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Christian Self-Mastery: How to Govern Your Thoughts, Discipline Your Will, and Achieve Balance in Your Spiritual Life
This is the book you need for those times in your life when even your most strenuous efforts to follow Christ end in frustration. Christian Self-Mastery explains why following Him can be so difficult and how you can start now to make progress even in the most vexing areas of your life. Author Fr. Basil W. Maturin insists that no matter how hard you're trying now, you can have a better relationship with God and greater self-mastery if you follow his simple steps to getting your passions in check and improving your knowledge of your own motives, desires, and fears. Fr. Maturin emphasizes the crucial role that self-discipline plays in your spiritual life and gives you solid ways you can distinguish it from counterfeits and avoid common mistakes people make when they try to change their habits and live for God. This extraordinary book will help you in myriad ways to rise above your limitations and truly meet God! Start on the way to true self-mastery as you
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
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January 26, 2026
It’s probably the dream of many of us to have a degree of mastery over the ‘self’. Anyway, it’s been mine for most of my life and I’ve yet to achieve it by any stretch of the imagination, which is why the title of this book caught my eye.
Fr. Basil Maturin grew up as one in a family of ten children of a Tractarian clergyman in Ireland. He became a deacon, worked as a curate and was later ordained an Anglican priest. He was known for his very persuasive speaking. He served in England, the United States, Cape Town, South Africa, back to England where after some soul searching, he converted to Catholicism in middle age. From there, he went to Rome for studies and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. He had various assignments after that, the last being a series of Lenten lectures he gave in the United States from which he was returning on the Lusitania. His body was found without a lifebelt, and it was believed he refused one as there were too few to go around. Survivors from the ship related that they saw him standing on the deck, pale, but perfectly calm, giving absolution to several passengers.
His advice in this book is worth its weight in gold. I’d give you ½ the book if I could, but it would make the review ridiculously long and anyway, you need to read the book. Instead, I’ll give you the chapter titles and some key points from each.
1) Develop self-knowledge. I liked that he used the word ‘develop’ because knowing oneself is a life-long process, not something we achieve and then presto, we’re done. Two of the sub-sections within this chapter are: a) sin and sanctity reveal us to ourselves and b) changing circumstances show that we do not know ourselves. These are important, but the most helpful things in the chapter were the reminder to examine yourself in the light of Christ and test yourself.
2) Discipline yourself. None of our God-given faculties are bad in and of themselves, Fr. Maturin assures us, but we MUST subdue our rebellious will. This chapter contains an excellent discussion of the virtues of ‘patience’ and ‘prudence’ and the assistance of Grace.
3) Abide by the Laws of the Spirit. The law of the mind is always being strengthened—one way or another. If it is being disciplined, it will bring the soul to its Liberator and that Liberator is not a law, it is a Person, the Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus, our LORD, Who works by laws.
4) Train the Will. Does the Will strive after what it knows to be good or does it deliberately go after what it knows is wrong? This is the one measure of every character and choosing the good gets easier with time. ‘The hundred things each day on which we are obliged to come to a decision and make a choice – things in themselves of little importance – are the training ground of the will’.
5) Control Your Thoughts. ‘You may tell a man by his friends, but there are no friends so intimate as his thoughts. If you know the companions of his mind, you will know what kind of man he is’. So … choose which thoughts to listen to! We drive bad thoughts out by good ones. This was a very helpful chapter for me and one I will return to often.
6) Strive for Balance. This chapter reminded me of my Mom who used to urge the ‘Golden Middle’, not too much, nor too little; not too fast, nor too slow; not too high, nor too low, but JUST RIGHT. I probably don’t have her exact words, but that was the gist of it. This chapter is a discussion of how most virtues are found in the middle as well. “Every vice is a virtue carried to the extreme.” Excellent chapter!
7) Govern Your Body. ‘As the spirit grows stronger, the flesh grows weaker. No man ever succeeded in merely chaining his passions. The one remedy is to turn to God, to live closer to Hiim, to deny the body by turning all our interests all our energies to the cultivation of the spirit’. I am just quoting here. I cannot vouch for the efficacy of this, but it sure sounds good and hey, I am trying to get closer to God anyway, so if God helps me grow closer to Him, and in turn helps me govern my body as well, who is to argue? 🤔
8) Sacrifice the Good for What is Better. Mortification is a means to an end, and it is the end which interprets and sanctifies, not the act of suffering and/or sacrifice. We are supposed to be surrendering something lower for something higher. In offering sacrifices, performing charity, focus on what you gain, not on what you lose. E.g. I am giving alms out of love for Jesus, etc. Then surrender to His Grace!
9) Persevere. We are here to have our characters formed. I can still remember asking my parents why I had to dry dishes after dinner and they told me, “It builds character!” In my case I don’t think it worked because I didn’t do most of my chores with a loving attitude. 😩 How many opportunities wasted with no grace! And even though I used much the same verbiage with my own children I don’t remember if I told them they were supposed to do their chores with love. But I will be sure to pass it along to my grandchildren.
We are works-in-progress, and I just pray that I am given enough time to work on the things I learned here in this excellent book. Thank you, Fr. Maturin for this great gift! And may you rest in peace. Please pray for me and my family. Pray for all of us.
Fr. Basil Maturin grew up as one in a family of ten children of a Tractarian clergyman in Ireland. He became a deacon, worked as a curate and was later ordained an Anglican priest. He was known for his very persuasive speaking. He served in England, the United States, Cape Town, South Africa, back to England where after some soul searching, he converted to Catholicism in middle age. From there, he went to Rome for studies and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. He had various assignments after that, the last being a series of Lenten lectures he gave in the United States from which he was returning on the Lusitania. His body was found without a lifebelt, and it was believed he refused one as there were too few to go around. Survivors from the ship related that they saw him standing on the deck, pale, but perfectly calm, giving absolution to several passengers.
His advice in this book is worth its weight in gold. I’d give you ½ the book if I could, but it would make the review ridiculously long and anyway, you need to read the book. Instead, I’ll give you the chapter titles and some key points from each.
1) Develop self-knowledge. I liked that he used the word ‘develop’ because knowing oneself is a life-long process, not something we achieve and then presto, we’re done. Two of the sub-sections within this chapter are: a) sin and sanctity reveal us to ourselves and b) changing circumstances show that we do not know ourselves. These are important, but the most helpful things in the chapter were the reminder to examine yourself in the light of Christ and test yourself.
2) Discipline yourself. None of our God-given faculties are bad in and of themselves, Fr. Maturin assures us, but we MUST subdue our rebellious will. This chapter contains an excellent discussion of the virtues of ‘patience’ and ‘prudence’ and the assistance of Grace.
3) Abide by the Laws of the Spirit. The law of the mind is always being strengthened—one way or another. If it is being disciplined, it will bring the soul to its Liberator and that Liberator is not a law, it is a Person, the Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus, our LORD, Who works by laws.
4) Train the Will. Does the Will strive after what it knows to be good or does it deliberately go after what it knows is wrong? This is the one measure of every character and choosing the good gets easier with time. ‘The hundred things each day on which we are obliged to come to a decision and make a choice – things in themselves of little importance – are the training ground of the will’.
5) Control Your Thoughts. ‘You may tell a man by his friends, but there are no friends so intimate as his thoughts. If you know the companions of his mind, you will know what kind of man he is’. So … choose which thoughts to listen to! We drive bad thoughts out by good ones. This was a very helpful chapter for me and one I will return to often.
6) Strive for Balance. This chapter reminded me of my Mom who used to urge the ‘Golden Middle’, not too much, nor too little; not too fast, nor too slow; not too high, nor too low, but JUST RIGHT. I probably don’t have her exact words, but that was the gist of it. This chapter is a discussion of how most virtues are found in the middle as well. “Every vice is a virtue carried to the extreme.” Excellent chapter!
7) Govern Your Body. ‘As the spirit grows stronger, the flesh grows weaker. No man ever succeeded in merely chaining his passions. The one remedy is to turn to God, to live closer to Hiim, to deny the body by turning all our interests all our energies to the cultivation of the spirit’. I am just quoting here. I cannot vouch for the efficacy of this, but it sure sounds good and hey, I am trying to get closer to God anyway, so if God helps me grow closer to Him, and in turn helps me govern my body as well, who is to argue? 🤔
8) Sacrifice the Good for What is Better. Mortification is a means to an end, and it is the end which interprets and sanctifies, not the act of suffering and/or sacrifice. We are supposed to be surrendering something lower for something higher. In offering sacrifices, performing charity, focus on what you gain, not on what you lose. E.g. I am giving alms out of love for Jesus, etc. Then surrender to His Grace!
9) Persevere. We are here to have our characters formed. I can still remember asking my parents why I had to dry dishes after dinner and they told me, “It builds character!” In my case I don’t think it worked because I didn’t do most of my chores with a loving attitude. 😩 How many opportunities wasted with no grace! And even though I used much the same verbiage with my own children I don’t remember if I told them they were supposed to do their chores with love. But I will be sure to pass it along to my grandchildren.
We are works-in-progress, and I just pray that I am given enough time to work on the things I learned here in this excellent book. Thank you, Fr. Maturin for this great gift! And may you rest in peace. Please pray for me and my family. Pray for all of us.
November 28, 2016
It should be noted at the onset that this book is reprint of Self-Knowledge and Self-Discipline published in 1909. And this edition is both revised and abridged. Having compared both and read both now I can state that I do not notice anything lost through this process. The biggest advantage of this edition is the formatting, especially of the eBook version, and also slight modernization of the text where needed. There are a number of versions of this book available as either physical books or eBooks, but they are all available under the original title.
The chapter titles in this edition are:
1. Develop self-knowledge
2. Discipline yourself
3. Abide by the laws of the spirit
4. Train your will
5. Control your thoughts
6. Strive for balance
7. Govern your body
8. Sacrifice the good for what is better
9. Persevere
Biographical Note: Basil W. Maturin
The Chapters in the original edition are:
Self-Knowledge
The Principle of Self-Discipline
The Seat of Conflict
The Discipline if the Will
The Discipline of the Mind
The Discipline of the Affections
The Discipline of the Body
Mortification and the Supernatural Life
The Law A Preparation for the Revelation of Love
I was first attracted to this book based on the title. Growth in discipline has been a goal of mine for a number of years, and to be honest not just spiritually but also physically and mentally. And this book touches on all three areas of life; mind, body and spirit. This book was written in a very different time than our own. And because of that many people will chafe at how rigorous the teaching is. Being honest Catholics and all Christians could use a little more looking back at where we came from and using the examples to find a renewed focus and discipline for today. And in reading this book I have discovered how much work I still need to do. Especially in the area of patience. Basil states “We are often scarcely conscious of this until we wake up to find that we have lost control of ourselves — that one after another of our senses and faculties (our “members,” as St. Paul calls them) refuses to obey us and is living its own separate life; more than that, that they often make factions and combine to dethrone conscience and place some base passion, it may be, to rule its place. There is a well-organized revolution taking place, so quiet that conscience is scarcely alarmed until it finds its power is well-nigh gone.”.
This book was a great read. And I can highly recommend it. But only read it if you are willing to be challenged and willing to strive to make changes and to grow. If that describes you this book can be a tool for your spiritual growth.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.
(Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: A Year of Reading Intention - Catholic Reading!)
The chapter titles in this edition are:
1. Develop self-knowledge
2. Discipline yourself
3. Abide by the laws of the spirit
4. Train your will
5. Control your thoughts
6. Strive for balance
7. Govern your body
8. Sacrifice the good for what is better
9. Persevere
Biographical Note: Basil W. Maturin
The Chapters in the original edition are:
Self-Knowledge
The Principle of Self-Discipline
The Seat of Conflict
The Discipline if the Will
The Discipline of the Mind
The Discipline of the Affections
The Discipline of the Body
Mortification and the Supernatural Life
The Law A Preparation for the Revelation of Love
I was first attracted to this book based on the title. Growth in discipline has been a goal of mine for a number of years, and to be honest not just spiritually but also physically and mentally. And this book touches on all three areas of life; mind, body and spirit. This book was written in a very different time than our own. And because of that many people will chafe at how rigorous the teaching is. Being honest Catholics and all Christians could use a little more looking back at where we came from and using the examples to find a renewed focus and discipline for today. And in reading this book I have discovered how much work I still need to do. Especially in the area of patience. Basil states “We are often scarcely conscious of this until we wake up to find that we have lost control of ourselves — that one after another of our senses and faculties (our “members,” as St. Paul calls them) refuses to obey us and is living its own separate life; more than that, that they often make factions and combine to dethrone conscience and place some base passion, it may be, to rule its place. There is a well-organized revolution taking place, so quiet that conscience is scarcely alarmed until it finds its power is well-nigh gone.”.
This book was a great read. And I can highly recommend it. But only read it if you are willing to be challenged and willing to strive to make changes and to grow. If that describes you this book can be a tool for your spiritual growth.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.
(Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: A Year of Reading Intention - Catholic Reading!)
December 8, 2014
This book stays true to its cover title, I have taken notes on this book, it is very organized book. The author does the splendid job of organizing each chapter with sub-sections that effortlessly transition one thought into the other to complete each chapter. The wisdom contained in each section is wonderfully insightful.
For the past year I had been dealing with doubts in my own relationship with Christ, and the things He had shown me, but this book did a great job to help me re-affirm some insights that I doubted in. I highly recommend this book and taking notes, you'll come back to this book especially when you feel disoriented and confused this book will do a stellar job at reorienting the reader to Christ.
The book is about Christian Self-Mastery, its not an isolated "self-help" book, but points to the humanism of Christ and how in being with him we can aspire to be more ourselves. We master ourselves by the help of God's Grace, in a manner that is both mature and liberating. Again, a very easy to read, succinct, and highly re-readable book.
For the past year I had been dealing with doubts in my own relationship with Christ, and the things He had shown me, but this book did a great job to help me re-affirm some insights that I doubted in. I highly recommend this book and taking notes, you'll come back to this book especially when you feel disoriented and confused this book will do a stellar job at reorienting the reader to Christ.
The book is about Christian Self-Mastery, its not an isolated "self-help" book, but points to the humanism of Christ and how in being with him we can aspire to be more ourselves. We master ourselves by the help of God's Grace, in a manner that is both mature and liberating. Again, a very easy to read, succinct, and highly re-readable book.
May 31, 2021
Beautiful book
I don’t know why but I seem to be drawn to spiritual writers who converted from Anglicanism. Father Maturin is no exception. His writing has a way of speaking to the heart and helping readers to understand our humanity in a way that allows for understanding our weakness and yet calls us to a higher union with Christ. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking wisdom and insight into the struggles of the human heart.
I don’t know why but I seem to be drawn to spiritual writers who converted from Anglicanism. Father Maturin is no exception. His writing has a way of speaking to the heart and helping readers to understand our humanity in a way that allows for understanding our weakness and yet calls us to a higher union with Christ. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking wisdom and insight into the struggles of the human heart.
November 12, 2017
Poetic!
Beautiful writer. I would have loved more concrete suggestions, however. I still highly recommend this book, though! A great read!
Beautiful writer. I would have loved more concrete suggestions, however. I still highly recommend this book, though! A great read!
June 10, 2018
Wow!
Christian Self-Mastery spoke to me in many ways. It is a book that I will be reading again as there is so much thought provoking passages.
Christian Self-Mastery spoke to me in many ways. It is a book that I will be reading again as there is so much thought provoking passages.
January 7, 2019
Beautifully written and very logical and organized. Was written in a different time but the same principals can be applied today.
September 9, 2025
It is more a description of what Christian self-mastery looks like than a how-to guide, but still quite good.
January 2, 2017
This book offers a great reminder that the process of moral improvement is slow and that one needs to properly direct one's passions. Mere self-denial is not enough, but one needs to constantly feed the soul with spiritual food and exhaust oneself for the sake of God and neighbor. This is a great book for those struggling on the path of virtue.
December 6, 2023
This was a magnificent book. It was a product of its time, so I ignored the more imperialist statements rarely spoken of. Overall, it was a great, challenging read. Will read again at some point in the future.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews