S
Shin
Guest
Perhaps you are not called to certain things, but I think again, forgive me, that what you have said is somewhat misguided, if I understand you correctly. You are equating God with your conscience, which is not the case at all. Your conscience is only useful so far as it is properly formed, and part of conversion is forming your conscience according to the teachings of God through the Church (and that would be the saints when they agree). We do not have perfect consciences. We are called to develop them. When our “consciences” disagree with the Church, we work on them and deeper understanding – and Faith, especially Faith.
Now, to see how ridiculous it is to think that all self inflicted pain is wrong, all we have to do is look at a preganant woman. She is in self inflicted pain. What does the pain do? It gives birth to a child.
Look at a runner. He runs for miles. His chest hurts. But he wins the race. Sound like scripture again? Yes it does.
Look at a body builder, his muscles pain him, and they get stronger. A boxer, he enjoys the sport, it’s painful, but he doesn’t mind, it even makes it more of a sport for him.
A soldier, goes through basic training. A doctor, gives you medication. You pinch yourself to wake yourself up late at night!
You give up some sin or another. . It hurts. God made the world have pain in it for us, He didn’t create a world without it. Anesthesia exists. He could have done it. He didn’t want to, it wasn’t a good idea for us not to feel pain.
This moral equation with self inflicted pain as a morally bad thing, or psychologically bad thing at all times, when it is for the sake of God, is nonsense. The world accepts self inflicted pain for every worldly reason, but do it for God, and you must be mentally unbalanced.
To say this is not the way of the Cross, or the saints. We must beware of deceptions about tradition.
Now, some people will go to a spiritual director, some people do not need to because they are spiritually mature enough, and frankly good spiritual directors are rare. There is a proper, spirit for mortification, and an improper one. The improper one would be carnal, or something like the SI addictions we see these days, people with that should not do it because they cannot properly. Healthier people can. Everyone who attempts some of the more difficult mortifications should pray and make certain it is done with a proper intention.
We do not need extremity, but we do not need a pretense of fraility and foolish exaggeration. If a runner, a boxer, or similar can do the equivalent, you can do it too. Lying on a harder bed, wearing something that painfully pinches you, or is rough and scratchy, eating food you don’t like, these are such trivialaties, that only the softest of hedonists could not begin to approach some of them, and perform them at least briefly for set times. And they and similar are key to freeing people from what is called the ‘slavery to the world, the flesh, and the devil’ that is so important to a successful afterlife and growing relationship with God, rather than failure due to attachments to what is not of God.
We should consider how best to use our bodies for the sake of God, and yes maintaining their health for the longest and best amount is generally part of that (the soul is more important and can override that), but coddling is not.
We maintain our bodies for the sake of God’s service, not for their own sake, because dust they are and dust they shall return to. We shall not be taking them with us at the end.
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