The liberty we gain by subduing the flesh to reason

January 28, 2022 • 1 min

From The Sinner’s Guide, page 193
By Venerable Louis of Granada

Besides these two divine favors there is another means by which the liberty of the just is regained.

This is the vigilant care with which the virtuous man unceasingly labors to bring the flesh under the dominion of reason.

The passions are thereby gradually moderated, and lose that violence with which they formerly attacked the soul.

Habit does much to cause this happy change, but when aided and confirmed by grace its effects are truly wonderful.

Accustomed to the influence of reason, our passions seem to change their nature. They are no longer the fierce assailants of our virtue, but rather its submissive servants.

Hence it is that they who serve God very often find more pleasure, even sensible pleasure, in recollection, silence, pious reading, meditation, prayer, and other devout exercises, than in any worldly amusement.

In this happy state the work of subduing the flesh is rendered very easy. Weakened as it is, the attacks it makes on us serve only as occasions of new conquests and new merits.

Nevertheless the ease with which we win these victories should not disarm our prudence or render us less vigilant in guarding the senses as long as we are on earth, however perfectly the flesh may be mortified.