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Often trying to stop a sinful habit can be difficult. We may know intellectually that what we are doing is wrong, but our heart may still be attached to it.
In fact, we may even like the sin we are committing.
If this is the case, there will always be a tension within our soul, and it will be very difficult to progress in virtue.
Disliking sin
St. Francis de Sales comments on this aspect of the spiritual life in his Introduction to the Devout Life. He explains how we need to clean our soul of any attachment to sin:
Be sure, my daughter, that if you seek to lead a devout life, you must not merely forsake sin; but you must further cleanse your heart from all affections pertaining to sin; for, to say nothing of the danger of a relapse, these wretched affections will perpetually enfeeble your mind, and clog it, so that you will be unable to be diligent, ready and frequent in good works, wherein nevertheless lies the very essence of all true devotion.
He then goes on to relate what happens when we are still attached to our sinful habits:
Souls which, in spite of having forsaken sin, yet retain such likings and longings, remind us of those persons who, without being actually ill, are pale and sickly, languid in all they do, eating without appetite, sleeping without refreshment, laughing without mirth, dragging themselves about rather than walking briskly. Such souls as I have described lose all the grace of their good deeds, which are probably few and feeble, through their spiritual languor.
As long as we are still attached to our sin, we will not be able to progress in our spiritual life. We will always be chained to our sin, constantly being pulled back by it.
This is why it is important that we dislike our sin and try to root out any attachment to it.
For many of us this will be difficult, especially if it is a sin that we learned in our youth and have continued into adulthood.
A central key to breaking free from our attachment to sin is the grace of God, allowing God to purify our soul.
We cannot do it alone and need God’s divine help in order to become free from our sinful habits.
