Brewed Fresh Daily

"Once upon a time, mortification of the flesh was an aid to spiritual reflection and purification. People abjured pleasures during Lent to remind themselves of Christ's suffering on their behalf, and to remind them of their own sinfulness. It was an aid to self-perfection, conceived as the imitation of God." "Nowadays such mortification is simply the continuation of self-indulgence by other means, because for us only the flesh is real. That is to say, the flesh is willing, but the spirit is nonexistent. As everyone knows, we live in a post-religious age, though not a post-superstitious one. Our sense of sin has shrivelled, so that it is scarcely more than a vague rumour descending from a distant and ill-remembered past."