{"id":11349,"date":"2014-03-12T13:14:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T18:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=11349"},"modified":"2014-12-27T10:32:13","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T15:32:13","slug":"gouge-out-your-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2014\/03\/gouge-out-your-eyes.html","title":{"rendered":"Gouge Out Your Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Jesus makes a shocking statement when he says that if your eye offends you it would be better to gouge out your eye and enter the kingdom with one eye than to have both and go to hell.<\/p>\n

This statement is given a new and startling dimension in Bought With A Price<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Bishop Paul Loverde\u2019s powerful and necessary pastoral letter on pornography. He writes:<\/p>\n

Perhaps worst of all, however, is the damage that pornography does to man\u2019s \u201ctemplate\u201d for the supernatural. Our natural\u00a0vision in this world is the model for supernatural vision in the\u00a0next. Once we have distorted or damaged that template, how\u00a0will we understand the reality? Our Lord has given us the gift of sight with the intention that we ultimately may see Him.\u00a0The sinful use of this faculty both warps our understanding of it and\u2014worse still\u2014cripples our ability to realize its fulfillment\u00a0in heaven. What man should use for receiving the true vision of God and the beauty of His creation, he uses instead to\u00a0consume false images of others in pornography. How can we understand the supernatural sight God desires for us\u2014i.e., the\u00a0contemplation of God in the beatific vision\u2014once our natural\u00a0sight has been damaged and distorted?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMan\u2019s template for the supernatural\u201d Wow. What a fantastic insight. We have been given eyes to see the beauty of this earth so that we might appreciate and recognize the beauty of heaven. I am reminded of St Paul\u2019s words in Philippians:<\/p>\n

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2013if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2013think about such things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not simply an exhortation to \u201cthink nice thoughts\u201d or \u201craise our minds to higher things\u201d but, as Bishop Loverde teaches, we are to turn our minds to higher things and turn out eyes to gaze on true beauty so that we might prepare our souls to recognize that beauty of heaven to which we are called and for which we are made.<\/p>\n

Therefore, when we look at porn we are already \u201cgouging out our eyes\u201d because we are destroying the capacity we have for the beatific vision. We are blinding ourselves to true beauty and destroying our capacity to see an know the beauty of truth and the truth of beauty.<\/p>\n

The converse is also true. As we have our vision of beauty damaged by the ugliness of porn, so only by turning to what is beautiful can we begin to recognize the ugliness of porn and the other artificial beauties around us.<\/p>\n

I tell penitents that they will never give up porn until they begin to see it as it really is\u2013something ugly and debased. So it is. We are surrounded in our culture by images that are false, ugly and pretending to be beautiful. Only when we pursue that which is beautiful, good and true can we then see what is ugly and despise it for what it is.<\/p>\n

Bishop Loverde\u2019s powerful letter on porn should be read and distributed widely. Full information about obtaining the letter or reading it online go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus makes a shocking statement when he says that if your eye offends you it would be better to gouge out your eye and enter the kingdom with one eye than to have both and go to hell. This statement is given a new and startling dimension in Bought With A Price\u00a0Bishop Paul Loverde\u2019s powerful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGouge Out Your Eyes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus makes a shocking statement when he says that if your eye offends you it would be better to gouge out your eye and enter the kingdom with one eye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2014\/03\/gouge-out-your-eyes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gouge Out Your Eyes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus makes a shocking statement when he says that if your eye offends you it would be better to gouge out your eye and enter the kingdom with one eye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2014\/03\/gouge-out-your-eyes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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