The Imitation of Christ 3 part 3/6

But he who has received fewer things ought not to be saddened, nor to bear it with resentment, nor to envy the richer: but rather to attend to You, and most of all to praise Your goodness, in that You bestow Your gifts so abundantly, so freely, so willingly, without respect of persons. All things are from You, and therefore You are to be praised in all things. You know what is expedient to be given to each, and why this one has less and that one more; it is not for us, but for You, to discern, who knows the determined merits of each. 4. Therefore, Lord God, I count it also a great benefit not to have many things whence outwardly and according to men praise and glory might appear:

so that whoever considers the poverty and lowliness of his person may not thence conceive heaviness, or sadness, or dejection, but rather consolation and great cheerfulness; because You, O God, have chosen the poor and humble and those despised by this world to be Your intimates and members of Your household. Witnesses are Your very Apostles, whom You set as princes over all the earth. For they lived in the world without complaint, as humble as they were simple, without any malice and guile, so that they even rejoiced to suffer reproaches for Your name, and embraced with great affection the things which the world abhors. 5.

Nothing therefore ought so to gladden one who loves You and acknowledges Your benefits, as Your will in him, and the good pleasure of Your eternal disposition; with which alone he ought to be so content and consoled that he should as willingly be least as another might wish to be greatest, and as peaceful and content in the lowest place as in the first, and as willingly contemptible and abject, and of no name or fame, as more honorable than the rest and greater in the world. For Your will and the love of Your honor ought to surpass all things, and to console him more, and please him more, than all benefits given or to be given to him. Chapter 23. On the four things that bring great peace. 1. My son, now I will teach you the way of peace and of true liberty.

2. Do, Lord, what You say, for this is pleasing to me to hear. 3. Strive, My son, to do another's will rather than your own. Choose always to have less rather than more. Seek always the lower place and to be subject to all. Wish always and pray that the will of God may be wholly done in you. Behold, such a man enters the borders of peace and quiet. 4. Lord, this short discourse of Yours contains much of perfection; it is small in the saying, but full of meaning and rich in fruit. For if it could be faithfully kept by me, disturbance should not so easily arise in me. For as often as I feel myself unquiet and burdened, I find that I have departed from this teaching.

But You who can do all things, and always love the soul's profit, increase greater grace, that I may be able to fulfill Your word, and perfect my salvation. A prayer against evil thoughts. 5. Lord my God, do not depart far from me; my God, look to my help: for vain thoughts and great fears have risen up within me, afflicting my soul. How shall I pass through unharmed? How shall I break through them? 6. I, He says, will go before you, and will humble the glorious of the earth; I will open the gate of the prison, and reveal to you the hidden things of secrets. 7. Do, Lord, as You speak, and let all wicked thoughts flee from Your face.

This is my hope and my only consolation: to flee to You in every tribulation, to trust in You, to call upon You from the depths, and to await Your consolation patiently. A prayer for the enlightening of the mind. 8. Enlighten me, good Jesus, with the brightness of eternal light. Drive out all the darkness from the dwelling of my heart. Restrain my many wanderings, and crush the temptations that do violence to me. Fight mightily for me, and overcome the evil beasts—the alluring lusts, I mean—that peace may be in Your strength, and the abundance of Your praise may resound in the holy hall, that is, in a pure conscience. Command the winds and the storms; say to the sea, 'Be still'; say to the north wind, 'Do not blow': and there shall be a great calm. 9.

Send forth Your light and Your truth, that they may shine upon the earth, for I am earth empty and void until You enlighten me. Pour forth Your grace from above, drench my heart with heavenly grace, supply the waters of devotion to water the face of the earth, to bring forth good and excellent fruit. Lift up my mind pressed down by the weight of sins, and suspend all my desire toward heavenly things: that, having tasted the sweetness of supernal felicity, it may be irksome to me to think of earthly things. 10. Snatch me away and rescue me from all the unenduring consolation of creatures, for no created thing can fully quiet and console my appetite. Join me to Yourself with an inseparable bond of love, since You alone suffice the one who loves, and apart from You all things are trifling. Chapter 24.

On avoiding curious inquiry into another's life. 1. My son, do not be curious, nor bear empty anxieties. What is this or that to you? You follow Me. For what is it to you whether that man is such or such, or whether this one acts or speaks thus? You do not need to answer for others, but you shall render an account for yourself: why then do you entangle yourself? Behold, I know all men, and I see all things that are done under the sun, and I know how it is with each one—what he thinks, what he wills, and to what end his intention tends. To Me therefore all things are to be committed; but as for you, keep yourself in good peace, and let the restless one be restless as much as he will. Whatever he does or says will come upon him, for he cannot deceive Me. 2.

Let it not be a care to you about the shadow of a great name, nor about the familiarity of many, nor about the private affection of men: for these things beget distractions and great darknesses in the heart. Gladly would I speak My word to you, and reveal hidden things, if you would diligently watch for My coming, and open to Me the door of your heart. Be prudent, and watch in prayers, and humble yourself in all things. Chapter 25. In what things firm peace of heart and true progress consist. 1. My son, I have said: 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as this world gives do I give to you.' All desire peace: but not all care for the things that pertain to true peace. My peace is with the humble and meek of heart; your peace shall be in much patience.

If you hear Me and follow My voice, you will be able to enjoy much peace. What then shall I do in everything? Attend to what you do and what you say, and direct your whole intention to this: that you may please Me alone, and desire or seek nothing apart from Me. But also judge nothing rashly concerning the words or deeds of others, nor involve yourself with things not committed to you, and it will be possible that you be little or rarely disturbed. 2. But never to feel any disturbance, nor to suffer any trouble of heart or body, belongs not to the present time, but to the state of eternal rest.

Do not therefore esteem that you have found true peace if you feel no heaviness, nor that all is then well if you suffer no adversary, nor that this is perfect if all things happen according to your liking. Nor then reckon yourself something great, or esteem yourself specially beloved, if you are in great devotion or sweetness: for in these things is not known the true lover of virtue, nor in these consists the progress and perfection of a man. 3. In what then, Lord? In offering yourself with all your heart to the divine will, not seeking the things that are your own, neither in small nor in great, neither in time nor in eternity; so that you remain with one same countenance in thanksgiving amid all prosperity and adversity, weighing all things in one balance.

If you are so strong and long-suffering in hope that, even when inward consolation is withdrawn, you prepare your heart to endure still greater things, and do not justify yourself nor praise yourself as holy: then you walk in the true and right way of peace, and the hope will be undoubted that you shall again behold My face in jubilation. But if you attain to full contempt of yourself, know that then you shall enjoy abundance of peace according to the measure of your sojourning. Chapter 26. On the eminence of a free mind, which humble prayer earns more than reading. 1.

Lord, this is the work of a perfect man: never to relax the mind from intention upon heavenly things, and amid many cares to pass as though without care—not after the manner of one slothful, but by a certain prerogative of a free mind, cleaving to no creature with inordinate affection. 2. I beseech You, most loving Lord my God, preserve me from the cares of this life, lest I be too much entangled by the many necessities of the body, lest I be captured by pleasure through all the obstacles of the soul, lest, broken by troubles, I be cast down. I do not say from those things which worldly vanity craves with all its affection, but from those miseries which by the common curse of mortality penally weigh down and retard the soul of Your servant, that it cannot enter into the liberty of the spirit as often as it would. 3.

O my God, sweetness ineffable, turn into bitterness for me all carnal consolation that draws me away from the love of eternal things, and wickedly allures me to itself under the appearance of some present delightful good. Let it not conquer me, my God, let not flesh and blood conquer me, let not the world and its brief glory deceive me, let not the devil and his cunning supplant me. Give me strength to resist, patience to endure, constancy to persevere. Give me, in place of all the world's consolations, the most sweet anointing of Your Spirit, and in place of carnal love, pour in the love of Your name. 4. Behold, food, drink, clothing, and the other utensils pertaining to the body's sustenance are burdensome to the fervent spirit.

Grant me to use such supports temperately, not to be entangled in excessive desire. To cast all away is not lawful, for nature must be sustained; but the holy law forbids requiring superfluous things and those that delight more: for otherwise the flesh would grow insolent against the spirit. Amid these things, I beseech, let Your hand, Lord, rule and teach me, lest anything be done to excess. Chapter 27. That private love most of all retards from the highest good. 1. My son, it is necessary for you to give all for all, and to be nothing of your own. Know that the love of yourself harms you more than any thing of this world. According to the love and affection you bear, each thing cleaves to you more or less. If your love be pure and simple and well-ordered, you will be without captivity to things.

Do not covet what it is not lawful to have; do not have what can hinder you and deprive you of inward liberty. It is a wonder that you do not commit yourself to Me from the whole depth of your heart, with all that you can desire or have. 2. Why are you consumed with vain grief? Why are you wearied with superfluous cares? Stand at My good pleasure, and you shall suffer no detriment. If you seek this or that, and wish to be here or there for your own advantage and the having of your own good pleasure more fully, you will never be in quietness, nor free from anxiety, for in every thing some defect will be found, and in every place there will be someone who opposes. 3.

It profits, therefore, not any thing obtained or multiplied outwardly, but rather a thing despised and cut off from the heart by the roots. And let this be understood not only of money and riches, but also of the ambition for honor and the desire of vain praise, all of which pass away with the world. A place avails little if the spirit of fervor is lacking; nor will that peace long stand which is sought outwardly, if it is empty of the true foundation, that is, of the state of the heart: this means, unless you stand fast in Me, you may change yourself, but not better yourself. For when occasion has arisen and been taken, you will find what you fled, and more. A prayer for the purgation of the heart and for heavenly wisdom. 4. Confirm me, O God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit;

give me strength to be made strong in the inner man, and to empty my heart of all useless solicitude and anguish, nor to be drawn by various desires of any thing whatsoever, whether vile or precious: but to look upon all things as passing away, and myself likewise as about to pass with them, since nothing under the sun is permanent, since all is vanity and affliction of spirit. O how wise is he who so considers. 5. Give me, Lord, heavenly wisdom, that I may learn to seek You above all things and to find You, to relish and to love You above all things, and to understand all else according to the order of Your wisdom, as they are.

Grant me prudently to turn away from him who flatters, and patiently to bear him who opposes, for this is great wisdom: not to be moved by every wind of words, nor to lend an ear to the one who flatters wickedly: for thus the way once begun is pursued in safety. Chapter 28. Against the tongues of slanderers. 1. My son, do not take it ill if certain ones think evil of you, and say what you would not gladly hear. You ought to think worse of yourself, and to believe no one weaker than yourself. If you walk inwardly, you will not greatly weigh fleeting words from without. It is no small prudence to keep silence in an evil time, and to turn inwardly to Me, and not to be disturbed by human judgment. 2. Let not your peace be in the mouths of men; for whether they have interpreted you well or ill, you are not another man.

Where is true peace and true glory? Is it not in Me? And he who does not crave to please men, nor fears to displease them, shall enjoy much peace. From inordinate love and vain fear arise all disquiet of heart and distraction of the senses. Chapter 29. How God is to be invoked when tribulation presses. 1. Blessed be Your name, Lord, forever, who have willed this temptation and tribulation to come upon me. I cannot escape it, but I have need to flee to You, that You may help me and turn it to good for me. Lord, just now I am in tribulation, and it is not well with my heart, but I am greatly afflicted by the present suffering. And now, beloved Father, what shall I say? I am caught among straits. Save me in this hour.

But for this cause I came to this hour, that You might be glorified, when I have been deeply humbled and set free by You. Let it please You, O Lord, to deliver me. For what can I, a poor man, do? And where shall I go without You? Grant patience, O Lord, even this time also. Help me, my God, and I shall not fear, however heavily I may be burdened. 2. And now amid these things what shall I say? Lord, Your will be done. I have well deserved to be afflicted and burdened. I must therefore bear it, and would that I might bear it patiently, until the storm pass over and it become better. Yet Your almighty hand is able to take even this temptation from me and to soften its onslaught, lest I utterly sink down, just as You have often dealt with me before. My God, my mercy.

And the more difficult this is for me, the easier is this change of the right hand of the Most High for You. Chapter 30. On seeking divine help, and the confidence of recovering grace. 1. My son, I am the Lord who gives strength in the day of tribulation. Come to Me when it is not well with you. This is what most of all hinders heavenly consolation, that you turn yourself too slowly to prayer. For before you earnestly entreat Me, you meanwhile seek many comforts and refresh yourself in outward things. And so it comes to pass that all these profit little, until you perceive that it is I who care for those who hope in Me; nor is there apart from Me any availing counsel or useful and lasting remedy.

But now, having taken up your spirit again after the storm, grow strong once more in the light of My mercies, for I am near, says the Lord, to restore all things, not only wholly, but also abundantly and heaped up. 2. Is anything difficult for Me? Or shall I be like one who says and does not do? Where is your faith? Stand firmly and perseveringly. Be long-suffering and a man of courage. Consolation will come to you in its own time. Wait for Me, wait: I will come and heal you. It is a temptation that vexes you, and a vain dread that frightens you. What does anxiety about future contingencies bring, except that you should have sorrow upon sorrow? Sufficient for the day is its own evil.

It is vain and useless to be troubled or to rejoice about future things, which perhaps will never come to pass. 3. But it is human to be deceived by imaginations of this kind, and it is still a sign of a little soul to be drawn so lightly by the suggestion of the enemy. For he does not care whether he deceives and beguiles you by truths or by falsehoods, and whether he overthrows you by love of present things or by dread of things to come. Therefore let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid; believe in Me, and have confidence in My mercy. When you think yourself far removed from Me, often I am nearer. When you think yourself wholly lost, then often the gain of greater merit is at hand. All is not lost when something turns out contrary to your wishes.

You must not judge according to present feeling, nor cling to any heaviness coming from whatever source and accept it as though all hope of emerging were taken away. 4. Do not think yourself wholly forsaken, even though for a time I have permitted some tribulation to come upon you: for thus it is that one passes to the kingdom of heaven. And without doubt it is more expedient for you and for My other servants that you be exercised by various trials than if you had all things according to your liking. I know the hidden thoughts: for it greatly profits your salvation that you be sometimes left without relish, lest perhaps you be lifted up by good success, and wish to please yourself in that which you are not. What I have given I can take away and restore, when it shall please Me. 5. When I have given, it is Mine;

when I have withdrawn it, I have not taken away what was yours: for every best gift and every perfect gift is Mine. If I send you any heaviness or any adversity, do not be indignant, nor let your heart fall, for I can quickly raise you up and change every burden into joy. Nevertheless I am just and greatly to be praised, when I deal thus with you. 6. If you are rightly wise and look upon things in truth, you ought never to be cast down and saddened on account of adversities, but rather to rejoice and give thanks. Indeed, you ought to count this as your one joy, that, afflicting you with sorrows, I do not spare you. As the Father has loved Me, so I also love you, I said to My beloved disciples, whom assuredly I sent not to temporal joys, but to great conflicts;

not to honors, but to contempt; not to ease, but to labors; not to rest, but to bring forth much fruit in patience. Remember these words, my son. Chapter 31. On disregarding every creature, that the Creator may be found. 1. My Lord, I yet need greater grace, if I am to attain to that place where no one, nor any creature, can hinder me. For as long as anything holds me back, I cannot freely fly to You. He longed to fly freely who said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly away and be at rest? What is more peaceful than a single eye, and what is more free than one who desires nothing on earth?

It is needful, therefore, to pass beyond every creature, and perfectly to forsake oneself and to stand in ecstasy of mind, and to see that You, the Maker of all things, have nothing in common with creatures. And unless one be freed from all creatures, he will not be able freely to attend to things divine. Therefore few are found to be contemplative, because few know how to sequester themselves wholly from perishing creatures. 2. For this great grace is required, which may lift the soul and snatch it above itself. And unless a man be raised above himself in spirit, and freed from all creatures and wholly united to God, whatever he knows, and whatever also he possesses, is of no great weight; he will long remain little.

And he will lie low who esteems anything to be great, except the one immeasurable eternal Good. And whatever is not God is nothing, and ought to be counted as nothing. There is indeed a great difference between the wisdom of an enlightened and devout man, and the knowledge of a learned and studious clergyman. Far nobler is that teaching which flows down from above out of the divine influence, than that which is laboriously acquired by human ingenuity. 3. Many are found who desire contemplation, but they do not strive to practice the things which are required for it. It is also a great hindrance that they stop at signs and sensible things, and have little concern for perfect mortification.

I do not know what it is, and by what spirit we are led, and what we aim at, we who seem to be called spiritual, that we expend all our labor and greater anxiety for transitory and worthless things, and seldom think with fully recollected senses about our inner selves. 4. Alas, after a little recollection we straightway burst forth outwardly, and do not weigh our works with strict examination. Where our affections lie, we do not heed, and we do not lament how impure all our doings are. For all flesh had corrupted its way, and therefore the great flood followed. Since therefore our inner affection is corrupt, the action that follows—an index of the lacking inner vigor—must needs be corrupt also.

From a pure heart proceeds the fruit of a good life. 5. How much a man has done is not asked, but from how great a virtue he acts is not so carefully weighed. Whether he is strong, rich, handsome, skillful, or a good writer, or a good singer, or a good laborer, is investigated; but how poor he is in spirit, how patient and meek, how devout and inward, is passed over in silence by many. Nature looks to the outward things of a man: grace turns itself to the inward. The former is frequently deceived; the latter hopes in God, that it be not deceived. Chapter 32. On self-denial and the renouncing of all desire. 1. My son, you cannot perfectly possess freedom unless you wholly deny yourself.

Fettered are all who are possessive and lovers of themselves, covetous, curious, restless wanderers, always seeking what is curious and soft, not the things of Jesus Christ: but often feigning and contriving that which will not stand. For all that has not sprung from God shall perish. Hold fast this brief and complete word: Forsake all, and you shall find all: leave desire, and you shall find rest. Ponder this in your mind, and when you have fulfilled it, you shall understand all things. 2. Lord, this is not the work of one day, nor a children's game: indeed, in this brief saying is comprehended all the perfection of the religious. 3. My son, you ought not to turn away, nor be straightway cast down, when you hear of the way of the perfect, but rather be stirred to higher things, and at the least to sigh after this from desire.

Would that it were thus with you, and that you had attained to this, that you were not a lover of yourself, but stood pure at My nod, and at the nod of Him whom I have set over you as Father: then you would please Me greatly, and your whole life would pass in joy and peace. You still have many things to leave, which, unless you wholly resign them to Me, you will not obtain what you ask. I counsel you to buy from Me gold tried in the fire, that you may become rich, that is, heavenly wisdom, which treads underfoot all things base. Set aside all earthly wisdom and all human and self-complacency. 4. I told you to buy meaner things in exchange for those precious and high in human esteem.

For truly heavenly wisdom seems mean and small and almost consigned to oblivion, not being wise in lofty things about itself, nor seeking to be magnified upon earth. How many proclaim it with their lips, but in their lives are far at variance with it: yet it is the precious pearl, hidden from many. Chapter 33. On the instability of the heart, and on having the final intention directed toward God. 1. My son, do not trust your present feeling: it will quickly be changed into another. As long as you live, you will be subject to changeableness, even unwillingly: so that you are found now joyful, now sad, now at peace, now troubled, now devout, now undevout, now zealous, now sluggish, now grave, now light.

But the wise man, well instructed in spirit, stands above these changeable things, not heeding what he feels in himself nor from which quarter the wind of instability blows, but so that his whole intention of mind may advance toward its due and best end. For thus he will be able to remain one and the same, unshaken, directing the single eye of his intention through so many various happenings toward Me without ceasing. 2. And the purer the eye of intention is, the more steadfastly one proceeds amid the various storms. But in many the eye of pure intention grows dim. For it quickly looks back upon some delightful thing that presents itself, and rarely is anyone found wholly free from the blemish of self-seeking.

Thus the Jews of old came to Bethany to Martha and Mary, not for Jesus' sake alone, but that they might see Lazarus. The eye of intention must therefore be cleansed, that it may be single and upright, and directed toward Me beyond all the various intermediate things. Chapter 34. That to him who loves, God is sweet above all things and in all things. 1. Behold, my God and my all. What more do I want? And what happier thing can I desire? O savory and sweet word, but to one who loves the Word, not the world, nor the things which are in the world. My God and my all. To one who understands, enough is said, and to one who loves it is pleasant often to repeat. For when You are present, all things are pleasant: but when You are absent, all things grow loathsome. You make the heart tranquil, and great peace, and festive gladness.

You make me think well of all things, and in all things to praise You: nor can anything please me long without You; but if it is to be acceptable and to taste well, Your grace must be present, and it must be seasoned with the seasoning of Your wisdom. 2. To one whom You savor, what will not rightly taste sweet? And to one whom You do not savor, what will be able rightly to be pleasant? But the wise of the world fail in Your wisdom, and those who relish the flesh: for there the greatest vanity is found, and here death. But those who follow You through contempt of worldly things and mortification of the flesh are known to be truly wise, because they are carried over from vanity to truth, and from the flesh to the spirit.