So self-flagellation is also a sign of commitment and intense desire for closeness to God?
Ummm..
No Thanks.
The moderate sort of flagellation described here is nothing, not even a fraction of the sort of pain high school football players voluntarily undergo in August practices or marathon runners put themselves under in order to train or soldiers endure in order to train, be fit, for combat.
Ascesis is the Greek word for training. You would have absolutely no problem with the “no pain no gain” principle in athletics, I assume?
The same is true of learning a language or raising a child or starting a business. No pain, no discipline, no gain.
From the description, he used a simple leather belt that did not draw blood. The word “flagellation” has your knickers in a knot. Mortification can be practiced to extremes. So can athletics. So can just about anything. But the actual description of John Paul’s practices shows that it is mild compared to what we take for granted in athletics and a host of other endeavors.
To say nothing of self-mortification in eating in order to lose weight or self-mortification by staying up late a night to study for the bar exam or . . . .
Step back, think it over.