Question IV: Concerning Lust

I. Lust is the inordinate appetite for venereal things. It is called:

1. An appetite for venereal things, or the love of venereal delight and of the use of the organs of generation, to which this delight is joined: a delight, namely, not merely spiritual, nor merely sensible, but at once carnal and venereal or sexual, which, namely, is proper to the generative parts of each sex and can be perceived in them alone;

2. inordinate, that is, exceeding the mode prescribed by right reason. But the mode prescribed by right reason is that the movement of the generative organs and venereal delight be sought in order to the due propagation of the human race in legitimate marriage. Therefore one who exceeds this mode on account of delight and seeks that delight more than is fitting acts inordinately.¹

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 153, a. 1; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 15.

Venereal delight, namely, as also the use of the generative organs, from its nature is essentially ordered to the propagation of the human race. But this cannot be done in a due mode except in a permanent matrimonial union, which is altogether necessary for the right education of offspring. Therefore the appetite and use of venereal things is inordinate if it is sought: 1. without order to the act of legitimate marriage; 2. in that act, but in an illegitimate and undue mode, outside the rules prescribed by nature and reason.

II. The species and gravity of lust. - Lust is external or merely internal, according as the use of the generative organs and venereal delight is unduly admitted in reality, or, on the contrary, represented only in the mind, pleases or is desired.

External lust is perfect or complete, or imperfect or incomplete, according as the use of the generative organs is complete and reaches its natural terminus and satiative delight, or, on the contrary, the use is incomplete and is not brought through to its terminus and does not attain perfectly satiative delight. Complete or perfect lust is according to nature or against nature, according as the act of itself is apt for obtaining the natural end of generation, or is not apt for this end, since this end, on the contrary, is rendered impossible. Each comprehends several distinct species.²

² St. Thomas, II-II, q. 154, a. 1 and 11.

Now, according to the principles of moral science, lust is a grave sin from its genus, since it is opposed to the due propagation of the human race and thus is naturally apt to harm the common good,³ and indeed:

³ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 153, a. 3; cf. Gal. 5:19-21.

1. Every lust outside marriage, directly and sought for its own sake, is a grave sin, even incomplete and imperfect lust, since every venereal delight from its nature is ordered to perfect and complete delight and is its beginning; whence directly and in itself to will it is implicitly to will the perfect act. But indirectly, or in a cause willed, it can sometimes be only venial, if the influence is light and the danger light.

2. Lust in the use of marriage is grave if it is against nature, as being impeditive of generation; otherwise it is of itself only venial, as if spouses exercise intercourse in the natural mode but for pleasure alone.

All these things are abundantly declared in our little work Concerning Chastity and Lust.

III. Lust is a capital vice. - A capital sin has a highly appetible end, by whose appetite man proceeds to perpetrate many sins. But the end of lust is the delight of venereal things, which is the greatest of all and most appetible, both on account of the vehemence of the delight and on account of the connaturality of this concupiscence. Therefore lust is evidently a capital sin.⁴

⁴ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 153, a. 4; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 15, a. 4.

IV. Lust has eight daughters. - St. Gregory, Morals, book 31, c. 45 (or 17), enumerates eight interior daughters of lust. For since the appetite of lust is most vehement, it follows that it most of all impedes the use of the higher powers, that is, of intellect and will. For all powers proceed from the soul as from one source and root; whence the intense exercise of one power diminishes the force of acting in the others and draws vigor away from them. And therefore "when the lower powers are vehemently affected toward their own objects, it follows that the higher powers are impeded and disordered in their own acts." Hence lust:

A. In the intellect produces:

1. blindness of mind in the right consideration of the end and its goodness, or alienation from thinking of heavenly things;

2. precipitation in counsel and deliberation concerning the choice of means;

3. inconsideration in judgment concerning things to be done, which are unbecoming to one's state or person;

4. inconstancy in commanding the execution of judgment, or in good purposes; for it softens the heart of man and renders it weak.

From these things it appears that lust most of all overturns prudence.

B. In the will it produces, concerning the end:

5. love of self, not indeed as to all things, but as to the delight of the flesh which it inordinately desires;

6. hatred of God, insofar as He prohibits the desired delight;

concerning the means to the end:

7. affection for the present age, that is, excessive love of the present life on account of its pleasures;

8. horror and despair of the future age, that is, of spiritual goods, because while someone is too much detained by carnal delights, he does not care to arrive at spiritual ones, but disdains and despises them.⁵

⁵ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 153, a. 5, together with q. 53, a. 6; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 15, a. 4.

To these Isidore, on Deut., c. 16, adds four exterior inordinate acts, principally pertaining to speech. For speech can be inordinate in four ways:

1. as to matter, and thus shameful speech is posited; for because the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart, therefore the mouth of the lustful man, whose heart abounds with shameful concupiscences, easily speaks shameful things;

2. on the part of the cause: for because lust causes precipitation and inconsideration, it makes one break forth into words lightly and inconsiderately spoken, which are called scurrilous words;

3. as to the end: for because the lustful man seeks delight, he orders his words to carnal delight, and thus breaks forth into sportive words. "Whence," says Billuart, De Temperantia, diss. 5, a. 3, "we see those given to this vice gather from books certain shameful and slippery narratives, which they relate before others as if playing and entertaining";

4. as to the meaning of the words, which lust perverts on account of the blindness of mind which it causes; therefore the lustful man breaks forth into foolish speech, as when by his words he prefers the delights which he desires to any other noble and heavenly things.⁶

⁶ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 153, a. 5 ad 4.

V. The office of the confessor. - The confessor, for the sake of prudence and honesty, should inquire and ask concerning the sin of lust sparingly indeed, and yet sufficiently.⁷

⁷ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Praxis Confessarii, n. 40, 41, 206; Reuter, Neo-confessarius, n. 68-73; Aertnijs, Theologia Pastoralis, n. 30 and 33.

In particular:

1. If a penitent accuses himself of shameful thoughts, let him be asked whether he voluntarily and with voluntary delight adhered to them. If he denies this, nothing further is to be inquired. If he says: I felt delight, let it be asked whether he gladly and voluntarily admitted it, or resisted it. If he affirms, let it be asked concerning the object, whether it truly was venereal and against chastity, or whether it was merely something immodest, indecent, scurrilous, and foul. If it is established that there was venereal delight, the penitent ought to declare the number, at least approximately; also the distinct species, if the delight was concerning some special circumstance of person or mode. Moreover he is to be asked whether he proceeded further, and what shameful thing he did, or wished or desired to do.

2. If someone accuses himself of a shameful look, it is to be inquired whether the look was voluntary, concerning a truly shameful object, and without reasonable cause; and if this is so, whether venereal delight was voluntarily admitted. But if the object is not truly shameful, was the look perhaps done from an evil intention or shameful end?

3. If someone accuses movements of concupiscence, it is to be investigated whether he consented to them, or whether he placed their cause without a just reason, and indeed a cause gravely or efficaciously influencing per se, such as a very shameful reading or at least continued shameful touch. To place a cause influencing lightly or only per accidens, such as reading of a lighter character or excess in drink, does not exceed venial sin, if consent to the venereal movement and proximate danger of consent are absent.

In the same way, if someone accuses passive pollution, it must be seen whether he intended it or placed a cause efficacious per se without reasonable cause.

4. If someone accuses himself of a shameful action, he is to be asked whether he had it alone or with another person, of a different or of the same sex, and of what quality, as far as full consummation: namely pollution for men, full pleasure for women. Nor should the question concerning shameful thoughts or desires, had separately from the action, be omitted.

5. If someone accuses shameful speech, attention must be given to his intention and to his affection: whether he said these things from levity, or with venereal affection, or from a mind of seducing another person to a shameful act; whether he provoked depraved delight and consented to it, or gave grave scandal to others, especially innocent children.

These questions are not always and without choice to be asked, but are proposed after the manner of a general rule to be applied according to opportunity; for penitents are to be questioned in diverse ways according to their age and condition, as was declared in the little work Concerning Chastity and Lust, q. 7, n. V.

VI. Remedies against lust. - Many remedies against lust and means of preserving chastity are customarily indicated, which are reduced to certain genera. They are:

A. Chaste education, by which we learn to reverence our body, which belongs to the dominion of God, has been incorporated into Christ, and has been made into a temple of the Holy Spirit; by which we fear the great damages of lust and are persuaded concerning the necessity of struggle and the possibility of victory.

B. Flight from occasions and causes: idleness, sadness, solitude, the reading of depraved books and of those which they call novels, familiarity with persons of a different sex, vain or illicit love, etc., according to the adage: "He who loves danger will perish in it" (Sir. 3:27).

C. Vigilance and mortification, according to 1 Cor. 9:27: "I chastise my body and bring it into servitude" (Rom. 8:12-13; Gal. 5:24).

1. Custody of the senses, first of all of the eyes, according to the warning of Augustine: "Even if your eyes are cast upon someone, let them be fixed upon no one"; also of the ears, still more of the hands and touch, most of all of the imagination and heart.

2. Discreet mortification of the flesh: "lust is fed by banquets, nourished by delicacies, kindled by wine, inflamed by drunkenness."

3. Labor and bodily weariness.

4. Prompt repulsion of thoughts and resistance against temptations, especially indirect resistance, by turning the mind to those things which hold it more strongly.

D. Humble and continual prayer, according to Wis. 8:21 and Matt. 26:41; in particular:

1. Frequent and express petition of chastity from the Lord.

2. Memory of the last things, of the Passion of Christ, and of the presence of God.

3. Frequent confession, and with the same confessor; for the more the state of the sick person is known, the more aptly the remedy can be applied.

4. Frequent and devout reception of the Holy Eucharist.

5. Constant devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived without stain.

Several other special means can be added, as we noted in the little work Concerning Chastity and Lust, q. 7, n. III. Let the confessor select from all these the more opportune ones for diverse adjuncts and persons; let him inspire in penitents a great desire for chastity, and a firm purpose, to be renewed rather often, of avoiding lust and its immense damages and dangers for salvation. For our salvation depends on a twofold will: namely, God's and man's. The divine will is very hostile to the sin of lust, but our will is especially weakened by this vice. Therefore this sin is most dangerous for our eternal salvation.