Doing violence to your passions?

[heliumspark]

St. Louis de Montfort says we must do violence to our passions. What does he mean? What kind of violence should we do to our passions, and how?

 

[csteele]

heliumspark:

St. Louis de Montfort says we must do violence to our passions. What does he mean? What kind of violence should we do to our passions, and how?

I think the general just of the admonition to “do violence to our passions” is to control our passions through abstinence. For instance, I’m a foody so I should fast, thus doing ‘violence’ to my passion for food. If you’re a big fan of television, abstain from television and devote that time to prayer, etc…

I suppose one could read in to that an ascetic message too, but I would caution strongly against such things (e.g. self-flagellation.)

pax,
-C