Caput LXVII. Mors a sanctis desideratur.
The Question of What God Keeps for the Future
The author opens by contrasting God's present provision with the greater gifts stored for the life to come.
But the one who provides so much for his own in the present — how much does he keep for them in the future?
Death as Beginning and End
Death is defined as the end of present things and the beginning of things to come, provoking natural terror in every heart.
Death is the beginning of things to come and the end of things present. Whose nature does not shudder at this? Whose heart is not terrified by it?1
How Even Beasts Cling to Life
Even animals flee death by every means available, clinging instinctively to life.
For beasts avoid death by flight, by hiding places, and by a thousand other means, and they cling to life.
An Appeal to Conscience, Faith, and Hope
The reader is urged to attend carefully to what conscience, faith, hope, and the heart truly answer about death.
Now, pay careful attention to what your conscience answers you, what your faith presumes, what hope promises, what your heart expects.2
Death as Desired When Life Is Burdensome
When life is a burden and the world disgusting, death is to be desired, for it removes all suffering and, for the sake of a clear conscience, firm faith, and certain hope, is not to be feared.
If your life is a burden to you, if the world disgusts you, if your flesh is in pain — then death is surely something you desire, for it lays down the yoke of this burden, removes the disgust, and consumes your bodily pains.✦ This one thing I say: to surpass all the delights, honors, and riches of this world — if for the sake of a clear conscience, the firmness of faith, and the certainty of hope, you do not fear death.3
The First Fruits of Blessedness in a Peaceful Conscience
Only those who have groaned under bondage and then been freed into a peaceful conscience can fully grasp this, and its first fruits are that faith, hope, and a calm conscience overcome the dread of death.
No one will ever fully grasp this who hasn't first spent some time sighing under this bondage, then broken free into the open air of a more peaceful conscience. These are the first wholesome fruits of the blessedness to come: that when death arrives, faith may overcome your natural dread, hope may steady you, and a calm conscience may drive fear away.
Read the original Latin
Qui autem tanta suis praestat in praesenti, quanta illis servat in futuro? Principium futurorum, et finis praesentium mors. Hanc cujus natura non horret? cujus non expavescit affectus? Nam bestiae fuga, latibulis, et aliis mille modis mortem cavent, et vitam tenent. Jam nunc diligenter attende, quid tua tibi respondeat conscientia, quid praesumat fides tua, quid spes promittat, quid exspectet affectus. Si vita tua tibi oneri est, si mundus fastidio, si caro dolori; profecto desiderio mors est tibi, quae jugum hujus oneris deponit, tollit fastidium, corporeos dolores absumit. Hoc unum dico omnibus mundi hujus praestare deliciis, honoribus atque divitiis, si ob conscientiae serenitatem, fidei firmitatem, spei certitudinem, mortem non timeas.
Quod ille maxime poterit experiri, qui aliquo tempore sub hac servitute suspirans, in liberioris conscientiae auras evasit. Haec sunt futurae beatitudinis tuae primitiae salutares, ut morte superveniente naturalem horrorem fides superet, spes temperet, conscientia secura repellat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Notes
- 1 ↩affectus rendered as 'heart' to capture the full interior response — feeling, disposition, and will — rather than mere emotion.
- 2 ↩affectus rendered as 'heart' for the same reason as s4 — it encompasses desire, disposition, and interior longing.
- 3 ↩serenitatem conscientiae rendered as 'a clear conscience' to capture the sense of untroubled moral clarity.
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