A key message from Our Lady in Fatima is “prayer and sacrifice.” In summer 1916, the Angel of Portugal told the children: “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your country.”
On Aug. 19, 1917, Our Lady told the children: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.”
Making sacrifices means doing penance and mortification.
Penance is related to the past. We do penance for our past sins, and in the sacrament of penance the priest gives the penitent a penance to atone for the sins confessed.
Mortification is related to the present and the future. A spiritual writer defined mortification as “the struggle against our evil inclinations in order to subject them to the will, and the will to God.”
St. Francis de Sales considered that mortification without prayer is like a body without a soul, and prayer without mortification like a soul without a body.
Mortification of both the exterior and interior senses is important for our spiritual health and growth. St. Francis de Sales taught that interior mortification is of greater importance, saying, “The devil does not trouble himself much about us if, while macerating our bodies, we are at the same time doing our own will, for he does not fear austerity but obedience.”
The saint did not wish unusual mortifications to be practised except in the pressing necessity of violent temptations. Bishop Jean Pierre Camus, a disciple of St. Francis de Sales, wrote, “The devil cares very little about our body being laid low so long as he can hold on to us by the vices of the soul; and so cunning is he that often out of bodily mortifications, he extracts matter for vanity.”
Bishop Camus added: “With regard to the various kinds of mortification, that which is inward and hidden is far more excellent than that which is exterior, the former not being compatible, as is the latter, with hypocrisy, vanity, or indiscretion. Again, those mortifications which come upon us from without, either directly from God or through men by his permission, are always superior to those which depend upon our own choice and which are the offspring of our will.”
Regarding fasting, St. Francis de Sales said, “The body is easily subdued when it is poorly nourished, but when fully fed it soon becomes rebellious.”
He also said, “People who are naturally temperate have a great advantage over others both in study and in spiritual things.” As a young man, St. John Bosco chose not to eat too much so that the food could be digested within 20 minutes and not hinder his mental works.
St. Francis de Sales did not like immoderate fasting. He wrote, “When the body is overfed, the mind cannot support its weight; but when the body is weak and wasted, it cannot support the mind.”
He added: “The mind should treat the body as its child, correcting without crushing it: only when it revolts must it be treated as a rebellious subject. According to the words of the Apostle: I chastise my body and bring it into subjection.”
Regarding interior mortification, St. Francis de Sales said that anger and human love are the two passions hardest to control. The saint conquered anger by direct discipline and overcame disordered human love by redirecting its course.
He said, “The soul cannot subsist without affections and the real art is to feed it only that which is good, pure, holy and true.”
聖人克制肉身和內心
花地瑪聖母的關鍵訊息是『祈禱和犧牲』。在1916年夏天，葡萄牙的天使告訴孩子們說：『盡你所能將每一件事都作為犧牲，為罪人冒犯天主的罪作賠補，並為罪人的悔改而作祈求，這樣，你能為你的國家帶來和平。』
在1917年8月19日聖母告訴孩子們說：『祈禱，作很多的祈禱，為罪人奉上犧牲；很多靈魂因為沒有人為他們犧牲自己和為他們祈禱墮落地獄裡去。』
聖方濟、沙雷氏認為克己沒有祈禱就如肉身沒有靈魂；祈禱沒有克己就如靈魂沒有肉身。實行犧牲意思是做『補贖』和『克己』。補贖是與過去相連。我們做補贖是為過去的罪惡。在領受修和聖事時，神父給悔罪者一『補贖』去賠補告明的罪。克己是與現在和將來相連的。一位靈修作者形容克己是『邪惡傾向中的掙扎，好能讓這些傾向隨從意志，意志隨從天主。』
外在感官和內在感官的克制，兩者對我們靈魂的健康和成長都同屬重要。聖方濟、沙雷氏教導說，內在的克制是最為重要。他說：『魔鬼不太困惑於我們能夠瘦身克己，又同時隨從自已的私意，因為他不怕苦行，但卻怕服從。』
聖人不願見不尋常的克己的作為，除非是要有需要抑制強力的誘惑。加繆主教，聖方濟、沙雷氏的一位門徒寫道：『魔鬼不甚介意我們身軀如何的低貶，只要他能掌控我們靈魂的惡性便可；他是這般的狡猾，他經常都能從我們肉體的克己中提取虛榮。』
加繆主教補充說：『不同的克制中，內在的和隱蔽的是遠較外在的優秀，前者不相容於偽善，虛榮和不檢點。並且，那些外來到我們中的克制，不論是直接由天主處來或由祂的準許經他人而來的，經常都是超越那些我們自己選擇和出自我們意願的克制。』
有關齋戒，聖方濟、沙雷氏說：『當身體乏於滋養，是容易壓制的，但當身體飽裕，它會是反叛的。』 他也說：『天生節制的人士在學習和靈性的事情上都比別人佔有較大的益處。』聖若望、鮑思高年輕時不欲多吃，因此每餐後食物在二十分鐘內消化了，便不會影響他智力上的工作。
聖方濟、沙雷氏不喜歡過度的齋戒。他寫道：『當身體食得過飽，頭腦便不能支持他的重量；但當身體是弱的，是耗損了。它便不能支持頭腦。』他加說：『頭腦該把身體當作孩子，更正它，不要壓倒它：只是當它反叛的時候，才把它當作反叛者，正如宗徒所說：我痛擊我身，使它為奴。』
關於內在的克制，聖方濟、沙雷氏說，忿怒和人性的的愛是兩種最難控制的情感。這聖人以直接的紀律克服忿怒。他以改變路向的方法去克服人性錯亂的愛。他說：『沒有喜愛，靈魂不能勉強生存，真的技巧是僅以好的，純潔的，神聖的和真確的去餵養它。』