Extracts from Meditations for Lent

[Shin]

Meditations for the Holy Season of Lent
by a Member of the Society of Jesus

Meditation I

On Exterior Penance and Mortification

1st Point. There is nothing more united and less united than the soul and body. When one advances, the other recoils; when one rises, the other descends; when one is in health, the other is sick; when one is strong, the other is weak. It is necessary, then, in order to strengthen and give health to the soul, to bring the body under subjection, and weaken its evil propensities by penance and mortification.

I am not a man if I obey my passions; I am not a Christian if I do not combat with and overcome my passions; I am not a true penitent if I do not mortify my passions. Since my body is polluted by sin, it ought to be purified by pain; and since it has part in the pleasures of the soul, it ought to glory in sharing its sorrows.

2nd Point. How do I know that my sins are forgiven? How do I know that the pain which my offences merit is remitted? How do I know that God will not punish me in my body? How do I know that he will not chastise me in my soul? How do I know that he will not regard me with coldness, and permit me to fall into some grievous sin? How do I know that I shall be able to rise after falling therein?

3rd Point. If I spare myself, God will not spare me; if I love myself, God will not love me; if I hate myself, God will not hate me; if I punish myself, God will not punish me; if I excuse nothing in myself, God will pardon all; if I excuse all things in myself, God will pardon nothing; if I am indulgent to myself, God will be severe; if I am austere and harsh with myself, God will be merciful.

Oh, Christian soul! make your body a living and dying victim; mortify your passions, your senses, and your desires; mortify yourself at all times, and in all places; mortify yourself with zeal, mortify yourself with discretion.

[whiterockdove]

Good things to ponder!  Difficult to do!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have Mercy on me,
Immaculate heart of Mary, pray for me.
Amen.

[Shin]

With the Holy Spirit we will be able to do these things which naturally are so hard to do -- but grace provides! 

[Shin]

It is the difference between the Christian and the world -- supernatural virtue and life!

[eschator83]

Does anyone know who wrote this, and when it was published?

[Shin]

You can download the book of meditations here.

It was first published in the year of Our Lord 1866. The author is a Jesuit, and probably also the anonymous author of 'Meditations for Advent' and several other books. 

[Shin]

On Exterior Penance and Mortification II

1st Point. Make a free offering of your body to God, and he will impart to you his Spirit. Be watchful and careful in the discipline of your exterior, and he will guard and provide for the interior. Do all that you can, and that which you cannot accomplish he will do for you. Walk while you can, and when your strength fails you he will bear you in his arms. Fast with Jesus, that you may eat the Pasch with him.

2nd Point. Fasting is salutary for both soul and body; it is an efficacious remedy for their diseases. Nothing is impossible to him who has faith; nothing is difficult to him who loves; all is possible to him who reposes his trust in God. Fast if you can, and persuade yourself that you can do more than you imagine yourself capable of. Fasting is blessed by God, consecrated by his Son, and observed by all the faithful. God imparts strength to those who fast, and deprives of strength those who do not. Good cheer and luxurious ease are destructive to the health and life of all men; fasting and abstinence are safe remedies which restore the health and prolong the lives of all who practise them. He who shall have lost his health and strength for Jesus Christ, shall recover all that he thinks he has lost. He who desires to preserve his body and health, to the prejudice of the interests of Jesus Christ, shall lose all that he hopes to gain.

3rd Point. I will therefore chastise my body as the Apostles did, for fear of being found among the reprobates. I desire, with all my heart, to follow the example and imitate the life of Jesus Christ, that I may be of the number of the predestined. I will mortify my body, in order to remedy the maladies of my soul; I will deprive it of the power of revolting, by fasting, which will impair its strength. I will mortify my senses, that I may live a spiritual life. I wish to die with Jesus, that I may rise with Jesus. I wish for stripes and wounds, that I may become a true member of his thorn crowned head; and if I have not courage to inflict them on myself, I will at least suffer with thankfulness whatever afflictions God may see fit, in his divine providence, to send me.

WORDS OF SCRIPTURE

"The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary to one to another." - Galatians, v.

"And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences." - Ibid.

"If you live according to the flesh, you shall die." - Romans, viii.

"For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace." - Ibid.

"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." - Jeremias, xvii.

[Shin]

A fine strong worded meditation no? 

[whiterockdove]

Indeed!  They must mean something else by " good cheer"? Because aren't you supposed to not be gloomy when you fast?
Maybe they mean the pub style of good cheer, you know, mugs raised, swaying to and fro,singing a tune at the top of your lungs?
Not that there isn't a time or place for that

[Shin]

'The festival of the cross may be celebrated at every moment in the interior sanctuary of the true lovers of the crucifix. And how may it be celebrated? I will explain to you as best I can. We celebrate this feast spiritually by suffering in silence, without leaning on any creature; and as feasts are kept with joy, the festival of the cross ought to be kept by the lovers of the crucifix by suffering in silence, with a countenance happy and serene, in order that the pain may be hidden from the eyes of creatures and be known only to God. In this feast we feed at a delicious banquet, nourishing ourselves in the divine Will, in imitation of our crucified Love. Oh, what sweet food! It is composed of various elements: mental and physical sufferings, contradictions, calumnies, contempt, etc. Oh, how deliciously these things taste to the spiritual palate, if they be taken in pure faith and holy love, in silence and with confidence!'

St. Paul of the Cross