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← Audi Filia (Hear, O Daughter)/Book 1 · Libro espiritual sobre el verso «Audi, filia, et vide»
Chapter 11AudiFilia.1.11

Capítulo 11. De algunas causas, allende de las dichas, por las cuales vienen algunos a perder la castidad, para que huyamos de ellas si no la queremos perder; y con qué medios nos debemos animar a ello.

The Price of Purity

The author introduces the necessity of guarding the precious gift of chastity.

No amount of care or labor spent guarding this purity should seem like too much, if you truly value its price, its merit, and its reward. And since our Lord has given you to understand the worth of this jewel, and has given you grace so that you would choose it and promise it, it will not be so needful to tell you how excellent it is as to give you warnings about how not to lose it—teaching you some further causes, beyond those already mentioned, by which some lose it, so that once you know them you can avoid them, so you don't lose it and are not lost with it yourself.

The Baseness of Bestial Living

A warning against the degradation of the soul through carnal appetites and the need for spiritual intercession.

Some lose it because they have strong natural inclinations against it; and so they don't want to be harassed or wage such a cruel and long-lasting war against themselves, they hand themselves over bound hand and foot to their enemies with miserable judgment, not understanding that a Christian's purpose must be to die or conquer, with the grace of the One who helps those who fight for His honor. There are others who, while not strongly tempted, have a natural baseness and smallness of heart, inclined toward low things. And since this is one of the vilest and basest of those things, and the one most ready to hand for them, they soon come upon it and give themselves over to it as to something that matches the baseness and vileness of their heart—a heart that does not even rise to take up the life of people governed by natural reason. Taught by that reason, I said that in carnal pleasures there is nothing worthy of a magnanimous heart.1 And another said that a life lived by carnal pleasures is the life of beasts. For not only the light of heaven, but even the light of natural reason, condemns those who busy themselves in this baseness as people who don't live as human beings—whose life must conform to reason—but as beasts, whose life is driven by appetite. If you looked carefully, you could with full justice strip such people of the name of human beings, since, though they have a human form, they live the life of beasts and are a true disgrace to humankind. And it would be no small monstrosity, nor would it cause little amazement to those who saw it, if a beast put the bit on a man and led him wherever it wanted, the beast ruling the one who ought to rule it.2 There are so many people—high and low—ruled by bestial appetites that I don't know if it's because there are so many of them that no one even notices.3 Or, what I rather believe, is that there are few who have light enough to see how wretched a soul is when it is dead in carnal pleasures under a body that is especially beautiful and in the bloom of youth. Oh, how many souls of these people and of others this hellish fire has scorched—and there is no one to shed tears of compassion over them, nor anyone to say from the heart: To You, Lord, I will cry out, because the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the wilderness. .4 For certainly, if there were widows in Nain who bitterly mourned their dead sons, Christ would use his mercy to raise them to life in the soul, as he used it with the other widow's son in the body—the one the Gospel mentions. The one who holds the office in the Church of praying and interceding for the people with a mother's affection must not fall asleep, lest God punish both the intercessor and the people, saying: I searched among them for a man who would stand as a wall and set himself against Me, that I might not destroy the land, and I did not find him; and I poured out My anger upon them; in the fire of My wrath I consumed them.

The Body as a Temple

A call to despise the vanity of the flesh and honor the body as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.

So guard against having a heart so small and debased that these vile things look good to you and please you. And remember what Saint Bernard says: "If you carefully consider the body and what comes out of it, it is a dungheap far more vile than any you have ever seen."5 Despise it from your heart, along with all its pleasures, finery, and bloom, and consider it already in the grave, turned into a little earth.6 And when you see any man or woman, do not look much at their face or body; and if you do look, let it be to feel disgust at it. But turn your interior eyes to the soul enclosed and hidden in the body—in souls there is no difference between man and woman—and magnify that soul as something created by God, for the worth of a single soul is greater than that of all bodies already made and still to be made.7 And so, having put aside the baseness of bodies, seek great goods and take up noble undertakings—none less than lodging God in your body and your soul with deep purity of heart. Look at yourselves with these eyes, for Saint Paul says: Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?✦ And elsewhere he says: Do you not know that your members are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom God has given you, and that you are not your own?✦ And since you were bought at a great price, honor God in your body.✦ Consider, then, that when you received holy Baptism you were made a temple of God: your soul was consecrated to Him by His grace, and your body by being touched with the holy water; and the Holy Spirit makes use of both soul and body, as a master of His whole house, moving both of them to good works.8 That is why it is said that our members, too, are a temple of the Holy Spirit.✦ God does us a great honor in wanting to dwell in us and in honoring us with the truth and the name of temple; He also lays a great obligation on us to be clean, for cleanliness is what belongs to the house of God. And if you would consider that you were bought, as Saint Paul says, at a great price—namely with the life of God made human, who gave Himself for you—you would see how right it is to honor God and carry Him in your body, serving Him with it, and doing nothing in it that would dishonor God and harm you.✦9 It's a true and just judgment that God will destroy anyone who defiles his temple, and that nothing should be in his temple except what is for his honor and his praise.✦ And remember what Saint Augustine said: "After I understood that God had redeemed me and bought me with his precious blood, I never wanted to sell myself again."✦ And add this for yourselves: how much more so for the baseness of the flesh.10

The Courage of the Bride

An encouragement to embrace the high calling of virginity and the bridal union with Christ.

You've begun a work of great courage, for you want to possess incorruption within corruptible flesh, to gain through the path of virtue what the Angels have by nature, to claim a special crown in heaven, to be a companion to the virgins who sing the new song, and to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.✦ Look at the title you hold right now—that of being a bride of Christ—and at the good you hope for in heaven when your Bridegroom places you in His bridal chamber there; and you will love the purity of virginity so much that you would gladly lose your life for it, as many holy virgins did who, rather than cease to be virgins, suffered martyrdom, and with greatness of heart—which you must strive to have, because it is very necessary for keeping the high state in which God has placed you.11

Read the original Latin

Ningún cuidado ni trabajo que por la guarda de esta limpieza se ponga debe parecer demasiado, si sabe estimar el precio y mérito de ella y su galardón. Y pues que nuestro Señor os ha dado a entender el valor de ésta joya, y os ha dado gracia para que la eligiésedes y prometiésedes, no será menester tanto deciros la excelencia de ella, cuanto daros avisos de cómo no la perdáis; enseñándoos algunas causas más de las ya dichas por donde algunos la pierden, para que sabidas, las evitéis, porque no la perdáis, y vos seáis perdida con ella.

Piérdenla unos por tener recias inclinaciones naturales contra ella; y por no ser importunados, ni pasar guerra contra sí mismos tan cruel y durable, se dan maniatados a sus enemigos con miserable consejo, no entendiendo que el propósito del cristiano ha de ser morir o vencer, con la gracia de Aquel que ayuda a los que por su honra pelean.

Otros hay que aunque no son muy tentados, tienen una vileza y pequeñez natural de corazón, inclinada a cosas bajas. Y como ésta sea una de las más viles y bajas, y que más a mano se les ofrece, encuentran luego con ella, y danse a ella como a cosa proporcionada con la bajeza y vileza de su corazón, que no se levanta a emprender aún vida de hombres regidos por razón natural; con la cual enseñado uno, dije que en los deleites carnales no hay cosa digna de magnánimo corazón. Y otro dijo que la vida según los deleites carnales es vida de bestias. Porque no sólo la lumbre del cielo, mas aun la de la razón natural, condena a los que en esta vileza se ocupan como a gente que no vive según hombres, cuya vida ha de ser conforme a razón, mas según bestias, cuya vida es por apetito. Y si bien se mirase, podrían con mucha justicia quitar a estos tales el nombre de hombres, pues, teniendo figura de hombres, viven vida de bestias, y son verdadera deshonra de hombres. Y no sería cosa poco monstruosa, ni que diese pequeña admiración a los que la viesen, traer una bestia enfrenado a un hombre, llevándole adonde ella quisiese, rigiendo ella a quien la había de regir.

Y hay tantos de éstos, regidos por el freno de apetitos bestiales, bajos y altos, que no sé si por ser muchos, no hay quien eche de ver en ello. O, lo que más creo, es porque hay pocos que tengan lumbre para mirar qué miserable está una ánima muerta con deleites carnales, debajo de un cuerpo especialmente hermoso y de fresca edad: ¡ Oh, a cuántas ánimas de éstos y de otros tiene abrasados este fuego infernal, y ni hay quien eche lágrimas de compasión sobre ellos, ni quien diga de corazón: A Ti, Señor, daré voces, porque el fuego ha comido las cosas hermosas del desierto. . Que, cierto, si hubiese viudas en Naim que amargamente llorasen a sus hijos muertos, usaría Cristo de su misericordia para los resucitar en el ánima, como lo usó con el hijo de la otra en el cuerpo, de quien el Evangelio hace mención. No debe dormirse el que en la Iglesia tiene oficio de orar e interceder por el pueblo con afecto de madre, porque no castigue Dios al orador y su pueblo, diciendo: Busqué entre ellos varón que se pusiese por muro, y se pusiese contra Mí, porque no destruyese la tierra, y no lo hallé: y derramé sobre ellos mi enojo; en el fuego de mi ira los consumí.

Guardaos, pues, vos de tener corazón tan pequeño y envilecido, que os parezcan bien y os contenten estas vilezas. Y acordaos de lo que San Bernardo dice: «Que si bien consideráredes el cuerpo y lo que sale de él, es un muladar muy más vil que cualquiera que hayáis visto.» Despreciadlo de corazón con todos sus deleites, atavíos y flor, y haced cuenta que ya está en la sepultura, convertido en una poca de tierra. Y cuando algún hombre o mujer viéredes, no miréis mucho su faz ni su cuerpo; y si lo miráredes, sea para haber asco de él; mas enderezad vuestros ojos interiores al ánima que está encerrada y escondida en el cuerpo, en las cuales no hay diferencia de hombre a mujer; y aquella ánima engrandeced, como cosa criada de Dios; cuyo valor de una sola es mayor que de todos los cuerpos criados y por criar.

Y así despedida de la bajeza de los cuerpos, buscad grandes bienes y emprended nobles empresas, y no menores que aposentar a Dios en vuestro cuerpo y vuestra ánima con entrañable limpieza de corazón. Miraos con estos ojos, pues dice San Pablo: ¿No sabéis que sois templo de Dios, y que el Espíritu de Dios mora en vosotros? Y en otra parte dice: ¿No sabéis que vuestros miembros son templo del Espíritu Santo que en vosotros está, el cual Dios os lo ha dado, y que no sois vuestro? Y pues sois comprados por precio grande, honrad a Dios en vuestro cuerpo. Considerad, pues, que cuando recibisteis el santo Bautismo fuisteis hecha templo de Dios, y consagrada vuestra ánima a Él por su gracia, y vuestro cuerpo, por ser tocado con el agua santa; y de ánima y de cuerpo se sirve el Espíritu Santo, como un señor de toda su casa, moviendo a buenas obras a ella y a él. Y por eso se dice que también nuestros miembros son templo del Espíritu Santo. Grande honra nos da Dios en querer morar en nosotros, y honrarnos con verdad y nombre de templo; y grande obligación nos echa para que seamos limpios, pues a la casa de Dios conviene limpieza. Y si mirásedes que fuisteis comprada, como dice San Pablo, con preció grande, que es con la vida de Dios humanado que por vos se dio, veréis cuánta razón es honrar a Dios y traerlo en vuestro cuerpo, sirviéndole con él, y no haciendo cosa en él que sea para deshonra de Dios y daño vuestro.

Porque verdadera y justa sentencia es que quien ensuciare el templo de Dios lo ha de destruir Dios; y que no ha de haber en su templo sino cosa de su honra y de su alabanza. Y acordaos de lo que dijo San Agustín: «Después que entendí que me había Dios redimido y comprado con su sangre preciosa, nunca más me quise vender.» Y añadid vos: Cuanto más por vilezas de carne.

Obra habéis comenzado de gran corazón, pues queréis tener en la carne corruptible incorrupción; y tener por vía de virtud lo que los Ángeles tienen por naturaleza; y pretender particular corona en el cielo y ser compañera de las vírgenes, que cantan el nuevo cantar, y acompañar al Cordero doquiera que va. Mirad vuestro título que de presente tenéis, que es ser esposa de Cristo, y el bien que esperáis en el cielo cuando vuestro Esposo os ponga en su tálamo allá; y amaréis tanto la limpieza de la virginidad, que de buena gana perdáis la vida por ella, como lo hicieron muchas vírgenes santas, que por no dejarlo de ser, pasaron martirio, y con grandeza de corazón: la cual procurad de tener, porque es muy necesaria para conservar el grande estado en que Dios os ha puesto.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Cor.3.16 — Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
  2. ↩1Cor.6.19 — Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own,
  3. ↩1Cor.6.20 — For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
  4. ↩1Cor.6.19 — Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own,
  5. ↩1Cor.6.20 — For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
  6. ↩1Cor.3.16-1Cor.3.17 — Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1Cor.3.17 — If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
  7. ↩1Cor.6.20;1Pet.1.18-1Pet.1.19 — For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. 1Pet.1.18 — knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things—silver or gold—from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers, 1Pet.1.19 — but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
  8. ↩Rev.14.3-Rev.14.4 — And they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. And no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand, those who have been redeemed from the earth. Rev.14.4 — These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩ésta: feminine demonstrative, taken as the low/carnal object of their inclination (one of the cosas bajas of s1), not as an abstract trait alone; the sentence then names deleites carnales explicitly.
  2. 2 ↩enfrenado a un hombre: participle agrees with hombre; image is inverted bridling—the beast has the man under the bit, not a man bridling a beast.
  3. 3 ↩bajos y altos may modify either the people (high and low station) or the appetites (base and lofty). Rendered as people of high and low rank, the more natural moral-literary reading.
  4. 4 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period ('.'), almost certainly a segmentation artifact from the previous sentence's closing punctuation rather than independent text.
  5. 5 ↩Spanish muladar is a dunghill / refuse heap; rendered 'dungheap' to keep Bernard's deliberate revulsion without softening the image.
  6. 6 ↩flor here means the body's bloom / prime of beauty, not a literal flower; rendered 'bloom'.
  7. 7 ↩en las cuales has no clear plural antecedent in the sentence (ánima is singular); sense is clearly 'in souls,' so the translation makes that referent explicit rather than forcing an awkward relative.
  8. 8 ↩Feminine agreement (fuisteis hecha / consagrada) matches the work's address to the spiritual daughter; kept as 'you' in modern English.
  9. 9 ↩Source has 'preció' (accented); treated as precio 'price' (cf. s4 'precio grande'), not a finite verb form.
  10. 10 ↩Elliptical continuation of Augustine's refusal to 'sell' himself: the reader is to complete the thought—still less would one sell oneself for carnal baseness. Kept elliptical to match the Spanish.
  11. 11 ↩«amaréis» is future; rendered as predictive/hortatory future of consequence rather than a bare imperative, matching the Spanish tense while keeping exhortative force.

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