Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require;When the words "mortification" and "penance" come up everyone tends to imagine taking on all sorts of additional, dreadful struggles and sacrifices offered to God. Of course, this is terribly unappealing. Who would want such a thing? However, God knows our hearts. How could doing his will be our delight if the mere words awaken such feelings? This is not to say that penances and mortifications are things that make us dance and sing necessarily but I wonder if they are not necessarily as difficult as we may tend to think.
So I said, "Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.
To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!"Psalm 40:7-9
As our priest reminded us this week in our prayer group, the real key is to look at our intentions. Personally, my life offers more than enough opportunities for mortification and penance just in trying to be a good person in my regular routine.
It is helpful for me to think of penance and mortification as the way they are specifically practiced during Lent. Penance is the "giving up" and mortification is the "adding on." It would be nice to think that I am so sweet and cheerful and self-sacrificing that when I have to give up my plans in order that I instead may accommodate someone else's needs I do not let out an exasperated sigh which makes the person wish they never asked. Or that I will notice that the trash is full and add on taking it out to my evening activities, instead of nagging someone else to do it.
It would be nice. However, I am sorry to report that it does not happen on a very regular basis.
Perhaps that is why the great saints perform penances and mortifications that often stagger our minds. They already have chipped beneath the rough surface to find the diamond below. They are diamonds that need polishing by different methods, although some of those methods (such as living on top of tall pillars) seem dubious to our eyes. However, that is between them and God.
As for me ... well, I still am working on the rough surface, hoping to see a glint of the gem beneath. It takes slow, steady, methodical work and that is supplied by many opportunities sent my way every day. I have noticed that when I do have the right intentions, when I remember these are daily opportunities to serve God and smooth another edge, I do have a joyful heart.
Today, I offer a reading about penance that inspires me. Tomorrow I will offer one about mortification.
We practice a spirit of penance and of sacrifice in our daily lives, in the ordinary events of the day, without having to wait for extraordinary occasions. Penance is fulfilling exactly the timetable you have fixed for yourself, even though your body resists or your mind tries to avoid it by dreaming up useless fantasies. Penance is getting up on time and also not leaving for later, without any real reason, that particular job that you find harder or most difficult to do.RC Mommy says it a lot better (and quicker).
Penance is knowing how to reconcile your duties to God, to others and to yourself, by making demands on yourself so that you find enough time for each of your tasks. You are practicing penance when you lovingly keep to your schedule of prayer, despite feeling worn out, listless or cold.
Penance means being very charitable at all times moving towards those around you, starting with the members of your own family. It is to be full of tenderness and kindness towards the suffering, the sick and the infirm. It is to give patient answers to people who are boring and annoying. It means interrupting our work or changing our plans, when circumstances make this necessary, above all when the just and rightful needs of others are involved.
Penance consists in putting up good-humouredly with the thousand and one little pinpricks of each day; in not abandoning your job, although you have momentarily lost the enthusiasm with which you started it; in eating gladly whatever is served, without being fussy.
For parents and, in general, for those whose work involves supervision or teaching, penance is to correct whenever it is necessary. This should be done bearing in mind the type of fault committed and the situation of the person who needs to be so helped, not letting oneself be swayed by subjective viewpoints, which are often cowardly and sentimental.
A spirit of penance keeps us from becoming too attached to the vast imaginative blueprints we have made for our future projects, where we have already foreseen our master strokes and brilliant successes. What joy we give to God when we are happy to lay aside our third-rate painting efforts and let him put in the features and colours of his choice! (J. Escriva, Friends of God)
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