Prologus

God's Mercy in Our Pilgrimage

God justly exiled humanity from paradise but tempers our earthly hardships with blessings, yet uses frequent disturbances to prevent us from clinging to passing goods.

God, therefore, is both the author and the judge of humankind. Although he justly drove our race from that happiness of paradise, he is nevertheless mindful of his own goodness, and so he soothes the hardships of this earthly pilgrimage with many blessings — lest guilty man should fall entirely into the punishment he deserves. But because we take excessive delight in those very blessings, his purpose is that this pleasure of ours be worn away through frequent disturbance — lest, clinging too tightly to passing goods that flow by just like water, we be drawn unknowingly toward a failure of our inner salvation.

The Unperceived Aging of the Soul

Just as the body changes imperceptibly, the mind drifts from its upright state and grows old in religious fervor without realizing it, as the prophets testify.

In the same way, we do not perceive how the body grows, or how the appearance of that same body is changed into old age. So too our mind, without our even knowing it, is frequently bent from its upright state and grows old from the form of religious life — while it does not even realize it is aging — according to that word: 'They dragged me away, and I did not perceive it' (Prov. 23:35).^✦ And again: 'Gray hairs are spread over him, and he does not know it' (Hosea 7:9).^✦ Hosea 7:9.

Scripture as Light and Consolation

To keep us from faltering under life's disturbances, God has given unbreakable Scripture to shine in darkness and supply patience and consolation, above all through meditation.

But then again, so that we might not fail under the rebuke of that disturbance just described, he has sent sanctified Scripture into the world — Scripture which cannot be broken — with even greater grace. As Peter says, it is to shine upon our feet as we walk in this dark place of life, and amid every kind of adversity to supply patience and consolation, in the words of Paul.^✦^✦ If, then, there is anything that can hold a wise man steady in heart amid the worldly whirlwinds, I believe that it is, above all else, meditation on the Scriptures.

Scripture as the Source of Life and Self-Knowledge

All knowledge of God and self is contained in Scripture, which sets us apart from fools and serves as a mirror in which we dimly behold divine mysteries and discern our spiritual growth or failure.

Every line of reasoning by which we come to know either God or ourselves is contained in the divine Scriptures. And in this we stand apart not only from other living creatures but especially from any fool whatsoever: as Solomon says, it is to the place where life is — namely, the knowledge of the Scriptures — that we have come.¹ That life is to be found in the Scriptures, the Lord himself bears witness, saying: The words that I speak to you are spirit and life (John).^✦² 14, 10).³ Scripture is also a mirror, through which we may now behold the divine mysteries dimly, as in an enigma, and are able to see what sort of people we are — so that there it becomes clear how much we are growing in goodness, or how much we are falling short.^✦⁴

The Neglect of Sacred Reading and God's Call to Return

Though Scripture reveals what builds up and what tears down, most prefer buffoonery; neglecting it is as grave as rejecting light, shade, or medicine, yet God still calls deserters back through the prophet.

There all the things that tear down are brought to light, all the things that build up are told — and yet most people would rather listen to buffoonery than to this pattern set by God.⁵ To neglect sacred reading is as serious as it would be for someone to reject light while in darkness, shade while scorching in the sun's heat, or medicine while sick.⁶ This is, I say, the voice of God, calling back his own deserters, saying through the prophet: Be converted, O children, who have turned away (Jer.).^✦⁷

God's Letter to the Distant

Through Ezekiel God addresses even the unfaithful, and through Scripture He now calls back those far from Him as by letters, urging old friends to remember—yet we still hunger too little for this sacred food.

[Ezekiel] 3:14, and likewise, calling back a wife violated against the custom of men, he says: "Hear, O harlot, the word of the Lord" (Ezek.^✦ 16:33), and so on.^✦ But so that he might show how exceedingly far mortals have withdrawn from him — not in place, indeed, but in worth — he no longer addresses those now present through spoken words, as once he had done with the fathers; but through Scripture, as though through certain letters, calling back those placed far away, urging his deserters, as if of an old friendship, to remember.^✦ These things have been set forth to shake off the distaste for reading, since — and I say this with your leave — we do not hunger enough for the food of sacred reading.^✦

Read the original Latin

Auctor igitur et judex hominum Deus, licet ab illa felicitate paradisi genus nostrum juste repulerit; suae tamen bonitatis memor, ne totus reus homo quod meretur incurrat, hujus peregrinationis molestias multis beneficiis demulcet. Quia vero nos eisdem beneficiis nimium delectamur, ejus consilio frequenti perturbatione haec eadem nostra delectatio conteritur, ne transeuntibus bonis, quae perinde fluunt, nimis inhaerentes, ad internae salutis defectum nesciendo trahamur. Sic enim non sentimus quomodo crescit corpus, vel qualiter ejusdem corporis species in senectutem commutatur. Sic et mens nostra nobis nescientibus ab statu rectitudinis frequenter incurvatur, et a forma religionis, dum nescit, senescit, juxta illud: Traxerunt me, et non sensi (Prov. XXIII, 35): et iterum: Cani effusi sunt in eum, et ipse non sensit (Ose. VII, 9). Sed rursus ne increpatione praedictae perturbationis deficiamus, sanctificatam Scripturam, quae dissolvi non potest, majori gratia misit in mundum: quatenus, ut ait Petrus, in caliginoso vitae hujus loco pedibus nostrae actionis resplendeat, et inter quaelibet adversa patientiam et consolationem, juxta Pauli vocem, subministret. Si ergo quidquam est quod sapientem virum aequo animo inter mundanos turbines continere possit, id esse quamplurimum reor meditationem Scripturarum.

Omnis namque ratio, qua vel Deum, vel nos cognoscimus, divinis libris continetur. Et in hoc non solum a caeteris animalibus, sed etiam a quolibet stulto maxime distamus: et sicut ait Salomon, illuc ubi vita est, ad cognitionem videlicet Scripturarum, perreximus. Nam quod in Scripturis vita sit, testatur Dominus dicens: Verba quae loquor vobis, spiritus et vita sunt (Joan. XIV, 10). Ipsa est et speculum, per quod nunc in aenigmate divina mysteria videamus, ac nos quales simus intueri queamus, ita ut ibi appareat quantum proficimus in bono, vel quantum deficimus. Ibi cuncta produntur quae dissipant, cuncta narrantur quae aedificantur: et tamen plerique libentius scurrilitatem audiunt, quam hoc paradigma Dei. Tale autem est sacram negligere lectionem, quale esset si quis in tenebris lumen, in aestu solis umbram, vel in aegritudine medicinam respueret. Haec est, inquam, vox Dei, quae desertores suos revocat, dicens per prophetam: Convertimini, filii, revertentes (Jer.

III, 14), et item contra virorum consuetudinem stupratam conjugem revocans ait: Audi, meretrix, verbum Domini (Ezech. XVI, 33), et caetera. Ut autem longe nimis mortales a se recessisse non loco quidem, sed merito demonstret, non per verba sic praesentes jam eos alloquitur, sicut olim patres fecerat: sed per Scripturam, velut per quasdam epistolas, longe positos revocans, quasi veteris amicitiae desertores suos recordari suadet. Haec ad excutiendum legendi fastidium praemissa sunt, quoniam, quod pace vestra dixerim, cibum sacrae lectionis non satis esurimus.

Scripture echoes

↩Prov.23.35 — They struck me, but I was not sick; they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek it again.
↩Hos.7.9 — Foreigners have devoured his strength, yet he does not know it; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, yet he does not know.
↩1Pet.2.9 — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
↩Rom.15.4-Rom.15.5;2Cor.1.3-2Cor.1.7 — For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that through the endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Rom.15.5 — Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think the same thing among yourselves, according to Christ Jesus, 2Cor.1.3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 2Cor.1.4 — who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2Cor.1.5 — For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 2Cor.1.6 — And whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is at work in the endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. And our hope for you is firm. 2Cor.1.7 — And our hope for you is sure, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
↩John.6.63 — It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
↩1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
↩Jer.3.14 — Return, O wayward children, declares the LORD, for I am your husband; I will take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Zion.
↩Ezek.16.33 — All prostitutes receive gifts, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from every direction with your acts of prostitution.
↩Ezek.16.33 — All prostitutes receive gifts, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from every direction with your acts of prostitution.
↩Heb.1.1-Heb.1.2 — Long ago, in many parts and in many ways, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us through a Son. Heb.1.2 — God appointed him heir of all things, and through him also made the ages.
↩Matt.4.4 — But he answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

Notes

1 ↩The connective et at the start links this sentence to the previous thought; rendered as 'And' to preserve the additive force.
2 ↩The quotation closely matches John 6:63 (Vulg.: Verba quae locutus sum vobis spiritus et vita sunt). The citation in the source text reads 'Joan.' with chapter XIV, which does not correspond to the Vulgate location; the quotation itself is from John 6:63.
3 ↩The chapter numeral XIV does not match the quotation from John 6:63. This appears to be a citation error in the source text.
4 ↩in aenigmate rendered 'dimly, as in an enigma' to capture the Pauline resonance (cf. 1 Cor 13:12) while keeping the English readable.
5 ↩paradigma rendered 'pattern' to convey the sense of a divinely given model or example.
6 ↩sacram (accusative of sacer) rendered 'sacred' to modify 'reading,' capturing the gravity of the neglect.
7 ↩The quotation 'Convertimini, filii, revertentes' echoes Jeremiah 3:14 (Vulg.: Convertimini, filii revertentes). The source abbreviates the reference as 'Jer.'

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