As you may have heard, St. Aloysius Church is inviting local Catholic men to participate in a 90-day commitment to prayer, ascetisicm, and fraternity called Exodus 90 from September 15 to December 13. It's an opportunity to focus more intentionally on Gospel's call to deny ourselves and follow Jesus. It's not for everyone, to be sure, but tens of thousands of men across the country who have already gone through Exodus 90 agree that it can help men to experience the spiritual freedom that Christ promises.

Perhaps some parts of Exodus 90 make more sense than others. Prayer? Of course, we need prayer to grow closer to God. Fraternity? Sure, it makes sense that the support of other Catholic men can help us, too. But asceticism? What is that, and how is that helpful?

The Catholic Encyclopedia explains:

The word asceticism comes from the Greek askesis which means practice, bodily exercise, and more especially, athletic training. The early Christians adopted it to signify the practice of the spiritual things, or spiritual exercises performed for the purpose of acquiring the habits of virtue.

Christian asceticism, then, is any form of self-denial, especially physical, for the purpose of growing in virtue and imitating Jesus Christ. The most obvious ascetic practice is fasting, but Exodus 90 is especially well-known for requiring another ascetic practice.

I'm talking about cold showers. Every day. For 90 days.

How can cold showers make you a saint? Taking a cold shower is a somewhat challenging act of self-denial, but doing hard things, in and of itself, cannot make you a saint. St. Jerome, quoted in the Catholic Encyclopedia article mentioned above, offers this warning about asceticism:

Be on your guard when you begin to mortify your body by abstinence and fasting [or any other physical self-denial], lest you imagine yourself to be perfect and a saint; for perfection does not consist in this virtue. It is only a help; a disposition; a means though a fitting one, for the attainment of true perfection.

St. Jerome is warning, in other words, that it's possible to do great ascetical practices without being a saint. Ascetical practices can help you to become holy, but they are not the heart of holiness.

The Gospel is clear that Christian perfection consists first and foremost in loving God above all things and in loving our neighbor as ourselves. The perfection to which we are called is the “perfection of charity” (CCC 2013).

We can never reach the perfection of charity, however, until we learn to love God more than our own desires, and we cannot learn to love God more than our own desires without taking reasonable, concrete actions to set aside some of our desires in order to pursue God, to put him first. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes (CCC 2015).

There can be asceticism without true holiness, but there can be no true holiness without asceticism. As Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Cold showers aren't necessary to be a saint, and they can't make you a saint in and of themselves, but they are one form of self-denial that can train us to disregard our own comfort in order to follow Christ.

If you are interested in learning more or signing up to participate in Exodus 90, go to https://www.saintaloysiuschurch.org/exodus!