Mortification: March 21
If we do not use great care to mortify our will, there are many things which can deprive us of the holy freedom of spirit that we are seeking in order to fly more freely to our Creator, without always being bogged down with the clay of this earth. Moreover, there can never be solid virtue in a soul that is attached to its own will.
One day St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said she desired only one thing from God: that He deprive her of her will, because she knew that she was not progressing sufficiently in the acquisition of those virtues which render a soul pleasing to God. After saying this she turned her eyes toward heaven and was rapt into ecstasy. Then God showed her the immense damage done to souls, especially religious, when they do their own will, which they have consecrated to Him by vow. After this vision, St. Mary Magdalene made the resolution always to do God's will and never her own.
