Wis 16, 9-14 You have dominion over life and death

(Wis 16, 9-14) You have dominion over life and death

[9] For the bites of locusts and of flies slew them, and no remedy was found to save their lives because they deserved to be punished by such means; [10] But not even the fangs of poisonous reptiles overcame your sons, for your mercy brought the antidote to heal them. [11] For as a reminder of your injunctions, they were stung, and swiftly they were saved, Lest they should fall into deep forgetfulness and become unresponsive to your beneficence. [12] For indeed, neither herb nor application cured them, but your all-healing word, O LORD! [13] For you have dominion over life and death; you lead down to the gates of the nether world, and lead back. [14] Man, however, slays in his malice, but when the spirit has come away, it does not return, nor can he bring back the soul once it is confined.

(CCC 2520) Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires. With God's grace he will prevail - by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with upright and undivided heart; - by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man: with simplicity of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's will in everything (Cf. Rom 12:2; Col 1:10); - by purity of vision, external and internal; by discipline of feelings and imagination; by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that incline us to turn aside from the path of God's commandments: "Appearance arouses yearning in fools" (Wis 15:5); - by prayer: I thought that continence arose from one's own powers, which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know… that no one can be continent unless you grant it. For you would surely have granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears and I with firm faith had cast my cares on you (St. Augustine, Conf. 6, 11, 20: PL 32, 729-730).