Quotation of the Day

grassette

"We Catholics have powerful spiritual weapons at our disposal to defend against Satan and his snares, including exorcism, which is performed at all baptisms. But the "most efficacious exorcism," asserts Fr. Fanzaga, "is mortification." What is mortification? It is the subduing of the lusts of the flesh through ascetic practices such as fasting. Its goal, as Fr. Fanzaga describes it, is the "uprooting of our tendencies toward evil." It must be preceded by the Sacrament of Confession and "sustained in the vigor of prayer, in particular Holy Mass and the Rosary." It requires a "constant and prolonged effort of the heart." It is futile, writes Fr. Fanzaga, to "try to fight the devil with holy water, without abandoning a life of sin and turning to the way of sanctity."

"The Catechism identifies mortification as the sure path to Christian perfection, which "passes by the way of the Cross" (#2015): "There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes."

So, let us not just diet. Let us fast with a spirit of mortification!

From: http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=1108-notes-exorcism

JamieSK

Thanks for sharing!