’s apparition to the children of Fatima, it is the sins of the flesh which are responsible for the majority of people caught into hell. Modern culture has stubbornly rejected her celestial insight, however, arguing in effect that God is not overly concerned with what transpires in the bedroom. Progressive Christians have decided that only an antiquated, frustrated puritan would bother to obsess over such trivialities. What is really important they say is to be “accepting,” “inclusive,” and “non-judgmental.” Sex is a morally agnostic expression of love in their view. But if we are to take Christ’s words in the Beatitudes seriously then can one really hope to see God with an impure heart, the same God who is the very perfection of purity and goodness?

We are living in a society submerged in a putrid deluge of sexual indulgence and pornography which pollutes minds and souls, particularly those of younger people, on a scale unprecedented in human history. Thanks to modern digital technology the filth literally enters your home unsolicited. Pornography’s clear message is that unfettered lust should be considered a private and protected human right. It supposedly doesn’t hurt anyone else so why, in a free country, shouldn’t you be entitled to see whatever you want to view? Of course it’s also highly addictive, and so would a just and loving God really condemn a “good person” eternally for entertaining such a small vice?

Perhaps it’s not so small as many would assume, which might also explain why lust easily made the list of the Seven Capital Sins, a designation referring to it as the root cause of a whole category of sexual transgressions: adultery, fornication, sexual abuse, homosexuality, etc. St.Thomas Aquinas noted that this particular capital sin produces eight consequent effects which he termed the Eight Daughters of Lust. The first four of these effects act upon the intellect, he says, while the last four affect the free will. The will can be thought of as the very center of our being, the thing which combined with our reason makes us uniquely human, and sets us apart from the animal kingdom. So let us examine each of those eight effects of lust, starting with the four that affect the intellect, i.e., our reasoning ability.

1. Lust darkens the intellect, not as in a loss of mental acuity but rather as a certain blindness of the mind in apprehending the good. The greatest good is God, who is all good, and lust places a lesser good, pleasure, ahead of the greater good. Lust thus creates a blind spot impairing our ability to see beyond a lesser good to the greater good. Rev. William Smith referred to what he called a “swiss cheese conscience” which features strategic holes in our mental perceptions of good and evil. It does not mean that one overtly rejects the goodness of God, but rather we subconsciously place Him into a subordinate position. Blinded by lust to His supreme goodness it then becomes easy to rationalize, “God wants me to be happy, and this or that pleasure makes me happy, and so it must be okay.” Under the influence of lustful desire, the intellect can no longer make a clear distinction between my apparent good and what is objectively good. Such cloudy thinking ultimately leads to one justifying any and every sexual aberration: self abuse, fornication, adultery, masochism, and even sodomy. This is why hardened porn addicts will tell you that the content they view increasingly becomes more twisted, depraved, and violent as one goes deeper down the rabbit hole.

2. Lust leads to rash judgment which is the absence of counsel or moderation. The virtues of prudence and temperance get set aside, even in a person who may be punctilious and exacting in other areas of life such as their diet, personal appearance, or finances. Despite knowing the risks involved, such a one is tempted to throw away hard-earned money, a successful career, even a good marriage in the insatiable quest for ever more exciting experiences because, like the junkie, a lustful person’s sexual cravings demand ever more intense levels of dopamine to stimulate the pleasure center in the brain. How many high level politicians and executives have been forced out of their positions due to sexual improprieties? Recall former NY governor Andrew Cuomo just to name one.

3. Thoughtlessness is a daughter of lust, increasing as the mind becomes ever more self-absorbed by bodily pleasures. Other people then become objectified rather than loved or respected for who they truly are. Seeking the good of the other is the true meaning of love, but the thoughtless person is seeking only his/her own good. They have thoughtlessly exchanged the pursuit of real happiness for the pursuit of pleasure, two very different animals. This attitude leads inexorably to the fourth daughter of lust.

4. Inconstancy, which is the inability to remain faithful to another person or to an ideal. Lust causes one to rush from one experience (or person) to another in an endless quest to secure a fuller experience of personal pleasure. The modern divorce treadmill is a telling feature of widespread inconstancy. St. Augustine says that the restless human heart has an insatiable desire for happiness, but only God can fill that desire. Trying to fill the heart’s chasm with earthly things or pleasures leads one on a wild goose chase of always looking for the next person or thing that will finally satisfy one’s deepest longing. But outside of God no such creature exists. Only God can fill that God-sized hole in our heart.

These four daughters of lust which subvert the intellect have another four companions which are far darker and more malevolent, because these four are attached to the will. Whereas the first four primarily affect our temporal thoughts and attitudes which can be changed or corrected, those daughters of lust able to manipulate the will can have eternal consequences. That is because it is the will which ultimately determines our relationship to God, and consequently our eternal destiny. Lust may be the most commonly imbibed capital sin, but its companions are even deadlier in terms of the eternal punishment they will ultimately exact. Think of lust as the gateway vice that surreptitiously leads one into other more deadly arenas of sin. Just as lust perverts the mind, so also it perverts the will with even more catastrophic consequences.

5. Lust imbues one with an inordinate self-love, meaning the vanity of believing that we are entitled to every conceivable pleasure in life. This attitude is not surprising considering what we just discussed above. To love oneself is not evil per se in the sense that we have human dignity and a healthy self-respect for who we are, children of God. But it is the vain love of self to the exclusion of God and others that leads to eternal perdition. Such a self-love yields the most deadly of all sins, pride. Pride is, by definition, inordinate self-love. It is Satan’s most fatal, damning fault. It is the very antithesis of what God exemplified by taking on lowly human flesh, namely humility. Succumbing to the temptations of lust can take one two possible ways. If it produces sufficient shame it can lead the soul to repentance and humility, and God often uses it in this way to humble us. But it can also steer one in the other direction by inflating the very same self-love which activates pride. We now live in a world which preaches that there must be no shame attached to any sexual disorder. Everyone should feel proud of their sexual preferences and orientation. Shout it from the rooftops! Shame is out, pride is in. To revel in one’s shameful disorders is the worst of sins, however, because it is the height of arrogance and pride. It blasphemously mocks God and the divinely ordained natural order.

6. From lust, pride causes one to despise and hate God, precisely because He so perfectly modeled the virtue of humility, the antagonist of pride. This is why Christianity, which teaches the absolute need of repentance and humility, is so attacked and hated by the current woke culture. As Christ forewarned, “they will hate you because they hated me before you.” What we are seeing in real time is the spirit of lust opening people up to the capital sins of envy and anger. They envy innocence and so they angrily try to destroy it. To merely live a virtuous life in this sexually saturated environment becomes an affront to the lustful. One need not speak a word of protest against the perversions, yet you will be vilified as offensive, intolerant, and a danger to society simply for exhibiting innocence and the fear of God. The lustful abandon themselves to every unruly passion and then wrathfully blame God for the unhappiness they inevitably experience as a result.

7. Lust ensnares one in the love of this world. This involves ushering lustful souls into the capital sins of avarice and gluttony. When one cannot deny the body any carnal pleasure then these two added vices cannot be far behind. And as we becomes ever more entangled in the snares of consumerism and food indulgence, (nor is it surprising that within a generation obesity and diabetes have skyrocketed in America) people become ever more infatuated with the world of here and now. What used to be called a “valley of tears” is now marketed as endless luxury cruise vacations, video games, and virtual reality schemes like Zuckerberg’s metaverse. But in all the worldly hype and glitz where is there any time for reflection on the fact that someday we will be faced with the reality of death, not in some glorified Hollywood big screen sense, but as the serious moment of accountability for one’s life and deeds? This leads to the final daughter of lust and its corresponding capital vice.

8. Lust leads one to despair of the future world. The reason we were created in the first place is to one day be joined with God in heaven. But despite the ridiculous “she’s now in heaven” rhetoric typical of many contemporary church funerals, such a celestial destiny is not automatic. It has to be actively sought and worked for in this present life. But the demands of lust prevent one from spending too much time and effort (if any) preparing adequately for eternity and this is the capital sin of sloth.The reason there seem to be so many agnostics in today’s world is that the thought of a future existence, either in heaven or hell (no third option available), is too uncomfortable to reconcile with their “liberated” sex-driven lifestyles. The result is our modern-day indifferentism – eat, drink, and be merry while begging the seminal question of what happens after we die. But if you haven’t prepared for that eventuality, in Our Lord’s phraseology “dressed properly for the wedding feast,” your chances for admittance don’t look too good. In that case you’d better hope to hell that it (hell) doesn’t really exist! Sloth therefore undermines any hope in a future world, leaving only despair to fill the vacuum.

Lust in its various manifestations of pornography, extra-marital sexual activity, perversions, etc.is not some annoying little vice to be taken lightly or shrugged off as an innocent diversion. It is a mortal threat to one’s very salvation, regardless of how many volunteer soup kitchens or other good deeds one engages in. Purity of heart is a lifelong struggle which one must engage in, a battle we must fight against the sirens of this world of the flesh. Purity is a precondition of obtaining the eternal beatific vision. It must be carefully cultivated in order to thrive in our gardens. That means guarding what you watch and hear on media, frequenting the sacraments especially confession, and developing a deep and constant prayer life. We live in the belly of the most sensual beast in human history and so purity of heart is not going to be an easy virtue to live out, even more so for our children. Pray the Rosary daily, with those little ones if possible, so that our Mother of Pure Love and Help of Christians will be standing at your side to help you, even as the battle rages.

O, Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.