L
Lazerlike42
Guest
I agree with Pat completely; very well said. This is very, very important and works very, very well. I would like to elaborate a bit on it, or add my own thoughts if that’s a better way to put it.
It’s very important to strike up the proper balance between denying yourself and abusing yourself. Even St. Francis, one of the greatest self-mortifiers of them all, at several points recognized that he or others in his community had gone too far with their mortifications. He even prohibited many moritifcations from being imposed on the brothers of his order.
We must have a balanced life. Denying ourselves is a good thing, but it too must be balanced. It’s like training an animal. You have to be strict with it, but at the same time you can’t be too strict or it will rebel and you will lose all control of it. In other words, remember that your body does need some level of “creature comfort,” as they say. If you fast too harshly, your body will - rather than gradually submitting to the will - rebel against the will and crave what it cannot get in food from other things - like sex and lust. For some people, fasting to greatly can make them very irritable and cause them to lash out at people and sin against others. This is also a concern.
None of this excuses one from the obligation to fast. We all must fast at times proscribed by the Church, and in fact most spiritual masters assert that we cannot begin to make real progress in holiness if we do not fast. Rather, it simply means that we must begin slowly and modestly and build up to greater moritifcations. St. Francis himself did tremendous mortifications, even while saying what he did to others. He was simply further along in the path to holiness. You, too, can grow to the point of undertaking great fasts and mortifications, it simply takes time.
So that brings me to the greatest thing I can possibly recomend in regards to mortifications, which is something that Pat mentioned: tiny ones. Lots of tiny ones. I have found that tremendous progress can be made by very small, tiny sacrifices made throughout the day.
For instance, you are walking by the cookie jar and want a cookie. Don’t have one. This in itself is not a great sacrifice. It won’t turn your body against you. Yet, it realyl is great in another sense - it is really hard, but still easy enough to accomplish. When your favorite song comes on the radio, turn it off and say an Our Father - even for just the beginning! When you are working on something down near the ground, crouch rather than sitting on the floor. When you are thirsty, have a glass of water instead of something else.
But don’t do it all the time. At least not at first. If you walk past the cookies in the morning, perhaps if you want one in the evening have one. Perhaps even say to yourself, “I want a cookie now, but I will wait 15 minutes and then have one.” Even something so small and tiny as that can work tremendously on your soul. Though in general, try to respond as often as your are inspired. Anytime you feel able to make a tiny sacrifice, make it. Don’t refrain from a sacrifice just because you made one earlier.
The beauty of this is that you don’t really notice all these little sacrifices. They seem important for about 15 seconds after which you probably won’t ever remember them again. If you keep this in mind constantly, by the end of each day you will have made a hundred sacrifices and not even really noticed it!
To this, add one simple thing and it brings up the whole thing a huge notch: conform yourself to the Liturgical calendar of the Church. By that I mean, on days of celebration - all Sundays and any solemnities and feasts - go easier on yourself. Don’t worry so much about sacrifices on Sundays. Grant yourself perhaps even a little extra. On all Fridays and other days of pennance prescribed by the Church, go a bit harder. Deny yourself some bigger things if you are able.
The reason for this is twofold. One, while fasting itself disciplines your body to recognize that it does not determine what it does but the will does, conforming to the Church’s calendar disciplines the will to recgonize that it does not determine what it does, but God does. It submits ones will to God as fasting and mortification submits one’s body to the will. This, I think, is a wonderful spiritual tool.
You will be surprised at the things that happen if you do this. You might find yourself, for instance, on some Sunday really not being in a celebratory mood, but nevertheless you do celebrate a bit because it is a day of celebration. One always thinks about denying oneself as being making oneself suffer, but when you come to the time when you actually have to try to be joyous to deny yourself, it really helps you to begin to recognize just how much we really ought to be giving ourselves over to God to be completely His - and it helps you to get there.
It’s very important to strike up the proper balance between denying yourself and abusing yourself. Even St. Francis, one of the greatest self-mortifiers of them all, at several points recognized that he or others in his community had gone too far with their mortifications. He even prohibited many moritifcations from being imposed on the brothers of his order.
We must have a balanced life. Denying ourselves is a good thing, but it too must be balanced. It’s like training an animal. You have to be strict with it, but at the same time you can’t be too strict or it will rebel and you will lose all control of it. In other words, remember that your body does need some level of “creature comfort,” as they say. If you fast too harshly, your body will - rather than gradually submitting to the will - rebel against the will and crave what it cannot get in food from other things - like sex and lust. For some people, fasting to greatly can make them very irritable and cause them to lash out at people and sin against others. This is also a concern.
None of this excuses one from the obligation to fast. We all must fast at times proscribed by the Church, and in fact most spiritual masters assert that we cannot begin to make real progress in holiness if we do not fast. Rather, it simply means that we must begin slowly and modestly and build up to greater moritifcations. St. Francis himself did tremendous mortifications, even while saying what he did to others. He was simply further along in the path to holiness. You, too, can grow to the point of undertaking great fasts and mortifications, it simply takes time.
So that brings me to the greatest thing I can possibly recomend in regards to mortifications, which is something that Pat mentioned: tiny ones. Lots of tiny ones. I have found that tremendous progress can be made by very small, tiny sacrifices made throughout the day.
For instance, you are walking by the cookie jar and want a cookie. Don’t have one. This in itself is not a great sacrifice. It won’t turn your body against you. Yet, it realyl is great in another sense - it is really hard, but still easy enough to accomplish. When your favorite song comes on the radio, turn it off and say an Our Father - even for just the beginning! When you are working on something down near the ground, crouch rather than sitting on the floor. When you are thirsty, have a glass of water instead of something else.
But don’t do it all the time. At least not at first. If you walk past the cookies in the morning, perhaps if you want one in the evening have one. Perhaps even say to yourself, “I want a cookie now, but I will wait 15 minutes and then have one.” Even something so small and tiny as that can work tremendously on your soul. Though in general, try to respond as often as your are inspired. Anytime you feel able to make a tiny sacrifice, make it. Don’t refrain from a sacrifice just because you made one earlier.
The beauty of this is that you don’t really notice all these little sacrifices. They seem important for about 15 seconds after which you probably won’t ever remember them again. If you keep this in mind constantly, by the end of each day you will have made a hundred sacrifices and not even really noticed it!
To this, add one simple thing and it brings up the whole thing a huge notch: conform yourself to the Liturgical calendar of the Church. By that I mean, on days of celebration - all Sundays and any solemnities and feasts - go easier on yourself. Don’t worry so much about sacrifices on Sundays. Grant yourself perhaps even a little extra. On all Fridays and other days of pennance prescribed by the Church, go a bit harder. Deny yourself some bigger things if you are able.
The reason for this is twofold. One, while fasting itself disciplines your body to recognize that it does not determine what it does but the will does, conforming to the Church’s calendar disciplines the will to recgonize that it does not determine what it does, but God does. It submits ones will to God as fasting and mortification submits one’s body to the will. This, I think, is a wonderful spiritual tool.
You will be surprised at the things that happen if you do this. You might find yourself, for instance, on some Sunday really not being in a celebratory mood, but nevertheless you do celebrate a bit because it is a day of celebration. One always thinks about denying oneself as being making oneself suffer, but when you come to the time when you actually have to try to be joyous to deny yourself, it really helps you to begin to recognize just how much we really ought to be giving ourselves over to God to be completely His - and it helps you to get there.
to Lazerlike42’s comments
. The small and imperfect sacrifices lead to the bigger ones. That’s what I can say. Refusing to watch one particularly rowdy episode of a show you like is a small thing, but it grows into giving up the show altogether.
I have a few sites I typically go to, and I do that. I rarely just go browsing without any intention or purpose. You might also get some kind of software like “Net Nanny” on your computer. The stuff works pretty good. Get someone you trust to put in the password for you, or put in a password that you think you really couldn’t ever type in to do something bad, like, “ILoveYouJesus” or something.
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