1 Corinthians 13:4-7 RSVCE

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is a passage commonly used in weddings, but many don’t realize this does not depict the love of romance but rather depicts the everlasting love of Jesus Christ.

We who value traditional Catholic values must take care as to not immediately pass judgement on Christians who disagree with us. From time to time I will read posts from accounts I generally enjoy that mock or shame Christians who aren’t Catholic. Those Christians who go to mega churches, who are non-denominational, and the general evangelical Christians. While I also don’t agree with Christians who practice in this way, I don’t hold malice towards them perhaps due to growing up in a non-denominational church myself. I’ve come to understand from converting from that background to the Catholic Church that most people generally have been misled or misunderstand the teachings of Catholicism.

Who am I to judge or mock those who simply haven’t had the opportunity to understand otherwise?

Many of these Christians are still extremely faithful believers who go to church every Sunday, pray daily, and are very talented at bringing more people to the Faith. Certainly, there is more to be desired with regard to their theological understanding as well as their adherence to what Christ has called us to do (many are too quick to fall into sinful actions because of their ideals of assured salvation). This does not mean it becomes right for me or any other Catholic to shame or judge them because of their misunderstanding.

This isn’t to say that we should ignore obvious heresies or not defend our beliefs when challenged, but we also shouldn’t go looking for battles. Let me be clear: absolutely defend your beliefs when confronted, or if you encounter heresies such as Gnosticism or nontrinitarian beliefs such as Oneness Pentecostalism. However, remember that Jesus tells us to remove the log from our own eye before taking out the speck from our brother’s eye. None of us are perfect, and it does more harm than good to instigate arguments with our own brothers and sisters. That energy would be much better spent fighting and converting non-believers than further dividing Christians.

It’s important to remember that we must gently lead our brothers in Christ as to why we believe in the Catholic Church and why it’s so important to embrace traditionalism. God’s Will led us to this truth, and we must have faith that He will lead the rest to it as well. Certainly we can and should help others to get there, but we should do it from a stance of love rather than judgement. We must practice Fraternal Correction and not immediately post of the wrongdoings of our brothers and sisters online but rather privately and kindly lead them to the truth.

I’m here to tell you that looking at this sort of content is absolutely an addiction, and that getting away from this on your own can be difficult but will absolutely improve your life for the better.

There are plenty of completely free and effective resources like https://easypeasymethod.org you can read to help lead you to getting your life back. Many Christians find that replacing these urges with prayer helps to recenter your mind on Christ and use the healing power He has to heal our brains.

As a Catholic, I would recommend praying the Rosary whenever you have these urges. I understand not all who reads this is currently a Christian, though, so understand that employing methods like the EasyPeasy method is also extremely effective.

That being said, I understand people slip and have problems keeping themselves honest. When it’s so easy to access this sort of content on our devices, one could very easily make a mistake and have a deep regret for it afterwards. That’s why I decided to give this guide as to how to completely block these websites on your Apple device with no additional apps needed, so even in times of temptation you have more time to work through the urge and not fall back into the addiction.

Screen Time

The Screen Time setting built into all Apple Devices, at first glance, is only for limiting and tracking the use of your phone to help keep you focused. However, many don’t know it contains the ability to allow you full parental control features on your own device. Unlike parental control, you are in full control of turning these settings on and off so please keep that in mind.

Step 1: Navigate to the Settings App on your Apple Device and open it

Step 2: Scroll down to the “Screen Time” option and click it

Step 3: Scroll down to the “Restrictions” section and click “Content and Privacy Restrictions”

Step 4: Click the slider to turn on “Content & Privacy Restrictions”

Step 5: Click the “App Store, Media, Web, & Games” section

Step 6: Scroll to the “Web Content” section and click the “Web Content” option. It may currently say “Unrestricted”

Step 7: Click the “Limit Adult Websites” section

• The default setting will block all common adult websites from being accessed from any browser on your phone

Step 8 (optional): Add additional websites you may want to block

• Clicking the “Add Website” button underneath Never Allow and typing the url (like youtube.com for example) will block those websites as well.

That’s about it! Now anytime you go on Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc. if you try to access an adult website or one from the Never Allow list, you will not be able to access it. This is completely private and secure. You can also replicate this process on essentially any modern Apple Device.

Keep in mind that this may not block content from other apps such as Reddit, X, YouTube, etc. I would recommend looking into the individual settings of these apps or consider deleting them if you have a hard time avoiding problematic content.

No matter what, you CAN do this. No matter how many times you slip up and fail, remember that Jesus really loves you and will always forgive you when you repent and try to get better. As Pope Francis once said:

Well, the problem is that we ourselves tire, we do not want to ask, we grow weary of asking for forgiveness. He never tires of forgiving, but at times we get tired of asking for forgiveness.

Let us never tire, let us never tire! He is the loving Father who always pardons, who has that heart of mercy for us all. And let us too learn to be merciful to everyone. Let us invoke the intercession of Our Lady who held in her arms the Mercy of God made man.

God bless and keep fighting the Good fight! Deus vult!