Mortification: A Condition for Life in Christ
The man who does not mortify himself lives like a beast and becomes worse than one because he becomes a slave to the passions… He who mortifies himself out of love for God disposes his soul to receive the treasures of divinity. (OOCC, XIII, pp. 435 - 436).
In St. Vincent Pallotti’s perception of Christian life, mortification is a conditio sine qua non for a true life in Christ. A Christian’s obligation to live the life of Jesus in its completeness calls for dying to himself in imitation of Jesus. Transformation and maturation of a Christian into Christ can come about only through mortification, just as the death of the grain of wheat is a necessary condition for it to become a fruit-bearing plant. Hence, St. Vincent compares a person who is a slave to his passions and has no mortification in his life, to a beast. On the other hand, the person who mortifies himself out of love of God opens himself to receive the treasures of divinity. In St. Vincent’s perception, the readiness to accept a life of mortification is very important. Therefore, he did not allow a person to join the community he founded unless he had the right dispositions to take upon himself a life of sacrifice until his death. For St. Vincent, if a member of his community does not have this mind-set of accepting a life of mortification, he is not only an occasion of great harm, but also an occasion of great shame.
Do I accept the need for mortification in my life? Do I acknowledge a Christian’s obligation to live a life of mortification? Do I believe in the value of dying in order to grow into maturity in Christ? Do I have the readiness to accept the life of mortification in order to open myself to the life of grace?
For Christ did not please himself; but as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fall upon me.” (Rom. 15: 3)