THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

BOOK THREE
INTERNAL CONSOLATION

Liber Tertius
De interna consolatine.

Chapter 50 HOW A DESOLATE PERSON OUGHT TO COMMIT HIMSELF INTO THE HANDS OF GOD THE DISCIPLE - LORD God, Holy Father, may You be blessed now and in eternity. For as You will, so is it done; and what You do is good. Let Your servant rejoice in You -- not in himself or in any other, for You alone are true joy. You are my hope and my crown. You, O Lord, are my joy and my honor. What does Your servant possess that he has not received from You, and that without any merit of his own? Yours are all the things which You have given, all the things which You have made. I am poor and in labors since my youth, and my soul is sorrowful sometimes even to the point of tears. At times, also, my spirit is troubled because of impending sufferings. I long for the joy of peace.	Cap. 50. Qualiter homo defolatus debet se in manus Dei offerre. 1. Domine Deus, sancte Pater, sis nunc et in æternum benedictus, quia sicut vis ita factum est, et quod facis bonum est. Lætetur in te servus tuus, non in se, nec in aliquo alio, quia tu solus lætitia vera, tu spes mea, et corona mea, tu gaudium meum, et honor meus, Domine. Quid habet servus tuus, nisi quod a te accepit, etiam sine merito suo? Tua sunt omnia, quæ dedisti et quæ fecisti. Pauper sum et in laboribus a juventute mea, et contristatur anima mea, nonnunquam usque ad lacrymas, quandoque etiam conturbatur spiritus meus a se propter imminentes passiones.
Earnestly I beg for the peace of Your children who are fed by You in the light of consolation. If You give peace, if You infuse holy joy, the soul of Your servant shall be filled with holy song and be devout in praising You. But if You withdraw Yourself, as You so very often do, he will not be able to follow the way of Your commandments, but will rather be obliged to strike his breast and bend the knee, because his today is different from yesterday and the day before when Your light shone upon his head and he was protected in the shadow of Your wings from the temptations rushing upon him.	2. Desidero pacis agudium, filiorum tuorum pacis flagito, qui in lumine consolationis a te pascuntur. Si das pacem, si gaudium sanctum infundis, erit anima servi tui plena modulatione, et devota in laude tua. Sed si te subtraxeris sicut sæpissime soles, non poterit currere viam mandatorum tuorum, sed magis ad tundendum pectus genua incurvantur, quia non est illi sicut heri, et nudiustertius, quando lucebat lucerna tua super caput ejus, et sub umbra alarum tuarum protegebatur a tentationibus irruentibus.
Just Father, ever to be praised, the hour is come for Your servant to be tried. Beloved Father, it is right that in this hour Your servant should suffer something for You. O Father, forever to be honored, the hour which You knew from all eternity is at hand, when for a short time Your servant should be outwardly oppressed, but inwardly should ever live with You. Let him be a little slighted, let him be humbled, let him fail in the sight of men, let him be afflicted with sufferings and pains, so that he may rise again with You in the dawn of the new light and be glorified in heaven. Holy Father, You have so appointed and wished it.	3. Pater juste, et semper laudande, venit hora, ut probetur servus tuus. Pater amande, dignum est, ut hora hac patiatur pro te aliquid servus tuus. Pater perpetuo venerande, venit hora quam ab æterno præsciebas affuturam, ut ad modicum tempus succumbat foris servus tuus; vivat vero semper apud te intus, paululum vilipendatur, humilietur et deficiet coram hominibus, passionibus conteratur et languoribus, ut iterum tecum in aurora lucis novæ resurgat, et in cælestibus clarificetur. Pater sancte, tu sic ordinasti, et sic voluisti, et hoc factum est quod præcepisti.
What has happened is what You commanded. For this is a favor to Your friend, to suffer and be troubled in the world for Your love, no matter how often and by whom You permit it to happen to him. Nothing happens in the world without Your design and providence, and without cause. It is well for me, O Lord, that You have humbled me, that I may learn the justice of Your judgments and cast away all presumption and haughtiness of heart. It is profitable for me that shame has covered my face that I may look to You rather than to men for consolation. Hereby I have learned also to fear Your inscrutable judgment falling alike upon the just and unjust yet not without equity and justice.	4. Est hæc enim gratia ad amicum tuum, pati et tribulari in mundo pro amore to, quotiescumque et a quocumque et quomodocumque id permiseris fieri. Sine consilio et providentia tua, et sine causa nihil fit in terra. Bonum mihi, Domine, quod humiliasti me ut discam justificationes tuas, et omnes elatines cordis atque præsumtiones abjiciam. Utile michi, quod confusio cooperuit faciem meam, ut te potius quam homines ad consolandum requiram. Didici etiam ex hoc inscrutabile judicium tuum expavescere, qui affligis justum cum impio, sed non sine æquitate et justitia.
Thanks to You that You have not spared me evils but have bruised me with bitter blows, inflicting sorrows, sending distress without and within. Under heaven there is none to console me except You, my Lord God, the heavenly Physician of souls, Who wound and heal, Who cast down to hell and raise up again. Your discipline is upon me and Your very rod shall instruct me.	5. Gratias tibi, quia non pepercisti malis meis, sed attrivisti me verberibus amaris, infligens dolores et immittens angustias foris et intus. Non est qui me consoletur ex omnibus quæsub cælo sunt, nisi tu, Domine Deus meus, cælestis medicus animarum, qui percutis et sanas, deducis ad inferos et reducis. Disciplina tua super me et virga tua ipsa me docebit.
Behold, beloved Father, I am in Your hands. I bow myself under Your correcting chastisement. Strike my back and my neck, that I may bend my crookedness to Your will. Make of me a pious and humble follower, as in Your goodness You are wont to do, that I may walk according to Your every nod. Myself and all that is mine I commit to You to be corrected, for it is better to be punished here than hereafter. You know all things without exception, and nothing in man's conscience is hidden from You. Coming events You know before they happen, and there is no need for anyone to teach or admonish You of what is being done on earth. You know what will promote my progress, and how much tribulation will serve to cleanse away the rust of vice. Deal with me according to Your good pleasure and do not despise my sinful life, which is known to none so well or so clearly as to You alone.	6. Ecce, Pater dilecte, in manibus tuis ego sum; sub virga correctionis tuæ me inclino: percute dorsum meum et collum meum, ut incurvem ad voluntatem tuam tortuositatem meam. Fac me pium et humilem discipulum, sicut bene facere consuevisti, ut ambulem ad omnem nutum tuum. Tibi me et omnia mea ad corrigendum committo: melius est hic corripi quam in futuro. Tu scis omnia et singula, et nihil te latet in humana conscientia. Antequam fiant, nosti ventura, et non opus tibi est ut quis te doceat aut admoneat de his quæ fiunt in terra. Tu scis quid expediat ad profectum meum et quantum deservit tribulatio ad rubiginem vitiorum purgandum. Fac mecum desideratum beneplacitum tuum et ne despicias peccaminosam vitam meam, nulli melius et clarius quam tibi soli notam.
Grant me, O Lord, the grace to know what should be known, to praise what is most pleasing to You, to esteem that which appears most precious to You, and to abhor what is unclean in Your sight. Do not allow me to judge according to the light of my bodily eyes, nor to give sentence according to the hearing of ignorant men's ears. But let me distinguish with true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and always seek above all things Your good pleasure.	7. Da mihi, Domine, scire quod sciendum est, hoc amare quod amandum est, hoc laudare quod tibi summe placet, hoc reputare quod tibi prætiosum apparet, hoc vituperare quod tibi sordescit. Non me sinas secundam visionem oculorum exteriorum judicare, neque secundum auditum aurium hominum imperitorum sententiare: sed in judicio vero de visibilibus et spiritualibus discernere atque super omnia voluntatem beneplaciti tui semper inquirere.
The senses of men often err in their judgments, and the lovers of this world also err in loving only visible things. How is a man the better for being thought greater by men? The deceiver deceives the deceitful, the vain man deceives the vain, the blind deceives the blind, the weak deceives the weak as often as he extols them, and in truth his foolish praise shames them the more. For, as the humble St. Francis says, whatever anyone is in Your sight, that he is and nothing more.	8. Falluntur sæpe hominum sensus in judicando; falluntur et amatores sæculi visibilia tantummodo amando. Quid enim homo inde melior, quia reputabitur ab homine major? Fallax fallacem, vanus vanum, cæcus cæcum, infirmus infirmum decipit, dum exaltat et veraciter magis confundit, dum inaniter laudat. Nam quantum unusquisque est in oculis tuis, tantum est et non amplius, ait humilis sanctus Franciscus.