Mortification - Tumblr Posts
"There is scarcely any one thing in which thou standest so much in need of mortifying thyself as in seeing & suffering the things which are repugnant to thy will, and especially when that is commanded which seems to thee incongruous and to little purpose."
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
Every actual sin turns the soul in the direction of evil. Even after forgiveness, there remains a tendency, an inclination, latent for the moment, but real, which, engrafted upon our native concupiscence, finds the first opportunity of producing fruit. It is for mortification to uproot these vicious tendencies, to counteract these habits, to annihilate this attachment to sin. Mortification pursues sin inasmuch as sin is an obstacle between the soul and God; therefore mortification must continue until these perverse tendencies of our nature are mastered; otherwise, these tendencies will end by dominating, by being the source of numerous faults which will compromise… our union with God and the life of charity in us.
Dom Marmion; Christ, the Life of the Monk, p. 175
God is the first Author of our holiness, the source of our perfection, but we must labor at removing the obstacles that hinder His action in us; we must renounce sin, and the tendencies that give rise to it; we must free ourselves from created things in as far as they prevent us going to God. One who will not submit himself to this law of mortification, who seeks his ease and comfort, who is anxious to escape suffering and does all he can to avoid the cross, who puts no constraint upon himself... will never arrive at intimate union with Christ Jesus.
Dom Marmion; Christ, the Ideal of the Monk, p. 189