You Can Free Yourself From Pornography Through Prayer!

An article by Olivia de Fournas published in Famille chrétienne in September 2020.

The platform SOSPorno.net (launched on September 24, 2020) is intended to help Internet users free themselves from pornography addiction by contacting e-missionaries and praying for deliverance.

Mr. Jean-Baptiste Maillard is convinced that, “many people can be healed from pornography if we help them turn to the Lord”.  The co-founder of Lights in the Dark, an association that evangelizes via the Internet, launched a new website, SOSPorno.net, on September 24, 2020. It allows people affected by this addiction to confide their problems to others and pray for their own healing. All the Internet user has to do is to simply connect to the SOSPorno.net site. On the bottom right-hand side of the page, they are invited to enter into a totally anonymous chat with one of the 60 or so “e-missionaries” of Lights in the Dark. These volonteers took turns during the 3-day Congress Mission that took place earlier in the year (https://app.congresmission.com/), “to listen to Internet users, to pray for and with them, and to give witness to God’s love”.

After discussing together, the person is offered a deliverance prayer, entrusted to the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis. This prayer was written by two mothers and approved of by Mgr Jerome Beau, Archbishop of Bourges, and Dom Jean Pateau, Father Abbot of Fontgombault Abbey (France). Blessed Carlo, an Italian boy, who died at the age of 15 in 2006 of acute leukemia, was chosen because he will be beatified on October 10, 2020 and was given as an example to teenagers by Pope Francis (notably in his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit). Familiar with the spirituality of this young servant of God, Jean-Baptiste immediately saw the hand of Providence when the two mothers came to present their prayer to him: “Carlo was aware of the dangers of the Internet, and of ’empty pleasures’, he knew how to act creatively to proclaim the Gospel, and to proclaim value and beauty.” The founder of Lights in the Dark also obtained, through a Capuchin priest in Assisi, the support of Carlo’s mother who wrote “Molto bene autorizzo” (“Very good, I give my authorization”).

However, the deliverance prayer from pornography does not stop when the Internet user signs off: 3,000 members of the “invisible monastery Carlo Acutis” continue praying and offer follow-ups by e-mail, with the contact info of a local priest or therapist. “There is no limit to what can be done. Our initiative is complementary to what already exists and we believe that prayer can transform lives!” Others who feel called to respond to the needs of the members of our society affected by the scourge of online pornography can also join the ranks of e-missionaries. Jean-Baptiste Maillard, also co-author of the book « Évangéliser sur internet, mode d’emploi » (Evangelize on the Internet: Instruction Manual in English, 2019) offers a workshop, available online on the Congress Mission website, “Transforming Lives on the Internet”(2).

 

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(1) www.sosporno.net
(2) The French workshop « Tranformer des vies avec internet », took place in Paris in 2020.

 

 

The testimony of Pierre, former pornography addict

“And us sinners, we put our hope in your inexhaustible mercy.”

For me, this phrase illustrates the face of hope which is an attitude of trust in God, an attitude of trust in the mercy of God, a God who is love, tenderness and compassion. He didn’t come to call the just, but the sinners. For me, hope, is not leaning only on our own strength but counting on the mercy of God, to move forward, walking in his footsteps.

When sometimes we get frustrated, falling at the same sins, seeing our capacity to love is so small, we must entrust ourselves to God’s mercy, because I believe that’s what he’s waiting for us to do. That we might entrust ourselves to him, that we might ask his help to grow in love.

For me, hope is to walk the path, not just relying on our own strength but putting our hope in God’s mercy.

Sharing my experience with you, I give you my testimony:

I was in high school, I was a pornography addict and little by little, when I realised that everything I saw, the things I was watching, weren’t good for my heart, for my vision of things, or for my relationship with others, I wanted to stop. But in fact, I began to realise I was deeply anchored into an addiction and I wouldn’t be able to stop using only my own strength. One day, I decided to go to confession, to give everything to the Lord and that day, I truly experienced God’s mercy in my life.

I experienced this God who didn’t judge but rejoiced to see his son asking for help. That day, I really experienced a freedom and a deep joy. It wasn’t magic because things were deeply rooted in me and by the end of one month I had fallen again. But I had this experience of mercy and I chose to put my hope in this mercy. I chose to come back and go to confession again, to entrust myself to the Lord and rely even more heavily on his Love. As time went by, every time I presented myself to God, he came and broke more of my chains until one day they fell off completely.

Do you too want to receive help from heaven to get rid of this addiction? We are here to pray with you and ask Carlo Acutis for his intercession:

Going further:

• “It’s possible to stop using porn”
• Liberated from pornography by Carlo Acutis
• Pornography and masturbation, are they sinful?

Pornography and masturbation, are they sinful?

When someone asks whether something they’ve done is a sin or not, it means they’re already on a path, searching for truth. It’s even more important when the question concerns intimacy or our romantic choices. In life, it’s always important to ask questions and find answers to give sense to our acts. So, pornography and masturbation, are they sinful?

Symptom of suffering

The first thing we have to understand is that watching pornography or masturbating are often symptoms of something else the person is going through. Solitude, frustration, becoming discouraged, quickly lead people to emotionally compensate in ways which are of course insufficient and so create an addiction. There are also cases where we fall into certain ‘practices’ caused by a false vision of sexuality where people are considered only as objects for pleasure (including yourself).

On the ‘spiritual’ side of things

Spiritually speaking; pornography and masturbation are considered in the Bible and in Judaic-Christian tradition, as sinful, because their egocentric nature means they are purely focused on personal satisfaction. And this contradicts the human vocation: of being a gift for others. In pornography, the relationship between the persons taking part is not the fruit of reciprocal love, and the sexual intercourse is artificial and staged; in masturbation, there is absolutely no relationship between persons, and so, the other exists only as a product of imagination. For an act to be good, it must always be ordered towards the good of others and yourself. Sin is “an act or a thought which opposes Love”.

Pornography and masturbation, serious sins… or not?

The production of pornographic material is considered as a serious sin. However, sins of ‘impurity’ such as masturbation or looking at pornographic material can’t be judged as serious ‘at a first glance’; the emotional, psychological and spiritual state of the person must always be considered. To give an example, it’s very difficult for a teenager to manage their sexuality, they haven’t yet learnt about everything, and hormonal changes can reduce their freedom to choose. What is sure, no matter the situation, these sexual practices will always provoke emotional ‘disorder’ in us, which over time risks encouraging our narcissism.

How do I stop?

Every time we fall into masturbation or pornography, we’re damaging our capacity to love, so, in this case, it’s really important to make acts of altruism or generosity towards others. Charity is the best medicine for treating egoism. Of course, it can be very useful to talk about it with a priest, to confess our weaknesses and feel forgiven by God. In cases where the practice has taken root, it’s also good to talk about it with a specialist, to try and see exactly what it is that leads us to act in this way.

We’re here for you! Don’t hesitate to talk to us and ask us your questions:

Going further:

• Porn and masturbation, the same battle?
• Is porn true sexuality?
• What’s wrong with masturbation?