Is self mortification still used to overcome the sins of the flesh?

[MainBrain]

In today’s Catholic society is self mortification still practiced in order to overcome the sins of the flesh?

I can see how this practice might turn into another disorder if not practices by a mature and emotionally healthy individual. By another disorder, I mean, self injuring/cutting.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Are you asking whether it is generally practiced, or whether it is practiced at all?

I imagine that most Catholics today don’t even know what mortification is, let alone do it. But there are certainly those who do, myself included. The Church has generally moved away from things like self-flagellation, but we are all supposed to be fasting, abstaining from meat, and doing other forms of penance at least at the appointed times. I realize there is a distinction between mortification and penance, but they often involve performing the same acts.

Fasting doesn’t have to be from food; you can give up other things, as we do during Lent–television, coffee, giving your opinion, whatever. But moderation in food helps with sins of the flesh, because we are training our bodies to forego pleasure and comfort, and to submit to our wills. Giving up meat on Fridays of Lent and perhaps coffee, and indulging all our appetites to the full the rest of the year is probably not going to help us grow in virtue.

 

[Arizona_Fat_Gir]

One has one wonder if hurting oneself is what they should do when trying to curb unbridled passions.

I suppose you could always use a hot curling iron to curb wayward desires. That would teach you. Take that, and that, and that.

(The curling iron thing is from The Exorcist series, in case you don’t know. I have been watching it and it’s getting more and more interesting. I don’t know what will happen to Casey after her bloody rampage on a Chicago elevated train. I think they have too many commercials and they play the background music too loudly to hear what the characters are saying. But, I always read up on it to clarify what I didn’t understand the first time. Apparently the devil enjoys it when a teen inflicts burns upon herself; he follows her in the guise of a dirty old man. They refer to him as The Salesman, because he gets her to shoplift.)

 

[Edward_H]

A few thoughts.

Yes, mortification is still done and encouraged and yes it can strengthen the will over the passions.

In a way, mortification involves a mobilization of the will and the intellect and the body against the noisy passions. 3 on one!

The intellect runs the action through criteria, making a conclusion. The will forms a decision. The body carries it out. The body becomes submissive to the intellect and the will, irrespective of the complaints from the passions.

People do violence against their body’s all the time. We call these people committed athletes. Boxers take blows, wrestlers get bruised, runners get sore. “Training” happens. The body and passions end up becoming subservient to the intellect and the will.

There can be an element of pride that enters with more serious forms of mortification, and that is why it’s highly recommended that a good spiritual direction oversee and approve of any mortification. Crucial.

A good spiritual director will likely steer the average person away from some of the more exotic forms of mortification, especially for non-celibates. Celibate people need normally more self-mastery than married people.

A good director will also encourage one to “exhaust” the little and hidden mortification first.

An average day holds hundreds of little possibilities for mortification. These can be taken advantage of quietly without attracting attention.

And we should “never mortify alone”…we should mortify in the spiritual presence of God, combining our little sufferings with Our Lord’s from the Cross. He can see us suffering from two thousand years ago!

Similarly we should “never fast alone”…we should converse with God generously as we endure the ordinary setbacks and struggles of the day. We should do this out of love for God.

Some examples of ordinary, everyday mortifications include:

1. 
   *]Eating a bit less
   *]Eating slower
   *]Delay in drinking water at your desk
   *]Working for 10 more minutes before taking a break
   *]Sensing the more difficult of two options and doing the most distasteful one first, perhaps an item on your todo list.
   *]Smiling generously when you don’t want to
   *]Getting up the instant you wake up, not hitting the snooze button
   *]Double checking your work a last time, especially when you’re tired of it.
   *]Cleaning off your desktop at the end of the day
   *]Not browsing the internet for a whole night, reading a spiritual book instead
   *]Taking the stairs, not the elevator.
   *]Cleaning out your closet.