Should a Christian be mortified?
The Apostles continued Christ's mission by sacrifice. They learned their lesson well: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Following in his footsteps, they laid down their lives for souls, and God blessed their apostolate abundantly.
Christ is urging us to proclaim the universal call to holiness from one end of the earth to the other. But He told us: If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Thus, to confess faith in God is not something comfortable. Let us then deny ourselves, not only in time of persecution or martyrdom, but always. Our Lord was crucified so that we, who believe in Him and have died to sin, might also be crucified with Him.
By mortification, we empty ourselves and begin to live for souls. By mortification, we are purified and made ready to draw close to God, to be docile to grace, to serve souls. By mortification, we can make atonement for the sins of others and, to a certain extent, win for them the grace of faith, conversion, or dedication.
“Let us not forget that in all human activities there must be men and women who, in their lives and work, raise Christ's Cross aloft for all to see, as an act of reparation.”
Mortification is needed not only as a general disposition on our part, but also because any work with souls, if it is done as God wants, requires continual self-sacrifice. We need to overcome human respect and our character defects, our timidity and rashness, which are all so detrimental to a deep apostolate.
We have to rise above our own preferences and interests, following St Paul's example: I have become all things to all men, that I might save all.
We also need to be very constant, which entails renunciation and sacrifice; and to set a good example, to be willing to do without any comfort that is not in keeping with a life dedicated to God's service. Above all, we need to work much, with order and intensity. As St. Josemaría says, “If we fulfill our duty joyfully, even when it is hard; if we overcome ourselves, with a smile that is sometimes a mortification; then you and I will win God's grace abundantly for souls.
Are you trying to make sincere resolutions? Ask our Lord to help you to take a tough line with yourself, for love of him; to help you apply, with all naturalness, the purifying touch of mortification to everything you do. Ask him to help you spend yourself in his service, like the flickering lamp that burns beside the tabernacle."
Since mortification is contrary to our natural tendency, we go to our Mother's intercession. We ask Mary to help us follow Christ, right up to the Cross, in the realization that the greater our self-denial, the more abundant will be the fruit and joy that we reap.
Oct 15 Wed