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Brookline Carmel Bulletin J M J T

February 7, 1960

Cogitatio Sancta

(Holy Meditation)

Mortification

In the past five bulletins, we have dealt briefly with the “struggle for perfection.” This whole process entails the practice of mortification, which we might describe as self-denial undertaken for the purpose of developing self-control or will power. A vigorous and enduring program of mortification strengthens the control of the will over the lower nature, thus making it possible for us to serve God more perfectly. It is like the training program of the athlete, who denies himself various things in order to improve the condition of his body.

In the Ascent of Mount Carmel (Book I, Chapter 13), Saint John of the Cross lays down the rules for this training program. Here we find the frightening admonitions, “Strive always to choose, not that which is easiest, but that which is most difficult; Not that which is most delectable, but that which is most unpleasant; Not that which gives most pleasure, but that which gives least; Not that which is restful, but that which is wearisome…” We call these admonitions “frightening” because they seem to be demanding more than our poor nature can give. Yet if we understand them properly, they become less forbidding and more reasonable. St. John of the Cross continues, “The soul must embrace these acts wholeheartedly and strive to subject its will thereto. For if it undertakes them wholeheartedly, in a short time it will find great delight and consolation in them, as it acts with order and discretion.” Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., commenting on this passage, explains that “St. John of the Cross asks two things of the soul that desires to enter upon the way of ‘nothing.’ First of all, he demands decision and generosity, for any one who has not the courage to deny himself in everything will never reach total detachment and thence union with God. At the same time, he also demands ‘order and discretion.’ The Saint does not expect you always and in everything to choose what is most difficult, painful, or tiring – which would be impossible, both because of the circumstances in which you live and because of your physical constitution, which always needs a certain amount of relaxation – but he does ask that you be disposed to make this choice, i.e., that you cultivate a desire for it. He wants you to develop within yourself the inclination and habit of doing what is opposite to your (natural; tendencies, so that, when some opportunity presents itself, you can do so without being hindered by your natural repugnance.

In the beginning of the spiritual life, it is especially necessary to proceed with discretion and to act according to the advice of the confessor or superior, particularly with regard to corporal mortification. But it is most important that you make the firm decision to bend your will by this practice of mortification, that you never give up the struggle through cowardice, and that, even when you have to allow yourself a little relaxation, because of duty or convenience, you do so with detachment, i.e., with a will detached from the pleasure you may find in it.” (Intimita Divina, ch. 82) A further quotation from another of Fr. Gabriel’s works may help to clarify this point. He says, referring to the words “order and discretion,” “We think it well to emphasize this advice of the Saint, for it shows how mistaken is the accusation which stigmatizes his doctrine as absolute and rigid. The principle of the necessity of complete detachment is absolute, but in its application the individual must take account of human weakness and needs. The man who would banish from his life every relaxation and recreation would soon fall into a physical and moral weariness, which would be detrimental to the spiritual life itself.

Moreover, the pleasures of the senses are not always evil; there are pleasures which are perfectly innocent; but it is a question of not letting ourselves become attached to them. Otherwise we shall seek them in order to satisfy our own self-love, instead of using them for the benefit of our spiritual life and for the glory of God. Hence it is clear that the total mortification of the life of the senses proposed to us by St. John is not a suppression of the sensitive life, but only its perfect subjection to the spiritual life… We conclude that the active night of sense, whilst it does not aim at suppressing the life of the senses, seeks, nevertheless, to moderate it, to subject it to the spirit, by the generous and constant practice of mortification.” (St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Divine Love, ch. 2)

“If any one will be my disciple, let him deny himself…” (Mt. 16:24)

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