In letter number 47 (some editions, letter 49), St. Jerome states that it is not possible for a married man who practices sex to be able to pray. He needs to abstain from sex in order to pray to God. The more he abstains, the better he prays. Therefore, he even recommends total abstention in order to pray always. St. Jerome is representative of a defective type of mentality rampant in society that is unable to see that sin is not in the object, but rather in the will.
God created all things good; and this includes the conjugal act, alcohol,
the human body, material riches, and sports. When someone projects a personal weakness from himself to the object, the evil is now seen as present in something external to his own being. The sin is no longer an immoderate or abusive use of the object, but is the object itself.
With this sort of reasoning, an Evangelical will condemn alcohol itself as something sinful and cause America to go through a prohibition period. He cannot see that it is the abuse (immoderate action) of drinking that is immoral and not the created substance. A Brazilian socialist will condemn the rich class and consider them as the cause of all the injustices in the country. He cannot understand Christ's words that all of our sins are born within us, and have their origin in our own hearts. Avarice can be present in the mind, will and heart of a poor man just as much, if not more, than in the life of a rich executive. He doesn't commit the same crimes because he does not possess the same opportunities. The intention, however, is present.
Just because a woman wears a long dress is no sign that she is expressing the virtue of modesty. A sexually repressed lady who considers her body to be of the devil will cover it up in view of her sense of shame, and not in consideration of its rightful value, honor and dignity. The sin is not in the body itself, but in our attitude towards it. A Catholic who shys away from sex because he considers it "dirty" has a distorted view of this pleasurable good created by God. If the pleasure attached to it is the problem, then he might as well reject the act of eating, urinating, a walk through the woods, etc. because they all involve pleasure sensation.
It is interesting to know that in societies absent of repression, addictions do not exist. An emotionally repressed country like the USA has a very serious alcoholic problem. Nations like France and Italy, in which people freely express their anger, alcoholism is minimum. Wine is consumed by everyone, but no one is addicted. Since Americans do not hide their strong sense of justice, they have no problems with communism. France, Italy and Brazil are plagued with socialists since the people repress their moral conscience in regard to the material needs of others. Due to a Puritan mentality, the sexual repression in the USA, has caused an outbreak of all types of scandals in this area. In Brazil, a country free of Puritan influences, women can walk tranquilly down a street with no fear of anyone sexually abusing or molesting them, even if flimsly dressed. They are all respected.
St. Jerome, I am sorry, but you are definitely wrong in your affirmatons concerning sex and prayer. You even contradict the Scriptures that you translated into Latin. St. Paul told us that whether we eat, drink, sleep or whatever, we are supposed to do it in the Lord's name. Tobith prayed with his wife before he entered the marriage bed, and thus sanctified the conjugal act. Are we supposed to get rid of this book of the Bible? Many people pray before they eat and sanctify their meals. I remember a Jewish rabbi who showed me a prayer that he taught to everyone while sitting on the toilet stool. It was to praise God for the relief of having emptied out one's bowels. It is no small grace, considering the great number of constipations present in society. Even there, one can be sanctified.
If St. Paul counseled abstinence on certain liturgical feast-days, it was not because he considered sex to be "dirty", but rather to create a better climate of spiritual recollection. A person who leaves his family, eats less and stops his normal activities in order to prepare himself spiritually for a celebration, does not do this because he hates sex, food or work. It is to be better prepared physicallly and mentally for the event by avoiding distractions. What is dirty in this case is not sex, but our unclean minds that need a good purification and renewal.
Anthony Mellace
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