Caput XXIX. Virgo semper pavida se ipsa muniat verbi Dei meditatione.
The Timid Dove's Vigilance
A recluse should cultivate holy fear and constant self-distrust, like a timid dove watching for a hawk.
Sister, I never want you to be careless, but to be afraid, and always to suspect your own frailty, like a timid dove that returns again and again to streams of water, and, as if in a mirror, to make out the image of a hawk flying overhead — and so be on your guard.
Scripture as the Mirror of Temptation
The streams of Scripture reveal the image of diabolical suggestions so they can be guarded against.
The streams of water are the sentences of the Scriptures, flowing from the clearest fountain of wisdom, which reveal the image and meaning of diabolical suggestions so that they can be guarded against and eluded.
Meditation as the Virgin's Fortress
Meditation on God's word shuts out useless thoughts and restrains wanton desires, becoming the virgin's sole occupation.
For nothing shuts out useless thoughts or restrains wanton desires more than meditation on the word of God, to which a virgin should so accustom herself to her own soul that, not willing anything else, she cannot meditate on anything else.
Scripture at the Thresholds of Sleep and Waking
Let Scripture accompany you as sleep overtakes you and greet you upon waking, seasoning your dreams with holy memory.
When you ponder the Scriptures, sleep steals over you. When you first wake up, let something from the Scriptures come to mind. In your sleep, let some sentence from the Scriptures season your dreams by memory.
Read the original Latin
Te, soror, nunquam volo esse securam; sed timere, semperque tuam fragilitatem habere suspectam, ad instar pavidae columbae frequentare rivos aquarum, et quasi in speculo accipitris cernere supervolantis effigiem, et cavere. Rivi aquarum sententiae sunt Scripturarum, quae de limpidissimo sapientiae fonte profluentes diabolicarum suggestionum produnt imaginem et sensum, quo caveantur, et eludant. Nihil enim magis cogitationes excludit inutiles vel compescit lascivias, quam meditatio verbi Dei, quod sic ad animum suum virgo debet assuescere, ut aliud nolens, non possit aliud meditari. Cogitanti de Scripturis somnus obrepat. Evigilanti primum aliquid de Scripturis occurrat. Dormientis somnia memoria aliqua de Scripturis sententia condiat.
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