|
A man is raised up from the earth by two wings --
simplicity and purity. There must be simplicity in
his intention and purity in his desires. Simplicity
leads to God, purity embraces and enjoys Him.
If your heart is free from ill-ordered affection, no
good deed will be difficult for you. If you aim at
and seek after nothing but the pleasure of God and
the welfare of your neighbor, you will enjoy freedom
within.
If your heart were right, then every created thing
would be a mirror of life for you and a book of holy
teaching, for there is no creature so small and
worthless that it does not show forth the goodness of
God. If inwardly you were good and pure, you would
see all things clearly and understand them rightly,
for a pure heart penetrates to heaven and hell, and
as a man is within, so he judges what is without. If
there be joy in the world, the pure of heart
certainly possess it; and if there be anguish and
affliction anywhere, an evil conscience knows it too
well.As iron cast into fire loses its rust and
becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to
God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into
a new man. When a man begins to grow lax, he fears a
little toil and welcomes external comfort, but when
he begins perfectly to conquer himself and to walk
bravely in the ways of God, then he thinks those
things less difficult which he thought so hard
before.
|
|
|
|
We must not rely too much upon ourselves, for grace and
understanding are often lacking in us. We have but little inborn
light, and this we quickly lose through negligence. Often we are
not aware that we are so blind in heart. Meanwhile we do wrong,
and then do worse in excusing it. At times we are moved by
passion, and we think it zeal. We take others to task for small
mistakes, and overlook greater ones in ourselves. We are quick
enough to feel and brood over the things we suffer from others,
but we think nothing of how much others suffer from us. If a man
would weigh his own deeds fully and rightly, he would find little
cause to pass severe judgment on others.The interior man puts
the care of himself before all other concerns, and he who attends
to himself carefully does not find it hard to hold his tongue
about others. You will never be devout of heart unless you are
thus silent about the affairs of others and pay particular
attention to yourself. If you attend wholly to God and yourself,
you will be little disturbed by what you see about you.
Where are your thoughts when they are not upon yourself? And
after attending to various things, what have you gained if you
have neglected self? If you wish to have true peace of mind and
unity of purpose, you must cast all else aside and keep only
yourself before your eyes.
You will make great progress if you keep yourself free from all
temporal cares, for to value anything that is temporal is a great
mistake. Consider nothing great, nothing high, nothing pleasing,
nothing acceptable, except God Himself or that which is of God.
Consider the consolations of creatures as vanity, for the soul
that loves God scorns all things that are inferior to Him. God
alone, the eternal and infinite, satisfies all, bringing comfort
to the soul and true joy to the body.
|
