The answer
• Know who you are. You are the focus of God’s love and His delight. He longs for
your holiness (1 Thess. 4:3).
• Know also your weakness. You are in constant need of the work of the grace of God
if you are to strive and overcome.
• Open the doors of your body and soul always to take from God and give to people.
• Realize that sin has no power over you, but that it was you who accepted its thoughts
one day of your own free will.
• Bridle your body and rule it with fasting and vigils with prayer, knowing that your
body is the property of the Lord.
• Take advantage of the means of grace. The door of repentance and confession is
always open, and the Body and Blood of the Lord are offered to you, that you might abide in Him.
• Be chaste in all your senses, thoughts, and words, even in your stomach, and in all
the earthly things.
Finally, remember, beloved one, that there is no crown without victory, no victory without war, and no war without an enemy. It is for us to fight and strive, to be victorious in the Lord, and to be crowned. Do not trust your body no matter what your past might be.
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty