(w) – Until It Hurts

Muhammed Ali famously said that when doing exercises, he didn’t start counting until it started hurting.

Self Denial is the same way. It doesn’t count unless/until it hurts. It’s easy to say no to things we don’t want—even the publicans and tax collectors do this. It’s when we say no to something we DO want that our self denial can truly be called a sacrifice.

If you think “oh i’ll skip dessert” and in your heart of hearts scheme to have a double dessert the next day, you have not sacrificed. If you think “tithing is easy!” then you are only contributing from your surplus.

But when you truly, honestly, sincerely want something, and recognize that virtue and/or prudence requires that you not have it—that is a sacrifice.

One can experience this sacrifice with a sense of joy—joy at the will of God—but that doesn’t make it not painful.

One CAN become habituated to self denial, and do so easily and without a second thought. We call this asceticism. That doesn’t make it less of a sacrifice—the ascetics want abundance no less than we do. But they have become accustomed to telling themselves “no”, such that it is no longer difficult to say even while it remains painful to do.

AMDG