Volume II, Treatise I, Chapter I

That We Must Join Mortification to Prayer, to be a Help One to the Other

“Ir is good to join prayer to fasting,” (Tobias 12:8), said the angel Raphael to Tobias, when he made himself known unto him. The holy fathers, by fasting, commonly understand, whatsoever belongs to penance and mortification of the flesh; and accordingly they consider mortification and prayer as the two principal means we — have to advance in perfection, and which ought to be inseparable companions. St. Bernard, upon the words of the Canticles, ‘Who is she that ascends by the desert as a little cloud of smoke, composed of the perfumes that proceed from myrrh and incense?” (Canticle of Canticles 3:6), says, that myrrh and incense, which are the symbols of mortification and prayer, ought always to accompany us—that it ‘is by these two wings we must raise ourselves to the sovereign degree of perfection, and render ourselves a sweet smelling odour or perfume before the throne of God; and that the one is scarce of any use without the other. For he who only mortifies his flesh, without humbling his mind by prayer, becomes proud, and deserves to have these words of the royal prophet applied to him: ‘ Shall I feed upon the flesh of bulls? Or shall I drink the blood of goats?” (Psalms 49:13) These sort of sacrifices that contain nothing but flesh and blood, are not at all pleasing to God. And, on the other hand, he who gives himself to prayer, and neglects to mortify his flesh, ought to be afraid of our Saviour’s words in the gospel:

“why do you call me Lord, Lord, if you do not what I desire of you?” (Luke 6:45). And also that of the wise man in the Proverbs, “If any one turns his ears from hearkening to the law, his prayer shall be rejected as execrable.” (Proverbs 28:9) Your prayer cannot be pleasing to God, if you perform not his will.

St. Austin says, that as there were two altars in the temple of Solomon, the one without, where they cut the throats of the victims to be sacrificed; and the other within the sanctuary, upon which they offered incense to God; so there must also be two altars in us, the one interior, to offer to him the incense of prayer, conformably to those words of St. Matthew: ‘But you, when you would pray, enter into your closet, and having shut the door, pray to your father in private’—-(Mat. vi. 6); and the other exterior, to make a sacrifice of ourselves by corporal mortifications, so that mortification and prayer may go hand in hand together; for if mortification be a necessary disposition to prayer, prayer is also a very useful means of attaining perfect mortification.

As to the first point, that mortification is a necessary disposition to prayer, it is a truth that all the saints and masters of a spiritual life teach us. They say, that as we cannot write upon a skin of parchment if it be not well shaved, and all the flesh taken off; so if the affections and bad inclinations of the flesh be not all rooted out of our mind, and if it be not quite disengaged from them, it has not the disposition it ought to have for our Lord to write and imprint upon it the characters of his grace and wisdom. “To whom will he give knowledge?” says the prophet Isaias; “and to whom will he give understanding? To such as are weaned from milk, and are taken from their mothers’ breasts.” That is to say, to those who for his love mortify themselves, and forsake the pleasures of the world, and the affections and desires of the flesh. God wishes to find the heart free and disengaged from all things, before he enters into it; he wishes to find first a profound peace and tranquillity therein, before he makes his entry. “His abode is established in peace.” (Psalms 75:3)

The pagan philosophers acknowledged this truth. They all agreed that wisdom consisted in a certain peace which the soul enjoyed when its sensual appetites were entirely repressed. Then it is that there remain no violent passions, which, by their irregular motions, trouble the peace of the soul, and obscure the understanding; as is the case when the passions are in agitation. For the property of passion is to blind reason, and to diminish in us the liberty of free will; as we see every day in a man overcome by passion. It seems that passion even deprives him of his judgment, and-renders him quite mad and furious. For if you ask him afterwards, why did you say this, or why did you do such and such actions? he will answer you, because he was beside himself. But, when the passions are calm, the understanding has also more pure and clear light to know what is good, and the will a fuller liberty to embrace it. But this peace and tranquillity is what God would always find in our hearts, that he may the better pour down his wisdom, and other gifts upon us. The mortification of our passions and irregular appetites, is the true means of obtaining this peace; and it was upon this account that the prophet Isaias said—“That peace shall be the work of justice.” (Isaias 32:17)

This is very well explained by St. Austin, writing upon these words of the royal prophet, “justice and peace have kissed each other,”——Ps. Ixxxiv. 11; “would you,” says he, “that justice and peace should embrace each other? Perform the works of justice, and you will infallibly have peace. Ifyou love not justice, you will never enjoy peace. For peace and justice are friends linked together so closely, that if you love not justice, peace will not love you, and will never come near you. Peace is not obtained but by war.” So that if you will not make war with yourself, by mortifying and constraining your desires, and by getting the mastery over your passions, you will never obtain this peace, which is so necessary to be able to apply yourselves to prayer. ‘ What is a greater hindrance and trouble unto you,’ says Thomas-a-Kempis, “than the unmortified affections of your heart?’ Those irregular passions and bad inclinations you have, are what trouble you and hinder you from being devout. These disquiet you in prayer, and cause such disturbance in your soul, that the sweet sleep and repose enjoyed in prayer is continually disturbed and interrupted; or, to speak more properly, these hinder your soul from seeking after, or taking this repose. It ordinarily happens, that when one has eaten too much at night, he is not able to sleep, because the crudity that remains in the stomach, and the gross vapours which the meat sends continually to the brain, so disquiet him, that he can do nothing else but turn from one side to another, without being able to sleep at all. The same thing happens in prayer. The irregularity of self-love, the desire we have of satisfying our passions, and of being esteemed, are so great, that do what we can, they so charge and overcome our hearts, excite such vapours in us, and produce such phantoms in our imagination, that we cannot recollect ourselves, nor have our minds united unto God. It is in this sense we are wont to explain these words of our Saviour—“Take care lest your hearts be overcharged with gluttony, drunkenness, or with the cares of this world. (Luke 21:34) For this passage ought to be understood not only of drunkenness caused by wine, but of that which is occasioned by all other things in the world, according to those words of Isaias: ‘“‘ Hearken, then, poor miserable creature, that art drunk, but not with wine.” (Isaias 51:21) When the heart is not well purified by mortification, there arises from it a thick mist or cloud, that deprives our soul of the presence of God. St. Paul well expresses this, when he says— that the sensual or carnal man, understands not what the spirit of God teaches.”’ (1 Corinthians 2:14) For those things are spiritual and he is wholly carnal; so that to be able to conceive and taste them, he must spiritualize and purify himself by mortification.

From this we obtain the solution of a doubt that is ordinarily proposed. Prayer, it is said, is an entertainment and familiar conversation with God, and consequently an exercise full of joy and sweetness, according to the words of the wise man: “His conversation has no bitterness, nor has his company any tediousness, but brings all joy and satisfaction along with it.” (Wisdom 8:16) What is the reason then that prayer, which of itself is replenished with so much sweetness, and which on the other hand is so profitable and necessary for us, should oftentimes become so hard, that we go to it with great reluctance and difficulty, and that but few give themselves to this exercise? “It is with repugnance and much against our will,” says St. Bonaventure, “that we assist at spiritual duties; and are present at prayer, like dogs chained to a block.” The cause of this is what I before touched on. Prayer is not hard of itself, but mortification is, and since mortification is a necessary disposition to prayer, we find prayer hard, because we have not this disposition. The same is easily perceived even in natural things, for the difficulty does not consist in the introducing a form into any matter, but in disposing the matter to receive it. Consider, for example, what happens when we cast green wood upon the fire. See how active the fire is in drying up its moisture or greenness—see the thick smoke that it sends forth, and the time it takes to dispose it to burn; but as soon as the wood has all the dispositions that are necessary, it presently takes fire, and is easily consumed, It is the same in the present case, All the difficulty ‘consists in taking from our passions their strength and greenness, in mortifying our irregular appetites, and in entirely withdrawing ourselves from the things of this-world. If we can but compass this, the rest will cost us nothing; our soul will of itself move towards God, and feel great pleasure and delight in conversing’ with him. Each one takes delight in conversing with one of his own humour and inclination. But he who applies himself to the mortification of his flesh, does thereby spiritualize, and render himself in some measure like unto God; and God reciprocally takes pleasure in communicating himself unto him. ‘My delight,” says he, by the wise man, “is to be, and to converse with the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:831) But, when the heart is filled with all sorts of passions—when not quite free from vain-glory, we have some slight attachments, pleasing ourselves in worldly conversation, loving ‘our own ease and satisfaction—when we are in this disposition, as we are far from resembling God, so we find it hard to converse with him, and we take no pleasure but in earthly things, by reason of the likeness we have unto them; “They are become as abominable,” says the holy prophet Osee, “as the things they love.” (Osee 9:10)

A holy father says very well, that as when the water is troubled, we can neither see ourselves, nor any thing-else in it; so when our hearts are not purified from all terrene affections, and are not free from a thousand vain impertinences, we can never see the face of God in prayer—that is, we can never penetrate the depth of his mysteries, and he will never communicate himself unto us. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”—-(Mat. v. 8.) Prayer is properly a spiritual view of the works and mysteries of God: and as to see well with our corporal eyes, we must have them neat and clean; so to see the works of God with the eyes of our soul, we must have a pure and clean heart. “Do you desire to see God?” says St. Austin, “take care first to purify your heart, and cast out of it whatsoever is displeasing to him.”—(Aug. Serm. ii. de Asc. Dom. and Serm. clxxv. de Temp. Cass. Coll. ix. cap. 4.)

The abbot Isaac, as Cassian relates, explained this by an excellent comparison, He said that our soul was like to a feather, that was so very light that the least wind raised it from the ground, and made it fly about in the air, when it was neither wet nor besmeared with pitch, nor glued to any thing that held it fast; but if it was wet, or if it was glued to something that hindered it from rising, it was forced to remain upon the ground amongst dirt and filth. So if our soul be pure and free from all things, the least breath or whisper of the Holy Ghost, in time of meditation, will raise it even to God himself; but, if it be tied to earthly things, if it be sullied by its irregular passions, it becomes so heavy, that it cannot elevate itself to heavenly things, nor feel any satisfaction in prayer. Moses, says the abbot Nilus, was forbid to approach the burning bush, till he had pulled off his shoes. And how can you think to approach towards God, or come to any conversation with him, till you have cast away your passions, and all the ties you have to the things of the world?

We have an excellent example in the fourth book of Kings, which shows us how calm our passions ought to be, when we wish to pray and to converse with God. The holy scripture recounts, that — Joram king of Israel, Josophat king of Juda, and the king of Edom, marching all three against the king of Moab, they wanted water in the desert, so that their army was ready to perish. In this extremity they “consulted the prophet Elias; and the king of Israel, who was an idolater, said to him—“Why has the Lord assembled ‘these _ three kings here, to deliver them into the hands of Moab? What is that to you or me?” replied the prophet Elias; “go to your father’s and mother’s prophets. As the God of armies lives, in whose presence I am, were it not for the respect I bear to Josophat king of Juda, I would have had no regard to you at all, nor would have so much as come into your presence. Notwithstanding let there be a musician brought hither.”——(4 Kings iii. 183—-15.) Thus did the prophet, full of zeal and courage, reprehend the king of Israel, and reproached him for his idolatry. ‘Yet, in fine, for the sake of Josophat, who was a holy and just king, he resolved to let them know the favours God designed to do them in that enterprise. But, because the fervour of his zeal had a little moved and disturbed him, that he might put himself into a right disposition to converse with God and receive his answer, they brought to him a musician to calm and quiet his mind by the sweetness of music; and, when he found it in a calm and repose, he declared the wonders that God would work in their favour—sending them water in abundance, and giving the victory over their enemies. If it was necessary that a prophet, who was justly and piously moved, should appease this agitation of his mind, before be could speak to God, or receive any answer from him, how far more necessary is it for us to calm

our irregular passions, thereby to cause him to communicate himself to us in prayer?

As to the second point, that prayer is an efficacious means of mortification, I have sufficiently proved it in the treatise on prayer. There I showed that the mortification of ourselves is properly the fruit we must reap from prayer; and the saints with reason suspect that prayer which is not accompanied with mortification. For, as_ in order to shape iron, it is not sufficient to heat and soften it in the fire, but it must be beaten with the hammer before it receives the form they desire to give it; so it is not sufficient to mollify our heart by the heat of prayer, but we must also make use of the hammer of mortification to fashion and perfect our soul, to free it from all defects, and to imprint in it all those virtues it stands in need of. That sweetness and calm we feel in the exercise of prayer and divine love, is what ought to soften and render easy the pains we find in mortification. It is this which ought to encourage us to renounce ourselves, and to overcome the malignity of our nature. Wherefore let us pray continually without ceasing, till by the mercy of God we have acquired this perfect mortification of ourselves, so necessary for us, and which the scripture and the saints continually recommend unto us.

St. Austin, upon those words of Genesis: “The child began to grow up, and was taken from his mother’s breasts, and the day he was weaned, Abraham made a great feast” (Genesis 21:8): how came it to pass, says he, that at the birth of Isaac, that infant so longed for, that child of promise, in whom all nations were to be blessed, they shewed no signs of joy; no more than they did at his circumcision, which notwithstanding was a ceremony of solemnity; and that when he was weaned, when they forced him to cry and lament his being taken from the breast, that then his father rejoiced with his friends, and made a great feast for them? What is the meaning of this? There must needs be, says St. Austin, some hidden mystery contained therein. And the Holy Ghost would have us hereby understand, that we must spiritually rejoice when any one grows or increases in virtue, and begins to be more perfect, and to enter into man’s estate, and is no longer numbered among those of whom the apostle speaks—“Being still infants in Jesus Christ I nourish you with milk, and not with solid meats.” (1 Corinthians 3:1) Wherefore applying this at present to ourselves, what we are hereby to understand is, that our superiors, who are our spiritual fathers, have great

joy and comfort, not when we are born in religion, or first enter into jt, nor when they give us a more entire entrance at the end of our noviceship; but when they find we begin to wean ourselves, and cease to be children, and that, forsaking the nourishment and trifles and toys of infants, we begin to nourish ourselves with solid meats, and conduct ourselves like spiritual and mortified men.

But prayer is still more closely allied to mortification. For it is not only a proper means of attaining mortification, but it is of itself a very great mortification: according to these words of the Holy Ghost—“The watching which we employ in virtuous reflections dries up the body. And frequent meditation is an affliction of the flesh.” (Ecclesiasticus 31:1) The holy scripture teaches us this truth, in the wrestling that happened between Jacob and the angel: Jacob became blind by it; and we see by experience, that those who are very much given to prayer and meditation are ordinarily exhausted, weak, and infirm.. It is a kind of smooth file that makes no noise, but wears out and weakens the flesh by little and little, and destroys health. Whatever view, therefore, we take of prayer, it always helps very much to mortification.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project