Conquer Pornography This Christmas

The holidays are a special time for everyone, and for us as Catholics especially. We get together with our friends and family, have time off from work, and get to experience, however dimly, a taste of Christendom with society at large celebrating Christmas with music and secular trappings.

Lonely for the Holidays

I’ve been there, addicted to lust and looking at pornography every single day. We don’t want to talk about it, yet it is an elephant in the room, a “widely known secret” that we studiously don’t want to discuss.

But the holidays can also, paradoxically, make us realize how lonely we feel. Perhaps we can’t be with family or friends, or don’t have many to speak of. Perhaps our family doesn’t celebrate Christmas the way that we do, and we feel isolated. What should be a time of deep communion and fellowship can instead lead to loneliness and sadness.

Loneliness and lots of time by oneself is not a good recipe for virtue or well-being. Many men, including Catholic men, struggle with addiction to pornography, and the holidays can be an especially trying time for them. The compulsion toward pornography is a deformed desire for that love and fellowship that every person craves and was made for. When we are deprived, for whatever reason, of such love and fellowship, we may choose to seek it through other means, including immoral ones like pornography.

What Can You Do?

Here are several ideas for avoiding temptation to lust and growing in chastity this Christmas:

For those who do have many friends and family, consider inviting to your single friends to your get-togethers. I always appreciated this when I was single and far from family. The joy of experiencing Christmas with another family, even for a few of their events, is unmatched.

For those feeling lonely, find ways to get out among people to interact with. Look for service opportunities at food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens. For Catholic men, inquire with the Knights of Columbus for ways you can get involved during the season. Find events at your church and nearby churches and join in with ones where you can visit with other people.

For all, strengthen your prayer life and make a resolution to grow in holiness during this holy season. Sign up for an adoration hour, or a second one. Go to daily Mass. Start a novena. Read the Scriptures daily and other good books. Fill your mind and heart with true, good, and beautiful things.

For Serious Catholic Men

Even taking all this advice, I know from experience that the holidays are prime time for falling to temptation to lust. So for Catholic men, I’ve made a special video course to help them conquer lust once and for all.

In this course, I give you an arsenal of weapons to use to fight pornography addiction and win the victory over it, by God’s grace. You will learn about tools, strategies, devotions, and sacramental that you have never heard of before. I include in it a 17-week guided bootcamp where I help you with week-by-week instructions for concrete actions to take to grow strong in purity.

The joy that comes from freedom from lust is incredible, and I want all men to experience it. Being free from the slavery of sin, liberates you to love others and receive their love, and most of all to receive the love of God more fully than ever before. God made us for communion, with each other and ultimately with Him. Communion is the antidote for isolation. Christ became man to enter into that deep communion with us.

This Christmas, make the decision to win freedom from lust. You can conquer it by availing yourself of God’s help. I will join you on your journey and help you be set free to love. It will be the greatest Christmas gift you can give to yourself and your family.