Decide in advance what you will not look at, because the decision cannot be made honestly in the moment. Then train the first movement: when the eye is caught, turn it away immediately, before deliberation begins, and turn it toward something good — a person's face, a crucifix, the work in front of you. Do not argue with the temptation; leave the room, close the tab, put the phone down. Extend the same custody to devices: remove the applications that occasion sin, install a filter whose password you do not hold, keep phones and screens out of the bedroom, and keep a friend or spouse informed. Say a short prayer at the moment of temptation — a Hail Mary, the Memorare, the Sub tuum praesidium — so that the will has something to do. Renew the resolution each morning and check it in the nightly examination of conscience, and go to confession promptly rather than letting a habit consolidate. Finally, pair the discipline with positive charity: custody of the eyes that turns the gaze inward on oneself has missed the point, which is to see other people as persons and God in all things.

The practice takes its warrant from the Lord's own words about the adulterous look (Matthew 5:28-29). The Catechism sets such vigilance within the battle of prayer, where humble watchfulness of heart is the condition of perseverance.

Mortification

The common ascetical tradition

Continual; renewed each morning and reviewed each night

mortification