One of the primary ways that we can progress in holiness is to be more intentional about avoiding sin. There are a number of tactics we can use to help us in the regard, such as praying each day for the grace to avoid that particular sin.
As the Divine Physician, God wants us to point out to him exactly what is hurting us, so that he can apply the remedy best suited for our specific wound.
If we truly want to heal from our sins and stop falling into bad habits, we need to be honest about what it is that is harming our soul.
Here is a prayer from the 19th-century Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations that asks for God’s grace to avoid a specific sin.
Call to mind your usual faults, also the dangers and the occasions of sin to which you will be exposed and make the firm resolution to guard yourself carefully against these temptations and occasions, and especially against that one which you know to be the greatest and most dangerous of all. Say then with a sincere heart:
O my God, I am resolved to avoid this sin of [insert particular sin] above all others and with the greatest care, and to be on my guard against this dangerous occasion.
