Media Fasting: A Catholic Guide to Technology, Temperance & the Spiritual Life ~ Fr. Ripperger

About this sermon

In this talk we unpack media fasting from a Catholic and Thomistic perspective: what it is, why it helps, and how to practice it without treating technology as evil. Drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas, we look at the five senses, imagination, cogitative power, intellect and will, and how modern media plugs into our appetites—creating pleasure, distraction, and sometimes intemperance, effeminacy, sloth, and spiritual dissipation. You’ll hear practical, pastoral guidance (think Exodus 90, Lent/Advent practices, timed phone checks, content filters) alongside observations about attention, ADD/ADHD-like restlessness, sleep, and digital amnesia. The goal isn’t fear of tech; it’s prudence and temperance—using tools as tools, recovering memory, fortitude, detachment, focus, and making room for prayer. What you’ll learn The difference between moderating good pleasures vs. rejecting tech outright How media stimulates delight, curiosity, and convenience-pleasure—and why it must be ordered Why overuse trains the imagination/cogitative power to demand rapid novelty The link between screens, fragmented attention, poorer sleep, obesity risks, and weakened will Digital amnesia vs. the classical art of memory (loci) for prudence Practical media fasting rules for phone, internet, TV; how to structure Lent/Advent Why men often struggle more (tool-use & abstraction prep), and how to rebuild fortitude How to fast without harming responsibilities of state in life (work, family, safety) Catholic principles Pleasure is good (for recreation) but must be measured Temperance & fortitude prevent pleasure-chasing from eroding the spiritual life Detachment: “I can enjoy it—and I can walk away.” Prudence needs a trained memory; tech convenience shouldn’t replace interior formation Practical plan (quick start) Phone: check 3 minutes on the hour; silence non-essential alerts Internet: use for necessities, batch questions, avoid curiosity-scrolling TV/Video: schedule it; default to reading for depth; use filters in the home Seasons: pick Lent/Advent (or 30-day windows) for near-total media fast (work exceptions) Training: rebuild memory (e.g., loci method), practice daily mental prayer, and single-tasking Family: no phones at meals, common rules, content filters, age-appropriate limits If this helped, like, subscribe, and share with someone discerning a tech reset rooted in Catholic wisdom. Timestamps 0:00 Opening Prayer 0:40 What is “Media Fasting”? (and why it isn’t Luddite) 2:30 Pleasure & Technology: where delight actually lives (imagination, intellect, will) 3:45 The Thomistic map: senses → imagination → memory/cogitative power → intellect/will 7:00 Two kinds of media pleasure: the content and the tool itself 12:50 How screens train appetites & expectations (speed, novelty, instant results) 18:00 Too much vs. too little pleasure: dissipation vs. insensitivity 20:30 Attention, emotion processing & kids: rapid imagery, classroom restlessness 24:40 Depth thinking & intellectual virtue vs. constant novelty 25:40 Beta vs. alpha: why TV can “calm,” but also dulls active reasoning 27:50 Health & sleep effects; building self-will vs. strong will 38:10 Digital amnesia & the moral duty to train memory for prudence 41:30 Practical media fasts: phones, internet, TV; Lent/Advent; Exodus 90 tips 47:10 Men, tools & abstraction; guarding against effeminacy and sloth 54:10 Parenting & formation: filters, reading, staged freedom, training focus 59:10 Relationships, detachment & why “no phones at table” works 1:00:41 Final blessing For more sermons & lectures please visit http://sensustraditionis.org/ & remember to do the PenanceWare Fr asks for the book "The Principle of the Integral Good" - http://sensustraditionis.org/press/product/the-principle-of-the-integral-good/ Fr Ripperger's order of exorcists http://dolorans.org/ #MediaFasting #Catholic #Thomistic #Exodus90 #DigitalDetox #Temperance #Prudence #Virtue #Attention #Memory #SpiritualLife #Lent #Advent #CatholicParenting 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 Support Catholic Businesses here - https://sensusfidelium.com/catholic-businesses/ Sensus Fidelium Press - https://sensusfideliumpress.com/ Sensus Fidelium Apps - https://sensusfidelium.tv/ Support Sensus Fidelium - https://sensusfidelium.com/donate-support/ 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 (C) 2021 Sensus Fidelium 🙏🏻PLEASE HELP OUR CHANNEL GROW 🙏🏻 ▶️ 1. Become a Channel Patron: https://www.patreon.com/SensusFidelium ▶️ 2. Visit the website https://www.sensusfidelium.us for Gueranger, Saint of the Day, Apologetics, Meditation by the Saints, Scripture Study and more. ▶️ 3. BitChute --- https://www.bitchute.com/channel/Sensus_Fidelium/ ▶️ 4. Paypal, Bitcoin, Anedot, Stripe, Square & PO Box donations - https://sensusfidelium.us/donate-support/ ▶️ 5. YouTube: Click Subscribe, then Click "Notification Bell" = 🔔

Topics

• Self-Control
• Fasting
• Christian Living