Caput XLVII. De dilectione Dei concitanda in meditatione mysteriorum Christi.
Two Loves, Two Sisters
The author transitions from neighbor-love to God-love, distinguishing the work of virtue from the sweetness of spiritual affection and commending a disciplined life of fasting, vigil, prayer, and poverty.
Having said these things about love of neighbor, I'll add a few words about the love of God. For although each sister loved God and her neighbor, Martha was especially occupied with service to others, while Mary was drawing from the source of divine reading. Now two things pertain to the love of God: the affection of the mind and the effect of work. And work consists in the exercise of the virtues, but the affection of the mind consists in the sweetness of spiritual taste. The exercise of the virtues is commended in a fixed manner of living, in fasts, in vigils, in work, in love, in prayer, in poverty, and in other such practices; the affection is nourished by wholesome meditation.
The Threefold Meditation
A purified mind is invited to begin meditation on past things by entering Mary's chamber and unrolling the prophetic books of Christ's coming.
And so, so that that sweetest love of Jesus may grow in your heart, you need a threefold meditation: on past, present, and future things — that is, on the remembrance of past things, on the experience of present things, and on the consideration of future things. When, therefore, your mind has been purified from every defilement of thoughts by the exercise of the virtues, then turn your cleansed eyes back to the things behind you. And first, when blessed Mary has entered the chamber, unroll the books by which the birth of the Virgin and the coming of Christ are prophesied.
The Annunciation and Visitation
The reader is led through the Annunciation, the mystery of grace in Mary's womb, the Visitation, and the joy of Elizabeth's recognition of Christ, ending with a prophecy of universal salvation.
There, wait for the angel's arrival, so that you may see him enter and hear him greet; and, just as she was filled with awe and ecstasy, greet your sweetest Lady as the angel greets her, crying out and saying: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women (Luke 1:28).✦ Luke 1:28. Repeating this more fully, ponder what this fullness of grace may be, from which the whole world borrowed grace, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).✦ John 1:14 — contemplate and wonder at the Lord, who fills earth and heaven, enclosed within the womb of a single maiden, whom the Father sanctified, the Son made fruitful, the Holy Spirit overshadowed.✦ O sweet Lady, how deeply you were intoxicated with sweetness, with what fire of love you were kindled, when you perceived in your mind and in your womb the presence of so great a majesty; when from your flesh he took flesh for himself, and the limbs in which bodily all the fullness of divinity would dwell, he fashioned for himself from your members! All these things are for your sake, virgin, so that you may love the Virgin whom you have resolved to imitate, and the fruit of the Virgin to whom you are married. Now, with your sweetest Lady, ascend into the mountains, and behold the sweet embrace of the barren one and the virgin; and the greeting in which the servant recognized the Lord within, the herald recognized the judge, the voice recognized the Word — enclosed within aged womb, enclosed within the virgin's womb — and greeted him with unspeakable joy.✦ Blessed are the wombs from which the salvation of the whole world arises, and with the darkness of sorrow driven out, eternal joy is foretold.
At the Manger in Bethlehem
The reader is urged to hasten with Mary to Bethlehem, serve at the Nativity, embrace the manger with bold love, and join the angelic hymn of glory.
What are you doing, O virgin? Hurry, I beg you—hurry and join yourself to such great joys. Prostrate yourself at the feet of both: in the womb of the one, embrace your Bridegroom; in the womb of the other, venerate his friend. Follow him as he goes to Bethlehem with all devotion. As you turn aside into the lodging, stand by her in her labor and wait on her as she gives birth. And when the child has been laid in the manger, break forth into a voice of exultation, crying out with Isaiah: A child is born to us, and a son is given to us (Isa.✦ IX, 6). Embrace that sweet manger. Let love conquer your shyness; let holy desire drive away your fear, so that you may press your lips to his most sacred feet and redouble your kisses. Afterward, trace in your mind the shepherds' night watches; marvel at the army of angels; weave your own part into the heavenly melody, and sing with heart and mouth together: Glory to God in the highest (Luke✦ II, 14).
Read the original Latin
His de proximi dilectione praemissis, de dilectione Dei pauca subjungam. Nam licet utraque soror Deum proximumque dilexerit, specialiter tamen circa obsequium proximorum occupabatur Martha, ex divinae vero lectionis fonte hauriebat Maria. Ad Dei vero dilectionem duo pertinent, affectus mentis, et effectus operis. Et opus hoc in virtutum exercitio; affectus vero mentis in spiritualis gustus dulcedine. Exercitium virtutum in certo vivendi modo, in jejuniis, in vigiliis, in opere, in dilectione, in oratione, in paupertate et caeteris hujusmodi commendatur; affectus salutari meditatione nutritur. Itaque ut ille dulcissimus amor Jesu in tuo crescat affectu, triplici meditatione opus habes: de praeteritis scilicet, praesentibus et futuris, id est de praeteritorum recordatione, de experientia praesentium, de consideratione futurorum. Cum igitur mens tua fuerit ab omni cogitationum sorde virtutum exercitio purgata, jam oculos defaecatos ad posteriora retorque. Ac primum cum beata Maria ingressa cubiculum, libros quibus Virginis partus cum Christi prophetatur adventu, evolve.
Ibi adventum Angeli praestolare, ut videas intrantem, audias salutantem: et sicut repleta stupore et ecstasi dulcissimam dominam tuam cum Angelo salutante salutes, clama dicens, Ave gratia plena, Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus (Luc. I, 28). Hoc plenius repetens, quae sit haec gratiae plenitudo, de qua totus mundus gratiam mutuavit, quoniam Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis plenum gratiae et veritatis (Joan. I, 14), contemplare, et admirare Dominum, qui terram implet et coelum, intra unius puellae viscera claudi, quam Pater sanctificavit, Filius fecundavit, obumbravit Spiritus sanctus. O dulcis domina, quanta inebriabaris dulcedine, quo amoris igne succendebaris, cum sentires in mente et ventre tantae majestatis praesentiam; cum de tua carne sibi carnem assumeret, et membra quibus corporaliter omnis plenitudo divinitatis habitaret, e tuis sibi membris aptaret! Haec omnia propter te, virgo, ut Virginem, quam imitari proposuisti, diligas, et Virginis fructum, cui nupsisti. Jam nunc cum dulcissima domina tua in montana conscende, et sterilis et virginis suavem intuere complexum; et salutationis officium, in quo servulus Dominum, praeco judicem, vox Verbum, intus anilia viscera conclusus in virginis utero clausum agnovit, et indicibili gaudio salutavit. Beati ventres in quibus totius mundi salus exoritur, pulsisque tenebris tristitiae, sempiterna laetitia prophetatur.
Quid agis, o virgo? Accurre, quaeso, accurre, et tantis gaudiis admiscere, prosternere ad pedes utriusque, et in unius ventre sponsum tuum amplectere, amicum vero ejus in alterius utero venerare. Hunc euntem in Bethleem cum omni devotione prosequere, et in hospitium divertens, cum illa assiste, et obsequere parienti; locatoque in praesepio parvulo, erumpe in vocem exsultationis, clamans cum Isaia: Parvulus natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis (Isai. IX, 6). Amplectere dulce illud praesepium. Vincat verecundiam amor, timorem depellat affectus, ut sacratissimis pedibus figas labia, et oscula gemines. Exinde pastorum excubias mente pertracta, Angelorum exercitum admirare, coelesti melodiae tuas interpone partes, corde simul et ore decanta: Gloria in excelsis Deo (Luc. II, 14).
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.1.28 — And coming to her, he said, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.'
- ↩John.1.14 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- ↩Luke.1.35 — And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the one to be born will be called Son of God."
- ↩Luke.1.41-Luke.1.42 — And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke.1.42 — And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."
- ↩Isa.9.6 — For the increase of his government and for peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
- ↩Luke.2.14 — Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
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