The reason for corporal mortification

By Bill on Thursday, January 28, 2010 in US Catholic

The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, but we know, from Scripture and personal experience, that it is also weak. We are prone to concupiscence to some degree or other.

Jesus fasted; Jesus prayed to strengthen himself; Jesus voluntarily suffered for others. And so can we. He brought supernatural meaning to suffering. Through Jesus so can we.

Jesus' suffering continues...he continues to offer Himself to the Father 24/7 through the Holy Mass, the divine liturgy that continues on earth and in heaven.

re: beating. Jesus in numerous passages in the Bible reminded us that we shouldn't let anything get in the way of loving God, not even our body ("pluck it out").

I've never led a Church of 1 Billion people as the Holy Father did. I will never do the work of Mother Teresa. Both, though, engaged in mortification under the supervision of a spiritual director.
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Odd how we can accept and near-adore people who watch their weight/lose weight, pound their flesh in a gym, train and improve their health for a variety of secular reasons (some good and not so good...e.g., pride, vanity)..but we can't seem to stop and consider doing it for a supernatural reason...to seek perfect union with God, leaving all else behind.

Wearing a religious habit is a form of self-denial, a form of dying to oneself, leaving oneself behind...and can be a way to grow closer with God.
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anything that keeps us from this....from perfect unity with Christ.

So anytime we suffer (passively..that is when it's thrust on us...illness, accident, etc.)...we need to do this WITH Christ....we need to turn that suffering into an opportunity for union with Christ...turn it into prayer...a conversation with Christ..suffering becomes an encounter with God.

Now, there are many things that keep us away from Him...e.g, inordinate attachment to comfort, pleasure, focusing on ourselves, ease. etc.

Taking a cold shower is a form of mortification..it's not torture. It's a way of having one's will take charge of one's body, one's emotions.

Some are called to huge tasks for God....the Holy Father used to do penance for others. He suffered for others...like Christ, and like we should.
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God want us to be one with Him and for us to help as many of His children (our brothers and sisters) to grow closer to Him, little by little, day by day, until we die.

What can keep us from perfect union? Many, many things. Our pride, our selfishness, our love of comfort, our ideas, our opinions, our fluctuating emotions, etc.

The need and value of mortification is laid out both in the OT and NT, as well as throughout the Early Church, all the way up to today. Offerings, sacrifices...if done to be in union with God...are good things.

Mortification is not well understood among Protestants and many Catholics.

Smiling when one doesn't want to help others, to give thanks to God, etc is a form of mortification. Working for the poor, for the Love of God, may cause discomfort, make take effort, may actually hurt....all good to do. Doing so can bring us closer to God.

Remember the real meaning of atonement (At-ONE-ment). We need to be completely one with God...and we need to die to ourselves, as St Paul reminded

92% reject RH Bill when informed of its provisions

92% reject RH Bill when informed of its provisions, according to a survey conducted by Harris, Black and Associates and the Asian Research Organization.

Any good democracy, which is based on an informed populace, should take these findings very seriously. Calling on congressmen, senators, presidential candidates, and local government units. Concerned citizens should inform their government representatives of these findings.

God has revealed what ultimate reality is

I just wrote this in response to some issues raise in another blog about Mother Teresa's words.

Catholicism is revealed religion. God reveals what is ultimate reality, the real shape and dynamics of things, including human beings.

This revelation happens through sacred scripture and tradition, interpreted by the magisterium (he who hears you hears Me).

Jesus Christ (God) obeyed his creature father and mother. Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Honor your father and your mother.

Jesus (God) said, Renounce yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me.

Jesus (God) said, He who does not renounce everything he has cannot be my disciple.(Luke 14:33)

And all of these have reason and are logical because God is creator, conservator, and last end. We disappear back to nothingness if he does not support us. He also loves us, so he wants the best for us, to live our lives as he wants us to live, which is always the best. Also if you analyze human beings, they become happy when they give of themselves.

If God is not a person, if he does not have intelligence and will, nor a plan and a design, then it is understandable that human beings can think whatever they want, and do whatever they think is right according to their limited sights. But since God has revealed our reality, then it is correct to abide by it, to understand deeply its logic and reason, and to dance with it.

Act of Hope and Confidence in God

According to Jacques Philippe, in the practical realm, the most important virtue is hope, more than love. It is by trust in God that we persevere in love, that we actually struggle to love, to ask God to give us the grace to love.

Here is a prayer based on hope, An Act of Hope and Confidence in God, prayed by Saint Claude De La Colombier. St. Claude was the spiritual director of Saint Margaret-Marie Alacoque and was thereafter a zealous apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.



My God, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who hope in Thee, and that we can want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all things; therefore I am resolved for the future to have no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee.

People may deprive me of worldly goods and of honors, sickness may take from me my strength and the means of serving Thee, I may even lose Thy grace by sin, but my trust shall never leave me. I will preserve it to the last moment of my life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to wrestle it from me.

Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in their talents; let them trust to the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the number of their good works, the fervor of their prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my hope. "For Thou, O Lord, singularly has settled me in hope." This confidence can never be in vain. "No one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded."

I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is in Thee. "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded."

I know, alas! I know but too well that I am frail and changeable; I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven, and pillars of firmament totter; but these things alarm me not. While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this unfailing hope.

Finally, I know that my confidence cannot exceed Thy bounty, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt sustain me against my evil inclinations; that Thou wilt protect me against the most furious assaults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee unceasingly. "In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded."