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Q: How does the Church view corporal mortification, such as the use of the cilice? I understand that we are asked to share in the Lord's redemptive suffering, but should we purposely inflict corporal mortification upon ourselves to convert souls and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Or does our Lord mean us to simply accept our natural daily sufferings?
– Matthew
Dear Matthew:
Mortification involves acts of self-denial or self-discipline, and is used to strengthen us in our struggle against sin, and to help us move into a new life of holiness. The word mortification refers to the act of subduing the flesh, or "putting the flesh to death". What dies, of course, is not literally our flesh, but our attachment to worldly things. Mortification can include prayer, penance, fasting, abstinence, silent suffering, acts of charity, and so on. Although fasting would be part of what is known as corporal mortification, many people associate the term with self-imposed physical suffering such as wearing a hair shirt, a spiked chain (a cilice), or a knotted rope, in the manner of certain saints.
Sometimes writers distinguish between acts of penance and acts of mortification. Penance is more an act of reparation, of making amends for our sin, and involves sorrow and contrition. Mortification is generally regarded as a free offering, an act of love intended to bring us closer to God through self-control and detachment. Both penance and mortification involve the person in some kind of deprivation or suffering.
Most Catholics, especially older ones, are very familiar with the concept of "offering up" all our sufferings, physical and mental, for our own sins and for the sins of the world. Here is how the concept is expressed by St. Therese of Lisieux, whose little way of love was based on silent suffering:
"The end cannot be reached without adopting the means, and since Our Lord had made me understand that it was through the Cross he would give me souls, the more crosses I encountered the stronger became my attraction to suffering. Unknown to anyone, this was the path I trod for fully five years: it was precisely the flower I wished to offer to Jesus, a hidden flower which keeps its perfume only for heaven." (The Story of a Soul)
At the centre of our Catholic faith is the Cross on which our Saviour suffered and died for our sins. As you indicated, the Church teaches us that, based on the sufferings of Christ, all human suffering can become redemptive:
"The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ." (Salvifici Doloris, 1984)
The idea of self-imposed suffering, for purely religious purposes, is totally foreign to most people in our secular culture, and sometimes draws bitter denunciation in the news media. As usual, a double standard operates here: Few in the media would criticize an athlete or a dancer who 'suffers' through strenuous exercise to become a better performer, or a fashion model who diets or fasts to preserve her figure. The 'spiritual athlete', on the other hand, must be prepared to accept patiently the disapproval of the world, and this in itself becomes part of his journey of mortification
Nevertheless, if our acts of mortification are to have any value, they must be chosen carefully, with humility, and be accompanied with the proper interior disposition, which should be the desire to conform ourselves to the suffering Christ. The great Doctor of the Church, St Francis de Sales, cautions us that the most noble methods are not always the most dramatic:
"Hence it is that so many prefer corporal alms before spiritual, the hair shirt, fasting, going barefoot, using the discipline, and other such corporal mortifications before meekness, mildness, modesty, and other mortifications of the heart. Choose then, Philothea, the best virtues, not the most esteemed; the most noble, not the most apparent; those that are actually the best, not those that are the most ostensible or shining" (Introduction to the Devout Life)
Such sufferings need not be self-imposed, but can simply involve, as you have said, the peaceful acceptance of the everyday trials that come our way. Even when suffering is self-imposed, it can still be applied to everyday matters, such as abstaining from favourite foods or entertainments, practices undertaken by many Catholics during Lent. People offer sacrifices for many purposes, and if you wish to offer your own for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested of Lucia by Our Blessed Mother at Fatima, that is certainly a most worthy intention. In the case of self-imposed sufferings involving physical pain, such as the wearing of a cilice, these should either be strictly avoided, or undertaken only with the guidance of a highly qualified spiritual advisor.
God bless,
Father Norbert