Youth Apostles Online
Newsletter for Catholic Teens : March 2003
Contents:
The Beauty of Purity
Can You See It? by Joshua Harris
The Beauty of Purity
Dear Friends,
As springtime begins and the world blooms with new buds and green leaves, I'd like to talk about the true beauty that results from cultivating a pure soul. The world tells us to focus on the external. Girls are driven to anorexia in efforts to achieve model-like thinness and make-up companies earn a fortune from our efforts to look more "perfect." Guys are faced with near impossible standards of buff-ness. Fitness clubs have become temples of the body, where men try to sculpt themselves into the image of a perfect man--bursting biceps, six pack abs, and chiseled pecks. All of this in efforts to look more beautiful; to be more attractive. The problem is, real beauty can't be achieved through diets and make up. A truly attractive man isn't born in a gym. Soul deep, last-a-life-time beauty comes from a pure soul.
Now girls, I know how difficult it is to focus on your inner beauty, not your outer beauty. But let me tell you, the more you commit to working on your character, your holiness and your purity, the more ravishingly beautiful you will become on the inside. And the more attractive you will become to that one-in-a-million man of God's own heart. DO NOT COMPROMISE for the sake of attracting scummy dork-butt punks. It is worth the wait. Yes, you will feel different and maybe unappreciated at times. You may not get the same amount of attention that girls who dress immodestly and compromise their purity will get. People may not understand why you live by such high standards about what you will or will not watch, listen to or read. But, when the man that God has chosen for you, finally meets you and realizes how pure and unblemished your soul is, he will weep for joy and so will you! And your dating relationship will be strong and healthy and your marriage will get more and more beautiful as the days go on. I say this, because I have lived it. Trust that the Lord, the giver of Life, will not let you down!
Guys, having a buff soul and character is soooooo much more important (and attractive!) than being buff on the outside. Take my husband for example. He's not exactly what I would call a heavyweight champion (he, he), but I HONESTLY think he is the most handsome man in the WORLD! And it's because handsomeness and attractiveness in a man is about the whole person--heart, mind, body and SOUL. I work out at a fitness club where big buff men abound. The funny thing is, many of them are probably perfect 10s on somebody's scale, but on my scale they're negative 10s. So many of them are egotistical, proud, vulgar punks. All kinds of foul language spews from their mouths, they talk about women in a totally degrading way, and they are so narcissistic about their bodies. That is a total turn-off to any woman with real character and Jesus in her heart. But when I see a man of holiness, a man living for God, a man who strives to keep his thoughts and actions pure, a man who has the strength to go against what his culture says is cool, a man who is deliberately saving himself for his future wife out of love... WOW! Now, THAT'S attractive! All of those things are in my husband and they're what captured my heart and makes me love him more and more each day!
So cultivate purity of soul, and I promise you, your interior beauty will radiate from you like the rays of the sun!
Until next month, I remain...
Your Eucharist loving, Blessed Mother petitioning, rockin' Catholic Church obeying, Pope John Paul II devotee and fellow sinner in need of God's grace and mercy,
Michele TePas
Youth Apostles Online
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Can You See It?
Can you see the beauty of purity? And if you can, will you fight for it in your own life as well as in the lives of others? Yes, it requires work. Purity doesn't happen by accident; it requires obedience to God. But this obedience is not burdensome or overbearing. We have only to consider the alternatives to impurity to see the beauty of walking in God's will. Impurity is a grimy film that coats the soul, a shadow that blocks light and darkens our countenance... May your love for Him fuel a lifelong, passionate pursuit of righteousness.
- Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, pages 100-101
