The Purpose of the Cilice

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Of the representatives who appeared on Today I found the priest to be the most credible, possibly because Catholicism is my background. But I had to laugh at the idea of the 'cilice.' The cilice is a device worn around the neck, the immediate purpose of which is to irritate the wearer. The priest seemed to think that the ultimate purpose of this irrating device was to cause such suffering in the wearer that God would be pleased. The idea seemed to be that God loved human suffering so much that He deducted a person's suffering on earth from the suffering to come in Purgatory.

Interesting idea: The sufferer 'offered up' his intentional suffering to God in supplication and God was duly pleased. But is that really the original purpose of the cilice? I think not.

I think that the real purpose of the cilice was much less sadistic. I think that the real, original purpose of the cilice was to make the wearer more aware of the current moment, to keep the wearer 'in the present moment.' It seems to be another Eastern Idea which migrated into Judeo-Christian religion and was erroneously interpreted in terms of Jesus' suffering.