Lust Died When Christ Rose

I’ll be the first to say it.

Easter can be a troubling time.

It’s supposed to be a season of joy and victory. A time when people feast after fasting, and emerge holier after Lent. But what if we didn’t come out holier? What if we came out worse than we went in?

Where’s the joy in that?

One of the most common causes of this spiritual U-turn is lust.

It’s not just a "guy problem" anymore. Men and women are tempted by their sins more than ever. And because impurity is so normalised and accessible - it can feel impossible to escape once you’ve started.

Lust traps you in a cycle. It goes something like this:

• We resolve to become holy.
• We pray and grow.
• We get too comfortable.
• We fall into lust.
• We regret it.
• We start all over again.

And round it goes. This cycle holds many people back from advancing in great holiness. Some stay trapped in it for years. Others give up entirely.

We’ve tried to grow in purity alone and failed over and over again. 

 

And that’s where Easter comes in.

When the Messiah would come, he was predicted to “set the prisoners free”. (Isaiah 61:1) This isn’t just referring to actual prisons. This is about how the resurrection saves us from this forever cycle of lust and regret.

This Easter you might feel stuck. Ashamed. Numb. Dead in sin. 

But, God is always ticking away in the background to raise you up.

Good Friday looked similar. It was far from a ‘good’ Friday. The crucifixion was the most catastrophic end that you could have for the disciples.

We now know that God didn’t ‘lose’. He was just planning the biggest victory known to humanity.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in your soul. God is giving you graces to become even greater than before - to be great saints.

But it all starts with hope. 

Hope is what fuels every virtue. 

All the Apostles became saints except Judas because he lost hope. Without hope, there is no virtue. But with hope, every saint was made. 

It can feel a bit ridiculous to have hope, seeming we have sinned so many times. However, the hope we have is not in us- but in the God who has already conquered sin. If he can overcome death after he promised, isn’t he capable of conquering sin after he promised so?

Easter is not just about Christ’s resurrection, but yours.

No matter how many times you’ve failed…

No matter how many videos you’ve watched…

No matter how many things you’ve done…

It is God who is this close to raising your soul. He wants to work with you to make you a saint.

The barrier between your Good Friday and Easter is hope.

 

How can hope turn into joy?

Fr Mike Schmitz defines hope as the confidence that your well-being is being looked after. 

You don’t have to be absolutely perfect to experience joy. When you’re repentant and you realise that God is working you out of this hole - joy just springs forth. 

There’s a reason that despair is classified as a sin against hope. 

St Thomas Aquinas warns us about how necessary this joyful hope really is. He writes that;

“Despair is more dangerous, since hope withdraws us from evils and induces us to seek for good things, so that when hope is given up, men rush headlong into sin, and are drawn away from good works.” (Summa Theologiae, Question 20., Article 3.)

 

How can I become more hopeful this Easter?

First—pray.

It’s the Holy Spirit who is responsible for these gifts and virtues. When we’re low and pray for more, I doubt God will say no.

Second—see what’s possible.

We’re social beings. We don’t only want to be told “Just hope, bro.” We want to see it. We want to know that real people, no more special than us—some even worse off—escaped our problems and arrived at our goals.

That’s part of the reason why the Church gives us the saints.

Imagine being genuinely free from lust. I’m not talking about never having temptations - but being able to stand your ground despite them. Waking up joyfully next to your spouse, viewing them differently, and choosing to love them deeply. 

That is where hope gets you.

If you're looking for a resource to be reminded of God’s power and hope - Matt Fradd’s book, Delivered, is really relevant. It’s filled with real stories of people who broke free from lust and discovered the joy of hope.

Men and women got their lives in a mess, and we’re able to be free. Matt shares these stories from:

- A faithful Catholic man who almost lost his dream marriage to porn addiction

- A young woman who fell into pornography after escaping childhood abused

- Couples who faced the shame of lust in their home—and found healing

- A musician who believed only men struggled with porn—until she became addicted

… and five more stories of men and women who were dead in sin—and found resurrection.

“Matt is taking on a topic that is destroying society: pornography. It's not enough to tell people to avoid it. They need a vision of life that exposes pornography for what it is—false adoration. Matt does a great job of this.” —Jeff Cavins, Creator of The Great Adventure Bible Study

Hope doesn’t replace effort — it fuels it with the confidence that God will give us the grace to overcome.

This Easter, Christ is offering you more than just a celebration.

He’s offering you freedom from lust.

And it's fuelled with Easter hope.

 

Have a blessed Easter,

And remember: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” —St. Padre Pio

- Virtue Books and Gifts