A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [31]
man a
master of high knowledge; truly it is a living book in which everything is
to be found. How right blessed is that man who has it ever before his eyes
and studies it! What wisdom, grace, consolation, sweetness, what cleansing
from all imperfection, may not such a man obtain through the devout
contemplation of My living presence! Respecting which, listen to what
follows. It fell out many years ago, that a certain preacher in the
beginning of his conversion had a bitter affliction of inordinate
despondency, which, at times, so overpowered him that no heart which had not
experienced it could conceive it. And, as he once sat after meat in his
cell, his affliction was so great that he could neither study nor pray, nor
perform any other good deed, except sitting there so sadly in his cell, and
laying his hands in his lap, as though he meant only to take care of the
cell, for God's sake, because he was no longer of any use in spiritual
things. And, as he thus sat disconsolate, it suddenly seemed to him as
though he heard these words distinctly addressed to him: Why dost thou sit
here? Arise and betake thee to My sorrowful Passion, for then wilt thou
overcome thy own sorrow. And immediately he arose, for the words were the
same to him as though they came from heaven, and he began to meditate on the
sorrowful Passion of the Lord, in which all his own sorrow was lost, so that
he never felt it again in the same manner.
The Servant.--O my sweet Wisdom, Thou understandest all hearts, and
knowest that, above all things, I desire to have my heart penetrated with
Thy Passion, in the face of all men, and my eyes turned day and night into
running fountains of bitter tears. Alas! there is just now in my soul a
bitter complaint, that Thy Passion does not at all times thoroughly
penetrate my heart, and that I do not meditate on it so affectionately as in
reason I ought to do, and as is worthy of Thee, my Lord elect; teach me,
therefore, how I ought to comport myself!
Eternal Wisdom.--The meditation on My torments must not be made by
going through them in a hasty manner, when one has time and opportunity, but
it must be made by going through them with heartfelt love and a
compassionate searching into their mysteries; for, otherwise, the heart
remains as unaffected by devotion, as the mouth by unchewed sweet-tasting
food. If thou hast no liking to meditate on My Passion with weeping eyes,
because of the bitter agony I suffered, then oughtest thou to meditate on it
with a laughing heart, because of the joyous benefit thou wilt find in it.
But if thou hast no mind either to laugh or to cry, thou oughtest to
meditate on it in the dryness of thy heart, to My honour and praise, by
doing which thou wilt have done no less than if thou hadst been dissolved in
tears or steeped in sweetness; for then thou actest from love of virtue,
without regard to thyself. And that thou mayest take it all the more to
heart, listen to what follows. Such is My severe justice that it permits no
wrong deed in all nature, be it great or small, to pass without atonement
and without being made good. Now, how should a great sinner, who has perhaps
committed more than a hundred mortal sins, and for every mortal sin
subjected himself, by the law of My Church, to do penance seven years long,
or else to complete his upperformed penance in the furnace of grim
purgatory--how should such a miserable soul fulfill her penance? When would
there be an end to her sighs and tears? Oh, how long, how much too long,
would it not appear to her! Behold, she has speedily made all good by means
of My innocent, meritorious Passion! with reason, then, let her grasp the
treasure of My acquired merits, and apply it to herself, in virtue of which,
even if she ought to burn a thousand years in Purgatory, she will be able,
in a short time, to discharge her guilt and penance, so as to attain heaven
without any purgatory at all.
The Servant.--O tender and Eternal Wisdom, teach me this in Thy
goodness; how glad should I be to make
master of high knowledge; truly it is a living book in which everything is
to be found. How right blessed is that man who has it ever before his eyes
and studies it! What wisdom, grace, consolation, sweetness, what cleansing
from all imperfection, may not such a man obtain through the devout
contemplation of My living presence! Respecting which, listen to what
follows. It fell out many years ago, that a certain preacher in the
beginning of his conversion had a bitter affliction of inordinate
despondency, which, at times, so overpowered him that no heart which had not
experienced it could conceive it. And, as he once sat after meat in his
cell, his affliction was so great that he could neither study nor pray, nor
perform any other good deed, except sitting there so sadly in his cell, and
laying his hands in his lap, as though he meant only to take care of the
cell, for God's sake, because he was no longer of any use in spiritual
things. And, as he thus sat disconsolate, it suddenly seemed to him as
though he heard these words distinctly addressed to him: Why dost thou sit
here? Arise and betake thee to My sorrowful Passion, for then wilt thou
overcome thy own sorrow. And immediately he arose, for the words were the
same to him as though they came from heaven, and he began to meditate on the
sorrowful Passion of the Lord, in which all his own sorrow was lost, so that
he never felt it again in the same manner.
The Servant.--O my sweet Wisdom, Thou understandest all hearts, and
knowest that, above all things, I desire to have my heart penetrated with
Thy Passion, in the face of all men, and my eyes turned day and night into
running fountains of bitter tears. Alas! there is just now in my soul a
bitter complaint, that Thy Passion does not at all times thoroughly
penetrate my heart, and that I do not meditate on it so affectionately as in
reason I ought to do, and as is worthy of Thee, my Lord elect; teach me,
therefore, how I ought to comport myself!
Eternal Wisdom.--The meditation on My torments must not be made by
going through them in a hasty manner, when one has time and opportunity, but
it must be made by going through them with heartfelt love and a
compassionate searching into their mysteries; for, otherwise, the heart
remains as unaffected by devotion, as the mouth by unchewed sweet-tasting
food. If thou hast no liking to meditate on My Passion with weeping eyes,
because of the bitter agony I suffered, then oughtest thou to meditate on it
with a laughing heart, because of the joyous benefit thou wilt find in it.
But if thou hast no mind either to laugh or to cry, thou oughtest to
meditate on it in the dryness of thy heart, to My honour and praise, by
doing which thou wilt have done no less than if thou hadst been dissolved in
tears or steeped in sweetness; for then thou actest from love of virtue,
without regard to thyself. And that thou mayest take it all the more to
heart, listen to what follows. Such is My severe justice that it permits no
wrong deed in all nature, be it great or small, to pass without atonement
and without being made good. Now, how should a great sinner, who has perhaps
committed more than a hundred mortal sins, and for every mortal sin
subjected himself, by the law of My Church, to do penance seven years long,
or else to complete his upperformed penance in the furnace of grim
purgatory--how should such a miserable soul fulfill her penance? When would
there be an end to her sighs and tears? Oh, how long, how much too long,
would it not appear to her! Behold, she has speedily made all good by means
of My innocent, meritorious Passion! with reason, then, let her grasp the
treasure of My acquired merits, and apply it to herself, in virtue of which,
even if she ought to burn a thousand years in Purgatory, she will be able,
in a short time, to discharge her guilt and penance, so as to attain heaven
without any purgatory at all.
The Servant.--O tender and Eternal Wisdom, teach me this in Thy
goodness; how glad should I be to make