External and Interior Mortifications

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External mortification [of our sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch] is necessary in order  to mortify the disorderly appetites and senses of the body, and interior mortification of our passions [love, hatred, desire, aversion, joy, sadness, courage, fear, hope, despair and anger] is necessary in order to mortify the irregular affections of the soul.  Interior mortification is more excellent than exterior, both because it has a nobler object, the soul and its powers, and because the exterior ought to proceed from the interior. 

 Father Charles Hugo Doyle 

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