What Mortifications Can I Do?

[CHCatholic]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Personally, I keep my mortifications small other than something I may choose specifically for during Advent and Lent.
Again personally, I cannot function without 8 hours sleep - I had a day yesterday of short sleep and I felt tired and saw everything through the lens of being slightly depressed. Hence sleep deprivation is not good for me coupled with the fact I suffer Bipolar. The less than 8 hours I get increases the level of depression I feel the next day. I think this is more just a personal ‘quirk’ however than actually directly connected to Bipolar. I still watch it though, Bipolar is an evil beast!!!
Foodwise, I can have a few opportunties during the day for small mortifications. I may make a sandwich for lunch and was going to have beef and tomatoe. I cut out the tomatoe, or the salt or perhaps relish I felt like having. I may feel like a dessert in the evening, but cut it out completely.
Small things like I have two sugar in coffee, only having one, or none. If I have to go to the shops and dont feel like it, then I get myself organized and go down the shops. Just small things like that and I find they just occur to me as my day unfolds.
If I run into someone or someone comes here and I really feel like having a moan about something - I dont moan…at much cost I might add to the likes of me!!! I met a friend today for coffee and I prayed and prayed on the way to meet her that I would not speak unkindly of anyone or hoped I wouldn’t - I failed. Hence my day is a mixture of a little success and a little failure…or worse!

     I find there are heaps of very small things during the day that I can do that in will no way upset my Bipolar condition and I need to keep one eye always on that to stay well and sane.:D .........I think too that this is very much in the steps of St. Therese and her Little Way in a very little little small more failure than succes way indeed.

Over and above that I tend towards moderation in all things and avoid extremes, or try to…I am just a bod who don’t believe in extremes in anything…Blessings - Barb

 

[LilyM]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

Why not simply fast more often? Make it a weekly thing, assuming you’re fit and healthy (maybe get checked out by your doctor first).

Sleep? Sleep deprivation can damage you as much as food deprivation, so do be careful and run it by your doctor and spiritual director first. Some slight deprivation - a couple of hours a week - shouldn’t be a problem, dont stay up all night or for nights on end though.

 

[jfallaw]

I believe mortification can be anything that you do to deny yourself pleasure. I think it is inaccurate to think of mortification as self-punishment. Self-discipline, yes. It could be anything from denying yourself a few hours of tv per week, instead spending that time in prayer or reading the Scriptures and Church Fathers (assuming you watch alot of tv) to making yourself spend extra time saying the rosary- really pondering each mystery, even if you are in a hurry. You don’t necessarily have to fast more. You could include giving a bag of groceries to the local Caritas or other charity. You could stay after mass and help clean up and organise the missals and hymnals. Basically, anything that you might consider a chore or boring or unpleasant- do it.

 

[puzzleannie]

I would not do anything that truly affects your health without permission of your doctor, and I would not undertake any mortification outside the normal penitential practices of the Church for the season of the year, fasting and abstinence according to lenten guidelines for instance, without the permission of confessor or spiritual director, and without due discernment. Personally I think any Catholic looking for a way to dedicate every circumstance of daily life to Christ and to pursue perfection could not do better than imitate St. Therese’s “little way.”

 

[Saint_Gemma]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

Do you have a spiritual director? You should get one before you do any mortification.

 

[Andruschak]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

Turn off the TV set and leave it turned off. If you do not have a family (I don’t), sell it. Use the time for spiritual reading and prayer. If you are not doing a daily rosary, consider doing so. I have not had a TV set since the year 1985.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Turn off the TV set and leave it turned off. If you do not have a family (I don’t), sell it. Use the time for spiritual reading and prayer. If you are not doing a daily rosary, consider doing so. I have not had a TV set since the year 1985.

Absolute admiration for you! …

 

[Linda_Marie]

Instead of fasting more. you could abstain from something that you particularly like. Andruschak suggested getting rid of the TV or at least limiting time spent in front of it. It could be this or something else that you like to do. Or, you could try adding something to your schedule that you don’t ordinarily do. One Lent, a friend of mine said that instead of giving something up, she daily visited a particularly unpleasant old lady at a nursing home. She found that quite mortifying. Some nursing homes are dismal places.

I advise against sleep deprivation. I think this would be counter-productive to what you are trying to accomplish. You want more clarity of mind and to strengthen your spirit while sleep deprivation makes you fuzzy-minded and weakens the spirit. Judgement becomes impaired with sleep deprivation. In addition, it could affect your job performance, or your driving ability.

You could try these The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius as a form of self-discipline.

 

[Neophyte_Rose]

:bounce: to echo someone who appears very wise:

I can have a few opportunties during the day for small mortifications.
(emphasis mine)

St. Therese’s Little Way can do much more than we’ll ever know, and even better it protects us from pride because it is easier to become proud over abstaining from something major than it is to become proud over something so seemingly … little.

Pax Christi
Esther Rose

 

[Metaron]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

It’s absolutly frigid outside! 29-30 degrees. My parents lived a half an hour away, so when I drove to them, for a mortification, I turned on the cold air-- full blast. (I wouldn’t recommend it if your getting over a cold though) An absence of heat. It’s kind of an unusual mortification, but… I heard that the Pope once made a king journey across the Alps without heavy clothing for a penance.

 

[puzzleannie]

It’s absolutly frigid outside! 29-30 degrees. My parents lived a half an hour away, so when I drove to them, for a mortification, I turned on the cold air-- full blast. (.

the owners manual of my truck warns against running the AC when the outside temp is too cold, it can cause damage. also if it keeps the windows from clearing could be a safety hazard. you could have just cracked the window. in any case, it is of dubious spiritual benefit to share these practices with others. as my grandmother would have said, you just got your reward, so don’t expect it in heaven. I think the point of “the Little Way” is that you don’t have to go looking for small services, mortifications, penances and disciplines, they are natural opportunities all around you all the time, and most of them don’t involve doing something negative to yourself, but doing something positive for someone else.

 

[Andruschak]

I really need some ideas for some mortifications. All I really do these days is fast, but only 1-2 times a month. Would little sleep be a mortification? I can’t stand being without a good 8 hours of sleep (yes, 8 ) so would staying up doing some sort of work, be it physical or spiritual, be a mortification? Any other ideas?

When all is said and done, the ONE mortification that everyone can can do is more prayer time. More is better. Find the time.

 

[Metaron]

the owners manual of my truck warns against running the AC when the outside temp is too cold, it can cause damage. also if it keeps the windows from clearing could be a safety hazard. you could have just cracked the window. in any case, it is of dubious spiritual benefit to share these practices with others. as my grandmother would have said, you just got your reward, so don’t expect it in heaven. I think the point of “the Little Way” is that you don’t have to go looking for small services, mortifications, penances and disciplines, they are natural opportunities all around you all the time, and most of them don’t involve doing something negative to yourself, but doing something positive for someone else.

I was kind of joking. It wasn’t AC, though it was just circulation. Oops! I wanted mortification and I got a cracked window… I didn’t want to take heat away from the engine. I’ve never really been sure how you go about mortification, anyway.

 

[Rebelecka]

I don’t think you really need to go looking for mortifications. God will give you plenty of opportunities each day for some small mortification Be kind to that grumpy person at work. Smile when you don’t feel like it. Park further away in a parking lot. Don’t lose your temper driving–be willing to be cut off, etc.

These are some of the small mortifications that come our way. Just pray and ask your guardian angel to help you to see them, then offer them up for the love of God:yup:

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I don’t think you really need to go looking for mortifications. God will give you plenty of opportunities each day for some small mortification Be kind to that grumpy person at work. Smile when you don’t feel like it. Park further away in a parking lot. Don’t lose your temper driving–be willing to be cut off, etc.

These are some of the small mortifications that come our way. Just pray and ask your guardian angel to help you to see them, then offer them up for the love of God:yup:

… …this is my point re the very small mortifications that occur to one during the day and one can be confident that one’s guardian angel and/or The Holy Spirit will suggest them to one at the time and after a bit of time at it, it becomes habitual to “listen” for these times in one’s day. The Little Way of St. Therese I think emphasizes two things, the weakness of one’s nature and the great value in addressing what is actually occuring in one’s life rather than to add something on to it. As with St. Therese such matters can lead to the heroic and one never notices it as the slightest bit heroic probably.
We can be very confident indeed that there is sufficient in every single life regardless of content without exemptions, that if that actual life as it unfolds is addressed and its actual content, that it has potential to make the very greatest saint…and St. Therese showed us the way. It is not that such matters have never been spoken about previously by the great spiritual writers, but St. Therese actually had a total investment in actually living this way and with great confidence and trust always. Even her faults and failings gave her the opportunity to cast herself into The Father’s arms with loving trust in His Mercy totally.

The purpose of mortification or penance is “metanoia” or reversal of direction and by addressing these small things that are actually occuring in one’s life, one is indeed changing the direction of one’s life as it would be if one took no notice of such opportunites. Also mortification and penance strengthens the will, the self, to be able to say “no” to oneself. One of my favourtie passages in Scripture:
Luke 16

10 He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater.

There are quite a few instances inthe New Testament of just how often the small things in life are addressed as being of great importance.

Barb