Post #6462

The Practice of Mortification If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.—Matt. 16-24. This is all that anyone who wishes to be a follower of Jesus Christ has to do. Do we wish to be saved? We must then conquer all to make sure of all. How miserable is the soul that allows itself to be guided by self-love! Mortification is of two kinds—internal and external: by interior mortification we have to study to conquer our passions, and especially our predominant one. A person who does not overcome his predominant passion is in great danger of being lost; whereas he who has overcome that will easily conquer all the others. Some, however, allow one vice to predominate in themselves, and think that they are good, because they do not see in themselves vices which others have. “But what does it matter?” says Saint Cyril: “one leak is sufficient to sink the ship.” Nor will it suffice to say, “I cannot abstain from this vice;” a resolute will conquers all; that is, of course, with the assistance of God, who will never fail us. External mortification has to do with conquering the sensual appetites. Worldly people call the saints cruel when they deny their bodies all satisfaction of the senses and chastise them with hair-shirts, disciplines, and other penances. “But,” says St. Bernard, “they are in reality much more cruel to themselves, who condemn themselves to burn forever in hell-fire for the sake of the short and miserable pleasures of this life.” Others say that all forbidden pleasures should be denied to the body; but they despise external mortifications, saying, that interior mortification is what is required; that is, the mortification of the will. Yes, it is principally necessary to mortify the will, but the mortification of the flesh is also necessary; because when the flesh is not mortified, it will be hard to be obedient to God. St. John of the Cross said, that any one who taught that external mortification was not necessary, ought not to be believed, even though he worked miracles. But let us come to the practice of it. In the first place, the eyes must be mortified. The first arrows that wound the soul, and often kill it, enter through the eyes. The eyes are, as it were, grappling-irons of hell, which drag souls, as if by main force, into sin. A certain Pagan philosopher voluntarily put out his eyes to free himself from impurity. It is not lawful for us to pluck out our eyes, but we ought to make them blind by means of mortification; otherwise we shall find it difficult to keep ourselves chaste. St. Francis de Sales said: “You must close the gates, if you do not wish the enemy to enter into the citadel.” We must then abstain from looking at any object that may give occasion to temptation. St. Aloysius Gonzaga did not dare to raise his eyes to even look at his own mother; and when by chance our eyes light on some dangerous object, let us take care not to fix them on it. “It is not so much the mere seeing,” says St. Francis de Sales, “but the inspecting and continuing to look, that is the cause of ruin.” Let us then be very careful in mortifying our eyes; because many are now in hell on account of sins committed with the eyes. In the second place, we must mortify our tongue, by abstaining from words of detraction, or of abuse, or of obscenity. An impure word spoken in conversation, even in jest, may prove a scandal to others, and be the cause of a thousand sins arising from it. And it should be observed, that sometimes a word of double meaning, said in a witty way, does more harm than a word openly impure. In the third place, we must mortify the taste. St. Andrew Avellini said that in order to begin to live a good Christian life, a man must begin by the mortification of his palate. And St. Francis de Sales said: “We must eat to live, not live to eat.” Many seem to live only to eat, and thus they destroy the health both of their soul and body. For the most part costiveness, diarrhoea, and other illnesses are caused by the vice of gluttony.