Interior mortification - 4

St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say that "the day which is spent without mortification is lost." To convince us of the necessity of mortification, the Redeemer has chosen a life of self-denial, full of pains and ignominy, and destitute of all sensible pleasure. Hence He is called by Isaias, a man of sorrows. (Is. liii. 3). He might have saved the world amid the enjoyment of honours and delights; but He preferred to redeem it by sorrows and contempt. Who having joy set before him, endured the cross. (Heb. xii. 2). To give us an example, Jesus renounced the joy which was set before Him, and embraced the Cross. "Reflect again and again," says St. Bernard, "on the life of Jesus, and you will find Him always on the Cross." The Redeemer revealed to St. Catherine of Bologna that the sorrows of His Passion began in His Mother's womb. For His birth He selected the season, the place and the hour most adapted to excite pain. During life He chose to be poor, unknown, despised; and, dying, He preferred the most painful, the most ignominious, and the most desolate of all kinds of death which human nature could suffer. St. Catherine of Sienna used to say that as a mother takes the bitterest medicine to restore the health of the infant she suckles, so Jesus Christ has assumed all the pains of life to heal the infirmities of His children.

Thus He invites all His followers to accompany Him to the mountain of myrrh; that is, of bitterness and of sorrows. I will go to the mountain of myrrh. (Cant. iv. 6). Behold, Jesus invites us to follow if we wish for His company. "Do you come," says St. Peter Damian, "to Jesus crucified? If you do, you must come already crucified, or to be crucified." If, O beloved soul, you come to embrace your crucified Saviour, you must bring with you a heart already crucified, or to be crucified. Speaking especially of His consecrated virginal spouses: Jesus Christ said to the Blessed Baptist Varani: "The crucified Bridegroom desires a crucified spouse" —that is, one that leads a life of continual mortification and self-denial. Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus. (2 Cor. iv. 10). We must never seek our own satisfaction in any action or desire, but the pleasure of Jesus Christ, crucifying for His sake all our inclinations. They that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. (Gal. v. 24).