Caput XXVIII. Contra senes qui concubinarum consortio carere nolunt.
The Shame of Old Age and Forbidden Companionship
Elderly recluses who keep intimate company with suspect persons while claiming chastity are exposed as deeply shameless.
That is why it is not a little shameful — the shamelessness of certain people who, when they have grown old in the muck, still refuse to give up the company of suspect persons; and when — unspeakable to say — lying in the same bed between embraces and kisses, they declare themselves secure in their own chastity, though their body is growing cold and, as they reach toward heaven, their lukewarm limbs fail.
Wretchedness of Powerless Desire
Those who can no longer act on their desires yet remain steeped in the capacity for wickedness are more wretched than any other human beings.
Unhappy are these people, and more wretched than any other human beings: although they lack the ability to commit wickedness, the capacity still remains in the foulness itself.
Shameful Desire That Will Not Rest
Shameful desire persists relentlessly even when bodily frigidity prevents its fulfillment.
Shameful desire does not rest, even when frigidity denies it fulfillment.
Self-Deception and the Double Disgrace
Those who excuse their sin only compound it, as inward temptation betrays a double disgrace even in decrepit old age.
Let them see, then, whether they speak the truth, or whether injustice lies to itself — and while it tries to cover one sin, it betrays a double disgrace in itself: since a nocturnal phantom sometimes deceives even the nearly decrepit, and this inward trouble more often disturbs a dead old age.
Read the original Latin
Unde non parum pudet quorumdam impudicitiae, qui cum in sordibus senuerunt, nec sic suspectarum personarum volunt carere consortio; cumque, quod dictu nefas est, eodem lectulo cubantes inter amplexus et oscula de sua castitate se dicunt esse securos, quos frigescente corpore ad coelos tepescentia membra deficiant. Infelices isti et prae cunctis mortalibus miseri, quibus cum desit sceleris perpetrandi facultas, adhuc manet in ipsa foeditate facultas. Non quiescit turpe desiderium, quamvis ei frigiditas neget effectum. Videat tamen utrum verum dicat, aut mentiatur iniquitas sibi, et dum nititur velare unum, duplex in se prodat flagitium: cum et fere decrepitos nocturnum aliquando plasma deludat, et emortuam senectutem intestinum hoc malum saepius inquietet.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice