9781644135945

The Light of the World
reject all that is contrary to Christ and His law. They must disengage their hearts from self-will,
from all that is transitory, from all that threatens to separate them from God.
Prayer
Hear us, we beseech Thee, O Lord: cleanse our hearts and grant us Thy grace. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Saturday
“Every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things. . . . I therefore so
run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and
bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become
a castaway” (Epistle). The season that precedes Lent and the lenten season itself are seasons
for serious and earnest self-denial. Even St. Paul feared that he might be lost should he fail to
practice mortifications and bring his spirit into submission.
“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself ” (Mt 16:24). No man in this world is so
perfect that he can afford to neglect self-denial; that is, no man can afford to neglect the task
of subjecting his senses and his passions to his will. No one has the garden of his soul so thoroughly
cleansed of weeds that it needs no further weeding. Scarcely has a person finished his
work before the weeds spring up again. A man never reaches so great a height of perfection in
this world that he destroys the roots of sin. For this reason there can never be any secure virtue
unless it is accompanied by true self-denial. He who has not gained control over his self-will,
can never practice perfect obedience. He who has not brought his passions firmly under the
control of his will, can never practice perfect chastity. No man can practice fraternal charity and
love even his enemies unless he has first overcome himself and mortified his own desires. Selfdenial
is especially necessary for those who seek to practice virtue. “You will progress in virtue
in the measure in which you gain control of yourself.” 9 Why do we remain stationary so long in
one degree of perfection? Why are we so lacking in strength and initiative? It is simply because
we fail in self-denial. Without mortification we can have no taste for meditation, no fervor in
prayer, no strength in the face of temptation, no power of resistance to the seduction of the flesh,
and finally, no true virtue. Therefore, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.”
“I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against flesh; for these are contrary one to another; so
that you do not the things that you would. . . . Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions,
emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects. . . . They who do such things shall not obtain the
kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness,
longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity” (Gal 5:16 ff.).
“Walk in the spirit.” On this principle our mortification should be grounded. If we walk
in the spirit, we shall be able to free our fallen nature from the domination of our inordinate
passions and regulate it according to grace. By means of mortification we subject our lower
9
Imitation of Christ, bk.1, chap. 25.
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