Take the Discipline

How to ‘Take the Discipline’

For people who wish to add external penances to their interior mortifications, how to ‘take the discipline’ becomes a question that is not so easy to answer. Of course, I can just start to randomly whack my back with a whip, but for how long do I continue? How often do I repeat the ordeal? And what should I contemplate while I am taking the discipline?

St. Faustina on How to Take the Discipline

Naturally, there are plenty of ways to ‘take the discipline’. One of them was described by St. Faustina in her diary, late in the year 1935. If you were asking yourself how to start, if you are looking for guidance, consider this:

“Interior mortifications take the first place, but besides this, we must practice exterior mortifications, strictly determined, so that all can practice them. These are: on three days a week, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, there will be a strict fast. Each Friday, all the sisters – each one in her own cell – will take the discipline for the length of the recitation of Psalm 50 and all will do this at the same time; namely, three o’clock; and this will be offered for dying sinners. During the two great fasts, ember days and vigils, the food will consist of a piece of bread and some water, once a day.”

Source: Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Notebook II, Entry 565.

Saint Faustina Kowalska with the first Divien mercy painting

Three Things to Ponder

Three things I wish to draw your attention to:

  1. The sisters are to take the discipline in their own cells, that is, alone. Taking the discipline here is not a public penance, but a personal, private one. In other words, this is not an occasion of public humiliation.
  2. “For the length of the recitation of Psalm 50” is a rather interesting ‘amount of time’. Obviously, a sister can rush through this as quickly as she can say the 19 verses of this psalm, barely getting one stripe in per verse, or she can dwell on each verse and devote several strokes to each.
  3. St. Faustina states precisely what this ‘session’ should be offered for, namely “for dying sinners“. To take the discipline is not restricted to acts of reparation for ones own sins, but can be offered up, like all internal and external penances, for the benefit of others.

Numbering of Psalms

To avoid confusion: The Ps 50 mentioned by St. Faustina is the Fourth Penitential Psalm, Miserere mei Deus, in English it starts with “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy great mercy”. Depending on who does the counting, this Psalm shows up as either 50 or 51. Here is a quick overview concerning the counting differences:

Psalms 1-8 are the same in Hebrew and the Septuagint.
Psalms 9 and 10 in Hebrew are combined as Psalm 9 in the Septuagint.
Psalms 11-113 in Hebrew are Psalms 10-112 in the Septuagint (Hebrew-1 = Greek).
Psalms 114 and 115 in Hebrew are combined as Psalm 113 in the Septuagint.
Psalm 116 in Hebrew is divided into Psalms 114 and 115 in the Septuagint.
Psalms 117-146 in Hebrew are Psalms 116-145 in the Septuagint (Hebrew-1 = Greek).
Psalm 147 in Hebrew is divided into Psalms 146 and 147 in the Septuagint.
Psalms 148-150 are the same in Hebrew and the Septuagint.

Source: Why are there Two Different Numbers for the Same Psalm?

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

January: Month of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

The month of January has traditionally been dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

We find devotion to the Holy Name to be deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture, especially in the Acts of the Apostles. It was promoted particularly the Franciscan Order, St. John Capistrano, as well as St. Bernard and St. Bernardine of Siena, and extended to the whole Church in 1727, during the pontificate of Innocent XIII.

The Church praises the wonders of the Incarnate Word by singing the glories of His name. The name of Jesus means “Savior”; it had been shown in a dream to Joseph together with its meaning, and to Our Lady at the annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel.

This year, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus on January 3rd, 2025. If you wish to honor the Most Holy Name of Jesus on this day especially, consider praying a chaplet dedicated to it. The chaplet can be prayed with any tenner or rosary and consists of three sets of ten for you to keep track of. On the large beads, you pray a quote from Scripture and add your intention, as stated below:

The Most Holy Name of Jesus
IHS monogram, with kneeling angels, atop the main altar, Church of the Gesù, Rome

Chaplet of the Holy Name of Jesus

+ By the Sign of the Holy Cross, + from our enemies deliver us, + O Lord, our God.
+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry
for having offended You, and
I detest all my sins because
I dread the loss of heaven
and the pains of hell, but
most of all because they offend you,
my God, who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the
help of your grace, to confess
my sins, to do penance and
to amend my life.
Amen.

Prayer

Incline unto my aid, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

(If you prefer to pray this in Latin:
Deus in adiutorium meum intende,
Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.)

First Decade:

On the large bead, you pray the following:

Lord, Thou hast said:
“Ask and ye shall receive;
seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you,”
I seek, I knock, I ask this favor [here, you can mention your intention].

On each of the ten small beads, pray:

Incline unto my aid, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

Deus in adiutorium meum intende,
Domine ad adiuvandum me festina

Second Decade:

On the large bead, you pray thus:

“Amen, I say unto you,
if ye ask the Father anything
in My Name it shall be given unto you.”
It is of the Father and in Thy Name,
Lord, I ask this favor [here, you can mention your intention again].

On each of the ten small beads, you pray:

Incline unto my aid, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

Deus in adiutorium meum intende,
Domine ad adiuvandum me festina

Third Decade:

On the large bead, you pray this:

Lord, Thou hast said:
“Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My Word shall not pass away,”
Thou wilt grant me this favor [here, you can mention your intention once more]
because Thou hast said it and
Thy word is true.

On each of the ten small beads, you pray:

Incline unto my aid, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

Deus in adiutorium meum intende,
Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.

Finish the Chaplet with a Glory Be (Gloria Patri etc.) and the Fatima Prayer (O mi Jesu, demitte nobis debita nostra etc.), and the Sign of the Cross.

“Blessed and praised, at every instant and in every place, be the Holy Name of Jesus. His Most Sacred Heart. His Most Precious Blood. And His Cross be our refuge and salvation. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”