September 25

Mortification Of The Infant Jesus

Preparation. - “Always bearing about in our body,” says St. Paul, “the mortification of Jesus” (2 Cor. 4. 10). We shall meditate tomorrow, first, on how Jesus practiced mortification in the stable of Bethlehem, and secondly, on how we should imitate His example in this. We shall then conclude by resolving to offer to the Saviour some acts of renouncing to gratify our taste, our sight, our tongue and all our senses, so as to imitate His life of suffering and mortification, and so to bear always in our body His mortification.

I. What Jesus Suffered In The Crib

When the Saviour was born at Bethlehem his holy Mother had neither wool nor feathers, and could not prepare a comfortable bed for her tender Infant. Hence she gathered a little straw and laid on it in the manger the King of glory, the only-begotten Son of the Almighty. This she did by the inspiration of Jesus Himself, who wished, says St. Peter Damian, to publish and extol the law of penance and mortification.

On this hard bed the Saviour felt very acutely the roughness of the straw on His delicate body. Being born in mid-winter at midnight in an open grotto, He suffered much from dampness and cold, for His coarse swathing hands could not sufficiently protect Him against the inclemency of the weather. Moreover, each of his senses had some hardship to undergo in that uncomfortable abode, where there was nothing to delight His sight, but only a profound darkness. He could hear nought but the noises made by the cattle, and breathed the noisome odors of the stable. He thereby expiated the faults of sensuality that so often defile our souls.

Let us add thereto the interior pains of the holy Child. He sees beforehand, and what a spectacle, O God. He sees the numberless crimes of the world, their enormity and malice. He considers in particular our falls, our faults, our neglect, our abuse of grace and the ingratitude with which we repay His benefits. St. Catherine of Genoa, at the sight of the hideousness of a slight fault fell down almost lifeless. What must Jesus have experienced at the thought of our sins, so horrible, so enormous, so multiplied?

Let us unite ourselves to His sorrow and penance, and with these dispositions, let us combat our delicacy which refuses all suffering, and our sensuality ever yearning after pleasure. And then let us examine whether we are not too much attached to our health, to good living, to our comforts, to an easy and effeminate life; also whether we do not abhor work, fatigue and whatever is opposed to our sloth, to our tastes and inclinations.

O Infant Jesus, I acknowledge that I am far from possessing a spirit of penance and mortification, for, alas! I wish to see, hear, and know every thing, and then I complain of distractions at mental prayer! Deign, through the intercession of Mary and Joseph, to make me recollected, moderate and mortified in all my conduct.

II. How We Ought To Imitate The Mortification Of Jesus

The Infant Saviour in the crib mortifies Himself in four ways: by keeping silence, by observing modesty, by being resigned to His privations, and by bearing the inconveniences of the cold and the straw. After His example, let us, first, avoid taking part in conversations that are injurious to our spiritual life, whether by wounding charity or any other virtue, of by filling our imagination with idle thoughts, or by causing us to lose our precious time. Secondly, let us carefully guard modesty of the eyes. A famous pagan calls it a part of innocence, or one of the best means of preserving it. Moreover, it helps us to keep recollected. “If thou wishest to have thy mind raised heavenward,” says St. Basil, “keep thy eyes cast downward.”

Thirdly, let us shun all excess in food and drink, all sensuality, for, says St. Paul, “the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14. 17). How often do we not perhaps neglect to offer to God our meals and the care we take of our health! Let us never rise from our meals without having imposed on ourselves some slight privation in honor of those of the Infant Jesus.

Fourthly, let us ever be especially watchful in shunning the faults proceeding from the sense of touch, for according to St. Alphonsus, they are the most fatal to salvation. It behooves us to exercise great prudence and reserve both with ourselves and with others, for the virtue of chastity demands it, and deserves it.

The Infant Jesus, who is Innocence itself, asks still more of us. By giving us the example of mortification of the sense of touch or feeling, by the hardness of His couch, He invites us to imitate Him, as far as we can, in order to obtain a more perfect purity. Let us, therefore, propose to take, at least from time to time, some less comfortable position in sitting down, in lying down, and to avoid, at times, seeking too much our own comfort. “They that are Christ’s,” says St. Paul, “have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences” (Gal. 5. 24).

O Incarnate Word, Thou sufferest from Thy very entrance into the world; do not permit me to become the slave of my body and senses, but enable me to be pleased to lead with Thee a poor, hard, laborious and penitent life. Make known to me the number and malice of my faults, and inspire me with such a repentance as will efface them, and with such a spirit of mortification, as will expiate them before my death. I ask of Thee these graces through the intercession of Mary and Joseph, who, in this sad exile, shared Thy privations, hardships and sufferings.