How the Exercise of Mortification Ought to Be Put in Practice ieee ON being the principal means available on

our part to overcome ourselves, it will be well to descend to particulars as to how to put it into practice.

The general rule that is given in these things is to regard what is most necessary, and first of all endeavor to obtain that. Wherefore begin this exercise by profiting of those occasions of mortification that daily offer themselves, proceeding either from your superiors, from your brethren, or from anyone else. Receive all with a good will and make your profit of them, for so it must be as well for your own peace as for the edification of your neighbor.

We should by rights be so fervent in mortification, since it is so valuable to us, that we should go begging and importuning superiors to mortify us in this thing and in that, to command us what we have most repugnance for, and to penance and reprehend us in private and in public before all. But since you are not so fervent as that, at least receive with patience the occasions of mortification that offer and that God sends you for your exercise and advancement.

Many are the occasions that offer every day; and if one is careful and desirous of mortifying oneself, matter will always be at hand. Sometimes in matters of obedience you will think that they command you the hardest things, and that the whole burden is put upon you whilst there are others at hand who might do something. To every man in the discharge of his office things are apt to occur which give some special trouble and mortification. Well, then, profit by these occasions you have at hand, anticipate them, and believe that the difficulty you find in them is the cross you are to carry to follow Christ. At another time some other subject of mortification will arise from your meat, drink, lodging, or clothing; rejoice, as the rule bids you, that the worst things of the house are given to you. Another time it will happen that a superior will give you a penance or reprehend you when you think that you have not deserved it or, at least, that your fault was not so great as he makes it out and that the matter was reported to him otherwise than as it happened or with gross exaggerations. Be glad of all that; do not excuse yourself, do not complain, do not try there and then to stand out in your own defense and vindicate your good name with this one and that.

Coming then to the occasions of mortification that arise on the part of our neighbors and brethren with whom we deal and converse, we shall find plenty, sometimes without their meaning or reverting to it and without fault of theirs, at other times through carelessness and negligence, although with no bad intention; and there are at times occasions in which it looks as though they disregarded you and made small account of you. Then if we go on to what is of the immediate sending of the Lord, as sicknesses, temptations and afflictions, and the unequal distribution of His gifts as well natural as supernatural, there are a countless number that every day present themselves without seeking. It is on these occasions that we must practise ourselves in the first place. Such mortifications often come of necessity, and we have to suffer them without seeking them. What we have got to do is to make a virtue of necessity, that suffering, we may suffer with profit. Besides the spiritual advantage there is here, we shall save ourselves much trouble if we take these things with good will. Often the hardship and difficulty which we feel is not so much in the things themselves as in the repugnance and contradiction of our will; and thus embracing them heartily, we shall greatly lighten the labor.

There are other mortifications which we have to do of our own will—they call them “active mortifications” to distinguish them from those already mentioned, which they call “passive,” which we have to suffer even without seeking them—for they are necessary, and thus they must rank with the mortifications which have to be taken in the first place. Of these, some are necessary for anyone to be a good Christian and save his soul, as is the mortifying of oneself in all that hinders the observance of the commandments of God. Others are necessary for one to be a good religious and gain perfection, as is the mortification of oneself in all that hinders the observance of rules and getting things done well and perfectly. For it is certain that not only all sins, but all faults and imperfections whatever that we fall into in the way of virtue, come of want of mortification. They are all committed either to escape and not undergo some hardship that we feel in doing the right and better thing, or from unwillingness to abstain from some pleasure and delight which we experience in doing what is evil and imperfect. Let us run through them all, and we shall find that if we fail in obedience, in observance of rules, or in temperance, or in silence, or in modesty, or in patience, or in anything else, it is all for want of mortification, from our not braving the hardship that is annexed to this observance or not abstaining from the pleasure and delight which we take in the contrary. Thus, if you wish to be a good religious and attain perfection, you must mortify yourself in these things.

As for a man to be a good Christian and save his soul, it is necessary for him to mortify himself in all that he feels a craving for contrary to the law of God—and therefore Christ our Redeemer said: Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself (Matt. xvi. 24), and if he does not deny himself and mortify himself herein, he will not be a good Christian nor be saved—so to be a good religious and attain perfection, it is necessary for you to mortify yourself in all that can be a hindrance thereto. Run, then, through all the actions of the day from morning to night and see what hinders you from keeping the rules and doing your ordinary actions well and perfectly; and face this labor and mortify yourself in the inclination which you have to do a thing badly and imperfectly, and in this way every day your actions will be better and more perfect, and you also will be better and more perfect. The whole hub of our spiritual advancement consists in our bringing ourselves to the point of resolving on this.

Someone once asked the question: “How comes it that on the one hand God gives me good desires and on the other, when occasion offers, I find myself weak and fall into many faults and never succeed in arriving at perfection?” They to whom he proposed it said: “This comes of want of consideration; if you considered this and that, it would help you.” And they gave him many considerations, and none of them did him any good. He betook himself to a very experienced old man, who answered him: “This springs not of want of consideration but of want of resolution.” That is why we do not get on and never succeed in rooting out our faults and evil propensities. Bring yourself to the point of resolving to mortify yourself in what we have said, and in that way you will attain perfection.