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Brookline Carmel Bulletin J M J T
May 15, 1960
Cogitatio Sancta
(Holy
Meditation)
Penance
(Excerpts from a conference to
Tertiaries by Fr. Gregory, O.C.D.)
During the past few years,
medical authorities have proved that the human body is a remarkable
organism. Doctors and scientist have
proved that the human body can very readily adjust itself to practically any
given circumstance. Certain climates
were thought to be harmful to human beings, but after a certain time the body
adapted itself with little or no difficulty.
The Church was well aware of this fact years ago. Since we have to live in the midst of the
influences of the world, we can very easily adapt ourselves to the standards of
the world. Whether we will it or not,
we are influenced by the spirit of selfishness and avarice that is so common in
the world today.
No one will deny that we
are living in a soft, flabby world that caters to pleasure. We are constantly being told to be
comfortable, to have a good time, to enjoy life. If you glance through any newspaper or magazine you will see
advertisements for tastier foods, softer beds, faster cars and more comfortable
clothes. Yet in spite of all this, the
words of Christ as very clear: “If you
will become perfect, take up your cross daily, deny yourself and follow
me: Christ laid down one condition for
perfection, and that was self-denial or penance.
Whenever the word penance
is mentioned, the majority of people automatically think of excessive penances,
rigorous fasting, long hours in church and continuous prayers. Perhaps what we remember from the lives of
the saints is the reason for this idea.
Many of the early hermits used to live entirely on bread and water. For some of them, six or seven hours or
prayer a day was the ordinary thing.
When one of the early Popes was being prepared for burial, a penance
chain was found deeply imbedded in his flesh.
Such facts usually make us look with a distasteful eye on all penances,
and we try to deceive ourselves into thinking that penance was for the saints
but is not for us. It is true that
Almighty God will probably never ask us to imitate the severe penances of some
of the saints, but He has told all of us without exception that we have to deny
ourselves.
Penance means putting to
death the evil tendencies within us. It
is any restraint that we voluntarily place upon ourselves. Every time we commit a fault, there is a
two-fold element attached to it. First,
there is the injury done to God by our disobedience to His will; secondly,
there is the seizing of a pleasure to which we have no right. Confession takes care of the disobedience to
God’s will, but the stolen pleasure deserves a corresponding penalty. We might think of penance as a spiritual
diet that keeps our spiritual life in trim.
When athletes are in training, they give up certain things to keep their
bodies in the best of condition. When
we give up little things that are not bad in themselves, we are subduing our
passions and keeping our spiritual life in condition.
There are two kinds of
penance: physical and mental. Just what ones are to be practiced is up to
each individual person. As far as the
physical ones are concerned, we do not have to practice austere ones. We can gain a lot of merit by not taking a
second cup of coffee occasionally in the morning, or by skipping the coffee
break in the afternoon, or by not taking cream or sugar if we are accustomed to
it. When it comes to food, there is
much that we can improve upon. It is a
commonly recognized fact that the majority of Americans are overweight. Some one once said rather wisely that one
meal a day is enough for a lion, and it ought to suffice for a man. St. Philip Neri remarked: “Unless you mortify your appetite you shall never
become a saint.” Penance may consist
in refraining from a second helping of food one does care for, or in eating a
second helping of food one does not care for.
St. Francis de Sales once said:
“I think
that there is more profit in eating whatever is offered you, whether it suits
your taste or not, than in always choosing the worst.” The more we regulate our appetites; the
better off we shall be – both spiritually and physically. It is rather easy to make ourselves believe
that we cannot get along without certain things. Some people used to think they could never get along without
sugar, but during the war they got used to it and we do not recall hearing of
any one who died because of the sugar shortage. We all have tastes and preferences that we occasionally must
curb, if we are to follow the injunction of Christ. Even the pagan Latin poet Horace wrote: “Unless
a man practice privation, he will never find favor with the gods.”
There are little mental
penances that we must practice in the spiritual life. Many of the saints warn us that penances of the body without
penances of the spirit can lead us to disaster in the spiritual life. St. Francis of Assisi says: “Many place their sanctification in saying prayers,
or in the practice of many bodily mortifications, but afterwards they cannot
bear an offensive word, not understanding of what profit it is to bear insults.” St. Ambrose asks what profit there is in
fasting, if the heart indulges in malice and guile. Here, too, God does not expect great penances of us. We have all met people who practically bore
us to death with their constant chatter.
It will never kill us to listen patiently to them. If we ourselves happen to be rather
talkative, keeping silence at times is a little mental penance. Keeping back a sarcastic or witty remark is
a way of denying ourselves. Going out
of our way to help others, trying to be more patient or helpful towards persons
who do not appeal to us, can also be little mental penances. St. John Berchmans used to say that his
greatest mortification was ordinary living – by which he most probably meant, among other
things, putting up with the peculiarities of the people he met every day. The Little Flower speaks of the little “pin-pricks” we meet
with every day.
Such little mortifications
are really necessary if we are to grow in virtue. St. John of the Cross says:
“Would
that I could persuade spiritual persons that the way to God does not consist in
the multiplicity of meditations, ways of devotion and sweetness, though these
may be necessary for beginners, but in one necessary thing only, namely,
knowing how to deny themselves in earnest.” We have to be careful and use prudence, so that we do not go to
extremes in our mortifications. Even in
the spiritual life we need a little relaxation occasionally. St. Teresa mentions some people who think
that their devotion will slip away from them if they relax a little.
The advantages of little
acts of self-denial are many. They tame
the body and subject it to the soul.
They remove some of the temporal punishment due to sin. They give strength to our piety and
devotion.
We are disciples of a
crucified Lord, so that without mortification no Christian really fulfills his
calling.
“Mortification is the love of
Christ reduced to practice.” (Father
Faber)
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