The Heroic Minute Challenge: Day 11: Mortification, the Heroic Minute and Love

The experience I remember the most from the first time I ran the Heroic Minute Challenge two years ago was the following early morning encounter: Around 5AM, I was awoken by a bright light streaking through the bedroom window, followed by a loud burst of thunder. Not three seconds later, my daughter arrived in our bedroom, accompanied by a pillow and two stuffed teddy bears. “I’m scared”, she whispered and climbed into bed.  My little one was 10 at the time, and as she snuggled in besides me I contemplated how few of these childhood moments I have left. We both drifted off to sleep to the sound of the rain pounding against the window. When my alarm rang just a short while later I quickly shut it off, and immediately got out of bed. Proud of my stunning accomplishment of living out of the “Heroic Minute” on that rainy, gloomy morning, I began to tiptoe out of the bedroom – only to hear my daughter cry “Mommy, don’t leave me!” UGH…I thought about the challenge; I thought about the quiet time that awaited me; I thought about how much I could be accomplishing – and then I crawled back into bed and held my daughter. A Heroic Minute failure? I think not…..Mortification, the Heroic Minute and LoveSt. Josemarie Escriva describes the act of living out the Heroic Minute as “a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.”A mortification is an act of voluntary self-denial of something good, in order to free ourselves to pursue, or receive something better. St. Francis de Sales describes the benefits of mortification in the following words:”The more one mortifies his natural inclinations, the more he renders himself capable of receiving divine inspirations and of progressing in virtue.”In practicing the Heroic Minute, we mortify