MEDITATION XX.
ON LUXURY AND CHASTITY.
POINT I.
Luxury is an inordinate appetite of sensual pleasures, contrary to the order that Almighty God has appointed therein. In this vice we may sin:
1. By thought — consenting with the will to commit this sin, or taking pleasure to think upon immodest things, with that delectation called by the schoolmen "morosa," [1] " dwelling " or "tarrying" — detaining ourselves voluntarily in this delight, or weakly resisting it, or not removing the occasion whence it arises.
2. Secondly, we may sin by word, speaking filthy things; by the ear, delighting to hear them, or to hear music and indecent songs; by the eye, beholding things that excite to immodesty, or looking at such representations or reading books that treat of such things; by the smell and taste, smelling or eating and drinking things that excite to luxury — having in all this sensual delight for the end.
3. Thirdly, we sin by the act committed many ways. If by one's-self alone, it is pollution; if with a single woman, it is fornication; if with a married woman, adultery; if with a virgin, deflowering; if with a kinswoman, incest; if with a religious woman, or contrary to the vow of chastity, it is sacrilege; if with one of the same sex, it is sodomy; if with a beast, beastly brutishness. Touching by one's-self, or by others, for the same end of delight, is reduced to the sin of the act consummated. In this point we are not in prayer to make much pause, reckoning the
- ↑ S.Th. 2,2,q. cliii.
