64
- JefNasdack
- 30 Août 2012 (Ajoutée le)
- 0 (Commentaires)
Christ encourages the bride, that is, the soul, always and lovingly to maintain pure contrition, god...Christ encourages the bride, that is, the soul, always and lovingly to maintain pure contrition, godly love, and unwavering obedience. He condemns those who despise obedience, abstinence, and noble patience. He also warns a spiritual man not to allow his conscience to become gradually coarse and blind under a pretense of light.
BOOK 4Chapter 107 SAINT BRIDGET PATRON SAINT OF EUROPE PART III
First, I showed him that he should be obedient to me, his God, and to his superiors. However, he answered me, thinking to himself in his mind: 'I won't. My superior is difficult and uncharitable, and so I just can't obey him with a cheerful mind.' I showed him also a second way, that of fleeing the lust of the flesh and following my divine will, fleeing drunkenness and following abstinence. These ways lead to true obedience. Yet he answered me: 'Never! I am weak by nature. So I shall eat and sleep enough. I shall converse for the sake of good cheer and laugh for the sake of worldly comfort.' I showed him also a third way, that of being nobly patient for my sake, for this way leads to abstinence and encourages holy obedience. But he answered me: 'I won't do it. If I put up with those insults to me, I will look foolish. If I dress more poorly than the others, I will be ashamed in front of everyone. If my body is ugly in any way, I must make up for it by catering to others.'
In this way, said the Lord, his conscience and I contended together, until finally he drew away from me and turned his back instead of his face toward me. In what sense did he turn it? By wanting to obey only in the way he liked, and by wanting to be patient only provided that it did not lessen his friendship with the world in any way. Now the devil is struggling to make him completely blind and mute. He is trying to tie his hands and bind his feet and lead him off to the darkness of hell. He makes him blind when the man thinks as follows: 'God redeemed me through his passion. He will not let me be lost, for he is merciful. God does not scrutinize sin so exactly, given that people are offending him all the time.' This proves that his faith is unstable. Have him search my gospel, then, to see what account I shall demand of words and how much greater an account of deeds. Have him also search there to find out that the rich man was not buried in hell because of theft but because of his misuse of the wealth granted to him. Again, the devil makes him mute when the man hears the example and words of my friends and then says: 'Nobody can live like that nowadays.' This proves that he has very little hope. I am, of course, the one who has given my friends the ability to live thus decently and chastely. I can also give him a like capacity, if he would only place his hope in me.
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