St Francis de Sales on “detachment”

[TominAdelaide]

@TominAdelaide, Dear Tom, I am gradually getting through the very great homily you linked me to that explains all the ways we can self mortify, both with corporeal penances as well as interior. They don’t have to be very big sacrifices, but there are very excellent examples of the small ones we can choose to do on the daily.

This homily you posted was the most excellent help to me. I am not yet done reading it.

Yes, I thought the article was very well written too!

 

[Heavenward]

There is another love of the cross which I have called rational love and which is in the higher part of man, the mind.

…

And so there is a third kind of love, which is called by the masters of the spiritual life the love of the summit of the soul, and which is known to philosophers as the love of the intellect.

For St. Thomas Aquinas, these two types of joy are actually one and the same. Affections like joy originate in the mind and so they, strictly speaking, do not produce any physiological changes and thus cannot be “felt”. However, affections if strong enough can “overflow” into the lower appetite, in which case it causes changes in the body and therefore can be felt:

The craving for wisdom, or other spiritual goods, is sometimes called concupiscence; either by reason of a certain likeness; or on account of the craving in the higher part of the soul being so vehement that it overflows into the lower appetite, so that the latter also, in its own way, tends to the spiritual good, following the lead of the higher appetite, the result being that the body itself renders its service in spiritual matters, according to Psalm 83:3: “My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.” (ST I-II Q. 30, A. 1, Ad. 1)

 

[Heavenward]

Note for the scrupulous: St Alphonsus Ligouri in the quotes I have just posted from his sermon above is taking about “sinful” and “disordered” pleasure, not licit and reasonable pleasure.

What I like about St Thomas Aquinas is that he usually starts with the normal manifestations of the human condition before talking about the abnormal. He therefore started with the normal manifestations and uses of pleasure, and we can use this to determine the requirements of licit and reasonable pleasure.

1. The first is an absolute requirement: pleasure must be moral. They cannot be sinful nor lead others or yourself to sin.
2. The next three take advantage of the positive effects of pleasure. Pleasure must be expansive: it should open oneself to the wonders of the goodness of this world and God Himself.
3. Pleasure must be rejuvenative: ordinate pleasure has the effect of counteracting sorrow and resting the mind.
4. Pleasure must be perfective: ordinate pleasure makes work easier and better.
5. The last two are to mitigate and warn about the dangers of pleasure. Pleasure must be lucid: pleasure can disturb objectivity and reasoning, so we must not undertake pleasure to the point of disturbing our mental capacity. The best way to gauge this is the outward manifestation of order or disorder in our work and environment. This is the reason why lust and gluttony causes stupidity.
6. Pleasure lastly must be limited: pleasure causes desire for more of itself to the point of disrupting work, either by taking too much of our time in enjoying it or by dwelling in our mind too much when we’re away from it; therefore we must choose pleasures that are controllable by reason.

(NOTE: I will add the citations later when I have the time)

 

[TominAdelaide]

Wow, that’s very interesting, I had no idea St Thomas Aquinas went into so my theological depth with regards to the different components of pleasure. He makes a lot of sense too, although I shouldn’t be surprised given he is a Doctor of the Church and is regarded as one of the Church’s greatest theologians!

 

[TominAdelaide]

I watched a Father Ripperger video

That’s interesting, I have never heard of Fr Ripperger before, will have to check out some of his content!

 

[TominAdelaide]

What then happens is that the passions get starved of sense information and thus they quiet down.

Just thought I would let you know @Heavenward that Fr Marin in “The Theology of Christian Perfection” also talks about “starving” the passions (as part of mortifying the passions):

The seed of sensuality finds fertile ground in a soul that is unoccupied and slothful. Sloth is the mother of all vices, as we read in Scripture, but in a special way it is fertile ground for sins of the flesh. He who wishes to preserve himself from the attacks of concupiscence must endeavor to keep himself occupied at all times in some useful and beneficial exercise. And of all occupations, those of an intellectual type are particularly apt for controlling sensuality. The reason is that the application of one faculty weakens the exercise of the other faculties, in addition to the fact that intellectual operations withdraw from the sensual passions the object on which they feed. It is a fact verified by daily experience that the sins of the flesh weaken the spirit, while temperance and chastity admirably predispose one for intellectual work.