Mortification

How to preserve sanctifying grace? Avoiding mortal sin. The main means to avoid it are:

1.- Thinking about the last moments (death, judgment, hell and heaven).

2.- Flee from sin.

3.- Mortification.

4.- Fight against idleness.

5.- Prayer.

6.- Frequent the sacraments.

7.- Devotion to Mary.

8.- Fight against temptations.

Mortification

We must mortify the senses of the body and the powers of the soul.

a) Mortify your eyes. "The other senses are the windows of the soul," says St. Augustine, "but the eyes are its doors." You are not forbidden to see but you are forbidden to look. Young people, you must look at all the maidens as you look at your sister, and all the women as you look at your mother.

b) Mortify the taste, trying not to eat or drink excessively. St. Jerome states: "I will never believe that a drunkard is a chaste man."

c) Mortify touch, because your body is a sacred vessel that can only be touched with respect.

d) Mortify your mind, taking care of all your thoughts, fantasies and memories that can open the door to the enemy, rejecting them in the act.

e) Mortify your heart, in its affections too sensitive, even if they are supernatural, because they begin with the spirit and come to rest in the flesh (Gal 3.3).