Ora mai sono in età
The Call to Renunciation
The speaker resolves to abandon the vanity and deceptions of the world to pursue a life of prayer and purity.
Now that I've come of age, I want to serve Jesus. I don't want to stay with the world any longer, because it's full of vanity. This world is full of deceptions, vices, and fraud; I want to spend my years saying psalms and singing praises. My heart is glad and rejoices because I see the true light.✦ I want to flee evil ways; I want to keep virginity.
The Bride of Christ
The speaker embraces the vocation of being a bride to Christ, finding strength and union in the monastic life.
I want to serve my Lord, who made me like himself; I want to love the Savior who died on the cross for me. My Jesus, the King of kings, wants to make me his dear bride; I would be truly ungrateful and hard-hearted if I didn't love his goodness.1 The monastery is the rock that keeps everyone safe, if they want it. If Jesus touches my heart, no more words are needed. The more this hard parting of mine pains me as a woman, the more closely I'll be united with the eternal Trinity.2
Spiritual Warfare and Divine Love
The soul prepares to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil to be consumed by the fire of divine charity.
Our soul has three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the wicked devil. Whoever wins the contest against them becomes a child of God.✦3 Then I'll feel a joy of immense love in my heart; the more I think of Jesus, the more I'm set on fire with charity.4
A New Family in the Spirit
The speaker finds a new spiritual family in Jesus, Mary, and the community of the monastery.
Jesus is my father, my spouse, and my sweetness; the Virgin Mary is my mother and my rest. I'll have more sisters than before, and more of a mother in the monastery; I'll live with a sincere heart by the grace God gives me.5
Prayer for Wisdom and Final Departure
The speaker petitions God for the grace to follow Him faithfully and bids a final farewell to the world to enter the house of God.
O Jesus, supreme beauty, O infinite wisdom, give me virtue and strength, so that I may follow you with prudence. You are the divine essence; enlighten my intellect, and kindle my affection well to do your will.6 Goodbye, father; goodbye, relatives; goodbye, I say, to those who stay behind; goodbye, friends and acquaintances; goodbye to every earthly bride. Stay in peace, and be well.7 I am going to the house of my God. Now pray to merciful Jesus that He grant me stability.8
Read the original Latin
Ora mai sono in età, Vo’ servir a Iesù; Al mondo non vo’ star più, Perch’è pien di vanità.
Questo mondo è pien d’inganni, Pien di vizii e pien di fraude; Io vo’ spendere i mei anni In dir salmi e cantar laude: Il mio core è leto e gaude, Perchè vedo il vero lume. Vo’ fugir il mal costume, Vo’ servar virginità.
Vo’ servire al mio Segnore Che me fe’ simile a sè, Voglio amare el Salvatore Che morì in croce per me. Iesù mio, ch’è re de’ re, Mi vol far soa cara sposa: Ben sere’ ingrata e ritrosa Non amando soa bontà.
El monastiero è la roca Che tien salvo ogn’om, se vole; Se Iesù el cor mi toca, Non bisogna più parole: Quanto più al sesso duole Questa mia dura partita, Tanto più sarò unita Con l’eterna Trinità.
Tre nemici ha l’alma nostra, Mondo, carne, e dimon rio: Chi con lor vince la giostra, Diventa figliol di Dio. Sentirò poi nel cor mio Iubilo d’amor immenso; Quanto più de Iesù penso, Più me accendo in carità.
El mio padre, il mio sposo È Iesù, dolceza mia; La mia madre e ’l mio riposo È la Vergene Maria. Più sorelle arò che pria E più madre in monastero; Viverò col cor sincero Per grazia che Dio mi dia.
O Iesù somma belleza, O infinita sapienzia, Dame virtù e forteza, Ch’io te segua con prudenzia. Tu se’ la divina essenzia; Illumina il mio intelletto, E infiamma ben l’affetto A far la toa voluntà.
Addio padre, addio parenti, Addio dico a chi rimane, Addio amici e cognoscenti, Addio tutte spose umane; State in pace e siate sane. Vado a casa del mio Dio. Or pregate Iesù pio Che me dia stabilità.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Rendered hard-hearted; ritrosa can also mean reluctant, resistant, or standoffish. Sense here is blameworthy refusal of Christ’s love.
- 2 ↩Renaissance Italian sesso here means the female sex/womanhood (feminine speaker: unita, and previous stanza sposa), not erotic desire. Rendered as "as a woman."
- 3 ↩giostra is the joust/tournament image of spiritual combat; rendered as 'contest' for modern readability while keeping the competitive fight sense.
- 4 ↩carità kept as 'charity' for the theological virtue of love of God; amor in Iubilo d'amor is rendered 'love'.
- 5 ↩«più madre in monastero» is compressed: either fuller maternal care in the convent (abbess/senior sisters) or a deeper living of Mary as mother there; rendered as «more of a mother» to keep the singular force.
- 6 ↩affetto rendered as affection (devotional bent of the will/heart), not casual emotion; toa is Tuscan for tua (your).
- 7 ↩spose umane: human/earthly brides or wives (renunciation of marriage), not bridal mysticism; cognoscenti here means acquaintances, not connoisseurs.
- 8 ↩stabilità rendered as stability (firm perseverance / monastic-like steadfastness), not mere emotional calm; pio of Jesus as merciful/kind.
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