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"Now that places suitable for obedience have been
found, namely, these ships commanded by the Holy
Spirit through the medium of their superiors, for, as
I told you, the Holy Spirit is the true Master of
these ships, which are built in the light of the most
holy faith by those who have the light to know that
My clemency, the Holy Spirit, will steer them, and
having thus shown you the place of obedience and its
perfection, I will speak to you of the obedience and
of the disobedience of those who travel in such a
ship, speaking of all together and not of one ship --
that is, one order -- in particular, showing you the
sin of the disobedient and the virtue of the
obedient, so that a man may better know the one by
contrast with the other, and how he should walk if he
would enter the ship of a religious order.
"How should he walk who wishes to enter this state
of perfect and particular obedience? With the light
of holy faith, by which he will know that he must
slay his self-will with the knife of hatred of every
sensual passion, taking the spouse which charity
gives him, together with her sister. The spouse is
true and prompt obedience, and the sister, patience;
and he must also take the nurse of humility, for
without this nurse obedience would perish of hunger,
for obedience soon dies in a soul deprived of this
little virtue of humility.
"Humility is not alone but has the handmaid of
contempt of self and of the world, which causes the
soul to hold herself vile, and not to desire honor
but shame. Thus dead to himself, should he who is old
enough enter the ship of a religious order, but
however he may enter it (for I have told you that I
call souls in diverse ways), he should acquire and
preserve this affection, hurrying generously to seize
the key of the obedience of his order, which will
open the little door which is in the panel of the
door of Heaven.
"Such as these have undertaken to open the little
door, doing without the great key of general
obedience, which opens the door of Heaven, as I have
said to you. They have taken a little key, passing
through a low and narrow opening in the great door.
This small door is part of the great door, as you may
see in any real door. They should keep this key when
they have got it, and not throw it away. And because
the truly obedient have seen with the light of faith
that they will never be able to pass through this
little door with the load of their riches and the
weight of their own will without great fatigue and
without losing their life, and that they cannot walk
with head erect without breaking their neck; whether
they wish to or not, they cast from them the load of
their riches, and of their own will observing the vow
of voluntary poverty, refusing to possess anything,
for they see by the light of faith to what ruin they
would come if they transgressed obedience, and the
and of poverty which they promised to keep.
"The disobedient walk in pride, holding their
heads erect, and if sometimes it suits their
convenience to obey they do not incline their heads
with humility, but proudly do so, because they must,
which force breaks the neck of their will, for they
fulfill their obedience with hatred of their order
and of their superior. Little by little they are
ruined on another point, for they transgress the vow
of continence, for he who does not constrain his
appetite or strip himself of temporal substance makes
many relations and finds plenty of friends who love
him for their own profit.
"From these relations they go on to close
intimacies, their body they tend luxuriously, for
being without either the nurse of humility or her
sister, self-contempt, they live in their own
pleasure richly and delicately, not like religious
but like nobles, without watching or prayer. This and
many other things happen to them because they have
money to spend, for if they had it not they could not
spend it.
"They fall into mental and physical impurity, for
if sometimes from shame or through lack of means they
abstain physically, they indulge themselves mentally,
for it is impossible for a man with many worldly
relations, of delicate habits and disordinate
greediness, who watches not nor prays, to preserve
his mind pure. Wherefore the perfectly obedient man
sees from afar with the light of holy faith the evil
and the loss which would come to him from temporal
possessions and from walking weighed down by his own
will; he also sees that he is obliged to pass by this
narrow door, and that in such a state he would die
before he would be able to pass it, having no key of
obedience wherewith to open it, for as I said to you,
he is obliged to pass through it. Wherefore it is
that whether he will or no he should not leave the
ship of the order, but should walk the narrow path of
obedience to his superior.
"Wherefore the perfectly obedient man rises above
himself and his own sensuality, and rising above his
own feelings with living faith, places self-hatred as
servant in the house of his soul to drive out the
enemy of self-love, for he does not wish that his
spouse, Obedience, given him with the light of faith
by her mother, Charity, should be offended; so he
drives out the enemy and puts in his place the nurse
and companions of his spouse.
"The love of obedience places in the house of his
soul the lovers of his spouse, Obedience, who are the
true and royal virtues, the customs and observances
of his order, so that this sweet spouse enters his
soul with her sister, Patience, and her nurse,
Humility, together with Self-contempt and
Self-hatred, and when she has entered she possesses
peace and quiet, for her enemies have been exiled.
She dwells in the garden of true continence, with the
sun of intellectual light shining in, the eye of holy
faith fixed on the object of My Truth, for her object
is My Truth, and the fire of love with which she
observes the rules of the order, warms all her
servants and companions.
"Who are her enemies who have been expelled? The
chief is self-love, producing pride, the enemy of
humility and charity. Impatience is the enemy of
patience, disobedience of true obedience, infidelity
of faith, presumption and self-confidence do not
accord with the true hope which the soul should have
in Me; injustice cannot be conformed to justice, nor
imprudence to prudence, nor intemperance to
temperance, nor the transgression of the commandments
of the order to perfect observance of them, nor the
wicked conversation of those who live in sin to the
good conversation of My servants.
"These are a man's enemies, causing him to leave
the good customs and traditions of his order. He has
also those other cruel enemies, anger, which wars
against his benevolence; cruelty, against his
kindness; wrath, against his benignity; hatred of
virtue, against the love of virtue; impurity, against
chastity; negligence, against solicitude; ignorance,
against knowledge; and sloth against watchfulness and
continued prayer.
"And since he knew by the light of faith that all
these were his enemies who would defile his spouse,
holy obedience, he appointed hatred to drive them
out, and love to replace them with her friends.
Wherefore with the knife of hatred he slew his
perverse self-will, who, nourished by self-love, gave
life to all these enemies of true obedience, and
having cut off the source by which all the others are
preserved in life, he remains free and in peace
without any war, for there is no one to make war on
him, for the soul has cut off from herself that which
kept her in bitterness and in sadness.
"What makes war on obedience? Injuries? No, for
the obedient man is patient, patience being the
sister of obedience. The weight of the observances of
the order? No, for obedience causes him to fulfill
them. Does the weight of obedience give him pain? No,
for he has trampled on his own will, and does not
care to examine or judge the will of his superior,
for with the light of faith he sees My will in him,
believing truly that My clemency causes him to
command according to the needs of his subject's
salvation.
"Is he disgusted and angry at having to perform
the humble duties of the order or to endure the
mockeries, reproofs, jibes, and insults which are
often cast at him, or to be held at little worth? No,
for he has conceived love for self-contempt and
self-hatred. Wherefore he rejoices with patience,
exulting with delight and joy in the company of his
spouse, true obedience, for the only thing which
saddens him is to see Me, his Creator, offended.
"His conversation is with those who truly fear Me,
and if he should converse with those who are
separated from My Will, it is not in order to conform
himself to their sins, but to draw them out of their
misery, for through the brotherly love which he has
in his heart towards them he would like to give them
the good which he possesses, seeing that more glory
and praise would be given to My name by many
observing aright their order than by him doing so
alone. Wherefore he endeavors to convert religious
and seculars by his words and by prayer, and by every
means by which he can draw them out of the darkness
of mortal sin.
"Thus the conversations of a truly obedient man
are good and perfect, whether they be with just men
or with sinners, through his rightly ordered love and
the breadth of his charity. Of his cell he makes a
heaven, delighting there to converse with Me, his
supreme and eternal Father, with the affection of
love, flying idleness with humble and continual
prayer, and when, through the illusion of the Devil,
thoughts come crowding into his cell, he does not sit
down on the bed of negligence embracing idleness, nor
care to examine by reason the thoughts or opinions of
his heart, but he flies sloth, rising above himself
and his senses with hatred and true humility,
patiently enduring the weariness which he feels in
his mind, and resisting by watching and humble
prayer, fixing the eye of his intellect on Me, and
seeing with the light of faith that I am his helper,
and both can and will help him, and open to him the
eyes of My kindness, and that it is I who permit this
suffering in order that he may be more eager to fly
himself and come to Me.
"And if it should seem to him that on account of
his great weariness and the darkness of his mind,
mental prayer is impossible, he recites vocal
prayers, or busies himself with some corporal
exercises, so that by these means he may avoid
idleness. He looks at Me with the light which I give
him through love, which draws forth true humility,
for he deems himself unworthy of the peace and quiet
of mind of My other servants, but rather worthy of
pain, for he despises himself in his own mind with
hatred and self-reproach, thinking that he can never
endure enough pain, for neither his hope nor My
providence fail him, but with faith and the key of
obedience he passes over this stormy sea in the ship
of his order, dwelling thus in his cell as has been
said, and avoiding idleness.
"The obedient man wishes to be the first to enter
choir and the last to leave it, and when he sees a
brother more obedient than himself he regards him in
his eagerness with a holy envy, stealing from him the
virtue in which he excels, not wishing, however, that
his brother should have less thereof, for if he
wished this he would be separated from brotherly
love.
"The obedient man does not leave the refectory,
but visits it continually and delights at being at
table with the poor. And as a sign that he delights
therein, and so as to have no reason to remain
without, he has abandoned his temporal substance,
observing so perfectly the vow of poverty that he
blames himself for considering even the necessities
of his body.
"His cell is full of the odor of poverty, and not
of clothes; he has no fear that thieves will come to
rob him, or that rust or moths will corrupt his
garments; and if anything is given to him, he does
not think of laying it by for his own use, but freely
shares it with his brethren, not thinking of the
morrow, but rather depriving himself today of what he
needs, thinking only of the kingdom of heaven and how
he may best observe true obedience.
"And in order that he may better keep to the path
of humility, he submits to small and great, to poor
and rich, and becomes the servant of all, never
refusing labor, but serving all with charity. The
obedient man does not wish to fulfill his obedience
in his own way, or to choose his time or place, but
prefers the way of his order and of his superior.
"All this the truly and perfectly obedient man
does without pain and weariness of mind. He passes
with this key in his hand through the narrow door of
the order, easily and without violence, because he
observes the vows of poverty, true obedience, and
continence, having abandoned the heights of pride,
and bowed his head to obedience through humility. He
does not break his neck through impatience, but is
patient with fortitude and enduring perseverance, the
friends of obedience.
"Thus he passes by the assaults of the devils,
mortifying and macerating his flesh, stripping it
bare of all pleasures and delights and clothing it
with the labors of the order in a faith which
despises nothing, for as a child who does not
remember the blows and injuries inflicted on him by
his father, so this child of the spirit does not
remember the injuries, pains, or blows inflicted on
him by his superior in the order, but calling him
humbly, turns to him without anger, hatred, or
rancor, but with meekness and benevolence.
"These are those little ones of whom My Truth
spoke to the disciples, who were contending among
themselves which of them should be the greater, for
calling a child, He said: 'Allow the little ones to
come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven to
be; whoever will not humble himself like this child
(that is, who will not keep this childlike
condition), shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
For he who humbles himself, dearest daughter, will be
exalted, and he who exalts himself will be humbled,'
which also was said to you by My Truth. Justly,
therefore, are these humble little ones, humiliated
and subjected through love, with true and holy
obedience, who do not kick against the pricks of
their order or superior, exalted by Me, the supreme
and eternal Father, with the true citizens of the
blessed life, when they are rewarded for all their
labors, and in this life also do they taste eternal
life."
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