SELF-DENIAL AND THE RENUNCIATION OF EVIL APPETITES
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, you can never be perfectly free unless you completely
renounce self, for all who seek their own interest and who love
themselves are bound in fetters. They are unsettled by covetousness
and curiosity, always searching for ease and not for the things of
Christ, often devising and framing that which will not last, for
anything that is not of God will fail completely.
Hold to this short and perfect advice, therefore: give up
your desires and you will find rest. Think upon it in your heart,
and when you have put it into practice you will understand all
things.
THE DISCIPLE
But this, Lord, is not the work of one day, nor is it mere
child's play; indeed, in this brief sentence is included all the
perfection of holy persons.
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
My child, you should not turn away or be downcast when you hear
the way of the perfect. Rather you ought to be spurred on the more
toward their sublime heights, or at least be moved to seek perfection.
I would this were the case with you -- that you had progressed
to the point where you no longer loved self but simply awaited My
bidding and his whom I have placed as father over you. Then you would
please Me very much, and your whole life would pass in peace and joy.
But you have yet many things which you must give up, and unless you
resign them entirely to Me you will not obtain that which you ask.
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest
be made rich"[36] -- rich in heavenly wisdom which treads underfoot
all that is low. Put aside earthly wisdom, all human self-complacency.
I have said: exchange what is precious and valued among men for
that which is considered contemptible. For true heavenly wisdom -- not
to think highly of self and not to seek glory on earth -- does indeed
seem mean and small and is well-nigh forgotten, as many men praise it
with their mouths but shy far away from it in their lives. Yet this
heavenly wisdom is a pearl of great price, which is hidden from many. |
Of self-denial and the casting away all selfishness
"My Son, thou canst not possess perfect liberty
unless thou altogether deny thyself. All they are enslaved who are
possessors of riches, they who love themselves, the selfish, the
curious, the restless; those who ever seek after soft things, and not
after the things of Jesus Christ; those who continually plan and
devise that which will not stand. For whatsoever cometh not of God
shall perish. Hold fast the short and complete saying, 'Renounce all
things, and thou shalt find all things; give up thy lust, and thou
shalt find rest.' Dwell upon this in thy mind, and when thou art full
of it, thou shalt understand all things."
2. O Lord, this is not the work of a day, nor
children's play; verily in this short saying is enclosed all the
perfection of the religious.
3. "My son, thou oughtest not to be turned aside,
nor immediately cast down, because thou hast heard the way of the
perfect. Rather oughtest thou to be provoked to higher aims, and at
the least to long after the desire thereof. Oh that it were so with
thee, and that thou hadst come to this, that thou wert not a lover of
thine own self, but wert ready always to My nod, and to his whom I
have placed over thee as thy father. Then shouldest thou please Me
exceedingly, and all thy life should go on in joy and peace. Thou
hast still many things to renounce, which if thou resign not utterly
to Me, thou shalt not gain what thou seekest. I counsel thee to buy of
Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich,(1) that is
heavenly wisdom, which despiseth all base things. Put away from thee
earthly wisdom, and all pleasure, whether common to men, or thine own.
4. "I tell thee that thou must buy vile things
with those which are costly and great in the esteem of men. For
wonderfully vile and small, and almost given up to forgetfulness, doth
true heavenly wisdom appear, which thinketh not high things of itself,
nor seeketh to be magnified upon the earth; many honour it with their
lips, but in heart are far from it; it is indeed the precious pearl,
which is hidden from many." |