Chap. LIII That the Grace of God Is Not Communicated to the Earthly Minded
1. Son, my grace is precious; it suffers not itself to be mingled with external things, or earthly consolations.
Thou must therefore cast away all impediments of grace, if thou desire to have it infused into thee.
Choose a secret place to thyself; love to dwell with thyself alone; seek not to be talking with any one; but rather pour forth devout prayers to God, that thou mayest keep thy mind in compunction, and thy conscience clean.
Esteem the whole world as nothing: prefer the attendance on God before all external things:
For thou canst not both attend to me, and at the same time delight thyself in transitory things.
Thou must be sequestered from thy acquaintance, and from those that are dear to thee, and keep thy mind disengaged from all temporal comfort.
So the blessed apostle Peter beseeches the faithful of Christ to keep themselves as strangers and pilgrims in this world. 1 Peter ii.
2. Oh! how great confidence shall he have at the hour of his death, who is not detained by an affection to any thing in the world?
But an infirm soul is not yet capable of having a heart thus perfectly disengaged from all things; neither doth the sensual man understand the liberty of an internal man.
But if he will be spiritual indeed, he must renounce as well those that are near him, as those that are afar off; and beware of none more than of himself.
If thou perfectly overcome thyself, thou shalt with more ease subdue all things else.
The perfect victory is to triumph over one’s self.
For he that keeps himself in subjection, so that his sensuality is ever subject to reason, and reason in all things obedient to me, he is indeed a conqueror of himself, and Lord of all the world.
3. If thou desire to mount thus high, thou must begin manfully, and set the axe to the root, that thou mayest root out and destroy thy secret inordinate inclination to thyself, and to all selfish and earthly goods.
This vice, by which a man inordinately loves himself, is at the bottom of all that which is to be rooted out and overcome in us; which evil being once conquered and brought under, a great peace and tranquillity will presently ensue.
But because there are few that labour to die perfectly to themselves, and that fully tend beyond themselves; therefore do they remain entangled in themselves, nor can they be elevated in spirit above themselves.
But he that desires to walk freely with me, must mortify all his wicked and irregular affections, and must not cleave to any thing created with any concupiscence or private love.