Tthe Imitation of Christ

Thomas of Kempis

the Imitation of Christ

BOOK FIRST

USEFUL WARNINGS FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

CHAPTER 1

From the imitation of Christ and contempt for all the vanities of the world

1. Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness, says the Lord (Jn 8:12).

These are the words of Christ, by which we are warned to imitate his life and customs, if we truly want to be enlightened and free from all blindness of heart.

Therefore, let our main commitment be to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ.

2. The doctrine of Christ is more excellent than that of all the saints, and whoever has his spirit will find in it a hidden manna. It happens, however, that many, although they often hear the Gospel, feel little in it: it is that they do not possess the spirit of Christ. Anyone who wants to fully understand and savor the words of Christ must try to conform his whole life to his.

3. That you benefit from wisely discussing the SS. Trinity, if you are not humble, thus displeasing that same Trinity? Indeed, it is not high words that make a man righteous; but it is the virtuous life that makes him pleasing to God. I'd rather feel the contrition inside my soul than define it. If you knew the whole Bible and the sentences of all the philosophers by heart, what good would it be for you without the charity and grace of God? Vanity of vanities, and everything is vanity (Eccles. 1,2), except to love God and serve him alone. The supreme wisdom is this: by the contempt of the world tend to the kingdom of heaven.

4. Vanity is, therefore, seeking perishing riches and trusting in them.

Vanity is also craving honor and desiring high position. Vanity, following the appetites of the flesh and desiring what you will then be severely punished for. Vanity, wishing long life and yet neglecting it to be good.

Vanity, only attending to the present life without providing for the future. Vanity, loving what passes so quickly, and not rushing after the happiness that always lasts.

5. Remember the proverb: The eyes are not satisfied with seeing, nor the ears with hearing (Eccles. 1:8). Therefore, try to detach your heart from the love of visible things and affection to the invisible: for those who satisfy their sensual appetites tarnish their conscience and lose the grace of God.

CHAPTER 2

From the humble feeling of yourself

1. Every man has a natural desire to know; but what will science avail without the fear of God? Better, of course, is the humble peasant who serves God, than the superb philosopher who watches the course of the stars but neglects himself.

One who knows himself well despises himself and does not delight in human praise. If I knew how much there is in the world, but I lacked charity, what use would it be to me before God, who would judge me according to my works?

It renounces the inordinate desire to know, because there is a lot of distraction and illusion in it. The educated like to be seen and thought of as sages. There are many things whose knowledge is of little benefit to the soul. And it is very foolish who is concerned with other things and not those that touch his salvation. Many words do not satisfy the soul, but a good word refreshes the spirit, and a pure conscience inspires great confidence in God.

2. The more and better you know, the more rigorously you will be judged, if you do not live holier with it. Do not, then, vanish with any art or knowledge you have received. If it seems to you that you know and understand a lot of things well, remember that there is much more that you ignore. Do not presume to be of high wisdom (Rom 11:20); rather, confess your ignorance. How do you want someone to prefer you, when they think they are much more learned than you and more versed in the law?

If you want to know and learn something useful, you want to be unknown and taken for nothing.

3. There is no better and more useful study than knowing yourself perfectly and despising yourself. Having nothing for nothing and always thinking well and favorably of others is proof of great wisdom and perfection. Even when you see someone sin publicly or commit serious faults, you should not judge yourself better, because you do not know how long you will be able to persevere in good. We are all weak, but no one should be considered weaker than yourself.

CHAPTER 3

from the teachings of the truth

1. Blessed is he whom the truth teaches by itself, not by passing figures and voices, but as it is in itself.

Our opinion and our judgments often deceive us and achieve little. What is the use of subtle speculation on mysterious and obscure questions, of whose ignorance we shall not be judged? Great madness is neglecting the useful and necessary things, greedily surrendering to the curious and harmful. We have eyes not to see (Psalm 113:13).

2. What about the philosophers' genera and species? He to whom the Eternal Word speaks clears himself from many questions. From this single Word all things proceed and all proclaim it, and this is the principle that also speaks to us (Jn 8:25). Without him there is no understanding or right judgment. Whoever finds everything in this One, and everything refers to him and sees everything in him, will be able to have a firm heart and remain at peace with God. O true God, make me one with you in eternal charity!

It bores me often to read and hear so many things; for in you I find all that I want and desire. Be silent all doctors, silence all creatures in your presence; speak to me alone.

3. The more withdrawn each one is and the simpler in heart, the more sublime things will he understand without effort, because from on high he receives the light of intelligence. The pure, simple, and constant spirit is not distracted in the midst of multiple occupations because it does everything for the honor of God, without seeking its own interest in anything. What more hinders and disturbs you than the immortified affections of your heart? The good and godly man first orders outward works within him; nor do these overthrow him to the impulses of some vicious inclination, but he submits them to the will of right reason. What tougher combat is there than trying to defeat oneself? And this should be our commitment: to overcome ourselves, to become stronger each day and to progress in the good.

4. All perfection in this life is mingled with some imperfection, and all our lights are mingled with shadows. The humble knowledge of yourself is a surer path to God than the profound researches of science.

Science or any other knowledge of things is not reprehensible, for it is good in itself and ordained by God; but always, we must prefer to him a good conscience and a virtuous life. Many, however, study more to know than to live well; that is why they err often and reap little or no fruit.

5. Ah! If as much diligence were employed in rooting out vices and implanting virtues as in airing questions, there would not be so many evils and scandals in the people, nor so much relaxation in the cloisters. Certainly, on the day of judgment we will not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; nor how well we have spoken, but how honestly we have lived. Tell me: where are all those gentlemen and teachers you knew well, when they lived and flourished in schools? Others already have their prebends, and I don't even know if they remember them.

In life they seemed to be worth something, and today nobody talks about them.

6. Oh! How quickly the glory of the world passes! May your life have corresponded to your science; for thus they will have read and studied with fruit. How many in this world, careless of the service of God, are lost to vain science! And because they want to be great rather than humble, they fade away in their thoughts (Rom 1,21). Truly great is he who in his eyes is small and values ​​nothing in the highest honors. Truly prudent is the one who considers everything earthly to gain Christ (Phil 3,8). He is truly wise who does the will of God and renounces his own will.

CHAPTER 4

Of prudence in actions

1. Every word or impression is not to be given credence, but cautiously and naturally one must, before God, weigh things up. But then! That it is easier to believe and say evil than good about others, such is our weakness. Perfect souls, however, do not lightly believe anything that is told to them, for they know human weakness inclined to evil and easy to sin in words.

2. Great wisdom is not to be rash in actions, nor stubbornly clinging to one's own opinion; Wisdom is also not to believe everything we are told, nor to immediately communicate to others what we hear or suspect. Take advice from a wise and conscientious man, and seek rather to be instructed by someone else, rather than yourself, than to follow your own opinion. A virtuous life makes a man wise before God and knowledgeable in many things. The more humble each one is in himself and the more subject to God, the more prudent and calm he will be in everything.

CHAPTER 5

From reading the Holy Scriptures

1. In the Holy Scriptures we must seek truth, not eloquence. Every holy book must be read in the same spirit that dictated it. In the Scriptures we must seek our advantage rather than the subtlety of language. The reading of simple and pious books should be as grateful to us as that of the sublime and profound. Do not move the authority of the writer, whether or not he is of great literary knowledge; on the contrary, read the truth with pure love. Don't try to find out who said it; but consider what is said.

2. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever (Ps 116:2). In various ways God speaks to us, without respect for person. Our curiosity often embarrasses us in reading the Scriptures; because we want to understand and discuss what should happen simply. If you want to take advantage, read with humility, simplicity and faith, without ever taking care of your literate reputation. Ask willingly and listen silently to the words of the saints; nor do you dislike the sentences of old people, because they do not speak without reason.

CHAPTER 6

of disordered affections

1. Every time a man desires something inordinately, he immediately becomes restless. The haughty and the miser never rest; however, the poor and the humble in spirit live in great peace. The man who is not perfectly mortified is easily tempted and defeated, even in small and insignificant things. The spiritual man, still somewhat carnal and prone to sensuality, will only be able to let go of all earthly desires at great cost. Hence his frequent sadness when he abstains from them, and easy irritation when someone contradicts him.

2. If, however, he achieves what he wanted, he immediately feels the remorse of conscience, because he obeyed his passion, which is worth nothing to achieve the peace he longed for. In resisting, then, the passions, true peace of heart is found, and not in following them. There is, therefore, no peace in the heart of the carnal man, nor in that of the man given over to outward things, but only in the one who is fervent and spiritual.

CHAPTER 7

How to escape vain hope and presumption

1. A fool is someone who puts his hope in men or creatures. Do not be ashamed to serve others for Jesus Christ, and be counted poor in this world. Do not trust yourself, but put your hope in God. Do what you can on your part, and God will help your good will. Trust not in your knowledge, nor in the sagacity of any living being, but rather in the grace of God, who helps the humble and slaughters the presumptuous.

2. If you have riches, do not boast of them, nor of friends, because they are mighty, but in God, who gives everything, besides everything, desires to give himself. Do not vanish with the airiness or beauty of your body, which with a small illness breaks and disfigures. Do not be proud of your ability or your talent, lest you displease God, who is all the natural good you have.

3. Do not reput yourself better than others so as not to be considered worse by God, who knows everything that is in man. Do not be proud of good works, because the judgments of men are very different from those of God, who often displeases what men please. If there is any good in you, think that the others are even better, so that you may keep yourself in humility. It will do you no harm if you judge yourself inferior to all; a lot, however, if you prefer yourself to anyone. The humble enjoy continual peace; in the heart of the proud, however, envy and anger reign without count.

CHAPTER 8

How to avoid excessive familiarity

1. Do not open your heart to any man (Sir 8:22); but go about your business with the wise and God-fearing. Little conversation with young men and strangers. Do not flatter the rich, nor seek to appear too much in the presence of potentates.

He seeks the company of the humble and simple, of the devout and morigerated, and deals with them with edifying matters. Be not acquainted with any woman; but, in general, he entrusts to God all that are virtuous. It seeks intimacy with God alone, and his angels, and flees from beings known to men.

2. Charity must be had for everyone; but it is not convenient to have familiarity with everyone. It often happens that an unknown person enjoys a good reputation who, in his presence, displeases the eyes of those who see him. We sometimes think that we are pleasing others with our intimacy, but rather we annoy them with the defects they discover in us.

CHAPTER 9

Of obedience and submission

1. A great thing is to live in obedience, under the direction of a superior, and not have one's will. It is much safer to obey than to command. Many obey more out of necessity than out of love: that is why they suffer and easily murmur. These will not attain freedom of spirit until they submit themselves wholeheartedly, for God's sake. Walk wherever you like: you will find no rest except in humble subjection and obedience to the superior. The imagination of places and changes has eluded many.

2. The truth is that everyone likes to follow their own opinion and is more inclined to those who participate in their opinion.

However, if God is with us, it is sometimes necessary for us to renounce our opinion for the sake of peace. Who is so wise that he can know everything completely? Do not therefore trust too much in your own judgment; but he also willingly attends to others. If your opinion is good and you leave it, for the love of God, to follow someone else's, you will gain a lot from it.

3. Indeed, I have often heard that it is safer to listen and take advice than to give it. It is quite possible that the opinion of each person is correct: but not wanting to give in to others, when reason or circumstances demand it, is a sign of pride and obstinacy.

CHAPTER 10

How to avoid superfluous conversations

1. Avoid, as much as you can, the hustle and bustle of men, because worldly affairs trouble us even when treated with right intention; for very quickly we are stained and captive to vanity. I wish I had been silent many times and not talked to men. Why, however, do we attract speech and conversation, if we rarely return to silence without harm to conscience? We love to talk so much because we intend, with these conversations, to be comforted by one another and we wish to relieve the heart weary with different concerns. And ordinarily, we enjoy talking and thinking, sometimes about the things we love and want, sometimes about the things that upset us.

2. But oh! It is often in vain and useless, as this outward consolation is very detrimental to the inward and divine consolation. It is therefore necessary to watch and pray, that the time may not be idled away. If it is lawful and opportune to speak, let it be of edifying things. Bad habits and carelessness in our spiritual progress contribute a lot to our tongue's unbridledness. However, devout conversations on spiritual things are of great help to spiritual use, especially when people who think and feel alike come together in God.

CHAPTER 11

Of peace and zeal to enjoy

1. We could enjoy a lot of peace if we did not want to occupy ourselves with the sayings and facts of others that do not belong to our care. How can the one who meddles in other people's affairs, who seeks outside relations, who rarely and hardly withdraws inwardly, can remain in peace for a long time?

Blessed are the simple, for they will have much peace!

Why were many saints so perfect and contemplative? It is that they sought to mortify themselves wholly in all earthly desires, and so could, in the depths of their hearts, unite with God and freely attend to themselves. We, however, are too busy with our own passions and care too much for transitory things. It is rare for us to overcome even an addiction perfectly; we are not inflamed with the desire to progress each day; hence the coldness and lukewarmness in which we remain.

2. If we were perfectly dead to ourselves and inwardly unhindered, we could create a taste for divine things and experience something of the sweetness of heavenly contemplation. What mainly and most hinders us is that we are not yet free from our passions and lusts, nor do we strive to tread the perfect path of the saints. A small setback is enough for us to become completely discouraged and return to seeking human consolations.

3. If we would strive to stand firm in combat, like valiant soldiers, we would surely see God's help descend on us. For he is always ready to help combatants who are trusted in his grace: He who provides us with opportunities for battle so that we may achieve victory. If we make our spiritual profit consist solely in outward observances, our devotion will be of short duration. Let us therefore put the ax to the root, so that, free from passion, our soul may enjoy peace.

4. If each year we eradicated a single addiction, we would soon be perfect. But now, on the contrary, we often experience that we were better, and our lives purer, at the beginning of our conversion than after many years of profession. Our fervor and enjoyment should grow, each day; but now it is considered a great thing to be able to retain some of the primitive fervor. If at first we made any effort, we could then do everything with ease and pleasure.

5. It is costly to leave our customs; more costly, however, to go against one's will. But if you don't overcome small and light obstacles, how will you triumph over the bigger ones? Resist your inclination at first and break with the bad habit, so that you don't get into greater difficulties little by little.

Oh! If you considered how much peace you would enjoy and how much pleasure you would give to others, if you lived well, you would certainly take better care of your spiritual advancement.

CHAPTER 12

Of the usefulness of adversity

1. It is good that we sometimes go through afflictions and setbacks, because they often make man reflect, reminding him that he lives in exile and therefore should not put his hope in anything in the world. It is good that we sometimes encounter contradictions, and that they have a bad or unfavorable view of us, even when our works and intentions are good.

This ordinarily leads us to humility and preserves us from boasting. Because, then, we more quickly resort to the inward witness of God, when from without we are vilified and discredited by men.

2. For this reason, man had to so firmly establish himself in God that it would no longer be necessary for him to beg for consolations from creatures. As soon as a man of good will is troubled or tempted, or bothered by evil thoughts, he immediately feels better his need for God, without whom he can do no good. Then he becomes sad, moans and cries for the miseries he suffers. Then it bores him to live longer, and he wants death to come to free him from his body and unite him to Christ.

Then understand also that in this world there can be neither perfect security nor complete peace.

CHAPTER 13

How to resist temptations

1. As long as we live in this world, we cannot be without jobs and temptations. That's why we read in the book of Job (7:1): Man's life on earth is a struggle. Everyone, therefore, must be on guard against temptations, through vigilance and prayer, so as not to give rise to the illusions of the devil, who never sleeps, but walks everywhere in search of someone he can devour (1Pdr 5,8) . There is no one so perfect and holy that he does not have temptations at times, and we cannot be totally exempt from them.

2. However, temptations are most useful to man, even though they are annoying and serious, because they humiliate, purify and instruct us. All the saints have gone through many tribulations and temptations, and they have taken advantage of them; but those who could not bear them were reproved and perished. There is no Order so holy, nor a place so secluded, where there are no temptations and adversities.

3. No man is totally free from temptations as long as he lives, because in ourselves is the cause from which they proceed: the lust in which we are born. As soon as one temptation or tribulation is over, another comes, and we will always have to suffer, because we have lost the gift of primitive happiness. Many seek to escape temptations, and find worse ones. Escape is not enough to overcome them; it is through patience and true humility that we become stronger than all our enemies.

4. There is little point in those who only avoid external occasions, without pulling out the roots; rather, temptations will return to him more quickly, and he will find himself worse. He will overcome them better with God's help, little by little with patience and resignation, than with importunate violence and self-effort. Take advice at times in temptation and do not be rude and harsh to what is tempted, try before consoling him, as you wish to be consoled.

The beginning of all evil temptations is inconstancy of spirit and little trust in God; for as the waves hurl the rudderless ship from one part to another, so temptations fight man who is careless and fickle in his purpose. Iron is tried by fire, and the righteous by temptation. We often ignore what we can, but temptation manifests what we are. However, we must watch, especially in the beginning of the temptation; because it will be easier for us to overcome the enemy, when we do not let him enter our soul, facing him as soon as he hits the threshold. That's why someone said: You've resisted from the beginning, that the medicine comes late, when the disease grew with a long delay (Ovid). Because first a simple thought occurs to the mind, whence the importunate imagination is born, then the delight, the movement; and so, little by little,The evil enemy enters the soul completely. And the more lazy someone is to resist him, the weaker his opponent will become each day, and the stronger his adversary.

Some suffer greater temptations at the beginning of their conversion, others at the end; others for most of their lives are harassed by them. Some are lightly tempted, according to the wisdom of divine Providence, which weighs the circumstances and the worth of men, and predisposes everything for the salvation of his elect.

So we must not despair when we are tempted; but even more fervently asking God to deign to help us in every trial, since, in the words of St. Paul, he will give us enough grace in temptation so that we can overcome it (1 Cor 10:13). Let us therefore humble our souls, under the hand of God, in every temptation and tribulation, because he will save and magnify those who are lowly in heart.

In temptations and adversities one can see how much each one has taken advantage of; in them consists the greatest deserving and virtue is better displayed. It's no big deal to be the devout and fervent man when all goes well for him; but if in times of adversity he maintains patience, great progress can be expected. There are some who overcome the great temptations and, in the small ones, often fall, so that, humiliated, they do not assume great things of themselves, since with so little they succumb.

CHAPTER 14

How to avoid reckless judgment

1. Glance your gaze upon yourself and beware of judging the actions of others. Those who judge others lose their work, are almost always mistaken and easily sin; but in examining and judging himself, he always works profitably. Ordinarily we judge things according to the inclination of our heart, for self-love easily alters our righteousness of judgment. If God had always been the sole object of our desires, we would not be so easily disturbed by any opposition to our opinion.

2. Often there is, inside or outside of us, something that attracts us and influences us. Many secretly seek themselves in their actions, and do not realize it. They even seem to enjoy good peace, while things go according to their wishes; but if otherwise it happens, they soon become restless and saddened. From the discrepancy of opinions and opinions, disagreements often arise between friends and neighbors, between religious and pious people.

3. It is costly to lose an inveterate custom, and no one willingly renounces their way of seeing it. If you trust more in your reason and talent than in the grace of Jesus Christ, only rarely and later will you be enlightened; for God wants us to submit ourselves perfectly to him and to rise above all human reason, inflamed with his love.

CHAPTER 15

Of works done with charity

1. For nothing in the world, nor for anyone's sake, should any evil be done; but for the sake of some needy one can sometimes omit a good work, or exchange it for a better one. In this way, the good work is not lost, but becomes a better one. Without charity, the outward work is worth nothing; But everything that proceeds from charity, however insignificant and despicable it may be, produces abundant fruit, because God does not so much attend to the work as to the intention with which we do it.

2. He who loves a lot does a lot. Those who do well do what they do. Those who serve the common good more than their own will do it well. What is mere self-love often seems like charity, because it rarely leaves us with our natural inclination, our own will, the hope of reward, our interest.

3. He who has true and perfect charity does not seek himself at all, but desires that everything be done for the glory of God. No one is envious, because he does not want any personal gain, nor does he seek his own happiness, but seeks above all things to have joy and happiness in God. It does not attribute any good to the creature, but refers everything to God, as the source from which everything proceeds, and in which, as an ultimate end, all saints find a delight to rest. Oh! Whoever had only a spark of true charity would soon understand the vanity of all earthly things!

CHAPTER 16

From suffering the faults of others

1. That which man cannot amend in himself or in others, he must patiently tolerate, until God arranges otherwise. Consider that perhaps it is better this way, to prove your patience, without which our merits are of little value. However, it is convenient, in these difficulties, to ask God to help you, so that you can take them seriously.

2. If anyone, with one or two warnings, does not amend himself, do not contend with him; but he commends everything to God so that his will may be done, and that he may be honored in all his servants, because he knows how to bring good out of evil. Try to patiently suffer the faults and any imperfections of others, as you also have many that others have to put up with. If you cannot change yourself as you wish, how do you intend to adjust others according to your wishes? We very much want others to be perfect, and that doesn't make amends for our faults.

3. We want others to be rigorously corrected, and we don't want to be reprimanded. We find the wide freedom of others strange, and we don't want to suffer any refusal. We want others to be constrained by statutes and we do not tolerate any constraints that restrain us. Whence it is clearly seen how seldom we treat others as ourselves.

If everyone were perfect, then what would we have to suffer for ourselves for God's sake?

4. Now God has so disposed that we may learn to bear one another's burdens; because there is no one without defect; no one without charge; no one with strength and wits enough for themselves; but one another must support, console, assist, instruct, and advise. How much virtue each one possesses, the better it is manifested in times of adversity; for occasions do not make a man weak, but reveal what he is.

CHAPTER 17

of the monastic life

1. Learn to be selfless in many things if you want to have peace and harmony with others. It is no small thing to live in monasteries or religious congregations, live there without complaints and faithfully persevere until death. Blessed is he who lives well there and ends his life with a blessed end! If you want to stand firm and make progress, consider yourself an outcast and a pilgrim on earth. You must be mad for Christ's sake if you want to follow the religious life.

2. The habit and the tonsure are of little importance: it is the change of customs and the perfect mortification of the passions that make the true religious. Anyone who looks for anything but God alone and the salvation of his soul will only find tribulations and anguishes. Those who do not seek to be the smallest and most submissive of all cannot remain in peace for long.

3. You came to serve, not to command; remember that you were called to work and suffer, not to play and talk. Here, then, men prove themselves, like the gold in the furnace. Here, no one will persevere if he does not want to humble himself, with all his heart, for the love of God.

CHAPTER 18

From the examples of the Holy Fathers

1. Contemplate the salutary examples of the Holy Fathers, in which true religious perfection shone, and you will see how little or nothing we do. Ah! What is our life compared to theirs? The saints and friends of Christ served the Lord in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in toil and toil, in vigils and fasting, in prayer and holy meditation, in persecution and much reproach.

2. Oh! How many and how severe tribulations suffered the apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins and all who wanted to follow in the footsteps of Christ! They hated their souls in this world, to possess them eternally in the next. Oh! What austere and mortified lives the Holy Fathers led in the desert! What continual and grave temptations they endured!

How many times have they been tormented by the enemy! How many fervent prayers they offered to God! What rigorous abstinence they practiced! What zeal and fervor they had in their spiritual advancement! What a war they waged to subdue vices! With what pure and righteous intent they sought God!

During the day they worked and spent the nights in prayer even though working they did not interrupt mental prayer for a moment.

3. All time was usefully employed; every hour seemed to them brief coexistence with God; and because of the great sweetness of contemplations they even forgot the necessary meal for the body. They renounced all riches, dignities, honors, friends and relatives; they wanted nothing from the world; they only took what was indispensable for life and only regretfully satisfied the demands of nature. So they were poor in earthly goods, but very rich in graces and virtues. Outwardly they lacked everything; inwardly, however, they delighted in divine graces and consolations.

4. They were strangers to the world, but intimate and familiar friends of God. They thought of nothing to themselves, and the world despised them; but they were precious and dear in the eyes of God.

They maintained true humility, lived in simple obedience, walked in charity and patience; thus each day they made progress in their spiritual life and were more pleasing to God.

These have been given by models to all religious, and should encourage us more to spiritual progress than the multitude of the lukewarm to fainting.

5. Oh! How much was the fervor of all religious in the early days of their holy institutes! What pity in prayer!

What an emulation of the virtues! What austere discipline then prevailed! What respect and obedience to the superior's precepts shone in everyone! The traces they left still attest that they were truly holy and perfect men who in such fierce battles conquered the world. Today, it is already considered great who is not a transgressor of the rule and patiently supports the yoke that has been imposed.

6. O lukewarmness and neglect of our state, that we so quickly decline from primitive fervor, and that it is tedious to live for so much negligence and laxity! I hope that you do not alleviate your desire to progress in the virtues, since you have seen so many models of perfection!

CHAPTER 19

From the exercises of the good religious

1. The life of a good religious must be adorned with all the virtues, so that the interior matches what men see on the outside; and with good reason, it must be even more perfect on the inside than on the outside, for there penetrates the searching gaze of God, to whom we owe great reverence, wherever we are, and in whose presence we must walk with angelic purity. Each day we must renew our purpose and exercise ourselves with greater fervor, as if this were the first day of our conversion, saying: Comfort me, Lord my God, in good purpose and in your holy service; Grant me to begin today indeed, for nothing is what I have done so far.

2. The measure of our resolution will be our progress, and great solicitude calls for serious use. If the one who makes strong resolutions so often falls, what will become of the one who rarely makes them or less firmly proposes them? It happens, however, in various ways that we fail our purpose; and seldom does any slight omission of our exercises go undamaged. The purpose of the righteous is based more on the grace of God than on their own wisdom; they always trust in it, in any endeavor. Because man proposes, but God disposes, and his way is not in man's hand (Jer 10,23).

1. When, for reasons of piety or for the benefit of others, the usual exercise is sometimes abandoned, it is easy to repair 2. then this lack; to omit it, however, easily, out of boredom or negligence, is guilty enough, and the damage will be felt. Let us strive as much as we can, yet we will fall into many faults; however, we must always make a determined purpose, especially against the main obstacles to our spiritual progress.

We must examine and order both the interior and the exterior, because both matter for our enjoyment.

3. If you cannot be continuously collected, retire from time to time, at least once a day, in the morning or in the evening.

In the morning make resolutions, and at night examine your actions: as you did today in words, deeds and thoughts, because in this, perhaps not infrequently, you have offended God and your neighbor. Arm yourself manly against the evils of the devil; curb gluttony, and you will easily curb all carnal appetite. Never be entirely unoccupied, but read or write or pray or meditate or do something of common benefit.

In physical exercises, however, be discreet, because it does not suit everyone equally.

4. Personal exercises should not be done publicly, it is safer to do them secretly. Beware of being negligent in the exercise of the rule, and more diligent in the particulars; but, once the things of obligation and precept have been fully and faithfully satisfied, if time is spare, engage in exercises, as your devotion inspires you. Not everyone can have the same exercise; one suits more to this one, another to that. Even time depends on the convenience and attractiveness of the practices; because some are more suitable for feast days, others for ordinary days; some we need in times of temptation, others in times of peace and quiet. We like to meditate on some things when we are sad, and on others when we are happy in the Lord.

5. Around the main feasts, we must renew our good exercises and more fervently implore the intercession of the saints.

From one festival to another we must prepare ourselves, as if we were then going to leave this world and arrive at the eternal festival. Therefore, we must diligently equip ourselves, in times of devotion, with a more pious life and a more faithful observance of all the rules, as if we were soon to receive the reward of our work.

6. And if that hour is postponed, let us be certain that we are not yet well prepared or worthy of such glory that in due time it will reveal itself in us, and let us try to prepare ourselves for death. Blessed is the servant. Says the evangelist Saint Luke, whom the Lord, when he comes, will find watching. In truth I say to you that he will appoint him over all his possessions (12, 37 and 43).

CHAPTER 20

From love to solitude and silence

1. Seek an opportune time to take care of yourself and remember God's benefits often. Give up curiosities and choose readings such that they serve more to pity you than to distract you. If you abstain from superfluous conversations and idle walks, as well as from listening to news and rumours, you will find sufficient and adequate time to indulge in holy meditations. The greatest saints avoided, when they could, the company of men, preferring to live with God, in retreat.

2. Someone said, "Whenever I was among men less of a man I returned" (Seneca, Epist. 7). This we experience many times when we talk a lot. But it's easier to shut up, than not tripping over a word. But it's easy to stay hidden at home, other than to have the necessary caution. Whoever, therefore, intends to reach the interior and spiritual life, it is important for him to leave the mob, with Jesus. Nobody, without danger, shows themselves in public, except those who like to hide. Surely no one speaks, except those who like to be silent. No one is surely in charge, but the one who has perfectly learned to obey.

3. There can be no sure joy without the witness of a good conscience. However, the security of the saints was always mixed with the fear of God; nor were they less careful and humble in themselves, because they shone in great virtues and graces. The security of the wicked, however, is born of pride and presumption, and ends up deceiving itself.

Never take yourself for granted in this life, even if you look like a good religious or devout hermit.

Often the best in the concept of men were in grave danger because of their overconfidence.

For this reason, it is better for many not to be entirely free from temptations, but to be frequently opposed, so that they do not trust themselves too much, nor exalt themselves with pride, nor eagerly seek outward consolations. Oh! Anyone who never sought transitory joy, nor cared for this world, what a pure conscience he would have! Oh! Whoever sheds all vain care, to only take care of healthy and divine things, putting all his trust in God, 2. what great peace and quiet he would enjoy!

4. No one is worthy of heavenly consolation, but he who is excited, with diligence, in holy compunction. If you want to be pitied in your heart, go into your room, dismiss all the hustle and bustle of the world, as it is written: Compromise yourselves in your cubicles (Ps 4:5). In the cell you will find what you often lose outside of it. A well-guarded cell causes sweetness, and a little frequented one generates boredom. If you keep it well and dwell at the beginning of your conversion, it will be your dear companion and most gentle comfort afterwards.

5. In silence and stillness a devout soul makes progress and learns the secrets of the Scriptures. There she finds the source of tears, with which she washes and purifies herself every night, so as to be closer to the Creator the more withdrawn she lives from the turmoil of the world. He, therefore, who departs from his friends and acquaintances will see God drawing near with his holy angels. It is better to be lonely and take care of your soul than, neglecting it, to work miracles. The religious who rarely goes out, who escapes from being seen by men and does not even try to see them deserve praise.

6. Why do you want to see what is not lawful for you to possess? The world and its lust pass away (1Jn 2:17). The sensual inclination invites to walks; but after that hour, what is left for us but a guilty conscience and a distracted heart? The joyful departure is often followed by a sad return, and the joyous eve a sad morning. So, every carnal taste enters smoothly; in the end, however, he remorses and kills. What can you see elsewhere that you can't see here? Here is: here you have the sky, the earth and all the elements; and from them all things are made.

7. What can you nowhere see stable under the sun for a long time? Do you think perhaps to satisfy yourself completely? Well, you won't get it. If you saw all things before you, what would it be but vain fantasy? Lift your eyes to God on high and ask forgiveness of your sins and negligence. Leave the vanities to the frivolous; you, however, heed what God sends you. Close the door behind you and call your beloved Jesus. Stay with him in your cell, because you will not find so much peace elsewhere. If you had not gone out, and listened to the rumors of the world, you would have better kept the holy peace; as long as you enjoy listening to news, you will have to suffer a restless heart.

CHAPTER 21

from the compunction of the heart

1. If you want to make some progress, keep in the fear of God and do not seek too much freedom; rather, curb all your senses with discipline, and do not give yourself over to vain joy. Seek the compunction of the heart and you will find devotion.

Compunction uncovers treasures, which dissipation quickly wastes. It is strange that man can never, in this life, enjoy perfect joy, he considers himself his exile and ponders the many dangers of his soul.

2. By lightness of heart and carelessness of our faults we do not perceive the evils of our soul; and often we laugh frivolously, when, with good reason, we should cry. There is no real freedom or perfect joy without the fear of God and a good conscience. Blessed is he who can remove from himself all the encumbrances of distractions and retire with holy compunction. Blessed is he who rejects everything that might stain or aggravate his conscience. Fights manly: one custom with another wins.

3. If you know how to leave men, they will let you do your good works. Don't get involved in other people's things, nor get involved in big business. Always look at yourself first and admonish yourself more particularly than all your friends. Do not be saddened by the lack of human favors, but be sorry for not living with such caution and prudence as befits a servant of God and a devout religious. It is more useful and safer for man not to have many consolations in this life, especially sensitive ones. However, if we do not have, or rarely feel, divine comfort, it is our fault, for we do not seek the compunction of the heart, nor do we reject outwardly vain consolations.

4. Recognize that you are unworthy of divine consolation, but rather deserving of many afflictions. When a man is perfectly pissed off, the whole world soon becomes wearisome and bitter. The just man always finds enough matter to grieve and weep. For, whether you look at yourself or your neighbor, you know that no one goes through this life without tribulations. And the more carefully you consider yourself, the deeper your pain. Matters of righteous sorrow and deep sorrow are our sins and vices, to which we are so bound that we can seldom behold the things of heaven.

If you thought more often of death than in a life of many years, there is no doubt that your amendment would be more fervent. If you also seriously meditated on the future pains of hell or purgatory, I believe you would gladly suffer toil and pain, without fearing any austerity. But as these things do not penetrate our hearts and we still love gifts, we are cold and very tepid.

5. It is often the weakness of the spirit that this wretched body so easily complains. So, humbly ask the Lord to give you the spirit of repentance, and say with the prophet: Sustain me, Lord, with the bread of tears and the copious drink of weeping (Ps 79:6).

CHAPTER 22

From the consideration of human misery

1. Miserable you will be, wherever you are and wherever you turn, if you don't turn to God. Why do you fret when things don't go your way? Who has everything according to your desire? Not me, not you, not any man on earth. There is no one in the world without any tribulation or anguish, whether king or pope.

Who lives happier? The one, of course, who knows how to suffer something for God.

2. Many mean and lukewarm say: Behold, what a good life this man hath: how rich he is, how great and mighty, what a high position! Look at the goods of heaven, and you will see that bodily goods are nothing, but very uncertain and costly, for those who have them never live without fear and care. Man's happiness does not consist in the abundance of temporal goods; the average is enough for it. Living on earth is real misery.

The more spiritual a man wants to be, the more bitter his present life will be for him, because he knows better and more clearly sees the defects of human corruption. Because eating, drinking, watching, sleeping, resting, working and being subject to all the other great miseries and afflictions for the spiritual man who desires to be exempt from it and free from all sin.

3. Yes, the inner man feels very oppressed with bodily needs in this world. For this reason the prophet prays to God, devoutly, to deliver him from them, saying: Deliver me, Lord, from my needs (Ps 24:17). But, woe to those who do not know their misery, and, again, woe to those who love this miserable and corruptible life! Because there are some who are so attached to it - even though they barely make ends meet with work or with alms - that if they could live here forever, nothing would be given to them of the kingdom of God.

4. O foolish and hard of heart, who lie so deeply attached to the earth, that they love nothing but carnal things. Unhappy! There will come the time when they will feel, at their own expense, how base and null what they loved was. The saints of God, and all the faithful friends of Christ, had no regard for what was pleasing to the flesh or what shone in this world, but all their hope and intent were fixed on eternal goodness. All his desire was raised towards invisible and perennial things, so that the love of the visible does not drag on desiring inferior things. Do not lose, my brother, the confidence to make progress in the spiritual life; you still have time and opportunity.

5. Why do you want to postpone your resolution? Get up, start now and say: Now is the time to act, now is the time to fight, now is the proper time to make amends. When you're troubled and afflicted, it's time to earn it. It is important that you go through fire and water, before you reach refreshment (Ps 65:12). If you don't do violence, you won't overcome addictions. As long as we are in this fragile body, we cannot be without sin, nor live without boredom and pain. We would well like to rest from all misery; but as through sin we lose innocence, we also lose true happiness. So we must have patience, and trust in divine mercy, until iniquity passes (Ps 52,6) and life absorbs this mortality (2Cor 5,4).

6. How great is human frailty, always inclined to evil! Today you confess your sins, and tomorrow you commit again the same ones you confessed. Now you decide to take precautions, and in an hour's time you'll be out of doors like someone who hasn't proposed. With good reason we should humble ourselves and not take ourselves too seriously, since we are so fragile and so fickle. Thus, it is easy to lose by negligence what it cost us so much to acquire with divine grace.

7. What will become of us in the end, if we are already so early as lukewarm? Woe to us, if we thus seek rest, as if we were already in peace and security, when no sign appears in our lives of true holiness. It was very necessary for us to educate ourselves again, like good novices, in good customs; perhaps that way there was hope of some future amendment and further spiritual progress.

CHAPTER 23

from death meditation

1. Your end will come very quickly in this world; see, then, how you prepare yourself: today man is alive, and tomorrow he is no more.

However, as soon as you are out of sight, you will also be out of memory. O blindness and hardness of the human heart, which only cares for the present, without looking to the future! In such a way you must exist in all your works and thoughts, as if it were already the hour of death. If you had a good conscience, you wouldn't be too afraid of death. Better to avoid sin than flee death. If you are not prepared today, how will you be tomorrow? Tomorrow is uncertain, and who knows if it will be granted to you?

2. What good is it for us to live a long time, when we have so little mended? Oh! it does not always bring amendment to long life, but it often increases guilt. I wish we had, one day, lived well in this world! Many count the years since their conversion; often, however, the fruit of amendment is little. If it is so much to fear dying, perhaps it is even more dangerous to live long. Blessed is he who always meditates on the hour of death, and makes himself available for it every day. If you have ever seen someone die, reflect that you too will pass through the same path.

3. In the morning, think that you will not arrive at night, and at night do not promise yourself the next day. That's why always walk prepared and live in such a way that you don't find death unprepared.

Many die suddenly and unexpectedly; for in the hour when one thinks least, the Son of Man will come (Lk 12:40).

When that last hour comes, you will begin to judge your entire past life very differently, and it will hurt you so much to have been so careless and remiss.

4. How happy and wise is he who seeks to be in life as he wishes death to find him. For what will give great confidence of blessed death is the perfect contempt of the world, the ardent desire for progress in virtue, love of discipline, rigor in penance, promptness in obedience, self-denial and patience in suffering, for Christ's sake, any adversity. It is very easy to do good while you are sane; but when I'm sick, I don't know what you can do. Few get better with the illness; rarely are those who go on many pilgrimages sanctified.

5. Do not trust relatives and friends, nor postpone the business of your salvation until later, because sooner than you think men will forget you. It is better to do it now and do something good than to wait for help from others. If you don't take care of yourself in the present, who will take care of you in the future?

The present time is very precious: now are the days of salvation, now is the favorable time (2 Cor 6:2). But then! How much better do you not take advantage of the means by which you can deserve to live forever! Time will come from wishing, one day, even an hour, for your amendment, and I don't know if you will achieve it.

6. Look, my dear brother, how many dangers you could be freed from and how many terrors to flee, if you were always fearful and suspicious of death. Try now to live in such a way that in the hour of death you can rejoice rather than fear. Learn now to despise everything, so you can fly freely to Christ. Now punish your body for penance, so that you can then have legitimate confidence.

7. O madman, who thinks that you live a long time, when you do not have insurance for a single day! How many have been deceived and, unexpectedly, ripped from their bodies! How many times have you heard it said: this one died by the sword; that one drowned; this other, falling from above, broke his head; one died eating, another expired playing. These are finished by fire, those by iron, some by pestilence, others by the hands of thieves, and death is the end of all, and quickly, like a shadow, man's life ends (Psalm 143,4).

8. Who will remember you after death? And who will plead for you? Do now, dearest brother, as much as you can; for thou knowest not, when thou shalt die, nor what shall befall thee after death.

While you have time, gather immortal riches. Only take care of your salvation, occupy yourself only with the things of God. Make friends now, venerating the saints of God and imitating their works, so that when you leave this life, they may receive you into eternal abodes (Lk 16:9).

9. Consider yourself a guest and a pilgrim in this world, as if you had nothing to do with the affairs of the land. Keep your heart free, and uplifted to God, because you have no permanent abode here. There direct your prayers and groans, each day, with tears, so that your soul, after death, deserves to pass blissfully on to the Lord. Amen.

CHAPTER 24

Of the judgment and penalties of sinners

1. In all things look to the end, and what fate will you be before the severe Judge from whom nothing is hidden, who does not allow himself to be appeased with gifts, nor accept excuses, but who will judge according to justice. O wretched and foolish sinner! What will you answer to God, who knows all your crimes, if at times he frightens you even in the eyes of an angry man? Why don't you take precautions for the day of judgment, when no one can be excused or defended by someone else, but each one will have enough to do for themselves? Now your work is fruitful, your tears accepted, your groaning heard, your contrition satisfying.

2. Great and healthy purgatory has in this life the patient man: if, injured, but grieved by the wickedness of others, than by his own offense; if, willingly, he pleads for his adversaries, and with all his heart forgives the grievances; if it doesn't take long to ask forgiveness of others; if it is more easily sympathetic than irritated; if he constantly does violence to himself, and strives to completely subdue the flesh to the spirit. It is better to expiate sins now and extirpate vices, than to postpone expiation until later. Indeed, we deceive ourselves by the inordinate love we have for the flesh.

3. What else is there to devour that fire but your sins? The more you spare yourself now and follow the flesh, the more cruel will be the torment afterwards and the more wood you gather for the fire. In what man has sinned most, he will be most severely punished. There the sluggards will be spurred on by burning stings, and the gluttonous will be tormented by violent hunger and thirst. The shameless and the voluptuous will be bathed in burning pitch and fetid brimstone, and the envious will howl in pain like angry dogs.

4. There is no addiction that does not have its special torment. There the proud will be overwhelmed with deep confusion, and the misers oppressed with extreme penury. An hour of torment will be crueler there than a hundred years here of the most rigorous penance. There there is no rest or consolation for the condemned, while here, at times, work ceases and our friends console us. Remember now and weep your sins, that in the day of judgment you may be safe among the chosen.

For in that day the righteous will rise up with great strength against those who oppressed and despised them (Ws 5:1).

Then shall arise to judge the One who has now humbly bowed to the judgment of men. Then the poor and the humble will have great confidence, but the proud will tremble with dread.

5. Then it will be seen that he was wise in this world who learned to be foolish and despised, for Christ's sake. Then all tribulation, suffered with patience, will be pleased, and iniquity will not open its mouth (Psalm 106:42). Then will all the godly rejoice and all the wicked will be grieved. Then more will the mortified flesh exult, which had always been nourished with delights. Then the coarse habit will shine and the precious garments will fade. Then the poor tughuri will be more fond of the golden palace. Patient constancy will be better than all the power in the world. Simple obedience will be magnified more than all the sagacity of the century.

6. More satisfaction will give pure and good conscience than learned philosophy. The contempt of riches will be worth more than all the treasures of the earth. The memory of devout prayer will console you more than that of countless banquets. You will be more glad to have kept silence than to have talked a lot. Good works will have more value than beautiful words. Austere life and arduous penance will be more pleasing than all earthly pleasures.

Learn now to suffer a little, to spare you more serious suffering in the future. Try now what you might suffer later. If you cannot now suffer so little, how will you endure the eternal torments? If the slightest inconvenience repulses you so much, then what will hell do to you? It is certain that you cannot enjoy two joys: delight yourself in this world, and then reign with Christ.

7. If until today you had always lived in honor and delight, what would you benefit from it if you had to die right now? Therefore, everything is vanity, except to love God and serve him alone. For whoever loves God with all his heart fears neither death, nor punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love gives safe access to God. But whoever still delights in sin, it is not surprising that he fears death and judgment.

However, it is good that, if love does not separate you from evil, at least the fear of hell restrains you. But he who despises the fear of God will not long be able to persevere in good, and will soon fall into the snares of the devil.

CHAPTER 25

From the diligent amendment of our whole life

1. Be vigilant and diligent in the service of God, and ask yourself at a time: what have you come to, why have you left the world? Is it not to live for God and become a spiritual man?

Tread, therefore, with fervor the path of perfection, because soon you will receive the prize of your works; neither shall thereafter afflict you fears or pains. Now you will have some work; but afterward you will find great rest and everlasting joy. If you remain faithful and diligent in your service, God will doubtless be faithful and generous in the reward. Keeps the firm hope of reaching the palm; but do not believe 2. security, lest you fall into lukewarmness or presumption.

2. A certain man who often vacillated, anxious, between fear and hope, being one day overwhelmed with sorrow, entered a church, and before an altar, prostrated in prayer, said to himself: Oh! if I knew I would persevere! And then he heard the divine answers within himself: If you knew, what would you do? Do now what you did then, and you will be quite safe. Immediately consoled, and comforted, he abandoned himself to the divine will, and the anxious perplexity ceased. He gave up the curious question about his future, instead applying himself to knowing what God's will and perfect pleasure were in order to begin and finish any good work.

Wait on the Lord and do good works, says the prophet, dwell on the earth and you will be fed with its riches (Ps 36:3). There is one thing that cools in many the fervor of progress and the zeal of amendment: the horror of difficulty or the work of struggle. What is certain is that, more than others, those who strive to overcome themselves in what is most painful to them most and oppose their inclinations the most in the virtues. Because the more a man benefits, and the more abundant grace he deserves, the more he overcomes himself and mortifies himself in the spirit.

It doesn't cost everyone equally to win and mortify themselves.

However, the diligent and perfidious man will make more progress, even though he is fought by many passions, than another of a better nature, but less fervent in acquiring the virtues.

Two ways, above all, help our amendment very much, and they become: to depart valiantly from the things to which nature is viciously inclined, and strive to acquire the virtue that is most needed. Also apply yourself to avoiding and overcoming what you dislike most about others.

3. Try to take advantage of everything: if you see or hear good examples being reported, immediately encourage yourself to imitate them; but if you notice anything reprehensible, beware of doing it, and if you have fallen in the same way, try to make amends immediately. Just as you watch others, they too watch you. What joy and love to see brothers full of fervor and pity, well used and morigerated! What sadness, however, and distress, to see them walk bewildered and careless of the exercises of their vocation! What harm to neglect the duties of the state and apply yourself to what God does not require!

4. Remember the resolution you made, and place before you the image of Jesus crucified. You will rightly be ashamed, considering the life of Jesus Christ, for until now you have so little tried to conform to it, having been so long in the way of God. The religious who, with solicitude and fervor, exercises himself in the most holy life and passion of the Lord, will find in it in abundance all that is useful and necessary for him, and will excuse himself from seeking anything better outside of Jesus. Oh! if Jesus crucified would enter our hearts, how quickly and perfectly would we be instructed!

5. A religious full of fervor supports everything willingly and does what he is told. The relaxed and lukewarm, however, encounters tribulation upon tribulation, suffering from anguish everywhere: it is that he lacks inner consolation and is forbidden to seek the outer one. The religious who transgresses the rule is exposed to great ruin. Those who seek a comfortable and less austere life will always be in anguish, because one or the other always displeases them.

6. What are so many other religious doing who keep the austere discipline of the cloister? They rarely go out, they live withdrawn, their food is meager, their habit is coarse, they work a lot, speak little, watch late, rise early, pray a lot, read often, and keep themselves in full observance. Look how the Carthusians, the Cistercians, and the monks and nuns of the various orders rise every night to praise the Lord. Shame, then, if you were lazy in such a holy work, when such a multitude of religious chants the divine psalm.

7. Oh! if you had nothing else to do but praise God Our Lord heart and mouth! Oh! if you never need to eat, or drink, or sleep, but could always attend to God's praises and spiritual exercises! Then you would be much happier than now, subject to so many demands of the body! I wish there were no such needs, but there were only those meals that - oh! - so rare we enjoy!

8. When man reaches the point of not seeking his consolation in any creature, only then does he begin to love God perfectly, and walks contentedly no matter what happens. So he does not rejoice in abundance, nor is he saddened by want, but trusts completely and faithfully in God, who is everything to him in all things, for whom nothing perishes or dies, but for whom all things live and to whose beckoning, with readiness, obey.

9. Always remember the end, and that lost time does not return.

Without effort and diligence, you will never reach the virtues. If you start being lukewarm, you'll soon get restless. If, however, you try to become fervent, you will find great peace and you will feel lighter working with the grace of God and the love of virtue. The ardent and diligent man is prepared for everything. It is more painful to resist vices and passions than to work hard at body work. Those who do not avoid small defects, little by little, fall into the big ones. You will always be happy at night, if you have used the day well. Watch over yourself, be encouraged and admonish yourself and, let others live as they live, do not neglect yourself. The more you will enjoy it, the greater the violence you do. Amen.

BOOK SECOND

EXORTATIONS TO INNER LIFE

CHAPTER 1

from the inner life

1. The kingdom of God is within you, says the Lord (Lk 17:21).

Convert to God with all your heart, make this world miserable, and your soul will find rest. Learn to despise outer things and surrender to inner things, and you will see the kingdom of God come to you. For the kingdom of God is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14, 17), which is not given to the wicked. Christ will come to you to console you, if you prepare a worthy dwelling for him within. All his glory and beauty is within (Ps 44:14), and only there is the Lord pleased. He often visits the inner man in sweet entertainment, gentle consolation, great peace, and exceedingly admirable familiarity.

2. Hey, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this Bridegroom, that he may deign to come and dwell in you. So he says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and we will come to him and make our home in him (Jn 14:23). It therefore gives way to Jesus and closes the door to everything else. If you possess Christ, you will be rich and satisfied. He himself will be your provider and faithful seeker in everything, so that you need not wait on men.

Because men are fickle and easily lack confidence, but Christ remains forever (Jn 12:34), and steadfastly accompanies us to the end.

3. We must not have great confidence in frail and mortal man, no matter how dear and useful to us; nor should we be afflicted with excesses, because from time to time he contradicts us with words or deeds. Those who are with you today, tomorrow may be against you, and vice versa, for men change like the wind. Put all your trust in God, and let him be your fear and love; he will answer for you, and do as best he sees fit. You have no permanent abode here (Hbr 13,14), and wherever you are, you are a stranger and a pilgrim; nor will you ever have rest if you are not intimately united with Jesus.

4. Why look around you if this is not your resting place? It must be your dwelling place in heaven, and as you pass by, you must look at all things on earth. All pass, and you likewise pass with them; be careful not to cling to them, lest they enslave you and lose you. To the Most High always lift your thoughts, and to Christ address your incessant supplication. If you do not know how to contemplate high and heavenly things, rest in the passion of Christ and like to dwell in his most sacred wounds. For, if you devoutly embrace the wounds and precious stigmata of Jesus, you will feel great comfort in your sorrows, you will no longer pay attention to the contempt of men and you will easily suffer their detractions.

5. Christ was also, in this world, despised of men, and in the greatest necessity, among reproaches, his acquaintances and friends forsook him. Christ wanted to suffer and be despised; and you dare complain about someone? Christ had adversity and detractors; and do you want to have them all for friends and benefactors? How can your patience be crowned if you do not encounter some adversity? If you don't want to suffer some setback, how can you be a friend of Christ? Suffer with Christ and for Christ, if you want to reign with Christ.

6. If only once you enter perfectly into the Heart of Jesus and enjoy a little of his ardent love, you would ignore your profit or harm, on the contrary, you would rejoice in the same reproaches; because the love of Jesus makes man despise himself. The lover of Jesus and the truth, and the man indeed spiritual and free from inordinate affections, may easily withdraw into God, and, rising in spirit above himself, enjoy delicious rest.

He who evaluates things for what they are, and not by the judgment and esteem of others, this is the true sage, taught more by God than by men. Whoever knows how to walk inwardly, and take little account of external things, does not need to choose a place or wait for hours to give himself exercises of piety. The inner man easily withdraws, for he never gives himself entirely to outer things. He doesn't get in the way of outside work or occupations, which are sometimes necessary, but he accommodates himself to circumstances, as they happen. Whoever has a well disposed and orderly interior does not care about the exploits and crimes of men.

Man is both embarrassed and distracted, as he meddles in external things.

7. If you were straight and pure, everything would go well for you and turn to your advantage. But because you are not yet entirely dead to yourself, nor separated from earthly things, so many things cause you grief and disturbance. Nothing so stains and embarrasses man's heart as disordered love for creatures. If you renounce outward consolations, you will be able to contemplate the things of heaven and often enjoy the inner joy.

CHAPTER 2

from humble submission

1. Don't care too much about knowing who is for you or against you; but try and seek that God be with you in everything you do. Have a good conscience and God will defend you, for whom God helps there is no evil that can harm him. If you know how to be silent and suffer, you will undoubtedly see the Lord's help. He knows the time and the way to deliver you; therefore, surrender yourself all to him. It belongs to God to relieve us and get us out of all confusion. Sometimes it is very useful, in order to better preserve our humility, for others to know our faults and rebuke us.

2. When a man humbles himself for his faults, he easily placates others and satisfies those who are angry with him. To the humble God protects and saves, to the humble he loves and consoles, to the humble he bows down, gives him abundant graces, and after dejection he rises to great honor. To the humble he reveals his secrets and with sweetness he attracts and invites him. The humble, when suffering affronts, keeps his peace, because he trusts in God and not in the world. Do not think that you have made any progress, as long as you do not recognize yourself as inferior to all.

CHAPTER 3

of the good and peaceful man

1. First keep in peace, and then you can pacify others. The passionate man converts even good into evil and easily believes in evil; the good and peaceful man, on the contrary, makes everything become good. Who is in good peace of no one suspects; the discontented and disturbed, however, is fought with various suspicions and does not settle down, nor does he allow others to settle down. He often says what he shouldn't say, and fails to do what suits him best. It attends to the obligations of others, and neglects its own. Therefore, he has zeal above all for you, and afterwards you will have it, with right, for your neighbor.

2. You know how to excuse and cover your faults, and you don't want to accept other people's excuses! It would be fairer if you accused yourself and excused your brother. Support others if you want them to support you. Note how far you are still from true charity and humility, which does not know how to be angry or indignant except against itself. It's not a big deal to get along with good, meek men, because that, of course, pleases everyone; and each one likes to live in peace and loves his likes. Living, however, in peace with harsh, perverse and ill-educated people who contradict us, is great grace and praiseworthy and manly action.

3. There are some who have peace with themselves and with others; others who have no peace nor leave it to others; they are unbearable to others, and even more unbearable to themselves. And there are others who have peace with themselves and seek it for others. All our peace, however, in this miserable life, consists more in humble resignation than in not feeling the difficulties. Who better knows how to suffer more peace will have. This one is conqueror of himself and lord of the world, friend of Christ and heir to heaven.

CHAPTER 4

Of pure mind and simple intention

1. With two wings man rises above earthly things: simplicity and purity. Simplicity must be in intention and purity in affection. Simplicity seeks God, purity embraces and enjoys him. In no good work will you find hindrance, if you are inwardly free from all disordered affection. If you only want and seek the pleasure of God and the benefit of your neighbor, you will enjoy interior freedom. If your heart is upright, every creature will be a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrines. There is no creature so small and vile that it does not represent the goodness of God.

2. If you were inwardly good and pure, you would soon see everything without difficulty and understand it well. A pure heart penetrates heaven and hell. Each one judges according to his interior. If there is joy in this world, it is the pure heart that enjoys it; if there is, anywhere, tribulation and anguish, it is the bad conscience that experiences them. As iron put into fire loses its rust and becomes all incandescent, so the man who gives himself entirely to God is freed from lukewarmness and becomes a new man.

3. When a man begins to grow tired, he soon fears the smallest work and craves outward consolations. When, however, he does begin to conquer himself and walk with courage in the way of God, the things he once found burdensome seem light.

CHAPTER 5

from self-consideration

1. We cannot trust ourselves too much, because we often lack grace and judgment. We have little light in us and it is easily lost through neglect. Nor do we ordinarily assess how much our inner blindness is. We often behave badly and apologize, which is worse. Sometimes passion moves us, and we think it's zeal. We rebuke in others the slight faults, and neglect our greatest ones. Very quickly we feel and ponder what we suffer from others, but we don't know what others suffer from us. Whoever correctly and correctly evaluated his works would not be able to judge others rigorously.

The inner man puts the care of himself before all other cares, and whoever takes care of himself with diligence easily stops talking about others. You will never be a spiritual and devout man, if you do not keep quiet about others, taking care of yourself with special care. If you take care of yourself and God, what goes on outside will move you little. Where are you when you're not with you? And, after everything has been covered, what have you gained if you have forgotten yourself? If you want to have peace and true peace, it is necessary that everything else be dispensed with, and you only have before your eyes.

2. Therefore, great progress will you make, if you keep yourself free from all temporal care; your attachment to something temporal will delay you greatly. Nothing is great, noble, accepted or pleasing to you, except God himself or whatever is of God.

Consider all consolation that comes to you from creatures in vain. The soul that loves God despises everything that is below God. Only the eternal and immense God, who fills everything, is the comfort of the soul and the true joy of the heart.

CHAPTER 6

From the joy of good conscience

1. The glory of the virtuous man is the testimony of a good conscience. Keep your conscience pure, and you will always have joy. A good conscience can bear a great deal and remains happy, even in adversity. A bad conscience is always fearful and restless. Gentle peace you will enjoy, if your heart accuses you of nothing. Do not be satisfied until you have done some good. The wicked never have real joy or feel inner peace; for there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord (Is 57, 21). And if they say: We live in peace, there is no harm that can befall us, and who will dare to offend us? - do not give them credit, for suddenly the wrath of God will be raised, and then their works will be annihilated and their purposes frustrated.

2. It is not difficult for the one who loves to boast in the tribulation; for to glory in this way is to glory in the cross of the Lord (Gal 6:14).

The glory that men give and receive does not last. The glory of the world is always accompanied by sadness. The glory of the good is in the conscience itself, not in the mouths of men.

The joy of the righteous is from God and in God, their joy comes from the truth. Whoever desires true and eternal glory ignores the temporal. And whoever seeks temporal glory or does not despise it at all, shows that he has little love for the heavenly.

Great tranquility of the heart enjoys the one who does not pay attention to praise or blame.

3. It is easy to be content and at ease with a pure conscience.

You are no longer holy because they praise you, nor worse because you are reproached. You are what you are, nor can praises make you greater than you are in the eyes of God. If you consider what you are inside, you will ignore what men tell you. Man sees the face, God the heart (1 Kings 16:7). Man notices actions, but God weighs intentions. Always doing well and taking a small account of yourself is an indication of a humble soul. Rejecting all creature comforts is a sign of great purity and inner confidence.

4. He who does not seek the favorable testimony of men shows that he is completely surrendered to God. Because, as St. Paul says, the one who recommends himself is not approved, but the one who is recommended by God (2 Cor 10:18). Walking inwardly with God, without being tied to any human affection, is characteristic of the spiritual man.

CHAPTER 7

Jesus' love above all things

1. Blessed is he who understands what it means to love Jesus and despise himself for Jesus' sake. For this love you must leave anyone else, because Jesus wants to be loved above all. Creature love is deceitful and fickle; the love of Jesus is faithful and unshakable. Attached to the creature, you will fall with it, which is unstable; embraced with Jesus, you will be steadfast forever. Love him and keep him as a friend who will not forsake you when all forsake you, nor will he allow you to perish in the supreme hour. One day you will separate yourself from all, whether you like it or not.

2. Come close to Jesus in life and in death; Surrender yourself to his fidelity, that only He can help you, when everyone is lacking. Your Beloved is of such a nature that he admits no rival: He only wants to possess your heart and reign in it as king on his throne. If you knew how to detach yourself from every creature, Jesus would find pleasure in living with you. When you trust men, apart from Jesus, you will see that you are lost. Do not trust or stand on the shifting reed: for all flesh is hay, and all its glory withers away like the flower of the field (Is 40:6).

3. You will easily be deceived if you only look at the appearances of men. If you look for relief and benefit in others, you will almost always have a loss. Look for Jesus in all things, and Jesus you will find. If you seek yourself, you will also find yourself, but to your ruin. For the man who does not seek Jesus is more harmful to himself than the whole world and all its enemies.

CHAPTER 8

From the familiar friendship with Jesus

1. When Jesus is present, everything is smooth and nothing seems difficult; but when Jesus is absent, everything becomes painful. When Jesus does not speak to the heart, no consolation is of value; but if Jesus speaks a single word, we feel great relief. Didn't Mary Magdalene get up straight away from the place where she was weeping, when Martha said to her: Is the Master there and calling you? (Jn 11:28). Blessed hour, when Jesus calls you from tears to the joy of the spirit! How dry and arid you are without Jesus! How foolish and vain, if you want anything else, apart from Jesus! Is this not greater harm than if the whole world were to be lost?

2. What can the world give you without Jesus? Being without Jesus is terrible hell, being with Jesus is sweet paradise. If Jesus is with you, no enemy can offend you. Whoever finds Jesus finds a precious treasure, or rather, the good above all good; whoever loses Jesus loses much more than if he lost the whole world. Very poor is someone who lives without Jesus, and very rich is someone who is well with Jesus.

3. It is great art to know how to converse with Jesus, and great prudence to keep him with you. Be humble and peaceable, and Jesus will be with you; be devout and quiet, and Jesus will remain with you.

You can quickly chase away Jesus and lose his grace if you are inclined to outward things; and if you push him away and lose him, where will you go and who will you look for as a friend? Without a friend you cannot live, and if Jesus is not your friend above all, you will be very sad and heartbroken. Therefore, you madly proceed, if in any other you trust and rejoice. Rather than having the whole world as an adversary, than offending Jesus. Above all your friends, therefore, may Jesus be loved in a special way.

4. Be free and pure within yourself, without attachment to any creature. You must let go of everything and offer God a pure heart, if you want to settle down and see how gentle the Lord is.

And, indeed, you will not succeed if you are not forewarned and attracted by his grace, so that, leaving and dismissing everything else, you are only united with him. For, when the grace of God assists him, man is capable of everything; and when she withdraws, she is soon poor and weak, as if abandoned to punishment. Even so, you must not be discouraged or despair, but rather resign yourself to the will of God, and suffer whatever happens to you, for the honor of Jesus; for winter follows summer, after night the day returns, and after the storm the calm reigns.

CHAPTER 9

From the deprivation of all consolation

1. It is not difficult to despise human consolations when we enjoy divine ones. A great thing, however, and most meritorious, is to be able to be without consolation, both divine and human, willingly suffering the helplessness of the heart, 2. without in the least seeking oneself, nor attending to one's own merit. How wonderful it will be to be joyful and devoted, when grace assists you! This hour is longed for by all. It is a very smooth walk, carried by the grace of God.

And how wonderful not to feel the burden of one who is supported by the Almighty and accompanied by the supreme guide!

2. We like to have any consolation, and it is painful for man to divest himself of himself. The glorious martyr St. Lawrence conquered the world in union with his spiritual father, because he despised all the attractions of the century and patiently suffered, for Christ's sake, to be separated from the Supreme Pontiff St. Schist whom he loved so much! Thus, with the love of God, he subjugated creature love, and to human relief he preferred divine good pleasure. Then you learn to leave, sometimes, for the love of God, a dear relative or friend. Don't be so distressed if a friend leaves you, knowing that we will all finally separate from each other.

3. It is only with hard and long interior combat that man learns to dominate himself fully and to put all his affection on God.

When man trusts himself, he easily slips into human consolations. But the true friend of Christ and the earnest imitator of his virtues does not incline to consolations or seek such sensible sweetness; rather, he seeks austere exercises and suffers painful labors for Christ.

4. When, therefore, God sends you spiritual consolation, receive it with thanksgiving, but always remember that it is God's mercy and not yours. With this, however, do not fade away, nor indulge in excessive joy or vain conceit; rather be more humble for the gift received, more prudent and timid in your actions, for that hour will pass and temptation will return. When consolation is taken away from you, do not despair at once, wait, on the contrary, with humility and patience, for the heavenly visit; for God is mighty enough to restore thee greater grace and comfort. This is neither new nor strange to those experienced in the ways of God; because in the great saints and ancient prophets there was this change many times.

5. Therefore one of them, feeling the presence of grace, exclaimed: I said in my abundance: I will never be shaken (Ps 29:7). However, feeling grace withdraw, he adds: You turned your face away from me, Lord, and I was troubled (v.8). However, he does not despair, but more earnestly he pleads with the Lord, and says: To you, Lord, I will cry, and to my God I will pray (v.9). Finally, he attains the fruit of his prayer and attests to having been answered, saying: The Lord has heard me, and he has pity on me, the Lord has become my protector (v.11). But on what?

You have turned, he says, my weeping into joy, and you have surrounded me with joy (v.12). If this happened to the great saints, we must not despair of ourselves, weak and poor, because we feel at times with fervor, at other times with coldness, because the spirit of God comes and goes, as he pleases. That is why the holy Job says: Lord, you visit man at dawn, and immediately try him (7:18).

6. What then can I hope or trust, if not in the great mercy of God and the hope of heavenly grace? For either righteous men watch me, devout brethren and faithful friends, or holy books and beautiful treatises, or soft songs and hymns, all this serves me little and pleases me little, when I am forsaken of grace and given up to my own poverty. There is then no better medicine than God.

7. I have never met a man so religious and devout, who did not sometimes suffer the subtraction of grace and felt the cooling of his fervor. No saint was so highly caught up and enlightened that, sooner or later, he was not tempted. Because it is not worthy of the high contemplation of God who for God has not suffered any tribulation. Temptation usually comes first, as a precursor to the next consolation; for those tried by temptation are promised heavenly comfort. Whoever has overcome, says the Lord, I will feed the fruit of the tree of life (Rev 2:7).

8. Give God consolation, to strengthen man against adversity. Temptation then follows, lest happiness fade away. The devil does not sleep, nor is the flesh already dead; therefore, never cease to equip yourself for the battle, because to the right and to the left are your enemies who never rest.

CHAPTER 10

Of thanksgiving for the grace of God

1. What are you looking for rest if you were born to work?

Dispose yourself more to patience than to consolation, more to carry the cross than to have joy. Who among worldlings would not gladly accept spiritual consolation and joy, if they could always have it at their disposal? Spiritual consolations exceed all the delights of the world and all the delights of the flesh. For all the delights of the world are either vain or base, and only those of the spirit are gentle and honest, born of virtues and infused by God into pure souls. But no one can achieve these divine consolations according to his desire, because the war of temptation does not cease for a long time.

2. A great obstacle to heavenly visits is the false freedom of the spirit and too much self-confidence. God does good by giving us the grace of consolation; but man does wrong by not giving everything back to God, with thanksgiving. And if we are not infused with the gifts of grace, it is because we are ungrateful to the Author, not attributing everything to the original source. For God always grants grace to those who worthily show themselves grateful, and take from the proud what he usually gives to the humble.

3. I do not want a consolation that takes away my compunction, nor do I want a contemplation that seduces me into fading; for not everything that is sublime is holy, not everything that is pleasant is good, not every desire is pure, not everything that delights us pleases God. I willingly accept grace, which makes me humble and timid and makes me better disposed to renounce myself. The man instructed by grace and experienced in its subtraction will not dare to attribute himself any good, but will recognize his poverty and nakedness. Give to God what is God's, and ascribe to you what is yours; that is, give thanks to God for grace, and to you alone do you attribute the guilt and punishment that the guilt deserves.

4. Always place yourself in the lowest place, and they will give you the highest, because the highest does not exist without the support of the lowest. The greatest saints before God are those who think themselves less, and the more glorious, the more humble they are in their concept. As they are full of truth and heavenly glory, they covet not vain glory. In God founded and established, nothing can make you proud.

Ascribing to God all the good they have received, they do not claim one another's glory; they only want the glory that comes from God; their only end, their constant desire, is that he be praised in them and in all the saints, above all things.

5. Give thanks, therefore, for the smallest benefits and the biggest you will deserve.

Considers very little, and the smallest gift for a singular gift. If we consider the greatness of the benefactor, there is no gift that is small or of little value; for the gift that comes to us from the sovereign Lord cannot be small. Even when He gives us pains and punishments, we must thank Him, because it is always for our salvation that He allows us to happen. If you desire God's grace, be grateful when you receive it and patient when you lose it. Pray for her to come back, be cautious and humble so that you don't lose her.

CHAPTER 11

How few are those who love the cross of Jesus

1. Many find Jesus now appreciative of his heavenly kingdom; but few who want to carry their cross. He has many thirsting for consolation, but few for tribulation; many companions at his table, but few of his abstinence. Everyone wants to make fun of him, few suffer anything for him. Many follow Jesus until the breaking of the bread, few until they drink the cup of passion. Many worship his miracles, but few embrace the ignominy of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as they do not encounter adversity. Many praise and bless Him, while receiving some consolations from Him; if, however, Jesus hides and leaves them for a while, they immediately fall into complaints and excessive discouragement.

2. But those who love Jesus for Jesus himself and not for his own satisfaction praise Him in tribulations and anguish, as well as in the greatest consolation. And since consolation was never given them, they would always praise Him and give thanks.

3. Oh! How much can the pure love of Jesus, without a mixture of interest or self-love! Are not those who are always seeking consolations mercenaries? Are not those who are ever mindful of their rooms and interests love themselves more than Christ? Where will one find anyone who wants to serve God selflessly?

4. It is rare to find a man so spiritual that he is detached from everything. For the truly poor in spirit and detached from every creature - who will discover him? Precious treasure that must be sought in the ends of the world (Prov 31:10). If man gives all the fortune, it is nothing. And if you do great penance, it's still too little. Understand though all the sciences, they are still a long way off. And if he has great virtue of ardent devotion, he still lacks much, namely: something that is most necessary for him. What is this thing? That, having left everything behind, he leaves himself and leaves himself completely, without reserving any self-love, and, having done everything he knew how to do, recognize that he did nothing.

5. Don't take into account the little that can be evaluated as great in it: rather, honestly confess that you are a useless servant, as the Truth teaches us. When you have fulfilled all that is commanded you, say: We are useless servants (Lk 17:10). Then, yes, man will be able to call himself truly poor in spirit and say with the prophet: I am poor and alone in this world (Ps 24:16). However, no one is more powerful, no one more free than the one who knows how to leave himself and all things and put himself in the last place.

CHAPTER 12

from the royal road of santa cruz

1. To many this word seems harsh: renounce yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ (Mt 16:24). Much harder, however, will be to hear that final sentence: Depart from me, cursed ones, into the eternal fire (Mt 25:41). For those who now hear and meekly follow the word of the cross will not then fear the sentence of eternal damnation. This sign of the cross will be in heaven when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who in life conform to Christ crucified, will come with great confidence to Christ the Judge.

2. Why then are you afraid to take up the cross, by which one walks into the kingdom of heaven? On the cross is salvation, on the cross life, on the cross protection against enemies, on the cross the abundance of divine gentleness, on the cross the strength of the heart, on the cross the compendium of virtues, on the cross the perfection of holiness. There is no soul salvation, no hope of life, except on the cross.

So take up your cross, follow Jesus and you will enter into eternal life. The Lord went ahead, with the cross on his back, and in it he died for your love, so that you too may carry your cross and in it may wish to die. For if you die with him, you will also live with him. And if you are his companion in pen, you will also be in glory.

3. Verily, on the cross everything depends, and in dying to self everything is; there is no other way to life and true inner peace than the way of the holy cross and continual mortification. Go wherever you like, seek as much as you like, and you will find no more sublime way above nor safer below than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything according to your desire and seem, and you will see that you will always have to suffer something, good or bad for you; which means that you will always find the cross. Or you will feel pain in the body, or tribulations in the spirit.

4. Now you will be forsaken from God, now persecuted by your neighbor, and what is worse you will often be annoyed to yourself. And there will be no remedy and no comfort that can deliver or relieve you; you must suffer as long as God wills. For God wants to teach you to suffer the tribulation without relief, so that you may submit to him completely and make yourself more humble through the tribulation.

No one feels the passion of Christ so vividly as one who has gone through such sufferings. The cross, then, is always prepared and awaits you in any place. You cannot run away from it, wherever you turn, for wherever you go, you will take yourself with you and you will always find yourself.

Turn up or down, turn outward or inward, everywhere you will find the cross; and it is necessary that you always have patience, if you are to attain peace of soul and deserve the eternal crown.

5. If you carry the cross willingly, it will take you and lead you to the desired end, where suffering ends, even though it is not in this world. If you take it unwillingly, your weight increases and you impose a greater burden on yourself; however it is imperative that you carry it. If you reject a cross, you will no doubt find another, perhaps heavier.

6. Do you think to escape that which no mortal could escape? What saint was there in the world without tribulation? Not even Jesus Christ, Our Lord, was an hour, in all his life, without pain and suffering. It was fitting, he said, that Christ should suffer and rise from the dead, and thus enter into his glory (Lk 24:26). How, then, do you seek another way that is not the real way of the holy cross?

7. The whole life of Christ was cross and martyrdom; and you are only looking for rest and enjoyment? You are wrong, and very wrong, if you seek something else and not sufferings and tribulations; for all this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses. And the more a person makes progress in the spiritual life, the more crosses he often encounters, because love makes exile more painful for him.

8. But, despite so many afflictions, man is not without the relief of consolation, because he feels the great fruit that comes to his soul through the suffering of the cross. For when he gladly takes her on his back, the full weight of the tribulation is converted to trust in divine consolation. And the more the flesh is crucified by affliction, the more the spirit is strengthened by inward grace. And, at times, he is so strengthened, for the love of the pains and tribulations that, in order to conform to the cross of Christ, he would not want to be without pain and suffering, because he thinks he is all the more accepted by God, the more and greater evils he suffers. for your love. This is not human virtue, but the grace of Christ, which can and does so much in the fragile flesh, that the spirit ardently embraces and loves that which nature hates and flees.

It is not in accordance with human inclination to carry the cross, love the cross, cartise the body and impose subjection on it, flee from honor, accept insults, despise oneself and wish to be despised, bear the afflictions and misfortunes and not crave no prosperity in this world. If you look only at yourself, you recognize that you are capable of none of this.

But if you trust in God, strength will be given you from heaven, and the world and the flesh will be subject to your command. Nor will you fear the infernal enemy if you are shielded in faith and armed with the cross of Christ.

9. Therefore, as a good and faithful servant of Christ, be willing to carry your Lord's cross for your crucified love. Prepare yourself to suffer many setbacks and inconveniences in this miserable life, because everywhere, wherever you are, or hide, you will find them. It should be so, and there is no other remedy against the tribulation of pain and evil than to suffer them patiently. Drink generously the cup of the Lord if you want to be his friend and share with him. Give your consolations to God, so that he can dispose of them as he pleases. You, however, are willing to bear the tribulations and consider them the most precious consolations, since the pains of time are not proportionate to the future glory (Rom 8:18) that we shall deserve, even if you only owe them suffer all.

10. When you reach such a point that the tribulation is sweet and kind to you for Christ's sake, be happy, for you have found paradise on earth. While suffering bothers you and you try to flee from it, you are doing badly, and the fear of tribulation persecutes you everywhere.

If you decide to do what you must, that is, to suffer and die, you will soon feel better and find peace. Even if you were taken, with S.Paulo, to the third heaven, you would not be free from suffering some setback. I, says Jesus, will show them how much they will have to suffer for my name (Acts 9,16). Therefore, you have nothing but to suffer if you intend to love and serve Jesus forever.

I wish you were worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus!

What great glory would result to you, what joy to the saints of God, and what an edification to others! Because everyone recommends patience, even if few want to practice it. You should rightly suffer this little for Christ's sake, when many suffer incomparably greater things for the world.

3. Know and take it for granted that your life must be a continual death, and the more each one dies to himself, the more he begins to live for God. Only those who, through Christ, resolve to suffer all adversity are able to understand the things of heaven. Nothing in this world is more pleasing to God, nor more profitable to you, than to suffer him willingly for Christ. And if you were given the choice, you should rather want to suffer adversity, for Christ's sake, than to be recreated with many consolations, because in this way you would be more like Christ, and more like all the saints. For our merit and spiritual progress does not consist in having many sweets and consolations, but in suffering great anguish and tribulation.

4. If there had been anything better and more profitable for the salvation of men than to suffer, Christ would certainly have taught it by word and example. For he clearly exhorts his disciples and all who desire to follow him to take up the cross, saying: Whoever will come after me, renounce himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Lk 9,23). Let this be the final result of all lessons and studies: We must go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:21).

BOOK THIRD

OF THE INTERIOR CONSOLATION

CHAPTER 1

Of Christ's intimate communication with the faithful soul

1. I will hear what the Lord my God says in me (Ps 84:9).

Blessed is the soul who hears the voice of the Lord within himself and receives words of comfort from his lips! Blessed are the ears that hear the breath of the divine whisper and pay no heed to the suggestions of the world! Blessed, yes, the ears that do not respond to the voices that roar outside, but to the Truth that teaches them within! Blessed are the eyes that are closed to outer things and open to inner things! Blessed are those who penetrate inner things and strive, with continual exercises of piety, to understand ever better the celestial arcana. Blessed are those who gladly surrender to God and free themselves from all the efforts of the world.

Consider this well, O my soul, and close the doors of sense, that you may hear what the Lord your God speaks in you. Here is what your Beloved says to you: I am your salvation, your peace and your life. Stay with me and you will find peace. Leave all things transitory and seek eternal ones. What is all temporal, if not seductive deception? And what good are all creatures to you, if the Creator abandons you? Therefore, renounce everything, surrender yourself docile and faithful to your Creator, so that you can reach true happiness.

CHAPTER 2

That the truth speaks within us, without the clatter of words

1. Speak, Lord, that your servant listens: I am your servant, give me intelligence so that I may know your teachings.

Incline my heart to the words of your mouth; let your speech penetrate it like dew (1 Kings 3.10; Ps 118.36.125; Dt 32.2). The children of Israel once said to Moses: Speak to us and we will hear you; the Lord does not speak to us, so that we do not die (Ex 20:19). Not so, Lord, not so, I beseech you; but, like the prophet Samuel, humble and anxious, I beseech you: Speak, Lord, that your servant hears. Do not speak Moses or any of the prophets, but speak to me of you, Lord God, who inspired and enlightened all the prophets, for without them you can teach me perfectly, while they, without you, give me nothing would do.

2. They may well speak words, but they cannot give the spirit; they speak very elegantly, but if you remain silent, they do not inflame the heart. Teach the letter; but you explain the meaning. They propose the mysteries, but you discover the meaning of the figures. They proclaim the commandments, but you help to keep them. They show the way, but you give the strength to follow it. They water the surface, but you give the fruitfulness. They cry out with words, but you give intelligence to the ear.

3. So, Moses, do not speak to me, but you, Lord my God, Eternal Truth, lest I die without having obtained any fruit, if I am only admonished on the outside and not scorched inwardly; and let not my condemnation be the word heard and not practiced, known and not loved, created and not observed. - Speak therefore, Lord, that your servant hears; because you have the words of eternal life (1 Kings 3.10; John 6.69).

Speak to me for the consolation of my soul and the mending of my life, also for your praise, glory, and perpetual honor.

CHAPTER 3

How the words of God are to be listened to with humility and how many do not ponder them

1. Jesus: Listen, son, to my words, most gentle words that exceed all knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of this world.

My words are spirit and life (Jn 6:64), and must not be interpreted humanly. They are not to be abused to vain complacency, but are to be listened to in silence and received with the utmost humility and great affection.

2. The soul: And I said, Blessed is the man whom you instruct, O Lord, and teach him your law, to ease his evil days, and to give him comfort in this world (Ps 93:12:13).

3. Jesus: I, says the Lord, have taught the prophets from the beginning, and even now I do not cease to speak to them all; but many are insensitive and deaf to my voice. To many the voice of the world is more pleasing than that of God; more easily follow the appetites of the flesh than the divine precept. The world promises only temporal and petty things and is served with great ardor; I promise sublime and eternal goods, and find only coldness in the hearts of mortals. Who is there who serves me and obeys me in everything with as much commitment as he serves the world and its masters? Be ashamed, Sidon, says the sea (Is23:4). And if you want to know why, listen to the reason: For a small salary, great journeys are undertaken, and for eternal life many do not even take a step. Vile profit is sought; for a penny sometimes there are nasty fights; for a trifle and petty promise fatigue is not feared,neither by day nor by night.

But what a shame! For the unchanging good, for the priceless prize, for the supreme honor and for the never-ending glory, the least effort tires us. Be ashamed therefore, lazy and murmuring servant, that worldlings are more solicitous to perdition than thou to salvation.

They look more for vanity than you for the truth. However, not infrequently, their hope deceives them; but my promise to none fails, nor dismisses with empty hands the one who trusts in me. I will give what I promised, I will keep what I said, as long as you persevere faithfully in my love until the end. I am the one who pays all the good ones and subjects all devotees to hard tests.

Engrave my words in your heart and meditate on them carefully, because they will be very necessary for you in the hour of temptation. Things that you don't understand now when you read, you will understand when I visit you. In two ways I usually visit my chosen ones: for temptation and for consolation. And I give you two lessons each day: in one I rebuke their vices and in another I exhort them to progress in virtue. Whoever hears my word and despises it will be judged by it on the last day.

4. Prayer to implore the grace of devotion 4. The soul: My Lord and my God! You are all my good. And who am I to dare speak to you? I am your very poor servant, a vile little worm, much poorer and more despicable than I know and dare say. Remember, Lord, that You are good, just, and holy; you can do everything, give everything, fill everything, and only the sinner do you leave empty. Remember your mercies (Ps 24:6) and fill my heart with your grace, for you do not want your works to be fruitless.

5. How can I, in this miserable life, bear myself if your grace and mercy do not comfort me? Do not turn your face away from me, do not delay your visit, do not take your comfort from me, lest my soul remain before you like a land without water (Ps 142, 6). Teach me, Lord, to do your will (Ps 142, 10), teach me to walk in your presence, worthy and humbly; for ye are my wisdom, who verily know me before the world was made, and before I was born on earth.

CHAPTER 4

That we must walk before God in truth and humility

1. Jesus: Son, walk before me in truth and always seek me with simplicity of heart. Whoever walks before me will actually be defended from enemy attacks, and the truth will deliver him from the deceptions and murmurings of the wicked.

If you free the truth, you will be truly free and ignore the vain words of men.

2. The soul: Truth is, Lord, what you say; I ask you to do this with me. May your truth teach me, defend me and keep me until my healthy end. She will free me from all bad affection and unruly love, and so I can walk with you, with great freedom of heart.

3. Jesus: I will teach you, says the Truth, what is fair and pleasing in my eyes. Remember your sins with great pain and regret and never be lost by your good works. Indeed, you are a sinner, subject to many passions and caught in their bonds. From you you always lean towards nothingness; quickly you fall, soon you are defeated, then troubled, then discouraged. You have nothing that you can boast about; but too much to humble you; for you are much weaker than you can imagine.

4. Nothing, then, that you make seems to you great, nothing precious and admirable, nothing worthy of esteem, nothing noble, nothing truly praiseworthy and desirable, but that which is eternal.

Above all, you like the eternal truth, and you dislike your extreme vileness. Fear nothing, nothing reproach and flee as much as your vices of sins, which should sadden you more than any material damage. Some do not walk before me simply, but, curious and arrogant, pretend to know my secrets and understand the sublime mysteries of God, neglecting themselves and their salvation. These, because of their pride and curiosity, often fall into great temptations and sins, because I turn away from them.

5. Fear the judgments of God, tremble at the wrath of the Almighty. Do not want to discuss the works of the Most High; rather examine your iniquities, how much wrong you have done, and how much good you have failed to do through negligence. Some put all their devotion in books, others in images, others in signs and outward exercises. Some carry me in their mouths, but very little in their hearts. There are others, however, who, enlightened in their understanding and purified in their affection, always yearn for eternal good; they don't like to hear about earthly things, and with distaste they satisfy the demands of nature; these perceive what the Spirit of Truth tells them. For it teaches them to despise earthly things and love heavenly things, to forget the world and aspire to heaven day and night.

CHAPTER 5

Of the marvelous effects of divine love

1. The soul: I bless you, heavenly Father, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, for having deigned to remember me, poor creature. O Father of mercy and God of all comfort!

(2Cor 1,3), I thank you that, despite my unworthiness, you sometimes recreate me with your consolation. Be forever blessed and glorified, with your only-begotten Son and the consoling Holy Spirit, to all ages. Ah! Lord God, holy friend of my soul, so much so that you enter my heart, exult with joy in my interior. You are my glory and the joy of my heart; you are my hope and my refuge in the day of tribulation.

2. But as I am still weak in love and imperfect in virtue, I need to be comforted and comforted by you; so visit me more often and instruct me in holy doctrines. Deliver me from bad passions and heal my heart from all disordered affections, so that I, healed and purified inwardly, may be able to love, strong to suffer and constant to persevere.

3. Jesus: Love is great! It is a truly priceless good that in itself makes what is difficult smooth and endures all adversity serenely. Because it takes the load without feeling its weight and makes the bitter sweet and tasty. Jesus' love is generous, inspires great actions and always excites us to the highest perfection. Love always tends towards the heights and does not let itself be trapped by inferior things. Love desires to be free and free from all worldly attachments, not to be hindered in its intimate affection or embarrassed by any discomfort. Nothing sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing more delicious, nothing more perfect or better in heaven and on earth; for love proceeds from God, and in God it can only rest, above all creatures.

4. Whoever loves, flies, runs, lives happily, is free and without embarrassment. He gives everything for everything and possesses everything in all things, because above all things he rests in the Supreme Good, from which all good flows and proceeds. He does not look to gifts, but rises above all goods even to the One who bestows them. Love often knows no limits, but its ardor exceeds every measure. Love doesn't feel weight, ignores fatigue and wants to undertake more than it can; he does not excuse himself from the impossibility, since everything seems to him lawful and possible. That is why he is capable of doing everything and works, while the one who does not love faints and falls.

5. Love is always vigilant, and even in sleep it does not sleep. No fatigue tires him, no anguish afflicts him, no fear frightens him, but like a living flame the burning flame bursts upward and passes onward. Only those who love understand what it is to love. The affection of the soul that says: My God, my love! You are all mine, and I am all yours!

1. The soul: Expand my love, so that I may, in the depths of my heart, taste how sweet it is to love, in love I melt and swim. Hold me to love, and lift me above me, in a transport of excessive fervor. Let me sing the song of love, follow you on high, O my Beloved, let my soul faint in our praise, in the joy of love. I love you more than I love you, and I love you only for your sakes, and in you all who truly love you, as the law of love that flows from you commands.

2. Love is prompt, sincere, pious, joyful, and loving; strong, long-suffering, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, virile and never looking for himself. For as soon as someone looks for himself, he loses love. Love is circumspect, humble and upright; it is not slack, it is not frivolous, nor cares for vain things; it is sober, chaste, steady, quiet, demure in all its senses. Love is submissive and obedient to superiors, but in its own eyes it is vile and despicable; devout and grateful to God, he trusts and hopes for him always, even when he is disconsolate, because in love one cannot live without pain.

3. Whoever is not willing to suffer everything and do the Beloved's will is not worthy to be called a lover. He who loves must embrace for his Beloved, willingly, everything that is hard and bitter and does not depart from him for any setback.

CHAPTER 6

the proof of true love

1. Jesus: Son, you are not yet strong or prudent in love. - The soul: Why, Lord? - Jesus: Because for any setback you leave the beginning and with excessive eagerness you seek consolation. The man strong in love stands firm in temptation and does not believe the cunning suggestions of the enemy. As I like in prosperity, I don't dislike in tribulations.

1. One who loves discreetly does not consider the gift of the one who loves as much as the love of the one who gives. It attends to the 2. intention rather than the value of the gift, and to all gifts it esteems less than the Beloved. Whoever loves nobly does not rest in the gift, but in me above all the gifts.

All is not lost if you feel at times less devotion to me or my saints than you wish.

That tender and sweet feeling that you sometimes experience is an effect of present grace, a kind of foretaste of the heavenly homeland; in it you must not stand too much, for it comes and goes. But fighting against the evil movements of the heart and despising the devil's suggestions is a sign of virtue and great merit.

2. Do not be disturbed, then, by strange imaginations, arising from any matter. Keep your purpose firm, and your right intention fixed on God. It is no illusion that you are ever suddenly caught up in ecstasy, and soon after you fall back into the usual ravings of the heart. Because you suffer more against their will than you are the cause of them, and while they displease you and repel them, they will be for you an occasion of merit and not of perdition.

3. Know that the ancient enemy is in every way endeavoring to prevent your good wishes and to depart from all devout exercises, namely the veneration of the saints, the devout memory of my passion, the salutary remembrance of sins, of vigilance over one's own heart and a firm resolve to benefit from virtue. It suggests to you many bad thoughts to bore you and horror and turn you away from prayer and spiritual reading. He is very displeased with humble confession and, if he could, he would make you abandon communion. Don't give them credit, don't pay attention to it, since it often creates snares and deceptions. Take into account the bad and dishonest thoughts it suggests. Say to him: Depart, unclean, wretched, shameless spirit; How perverse you must be to insinuate such things to me! Get out of here, evil seducer,thou shalt have no part in me, that Jesus will be with me, like an invincible warrior, and thou shalt be confounded. Before I want to die and suffer all the torments, than to do your will; shut up and be silent; I won't listen to you, however much you bother me.

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom I will fear.

Rise up against me though an army, will not fear my heart. The Lord is my help and my Savior (Ps 26, 1,6; 18,17).

4. Fight like a good soldier and, if you ever fall out of weakness, charge back greater strength than before, making sure you will receive more copious grace; but be very careful against vain complacency and pride. For lack of this vigilance, many are mistaken and sometimes fall into incurable blindness. May the ruin of these haughty ones, who madly presume on themselves, be of caution and preserve you in the virtue of humility.

CHAPTER 7

How to hide grace under the guard of humility

1. Jesus: Son, it is very useful and safe for you to cover up the grace of devotion, without fading away or worrying too much about it; I would rather despise yourself and fear that you are not worthy of the grace received. It is important not to be too attached to such feelings, which can quickly change into opposites. With grace present, ponder how miserable and poor you are without it. Progress in the spiritual life does not consist so much in having the grace of consolation, but in supporting its privation with humility, self-denial and patience, so that you do not slack off in the exercise of prayer, nor give up all the other good works you used to. practice.

Rather, do everything willingly, as best you can and understand, nor neglect yourself completely because of spiritual dryness and anxieties.

2. There are many who let themselves be carried away by impatience and discouragement as soon as things do not go as they wish. For his way is not always in man's hands (Jer 10,23), but it belongs to God to console and give grace whenever he wants, and as much as he likes, to whomever he likes, everything as he pleases, neither more nor less. Some reckless ones were lost because of the grace of devotion, because they wanted to do more than they could, not weighing up the weakness of their strength, and following the impulse of the heart more than the dictates of reason.

And because they assumed things of themselves very quickly they lost their grace. Those who wanted to put their nest in heaven fell greater than God had determined, into poverty and despondency, so that, humiliated and impoverished, they could learn not to fly with their own wings, but to wait in the shadow of mine. New and newcomers to the way of the Lord can easily be deceived and lost if they do not take counsel with experienced men.

3. These, if they would rather follow their own opinion than rely on the advice of experienced people, put their salvation at great risk if they continue to cling to their opinion. Those who consider themselves to be wise rarely allow themselves to be guided by others. It is better to know and understand little, humbly, than to possess treasures of science and presume on yourself. It's better for you to have less than too much, if with too much pride comes. It is not wise enough for those who give themselves all to joy, forgetting the old poverty and the chaste fear of God who is always afraid of losing the grace given. Nor does much virtue denote giving oneself up to despondency in times of adversity and for any setback, without putting in me the due confidence.

4. Those who feel very secure in peacetime often prove to be shy and cowardly in wartime. If you know how to always keep yourself humble and small in your mind, and govern your spirit with moderation, you will not fall so quickly into temptation and sin. It is advisable, when you feel fervor of spirit, to meditate on what will become of you, withdrawing this grace. And when this actually happens, think that the light may return, which I took away from you for a while, for your caution and my glory.

5. Such an ordeal is often more profitable to you than if everything came out according to your desire. For man's merits are not to be judged by many visions and consolations, nor by skill in the Scriptures, nor by elevation of office. But, in order to know the value of each one, consider: whether it is based on true humility and lives full of God's love; if he ever seeks the honor of God with pure and upright intent; if he despises himself, he takes no notice of himself, and if he likes to be despised and humiliated rather than esteemed by men.

CHAPTER 8

Of the vile esteem of yourself in the eyes of God

1. The soul: I will speak to my Lord, even if it is dust and ashes (Gen 18:27). If I consider myself more, behold, you rise up against me, and the true testimony which my sins bear I cannot contradict. But if you consider me vile and annihilate me, leaving all the vain esteem of myself, and reduce me to dust, which I am, your grace will be propitious to me, and your light will come into my heart, and every feeling of self-love, however small, will be lost in the abyss of my nothingness and will perish forever. There you let me know what I am, what I was, what point I have reached; because I am nothing - and did not know it. Left to myself, I am pure nothingness and the same weakness; so much so, however, that you cast a glance at me, I soon feel strong and full of new joy. And it is great wonder that you so wisely lift me and so benignly embrace me,that by its own weight I always fall to the earth.

2. This is the work of your love, which freely prevents me, assisting me in a thousand needs, keeping me from harm, in fact, infinite. I lost myself, inordinately loving myself; but, seeking you only, and loving with pure love, I found myself and you too, and this love made me even deeper into my nothingness.

For you, O sweetest Lord, treat me beyond my merit, and more than I dare hope or ask.

3. Blessed are you, my God, for though I am unworthy of all good, still your liberality and infinite goodness do not cease to do good even to the ungrateful and to those who are separated from you. Convert us to you, that we may be grateful, humble and devoted, for you are our salvation, our virtue and strength.

CHAPTER 9

Everything must refer to God as the ultimate end

1. Jesus: Son, I must be your supreme and ultimate end if you want to be truly happy. This intention will purify your heart, so often unruly attached to itself and to creatures. Because if you look for yourself in something, then you faint and slacken. Therefore, you refer everything to me, mainly because I am the one who gave you everything. It considers all goods as emanating from the Supreme Good, and therefore refers everything to me as its origin.

2. De mim, como de fonte de vida, tiram água viva o pequeno e o grande, o rico e o pobre, e os que me servem voluntária e livremente receberão graça sobre graça. Mas quem, fora de mim, quiser gloriar-se, ou deleitar-se em algum bem particular, jamais poderá firmar-se na verdadeira alegria, nem se lhe dilatará o coração, mas sempre andará perturbado e angustiado de mil maneiras. Não te atribuas, pois, bem algum, nem a pessoa alguma atribuas virtude, mas refere tudo a Deus, sem o qual nada tem o homem. Eu dei tudo, eu quero tudo reaver, e com estrito rigor exijo as devidas ações de graças.

3. This is the truth that chases away all boasting. And if heavenly grace and true charity enter into your heart, you will no longer feel any envy, nor will there be any more room for self-love. Because everything conquers divine charity and multiplies the strength of the soul. If you are truly wise, only in me will you rejoice and put your trust; because no one is good but God (Mt 19:17), only He must be praised and blessed in everything, above all things.

CHAPTER 10

How, despising the world, how sweet it is to serve God

1. The soul: Again, Lord, I will speak to you, and I will not be silent; I will say in the ears of my God, my Lord, and my King who is on high: How great, Lord, is the abundance of sweetness which You have in store for those who fear you! (Ps 30.20). But what will it be for those who love you and serve you with all their hearts? The sweetness of contemplation you grant to those who love you is truly ineffable. In this, in particular, you showed me the sweetness of your love: when I was not, you created me and when I walked away from you, lost in error, you led me back to serve you and gave me the precept to love you.

2. O everlasting fountain of love, what shall I say of you? How could I forget that you deigned to remember me, even after I was depraved and lost? Beyond all hope you showed mercy to your servant, and above all merit you lavished your grace and friendship on me. With what can I thank you for such a mercy? Because not everyone is allowed to leave everything, renounce the world and embrace religious life.

Is it a merit that I serve you, when every creature has an obligation to serve you? It must not seem to me much that I serve you; rather I must consider it great and worthy of admiration that you deign to receive me, poor and unworthy as I am, into your service and associate me with your beloved servants.

3. Behold, it is yours, Lord, all that I have and with which I serve you; however, you serve me more than I serve you. There are heaven and earth, which you created for man's use, and they are attentive to your beckoning, doing each day what you command them.

Even more: the very angels destined for the service of man. But above all this, you yourselves deign to serve man, and you have promised to be his reward.

4. That I will give you for these countless benefits, Oh! if I could serve you all the days of my life! If I could, even just one day, render you a decent service! Indeed, you are worthy of all service, all honor and eternal glory. You are truly my Lord, I your poor servant, obliged to serve you with all my strength, without ever getting tired of giving you praise. I want it this way, I desire it this way: deign yourselves, Lord, to supply what I lack.

5. Great honor and glory is to serve you and despise everything for your love. For copious grace will reach those who freely submit themselves to your most holy service. Those who for you despise all fleshly delights will find the sweetest consolation of the Holy Spirit. Those who by your name enter the narrow path and depart from all worldly cares will gain great freedom of soul.

6. O sweet and lovely servanthood of God, which makes man truly free and holy! O holy servitude of the religious state, which makes man equal to angels, pleasing to God, dreadful to demons, and commendable to all the faithful! O blessed and never greatly desired service, who deserved our sovereign Good and acquires the joy that will last forever!

CHAPTER 11

How We Should Examine and Moderate the Heart's Desires

1. Jesus: Son, you still need to learn many things that you don't know well.

The soul: What are these things, Lord?

Jesus: May you completely conform your desire to my good pleasure and not be a lover of yourself, but a zealous doer of my will. Often your desires are inflamed, and vehemently urge you; but examine what moves you most, whether my honor or your own interest. If I am the reason, you will be very happy, whatever the success of the enterprise; but if there is any self-interest hidden there, behold, this at once embarrasses and afflicts you.

So beware of relying too much on preconceived desires that you have without consulting me, lest you happen to regret and displease what you first liked and sought with zeal, because it seemed better to you. But not every desire that seems good must soon follow, nor any contrary feeling soon we must flee.

It's good, at times, to refrain even from good efforts and desires, so that worries do not distract your spirit; so that you don't cause a scandal for lack of discretion; so that, finally, the resistance of others does not disturb you and that you faint.

2. Other times, on the contrary, it is necessary to use violence and manly counteract the appetites of the senses without attending to what the flesh wants or does not want, but working to subject it to the spirit, even if it rebels. She must be punished and subjected to subjection, to such an extent that she is ready for anything, knowing how to be content with little and delighting in simplicity, without complaining about any inconvenience.

CHAPTER 12

From the school of patience and fight against lust

1. The soul: My God and Lord, as I see it, patience is very necessary for me; for there are many setbacks in this life. No matter how much peace is sought, there is no way to live without combat and suffering.

2. Jesus: So it is, son, and I don't want you to seek a peace free of temptations and setbacks, but that you think you have found peace, even when you are bothered with many tribulations and tried in many setbacks. If you say that you cannot suffer so much, then how will you endure purgatory? Of two evils one must always choose the lesser. To escape future torments, he tries to patiently suffer the present evils, for God's sake. Do you think that the men of the world suffer little or nothing? This you will not find, not even among the most regal.

3. You will say, perhaps, that they have many delights and follow their own will, and therefore the tribulation weighs little upon them.

4. Be it so, and they have as much as they desire, but how long do you think it will last: Behold what smoke will the wealthy of the age vanish, no memory will be left of their past pleasures. And even while they live, do not enjoy them without bitterness, boredom and fear. For from the very object of their delights often comes the pain that punishes them. And it is just that this happens to them that they find bitterness and confusion in the joys they seek and chase disorderly.

5. And how brief, how false, how disorderly and base are all the delights of the world! But men, in drunkenness and blindness of mind, do not understand; rather, as irrationals, for a little pleasure, in this corruptible life, they put their soul to death. You, then, son, do not follow your appetites, renounce your own will (Sir 18:30); delight in the Lord, and he will give you what your heart longs for (Ps 36:4).

6. For if you want true delights, and receive abundant consolation from me, despise all worldly things and renounce all base pleasures, and you will have copious consolation as a reward. The more you depart from the pleasure you find in creatures, the more gentle and effective consolations you will find in me. You will not succeed at first without some sorrow and work in the battle, the inveterate custom will be opposed, but it will be won by a better one. The flesh will revolt, but the fervor of the spirit will curb it. The ancient serpent will chase you and molest you, but you will drive it away with prayer and, with profitable work, you will bar its main entrance.

CHAPTER 13

Of obedience and humble subjection, following the example of Jesus Christ

1. Son, whoever seeks to withdraw you from obedience also departs from grace; and whoever seeks private favors misses the common ones. He who does not readily and willingly submit to his superior, shows that his flesh does not yet readily obey him, but often rebels and grumbles.

Learn, therefore, to readily submit yourself to your superior if you want to subdue your own flesh, because the outer enemy is easily defeated when the inner man is not devastated.

The soul is not a worse and more dangerous enemy than you, when you do not obey the spirit. If you want to overcome flesh and blood, you must penetrate the sincere and absolute contempt of yourself. But because you still love yourself inordinately, that's why you hate to be completely subject to the will of others.

2. Now how much you, who are dust and nothing, subject yourself to a man, for God's sake, when I, the Almighty and Most High, who created all things out of nothing, humbled myself to man , for love of you? I became the most humble and the last of all so that you may, with my humility, win your pride. Learn, dust, to obey; learn, earth and slime, to humble yourself and bow down to everyone's feet. Learn to break your will and submit yourself to everyone in everything.

3. Be angry with yourself; tolerate no fading in yourself; but become so humble and submissive, that everyone can tread and tread on your feet, like mud in the street. How can you, you vile sinner, contradict those who rebuke you, you who have offended God so many times and so many times deserved hell? But my eyes have spared you, because your soul is precious before me, so that you may know my love and be grateful for my benefits; that you may continually give yourself to true subjection and humility, patiently suffering the contempt of others.

CHAPTER 14

That the high judgments of God must be considered, lest we fade away in prosperity

1. Thy judgments thunder upon me, Lord, fear and tremble my shaken bones, and my soul is utterly terrified.

I am amazed to consider that even the heavens are not pure in your sight. If you found evil in angels and did not forgive them, what will become of me? The stars have fallen from the sky, and I, dammit, what shall I presume? Those whose works perished commendable rushed into the abyss, and I saw those who ate the bread of angels delight in the food of unclean beasts.

2. There is therefore no holiness, Lord, if you withdraw your hand. There is no wisdom that you profit if you fail to govern it. There is no fortress that is worth it if you fail to conserve it. There is no safe chastity if you fail to defend it. Vigilance itself is not profitable if your holy guard is lacking. Helpless, we quickly sink and perish, but visited by you we rise and live. We are, indeed, inconstant, but by you we are confirmed; we are lukewarm, but you fervent us.

3. Oh! How lowly and lowly I must form myself! How little account should I have of the good that may be in me! How deep must my submission be to Your unfathomable judgments, Lord, if I am nothing but nothing and pure nothing! O immense weight! O unfathomable pelago, where I find nothing in myself but pure nothingness! Where, then, will my pride take refuge? Where the presumption of some virtue? All boasting is gone in the depths of your judgments.

4. What is all flesh in your presence? Will the clay glory against the one who formed it? How can one whose heart is truly subject to God vanish with vain praise?

Not the whole world is able to puff up the one that the Truth has subjugated. Nor can the praises of all flatterers move the one in whom God puts all his hope.

Because everyone who speaks is nothing, and fades away like the sound of words; while the truth of the Lord remains forever (Ps 116:2).

CHAPTER 15

How should there be and speak each one in their desires

1. Jesus: Son, say this in all things: Lord, if it pleases you, let it be so. Lord, if it is for your honor, let this happen in your name. Lord, if it seems to you that such a thing is profitable and useful, grant it to me to use it for your glory; but if you know that it would be harmful to me and without benefit to my salvation, take away this desire from me; because not every desire comes from the Holy Spirit, even though it seems to us good and just. It is difficult to discern whether good or bad spirit moves you, to desire this or that, or whether your own will moves you. Many found themselves in the end deceived, who at first seemed animated in a good spirit.

1. Anything, therefore, that seems to you desirable, you must always desire it and ask with the fear of God and humility of heart, particularly entrusting everything to me with sincere resignation, saying: You know, Lord, what is best; let this or that be done as you wish.

Give me what you want, how much and when you want.

Dispose of me as you understand, as you please most and for your greater glory. Place me wherever you like and dispose of me freely in everything; I am in your hands, turn me around and turn me around as you see fit. Here is your servant, ready for everything; for I do not wish to live for myself, but for you, I hope, with dignity and perfection.

2. Prayer to fulfill the will of God: Grant me, most gracious Jesus, that your grace be with me, work with me and persevere with me until the end. Give me what you want and always want what is most acceptable and pleasing to you. May your will be mine, and mine always accompany yours and conform to it in everything. May I have with you the same wanting and not wanting, so that I cannot want or not want, but what you want or do not want.

3. Make me die to all that is in the world, and that I wish to be despised and forgotten in this age, for your love.

Give me to rest in you above all desirable goods, and let my heart rest in you. You are the true peace of heart and its only rest; outside of you all is restlessness and restlessness. In this true peace, which are you, supreme and eternal good, I want to sleep and rest. Amen.

CHAPTER 16

That only in God can true consolation be sought

1. All that I can desire or seek for my comfort I do not hope for in this life, but in the future, because even if I had all the consolations in the world and could enjoy all its delights, it is certain that they could not last long.

Therefore, consider, O my soul, that you will not be able to find full comfort and perfect joy except in God, who comforts the poor and shelters the humble. Wait a little, O my soul, wait for the divine promise, and in heaven you will have all goods in abundance. If you inordinately desire the present goods, you will lose the eternal and heavenly ones. It uses temporal things, but desires eternal ones. You can't satisfy yourself well in a time, because you weren't created to enjoy them.

2. Even if you possessed all created goods, you could not be happy and be content, because only in God, creator of everything, does your bliss and happiness consist; not which the lovers of the world understand and praise, but as the good servants of Christ expect it, and sometimes the spiritual and pure in heart whose conversation is in heaven wait for it (Phil 3:20). Short and vain is all human comfort; blessed and true the consolation that the truth communicates to us inwardly. The devout man everywhere brings with him his comforter, Jesus, and says to him: Lord Jesus, watch me in every place and time. So be it my consolation: the voluntarily lack of all human consolation. And if I also lack your comfort, let your will be for me, which justly experiences me, the supreme consolation.

For your anger does not last forever, nor will you threaten us forever (Ps 102:9).

CHAPTER 17

That all our care we must surrender to God

1. Jesus: Son, let me do with you what I want; I know what suits you. You think like a man, and you judge in many things according to how human affection persuades you.

2. The soul: Lord, truth is what you say. Greater is your concern for me, than all the care I can have for myself. Anyone who does not give you all their care is in great danger of falling. Do with me, Lord, whatever you want, as long as my will remains in you, straight and firm. For it cannot but be good whatever you do with me. If you want me to be in darkness, blessed be you; and if you want me to be in the light, be blessed also. If you want me to be comforted, be blessed, and if you want me to be afflicted, be blessed also forever.

3. Jesus: Son, you must think so if you want to walk with me.

You must be as ready to suffer as to enjoy; for poverty and indigence, as for wealth and abundance.

4. The soul: For you Lord, I will gladly suffer whatever you want to happen to me. From your hand I want to accept, indifferently, the good and the bad, the sweetness and the bitterness, the joys and the sorrows, and I want to give you thanks for everything that happens to me. Deliver me from all sin, and I will fear neither death nor hell. As long as you do not reject me forever, any tribulation that befalls me will not harm me.

CHAPTER 18

How, following the example of Christ, temporal miseries are to be suffered equally

1. Jesus: Son, I came down from heaven for your salvation; I took your miseries, not driven by necessity, but by love, to teach you patience and to endure temporal miseries with resignation. Because, from the time of my birth until my death on the cross, I have never been an instant without suffering. I suffered a great shortage of earthly goods: I often heard great complaints from myself; I suffered with mild injuries and reproaches; I received, for benefits, ingratitude, for miracles, blasphemies, for doctrine, reproofs.

2. The soul: Lord, since you were so patient in your life, fulfilling in this mainly the will of your Father, it is fair that I, miserable sinner, suffer myself patiently, as you will, and bear the burden for my salvation of this corruptible life. For, although the present life is heavy, it nevertheless becomes, with your grace, very meritorious, and, with your example and that of your saints, more tolerable and light for the weak. It is also much more comforted than ever before, in the old law, when the gate of heaven was closed, and very few tried to seek the kingdom of heaven. Not even the righteous and the predestined could enter the celestial realm before your passion and rescue from your holy death.

3. Oh! How many graces must I render to you, for having deigned to show me and all the faithful the right and safe way to your eternal kingdom! Because your life is our way and by holy patience we walk towards you, who are our crown. Without your example and teaching, who would care to follow you? Ah! How many would be far behind if they didn't see your shining examples! And if we are still lukewarm, with so many wonders and teachings, what would it be if we didn't have so many lights to follow you?

CHAPTER 19

From the suffering of injuries and who is proven to be a true patient

1. Jesus: Son, what are you saying? Stop complaining, in view of my passion and the sufferings of the saints. You still haven't resisted until bloodshed. Little do you suffer compared to how much they suffered in such strong temptations, such grave tribulations, such various trials and anguishes. It is convenient, therefore, that you remember the serious works of others, so that you can more easily suffer yours, which are lighter. And if they don't seem so light to you, look, don't come from your impatience. However, whether serious or light, try to take them all with patience.

2. The better you are ready to suffer, the more patient you will be in your actions and the greater your merits will you earn; with resignation and practice, the suffering also becomes smoother. Do not say: I cannot suffer this from that man, nor am I to put up with such things, for he has done me grave injury and accuses me of things I never imagined; of others he would suffer easily, as much as he thought he should suffer. It is similar to think, as it does not consider the virtue of patience or look to the one who is to crown it, but only responds to people and to the offenses received.

3. It is not a true sufferer who only wants to suffer when he thinks and who he likes. The true patient does not notice who is exercising patience either; if he is his superior, or equal, or inferior, if he is a good and holy man, or evil and perverse. But, regardless of person, whenever any adversity befalls him, he gratefully accepts it from the hand of God and considers it a great gain to his soul. Because in God's eyes, anything, however insignificant, that we suffer for his love will have its merit.

4. Gear up, then, for combat, if you want victory. Without battle you cannot reach the crown of victory. If you don't want to suffer, renounce the crown; but if you wish to be crowned, fight manly and suffer with patience. Without work, rest cannot be achieved, and without combat, victory cannot be achieved.

5. The soul: Make me, Lord, possible by grace, which seems to me impossible by nature. You well know how little I know to suffer, and that I am soon discouraged by the slightest annoyance. Make me lovable and desirable in any trial and affliction, for your love, because to suffer and grieve for you is very profitable to my soul.

CHAPTER 20

From the confession of one's own weakness, and the miseries of this life

1. The soul: I confess my wickedness against myself (Ps 31:5), I confess, Lord, my weakness. Often the smallest thing is enough to make me feel sad and sad. I propose to act valiantly, but as soon as I get a little temptation, I find myself in big trouble. Sometimes it's a petty thing that comes to me in grave distress. And when I think myself something so secure, I often find myself overcome by a breath, when I least think about it.

2. Look then, Lord, to this lowliness and frailty of mine, which you know perfectly. Pity me and bring me out of the mud, so that I do not become mired (Ps 68:18) and ruined forever. This is what often torments and confuses me in your presence: the being I so inclined to fall, and so weak to resist the passions. And although they don't take me to full consent, they bother me a lot and afflict me with their assaults, and I'm very upset to always live in this struggle. In this I know my weakness, which comes to me faster than these abominable fantasies of the imagination go away.

3. O mighty God of Israel, caretaker of faithful souls, look upon the labors and pains of your servant, and assist him in all his undertakings! Comfort me with the heavenly strength, lest the old man overcome and dominate me, the meager flesh, not yet fully subject to the spirit, against which it will be necessary to fight while I am in this miserable life. There! what a life this is, where tribulations and miseries are never lacking, where everything is full of enemies and pitfalls! Because as soon as a tribulation or temptation ends, another one is approaching, and even before the end of a fight, many others come, and unexpected.

4. And how can one love a life full of so much bitterness, subject to so many calamities and miseries? How can you call life that generates so many deaths and misfortunes? And yet, many love and seek to delight in it. Many call the world a deceiver and vain, and yet it is hard for them to leave it, because they allow themselves to be dominated by the appetites of the flesh. Many things incline us to love the world, others to despise it. They make the world love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; but the pains and miseries that follow these things generate the hatred and annoyance of the world.

5. Unfortunately, the vile delight conquers the worldly soul, who finds a delight to be in the midst of thorns (Job 30:7), because it has never seen or tasted the sweetness of God, nor the intrinsic softness of virtue. But those who perfectly despise the world and seek to live for God, in holy discipline, experience the sweetness of God, and more clearly know the gross errors of the world and its various deceptions.

CHAPTER 21

How to rest in God over all goods and gifts

1. The soul: O my soul, in everything and above all rest always in the Lord, for he is the eternal rest of the saints.

Give me, O most sweet and most loving Jesus, that I may rest in you more than in every creature; more than in health and beauty; more than in glory and honor, in power and dignity; more than in all science and subtlety; more than in all riches and arts; more than joy and fun; more than fame and praise; more than in sweets and consolations, hopes and promises, desires and merits; more than in all the gifts and gifts that you can give and infuse me; more than all the joy and joy that my soul can experience and feel; finally, more than in angels and archangels and all the heavenly host; above everything visible and invisible, above, finally, everything that you, my God, are not.

2. Because you, my God, are good above all things.

Only you are most high, only you most powerful, only you most sufficient and most full, only you most gentle and true comforter, only you most beautiful and most loving, only you most noble and most glorious over all things, in whom they look at each other, at one time and fully, all past, present and future goods. That is why everything that you give me, reveal or promise me outside of yourselves is petty and insufficient, while I do not see you and possess you entirely; for my heart cannot truly rest, nor be fully satisfied except in you, above all gifts and all creatures.

3. O my Jesus, most beloved husband, most pure lover, absolute master of all creation, who would have given me the wings of true freedom to fly and rest in you! Oh! When will it be possible for me to occupy myself fully with you and experience your sweetness, Lord my God! When will I be so perfectly collected in you, that I do not feel myself for your love, but only you, above all sensation and measure, that not everyone knows! Now, however, I do not cease to moan, and I carry, full of pain, the weight of my unhappiness; for in this vale of tears so many evils happen, which often trouble me, sadden and cloud my soul; other times they embarrass me, distract me, attract and entangle me, to make your access impossible and deprive me of the sweet caresses, which the blessed spirits always enjoy!Allow yourselves to be moved by my sighs and so many bitterness that I suffer in this land.

4. O Jesus, the splendor of eternal glory, the comfort of the exiled soul, before you my mouth silences and my silence speaks to you: How long will my Lord come? Come to this poor servant of yours, bring him joy; reach out to him and free this wretch of all anguish. Come, come, for without you I cannot have a day or a happy hour, for you are my joy, and without you my heart is empty.

Miserable am I, as if imprisoned and shackled, until you recreate me with the light of your presence and give me freedom, showing me a benign face.

5. Seek others what they will in your stead, nothing will ever please me, save you, my God, my hope and eternal salvation. I will not be silent, nor will I cease to pray, until your grace returns, and you speak to me within.

6. Jesus: Here you have me, I come to you, because you called me.

Your tears and the desires of your soul have moved me; the humility and contrition of your heart brought me to you.

7. The Soul: I said: I called you, Lord, and desired to enjoy you, ready to despise everything for your love, which you first inspired me to seek you. Therefore, be blessed, O Lord, for the kindness you show to your servant, according to your infinite mercy. What else can your servant do in your presence, but humble himself deeply before you, and always remember his wickedness and vileness? For there is nothing like you among all the wonders of heaven and earth. Your works are most perfect, your judgments are true, and your providence governs all things.

Praise and glory to you, O Wisdom of the Father, my mouth praises you and my soul magnifies you, together with all creatures.

CHAPTER 22

From the remembrance of the innumerable benefits of God

1. The soul: Open, Lord, my heart to your law, and teach me the way of your precepts. Make me understand your will, and with great reverence and diligent consideration I recall your benefits, general or particular, so as to render you the due graces for them. I well know and confess that not for the slightest benefit can I render you worthy praises and thanks. I recognize myself as inferior to all the goods you have given me, and when I consider your majesty, my spirit falls under the weight of your greatness.

2. All that we have, in soul and in body, all the goods we possess, internal and external, natural and supernatural, are all your benefits, and so many other proofs of your goodness, liberality and munificence, that of you all goods we received. And although this one receives more and others less, everything is yours, and without you no one can achieve the smallest thing. And he who has received more cannot boast of his worth, nor rise above others, nor despise the least; because only he who attributes the least to himself is bigger and better, and is more humble and fervent in thanking you. And whoever considers himself the meanest and thinks himself the most unworthy of all is the fittest to receive greater gifts.

3. He who, however, has received less must not grieve, nor complain, nor be envious of the richest; on the contrary, he will look upon you, and praise your goodness, who so copiously and liberally lavish your gifts, with no respect for persons. From you all things come to us; for all, therefore, ye must be praised.

You know what is convenient to give to each one, and it is not for us to ask why this one has less, that one more; only you can assess the merits of each one.

4. Therefore, Lord my God, I consider it a great benefit that I do not have many things that bring outward glory and human praise. Therefore, no one, in view of his poverty and the baseness of his person, should therefore conceive of grief, sadness or despondency, but great joy and comfort, because you, my God, have chosen the poor for your particular and intimate friends, the lowly and the despised of this world.

Witness to this are your apostles, whom you have made princes on the earth. However, they lived in this world so without complaint, so humble and with such simplicity of soul, so without malice or guile, that they rejoiced in suffering contumelia for your name, and with great affection they embraced what the world hates.

5. Nothing, then, should so gladden the one who loves you and recognizes your benefits, as seeing your will and the good pleasure of your eternal dispositions carried out in their respect. So much should he be content and satisfied with this, that he so willingly wants to be the smallest, as another would wish to be the greatest; and as quiet and content he must be in last as he is in first place, as content to be despised and slain, nameless and unreputable, as if he were the most honored and esteemed in the world. For your will and the love of your honor must be put before everything, and must comfort and please your servant more than all present or future gifts.

CHAPTER 23

Of the four things that produce great peace

1. Jesus: Son, I will now teach you the way of peace and true freedom.

The soul: Do, Lord, what you say, I am very grateful to hear you.

Jesus: Son, try to do someone else's will rather than your own. Always prefer to have less than more. Always look for the last place and subject yourself to everyone. Always desire and pray that the will of God be fully accomplished in you. The man who does this enters the region of peace and rest.

The soul: Sir, this speech of yours is brief, but it contains much perfection. The words are few, but full of wisdom and abundant fruit. If I practiced them faithfully, I would not be so easily upset. For every time I feel restless and afflicted, I find that I have strayed from this doctrine. But you, who can do everything and always desire the progress of the soul, increase grace in me, so that I may keep your teachings and bring about my salvation.

Prayer against bad thoughts:

Lord my God, do not depart from me, my God deign to help me (Ps 70:13). For many thoughts invade me, and great fears afflict my soul. How can I escape unscathed, how can I defeat them?

Before you, these are your words, I will go and humble the proud of the earth (Is14,1); I will open the prison doors to you and reveal hidden mysteries to you.

Do Lord, as you say, and dispel your presence from all evil thoughts. This is my only hope and consolation: I turn to you in every tribulation, trust in you, invoke you with all my heart and patiently await your consolation. Amen.

Prayer to ask for clarification of the spirit:

Illuminate me, O good Jesus, with the clarity of the inner light and dispel all the darkness that reigns in my heart. Refrain from harmful dissipations and fight temptations, which make me violent. Fight valiantly for me, and drive away the evil beasts, those treacherous lusts, that peace may be made through your virtue, and eternal praise may resound in the holy temple, which is the pure conscience. Send to the winds and storms; Say to the sea, be calm, and to the typhoon, do not blow; and there will be a great calm.

Send your light and your truth (Ps 42:3), that they may shine on the earth; for I am an empty and barren land, until you enlighten me. Pour your grace upon me, and bathe my heart with heavenly dew; open the fountains of devotion, which water the face of the earth, so that it may produce good and perfect fruits. I lifted up my spirit, weighed down by the weight of sins, and directed my desires towards the things of heaven, so that, anticipating the sweetness of the supreme happiness, I might bother to think about the things of earth.

Detach me and snatch me from every transient consolation of creatures, because no created thing can fully console me or satisfy my desires. I am united with you by the indissoluble bond of love, because you alone are sufficient for the one who loves you, and without you everything else is vanity. Amen.

CHAPTER 24

How to avoid the curious inquiry of other people's lives

1. Jesus: Son, don't be curious or worry about useless care. What do you have with this or that? Follow me.

Well, what does it matter to you to know if so-and-so is like this or like that, or if so-and-so acts and talks this way or that? You are not responsible for others, but you must give an account of yourself; Why, then, do you meddle in that? I know everyone and see everything under the sun; I know how each one proceeds, what he thinks and wants, and to what end his intention tends. So leave everything to me, keep yourself in holy peace and let the restless be stirred up whenever they want. Everything you do or say will fall on him, because he cannot deceive me.

2. Do not worry about the shadow of a great name, nor the familiarity of many, nor the particular friendship of men. For all this generates distractions and great perplexity to the heart. I would not hesitate to speak to you and discover my secrets, if you were attentively awaiting my arrival and opening the door of your heart to me. Be cautious, watch in prayer, and humble yourself in all things.

CHAPTER 25

What is firm peace of heart and true enjoyment

1. Jesus: Son, I said to my disciples: I leave you peace; I give you my peace; I do not give it to you as the world gives it (Jn 14:27). Everyone wants peace, but not everyone seeks the things that bring true peace. My peace is with the humble and meek of heart. In a lot of patience you will find your peace. If you listen to me and follow my voice, you can enjoy great peace.

The soul: What shall I do then, Lord?

Jesus: In everything, take a good look at what you do and say, and direct all your intentions just for my pleasure, without desiring or seeking anything outside of me. Do not recklessly judge the words and works of others, nor meddle in things that do not concern you; in this way it may be that you rarely or rarely get upset.

Never, however, to feel restless, nor to suffer any inconvenience of body or spirit, is not characteristic of present life, but of the state of eternal rest. Do not, therefore, think that you have found true peace, if you feel no affliction; neither that everything is fine, if you have no opponent, or everything is perfect, if everything goes your way. Do not think that you are great or uniquely loved by God, if you feel great devotion and sweetness, because these are not the signs by which a true lover of virtue is known, nor does the exploitation and perfection of man consist in this.

The soul: What then does it consist of, Lord?

Jesus: In offering yourself with all your heart to the divine will, without seeking your own interest in anything, not even eternal; so that with equal heart you give thanks to God in good fortune and in misfortune, weighing everything in the same balance. If you are so strong and constant in the hope that, deprived of all inner consolation, you dispose your heart to greater trials, without justifying yourself, as if you should not suffer so much, and rather praise holiness and justice in all my dispositions, then you will walk on the true and straight path of peace, and you may have the most certain hope of contemplating my face again with joy. And if you reach the perfect contempt for yourself, know that then you will enjoy the abundance of peace, to the degree possible on this earthly pilgrimage.

CHAPTER 26

Excellence of spiritual freedom, which is reached more through humble prayer than through reading

1. The soul: Lord, it is proper to the perfect man: never lose sight of heavenly things, and pass through the thousand cares, as if carelessly, not for indolence, but for the privilege of a free soul, which does not cling, with disordered affection, to no creature.

2. I ask you, O my most gracious God! Preserve me from the cares of this life, that I may not be too entangled in them; of the many needs of the body, so that sensuality does not enslave me; and from all the disturbances of the soul, that I may not be discouraged under the weight of anguish. I do not speak of the things that human vanity so earnestly seeks, but of the miseries which, by the common curse of all mortals, grievously oppress the soul of your servant, and prevent him from rising to perfect freedom of spirit, whenever he chooses. .

3. O my God, sweetness ineffable! All carnal consolation, which separates me from the love of eternal things, fascinates me with the enchantment of momentary pleasure, turn into bitterness. Do not defeat me, my God, do not defeat me by flesh and blood; let the world not seduce me, with its fleeting glory; do not make me fall the devil, with your cunning. Give me strength to resist, patience to suffer, constancy to persevere. Give me, in place of all the consolations of the world, the most gentle anointing of your spirit and, in place of earthly love, infuse me with the love of your name!

4. Eating, drinking, dressing, and other things necessary for the body are a burden on the fervent soul. Allow me to use such reliefs sparingly, without attaching myself to them too affectionately. It is not lawful to reject everything, as we must uphold nature; but to seek after superfluous things and what delights most, your holy law forbids, for otherwise the flesh will rebel against the spirit. Between these two extremes, Lord, I ask you to direct me and govern in your hand, so that I do not practice any excess.

CHAPTER 27

How self-love distances the highest degree from the highest good

1. Jesus: Son, you must give everything for everything, without reserving yourself. Know that your self-love hurts you more than anything in the world. Each object more or less holds you, according to the love and affection you have for it. If your love is pure, simple and well ordered, you will not be a slave to anything. Do not covet what is not lawful for you to possess, nor do you possess anything that could impede your inner freedom or deprive you of it. It is strange that you do not give yourself to me, from the depths of your heart, with everything you may have or desire.

2. Why do you consume yourself in vain sadness? Why are you busy with superfluous care? Conform to my will and you will suffer no harm. If you seek this or that, if you wish to be here or there, for your convenience or your whim, you will never be quiet, nor free from care, because in all things there is some defect, and everywhere you go against it.

1. It is of no use to you, therefore, to acquire or accumulate external goods, but it is much better for you to despise them and uproot them from your heart. This does not mean only money and riches, but also the ambition of honor, and the desire for vain praise because all this passes with the world. It does little to protect the place, if the spirit of fervor is lacking; nor will that peace that you seek abroad last long, if your heart lacks the true foundation. That is, if you don't hold on to me. You can change, but not improve, because, when the time comes, and accepting it, you will find again what you ran away from, and worse still.

2. Prayer to implore heart cleansing and heavenly wisdom: 3. Confirm me Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Comfort the inner man in me and free my heart from all useless care and all anxiety, that I may not be seduced by the various desires of earthly things, whether vile or precious, but that I may regard them all as transitory, and remind me that I myself am transient, like them: For there is nothing stable under the sun, where everything is vanity and affliction of spirit (Eccles. 1:14). How wise are those who think so!

4. Give me, Lord, heavenly wisdom, that I may learn to seek you, and find you above all to like and love you above all, and to understand all things as they are, according to order. of your wisdom. Give me prudence, to distance me from flattering, and patience to support those who oppose me. For it is great wisdom not to be moved by every breath of words, nor to listen to the mermaid's treacherous charms; for only in this way does the soul proceed safely on the path begun.

CHAPTER 28

against damning tongues

1. Son, don't be upset if someone thinks you are wrong or says things you don't like to hear. Worse still, you must judge yourself, and judge yourself the most imperfect of all. If you practice your inner life, you will care little for words that fly. It is great prudence to remain silent in the hours of tribulation, to turn inwardly to me, and not to be disturbed by human judgments.

2. Do not make your peace depend on the mouths of men; because, whether they judge you well, or whether you are wrong, you will not be a different man. Where is true peace and true glory?

Is it not in me? Anyone who does not seek to please men, nor is afraid to displease them, will enjoy great peace. It is from disordered love and vain fear that the restlessness of the heart and the distraction of the senses are born.

CHAPTER 29

How, during the tribulation, are we to call on God and bless him

1. The soul: Lord, blessed be your name forever!

For you wanted this temptation and this work to overtake me. I cannot run away from them, but I need to turn to you, so that you help me and turn everything to my advantage. Here am I, Lord, in tribulation, with a troubled heart; and how much the present suffering torments me. For what shall I say now, most loving Father?

I'm pressed together in anguish: "Save me in this hour.

This trance came upon me, only that you might be glorified (Jn 12:17), when I was very low and delivered by you." "Deign, Lord, to deliver me" (Ps 39:14); Poor me, what shall I do and where shall I go without us? Give me, Lord, patience even this time. Help me, my God, and I will not fear, however troubled I may be.

2. And what shall I say in such need? Lord, your will be done. I well deserve to be troubled and distressed.

It suits me to suffer, and hopefully I'll be patient, until the storm passes and the calm returns. Powerful enough, however, is your omnipotent hand to remove this temptation from me, and to moderate its violence, lest I succumb altogether; just as you have done to me so many times, O my God and my mercy. And the more difficult it is for me, the easier it is for you to change the right hand of the Most High (Ps 76:11).

CHAPTER 30

How to ask for divine help and trust to regain grace

1. Jesus: Son, I am the Lord, who comforts you in the day of tribulation (N. 1:7). Come to me when you are afflicted. What prevents you most from receiving consolation is that late you resort to prayer. Before you pray carefully, try to console yourself by recreating yourself with various outdoor amusements.

Hence it is that you take little advantage of everything, until you know that I am the one who saves those who wait in me from danger, and that outside of me there is no valuable help, no useful advice, no lasting remedy. But once you have regained your breath after the storm, seek to regain strength in the light of my mercies; for I am near, says the Lord, to restore everything, not only with integrity, but also with abundance and profusion.

2. Is there anything difficult for me (Jer 32:37), or am I like those who say and don't do? Where is your faith? Has firmness and security! Show yourself courageous and magnanimous, and in time consolation will come to you. Wait for me, wait! I will come and heal you. It is temptation that torments you, it is vain fear that frightens you. What do you gain from the solicitude of a contingent future, if you don't have sadness over sadness? Each day its burden is enough (Mt 6:34). It is a vain and useless thing to grieve or rejoice in things to come, which may never come to pass.

3. It is proper for man to allow himself to be deceived by such imaginings, but it is a sign of low spirits to give in so easily to the enemy's suggestions. It does not matter to him whether it is by true or false means that he seduces and deceives you, whether it is with the love of present goods, or with the fear of future evils that he makes you lose. "Do not be troubled, therefore, your heart, neither be afraid" (Jn 14:27). Believe in me, and have confidence in my mercy. When you think you are too far from me, sometimes I am closer to you. When you think that everything is almost lost, the occasion for earning greater merit is often close. All is not lost because of some setback. Do not judge by the impression of the moment, nor be afflicted with any tribulation, wherever it comes, as if there was no hope of a remedy.

4. Do not think yourself entirely helpless, even when from time to time I send you some tribulation or deprive you of some desired consolation; for this is the way to go to the kingdom of heaven. And this, without a doubt, suits you and all my servants more, to be trained in adversity, than if everything happened to your will.

I know the hidden thoughts, and I know that it matters a lot to your salvation that you are, at times, deprived of all spiritual consolation, so that your good progress does not exalt you and you fade from what you are not. What I gave, I can take, and give again, when I feel like it.

5. It is always mine what I give, and when I take it away; I do not take your thing, for "from me proceeds every good gift of every perfect gift" (James 1:17). If I send you any pity or annoyance, do not rebel or let your heart fail; I can relieve you in a moment and turn your grief into joy. However, as I do to you, I am righteous and worthy of praise.

6. If you reflect well and judge things according to the truth, you should not be so distressed by adversity or be discouraged, but, on the contrary, rejoice and give me thanks. It must even be your only joy that I afflict you with pain, without sparing you. As my Father loved me, so I love you (Jn 15:19), I said to my beloved disciples, and yet I sent them not to temporal delights, but to great battles, not to honor but to contempt. , not to pastimes, but to bear copious fruit in patience. My son, remember these words well.

CHAPTER 31

From the contempt of every creature, so that the Creator may be found

1. The soul: Lord, much grace is still needed for me to reach such a point that no man or creature can hinder me. For as long as something holds me, I cannot fly to you freely. The prophet aspired to this freedom when he said: Who would have given me wings like a dove, so that I could fly and rest! (Psalm 54.7). What is more serene than the simple gaze, and who is more free than man without earthly desire? Therefore it is important that you rise above all creatures, and completely renounce yourself, and in that rapture of the soul that you persevere and understand that the Author of all things bears no resemblance to creatures. And whoever is not detached from creatures, cannot freely attend to divine things. That's why there are so few contemplatives,because rare are those who know how to detach themselves completely from perishing things.

1. For this, mighty grace is needed, which lifts the soul and snatches it above itself. As long as man is not elevated in spirit, free from all creatures and all united to God, how much he knows and what he has is worth little. Imperfect will remain for a long time and earthbound whoever cherishes anything other than the unique, immense and tender Good. Because everything that is not God is void, and nothing must be taken into account.

There is a great difference between the wisdom of an enlightened and devout man and the science of a learned and scholar.

Much nobler is the doctrine that comes from heaven, by divine inspiration, than that which human ingenuity acquires with great effort.

2. There are many who desire the contemplative life, but do not try to exercise themselves in the things it requires. The great obstacle is that they stop at signs and sensitive things, paying little attention to perfect mortification. I do not know what it is, nor what spirit moves us, nor do we pretend that we pass for spiritual men when we put so much work and care into the base and transitory things, while rarely withdrawing fully to consider our interior.

3. Ouch! That, after a short recollection, we soon dissipate, without considering our actions in rigorous scrutiny. We do not notice where our affections lean, nor do we deplore how defective everything in us is. Because all flesh corrupted his way (Ge 6:12), the great flood came.

Since, therefore, our inner affection is corrupted, the action that follows from it must be corrupted, clearly showing the inner weakness. Only from a pure heart comes the fruit of the good life.

4. Many ask how much a person did, but how much virtue he was animated is not so much cured. They diligently investigate whether anyone is strong, rich, beautiful, skilled, a good writer, a good singer, a good artist; but how poor in spirit, how patient and meek, how pious and spiritual, that is no matter. Nature only considers man's exterior, but grace looks inward. That one is often mistaken, that one waits on God, so as not to be deceived.

CHAPTER 32

Of self-denial and abdication of all greed

1. Jesus: Son, you cannot enjoy perfect freedom until you completely renounce yourself. In slavery live all the rich and selfish, the greedy, curious, who like to wander, always looking for the delights of the senses and not those of Jesus Christ, but they only imagine what cannot remain and only think about it. For everything that does not come from God will perish.

Keep in your heart this brief and profound sentence: Leave everything, and you will have peace. Ponder this, and when you practice it, you will understand everything.

2. The soul: Lord, this is not the work of a day, nor child's play, but in this brief word all religious perfection is summed up.

3. Jesus: Son, you must not fear, nor immediately become discouraged, hearing about the way of the perfect, but rather strive for a more perfect state, or at least ardently long for it.

I wish you were like that and had come to so much, that you didn't love yourself, but were entirely resigned to my will and to the one I gave you as director. You would much please me then, and your whole life would pass in peace and joy.

You still have to let go of many things, and if you don't deliver them entirely, you won't achieve what you ask of me.

"I advise you to buy me the gold that has been set in stone, that you may become rich" (Rev 3:18), that is, heavenly wisdom, which treads all earthly things underfoot. It despises earthly wisdom, all human contentment and self-indulgence.

4. I said that you should seek, in place of the noble and precious things, that which, in the eyes of the world, is base and despicable.

Because very vile and despicable, even almost forgotten, it seems the true and heavenly wisdom, which is not taken in great account, nor does it try to aggrandize itself on earth. Many praise it with their mouths, but turn away from it in life; yet this is the precious pearl, known to few.

CHAPTER 33

From the instability of the heart and that the final intention must be directed to God

1. Jesus: Son, do not trust your current affections, which will soon change in others. As long as you live, you will be subject to the variable, even if you don't want to; now you will find yourself happy, now sad, now quiet, now disturbed, sometimes fervent, sometimes lukewarm, already diligent, already lazy, now serious, then lighthearted. The sage, however, and instructed in the spiritual life, is above that inconstancy, not caring for his feelings, nor from which part the wind of instability blows, but concentrating all the effort of his soul on the due and longed-for end. Because in this way he will always be able to remain the same and unshakeable, directing to me, without ceasing, the aim of his intention, among all the vicissitudes that befall him.

2. The purer your intention, however, the more constant you will be during the different storms. But in many, the gaze of pure intention darkens, because they quickly turn to whatever delectable object they come across.

There are few who are entirely free from the fault of selfishness. So the Jews one day went to Bethany, at the house of Mary and Martha, not only for Jesus' love, but also to see Lazarus (Jn 12:9). It is therefore necessary to purify the intention, so that it is simple and straight and addresses me above all that is in between.

CHAPTER 34

How delicious God is in everything and especially to those who love him

1. The soul: You are my God and my everything! What more do I want and what greater dictate can I want? O sweet and delicious word! But only for those who love God, not the world or its things.

My God and my everything! For those who understand it, this word is enough, and those who love it find it delightful to repeat it at a time.

Because when you are present, everything is pleasant, but if you are absent, everything is boring. You give peace to the heart, great peace and joyous joy. You make us judge everyone well and in everything we bless you; nor can anything without you please us for a long time, but to be pleasant and savory, your grace must attend it and season it with the spice of your wisdom.

2. To those who taste your sweetness, what will not taste good?

But to whom in you does not delight, what can be pleasing to him? Before your wisdom the wise men of the world and the lovers of the flesh disappear, because in the former one finds much vanity, in the latter death; but those who follow you out of the contempt of the world and the mortification of the flesh, these are truly wise, for they exchange vanity for truth, and flesh for spirit. These find a delight in the things of God, and whatever good is found in creatures, they refer to the glory of their Creator. Different, however, and very different, is the taste that is found in God and creature, in eternity and time, in uncreated light and in created light.

3. O eternal light, superior to all created light, cast a ray from on high that penetrates all the inmost depths of my heart. Purify, rejoice, enlighten and enliven my soul with all its powers, so that it may join you in transports of joy. Oh! When will that blissful and longed-for hour come, when you will satisfy me with your presence, and be all in all things to me?

Until this is granted to me, my joy will not be perfect. But then! That the old man still lives in me, not entirely crucified or entirely dead.

It still strongly revolts against the spirit and moves inner wars; nor does it allow tranquility to reign in the soul.

4. But you who dominate the rush of the sea and calm the fury of the waves, rise up and help me! Dispel the powers that seek wars, crush them with your arm (Ps 88,10; 43,26; 67,31). Manifest your marvels, O Lord, and let your right hand be glorified (Sir 36:7; Jdt 9:11), for I have no refuge but in you, my Lord and my God!

CHAPTER 35

As in this life there is no safety from temptation

1. Jesus: Son, you will never be safe in this life, but as long as you live, you will need spiritual weapons.

You are surrounded by enemies, which attack you on the right and left. So, if you don't arm yourself on all sides with the shield of patience, you won't be wounded for long. Furthermore, if you do not set your heart upon me, with a sincere desire to suffer everything for my love, you will not be able to withstand such a fierce struggle, nor reach the palm of the blessed. It is therefore necessary to walk with a manly spirit through all obstacles, and to overcome all obstacles with a mighty hand. For the winner will be given manna (Rev 2,17), and for the coward much misery awaits.

2. If you seek rest in this life, how will you reach eternal rest? Don't look for much rest, but a lot of patience.

Seek the true peace of heaven, not on earth, not in men or in other creatures, but only in God. You must, for the love of God, accept everything willingly, that is, toils and sufferings, temptations, vexations, anxieties, illnesses, injuries, murmurings, reproaches, humiliations, insults, corrections and contempt. All this advances in virtue, tests the new soldier of Christ, and prepares the heavenly crown. I will give eternal reward for short work, and infinite glory for transient humiliation.

3. Do you think that there will always be spiritual consolations according to your desires? My saints didn't always have them, instead going through many pains, various temptations and great anguish. But they bore it all with patience, more trusting in God than in themselves, because they knew "that the sufferings of this life are out of proportion to the future glory" that rewards them (Rom 8:18). Do you want to obtain soon what so many have only achieved after copious tears and great works? Wait on the Lord, act manly and be firm (Ps 26:14); do not be discouraged, do not hold back, but generously expose body and soul for the glory of God. I will fully reward you, and I will be with you in every tribulation (Ps 90:15).

CHAPTER 36

against the judgments of men

1. Jesus: Son, put your trust in God and do not fear human judgments, while your conscience bears witness to your piety and innocence. It is good and healthy to suffer in this way, nor will it be painful to the humble heart, which trusts more in God than in itself. Many talk too much, so they shouldn't be given too much credit. But it is not possible to satisfy everyone either. Even though Paul strove to please everyone in the Lord, making himself everything for everyone (1 Cor 9:22), nevertheless, he did not care to be judged in the court of men (1 Cor 4:3).

2. Did everything possible for the edification and salvation of others, as much depended on him; yet he could not avoid being judged and despised by some; that is why he placed everything in the hands of God, who knew everything, and defended himself with patience and humility against the cursing tongues of those who invented malice and lies and spread them at will. However, once in a while, he gave an answer, so that his silence would not cause the weak to be scandalized.

3. Who are you who fear a mortal man? (Is 51, 12). Today it exists and tomorrow it no longer appears. Fear God, and thou shalt not fear men's threats. What harm can a man do you with words and insults? It harms itself more than it harms you, and whoever it may be, it cannot escape the judgment of God. Set your eyes on God, and do not contend with words of complaint. If now you seem to succumb and suffer undeserved injury, do not be upset or diminish your crown with impatience, but rather look up to heaven, for me, how mighty I am, to rid you of all confusion and injury and give to each one according to their works.

CHAPTER 37

From the pure and complete renunciation of oneself to obtain freedom of heart

1. Jesus: Son, leave yourself and you will find me. Strip your will and your self-love, and you will always profit. Because as soon as you give yourself to me without reservation, grace will be added to you.

The soul: Lord, in what shall I renounce, and how often?

Jesus: Always and all the time, not much or little. Nothing except, but I want to find you stripped of everything. Otherwise, how can you be mine and I yours if you are not, outwardly and inwardly, detached from all your own will? The more readily you do this, the better you will find yourself, and the more full and sincere your sacrifice, the more you will please me and the greater profit you will have.

1. There are some who give themselves to me, but with some reserve, because they do not have full confidence in God, and so they try to provide for their own needs. Others, at first, offer everything, but later, fought by temptation, turn to their own comforts again, and this is why they hardly progress in virtues. These will never reach the true freedom of the pure heart, nor the grace of my sweet acquaintance, until they completely renounce themselves, offering themselves in daily sacrifice to God, without which there is and cannot be a delicious union with me.

2. I have told you many times and now I say to you again: leave yourself, renounce yourself, and you will enjoy great inner peace. Give everything for everything, do not seek, do not claim anything, persevere, purely and simply, in me, and you will possess me. Your heart will be free and darkness will not be able to oppress you. This applies to you, this you ask, this you desire: to be stripped of all self-love, so that you can follow Jesus naked, die to yourself and live forever. Then all vain imaginings, painful disturbances, and superfluous cares will be dispelled. Soon too, too much fear will disappear, and inordinate love will die.

CHAPTER 38

Good outward behavior, and resorting to God in danger

1. Jesus: Son, in this you must exert all diligence, that in every place, action or outward occupation you may be inwardly free and master of yourself, mastering all things, and subject to no one. You must be the master and director of your actions and not servant or slave; you must be a free and true Israelite, who reaches the condition of freedom as the children of God. These rise above present things and behold eternal things; only at a glance do they look at transient things, and their eyes are fixed on the celestials. They do not allow themselves to be attracted and trapped by temporal things, but use them according to the purpose for which they were ordained by God and destined by the supreme Artificer, who left nothing unordered in his creatures.

2. If, moreover, in any event, you do not dwell on outward appearance, nor consider with carnal eyes what you see and hear, but in any business you enter at once with Moses into the tabernacle and inquire of the Lord; at times you will hear his divine answer, and you will come out instructed in many things, present and future. Moses always turned to the tabernacle to solve his doubts and difficulties, he used prayer to triumph over the dangers and evils of men. In the same way you must take refuge in the most hidden part of your heart, to implore the divine help more urgently. Therefore - as it is written - Joshua and the children of Israel were deceived by the Gibeonites "because they did not consult the Lord first", but, giving too much credence to their sweet words, they allowed themselves to be deceived by feigned piety.

CHAPTER 39

May the man not be impatient in his business

1. Jesus: Son, always trust me with your business, I'll arrange everything in good time. Wait for my determination, and you will benefit from it.

2. The soul: Lord, I willingly entrust all things to you, because my care is of little use. I wish he would not disturb me with future knowledge, but would offer me without delay for your good pleasure!

2. Jesus: Son, many times man seeks something he desires; soon, however, that he reaches it, he changes his mind, because the affections do not linger very long on the same object, but easily pass from one to the other. Therefore, it is not a small thing to renounce man to himself, even in small things.

3. Man's true progress consists in self-denial, and whoever has thus self-denied enjoys great freedom and security. However, the old enemy, the adversary of all good, does not give up the temptation, laying dangerous snares day and night, to see if he can throw some unwary into the snare of his deceit. Watch and pray, says the Lord, that you may not enter into temptation (Mt 26:41).

CHAPTER 40

That man by himself has nothing good and can boast of nothing

1. The soul: Lord, what is man, that you should remember him, or the son of man, that you should visit him? (Ps 8.5). Where did the man deserve that you give him your grace? How can I complain if you forsake me, or can I justly oppose if you do not grant me what I ask? Of course, I can truly think and say: Lord, I am nothing, I can't, I have nothing good of myself, but I lack everything, and I always tend to nothing. And if you don't help me and teach me, I'm all lukewarm and relaxed.

But you, Lord, are always the same, and you remain eternally good, just, and holy, and all your works are good, and just and holy, and you dispose of all wisely.

But I, who are more inclined to neglect than to spiritual profit, do not know how to keep myself in the same state, because I change seven times a day. But soon it's better for me, when it pleases you to reach out to me to help me; because only you, without human help, can help me and give me firmness, in such a way that my face will never change, but only to you may my heart be converted and I may rest in you.

2. Therefore, if I knew how to reject all human consolation, whether because of acquiring devotion, or because of the necessity that compels me to seek you, then I could rightly await your grace and rejoice in the favor of a new consolation.

3. Thanks be to you, Lord, for all good that happens to me proceeds from you. But I am vanity and nothing, before you, I am a fragile and fickle man. What then can I boast about, or why do I wish to be esteemed? Perhaps from my nothing? That would be the height of vanity. Truly, vainglory is an evil pest and the worst of vanities, because it separates us from true glory and deprives us of heavenly grace.

For, as long as man pleases himself, he displeases you, and when he aspires to human praise, he loses true virtues.

4. True glory, however, and holy joy, is each one to glory in you and not in himself, to delight in your name and not in his own virtue, to find no delight in any creature but for your sakes. Let your name be praised and not mine; let your works be glorified and not mine; exalted be thy holy name, and to me nothing be attributed of human praise. You are my glory and the joy of my heart. In you I will glory and exalt every day, but as for my person I am proud of nothing but my weaknesses (2 Cor 12:5).

6. Let the Jews seek the glory of one another, I seek that which comes only from God (Jn 5:44). For all human glory, all temporal glory, and all worldly greatness, compared with your eternal glory, is but vanity and folly. O truth and my mercy, my God, blessed Trinity! To you only be given praise, honor, virtue and glory for all ages.

CHAPTER 41

From the contempt of all temporal honor

1. Jesus: Son, do not be sad to see others honored and exalted, while you are despised and humiliated. Lift your heart to me to heaven, and human contempt on earth will not grieve you.

2. The soul: Lord, we live in blindness, and vanity easily deceives us. If I examine myself well, I have never received any injury from any creature; I therefore have no cause for a just complaint against you.

But because I have committed so many sins, and so grave, against you, it is right that all creatures should arm themselves against me. To me, then, with good reason, there is confusion and contempt, but to you, praise, honor and glory. And as long as I am not willing to willingly want to be despised and forsaken of all creatures, and to be had absolutely nothing, there will be no inner peace and tranquility in me, neither will I be spiritually enlightened, nor perfectly united with you.

CHAPTER 42

How not to look for peace in men

1. Jesus: Son if you put your peace in someone, by living with you and being of your opinion, you will find yourself inconstant and embarrassed. But if you resort to the always living and permanent truth, you will not be saddened by the absence and death of a friend. In me the love of a friend must be founded, and for me, everyone who seems good and kind to you in this life will be loved. Without me it is worthless, neither will the friendship last; nor is the love pure and true whose bonds I have not given. You must be so dead to similar affections of friends that, as far as it depends on you, you wish to live without human relations. The closer a man comes to God, the farther he will withdraw from all earthly relief. And the higher he ascends for God, the lower he descends in his estimation, and the more base he is reputed.

2. But whoever attributes himself to any good prevents grace from coming to his soul; because the grace of the Holy Spirit always seeks the humble heart. If you knew perfectly how to annihilate and detach yourself from all created love, then I would come to you with the abundance of my graces. When you look at creatures, you lose contemplation of the Creator. Learn to conquer yourself in everything by your Creator, and then you will be able to arrive at divine knowledge. Anything, however small, if you love it and appreciate it inordinately, stains the soul and separates you from the highest good.

CHAPTER 43

Against the vain science of the century

1. Jesus: Do not let yourself be captivated by the elegance and subtlety of human words, because the kingdom of God does not consist of words, but of virtue (1 Cor 2:4). Heed my words, which inflame the heart, lighten the spirit, lead to compunction, and bring forth many consolations. Never read my word for the sake of a more learned or wise opinion.

Apply yourself to mortify your addictions, because this brings you more benefit than the knowledge of the most difficult questions.

2. No matter how much you study and learn, you will always have to refer everything to the only principle. It is I who teach man science, and give the little ones a clearer understanding of what men are capable of teaching. The one I teach will soon be wise and will benefit greatly spiritually. Woe to those who inquire of men many curious things, and care little about the means of serving me. The time will come when the Master of teachers, Christ, Lord of angels, will appear to take lessons from all, that is, to examine the conscience of each. And with the lamp in his hand he will then search Jerusalem, and he will reveal the secret of darkness, silencing the objections of human tongues.

3. I am the one who lifts the humble spirit in an instant, so that it understands better the reasons for eternal truths, than if I had studied ten years in schools. I teach without the noise of words, without confusion of opinions, without fuss, without contention of arguments. I am the one who teaches to despise earthly things, to hate present things, to seek and appreciate eternal things, to flee from honor, to suffer injuries, to put all hope in me, to desire nothing outside of myself and to love only to me, with all fervor, above all.

4. Some, loving me utterly, learned divine things from it and spoke wonderful things. They took more advantage of leaving everything than studying subtle issues. To some, however, I speak common things, to others more particular; to some I reveal myself sweetly in signs and figures, to others I discover my mysteries with much light. The same voice speaks in all books, but it does not teach them all in the same way; for I am what inwardly teaches the truth, searches the heart, penetrates the thoughts. It inspires actions, distributing each second I like.

CHAPTER 44

That external things should not be taken to heart

1. Jesus: Son, it is good that you become ignorant in many things, and consider yourself dead on earth, so that the whole world may be crucified to you. It is also important that you become deaf to many things, taking care rather than what serves your peace.

It is more useful to avert your eyes from what you don't like and let everyone have their say, than to get into arguments. If you are right with God and consider his judgments, it will not be costly for you to give up.

2. The soul: Ah! Sir, what have we reached? Behold, we mourn a temporal loss, we work and run to earn a petty profit, but the spiritual damage we forget and barely remember, or later. One looks a lot for what is worth little or nothing, and ignores what is most necessary, because man gives himself entirely to external things, and, if he does not readily withdraw, rests in it with pleasure.

CHAPTER 45

That everyone should not be given credit, and how easily we miss words

1. Help us, Lord, in our tribulation, because human help is in vain (Ps 59:3). Oh! How many times have I searched in vain for fidelity, where I thought I had it! Ah! How many times have I found it where I least expected it! Vain, then, is the hope that sets in men; in you, my God, is the salvation of the righteous. Blessed are you, Lord my God, in all that befalls us. We are weak and fickle, we easily deceive ourselves and change.

2. That there will be so cautious and watchful in all things that he will not ever fall into disturbance or deception? But he who trusts in you, Lord, and seeks you with a sincere heart, does not fall so easily. And if he should fall into any tribulation, of whatever sort he may be embarrassed in it, he will promptly be released or consoled by you, for you do not forsake those who wait in you forever. Rare is the faithful friend who perseveres in all his friend's tribulations.

You, Lord, are the only most faithful friend and there is no other like him.

Oh! That holy soul (Santa Águeda) knew this well, who said: "My heart is established and founded on Christ!"

so had it been with me, human fear would not so easily trouble me, nor would the arrows of evil words shake me. Who can predict everything and guard against future evils? If the foreseen evils hurt so much, how much more the unforeseen will cause painful wounds!

But why, being so miserable, didn't I take better care? Why did I so easily give credit to others? However - we are men and nothing but weak men, even though many judge themselves and call themselves angels. Whom shall I believe, Lord? to whom but you?

You are the truth that neither deceives nor can be deceived. Whereas it is written: "Every man is a liar (Ps 115:2), weak, inconstant, inclined to sin, especially in words, so that what at first sight seems to be true is hardly to be believed".

3. How prudently have you advised us to beware of men, and have told us that "the enemies of man are those who dwell with him" (Mt 10:36), that we should not believe anyone who tells us: Here is Christ! Or is it over there! At my expense I learned this truth, and may God help me to be more cautious and not to give evidence of greater folly! Be careful, someone tells me, and keep what I tell you to yourself. And while I remain silent and keep a secret, the one who asked me to keep a secret cannot keep silent, otherwise he soon discovers himself and me and off he goes. From such men, chattering and careless, deliver me, Lord, lest I fall into their hands or commit similar faults. Put serious and sincere words into my mouth, and put away the deceit of the tongue. At all costs I must avoid what I don't want to put up with from others.

4. Oh! How good it is, to live in peace, to remain silent about others, not to believe everything indifferently, nor to repeat it immediately to others; to open up to a few and always seek you, the searcher of the heart; not to move with any breath of word, but to desire that all outward and inward things be done according to the good pleasure of your will. What a sure way to preserve divine grace, to flee from what falls in the sight of men, and not to desire what might earn us the admiration of men, but to seek, with all solicitude, what serves to amend the life and fervor of the soul ! To how many has the virtue spread and prematurely praised harmed! How much benefit, however, is it to preserve the grace of silence, during this life so fragile, which is but a continual temptation and struggle!

CHAPTER 46

Of the confidence we will have in God when insulting words are spoken to us

1. Jesus: Son, keep steadfast and wait on me, for words are words; they wound the air, but they do not break the stone. If you are guilty, try to make amends right away; if your conscience does not accuse you of anything, you intend to suffer it willingly, for the love of God. It is not much that you suffer, sometimes, bad words, since you cannot bear me any more heavy blows. And why do such light things hurt you if not because you're still carnal and you care more for men than you should? You fear being despised, and that is why you do not want to be reprimanded for your faults and you try to defend yourself with excuses.

2. But examine yourself better and you will see that the world still lives in you and the vain desire to please men. For, since you flee from being cast down and confused because of your faults, you clearly show that you are not truly humble, nor entirely dead to the world, and that the world is not crucified at all for you (Gal 6:14). But listen to my word and you will ignore ten thousand human words. Even if they said against you how much the darkest malice can invent, what harm would it do to you if you let it pass, no longer taking any notice of what a straw? Could I pull out a single hair from you?

3. But whoever does not dominate his heart, nor have God before his eyes, is easily upset by a word of reproof. But he who trusts me, and does not cling to his own opinion, will live without fear of men. I am the judge and I know all the secrets, I know how everything happened, who did the injury and who suffers it. This word came out of me, by my permission it happened to you, "that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed" (Lk 2:35).

I will judge the guilty and the innocent: first, however, I wanted to prove both by hidden judgment.

4. It often deceives the testimony of men; my judgment is true and will not be revoked. More often than not, it is hidden and few people know all its particulars, but it never makes a mistake, nor can it make a mistake, since it seems less upright in the eyes of the foolish. To me, therefore, you must appeal in all judgment and not be bound by your own opinion. For the righteous will not be troubled, whatever happens to him, by the permission of God. He will not be afflicted by the words spoken against him unjustly.

But neither will it be filled with vain joy when others justify it with reasons. He ponders that "I am the searcher of hearts and kidneys" (Ps 7:10), and I do not judge according to human exteriors and appearances. Because what is considered commendable in men's opinion is often guilty in my eyes.

5. The soul: Lord, "God, just judge, strong and patient" (Ps 7,12), who know the weakness and malice of men, be my strength and all my confidence, because the conscience of my own is not enough for me. force. You know what I do not know, so I should have received any rebuke with humility and meekness.

Forgive me, therefore, for all the times that I have not done so, and give me again more grace to suffer. Therefore, more valuable to me is your abundant mercy to obtain the forgiveness of sins than my pretended justice in defense of what is hidden in the conscience. And even if she doesn't accuse me of anything, I'm not justified for that; for without your mercy "no one living will be righteous in your eyes" (Ps 142,2).

CHAPTER 47

That all grave things must be endured for eternal life

1. Jesus: Son, do not let yourself be broken by the works undertaken for my love, nor be discouraged in tribulations; but in all that befalls you, comfort you and fortify my promises. I am powerful enough to reward you beyond all limit and measure. You won't deal here for long, you won't always be overwhelmed with pain. Wait a while and you will soon see the end of your ills. The time will come when all work and restlessness will cease. What passes with time is of little value and duration.

2. Do what you can do, work faithfully in my vineyard, and "I will be your reward" (Ge 15:1). He writes, reads, sings, moans, is silent, prays and suffers all adversity manfully; eternal life is worthy of these and other greater struggles. Peace will come one day that the Lord knows, and there will be no more day or night, as at present, but perpetual light, infinite clarity, firm peace, and sure rest. You will not say then: Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:24), you will not even exclaim: Woe is me, my exile has been prolonged! (Ps 119.5). Because death will be destroyed and salvation will be eternal; free from all anxiety, you will enjoy delicious joy, in the midst of pleasant and bright company.

3. Oh! if you saw the unfading crowns of the saints in heaven, and the glory in which those who once exulted, in the eyes of the world, were despised and considered almost unworthy of life; surely you would soon humiliate yourself to the dust, and you would rather obey all than one commander. Nor would you covet the happy days of this life, but rather rejoice to be afflicted for the love of God, and would consider it a great advantage to be had for nothing among men.

4. Oh! If you found a taste in these things and they penetrated deep into the heart, how could you dare to utter a single complaint? Is there a pity that one should not suffer for eternal life? Certainly it is not a small thing to lose or gain the kingdom of God. So lift your eyes to heaven. Here I am with all my saints; they, who in this world have sustained great battles, now rejoice, now are consoled and are safe, now enjoy rest and will remain with me forever in my Father's kingdom.

CHAPTER 48

From the day of eternity and the anguish of this life

1. O blessed mansion of the heavenly city! O brightest day of eternity, which night does not darken, but sovereign Truth always illuminates; always festive day, always safe, that never changes otherwise! Oh! if it had already dawned that day and all temporal things had ended! For the saints, yes, this day shines with the radiance of its perpetual brightness; for us, pilgrims of the earth, it only shows itself from afar and as in a mirror.

2. The citizens of heaven know how happy that day is; the outcast children of Eve feel how sad and bitter is this of the present life. The days of this time are short and bad, full of pain and anguish. In them one sees man tainted with many sins, entangled with many passions, anguished with many fears, restless with many cares, distracted by many curiosities, entangled in many vanities, surrounded by many mistakes, oppressed by many works, harassed by temptations, unnerved by delights, tormented by want.

3. Oh! When will the end of all these evils come? When will I be free from the sad slavery of addictions? When will I remember only you, Lord? When in you will I fully rejoice? When will I live in perfect freedom, without any hindrance, without affliction of soul and body? When will I enjoy solid, undisturbed and secure peace, inner and outer peace, stable peace everywhere? O good Jesus, when will I be before you to see us? When will I behold the glory of your kingdom? When will you be all in all things to me?

Oh! When will I be with you in the kingdom you have prepared from all eternity for those who love you? Poor and banished I am, in a land of enemies, where there are continual wars and extreme miseries!

4. Comfort me in my exile, mitigate my pain, for you all my desire is directed. All that the world offers for comfort is torment for me. I want to enjoy you intimately, but I cannot. I wish to apply myself to the things of heaven, but temporal things and immortified passions overwhelm me. With the spirit I wanted to rise above all things, but the flesh compels me to subject myself to them against my will.

So I, wretched man, fight with me and "I am myself heavy" (Job 7:20), for the spirit aspires to heights, but the flesh to baseness.

5. Oh! How much I suffer inwardly when, as I meditate on heavenly things, a multitude of carnal ideas come to disturb my prayer! My God, in your wrath, do not depart from your servant! (Ps 26:9). Cast your rays and dispel these thoughts! (Ps 143.6). Dismiss your arrows, and all these ghosts of the enemy will vanish.

Concentrate and collect my senses in you; make me forget all things in the world; grant me the grace to immediately refute and despise all imaginings of sin. Help me, eternal Truth, so that no vanity can seduce me.

Come, heavenly sweetness, and let all impurity flee before you.

Forgive me also and reveal me, by your mercy, whenever, in prayer, I think of something other than yourself. I honestly confess that I tend to be very absent-minded.

Because I am often not where my body is, but where my thoughts take me. I am where my thought is, and my thought is ordinarily where what I love is. It easily occurs to me what naturally delights me or usually pleases me.

6. For this reason you, Eternal Truth, have clearly said: Where your treasure is, there your heart is also found (Mt 6:21). If I love heaven, I like to think about heavenly things. If I love the world, I rejoice in its delights and I am saddened by its adversities. If I love meat, I gladly deal with carnal thoughts. If I love the spirit, it delights me to think of spiritual things. Because, whatever the object of my love, I speak and listen to it with pleasure and I carry its image with me. But blessed is the man who for love of you, Lord, gives up all creatures, does violence to nature and crucifies the lust of the flesh with the fervor of the spirit, so that, with a serene conscience, he offers you a pure and , detached inwardly and outwardly from everything earthly, deserves to join the choir of angels.

CHAPTER 49

Of the desire for eternal life and how many goods are promised to those who fight

1. Jesus: Son, when you feel that heaven inspires you with longing for the blessedness and the desire to leave the tabernacle of the body to contemplate my glory without a shadow of change, widen your heart and receive this holy inspiration with all affection. Give many thanks to the sovereign Goodness, who uses so much freedom for you, visits you with so much mercy, so animates you, so powerfully lifts you up, so that your own weight does not drag you to earthly things. For this does not come to you through your thoughts or efforts, but only through the mercy of heavenly grace and divine good pleasure, so that you may advance in virtues, above all in humility, and prepare yourself for future battles; that you may give yourself to me with all the affection of your heart and serve me with ardent love.

2. Son, the fire often burns, but the flame does not rise without smoke. So also the desires of some are on fire for heavenly things, and yet they are not free from temptation and carnal affections. For this reason, they do not only do for the glory of God what, in fact, they so eagerly ask of him. Such is also your desire many times, which you have manifested with such anxiety; for that which is contaminated with some self-interest is neither pure nor perfect.

3. Ask me, not what is pleasant and comfortable for you, but what is acceptable and honorable to me; for, if you judge rightly, you must prefer my law to all your desires, and fulfill it. I know your desires and heard your frequent moans. Would you even now be in the glorious freedom of the children of God, the thought of eternal abode already delights you, in the heavenly homeland full of joy; - but that time has not yet come, another is the present time, time of war, work and trial. You want to enjoy the fullness of the Sumo Bem, but for now you can't do it. I am that supreme Good; wait for me, says the Lord, until the kingdom of God comes.

4. You are yet to pass through many trials on earth and be trained in many things. Consolations will be given you from time to time, but full satisfaction you cannot receive. Make the effort, then, and have the courage, to do and suffer what nature repulses. It matters that you get rid of the new man and turn into another man. You must often do what you don't want and leave what you want. What pleases others will succeed; what you like will not be done. What others say is answered; what you say will be despised. They will ask for others and receive; you will ask, and you will not reach.

1. Others will be great in the mouths of men; but of you no word will be said. The others will be in charge of various commissions, and you will not be judged capable of anything. With this, nature will at times grieve; but 2. you will gain much if you suffer it in silence. In these and similar things, the faithful servant of the Lord is usually approved, to see how he knows how to deny himself and mortify himself in everything. There is hardly anything in which it is more necessary for you to die to yourself than to see and suffer what is contrary to your will, especially when you are told to do things that seem useless or unreasonable. And because you dare not resist the authority of the superior, under whose government you are, it seems hard for you to walk at the will of others and to give up all your own opinion.

5. But consider, son, the fruit of these works, the short end and the exceedingly great reward, and they will not bother you, but you will find in them comfort for your sufferings. For, for a small desire that you sacrifice now, your will will always be satisfied in heaven where you will find everything you want, everything you can desire. There you will possess all the good, without fear of losing it. There your will, always united with mine, will want nothing outside of me, nothing that is your own. There, no one will oppose you or complain about you, no one will cause you any inconvenience or annoyance; rather, whatever you desire will already be there, to fulfill and fully satisfy all your desires. There I will give thee the glory for the injury suffered, a robe of honor for the sorrow, and, for the choice of the lowest place, a throne in my kingdom forever. There will shine the fruit of obedience,austere penance will rejoice, and humble subjection will be gloriously crowned.

6. Submit yourself, then, humbly to the will of all, regardless of who said or ordered it. But he takes great care to gladly accept any request or nod, be it from your superior, or even from your equal or inferior, and he tries to comply with it sincerely. Seek one this, another that; let this one boast in one thing, that one in another, and receive a thousand praises; you, however, delight not in one thing or another, but only in contempt of yourself and in my will and glory. This must be your desire: that both in life and in death God may always be glorified by you.

CHAPTER 50

How the man in anguish must surrender himself into the hands of God

1. Lord God, holy Father! Blessed are you now and always; for as you willed it was done, and it is good what you do. Let your servant rejoice in you, not in you, not in any other, for you alone are true joy, you my hope and crown; only you, Lord, my delight and glory. What has your servant but what he has received from you, even without deserving it? Yours is all you gave and made. I am poor and have been working since my youth (Ps 87:16), and my soul is sometimes saddened to tears, and at other times it is disturbed by the sufferings that threaten it.

1. I wish you the joy of peace, I beg the peace of your children, which you feed in the light of consolation. If you will give me peace, if you will infuse me with holy joy, your servant's soul will be filled with joy, devoutly singing your praises. But if you turn away, as you often do, he will not be able to walk the path of your commandments, but rather will fall on his knees, to beat his chest, because he does not go to him as in days gone by, "when your light shone upon his head" (Ge 31:2), and found refuge from violent temptations under the shadow of your wings.

2. Just and always praiseworthy Father! Arrival is the time when your servant will be tested. Loving Father! It is only right that your servant suffer something at this time for your love. Father always adorable, the time has come that from all eternity you foresaw would come, that for a short time your servant succumbed outwardly, but living inwardly always united with you. For a short time he may be despised and humiliated, cast down before men and oppressed with sufferings and infirmities, that he may rise with you in the dawn of a new light and be glorified in heaven. Holy Father! this was your order and will, what you ordered was done.

3. For it is a grace that you grant to your friend: to suffer and grieve in this world for your love, as often and from whom you will allow it. Without your design, without your providence, or without cause, nothing happens on earth. It is good for me, Lord, that you have humbled me so that I may learn your righteous judgments (Ps 118:71), and put down all pride and presumption. It is beneficial for me to "have my face covered with confusion" (Ps 68:8), so that I may seek consolation in you and not in men. I also learned by this means to fear your unfathomable judgments; for you afflict the righteous with the wicked, but always with equity and justice.

4. I thank you, Lord, that you have not spared my iniquities, but punish me with hard lashes, sending me pain and afflicting me externally and internally with anguish. Of all that is under the sun, there is nothing able to comfort me, but you, Lord my God, heavenly physician of souls, who wound and heal, put into great torments and deliver from them (1 Kings 2,6; Tob 13,2 ). Your punishment is upon me, and your discipline will teach me (Ps 17:36).

5. Dear Father, in your hands I stand and lean under the rod of your correction. I wound my back and neck, so that I may subject my stubborn will to yours. Make me a devoted and humble disciple, as you know how to do, so that I will obey your slightest nod. I give myself, with all that is mine, to your correction; for it is better to be punished in this world than in the next. You know everything and everything and nothing is hidden from human consciousness. You know the future before it takes place, and you don't need someone to teach you or warn you about the things that are done on earth. You know what is good for my progress and how much the tribulation is worth, to clean the rust of vices. Dispose of me according to your good pleasure and look not to my sinful life, to anyone better and more clearly known than to you.

1. Grant me, Lord, that I know what I ought to know, love what I ought to love; make me praise what pleases you most, esteem what you appreciate, despise what in your eyes is abject.

Do not let me judge by outward appearances, nor criticize for what I hear from inexperienced men, but give me the right discernment of visible and spiritual things, and above all, the desire to always know your will.

2. Men are often deceived in their judgments, and no less are worldlings deceived, because they love only visible things. Will a man become better because someone else praises him? The liar deceives the liar, the vain one the vain one, the blind man the blind man, the sick man the sick man, by praising him; and in fact, rather it confuses him into weaving vain praises for him. Because, as each one is in the eyes of God, so much is and nothing more, says humble St. Francis.

CHAPTER 51

That we must do the humble works when we are incapable of the highest

1. Jesus: Son, you cannot always remain in the fervent desire for all the virtues, nor persevere in the highest degree of contemplation; but sometimes it is necessary for thee, because of thy addicted nature, to descend to humble things and carry, whatever the burden, the burden of this corruptible life. As long as you live in this mortal body, you will feel boredom and heartache. It is convenient, therefore, that in the flesh you often groan under its weight, because you cannot occupy yourself with spiritual exercises and the contemplation of divine things without interruption.

2. Then it behooves you to resort to humble outward occupations and recreate yourself in good works; to wait, with firm confidence, for my heavenly coming and visit; to carry your exile and dryness of mind with patience, until I come to visit you again and free you from all pains. Because I'll make you forget about work and enjoy your inner peace. I will open the delightful garden of the Sacred Scriptures to you, so that, with an enlarged heart, you begin to run along the path of my commandments. And then you will say: The pains of this life are out of proportion to the future glory that will be revealed to us (Rom 8:18).

CHAPTER 52

May the man not consider himself worthy of consolation, but deserving of punishment

1. The soul: Lord, I am not worthy of your consolation, nor any spiritual visit, and that is why you treat me with justice when you leave me poor and disconsolate. Because, even if it could shed a sea of ​​tears, it would still not be worthy of your consolation. I don't deserve anything else, then, but to be scourged and punished for so many offenses and so many serious crimes that I've committed. So, therefore, all things considered, I am not worthy of even the slightest consolation. But you, gracious and merciful God, who do not want your works to perish, to manifest the riches of your goodness in the vessels of mercy, deign to console your servant, without any merit, absolutely superhuman. Because your consolations are not like human consolations.

2. What have I done, Lord, that You might give me some heavenly consolation? I don't remember having done any good, but before I was always prone to sin, and late in amending. This is the truth, there is no denying it. If I said anything else, you would be against me and there would be no one to defend me. What else did I deserve for my sins but hell and eternal fire? I honestly confess that I am worthy of every scorn and contempt, and that I am not worthy to be counted in the number of your servants. And even if I hear this very grudgingly, for the truth's sake, I will accuse my sins against myself, so that I may more easily reach your mercy.

What shall I say, covered in guilt and confusion? I cannot open my mouth except to say this word: I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned; have pity on me, forgive me!

Allow me a little time to vent my pain, before descending to the dark land, covered with the shadows of death (Job 10, 20.21). What more do you demand of the guilty and wretched sinner but that he humble himself and repent for his sins? Through sincere and humble contrition of the heart the hope of pardon is born, the troubled conscience is reconciled, lost grace is recovered, man is preserved from the wrath of the future, God is united with the repentant soul in a holy kiss.

2. The humble contrition of sins is for you, Lord, a sacrifice most accepted, which smells sweeter in your presence than the perfume of incense. This is also the precious balm that you wanted to see poured on your holy feet, for you never despised the contrite and humbled heart (Ps 50:19).

There is a refuge from the enemy's fury, there they mend and wash the stains contracted somewhere.

CHAPTER 53

That the grace of God is not communicated to those who love earthly things

1. Jesus: Son, my grace is precious; it suffers neither from strange things nor from earthly consolations. It must therefore remove all the hindrances of grace, if you would have it infused into you. Look for a secluded place, like to live only with you, and do not seek conversation with others, but direct your fervent prayer to God, so that He may preserve you in the compunction of spirit and purity of conscience. Evaluates in nothing the whole world; it puts the service of God before all outward things. For for a while you have not been able to deal with me and delight in transitory things. You must separate yourself from acquaintances and friends, and loosen your heart from all temporal consolation. In this way the Apostle St. Peter also urges the Christian faithful to live in this world as strangers and pilgrims (1 Pdr 2,11).

1. Oh! How much confidence will the dying man have who has no affection for anything in the world. But thus detaching the heart from everything, does not understand the spirit still sick, just as the carnal man does not know the freedom of the inner man. However, if he wants to be truly spiritual, he must renounce strangers as well as relatives, and save himself from none other than himself. If you defeat yourself perfectly, everything else will easily be subject to. For the perfect victory is to triumph over yourself.

Because he who dominates himself to such an extent that the senses obey reason and reason obeys him in all things, he is really conqueror of himself and master of the world.

2. If you aspire to climb these heights, you must begin manfully and put the ax to the root, so that it plucks and cuts the secret and disordered attachment you have to yourself, and to every particular and sensitive good. From this vice of excessive and disordered love that man has for himself comes almost everything that has to be radically overcome; this one conquered and subjugated, there will soon be great peace and stable tranquility. But since few try to die to themselves and let go of themselves, so they get stuck in themselves and cannot rise above themselves in spirit. Whoever, however, freely desires to follow me, must mortify all his evil and disordered affections, and not attach himself, with passionate love, to any creature.

CHAPTER 54

From the various movements of nature and grace

1. Jesus: Son, diligently observe the movements of nature and grace: for they are very opposed to one another and so subtle that they can only be discerned with difficulty, even by a spiritually and inwardly enlightened man. All, yes, desire the good and intend some good in their words and works; that is why many deceive themselves with the appearance of good. Nature is cunning; it attracts, entangles and deceives many, and it has nothing in its sights but itself. But grace walks with simplicity, avoids the slightest appearance of evil, uses no deceptions, and does everything purely for God, in whom it rests as at its last end.

2. Nature abhors mortification, does not want to be oppressed, nor defeated, nor subject, nor willingly submitting to someone else. Grace, however, applies to self-mortification, resists sensuality, wants to be subject, wants to be defeated and does not want to use its own freedom: it likes to be under discipline, does not covet to dominate others, but wants to live, stay and always remain under the hand of God, always ready, for the love of God, to bow down humbly to every human creature. Nature works for its own interest and only pays attention to the profit that may come from others. But grace ponders, not what is useful or comfortable for it, but what is profitable to many. Nature likes to receive honors and honors; but grace faithfully refers to God all honor and glory.

Nature fears confusion and contempt; but grace rejoices to suffer injuries for the name of Jesus. Nature appreciates the idleness and well-being of the body; but grace cannot be idle and gladly embraces work. Nature likes to possess strange and beautiful things and hates the base and the coarse; but grace is pleased with the simple and modest, it does not despise the harsh ones, nor does it refuse to shed old habit. Nature takes care of temporal goods, rejoices over a small profit, is saddened by a loss, and is irritated by an injurious little word. Grace, however, cares for eternal things, does not cling to temporals, is not troubled by their loss, nor is offended by harsh words; because he has put his treasure and his glory in heaven where nothing perishes.

3. Nature is greedy, wants to receive rather than give; he likes to have his own and private things. But grace is generous and liberal, flees from singularities, is content with little and considers giving "greater happiness than receiving" (Acts 20:35). Nature is inclined towards creatures, towards the flesh itself, towards vanities and pastimes. But grace leads us to God and virtues, renounces creatures, flees from the world, detests carnal appetites, restricts wandering, and refuses to appear in public. Nature likes to have any outward consolation to delight the senses. Grace, however, only seeks its comfort in God and delights in the highest good, more than in all visible things.

4. Nature does everything for its own interest and benefit, it knows nothing to do for free, but it always expects, for the good it does, to receive as much or better in praise or favors, and wishes that its effects and gifts be made great use of. Grace, however, does not seek any temporal thing, nor does it desire any prize other than God alone, and from the temporal it does not desire more than what it can serve to obtain eternal life.

5. Nature cherishes many friends and relatives, boasts of her high position and illustrious lineage, seeks to please the powerful, flatters the rich, applauds her peers. Grace, however, loves its enemies, does not boast of the great number of its friends, disregards position and nobility, if it does not see greater virtue united with them. He favors the poor more than the rich, has more compassion on the innocent than on the powerful, rejoices with the sincere and not with the liar. It always encourages good and greater progress, so that they may resemble the Son of God by virtue of their virtues. Nature soon complains about want and work. Grace patiently suffers poverty.

6. Nature attributes everything to itself, for the benefit of its struggle to struggle. Grace, however, attributes everything to God, from whom everything flows as from its origin; no good he attributes to himself with arrogant presumption, he does not question or prefer his opinion to that of others, but in every judgment and appear to be subject to eternal wisdom and divine scrutiny. Nature wants to know secrets and hear news, wants to show off in public and experience many things through the senses; she desires to be known and to do that which results in her praise and admiration. Grace does not take care of novelties and curiosities, because all of this is born out of ancient corruption, as there is nothing new and stable on earth.

Teach, therefore, to curb the senses, to avoid vain complacency and boasting, to hide humbly that which provokes admiration and praise, to seek in all things and sciences spiritual profit and the honor and glory of God. She does not want them to praise her, nor her works, but that God be blessed in his gifts, which he lavishes on everyone out of sheer goodness.

7. Grace is supernatural light and a special gift from God; it is properly the sign of the chosen ones and the pledge of eternal salvation, since it elevates man from earthly things to the love of heavenly things, and makes him spiritual from carnal. The more, then, nature is oppressed and dominated, the more grace is infused, and the more each day the inner man is renewed, according to the image of God.

CHAPTER 55

Of the corruption of nature and the efficacy of divine grace

1. The soul: Lord my God, who created me in your image and likeness, grant me the grace that you declared to be so important and necessary for salvation: may I overcome my evil nature, which drags me to sin and perdition .

Because I feel in my flesh the law of sin, which is contrary to the law of the spirit and captivates me, wanting to lead me to obey, in many things, sensuality; nor will I be able to resist the passions, if your most holy grace does not assist me, and inflame my heart.

2. Your grace, and great grace, is needed to overcome nature, which is always prone to evil from childhood. For, addicted to the first man, Adam, and corrupted by sin, it transmits to all men the penalty of this stain, so that the same nature, which you created good and upright, must now be regarded as sick and weakened by corruption, seen that her movements, left to themselves, drag her to evil and base things, Because the modicum of strength that remains is like a spark hidden under the ashes. This spark is the natural reason, which, although shrouded in dense darkness, still discerns good from evil, truth from error, but is not able to do everything it approves, since it does not have the full light of truth, nor the primitive purity of your affections.

3. Hence it comes, O my God, that "according to the inner man I delight in your law" (Rom 7:22), knowing that your mandate is good, just, and holy, who reproves all evil and teaches that one must flee from sin. According to the flesh, however, I am enslaved to the law of sin, for I obey sensuality rather than reason. Hence, "I want to do good, but I don't know how to do it" (Rom 7, 18). That's why I make many good intentions, but lacking your grace to help my weakness, with the slightest obstacle I faint and give up. So it happens that I know the way to perfection well and I see clearly what I must do. However, burdened with the weight of corruption, I do not rise to what is most perfect.

Oh! How I need your grace, Lord, to begin, continue and complete the good. For without her I can do nothing, but I can do everything in you, if your grace will comfort me, O truly heavenly grace, without which the merits themselves are worth nothing, nor the appreciation of the natural gifts deserve! Art and wealth, beauty and fortitude, ingenuity and eloquence, are nothing before you, Lord, without grace. Because the gifts of nature are common to the good and the bad; but grace or charity is peculiar to the chosen, because it makes them worthy of eternal life. So excellent is this grace, that neither the gift of prophecy, nor the power to work miracles, nor the highest contemplation is of any value without it. Neither faith nor hope nor the other virtues please you, without grace and without charity.

O most blessed grace, which makes the poor in spirit rich in virtues and humbles in heart the rich in the riches of fortune: come, descend on me and fill my soul with your consolation, that my spirit may not faint from weariness and dryness . I beg you, Lord, that I find grace in your eyes, because your grace is enough for me, although I lack everything that nature desires. Though I may be tempted and vexed with many tribulations, I will not fear as long as your grace is with me. She is my strength, she gives me advice and support. She is mightier than all enemies and wiser than all sages.

She is the teacher of truth and discipline, the light of the heart and the relief from tribulation; it chases away sadness, dispels fear, nourishes devotion, generates holy tears. What am I without grace, but a dry wood and a useless log that throws itself into the fire? May your grace, therefore, forewarn me and always accompany me and keep me continually in the practice of good works, through Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.

CHAPTER 56

That we must renounce ourselves and follow Christ through the cross

1. Jesus: The more you go out of yourself, the more you can come to me. Just as not desiring anything outward produces inner peace, so inward detachment from oneself causes union with God. I want you to learn perfect self-abnegation, submitting yourself, without resistance or complaint, to my will. Follow me, I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6). Without a path you cannot walk, without truth you cannot know, without life you cannot live. I am the path you must follow, the truth you must believe, the life you must wait. I am the sure way, the infallible truth, the endless life. I am the right path, the ultimate truth, the true life, the blissful life, the uncreated life. If you persevere in my way, you will know the truth, and the truth will deliver you (Jn 8:32), and you will attain eternal life.

2. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments (Mt 19:17).

If you want to know the truth, believe me. If you want to be perfect, sell everything (Mt 19,21). If you want to be my disciple, renounce yourself. If you want to have the blissful life, despise the present. If you want to be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you want to reign with me, carry the cross with me, because only the servants of the cross find the way to bliss and true light.

3. The soul: Lord Jesus Christ! Because your life was so oppressed and despised in the world, grant me to imitate you with the contempt of the world. For the servant is not greater than his master, nor the disciple greater than the master (Mt 10:24).

Work your servant to conform me to your life, because in it is my salvation and true holiness. Everything outside of it I read or hear cannot fully recreate or delight me.

4. Jesus: Son, since you know and read all these things, blessed will you be if you put them into practice. Whoever knows my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; I too will love him and reveal myself to him (Jn 14:21), and will cause him to sit with me in my Father's kingdom.

The soul: Lord Jesus! Let it be done to me according to your word and promise, and let me deserve it. I received the cross, from your hand I received it; I will carry it, carry it to death, as you have imposed on me. In fact, the life of a good religious is a cross, but it leads him to Paradise. The beginning is done; I can't go back without giving up.

5. Hey, brothers! Let us march together, Jesus is with us, for Jesus we embrace the cross, for Jesus we want to persevere in it.

He, who is our leader and guide, will also be our help. Here is our King, who marches ahead of us, He will fight for us.

Manly we want to follow him, no one is surprised; let us be ready to die boldly in combat, and let us not tarnish our glory by deserting the cross.

CHAPTER 57

May the man not be too discouraged when he falls into some faults

1. Jesus: Son, I like more patience and humility in setbacks than much consolation and fervor in prosperity.

Why does a little thing sadden you that they said against you?

Even if it was bigger, you shouldn't have been upset. Let it go now, it's nothing new; it is not the first time, nor will it be the last, if you live long enough. But valiant art thou, as long as no adversity befalls thee. You even know how to give good advice and cherish others with your words; but when tribulation knocks suddenly at your door, you soon lack counsel and strength. Consider your great weakness, which you so often experience in small things; yet it is for your salvation that this and similar things take place.

2. Try to forget this as best you know how, and if it impressed you, don't be shaken or disturbed for too long.

At least suffer with patience what you cannot suffer with joy. Even if it is hard for you to hear this or that word and you feel indignant, moderate yourself, and don't let some unreasonable expression out of your mouth, with which the little ones could be scandalized. Soon the storm in your heart will calm, and the pain will turn to sweetness, with the return of grace. I still live, says the Lord, ready to help and comfort you, more than ever, if you trust in me and invoke me with fervor.

3. Be braver, and prepare to endure greater things.

All is not lost as you feel troubled and sorely tempted. Man you are and not God; you are flesh and not an angel. How can you always persevere in the same state of virtue, if the angel in heaven could not, nor the first man in paradise? I am the one who raises the afflicted and saves them, I raise to my divinity those who know their weaknesses.

4. The soul: Lord, blessed be your word, sweeter in my mouth than a honeycomb (Ps 18,11; 118, 103). What would become of me in so many tribulations and anguish, if you did not comfort me with your holy words? As long as you finally reach the port of salvation, what does it matter what and how much you have suffered? Grant me a good end, blissful transit of this world. Remember me, my God, and lead me in the straight path to your kingdom! Amen.

CHAPTER 58

That we must not scrutinize the highest things and the hidden judgments of God

1. Jesus: Son, beware of disputing about high matters and the hidden judgments of God; do not want to inquire why this one is left in such a state, this one elevated to such grace, this one so oppressed, this one so exalted. This is beyond human reach, and there is no reasoning or discussion that can scrutinize God's purposes. When, therefore, the enemy suggests such thoughts to you, or the curious question them, answer with the prophet: Righteous are you, Lord, and just is your judgment (Ps 118:37), or, also: The judgments of the Lord are true and justified in themselves (Ps 19:10). My judgments should be feared, not disputed, because they are incomprehensible to human understanding.

2. Also do not wish to inquire or dispute about the merits of the saints, which is the holiest or the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Hence many useless controversies and disputes, which nourish pride and vainglory, from which envy and discord arise, because the latter superbly prefers a saint, the former wants to give preeminence to another. To want to know and investigate such things is of no avail, but rather displeases the saints, because "I am not a God of discord but of peace" (1 Cor 14:33), and this peace consists in true humility rather than in exaltation itself.

3. Some, out of a predilection zeal, are more attached to this or that saint, but this affection is human rather than divine. I'm the one who made all the saints; I've given you grace, I've given you glory. I know each one's merits, I have prevented them with the blessings of my sweetness (Ps 20:4). I met my loved ones before the ages, I chose them from the world, not them me. I called them by my grace and attracted them by my mercy: I put them through various trials. I flooded them with wonderful consolations, gave them perseverance and crowned their patience.

4. I know the first and the last and embrace them all with inestimable love. I must be praised in all my saints, blessed above all things, and honored in every one of them, whom I so gloriously exalted and predestined, without any prior merit on their part. Whoever despises, therefore, one of the smallest of mine also fails to honor the greatest, because I was the one who made the small and the big. And who despises everyone else who is in the kingdom of heaven.

Because everyone is a beautiful vehicle of charity; all have the same opinion, the same desire, and love each other with the same love.

5. Besides, - what is even more sublime - they love me more than they love you and your merits. Because, snatched above themselves and detached from all self-love, they became entirely my love, in which they rest with great joy. There is nothing that can lead them astray or depress them, because, filled with eternal truth, they burn in the unquenchable fire of charity. Be silent, therefore, carnal and sensual men, and do not argue about the state of the saints, because they know how to love only their own joys. They decrease or add according to their inclination, and not as the eternal Truth pleases.

6. In many this ignorance is, especially in those who, little enlightened, rarely know how to love a saint with purely spiritual love. The natural affection and human friendship that incline them to this or that, and as they behave in earthly things, so also appear to them in heavenly things, takes them a long way. There is, however, an incomparable distance between what the imperfect think and what spiritual men attain through superior revelation.

7. Beware, then, son, from curiously discussing things that exceed your understanding; it takes care before and it treats of beings still the lowest ones in the kingdom of God. And since anyone knew who was the holiest or the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, what would he avail of this knowledge, if he did not take it from him to humble himself before me and more fervently praise my name? Much more pleases God who cares for the greatness of his sins, the scarcity of virtues, and the great distance that separates him from the perfection of the saints, than he who disputes their greater or lesser glory.

It is better to implore the saints with devout prayers and tears, to entreat them with humility of heart for their glorious intercession, than to peer with vain curiosity into their secrets.

8. The saints are very happy and satisfied; I wish men too would know how to be content and refrain from their vain words. They do not boast of their own merits, as they attribute no good to themselves, but everything refers to me that I gave them everything out of infinite charity. So full are they with the love of the divinity and with abundant joy that nothing lacks in their glory, nor can they lack in their bliss. The higher the saints are in glory, the more humble they are in themselves and the closer they are to me and my beloved. That is why you read in Scripture that they laid down their crowns before God and prostrated themselves before the Lamb and worshiped him who lives forever and ever (Rev 4,10).

9. Many ask who is the greatest in the kingdom of God and do not know if they will be worthy to be counted among the least.

It is a great thing to be even the smallest in heaven, where all are great, because they will be called children of God, and, in fact, they are. The least will be worth a thousand, and the sinner of a hundred years will die (Is 60:22; 65:20). For, when the disciples asked who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they received this answer: If you do not convert and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18,3,4).

10. Woe to those who refuse to humble themselves spontaneously with the little ones; for the gate of the heavenly kingdom is low and will not give them entrance. Woe also to the rich, who have their consolations in this world, because when the poor enter the kingdom of God, they will be left out, crying. Rejoice, humble, and "rejoice, poor people, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Lk 6:20) provided you walk in the way of truth.

CHAPTER 59

That only in God must we establish all hope and trust

1. The soul: Lord, what confidence can I have in this life or what is my greatest consolation from all that is under the sun? Are you not, O Lord my God, whose mercy is infinite? Where did I find myself well without you, or when did I feel ill while you were present? Rather, I want to be poor for you, than rich without you. I prefer to pilgrimage with you on earth, than to possess heaven without you. Where you are, there is heaven; and there is death and hell, where you are not. You are the target of my desires, so for you I must moan, cry out and pray. In no one, finally, can I fully trust to give me timely help in my needs, but you alone, my God. You are my hope, you my trust, you my most faithful comforter in all things.

1. Everyone seeks their interests; but ye have only my salvation and profit in view, and ye turn everything 2. for good to me. Even when you subject me to various temptations and adversities, you order all this for my benefit, for in a thousand ways you tend to try your friends. And in these trials I must love and praise you no less, as if you filled me with heavenly consolations.

2. In you, therefore, O Lord my God, I place all my hope and refuge; to you I commend all my tribulations and anguishes; for everything that I see outside of you I find weak and fickle. My many friends avail me nothing, neither can men help me, nor can prudent advisers give me useful advice, nor can the books of the sages console me, nor can any precious treasure save me, nor any delightful retreat to protect me, if you yourselves do not assist me, help, comfort, console, instruct and defend.

3. For everything that seems fit to attain peace and happiness is nothing without you, nor can it bring us true happiness.

You are therefore the culmination of all goods, the fullness of life, the abyss of science; to wait on you above all is the greatest consolation of your servants. To you, Lord, I lift my eyes, I trust in you, my God, Father of mercy!

Bless and sanctify my soul with the heavenly blessing that it may be your holy abode, the throne of your eternal glory, and nothing is found in this time of your divinity that could offend the eyes of your majesty. Look upon me according to the greatness of your goodness and the multitude of your mercies, and hear the prayer of your poor servant exiled so far away, in the dark region of death. Protect and preserve the soul of your wretched servant amidst the many dangers of this corruptible life, and with the assistance of your grace guide him along the path of peace to the homeland of perpetual clarity. Amen.

BOOK ROOM

OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR

Devout Exhortation to Holy Communion

voice of Christ

Come to me all who suffer and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord (Mt 11,78).

The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world (Jn 6:52).

Take and eat, this is my body, which will be delivered for you; do this in remembrance of me (Lk 22:19).

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood stays in me and I in him (Jn 6:57).

The words I spoke to you are spirit and life (Jn 6:64).

CHAPTER 1

With how much reverence must Christ receive the Voice of the disciple

1. These words are yours, O Jesus, eternal truth, even though they were not all spoken at the same time, nor written in the same place. These words being yours, then, and true, I must receive them all with gratitude and faith. They are yours, because you said them; and they are mine also, because you said them for my salvation. Full of joy I receive them from your mouth, so that they may be engraved more deeply in my heart. Words of such tenderness are animated, my sins terrify me, and my impure conscience keeps me from participating in such lofty mysteries. The sweetness of your words attracts me, but the multitude of my sins oppresses me.

2. You command that I come to you with great confidence, if I want to have a part with you; and let him receive the food of immortality, if I desire eternal life and glory. Come, say ye, come to me all who are grieving and burdened, and I will give you rest. O sweet and loving word in the sinner's ear: You, Lord my God, invite the poor and needy to the communion of your most holy body, but who am I, Lord, to dare approach you? Behold, the heavens of the heavens cannot encompass you, and ye say, Come unto me all!

What do you mean by this sweet condescension and this most loving invitation? How dare I come to you when I don't know any good in me that I can trust? How can I welcome you into my abode, I, who so often offended your most benignant face? The angels and the archangels tremble, the saints and the righteous tremble, and you say, Come unto me, all! If that word were not yours, who would have it as true? If you did not command it, who would dare to approach?

3. Noah, the righteous man, labored a hundred years in building the ark to save himself with a few: how can I prepare myself in an hour to receive with reverence the Creator of the world?

Moses, your great servant and special friend, made the ark of incorruptible wood, and overlaid it with the finest gold, to keep the tablets of the law in it; and I, vile creature, dare I so easily receive you who are the author of the law and the dispenser of life? Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, took seven years to build the magnificent temple, in praise of your name, and he celebrated for eight days the feast of his dedication, offering a thousand peaceful hosts, and at the sound of the trumpets and with much joy he placed the ark of the covenant in the place that had been prepared for it. And I, the most miserable of all men, how can I receive you in my house, when I hardly know how to spend half an hour with devotion? and would that even once he had used it worthily!

4. O my God, how labored these your servants to please you! Alas, how little do I do! How little time I spend preparing for communion! I am rarely completely withdrawn, very rarely free from all distraction. And yet, in the salutary presence of your divinity, no improper thought should occur to me, nor should I be concerned with any creature, for I am going to host, not an angel, but the Lord of angels.

5. Furthermore, there is a very great difference between the ark of the covenant with its relics and your most pure body with its ineffable virtues; between those sacrifices of the law, which were but figures of the future, and the true sacrifice of your body, which is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of old.

6. Why, then, if my heart does not lighten my heart better in your adorable presence? Why do I not prepare myself more carefully to receive your holy mystery, when those holy patriarchs and prophets, kings and princes, with all the people, showed such devotion and fervor in divine worship?

7. With religious transport the most pious King David danced before the ark of the covenant, in memory of the benefits formerly bestowed upon his fathers; he had various musical instruments made, he composed psalms and ordered them to be sung with joy, and he himself sang them often to the sound of the harp; he taught the people of Israel to praise God with all their hearts and to magnify and bless him every day with one voice. If, then, there was so much devotion and divine fervor before the ark of the testament, how much reverence and devotion must I have now, and all the Christian people, in the presence of the Sacrament and in the reception of the most precious body of Christ!

8. Many people run to different places to visit the relics of the saints, and they marvel at hearing their deeds narrated; they contemplate the vast buildings of the temples and kiss the sacred bones, guarded in silk and gold. And behold, here you are present before me, on the altar, you, my God, Holy of holies. Creator of men and Lord of angels. On such visits, it is often the curiosity and the novelty of things that move men; and tiny is the fruit of amendment that they gather, especially when they make these pilgrimages lightly, without true contrition. Here, however, in the Sacrament of the Altar, you are all present, God and man, Christ Jesus; here man receives copious fruit of eternal salvation, every time he receives you worthy and devoutly.

There we are not led by any lightness, curiosity or attraction of the senses, but firm faith, devout hope and sincere charity.

9. O invisible God, Creator of the world, how wonderfully do you favor us, how tenderly and tenderly do you deal with your chosen ones, offering yourselves as food in this Sacrament! It transcends all understanding, it attracts the hearts of devotees and ignites their love. Because these true believers of yours, who spend their entire lives in amending themselves, often receive from this august sacrament copious grace of devotion and love of virtue.

10. O wonderful and hidden grace of this Sacrament, which is known only to the faithful of Christ, but which the infidels and slaves of sin cannot experience! In this Sacrament spiritual grace is given, the soul regains the strength lost, the beauty distorted by sin flourishes. Such is this grace at times, that, by the abundance of devotion received, not only the soul, but also the weak body, feels itself endowed with greater strength.

11. It is, however, much to weep and lament our lukewarmness and negligence, the little fervor in receiving Jesus Christ, in whom resides all the hope and merit of those who will be saved. Because he is our sanctification and redemption, he is the comfort of pilgrims and the eternal joy of the saints. And so it's a lot to cry about the little case that so many make of this healthy mystery, it being the joy of heaven and the conservation of the whole world. O blindness and hardness of the human heart, which so little esteems this ineffable gift, but with the daily use it makes, it even falls into indifference!

13. For if this august Sacrament were celebrated in one place and were consecrated by one priest in the world, how eagerly do you imagine that men would come to visit that place and that priest in order to witness the celebration of the divine mysteries? But now there are many priests, and in many places Christ is offered, that the more the grace and love of God to men may be manifested, the more widely the holy communion is spread throughout the world. Thanks be to you, good Jesus eternal Shepherd, that you deign to support us, poor and outcasts, with your precious body and blood, and even invite us, with the words of your own mouth, to participate in these mysteries, saying: Come unto me all who are grieving and burdened, and I will give you rest.

CHAPTER 2

How in this Sacrament man is shown the great goodness and charity of God The Voice of the disciple

1. Entrusted, Lord, in your goodness and great mercy, I come to you, as sick to the physician, hungry and thirsting for the fountain of life, needy to the King of heaven, servant to the Lord, creature to the Creator, disconsolate to my pious Comforter .

But whence comes the grace to come to me? Who am I that you should offer yourselves to me? How dare the sinner appear before you? and you, how do you deign to come to the sinner? You know your servant, and you know that there is no good in him for you to give him this benefit. So I confess, my baseness, I recognize your goodness, I praise your mercy and I thank you for your excessive charity.

You do this for yourselves, not for my merits, but so that your goodness may be more manifest to me, greater charity may be infused into me, and charity may be more perfectly recommended to me. For as it pleases you, and thus you have commanded, I also like your condescension, and may I not hinder my sins!

2. O most sweet and most gracious Jesus! I owe you praise for the participation of your most holy body, whose existence no one can explain! But what shall I think of this communion, coming to my Lord, whom I cannot properly honor, and yet I desire to receive with devotion?

What better and more salutary thing can I think of, than to completely humble myself before you and exalt your infinite kindness to me? I praise you, my God, and magnify you forever. I despise myself and you submit to the abyss of my vileness.

3. You are the Holy One of saints, and I the dross of sinners. You come down to me, I am not worthy to look up to you. You come to me, you want to be with me, you invite me to your banquet. You want to give me spiritual food and the bread of the angels, which, in fact, is none other than yourselves, living bread, who came down from heaven and give life to the world.

4. Behold the source of love, from which your mercy shines!

What thanksgiving are owed to you for this benefit!

Oh! how healthy and profitable was your plan in instituting this Sacrament! How sweet and delicious a feast, in which you gave yourselves food! How wonderful, Lord, are your works, how ineffable your truth! Because you said - and everything was done, and what you commanded was done.

5. A wonderful thing worthy of faith and above all human understanding is that you, Lord my God, true God and man, should be all whole under the insignificant species of bread and wine, and, without being consumed, feed him that ye receive. You, Lord of the universe, who need nothing, wanted to dwell in us through your Sacrament; keep my heart and body without blemish, that with joyful and pure conscience I may often celebrate and receive your mysteries, for my eternal salvation, since you instituted and ordained them chiefly for your honor and perpetual remembrance.

6. Rejoice, my soul, and thank God for such an excellent gift and singular consolation that he left you in this vale of tears. Because every time you celebrate this mystery and receive the body of Christ, you renew the work of your redemption and become a partaker of all the merits of Christ. For the charity of Christ is never diminished, nor is the greatness of his propitiation ever exhausted. Therefore, you must always prepare yourself for this act of renewal of the spirit, and carefully consider this great mystery of salvation. How big, new and delicious it must appear to you, when you celebrate or hear Mass, as if Christ on the same day descended for the first time into the Virgin's bosom and became man, or as if, hanging from the cross, he suffered and died for the salvation of the men.

CHAPTER 3

On the usefulness of frequent communion Voice of the disciple

1. Behold, I come to you, Lord, to take advantage of your bounty, and to delight in this sacred banquet, which you, my God, have prepared in your tenderness for the poor. In you is found all that I can and must desire; you are my hope, strength, honor and glory. Rejoice therefore the soul of your servant today, for to you, Lord Jesus, I have lifted up my soul. I wish to receive you now with devotion and reverence; I wish to host you at home, so that, with Zacchaeus, you may deserve to be blessed and counted among the children of Abraham. My soul sighs for your body; my heart longs to be united with you.

2. Give yourselves to me and I am satisfied; for without you nothing can comfort me. Without you I cannot be, and without your visit I cannot live. That is why I must often come to you and receive you for the remedy of my salvation, in order not to faint on the way when I am deprived of this heavenly food. This is what you said once, most merciful Jesus, when various illnesses were preached and cured: "I do not want to send them away fasting, that they may not faint on the way" (Mt 15:32). Do the same with me too, for you have stayed in this Sacrament for the consolation of the faithful. You are the soul's sweet meal, and whoever welcomes you worthily will become a partaker and heir of eternal glory. To me, who so often fall and sin, so quickly I loosen and faint, it is very necessary for me that, with prayer,confession and frequent communion, renew me, purify and empower me, not to abandon my holy purposes, abstaining from communion any longer.

3. For "man's senses are inclined towards evil from his adolescence (Ge 8:21), and if the heavenly remedy does not help him, man soon falls from bad to worse. For, if now, he is taking communion or celebrating , I am so negligent and lukewarm, what would I be if I did not take this remedy and seek such powerful comfort? the sacred mysteries and make me a partaker of so much grace. For while the faithful soul, far from you, sojourns in this mortal body, the only and chief consolation for her is - that she often remember her God and devoutly receive his Loved.

4. O wondrous condescension of your goodness to you, that you, Lord God, Creator and quickener of all spirits, deign to come to my poor soul and satiate its hunger with all your divinity and humanity! O blessed heart, O blessed soul, who deserves to receive you with devotion to you, her God and Lord, and in this union to be filled with spiritual joy! Oh! what a great Lord he receives, what a loving guest he warms, what a pleasant companion he welcomes, what a faithful friend he accepts, what a beautiful and noble husband he embraces, more worthy of being loved than anything one loves and desires! Most Sweet My Beloved, let heaven and earth with all their ornaments be silent before you; for all that they have of brightness and beauty is the gift of your liberality and does not equal the glory of your name, "whose wisdom is without measure" (Ps 146:5).

CHAPTER 4

Of the admirable fruits harvested by those who commune devoutly

1. Lord my God! Forewarn your servant with the blessings of your sweetness, that he may be worthy and devoutly deserving of your august sacrament. Awake my heart to you and bring me out of this deep numbness. "Visit me with your healing grace" (Psalm 105:4), so that I may enjoy in spirit your sweetness, which is abundantly hidden in this Sacrament, as in its source. Illuminate also my eyes to behold such a high mystery, and strengthen me to believe in it with unshakable faith. Because it is your work and not of human power, your sacred institution, not the invention of men.

Indeed, no one, if oneself, is capable of conceiving and understanding this mystery, which transcends the very intelligence of the angels. What then can I, an unworthy sinner, dust and ashes, investigate and comprehend in such a high and sacred mystery?

2. Lord, in the simplicity of my heart, with firm and sincere faith, and obeying your command, I approach you with hope and reverence and I truly believe that you are present here in the Sacrament, God and man. For you want me to receive you and I unite with you in charity. That is why I implore your clemency and I beg you for the particular grace that everything may fail in you and consume me in love, without taking care of any other consolation. Because this most high and most divine Sacrament is the health of soul and body, the remedy for every spiritual infirmity; it cures vices, represses passions, overcomes or weakens temptations, communicates greater grace, supports nascent virtue, confirms faith, strengthens hope, inflames and expands charity.

3. You have bestowed many goods and are still giving to your friends, in this Sacrament, when they devoutly commune, O my God, the support of my soul, the reparator of human weakness and the dispenser of every interior consolation. Because you infuse them with abundant consolations against various tribulations and raise them from the abyss of their own despondency to the hope of your protection, and you recreate and enlighten them inwardly with the new grace, so that those who, before Communion, felt restless and without affection, after recreated with heavenly food and drink they feel refreshed and fervent. All this you lavish on your chosen ones, so that they truly know and evidently experience how much weakness they have in themselves and how much goodness and grace they obtain from you. For of themselves they are cold, lukewarm, and insensitive; for you, however,they become fervent, joyful, and devoted. Who, by chance, will approach the fountain of gentleness in a humble way, who does not receive some sweetness from it? Or who, next to a big fire, will no longer feel any heat? And you are the source ever full and abundant; the fire that always burns without ever extinguishing.

4. Therefore, if it is not given to me to draw from the fullness of this fountain, nor to drink until I am satiated, I will, however, reach my lips to the orifice of the celestial channel, so that I may receive at least one drop from it, to cool my thirst and not die of dryness. And if I cannot yet be all heavenly, nor as smoldering as the cherubim and seraphim, yet I will endeavor to remain in devotion and dispose my heart, so that by the humble reception of this life-giving Sacrament I may receive at least a faint spark of the divine fire. What I lack, however, O good Jesus, most holy Saviour, make up for it by your goodness and grace, for you deigned to call us all to you, saying: Come unto me all who are grieving and burdened, and I will give you rest.

5. Verily I work with the sweat of my brow, I am tormented with anguishes of heart, I am burdened with sins, molested with temptations, embarrassed and oppressed with many passions, and there is none to help me, free or save but you , Lord God, my Savior, to whom I give myself, with everything that belongs to me, so that you may keep me and lead to eternal life. Receive me to the honor and glory of your name, for you prepared me for food and drink, your body and blood. Grant me, Lord God, my Saviour, that with the frequency of your mystery my fervor of devotion may increase.

CHAPTER 5

Of the dignity of the Sacrament and of the priestly status Voice of the Beloved

1. Even if you had the purity of angels and the holiness of St. John the Baptist, you would not be worthy to receive or administer this Sacrament. Because it is not due to any human merit that man can consecrate and administer the Sacrament of Christ and eat the bread of the angels. Sublime mystery and great dignity of priests, who are given what the angels were not granted! Because only priests legitimately ordained in the Church have the power to celebrate Mass and consecrate the body of Christ, since it is only the minister of God who uses the words of God, by order and institution of God; God, however, is the main and invisible agent author, whose beckoning everything obeys.

2. In this most august sacrament you must therefore believe more in Almighty God than in your own senses or in any visible sign. So you must approach this mystery with awe and reverence. Look at yourself and consider what ministry has been entrusted to you by the laying on of the bishop's hands. You were ordained a priest and consecrated for the service of the altar; care now to offer the sacrifice to God in due time, with faith and devotion, and to lead a blameless life. Your burden is not lessened, on the contrary, you are now more closely linked to the bonds of discipline and bound to greater perfection and holiness. The priest must be adorned with all the virtues of giving others the example of a holy life. He must not tread the common and common paths of men, but his fellowship either with the angels of heaven or with the perfect men on earth.

3. The priest, clothed in sacred garments, takes the place of Christ, to plead devoutly and humbly to God for himself and for all the people.

He wears the sign of the Lord's cross on his chest and back, so that he continually remembers the passion of Christ. Before him, in the chasuble, he carries the cross, so that he may carefully consider the steps of Christ, and endeavor to follow them with fervor. On his back he is also marked with the cross, so that he can patiently tolerate, for the love of God, any injury that others have done to him. Before him he brings the cross to mourn his own sins; behind him, to deplore others also, out of compassion, and so that he may know that he is constituted a mediator between God and the sinner. Also, do not cease to pray and offer the holy sacrifice, until you deserve to obtain grace and mercy. When the priest celebrates the Sa nhe Mass, honors God, cheers the angels, builds the Church, helps the living, provides rest for the deceased, and shares in all goods.

CHAPTER 6

Question Concerning Exercise Before Communion Voice of the disciple

1. Lord, when I consider your dignity and my baseness, I tremble with fear and feel ashamed before myself.

For if I do not come to you, I flee from life, and if I present myself unworthily, I incur your indignation. What then shall I do, my God, my helper and counselor in my plight?

2. Teach me the direct way, show me some brief exercise. Because it is useful for me to know how I must, with devotion and respect, prepare my heart to receive your Sacrament with fruit or celebrate such a great and divine sacrifice.

CHAPTER 7

Examination of one's conscience and purpose of amendment The Voice of the Beloved

1. First of all, it is for the priest of God, in celebrating, administering and receiving this Sacrament, to approach it with great humility of heart and profound respect, with a lively faith and pious intention to honor God. Diligently examine your conscience, try to cleanse and purify it as much as you can, with sincere contrition and humble confession, so that you have nothing or know to weigh on your conscience, cause you remorse and hinder your free access.

Hates all your sins in general, and regrets your daily faults more in particular. And, if time permits, confess to God, in the depths of your heart, all the misery of your passions.

2. Grieve and moan that you are still so carnal and worldly, so little mortified in passions, so full of movements of lust, so little demure in the outer senses, so entangled in many vain illusions, so inclined to outer things, so careless the interiors; so given to laughter and dissipation, so hard on tears and compunction; so ready for the feasts and rooms of the flesh; so lazy for austerities and fervor; so curious to hear news and see beautiful things; so remiss in embracing the humble and despised; so covetous of owning much; so meager in giving; so tenacious in keeping; so indiscreet in speaking; so painless in silence; so indiscreet in speaking; so painless in silence; so unruly in customs; so hasty in prayers; so eager to eat; so deaf to the word of God;so light to rest; so slow to work; so attentive to frivolous conversations; so sleepy for holy vigils; so eager to reach the end; so vague in attention; so careless in reciting the divine office; so lukewarm in celebrating Mass; so dry in communion; so quickly distracted; so rarely well collected; so quick to anger; so easy to offend others; so prone to judgment; so strict in rebuking; so happy in prosperity, so downcast in adversity; so fruitful in good resolutions, so lazy in carrying them out.so quickly distracted; so rarely well collected; so quick to anger; so easy to offend others; so prone to judgment; so strict in rebuking; so joyful in prosperity, so downcast in adversity; so fruitful in good resolutions, so lazy in carrying them out.so quickly distracted; so rarely well collected; so quick to anger; so easy to offend others; so prone to judgment; so strict in rebuking; so joyful in prosperity, so downcast in adversity; so fruitful in good resolutions, so lazy in carrying them out.

3. Confessed and mourned these and other defects, with regret and a living feeling of your own weakness, take the firm intention of amending your life and improving it continually.

Then, with full resignation and full will, offer yourself as a perpetual holocaust in honor of my name, on the altar of your heart, entrusting me with your body and soul, so that you may deserve to offer God worthily to God. sacrifice and receive with fruit the Sacrament of my body.

4. For there is no more worthy oblation, nor greater satisfaction to atone for sins, than offering oneself to God, purely and entirely, united with the oblation of the body of Christ, in Mass and in communion. If man does what is in his power, and truly repents of his sins, how many times he comes to me to ask for grace and forgiveness, the Lord will always say: By my life I swear, I do not want the sinner's death, but that he may be converted and live; I will no longer remember your sins, but all will be forgiven you (Ezek 18:22; 33:11).

CHAPTER 8

From Christ's oblation on the cross and from resignation Voice of the Beloved

1. Just as I offered myself spontaneously to the Eternal Father, with arms outstretched and my body naked, so that there would be nothing left in me that was not offered in sacrifice of divine reconciliation: so too must you heartily offer yourself voluntarily to me every day at Holy Mass, in pure and holy oblation, with all your powers and affections. What else do I demand of you if not that you give yourself entirely to me? Everything you give me outside of you, I don't care; because I do not seek your gifts, but yourself.

2. Just as all things would not be enough for you without me, so what you offer me without you cannot please me. Offer yourself to me, give yourself all to God, and your oblation will be accepted. Look how I offered myself everything to the Father for you, and I gave you all my body and blood as food, to be all yours and so that you could become mine. If, however, you cling to yourself, and do not offer yourself spontaneously to my will, your oblation will not be complete, nor will the union between us be perfect. Therefore, all your works must precede the voluntary offering of yourself into the hands of God, if you wish to attain freedom and grace. The reason there are so few who are inwardly enlightened and free is that many do not know how to completely self-deny. My sentence is immutable: Whoever does not renounce everything cannot be my disciple (Lk 14:33). If you wish, then,to be my disciple, offer yourself to me with all your affections.

CHAPTER 9

That we must, with all that is ours, offer ourselves to God, and pray for all Voice of the disciple

1. Lord, yours is all that exists in heaven and on earth. I want to offer myself to you in voluntary oblation and be yours forever. Lord, in the simplicity of my heart I offer myself to you today as a perpetual servant in obedience and eternal sacrifice of praise. Receive me with this holy sacrifice of your precious body, which I offer you today in the presence of the angels, who invisibly attend it, so that it may serve for my salvation and for all the people.

2. Lord, I offer unto you upon your altar of propitiation all my sins and trespasses which I have committed in your presence and in your holy angels, from the day I first sinned to the present hour, that you may consume and burn them in the fire of your charity also blot out all the stains of my sins and cleanse my conscience from all guilt and restore to me your grace, which I lost through sin, forgiving me all fully and admitting me in your mercy to the kiss of peace .

3. What can I do in atonement for my sins but humbly confess them and weep for them, incessantly pleading for your mercy? I beg you, my God, hear me propitious, here where I am in your presence! I most detest all my sins, and I propose never to commit them again; I repent of them and I will repent as long as I live; ready I am doing penance and satisfying according to my strength. Forgive me, my God, forgive me my sins through your holy name; save my soul which you have redeemed with your precious blood. Behold, I surrender myself to your mercy, and I surrender myself into your hands.

Treat me according to your goodness, not according to my iniquity and malice.

4. I offer you all my good works, however few and imperfect, that you may mend and sanctify them, and make them pleasing to you, and perfect them more and more, and that you may bring me to me, an indolent servant and useless, to a glorious and blissful end.

5. I also offer you all the holy desires of devout souls, the needs of my parents, friends, brothers, relatives, and all who are dear to me, or have done me good and others, for your love; also of those who have asked me and asked for prayers and Masses for themselves and for all of them, whether living or deceased, so that all may feel the help of your grace, the help of your consolation, protection from danger, relief from pain and that , free from all evils, give you joyful, many graces.

6. Finally, I offer you all the prayers and the Host of propitiation, particularly for those who in any way have offended, grieved, reproached, harmed or harassed me. Finally, for all whom I have afflicted, disturbed, contradicted or scandalized, with words or deeds, by ignorance or with warning, so that all of us may forgive our sins and mutual offenses. Remove, Lord, from our hearts all suspicion, indignation, and wrath and strife, and everything that might offend charity and diminish brotherly love. Pity, Lord, have pity on all who plead for your mercy; give thanks to those who need it, and make us such that we are worthy to enjoy your grace and gain eternal life. Amen.

CHAPTER 10

That the sacred Voice of the Beloved communion should not be left for a light reason

1. From time to time you must turn to the source of grace and divine mercy, to the source of goodness and all purity, that you may be cured of your passions and vices, and deserve to be stronger and more vigilant against all temptations and delusions of the devil.

Knowing the enemy what is the fruit and the most effective remedy that is contained in Holy Communion, he seeks in every way and at any time to prevent and distance from it, as far as he can, faithful and pious souls.

2. For it happens to many that, when they try to prepare themselves for holy communion, they suffer Satan's worst suggestions.

This evil spirit (as it is written in the book of Job 1:6) enters among the children of God, to, with its usual malice, to disturb them or to make them too timid and scrupulous, in order to diminish their devotion or with their advances to tear away their faith, so that they leave communion altogether or only approach it with lukewarmness. But one must ignore any of their tricks and suggestions, however clumsy and horrible they may be; on the contrary, all these fantasies will be rejected over your head. Contempt and derision deserves this evildoer, and because of his advances or anxieties one cannot leave communion.

3. It is also often embarrassing to be overly concerned about devotion or fearful of the necessary confession. Do this according to the counsel of the learned, and leave anxiety and scruples aside, for they hinder the grace of God and hinder the devotion of the soul. Do not leave Holy Communion for any small tribulation or annoyance, but go soon to confession and generously forgive others all offenses. But if you have offended someone, humbly ask for forgiveness, and God will gladly forgive you.

4. What is the benefit of delaying confession or postponing Holy Communion? Purify yourself as soon as possible, expel the poison now, make haste to take the medicine and you will find yourself better off if you differ for a long time. If you leave communion today, for one reason or another, perhaps tomorrow another greater will come to you, and in this way you could distance yourself for a long time from communion and become less and less fit. As soon as you can, shake that inertia and lukewarmness from you, because nothing avails you to live long in this anxiety and disturbance and deprive yourself of the divine mysteries through daily embarrassments.

Rather, it harms greatly to postpone communion for a long time; because this usually produces severe laxity. Unfortunately, some lukewarm and relaxed ones rejoice in the pretext of postponing confession and wish for a delay in communion, so as not to be forced to take greater vigilance over themselves.

5. Oh! What little love and weak devotion have those who so easily leave Holy Communion! But how happy, and how pleasing to God, is he who lives so holy, and keeps his conscience in such purity, that he would daily be prepared and willing to commune, if he were permitted, and could do so without redress! When someone, out of humility or some legitimate impediment, abstains from Communion at one time or another, he deserves praise for such reverence. But if lukewarmness creeps into him, he should refresh himself and do what he can, and God will assist his desire, heeding the good will, which he especially cherishes.

1. When, however, you are legitimately impeded, keep at least your good will and pious intention to receive Communion, and in this way you will not be deprived of the fruit of the Sacrament.

Because every godly Christian can daily and hourly, without embarrassment and profitably, commune spiritually.

However, on certain days and on certain times, he should receive with affectionate reverence the body of his Redeemer in the Sacrament, and in this he should look to the honor and glory of God rather than his own consolation. Because spiritually he communes and is invisibly recreated, every time he devoutly meditates on the mystery of the incarnation of Christ and his passion, and he is kindled in his love.

2. Those who prepare only when a party is approaching or custom requires them, will often find themselves unprepared. Blessed is he who offers himself to God in holocaust, every time he celebrates Holy Mass or takes Communion! Do not be, in celebrating, too long or too hasty, but keep the common and regular use of those with whom you live. You must not cause discomfort or annoyance to others; but follow the path traced by the institution of the elders and pay attention to the benefit of others rather than to your own devotion and affection.

CHAPTER 11

That the body of Christ and Sacred Scripture are so necessary for the faithful soul Voice of the disciple

1. O most sweet Lord Jesus, how great is the sweetness of a devout soul that takes part in your banquet, in which there is no other delicacy offered to it, but yourself, its only beloved, supreme aspiration of all the desires of its heart!

It would also be sweet for me to shed tears of the most tender love in your presence and with the pious Magdalene to bathe your feet with my tears; but where is this devotion, where is this copious outpouring of holy tears? Certainly, in your presence and in that of the holy angels, my heart should be entirely on fire and weep with joy, for I truly have you present in the Sacrament, although hidden under strange species.

2. Behold you in your own divine clarity - they could not bear my eyes; not the whole world could stand in the glow of your majesty. That is why you came to help my weakness, by hiding under the Sacrament. I really do own and adore the one whom the angels of heaven adore; but I, for the time being, by faith alone, they, however, with clear sight and without veil. I must be content with the light of true faith and walk in it, until the day of eternal clarity dawns and the shadows of the figures disappear. "But when what is perfect comes" (1 Cor 13:10), the use of the sacraments will cease; for the blessed in heavenly glory do not need the sacramental remedy. They enjoy the presence of God without end, contemplating his glory face to face, and, transformed from clarity to clarity in the abyss of divinity,enjoy the vision of the Word of God incarnate, as it was in the beginning and will remain forever.

3. As I remember these wonders, any consolation bores me; for, while I do not clearly see my Lord in his glory, I do not cherish all that in this world I see and hear. You, my God, bear witness to me that nothing can comfort me, nor any creature soothe me, but you, my God, whom I wish to contemplate eternally. But that is not possible while I live in this mortal life. That is why it behooves me to have great patience and submit to you in all my desires. Because also your saints, Lord, who are now exulting with you in the kingdom of heaven, waited during their earthly life, with great faith and patience, for the coming of your glory. What they believed, I believe also; what they expected, I expect; where they have come, I hope I will come too, by your grace.

Until then, I will walk in faith, comforted by the examples of the saints. I will still have the holy books to comfort and mirror my life and, above all, I will have your sacred body as a singular remedy and excellent refuge.

4. I recognize that in this world two things are, above all, necessary for me, without which this miserable life would be bearable for me. I confess that while I am detained in this body's prison, I need two things: food and light. For this reason you gave me, Lord, your sacred body to me, weak, for the sustenance of soul and body, and "you have set your word as a chain before my feet" (Ps 118: 105). Without these two things I could not live; for the word of God is the light of my soul and your sacrament the bread of life. Two tables can be called, placed on either side of the treasury of the Holy Church. One is the table on the holy altar, where the holy bread, that is, the body of Christ, is. The other is the table of divine law, which contains holy doctrine, teaches us the true faith and leads us safely behind the veil of the sanctuary,where is the Holy of Holies. I thank you, Lord Jesus, light of eternal light, for the table of the sacred doctrine which you ministered to us by your servants, the prophets, apostles, and other holy doctors.

5. I thank you, Creator and Redeemer of men who, to give the whole world a proof of your love, you prepared a great supper, where you offered food, not the figurative lamb, but your most holy body and blood, filling with rejoice all the faithful with this sacred banquet, and intoxicate them with the cup of salvation, where all the delights of paradise are closed, and with you the saints and angels feast, but with sweeter delights.

6. Oh! How great and venerable is the ministry of priests, to whom it is given to consecrate the Lord of majesty with holy words, to bless him with their lips, to touch him with their hands, to receive him into their mouths, and to distribute him to others! Oh! how their hands must be clean, their mouths pure, their bodies holy, their hearts immaculate, into which the Author of purity so often enters! From the mouth of the priest, who so often receives the Sacrament of Christ, no word should come out that is not holy, honest and useful.

7. Your eyes, which tend to behold the body of Christ, should be modest and chaste. Pure and lifted up to heaven may also be your hands, which so often touch the Creator of heaven and earth. Especially to priests it is said in the law: Be holy, that I, the Lord your God, am also holy (Lev 19:2; 1Pdr 1:16).

8. May your grace help us, O Almighty God, that we, who assume the priestly ministry, may worthily and devoutly serve you, with all purity and good conscience. And if we cannot live as innocently as we must, grant us at least the grace to weep properly for the sins committed, and henceforth serve you more fervently, in the spirit of humility, with firm purpose and goodwill.

CHAPTER 12

That the soul should prepare itself with great diligence for the sacred communion Voice of the Beloved

1. I am friend of purity and dispenser of all holiness. I seek a pure heart, and this is my resting place. Prepare a large and well-decorated upper room for me, and in it I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples (Lk 22,12; Mt 26,18). If you want me to come to you and stay with you, throw away the old yeast and clean the abode of your heart. He banishes the whole world and the tumult of vices; sit, like a lonely bird, on the roof and remember your sins in the bitterness of your soul (Ps 101:8). Because every lover prepares the best and most beautiful room for his beloved, because in this the love of the one who welcomes the beloved is known.

Know, however, that you cannot reach a worthy preparation with what you are doing, even if you spent a whole year on it, without taking care of anything else. But only by my kindness and grace are you allowed to arrive at my table, as if a beggar had been invited to the table of a rich man and had nothing else to pay for the benefits received but humble gratitude. Do what you can, and do it diligently; not out of custom or necessity, but out of fear, respect and love, receive the body of your beloved Lord and God, who deigns to visit you. It is I who called you and ordered you to do so; I will supply what you lack; come and receive me.

When I give you the grace of devotion, give thanks to your God, not because you are worthy, but because I felt sorry for you. If you do not have devotion, but feel very dry, persevere in prayer, sigh, knock on the door and do not cease until you deserve to receive a crumb or a drop of my salutary grace. You need me, not I need you. You don't come to sanctify me, but I'm the one who comes to sanctify you and do better. You come so that, sanctified by me and united to me, you may receive a new grace and that you may again strive for the amendment. "Do not despise this grace" (1Tim 4:14); but dispose of your heart with all diligence and receive your Beloved in it.

3. It is important, however, that you not only prepare yourself for devotion before Communion, but also that you carefully preserve it after receiving the Sacrament. The vigilance required after Communion is no less than the fervent preparation before receiving it. For this good vigilance afterward is again the best preparation for attaining greater grace; on the contrary, he becomes very indisposed who soon after dissipates himself with external recreations. Beware of talking a lot, withdraw into solitude and enjoy your God; for thou possessest the one that the whole world cannot rob from thee. You must give yourself entirely to me, so that you no longer live in yourself, but in me, without any more care.

CHAPTER 13

That the devout soul must aspire wholeheartedly to union with Christ in the Sacrament Voice of the disciple

1. I wish, Lord, to find myself alone with you, to open all my heart to you and enjoy you as my soul desires to the point that no one noticed me, nor any creature cared about me or looked at me, but that only you would speak to me and I to you, as a lover speaks with his beloved, and a friend converses with his friend! This I ask, this I desire: to be united all with you and to detach my heart from all created things, and through holy communion and frequent celebration of Holy Mass, to find more and more a delight in heavenly and eternal things. Ah! Lord my God, when will I be all united with you, absorbed in you, and completely forgotten about me? You in me and I in you; grant that we are thus united!

2. You are truly "my beloved, chosen among thousands" (Cant 5:10), in whom my soul desires to dwell all the days of its life. You are truly my peaceful king; in you is the greatest peace and true rest, and outside of you there is only work, pain and infinite misery. "You are truly a hidden God" (Is 45:15), and your counsel is not with the wicked, but with the humble, and your conversation is simple.

"How sweet, Lord, is your spirit." To show your sweetness to your children, deign to satisfy them with the most sweet bread that came down from heaven. "Indeed, there is no other nation so great that it has its gods so close to it, as you, our God, are close to all the faithful" (Deuteronomy 4:7), to whom you give yourselves in delicious food, to comfort them. them daily and lift their hearts to heaven.

3. What nation is so illustrious as the Christian people, or what creature under heaven receives as much love as the devoted soul to whom God unites to nourish it with his glorious flesh? O ineffable grace, O wonderful condescension, O immense love, uniquely lavished on man. But what shall I give to the Lord for this grace and such exquisite charity? A more pleasing offer I cannot make to my God, than to give him my whole heart, to unite him intimately with himself.

Then shall all my bowels rejoice with joy, when my soul is perfectly united with God. Then he will tell me: If you want to be with me, I want to be with you too. And I will answer him: Deign, Lord, to stay with me, for I willingly want to be with you. This is my supreme wish, that my heart may be united with you.

CHAPTER 14

Of the ardent desire that some devotees have to receive the body of Christ Voice of the disciple

1. Oh! How great, Lord, is the abundance of your sweetness, which you have in store for those who fear you! (Ps 30.20). When I remember, Lord, some devotees who approach Your Sacrament with the greatest fervor and affection, I am often confused and ashamed of myself, for arriving so tepid and cold at Your altar and at the table of Holy Communion; for getting so dry and without fervor of heart; for not being all on fire before you, my God, nor so vehemently attracted and moved, as were many devotees, who, out of their heart's great desire for holy communion and tender love, could not hold back tears, but with their mouths of soul and body at the same time they sighed ardently for you, the living source, and could not alleviate or quench that hunger in any other way, but receiving your body with all joy and spiritual eagerness.

2. Oh! This true and ardent faith is manifest proof of your holy presence! These truly recognize their Lord as they break bread, because their hearts are with them. Far from me is such devotion and tenderness, such living love and fervor. Be propitious to me, O good one, O sweet one, O benign Jesus, and grant this poor beggar of yours to feel at least once in holy communion a little of the warm affection of your love, so that my faith may be strengthened, my hope may grow in your goodness, my charity, once well lit and accustomed to heavenly manna, never fail.

3. Your mercy is powerful enough to give me the grace I desire, and visit me in your mercy, in the day that pleases you, in the spirit of fervor. For even though I am not kindled with such ardent desires as your privileged devotees, I nevertheless feel with your grace the desire of their burning desires, and I ask and beg the favor of participating in the fervor of all these friends of yours and being an aggregate to his holy company.

CHAPTER 15

May the grace of devotion be attained through humility and self-denial Voice of the Beloved

1. With perseverance you must seek the grace of devotion, ask for it with persistence, wait for it with patience and confidence, receive it with gratitude, guard it with humility, take advantage of it with diligence, committing to God the time and the the way of the heavenly visit, until he deigns to visit thee. You should especially humble yourself when you feel little or no devotion within you, without, however, becoming depressed or saddened too much. God often gives in a moment what he denied for a long time, and sometimes he grants at the end of the prayer what he differed in the beginning.

2. If grace had always been readily bestowed and offered at will, so much could it not bear the weak man. So you must wait for it with firm confidence and humble patience. But blame yourself and your sins when it is denied or hidden away from you. Sometimes it is very little that prevents or hides grace, if it is possible to call it little and not much, which deprives us of such great good. And if you remove this small or big impediment, and if you win perfectly, you will have what you asked for.

For as soon as you give yourself to God with all your heart and seek nothing to your liking and desire, but fully put yourself in his hands, you will find yourself united with him and at ease, and nothing will be so delicious and pleasant to you as the good pleasure of the divine will. Anyone, therefore, who with a simple heart directs his intention to God and gives up all inordinate love or aversion to anything created, is well disposed to receive grace and worthy to attain devotion, because the Lord gives his blessing where you find the empty heart. And the more perfectly someone renounces earthly things and dies to himself for the contempt of himself, the sooner grace comes to him, the more copiously is infused him, and the higher his free heart lifts.

3. Then you will see, you will have abundant joy and it will be wonderful; his heart will be enlarged, because the hand of the Lord is with him (Is 60:5), and in his hands he has given himself entirely for ever. This is how a man will be blessed who seeks God with all his heart, and does not let his soul cling to vanities (Ps 23:5). This is that in receiving the Holy Eucharist, he deserves the ineffable grace of union with God, because he does not look to his devotion and consolation, but, above all, he seeks the honor and glory of God.

CHAPTER 16

How we must discover our needs to Christ and ask for his grace Voice of the disciple

1. O most sweet and most loving Lord, whom I now devoutly desire to receive, you know my weakness and the need I suffer; you know how many evils and vices I am entangled in, how often I am oppressed, tempted, disturbed and stained! I ask for consolation and relief.

I speak to you, my God, who know all things and to whom all the secrets of my heart are made manifest; you are the only one who can perfectly comfort and help me. You know the goods I most need and how poor I am in virtues.

2. Here I am, before you, poor and naked, asking for grace and begging for mercy. Satisfy this poor beggar of yours, warm my coldness with the fire of your love, light up my blindness with the clarity of your presence. Make everything that is earthly to be bitter to me, that I bear with patience the pains and setbacks, and that I despise and forget all the obsolete and created things. Lift up my heart to you in heaven, let me not wander on earth. Only you, from today forever, will be sweet and pleasant to me, because you alone are my food and drink, my love and my joy, my delight and my only good.

3. Oh! if you would inflame me completely with your presence and burn me and transform me in you, to the point of becoming one spirit with you by the grace of interior union and the force of ardent love! Let me not leave your presence dry and hungry, but use your mercy to me, as you so often admirably did to your saints. And how wonderful it would have been if all of me burned in you and consumed me, being you the fire that always burns and is never quenched, the love that purifies hearts and enlightens the understanding?

CHAPTER 17

From the ardent love and fervent desire to receive Christ the Voice of the disciple

1. With great devotion and ardent love, with all the affection and fervor of my heart, I wish to receive you, Lord, as many saints and devout people desired, who pleased you mainly for the sanctity of their life and the most ardent devotion that excited. O my God, eternal love, my only good, never-ending bliss! I wish to receive you with the most ardent affection and the most dignified reverence that any saint has ever felt or could have felt!

2. And even though I am unworthy of all these feelings of devotion, I nevertheless offer you the affection of my heart, as if I had only had all those most grateful and inflamed desires.

But whatever a pious heart can conceive and desire, I give it to you and offer it to you with deep reverence and intimate fervor.

I want to reserve nothing for me, but for me, and everything that is mine, I want to sacrifice you spontaneously, willingly, Lord, my God, my Creator and my Redeemer! I wish to receive you today with such affection and reverence, with such praise and honor, with such gratitude, dignity and purity, with such faith, hope and love, as your Blessed Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary, desired and received you when, an angel who announced the mystery of the incarnation to her, humbly and devoutly replied: Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word! (Lk 1,38).

1. And as your blessed forerunner, John the Baptist, the most excellent of saints, when he was still in his mother's bowels, exulted with joy in your presence on the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and seeing you, my Jesus, then walk among men with profound humility and devout affection, he said: The friend of the Bridegroom who is close to him and the 2. hears rejoices in hearing the voice of the Bridegroom (Jn 3:29); so, too, would I want to be inflamed with vehement and holy desires, and give myself to you with all my heart. That is why I offer you the joy of all devout souls, their burning affections of love, the ecstasies of their spirit, their supernatural illuminations and heavenly visions, and I present them with all the virtues and praises that have or will tax you all the creatures of heaven and earth, for me and for all who commended themselves to my prayers,that ye may be worthily praised by all and forever glorified.

3. Accept, Lord, my God, the wishes and desires of infinite praise and immense thanksgiving, which are rightly owed to you, according to your ineffable greatness. This I offer you, and I wish to offer it every day and every moment, and I invite with my supplications and entreaties all the heavenly spirits and all your faithful to thank you with me and praise you.

4. Let all peoples, tribes, and tongues praise you; with supreme joy and ardent devotion, glorify your holy and sweetest name. And all those who with devotion and reverence consecrate your august sacrament and receive it with living faith, deserve to find grace and mercy before you and humbly ask God for me, a sinner. And when they have achieved and desired devotion and the joy of union with you, and come back from the sacred table, consoled and wonderfully recreated, deign to remember this poor man too.

CHAPTER 18

Let man not be a curious scrutiner of the Sacrament, but a humble imitator of Christ, subjecting his reason to the holy faith Voice of the Beloved

1. Run away from the curious and useless desire to investigate this most profound mystery, if you don't want to drown in an abyss of doubts. Whoever wants to look into the majesty will be oppressed by its glory (Prov 25:27). More can God do than man understands. Yet a pious and humble investigation of the truth is permitted, which is always inclined to be instructed and follows the sound doctrine of the Holy Fathers.

2. Blessed is simplicity, which leaves the difficult paths of discussions, in order to walk in the flat and firm path of God's commandments! Many lost their devotion because they wanted to investigate very high things. What is required of you is faith and innocence, not sublime intelligence, nor deep knowledge of the mysteries of God. If you neither understand nor understand the things below you, how will you reach those above? Submit yourself to God and submit your judgment to faith, and the light of knowledge will be given you, as it is useful and necessary for you.

3. Some are grievously tempted about faith in this Sacrament; but this is not to be imputed to them, but to the enemy. Do not care, nor dispute with your own thoughts, nor answer the doubts that the devil suggests to you, but believe in the words of God, believe in his saints and prophets, and the evil enemy will flee from you. It is often of great benefit to the servant of God to go through such trials, because the devil does not tempt the infidels and sinners, who already have insurance: the devout faithful, however, he tempts and harasses in various ways.

4. Persevere, therefore, in the faith, firm and simple, and approach the Sacrament with profound reverence. And as for what you cannot understand, calmly entrust it to Almighty God. God does not deceive you; but those who trust themselves too much are mistaken. God walks with the simple, reveals himself to the humble, gives intelligence to the little ones, opens the meaning to pure souls and hides his grace from the curious and proud. Human reason is weak and can be deceived, but true faith cannot be deceived.

5. All reason and natural research must follow faith, not precede it or weaken it, because faith and love here dominate and operate hiddenly in this most holy and most divine Sacrament. "God, eternal, immense and infinitely powerful, does great and incomprehensible things in heaven and on earth" (Job 5:9), and no one can penetrate the wonders of his works. If such were the works of God, that human reason could easily understand them, they should not be called wonderful or ineffable.