Tutto sei dolce, Idio signor eterno
The Supreme Good
God is the only source of true sweetness and life, without whom all existence is sorrow.
You are all sweetness, God, eternal Lord, light, comfort, and life of my heart; when I truly draw near to you, I see that joy without you is sorrow. If you were not, heaven would be hell: whoever does not always live with you dies. You are that true and highest perfect good, without which every delight turns to tears.
The Folly of Worldly Attachment
Seeking joy outside of God is a form of blindness, whereas true friendship with Him is found through faithful obedience.
How ignorant, blind, foolish, and mad is anyone who goes looking for joy outside of God! What could be more beastly than to be a servant of the world and the devil, full of misery?1 True joy and the greatest comfort are found only in friendship with God, which is gained by a faith that works, carefully keeping His holy commandments.✦✦2
The Satisfaction of the Faithful Heart
Earthly pleasures cannot satisfy the soul, as only those who seek God find the fulfillment of their deepest desires.
Likewise, anyone who seeks riches, honors, or sensual or earthly pleasures cannot taste these great sweetnesses, because the world cannot provide these great goods. The Lord gives true joys and the highest delights to hearts full of faith. It is perfectly just that whoever does not seek God finds nothing that fills his desire.
Read the original Latin
Tutto sei dolce, Idio signor eterno, Lume, conforto e vita del mio cuore: Quando ben mi t’acosto, alor discerno Che l’alegreza è, senza te, dolore. Se tu non fussi, il ciel sarebbe inferno: Quel che non vive teco sempre, more. Tu se’ quel vero e sommo ben perfetto, Senza qual torna in pianto ogni diletto.
Quanto è ignorante, cieco, stolto e pazo Chi va cercando fuor di Dio letizia! Qual cosa è più bestial, ch’esser ragazo Del mondo e del demon pien di tristizia? El vero gaudio e massimo solazo Si trova solo in divina amicizia, La qual s’acquista con fede operata, Servando ben le sante sua mandata.
E simelmente chi cerca richeze, Onor, piacer sensuali o terreni, Non può gustar di queste gran dolceze; Chè ’l mondo non può dar questi gran beni. E veri gaudii e le somme alegreze El Signor dona a’ cor di fede pieni. Iustissimo è che, chi non cerca Dio, Non trovi cosa ch’empia el so desio.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Jas.2.17-Jas.2.26;Gal.5.6 — So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. Jas.2.18 — But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Jas.2.19 — You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Jas.2.20 — But do you want to know, O empty person, that faith apart from works is useless? Jas.2.21 — Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Jas.2.22 — You see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made complete. Jas.2.23 — and the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness," and he was called friend of God. Jas.2.24 — You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Jas.2.25 — In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another road? Jas.2.26 — For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Gal.5.6 — For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power; but only faith working through love.
- ↩John.15.14-John.15.15;1John.5.3 — You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. John.15.15 — No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I heard from my Father I have made known to you. 1John.5.3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
Notes
Lauds companion
Never lose the rhythm again
Chosen Portion delivers your morning, midday and night office to your phone — the Hours, without the bells.
Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
- Three daily prayer moments scheduled around your real calendar, not a monastery's
- Psalms and historic prayers sequenced for you — no page-flipping or decision fatigue
- A visible streak of completed offices, so the rhythm compounds instead of collapsing