September 25, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will continue to-morrow to meditate upon the mortification of the senses, and in particular, 1st, upon the mortification of the sense of taste; 2d, upon the mortification of the sense of touch. We will then deduce the resolution: 1st, in our meals not to seek the satisfaction of our sensuality, and to see in our food only the good pleasure of God, who feeds us at His pleasure, without our having the right either to be pleased if the food be to our taste or to be discontented if it be not; 2d, heartily to accept all that our body may meet with in the way of suffering, never seeking to flatter it or procure for it pleasure. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps I myself should become a castaway" (I. Cor. ix. 27).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord giving us a beautiful example of the mortification of the sense of taste and of touch. In order not to satisfy His palate, He often deprives Himself of food and of drink. When He eats or drinks He never does it because of the pleasure He finds in it; and during His Passion He takes nothing but gall and vinegar. He is more admirable still in regard to the sense of touch, seeing that in His Passion He does not leave, from the sole of His foot to the crown of His head, a single portion of His body free from suffering (Isaias i. 6). Let us thank Him for these great examples, which so greatly condemn our sensitiveness.
FIRST POINT
Mortification of the Taste.
The mortification of the sense of taste forbids us to seek after good cheer, exquisite aliments, delicate meats, which the saints call the food of incontinence and voluptuousness. In the use of common food, it wishes that we should take, without thinking of it, such food as is given to us; if it suits our tastes, let us bless God who treats us so well; if it is not palatable to us, let us still bless God, who gives us an opportunity for mortifying ourselves; and if the choice be free to us, let us leave the best morsels to others. It forbids us to pay attention to the greater or less savor of aliments, to think of them after our meals, and still less to speak of them. It is not worthy of a Christian soul to let its thoughts descend to things which are so much below it. The mortification of the sense of taste forbids us to eat anything between our meals, not even fruit, or some one or other of the delicacies in which people of the world indulge, and which are nothing more than satisfactions accorded to sensuality. It is pleased when it can partake of things which have a bad taste, to swallow them slowly, in order the better to feel the bitterness of them, and thereby honor the bitterness Our Saviour tasted on the cross. Are these the rules of our conduct?
SECOND POINT
Mortification of the Sense of Touch.
The sense of touch, being spread over the whole body, is, on that very account, all the more dangerous, says St. John Climachus; its attacks are more frequent, its assaults more multiplied, and the war to be sustained more continual. It is this which led the saints to torment their flesh by exterior mortifications, and St. Paul in particular to chastise his flesh and reduce it to servitude, from the fear that he should be a castaway. In conformity with these great examples, we ought not either to touch ourselves or touch others without necessity; or allow ourselves to indulge in that effeminate delicacy which will not allow of anything coarse or hard coming near the flesh; which is always on the lookout for what is most comfortable, most sensual, softest to the flesh, and is on the search for all the means invented by the love of comfort for satisfying the sense of touch. We ought to bear, if not with joy, at least with patience and without complaint, cold, heat, all the discomforts of the season, and take only such care of ourselves as our health requires, without giving way to eagerness, and do all in moderation. We ought, in the same spirit, to accept sickness, infirmities, all that can make the body suffer, seeing in it all an opportunity of giving God solid marks of our love, of deadening our passions, and expiating our past faults. Lastly, not content with the sufferings sent us by Providence, we ought to impose voluntary ones on ourselves, according to the maxim of the Apostle, that all Christians must crucify their flesh (Gal. v. 24), in order to honor the Passion of Our Saviour, and to accomplish in our flesh, like St. Paul, what was wanting in His sufferings (Col. i. 24). Do we observe these rules?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.