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Chapter 39BenjaminMinor.1.39

CAPUT XXXIX. Quomodo interna dulcedo soleat animum et ad fortia roborare, et ad humilia inclinare

The Donkey Made Strong

By contemplating the surpassing glory of the heavenly land, the soul becomes both humble and strong, gladly bearing every burden.

For the sake of this land he was made a donkey and made strong; he gladly put his shoulder under the load, and became a servant paying tribute. Suddenly he had come to think very little of himself—he who counted himself a donkey, that is, an animal almost cheaper than all the rest.1 He longed intensely for the land he had seen, and for its sake he held strong through every labor. He had indeed seen that, next to the beauty of that land, all our righteous deeds were like a menstruating woman's cloth.2 He had also seen that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. So by the one he became of little worth to himself, by the other he was made strong; humbled by the one and strengthened by the other, he gladly bent the shoulder of his strength to every labor, and in seeking divine glory that was not his own he paid a tribute worthy of the true King.3 But do you want to hear of another who, for a similar reason, came to think little of himself and yet recovered strength for every labor? "I have become like a beast of burden before you," he says. And elsewhere: "For your sake," he says, "we are put to death all day long."

Living Between the Borders

Issachar, the strong donkey, dwells between the borders, tasting the goods of both lands but fully grasping neither, and for the sake of the better land he takes up the burden.

See how lowly he is—and see how strong: lowly as a beast of burden, strong for dying to himself. Issachar, a strong donkey living between the borders, saw that rest was good, and that the land was excellent.✦ So he had almost—not fully—left this land of the dying; almost—not fully—taken hold of that land of the living, the one who lived between the borders.4 Because he was content with the lowest and the fewest goods of this life, he held the outer edge of this wretched land. Because through frequent raptures of the mind he was already tasting the goods of everlasting life, he was touching the beginnings of that blessed land.5 Issachar, a strong donkey living between the borders—because he did not refuse the goods of this life when necessity required them, he did not leave this land altogether, since of the life to come he could grasp only certain outermost edges.✦6 He was not taking hold of that land at all, and so he lived between the borders. He put up with this land out of necessity; he had longed for that land for its joy—and that is why he lived between the borders. He was intent on leaving this land completely, but he couldn't; he was seeking to enter that one with his whole self, but he wasn't able. So he did what he could: he lived between the borders. Every day he strained toward that land; every day he slipped back toward this one—and in this way he remained between the borders. Issachar, a strong donkey dwelling between the borders, saw that rest was good, and that the land was the best. So what's surprising about his seeing it, when he lived on its border? What's surprising, I say, that he saw it—that once he saw it he knew it, and once he knew it he longed for it? And for that reason he set his shoulder to the burden and became a servant under tribute. “He saw,” it says, “that rest was good.”

The Land of Rest and Its Goods

The land where rest is good is contrasted with the land of misery, and the soul's restlessness is lamented, longing for the stable peace of that better land.

So rest is there, and it's good rest. For if it weren't there, he wouldn't have seen it there at all. And if it weren't good, he would never have put his shoulder under the load for its sake: But the meek, says the Prophet, will inherit the land and will delight in the abundance of peace. See what kind of land this is. Peace is there; rest is there. Full peace, good rest; quiet peace, peaceful stillness. He saw that the rest was good, and that the land was the best. In that land there is no labor, but you cannot reach it without labor. People labor for it, but they don't labor in it. Outside this land, true rest isn't found; in this land, no labor is found at all. There are two things: the land and rest. Two against two. Two goods against two evils. There are two great evils: misery and desire — namely, punishment and guilt.7 Two great goods: tranquillity and stability. Against the misery of the mind stands tranquillity; against the desire of the heart, stability. To feel no trouble is to rest well. To not be tossed by any waves of desire is, without a doubt, already to dwell in that land. In such a land, such rest. A mind not yet fully gathered into interior joy hardly knows what true rest is. Woe to me, wretched as I am, who even to this day live as a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth: a wanderer by following desire, a fugitive by turning away from misery.✦ What I would desire is always missing; everywhere I find something to flee. Desire makes me a wanderer; misery makes me a fugitive. Truly it is a bad land, a land of misery—such is the land in which I live this way: a land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death is and there is no order.

The Highest Good and the Fruit of the Land

The Spirit leads into the right land, where the soul gathers itself to the highest Good, eats the fruit of that land, and receives strength to pursue virtue.

Without a doubt, that kind of land isn't stability of heart, but hardness and deadness of mind. Yet your good Spirit, Lord, will lead me into the right land.✦ And it's the kind of land, at last, that Issachar saw and longed for, because good rest was there, and the land itself was excellent.✦ How happy the one who could, even for an hour, forget every trouble and enjoy that interior peace or rest—at least for a little while! Happy, even so, is the one to whom it has been given to gather the scatterings of the heart into one, and to fix desire on that fountain of true happiness. That is certainly good; this, though, is best.8 Just as Issachar saw that the rest was good, and that the land was excellent.✦ For it is good, yes, to be far from every evil; yet it is far better—indeed best—to have clung to the highest Good. Issachar knew this, and for that reason he wouldn't go farther from such a land; instead, living at its borders, he stayed nearby, longing for it and seeking it, wanting at least in rare raptures to touch it by snatches and in secret—and also to eat more often from that land's fruits.9 For the fruit of that land is, as you can tell, lofty fruit—wonderful fruit, unique fruit. Indeed, when the human mind has often been filled with the fruits of this land and somewhat fattened by them, it suddenly receives a marvelous strength against every danger, and soon grows so strong in hatred of every vice that merely refusing to let any vice in through consent is already too little for it—unless it also strives to pursue those vices vigorously in others and strike them with firm rebuke.10

Read the original Latin

Pro hac terra asinus factus, et fortis effectus, libenter supposuit humerum suum ad portandum, et factus est tributis serviens. Multum sibi subito viluerat, qui se asinum, animal videlicet pene prae caeteris vilius reputabat. Multum concupivit terram quam vidit, pro qua ad omnem laborem fortis perduravit. Viderat sane quod ad pulchritudinem terrae illius omnes justitiae nostrae erant ut pannus mulieris menstruatae. Viderat nihilominus quod non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis. In uno ergo sibi vilis, in altero fortis effectus; de uno humiliatus, de altero roboratus, fortitudinis suae humerum ad omnem laborem libenter inclinavit, et in acquirenda divina gloria non sua, vero Regi dignum tributum persolvit. Vultis autem audire, et alterum simili ratione sibi viluisse, et ad omnem nihilominus laborem convaluisse: Ut jumentum, inquit, factus apud te. Et alibi: Propter te, inquit, mortificamur tota die.

Ecce quam vilis, ecce quam fortis: vilis ut jumentum, fortis ad se mortificandum. Issachar asinus fortis habitans inter terminos, vidit requiem quod esset bona, et terram quod esset optima. Pene ergo, non plene, hanc morientium terram deseruerat; pene, non plene, illam viventium terram apprehenderat, qui inter terminos habitabat. Quia vilissimis, quia paucissimis hujus vitae bonis contentus erat, hujus terrae miserae extrema tenebat. Quia per frequentes mentis excessus perennis vitae bona praegustabat, illius beatae terrae initia tangebat. Issachar asinus fortis, habitans inter terminos, quia hujus vitae ad bona necessitatem non respuebat, hanc terram penitus non deserebat, quia futurae vitae nonnisi novissima quaedam capere poterat. Illam omnino non apprehendebat, et ideo inter terminos habitabat. Istam tolerabat ad necessitatem, illam concupierat ad jucunditatem, et idcirco inter terminos habitabat.

Satagebat penitus istam deserere, nec poterat, ambiebat in illam totus intrare, nec valebat. Fecit ergo quod potuit, inter terminos habitavit. Quotidie ad illam nitebatur, quotidie ad istam relabebatur, et in hunc modum inter terminos morabatur. Issachar asinus fortis, habitans inter terminos, vidit requiem quod esset bona, et terram quod esset optima. Quid ergo mirum quod eam vidit, qui in ejus confinio habitavit? Quid, inquam, mirum quod vidit, quod visam cognovit, quod cognitam concupivit? Et idcirco supposuit humerum suum ad portandum, et factus est tributis serviens. Vidit, inquit, requiem quod esset bona.

Requies ergo ibi est, et requies bona. Si enim ibi non esset, ibi eam minime vidisset. Et si bona non esset, propter eam humerum suum ad portandum minime supposuisset: Mansueti autem, ait Propheta, haereditabunt terram, et delectabuntur in multitudine pacis. Ecce qualis terra. Pax ibi est, requies ibi est. Pax plena, requies bona; pax quieta, quies pacifica. Vidit requiem quod esset bona, et terram quod esset optima. In illa labor non est, sed ad illam sine labore perveniri non potest.

Propter ipsam laboratur, sed in ipsa non laboratur. Extra hanc terram non invenitur requies vera; nullus penitus labor invenitur in hac terra. Duo sunt, terra et requies. Duo contra duo. Duo bona contra duo mala. Duo sunt magna mala, miseria et concupiscentia, poena scilicet et culpa. Duo magna bona, tranquillitas et stabilitas. Contra miseriam mentis tranquillitas, concupiscentiam cordis stabilitas.

Nullam molestiam sentire, est bene requiescere. Nullis concupiscentiae fluctibus agitari, est procul dubio jam in terra morari. In terra tali, requies talis. Mens, quae ad internum gaudium nondum tota colligitur, quae sit vera requies minime experitur. Vae mihi misero, qui usque hodie vivo vagus, et profugus super terram; vagus, sequendo concupiscentiam; profugus, declinando miseriam. Semper deest quod concupiscam, ubique invenio quod fugiam. Concupiscentia me facit vagum, miseria me efficit profugum. Profecto terra mala, terra miseriae, talis terra in qua taliter vivo: terra miseriae et tenebrarum, ubi umbra mortis est et nullus ordo.

Est procul dubio terra talis non stabilitas cordis, sed duritia et insensibilitas mentis: sed, Spiritus tuus bonus, Domine, deducet me in terram rectam. Et qualem denique Issachar vidit, et concupivit, eo quod esset ibi requies bona, et ipsa terra optima. O felicem, qui potuit, vel ad horam, malorum omnium oblivisci, et illa interna pace vel requie (saltem ad modicum) potiri! Felicem nihilominus, cui datum est dispersiones cordis in unum colligere, et in illo verae felicitatis fonte desiderium figere. Illud utique bonum, verumtamen hoc optimum. Juxta quod Issachar vidit requiem quod esset bona, et terram quod esset optima. Quia bonum quidem est longe esse ab omni malo, multo tamen melius, imo optimum inhaesisse summo bono. Novit hoc Issachar, et idcirco a tali terra longius discedere nolebat, sed habitans inter terminos in ejus vicinia manebat, cupiens et ambiens eam raptim quidem et furtim per raros saltem excessus tangere, sed et de illius terrae fructibus frequentius comedere.

Est enim, ut nosse potestis, fructus terrae illius sublimis, fructus mirabilis, fructus singularis. Hujus siquidem terrae fructibus mens hominis saepius satiata, et aliquatenus impinguata, mirandum subito contra omnia pericula fortitudinem accipit, in tantum mox ad omnium vitiorum odium convalescit, ut parum jam ei sit nullum in seipso per consensum recipere, nisi studeat ea et in aliis viriliter persequi, et forti animadversione percutere.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.49.14-Gen.49.15 — Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the two saddlebags. Gen.49.15 — He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; so he bent his shoulder to bear the load and became a laborer.
  2. ↩Gen.49.14 — Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the two saddlebags.
  3. ↩Gen.4.12 — When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a restless wanderer on the earth.
  4. ↩Ps.143.10 — Teach me to do your will, for you are your God; let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
  5. ↩Gen.49.15 — He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; so he bent his shoulder to bear the load and became a laborer.
  6. ↩Gen.49.15 — He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; so he bent his shoulder to bear the load and became a laborer.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩vilius / viluerat carries moral lowliness more than mere economic cheapness; rendered as self-contempt consistent with the chapter's humility theme.
  2. 2 ↩ut pannus mulieris menstruatae keeps the Isaiah image's shock; modern register does not soften the comparison's force.
  3. 3 ↩vero Regi taken as 'the true King' (adjectival vero); alternatively adversative vero ('but to the King'), with little change to sense.
  4. 4 ↩Pene is classical/medieval paene, 'almost'; the paired contrast pene / non plene is deliberate and retained.
  5. 5 ↩mentis excessus is the technical contemplative term for rapture/ecstasy of the mind; rendered 'raptures of the mind' rather than flattened to mere emotion.
  6. 6 ↩Two quia-clauses: the first grounds hanc terram penitus non deserebat; the second explains the incomplete hold on future life that keeps him between the borders. Second quia rendered as 'since' to mark that dual grounding without blurring either cause.
  7. 7 ↩scilicet pairs miseria with poena and concupiscentia with culpa; rendered as the clarifying apposition 'namely, punishment and guilt.' concupiscentia here is the disordered appetite later contrasted with the heart's stability.
  8. 8 ↩Illud points back to temporary forgetfulness of troubles and brief interior rest (s3); hoc points to gathering the heart and fixing desire on the fountain of true happiness (s4).
  9. 9 ↩excessus is rendered as 'raptures' in the Victorine contemplative sense (moments of going out beyond oneself), not ordinary excess.
  10. 10 ↩parum jam ei sit nullum... recipere, nisi studeat: result clause meaning mere non-consent to vice in oneself is no longer enough; the mind presses on to active hatred and correction of vice in others as well.

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