It is that time of the month whereby I will offer a blog on this site. In prep,  I always check our google analytics to see the traffic and how we are doing in getting the word out about this powerful healing ministry to men.  As I was examining our top visitors list I see that some unfriendly visitors are attempting to capitalize on our efforts by drawing broken men to their cess pool of porn.  Little do these folks know that they stand no chance with pulling me down to that dark world of porn.  I have wasted too many years in that world and I know all too well the allure and empty promises that it offers.

As I ponder this reality, I think it is time to discuss how the Samson Healing Retreat can effectively help men caught up in the snare of internet porn.  It is a web of deception (pun intended) and it will kill the life of grace in anyone who wants to dabble in its seductive offerings.  For me, I have trained myself to pray whenever these images appear as they are apt to do as I attempt to navigate purely through this world of technology.

I pray for the women and the men trapped in the world of porn.  I allow these images to draw my heart to contemplation and deep prayer.  I contemplate the pain that these women and men are in and offer up my prayers and sufferings for them.  Be they deceased, diseased, suicidal or addicted to drugs, I pray for their ability  to cope with their pain.  I pray for their freedom from their current bondage.  I pray for their peace of mind and heart.  I pray for their strength to deal with their past or present pain.  And I pray most especially for the release of their souls from purgatory.  This is how I have enabled porn to have no grip on my life.  It is a deadly world and we need to fight off the temptation and allure of porn with our most deadly of weapons: prayer to our Lady.  I pray a Hail Mary for these people until the temptation ceases.  Mary steps on the head of the serpent Satan and crushes him.  We can do no better in our battle to defeat him then by going to our Blessed Mother.

At our Samson Healing Retreat, many men come to the Discovery House seeking freedom from their existing porn addiction.  At our weekend, our leader team desires to walk with these men and discover what is underlying their need to look at porn.  It is the wound beneath the symptom that we must understand if we are going to allow any healing to begin.  Fighting off temptations is one thing, but seeking true healing from the wound that continually draws us to the self medicating world of porn or any addiction is what we do at Samson.  Some men are ready for that challenge and a healing weekend like Samson is a great catalyst in that self discovery.  The weekend does not cure a man, but it equips him with the tools he needs to find his cure if it be God’s plan for him.  Jesus Christ is the healer.  On a Samson retreat weekend, men are introduced in a very tangible way to the healing power of Christ through the sacramental life of the Church and through God’s chosen instruments…other wounded men.

If you are struggling with an addiction to porn, I invite you to consider coming to Samson.  Our next healing retreat will take place November 5-8 at the Discovery House in Hammonton, NJ.  Join us and I promise you will not be disappointed.

Your brother in Christ’s healing love,

Mark Houck