CAPUT X. Quomodo oriatur vel ordinetur spes
Hope Born of Repentance
True hope of pardon arises only after fear and sorrow for sin, not before, lest it become presumption.
But what consolation, I ask, can there be for those who truly repent and bitterly mourn, except one hope—the hope of pardon? This is that third of Jacob's sons who is therefore called Levi—that is, 'added,' or 'addition'—because once those two earlier ones have first been given, this one is added on top of them.✦1 The divine word names this son not as given, but as added, so that no one will presume on the hope of pardon before fear and the sorrow that fits true repentance. For whoever, after committing crimes, flatters himself that he will go unpunished without making satisfaction is not so much lifted up by hope as dashed down by presumption.2
The Consolation of the Holy Spirit
The more deeply one sorrows for sin, the more certain one becomes of pardon, and the Holy Spirit as Consoler visits and strengthens such a soul.
By such a name, then, divine Scripture wanted to make us sure of this: namely, that we cannot have this son before those two earlier ones, and that after those who come first, this third cannot be missing. For truly, without a doubt, the more often and the more intensely someone is pierced with interior sorrow over his guilt, the more certain and secure he becomes through the pardon of forgiveness: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart," it says, "consolations have gladdened my soul." This, in fact, is why the Holy Spirit is called the Paraclete—that is, the Consoler—because he consoles the soul afflicted with the tears of repentance as often as he does gladly.✦ For he often visits that soul, gladly strengthens her, and fully restores her confidence in pardon—the soul he sees condemning her own crimes by weeping, and weeping by condemning them.
Read the original Latin
Sed quae, quaeso, consolatio potest esse poenitentibus vere, et lugentibus amare, nisi una spes veniae? Hic est ille tertius filiorum Jacob, qui idcirco Levi, hoc est additus, vel additio vocatur, quia duobus illis prioribus prius datis hic superadditur. Non datum, sed additum sermo divinus hunc filium nominat, ne ante timorem et condignum poenitentiae dolorem quis de spe veniae praesumat. Qui enim post perpetrata scelera sine satisfactione sibi impunitate blanditur, non tam spe erigitur, quam praesumptione eliditur. Ex tali itaque nomine voluit nos Scriptura divina certos efficere, hunc nos videlicet filium, nec ante duos illos priores posse habere, nec post illos praecedentes hunc tertium posse deesse. Vere enim et absque dubio quanto quis frequentius, quantoque vehementius de suo reatu interno dolore afficitur, tanto certior, tanto securior per indulgentiae veniam efficitur: Secundum multitudinem, inquit, dolorum meorum in corde meo consolationes laetificaverunt animam meam. Hinc namque est quod Spiritus sanctus Paracletus, hoc est Consolator dicitur, quia animam poenitentiae lacrymis afflictam tam frequenter quam libenter consolatur. Illam namque frequenter visitat, illam libenter confortat, et ad veniae fiduciam plene reformat, quam sua scelera flendo damnare, et damnando flere considerat.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Levi etymologized as additus/additio ('added'/'addition'), following the Genesis naming tradition and Richard's allegory of the ordered birth of the virtues.
- 2 ↩satisfactio here is penitential satisfaction (making amends), not mere emotional contentment; rendered as 'making satisfaction' to keep that force.
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent