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Fifteenth Friday after Pentecost
- caelidomum
- Sep 25
- 4 min read
Fifteenth Friday after Pentecost. Hatred of Self.
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation.
We will meditate to-morrow upon the second effect of penitence, which is hatred of self, and we shall see: 1st, that to hate ourselves is a duty; 2d, that the accomplishment of this duty is full of sweetness and consolation. Our resolution shall be: 1st, to be on our guard against the wholly pagan tendency of a self-indulgent and sensual, comfortable and pleasant life; 2d, to grant nothing during the day to the love of pleasure and the fear of restraint, and in all things to be guided by the sentiment of duty. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the gospel: “He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in his world keepeth it unto life eternal” (John xii. 25).
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us adore Jesus Christ preaching to the world a maxim which until then was unknown, that a man must hate himself, and putting it in practice by the severity with which He treats Himself during His life and at His death. Let us thank Him for this lesson and this example; let us ask Him to enable us to understand it and courage to conform our conduct to it.
To Hate One's Self is a Duty.
In order to understand this, it is sufficient to consider what we are through original corruption. There is in us a principle of indescribable malignity which leads us constantly to evil, passions which urge us on to what is forbidden and remove us from what is commanded. To this element of evil is added a principle of baseness and effeminacy which is devoid of courage to resist these bad tendencies, and, on the contrary, allows itself to be ruled by them. Now, it is evident that in order to save ourselves in such conditions as these, there must be no alliance, no peace or truce made with this evil principle; it must be treated as an enemy, otherwise it will be our ruin. This is what Our Saviour meant by these words: He that loves himself loses himself, and he that hates himself is the only one who saves himself. What does hate himself mean ? It means that as in the world, and externally to the gospel, we do not grant to an enemy what he de sires, and that it is sufficient for him to desire a thing in order that it should be refused, so we must refuse nature the sensualities it desires; that in the same way as we take pleasure in annoying an enemy and doing him all the evil we can, son like manner we must annoy the flesh, never flattering or sparing it, treating it harshly, using no self-indulgence towards it; that in the same manner as we mistrust an enemy capable of ruining us, we must also mistrust our evil nature, which is always ready to serve the designs of the devil against our salvation; lastly, that in the same way as we endeavor to weaken and over come an enemy, we must strive to weaken and overcome the flesh, by cutting off the sensual pleasures which are its life and granting- to it only what cannot be refused to it. Let us here examine our conscience; do we really hate our flesh, and do we refuse to it what it desires ? Do we inflict upon it what is displeasing to it, and is it only with regret that we give it what is necessary ? Lastly, do we treat it as an enemy over whom we keep watch, whom we mistrust, whom we are very glad to see badly fed, ill-lodged, badly clothed, despised, repelled, infirm, occupied in low employments ?
To Hate One's Self is the Sweetest and most Consoling Thing in the World.
War against one's self is the means of procuring three great things which fill the soul with sweet ness and consolation: 1st, victory over our passions, and there is therein an inexpressible happiness, for passions render the heart wretched, tear it with remorse, make it vile in its own eyes, cast it into trouble and sorrow; 2d, internal peace, the joy of a good conscience, serenity of soul — delicious fruits of war against one's self, according to the maxim, “It is through war that we obtain peace;” 3d, the sweet hope of a happy eternity; whilst he who flatters his body pre pares it to be a victim of hell, he who mortifies it prepares it for the glory of risen bodies: a blessed state where the body will be impassible, agile like the spirits, dazzling as the sun. Hence it follows that to hate one's self in the gospel sense is to love one's self with a true love, solid and rightly understood; whilst to flatter one's self in a worldly sense is to hate one's self with a blind, cruel, and very real hatred.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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