By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — Practicing spiritual discipline is good throughout the year, not only during Lent, although it may be on people’s minds more during the pre-Easter penitential season.
Still, if a person wants to develop muscles, he doesn’t exercise only during 40 days in a year. On the other hand, he doesn’t exercise to the exclusion of every other activity.
“Mortification is a very Catholic word,” a local theology teacher told the March 11 session of the
Institute of Catholic Theology (ICT) about self-denial. The ICT is an evangelization program based here at St. Thomas the Apostle Church.
Speaker Rob Drapeau contrasted following God’s will with placing one’s own will over God’s.
Drapeau has a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Arizona and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Phoenix and more than 10 years’ experience in teaching theology from the elementary-school level to retirees, according to the ICT.
God “is an infinite spirit . . . We’re made in God’s image” because humans have intellectual qualities and spiritual faculties that animals and rocks lack, Drapeau said, recalling the passage from Genesis, “Let Us make man in My image.”
The serpent in Genesis was more subtle than any other wild creature God made, Drapeau said, so when the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and become like God, it was offering Eve a quality she already had — resembling God — and not something she could gain by disobeying God.
Drapeau cited the definition of mortification as a practice of asceticism by penitential discipline to overcome the desire for sin and to strengthen the will. He said it comes from the Latin words meaning “to make dead” regarding worldly temptations.
There are various Biblical rules for the Jews as a reinforcement of the idea, “You’re set apart” and should not do certain things, Drapeau said.
He said that the Christian author and apologist C.S. Lewis said there are only two kinds of people, those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God has to say, “THY will be done” because they have followed their own will instead of His and have chosen Hell.
What people give up when practicing mortification isn’t bad but good, like hamburgers or alcohol in moderation, Drapeau said. “The thing itself isn’t the problem. It’s the relationship you have with it.”
All the things that give us pleasure and joy are a reminder of God, who wants us to enjoy them, he said, adding that the objects aren’t bad but are subject to God’s rules about using them.
The remedy for sin is mortification, Drapeau said, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church that the way of perfection comes through the Way of the Cross. “There is no holiness without mortification and spiritual battle,” he said.
Jesus came to save us from our sins, even dying for us although He had no fault, Drapeau said. “Jesus wasn’t a fallen man…He had no need to atone for His own sin,” but ours.
“Suffering means enduring something you would not normally choose to do, or do without,” Drapeau said.
A person doesn’t lift weights just for the sake of lifting weights, but to develop strength, he said — just as a person needs to develop spiritual strengths.
He cited Romans 8:13: “If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
“We have our appetites and we have our will” to choose, Drapeau said, citing Jesus’ words in the ninth chapter of Luke: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it.”
People can pursue active mortification by taking positive actions for growing in holiness such as by giving up sleep or meals, he said, but there also are opportunities that simply come one’s way, such as being cheerful despite being served the wrong meal in a restaurant.
Drapeau said people can take “mortamins” — combining the words mortification and vitamins — to increase their spiritual life. Some examples:
“Wake like a hero,” hitting the floor with your feet in the morning instead of staying under the covers.
“Be on time,” which respects other people.
“Be cheerful even when you don’t feel like it,” like serving a customer who comes in to a business at the last minute.
“Order a smaller-size drink . . . Don’t super-size your meals,” then give the difference in price as a donation to the poor.
“We went from 33 days of fasting to two, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,” because of changes in the rules, Drapeau said.
He suggested that people keep their sacrifices in perspective: Don’t let your mortifications mortify others. Don’t drag your cross, but bear it cheerfully.
Mortification without prayer can lead to pride, he said, while prayer without mortification leads to hypocrisy. “We need to practice not getting our way.”
He cited St. Bernard of Clairvaux saying that prayer and mortification are the two wings on which people fly to God.
Eric Westby, Ph.D., the director of the ICT, concluded the session by saying, “Happy mortifications, everyone.”
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