It is not easy to keep a clean heart in an unclean world; yet the foes without us are not so formidable as those within . . . We must be on our guard against bad company and bad reading; for if we think ourselves at liberty to go everywhere, to look at and read everything we shall not long remain innocent. And we must pray fervently and often; for only God can preserve us unscathed in the midst of this fiery furnace.
And ardent devotion to Our Lady and to our Guardian Angel is, of course, a mighty protection, as also the habit of praying for those whose purity is endangered; for such prayer cannot fail to bring a blessing on oneself.
-- Barraud,
Meditations
