Thought for the Day – 25 June – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
External Mortification
“In the first place, we must accept with resignation, from the hands of Christ, all the sufferings and humiliations which we encounter during life.
Not only should we accept them but, we should offer them to God as a proof of our love.
The Saints were happy to suffer for the sake of Jesus; we should at least suffer, with resignation in expiation of our sins.
This is still not enough, however.
“They who belong to Christ,” St Paul warns us, “have crucified their flesh with it’s passions and desires” (Gal 5:24).
Salvation is impossible without voluntary penance (Cf Lk 13:5).
It is false piety to insist that we should not treat cruelly, the body, which God has given us.
Such an attitude of indulgence, could cause the loss of the soul, which is a far greater treasure.
As St Paul writes, “the sufferings of the present time, are not worthy to be compared, with the glory to come that will be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).
Suffering voluntarily undertaken for the sake of Jesus, purifies the soul and gives us a great peace, when we see the body subdued and converted into an instrument for the sanctification of ourselves and others.”
AnaStpaul 