QUOTATION: Mortification

We must not become so attached to the means [of the pursuit of holiness] as to forget the end. We mortify the flesh but we must also mortify the brain, which is the chief means by which we become sinners or saints.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Offering it Up

When we must do something we dislike, let us say to God, “My God, I offer You this in honor of the moment when You died for me.”

--St. Jean Vianney

QUOTATION: Straightening Out

I am but a crooked piece of iron, and have come into religion to be made straight by the hammer of mortification and penance.

 --St. Aloysius Gonzaga

QUOTATION: Joy and Mortification

Joy is to be thought of as the true source of that liberty of mind which alone is able to unite the apparently incompatible qualities of the spiritual life, giving a freer rein to natural expressions of love while remaining inseparably attached to mortification. In our joy we must be careful to keep our spirit mortified, and practise mortification in order to increase our joy.

I must therefore remain always and invariably happy, while never for one moment desisting from self-denial. It is self-love which stunts the growth of the spirit and saddens us; self-denial restores life, serenity and peace.

--Pope St. John XXIII, Journal of a Soul

QUOTATION: Mortification

We should, moreover, practise the mortification of Jesus Christ, who chose suffering not through necessity, but through love, because He saw in it the means of more clearly proving His love for His Father and for us. We should consider this mortification as a virtue to be acquired, and say: "Even had I no sin to expiate, I wish to mortify myself, because Jesus Christ has given me the example. He was scourged and crucified, He suffered hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness joyfully for the love of God, His Father. I want to be like Him."

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: Mortification

Your mortification should be your diligence in doing your duties and in putting up with the annoyances of others.

--St. John Bosco

QUOTATION: Mortification

When the devil cannot turn a soul away from virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification.

--St Jerome

QUOTATION: Mortification

I know that in a single act of mortification one may practice many other virtues, depending on the different intentions one has in performing each act. Thus, for example:

1. One who mortifies his body to check concupiscence performs an act of the virtue of temperance.

2. If he does so to set his life in proper order, he performs an act of the virtue of prudence.

3. If he does so to make satisfaction for his past sins, he performs an act of justice.

4. If he does so to overcome difficulties in his spiritual life, he performs an act of fortitude.

5. If he does so to offer sacrifice to God by depriving himself of something pleasant and doing something bitter or repugnant to himself, he performs an act of the virtue of religion.

6. If he does so to receive greater enlightenment in understanding the attributes of God, he performs an act of faith.

7. If he does so to make his salvation more secure, he performs an act of hope.

8. If he does so to help convert sinners or to free the souls in purgatory, he performs an act of fraternal charity.

9. If he does so to have more to give the poor, he performs an act of the virtue of mercy.

10. If he does so to please God more and more, he performs an act of love of God.

In every act of mortification I can practice all ten of these virtues, depending on the intention I form in doing the action.

--St. Anthony Mary Claret, Autobiography

QUOTATION: Mortification

When something occurs that mortifies your body or spirit, or when you see an occasion to deprive yourself of some satisfaction (such occasions present themselves hourly), accept it with a ready welcome, for the love of Our Lord, and bless Him for giving you an opportunity to mortify you self-love, in honor of His mortifications and privations on earth.

--St. John Eudes, The Four Foundations of Sanctity

QUOTATION: Worldly Pleasures

How sweet it has been to me to be deprived of the delights of a frivolous world! What incomparable joy have I felt after a privation once so dreaded.

-- St. Augustine

QUOTATION: Daily Crosses

Many who would willingly let themselves be nailed to a Cross before the astonished gaze of a thousand onlookers cannot bear with a christian spirit the pinpricks of each day! Think, then, which is the more heroic.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

QUOTATION: Mortification

Let us observe that when the soul begins to mortify itself, everything is painful to it. If it begins to give up comforts, it grieves; if it must give up honor, it feels torment; and if must suffer an offensive word, the hurt becomes intolerable. In sum, there are never lacking sorrows for it until death. But as it succeeds in its determination to die to the world, it will find itself freed of these sufferings, and the contrary, there will be no complaining any longer.

-- St. Teresa of Avila, Meditations on the Song of Songs, Ch.3, no.12

QUOTATION: Difficult People

People can be “offensive” by what they say or do, in fact by simply being who they are. No matter. God has placed other persons into our lives, with their weaknesses and oddities, with their selfishness and thoughtlessness, with their sometimes crude and even cruel speech and action toward us - among other reasons - in order that we might expiate our sins against God and obtain His merciful love.

--Fr. John Hardon

QUOTATION: Mortification

Did my good Jesus have any obligation to shed His Blood for me? He died on the Cross for the salvation of our souls. And will I, His servant, refuse to put up with some inconvenience or toil in order to reciprocate?

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Mortification

Conquering the tongue is better than fasting on bread and water.

--St. John of the Cross

QUOTATION: Mortification

The appropriate word you left unsaid; the joke you didn't tell; the cheerful smile for those who bother you; that silence when you're unjustly accused; your kind conversation with people you find boring and tactless; the daily effort to overlook one irritating detail or another in those who live with you...this, with perseverance, is indeed solid interior mortification.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

QUOTATION: Sacrifice

No Ideal becomes reality without sacrifice. Deny yourself. It is so beautiful to be a victim!

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

QUOTATION: Mortification

Choose mortifications that don’t mortify others.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

QUOTATION: Mortification

Where there is no mortification, there is no virtue.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

QUOTATION: Mortification and Love

God does not command us to live in hair shirts and chains, or to chastise our flesh with scourges, but to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

--St. Charles of Sezze