Youth urged to re-discover virtue of purity

JARO, Iloilo, Feb. 11, 2014—As the world celebrates February as the month of hearts, a medical doctor and her husband urged young people to re-discover the virtue of purity.

Popularly regarded as a month for lovers, February should also remind young people that true love between man and woman is shown by mutual respect through chastity, pro-life couple Dr. Dolores Octaviano and husband Erlando, said.

Understanding the pressures that the youth are subjected to in present society through pornography, peer-pressure, and the so-called “alternative lifestyles”, the couple encouraged young people by affirming that “purity is still possible nowadays”.

The wife and husband team shared a lesson from the testimony of a young American couple that recently visited the Philippines, chastity speakers Jason and Crystalina Evert. They said that the best gift people in love can give to each other is one’s purity.

They also said that, while everyone is called to live pure and chaste, those who have fallen should never give in to discouragement.

Erlando recalled Jason Evert telling people that for those who have fallen, the surest way to a get up again is to have recourse to the sacrament of Confession.

For her part, Dr. Octaviano strongly advised young people to never resort to thinking that they never can overcome temptations or that they never can change for the better.

“If you end up thinking that way, remember that such thoughts come from the evil one,” Octaviano said.

She explained that in the Gospel, Jesus Christ leads sinners to begin again, citing the case of the woman caught in adultery who was told by Jesus, to “Go and sin no more.”

Erlando and Dolores Octaviano are both members of the Jaro Archdiocesan Commission on Family and Life. They host a radio program on family and life concerns every Sunday at noontime in Aksyon Radio Iloilo. (Fr. Mickey Cardenas)