Aprehendite disciplinam

Virtue vs. prudery - it would seem that over time Catholics have forgotten this distinction. The cultivation of virtue is a postive, active way of life. Virtue combats vice by the development of higher character, making the soul receptive to grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Virtue confronts vice face to face.

Prudery is the simple ape of virtue, it is negative and inactive in so far as it does not combat vice but rather avoids it and mocks it from a distance.

This is why no matter how many laity and priests march in the streets against abortion and rail against “gay marriage” the tide of the battle seems against them. The unvirtuous are ill suited to combat evil, the undisciplined flesh unable to kick down the gates of Hell.

These demons go out only through fasting and prayer, therefore these things must come before the street protest. Indeed, it is the lack of the virtuous Catholic that allows such horrors to take place, O Sal Terrae! Were there a leaven for this lumpenproletariat indeed it would make the street march unnecessary, O Ye of Little Faith!

In this day and age of activism it must be said that the real battle is fought in prayer, through discipline and fasting.