72 lines
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72 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
<blockquote>
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"The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no
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holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual
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progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead
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to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes."<br />
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- <i>Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> § 2015
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</blockquote>
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<p>Perhaps one of the most undervalued of Christian practices today is
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that of Mortification. This is the voluntary endurance of discomfort,
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inconvenience, or privation of certain goods (e.g. fasting) so as to
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<i>die</i> to the temptations of the flesh and, with a stronger will, be
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able to better accept God's Grace and reject the devil's temptations to
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sin.</p>
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<p>This all appears to be something very vague, especially for those who
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aren't religious or are not accustomed to Catholic terminology. What's
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more, the very term <i>Mortification</i> may appear rather intimidating
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to some seeing that it derives from the Latin word <i>mortificatio</i>,
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meaning "death". And in a sense, there is <i>death</i> involved in an
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act of Mortification, but it is a death to the <i>ego</i>.</p>
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<p>So firstly, let's make concrete what are acts of Mortification. These
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would be acts of enduring some sort of inconvenience, mentally or
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physically. These usually take the form of abstinence of some sort from
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something that is not necessarily bad for oneself, but that one may feel
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a certain bodily or mental craving for. As such, one rejects their body
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or mind's desires so as to pursue something of greater value. An example
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of a Mortification of the Flesh (bodily) would be fasting, whereby one
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abstains from eating for a time. The body will desire food, and
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throughout the period of fasting, one's resolve to complete the period
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of fasting may be weakened by temptations throughout the day. But
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through an act of the will, choosing God's Grace over one's selfish
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desires provoked by the satan, one may persevere. For Mortification of
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the Mind, this typically involves mental discipline of doing things we
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do not want to do. For many, this may be an abstinence from social
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media, an extra hour of studying, finishing that one thing you've had on
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your to-do list for ages but have never gotten around to doing, etc.</p>
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<p>As for the spiritual fruits, if it was not already obvious, we gain
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discipline and willpower, both things that are of absolute importance in
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the Good Fight of the Faith that we battle every day. The question of
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resisting the evil one's temptations to sin is one of choosing God's
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Grace over our own selfish desires. Is this not the same will power we
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train while practicing Mortification? It becomes much easier to say no
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to the adversary's temptations if we practice; and what better to
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practice with than abstinence from something that is not sinful in and
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of itself? If one decides to practice Mortification through fasting, one
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learns to resist his temptations to eat throughout the day, yet if he
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fails, he has not fallen into sin as it was simply practice.
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Mortification is therefore our means of sharpening our swords to fight
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off the demons we encounter in our lives, showing them neither mercy nor
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compassion; choosing always Good over Evil, God over the satan, the Good
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Fight over effeminacy.</p>
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<p>I bring this up now because, as any good Catholic will know, the
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liturgical season of Lent is nearly upon us. During the forty days of
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Lent we commemorate the forty days which Jesus Christ spent in the
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desert fasting, suffering the temptations of the evil one. We are
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called, during this season, to follow in the example of our Lord and
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practice some kind of Mortification. There are the obligatory fasts on
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Ash Wednesday (on February 17<sup>th</sup>) and Good Friday (on April
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2<sup>nd</sup>), as well as an abstinence from eating meat on Fridays
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during the Lenten season (this custom may vary depending on your
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location and rite); but we are also called to observe some other form of
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Mortification to help us in our struggle towards sainthood. So hopefully
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this article helps you, my dear reader, to both understand the
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importance of Mortification as well as to choose a Mortification for
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this Lenten season.</p>
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<p>God bless you.</p>
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