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aspirant
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I couldn’t find anything about the Holy See commenting, but it looks like local Catholic leaders have a problem with it:
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Enoilgacs7
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Your body is the temple of God. You are absolutely right. This means that His Holy Spirit is now living in you. He can feel any pain inflicted on your body by someone else, or by you. Go to God in prayer and ask Him to guide you and to clerify whether He wants you to fast and pray as He tells you to do in (Isaiah 58), or if He endorses corporal Mortification, and self-flagellation be done to His temple. In (Isaiah 58:9), your bible reveals to you that He will answer you. I believe that He will.
May God bless you,
Matthew
May God bless you,
Matthew
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Monica4316
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corporal mortification need not be something gory and severe… just saying… it can be something that helps you become detached from the ‘world’ and to love God more. The Holy Spirit grieves when we sin, not when we love God more than our own comfort. Yes there can be extremes which are not allowed, but like I said, mortification takes MANY forms and you are speaking of one particular and extreme one. For example did you know that fasting is a type of corporal mortification?
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annaborate
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Hi everyone
Im new to the site. really looking forward to meeting new people, seeing what they have to say and just really chilling on some social network other than facebook. bleh. like i said, i am me, now who are you?
Look forward to ‘meeting’ you all, Anna from Faxless Payday Loans!
Im new to the site. really looking forward to meeting new people, seeing what they have to say and just really chilling on some social network other than facebook. bleh. like i said, i am me, now who are you?
Look forward to ‘meeting’ you all, Anna from Faxless Payday Loans!
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nilofc
Guest
I believe that self mortification, although practiced by some saints, should not be extreme. The moment self flagellation cuts the flesh and blood flows, then you are bordering on the desecration of the integrity of the human body.
I would rather ask God to give me corporal mortifications and deal with the pain and suffering and unite it with the suffering of Christ on the cross for it to have a redemptive value rather than to inflict self-harm. Some go to extremes that it borders on body mutilation.
Our bodies is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care and respect our bodies. I wouldn’t hit the walls of my parish church with a sledge hammer so it would incur damage …that is just plain wrong to me. The corporal works of mercy, praying, fasting and giving alms is the way to go.
If someone does not understand their faith well and is not under the direct supervision of a confessor and a spiritual director…then inflicting self-harm should be avoided. Because most often than not, they do not know what it is for.
That is just my two cents and if the Church says I am wrong, then I will submit to Her in every way.
I would rather ask God to give me corporal mortifications and deal with the pain and suffering and unite it with the suffering of Christ on the cross for it to have a redemptive value rather than to inflict self-harm. Some go to extremes that it borders on body mutilation.
Our bodies is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care and respect our bodies. I wouldn’t hit the walls of my parish church with a sledge hammer so it would incur damage …that is just plain wrong to me. The corporal works of mercy, praying, fasting and giving alms is the way to go.
If someone does not understand their faith well and is not under the direct supervision of a confessor and a spiritual director…then inflicting self-harm should be avoided. Because most often than not, they do not know what it is for.
That is just my two cents and if the Church says I am wrong, then I will submit to Her in every way.
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Spritus1
Guest
There are often opportunities to mortify oneself in service to others. Getting out of bed at 9 am on a cold and wet winter morning to go and teach (voluntarily) young people would be one. Staying overnight to supervise a night shelter for the homeless which involves a degree of discomfort would be another. Volunteering to clean the local church, especially the toilets would be another. There are countless possibilities.
Combining service to others, doing important but often hidden, often unappreciated little jobs, involving some minor discomfort and inconvenience for the love of God as the only reward is something many can do. Saying extra prayers for the dying, such as the chaplet of Divine Mercy, when one is tired and would rather go straight to sleep is another. Give freely, not counting the cost, for the love of God.
God rarely asks for the extraordinary; what He likes is that we do the ordinary, extraordinarily well, at least to the best of our abilities.
Combining service to others, doing important but often hidden, often unappreciated little jobs, involving some minor discomfort and inconvenience for the love of God as the only reward is something many can do. Saying extra prayers for the dying, such as the chaplet of Divine Mercy, when one is tired and would rather go straight to sleep is another. Give freely, not counting the cost, for the love of God.
God rarely asks for the extraordinary; what He likes is that we do the ordinary, extraordinarily well, at least to the best of our abilities.
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littlestsouls2
Guest
Mortification of the will is primary: ‘Go not after thy lusts, but turn away from thy own will.’ (Eccles. 18:30). Mortification is useful in so far as springs from love, and to the degree in which it unites our will to God’s perfect Will.
“If there are few saints it is because there are few mortified souls… I prefer less austerity and more charity than more austerity and less charity. I love more the heart which beats only for Me than a body exterminated by fasts, but in which there still resides a little self-love."
“If there are few saints it is because there are few mortified souls… I prefer less austerity and more charity than more austerity and less charity. I love more the heart which beats only for Me than a body exterminated by fasts, but in which there still resides a little self-love."
- Jesus to Sr. Benigna Consolata
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peter26
Guest
Corporal mortification should be helpful, such as fasting by which we learn to control our desires for food. Self-flagellation is not healthy or helpful but is probably a sign of mental illness. It is something to be avoided and actively discouraged.
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Sarcelle
Guest
Chastity is also a form of mortification. Abstinence for singles and staying to one’s spouse for marrieds.
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DaveBj
Guest
At least one translation renders the underlined as “I buffet my body.” Of course, that is problematic, because there are two ways to pronounce the bolded word.
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Devoted_to_Jude
Guest
I know your comment was a long time ago, but really the ignorance of it is so extraordinary that I felt compelled to comment. I am no longer a member of the Latin rite, but in the Latin rite they’ve reduced the days of fasting to only two a year (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) this provides a Catholic no foundation for their spiritual life, which must include as regular practices: prayer, fasting and alms-giving. They all work together in ways that are mutually supporting, and so when Catholics don’t fast it also retards their prayer life.
We live in a world where many would be happy to subject themselves to two a day summer practices in oppressive heat to prepare for football season, but then argue corporal mortification for spiritual attainment is a sign of being psychologically deranged. The only way you can make that argument is if in practice one is an atheist. In other words despite a profession of faith one lives in the world on a practical level as a materialist.
Of course these practices can easily turn into something that perverts their very intent, but this is separate issue from the one that was originally asked… If one is not engaging in acts of mortifying penance then one isn’t really living a Christian life, because our mandate is to deny ourselves and follow Christ to the Cross.
The bottom line is that our greatest saints practiced many of very things that you and others are declaring in your appalling arrogance to be unhealthy.
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CRATUS
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These are religious practices that turn me off. I understand fasting. Gees? Really? I am turned off by saints who have done such practices
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Rosebud77
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A sincere question; is not a far more fruitlful way to make amends for past sins and ot show a sincere change of heart? Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more, not to beat herself up… he also deplores the public show of sackcloth and ashes IF there is no real penitence
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Rosebud77
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Rosebud77
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Jaw hits floor…
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Rosebud77
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Interesting is it not? Many of us live lives of pain in genuine material poverty anyways. And these practices always turn inwards which concerns deeply.
No I would never indulge and it is an indulgence… And where Lent etc is concerned I follow Isaiah re “true fasting that gives bread to the hungry”
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CRM_Brother
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The Catholic Church has out-right condemned these actions.
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Shirtless
Guest
Given the guidelines associated with this website, what I am about to say might be difficult to express, so I will do so as delicately and discreetly as possible, and hope that my message comes through. As any number of scholarly articles will attest, self-flagellation, particularly when practiced by young men, frequently arouses certain feelings which lead to impure thoughts and near occasions of sin, if not to the sin itself. If the person engaging in such conduct is overly scrupulous, he may not mind, because the sin, in his mind, may justify further punishment, and a vicious cycle is started, which may require professional help to end. In other words, I think such activity is abnormal, unscriptural, and lacking in respect to the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and should be avoided.
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