Seeing God Clearly

“Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they will see God” - Matthew 5:8

 September 22, 2025

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of a close friend of mine named Nick. Nick was my very first accountability partner. I first met him my freshman year of college at Purdue University on my dorm floor. As we grew to be closer friends, I began to see a deeper side of Nick. He was a practicing Catholic and his faith was very important to him. He truly believed that if he didn’t have Christ, he’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere. He was well aware of all the temptations to sin he would experience in college, which is why he strove so hard to keep his Catholic faith.

I, on the other hand, was living in a pretty different world. I had not grown up in a family where faith was of any importance. So, by the time I entered college, my friendship with Nick was essentially my first introduction into the world of being Catholic. Over time, I became more interested in Church teaching on sexuality and began to see some of the wisdom in it. Despite not being a religious person at the time, I eventually made a private vow that I would save sex for marriage. To me, it felt cowardly to engage in an act that is intended to produce children with a woman I was not fully committed to. The Church’s ancient teaching made so much practical sense to me, so I accepted it.

What I could not get past, however, was the Church’s teaching on masturbation and pornography. According to the Church, these actions were considered mortal sins, and I didn’t understand why. I thought if it wasn’t hurting anybody, it couldn’t really be that bad– that is, until I finally experienced how harmful it was.

My junior year of college, after a breakup from a relationship that was filled with lust, my lustful habits got even worse. Daily masturbation became multiple times a day, pornography usage increased, and lustful fantasies began to occupy my mind seemingly all the time. I was a total slave to pleasure, and I was miserable. I admitted to myself that I had a problem and quietly resolved to get free on my own without telling anybody. That didn’t last long, however, as repeated setbacks prompted me to attempt to vocalize my struggle to people I thought could help.

Nick ran a Catholic bible study that I attended every week, and in this bible study I shared that I was struggling to “overcome a bad habit”. I was too embarrassed to say specifically what it was and did not want to risk being judged by the other guys in the group who I assumed were super holy and didn’t struggle with the same thing.

The next day, Nick came over to my apartment and asked me point blank if the “bad habit” I was referring to in bible study was masturbation and pornography. He invited me to join an accountability group with another mutual friend of ours. Although initially offended that he would confront me so boldly like that, after a few days of deliberation, I decided to join. I became accountability partners with Nick. We would check in daily and offer up penance for each other if we had any setbacks (3 cold showers per setback, if you’d like to follow our example!).

I can’t emphasize enough how pivotal a moment this was for me in my life. In a certain sense, I still look back at that very moment and remember it as the moment I became a new man. My life completely changed. After having almost daily setbacks for 9 straight years, I experienced multiple months, and eventually multiple years of sobriety. With the fog of lust gone and my vision now clear, I began to encounter Christ in a deeper way. I saw His call for me to finally enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, leading to my confirmation on the Easter Vigil of 2022. Later, I would leave a good job to be a FOCUS missionary and share Christ with college students. And today, I work for Fight Club so young men can experience true freedom and see God’s call for their lives more clearly in the same way that I did.

It all starts with an invitation. Be bold! I can confidently say I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for Nick’s invitation to me. Who is God putting on your heart? Is there a guy you could invite to join Fight Club? If so, what’s holding you back from having that conversation? Even if there’s not anyone that comes to mind at the moment, I hope this story at least serves as a helpful reminder of why we fight for pure love.

Peace in Christ,

Chase Werfel
Chapter Coordinator, Fight Club Catholic