Posted on 08/31/2007 10:32:57 AM PDT by stfassisi
The What and Why of Mortification by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
The best description of mortification was given by Our Lord. He said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mat 16:24).
Mortification, therefore, is self-denial. And self-denial is doing the will of God, even when the Divine will crosses at right angles to our will. Mortification is the imitation of Christ in the surrender of what we naturally like in order to please God.
Self-Denial to Make Up for Past Sins
There is one big difference, however, between our mortification and the self-denial that Christ practiced in doing the will of His Father. We are sinners who must practice mortification to make up in greater generosity to God for our failure to love Him as we should have in the past. We are sinners who must expiate our sinful self-indulgence by giving up creatures we might otherwise lawfully enjoy.
More than Important
Mortification is not only important, it is necessary. Why?
Because only mortified persons are willing to surrender to God the most precious possession they have, namely their own self-will.
Only mortified persons are willing to love God in the patient endurance of whatever crosses He sends them.
Only mortified persons are living in the real world where sins are so widespread and where sinners need the grace of repentance to be gained by the prayerful penance of the friends of God.
Patience and Faithfulness
We can practice mortification by giving up some delicacy in food or drink, or some pleasure that we could legitimately have. But we also practice mortification every time we patiently accept whatever trial or pain He sends us, and every time we faithfully carry out whatever His mysterious providence commands of us.
It is this second kind of mortification that Jesus had in mind when He told us that “anyone who loses his life for my sake, will find it” (Mat. 16:25).
The Key to Heaven
If we are willing to mortify (literally “cause death to”) our self-will in this world, we shall gain eternal life in the world to come. On these terms, only mortified people will enter Heaven
It is this second kind of mortification that Jesus had in mind when He told us that “anyone who loses his life for my sake, will find it” (Mat. 16:25).
Ping!
How many works are enough?
“If we are willing to mortify (literally “cause death to”) our self-will in this world, we shall gain eternal life in the world to come. On these terms, only mortified people will enter Heaven”
Theosis is the result of thoroughly dying to the self so that one’s entire being is focused solely on God.
“Those who aim at ascending with the body to Heaven, indeed need violence and constant suffering, especially in the early stages of their renunciation, until our pleasure-loving dispositions and unfeeling hearts attain to love of God and chastity by manifest sorrow.” +John Klimacus
“How many works are enough?”
Hello, Dear Sister.How is your health these days?
I pray it is better!
If we completely die to self then our works are not our own,but inspired by Christ working in us to fulfill His will. Thus by denying ourself,these works are a result of our will coming into line with Christ’s will.
Any works that we do expecting God to grant us a reward or to repay us are worthless and self serving
I wish you a Blessed day!
Agreed!This is certainly our goal and the only way we can truly be at peace.
Hope all is well with you and your family?
I wish you a Blessed day!
When we decide suddenly to give up some very licit pleasure, we surprise the demon who sits on our shoulders and whispers in our ears and he may fall off for a spell. Puts a smile on the face of our guardian angel.
“How many works are enough?”
Prayer and fasting go hand in hand when requesting God’s aid, or joining the Cross of Christ in imitation. It is very common to pray and fast for those suffering saints in the Islamic countries like Pakistan and Iraq.
I seem to be getting better, but won't know if the change in chemo (completed first course & was started on a different course) is effective for a couple of weeks. Thanx for asking.
If we completely die to self then our works are not our own,but inspired by Christ working in us to fulfill His will. Thus by denying ourself,these works are a result of our will coming into line with Christ’s will.
I can embrace that belief.
Any works that we do expecting God to grant us a reward or to repay us are worthless and self serving
I can't see how the second last & last sentences in the article "If we are willing to mortify (literally “cause death to”) our self-will in this world, we shall gain eternal life in the world to come. On these terms, only mortified people will enter Heaven." can be squared with what you're saying.
I wish you a Blessed day!
Thanx & wishing you a Blessed day as well.
True enough, but the article spoke of gaining eternal life by it.
“True enough, but the article spoke of gaining eternal life by it.”
Being human with a human mind and body and inclination we have a tendency toward using God’s creatures in ways that are sinful, it helps to discipline yourself by denying yourself.
You are less apt to misuse creatures and experiences, if you from time to time give them up or use them sparingly.
It is also well to join your terribly small sacrifice to the Cross as way of acknowledging your own small nature and the terrific magnitude of Jesus’ suffering incurred by Him due to our fallen natures and sinful acts and thoughts as the way to redeem us.
My belief is this: Any suffering, any inconvenience, or mortification is offered to our Lord with our thanks to Him for it. We thank Him for His gifts to us which are so many and so great, but we forget to thank Him for those things we dislike or cause us distress.
Along with going to Mass, spending an hour with Jesus in the Eucharist at Adoration, doing charity works, reading the Bible, reading the Fathers and spending time saying the rosary and other prayers and meditating on the Trinity and the life of Christ, using mortifications can help you grow in the spiritual life. It is one seamless thing. It isn’t something I do. It is what I am becoming.
Christ saves us, yes. But it isn’t cheap Grace. He suffered horribly. It isn’t earning heaven as much as telling Jesus I want to live in You.
Besides, I love Him enough to show Him I do.
The others can say this better than I. I’m a pretty poor example and not at all well versed in Theology. But I answered what you asked. And they can fill in the rest.
Right, but doing things that help you grow in the spiritual life are different than doing things with the expectation that you’ll gain eternal life by doing them.
You mean this phrase:
“”If we are willing to mortify (literally “cause death to”) our self-will in this world, we shall gain eternal life in the world to come. On these terms, only mortified people will enter Heaven.”
~ It means conforming our wills to God’s Will.
It sometimes takes quite a bit of discipline to do so. Mortification helps. Not acting on impulse is also mortification. One is more thoughtful of God.
Not to set too many examples, but there are those who have forgotten the cardinal sins like gluttony or avarice because they aren’t thinking. Small things like mortifying our taste buds, and denying that new car or sofa if it isn’t needed because we just want what we want, or the habitual resentment towards a relative and jealousy of a friend that offends charity can be the difference between eternal life and Judgment.
God assures our salvation, but it isn’t to be taken for granted. Many people just don’t think about that jealousy or bit of spitefulness. It goes over their heads.
By mortification, it often seems that there is a conduit opened whereby God illuminates the sins we aren’t even aware of many times. Show me Lord how to please You!
CS Lewis wrote of a man condemning himself at the very last moment of life because he couldn’t let of a concern smaller than a bluebottle (I suppose that is fly). What he meant I gather was a small thing, but still a thing God condemned.
Accepting Jesus into our lives is sometimes hard, sometimes easy. Some people struggle to understand that Christ is Lord and has redeemed us through the Cross.
Living Christ is difficult in this world. It isn’t cheap nor is it easy. It is easy to fall unless you are vigilant. Conforming you will to God’s comes through prayer and living in Christ and mortification of the body helps.
I wish I could explain it better. As I said, I’m not the best to do so.
Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ is great inspiration and explains better than I ever could:
“WHEN a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.
True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man.”
http://www.catholicfirst.com/thefaith/catholicclassics/tkempis/iofchrist.cfm
The whole book online.
This introspective understanding of faith derives from those Churches that have endured for thousands ... yes, thousands ... of years. During that time, their understanding of faith has developed through the graces of the Holy Spirit. This depth of faith is unknown to Evangelicals and Fundamentalists who see worship in quoting Scripture and singing contemporary hymns of praise. They are still at the elementary stages of developing a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It’s easy to rage at the driver who just cut you off and gave you the single digit salute.
It is easy to yell at the clerk when you are in a hurry to get the screaming kids at your knees home as they grab the candy from the racks and the price of the kidney beans you grabbed isn’t marked.
Or the check you just wrote is refused
Or that second candy bar beacons
Or that unbelievably handsome guy who makes your knees knock at the office is inviting you to lunch, just lunch and you are married
Or you want to scream at your spouse because he overdrew the account (again)
It takes discipline to live. It takes a lot to tame this body, mind and soul. Prayer is absolute, but remember this: Satan is right there at every step until you die.
God forgives a repentent heart. But if I love Him, I don’t want to hurt Him. Taming our natures and conforming our will to His is a good way to avoid that.
“”If we are willing to mortify (literally “cause death to”) our self-will in this world, we shall gain eternal life in the world to come. On these terms, only mortified people will enter Heaven.”
Yes, that is the one!
~ It means conforming our wills to God’s Will.
Doing things to conform our wills to God's will are good & should be done. Doing them with the expectation that they'll help gain salvation discounts the value in doing them. That would be doing them for self, not for God. Either do them because you believe they please God or don't, but if you do them with the expectation of reward, any reward, your reward will be of an earthly nature. Whether it is in the form of satisfaction (pride in your ability to resist things), relief of guilt or something else, any reward aspect to them turns them to yourself & away from God.
Not to set too many examples, but there are those who have forgotten the cardinal sins like gluttony or avarice because they aren’t thinking. Small things like mortifying our taste buds, and denying that new car or sofa if it isn’t needed because we just want what we want, or the habitual resentment towards a relative and jealousy of a friend that offends charity can be the difference between eternal life and Judgment.
There isn't anything that I could do that can merit the gift of salvation, because no matter how much I'm able to do it can never be enough! Even if I was able to become totally dead to myself, I would not deserve eternal life.
God assures our salvation, but it isn’t to be taken for granted.
I'm not taking anything for granted, trust me.
Many people just don’t think about that jealousy or bit of spitefulness. It goes over their heads.
By mortification, it often seems that there is a conduit opened whereby God illuminates the sins we aren’t even aware of many times. Show me Lord how to please You!
I get that. I honestly do.
CS Lewis wrote of a man condemning himself at the very last moment of life because he couldn’t let of a concern smaller than a bluebottle (I suppose that is fly). What he meant I gather was a small thing, but still a thing God condemned.
If my salvation depends on me, I'm lost!
This has always helped me understand the important conceptsof death to self:
“DYING TO SELF”
When you are forgotten or neglected, or purposely set at naught and you don’t sting and hurt with the insult but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ....
That is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence....
That is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or annoyance, when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance,
spiritual insensibility and endure it as Jesus endured....
That is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God....
That is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good words or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown....
That is dying to self.
When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy or question God while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances....
That is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding
no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart....
That is dying to self.
Are you dead yet? In these last days, the Spirit would bring us to the cross. (Philippians 3:10)
“Doing them with the expectation that they’ll help gain salvation discounts the value in doing them”
We do them in love! I don’t mortify myself to gain eternal life, I do so to conform my will. If I conform my will I become more one with Christ. If I become more one with Christ, I will gain eternal life.
Conversely, if I do nothing to conform my will to Christ Jesus’ what love is there and how am I to overcome the world?
Think of motification as great sword and shield. It is a weapon against Satan’s wiles. Believe me, when I deny myself something, my will is strengthened and when my will is strengthened I have the ability God gives me to ignore the promptings and whispers and temptations that are always part of our lives on earth.
It is The World we are overcoming by this.
“There isn’t anything that I could do that can merit the gift of salvation, because no matter how much I’m able to do it can never be enough! Even if I was able to become totally dead to myself, I would not deserve eternal life.”
You are fallen as are all of us and deserve nothing as I deserve nothing and can do nothing to lift myself above this world. Christ has redeemed us.
“God assures our salvation, but it isn’t to be taken for granted.
I’m not taking anything for granted, trust me.”
I’d glad because despite Christ redeeming us, we can even if we believe Jesus is Lord lose that redemption by our own will, by our own choice.
“If my salvation depends on me, I’m lost!”
Then join that statement with Christ on the Cross. Simply by offering what you wrote from your heart to Jesus is a mortification. Your salvation is of God. You just have to pick up the cross and follow Christ.
It seems so very hard in the beginning, and in many ways never becomes easier, but it does become easier to bear because of the love we bear our Lord, Jesus.
It is our wills that we have to conform to God. As I said, I love God and I reject The World. It doesn’t mean that I live a cave or reject others. I can live and work in the world and live with everyone because I reject the trappings of the world.
“This depth of faith is unknown to Evangelicals and Fundamentalists who see worship in quoting Scripture and singing contemporary hymns of praise. They are still at the elementary stages of developing a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
That is an amazing statement. What is it based on?
Ah, BD, I doubt I would have put it the way NYer did, but, well, can you accept, lets say, the story of +Mary of Egypt as a example of theosis, or accept as true this:
“I think that the body of those incorruptible men is not even subject to sickness any longer, because it has been rendered incorruptible; for by the flame of purity they have extinguished the flame. I think that even the food that is set before them they accept without any pleasure. For there is an underground stream that nourishes the root of a plant, and their souls too are sustained by a celestial fire.” ?
I honestly mean no disrespect, but perhaps the sort of ascesis or “mortification” as the Latins would have it, just isn’t something “for” Evangelicals or Fundamentalists, like Marian devotions aren’t. This is very very different stuff from what the West experiences in its individualistic culture and appears to me to be virtually antithetical to most forms of Protestantism.
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