Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/238

 them, but  also  that  we  may  have  the  means  of  thanking him, and  showing  him  our  love  by  the  voluntary  renunciation of  his  gifts,  and  by  the  oblation  of  them  to  his glory. To abandon,  for  God's  sake,  all  worldly  enjoyments, has  always  been  the  practice  of  holy  souls.

The ancient  monks,  as  St.  Jerome  relates,  thought  it a  great  defect  to  make  use  of  food   dressed  with  fire Their daily  sustenance  consisted  of  a  pound  of  bread     St Aloysius,  though  always  sickly,  fasted  three  times  in  the week on  bread  and  water. St. Francis  Xavier  during his  missions  was  satisfied  each  day  with  a  few  grains  of toasted  rice. St. John  Francis  Regis,  in  the  great  fatigues of his  missions   took   no  other  food  than  a  little  flour steeped in  water. The daily  support  of  St. Peter of  Alcantara was  but  a  small  quantity  of  broth. We read  in the  life  of  the  Venerable  Brother  John  Joseph  of  the Cross, who  lived  in  our  own  days,  and  with  whom  I  was intimately   acquainted,  that    for    twenty-four    years    he fasted   very  often   on  bread    and    water,  and   never  ate anything but  bread  and  a  little  herbs  or  fruit. When commanded, on  account  of  his  infirmities,  to  use  warm food, he  took  only  bread  dipped    in  broth. When the physician ordered  him  to  take  a  little  wine,  he  mixed  it with  his  broth  to  increase  the  insipidity  of  his  scanty repast.

I do  not  mean  to  say,  that  to  attain  sanctity  it  is necessary  for  nuns  to  imitate  these  examples;  but  I assert  that  whoever  is  attached  to  the  pleasures  of  the table, or  does  not  seriously  attend  to  the  mortification of the  appetite,  will  never  make  any  considerable  progress in  perfection. In religious  Communities  there  are generally several  meals  in  the  day:  hence,  they  who neglect the  mortification  of  the  taste  will  daily  commit a thousand  faults.

Let us  now  come  to  the  practice  of  denying  the  appe-