Bene ará duro core
The Call of the Savior
The soul is urged to abandon its hardness and respond to the loving invitation of Christ who died for the sinner.
Anyone who doesn't follow Jesus the Savior will have a truly hardened heart. Truly perverse is the heart—and truly he holds himself in contempt—who will not turn where blessed Jesus calls us.1 He says: “Come—I'm waiting for you—for I die to save you, O sinner.” —2 Whoever won't stir at so kind a voice doesn't want his own salvation; whoever doesn't think of the love that put him on the cross has no grace or virtue; whoever doesn't contemplate how great his love is does himself great harm.✦
The Blindness of the Soul
A stern warning against spiritual blindness and the refusal to cooperate with the grace offered for salvation.
You're blind, sinner, if you don't look toward your eternal good. You've completely lost your hearing if you don't hear the voice that comes only to draw you out of suffering, if you'll put an end to such great error.3 The One who made you without you does not want to save you without yourself; if you have not drawn yourself away from your death, you cannot make an excuse; if you will not love yourself, the blame will be yours—and yours the harm and the sorrow.4
The Exchange of Love
An invitation to surrender to the Lordship of Christ, who humbled himself to divinize the human soul.
Ah! Turn to him, who will satisfy you with eternal goods; you're not your own, but another's, if you let another govern you; you discern little of what lasts if you don't contemplate who your Lord is.5 He dies to give you life, and becomes mortal to make you a god; his infinite glory suffers to save you, infected and wicked.✦✦6 If he is kind and devout, oh, don't be such a wretched debtor.7
The Sweet Yoke of Christ
An encouragement to embrace the gentle burden of Christ, which brings true happiness and mercy.
Oh, take his way—take up his holy yoke, so gentle! Start now, and keep that sweet weight on your shoulders; it won't be heavy.✦ He has such mercy that he will make you happy at every hour.8
Read the original Latin
Bene ará duro core quel che non segue Gesú Salvatore.
Ben ará il cor perverso, bene ará se medesimo in dispetto, chi non sará converso ove ci chiama Gesú benedetto. Dice: — Vien’, ch’io t’aspetto, ché muoio per salvarti, o peccatore. —
Non vuol la sua salute chi non si muove a sí benigna voce; non ha grazia o virtute chi non pensa all’amor, che ’l pose in croce; molto a se stesso nuoce chi non contempla quanto è il suo amore.
Cieco, se tu non mire, o peccatore, il tuo eterno bene! Perso hai in tutto l’udire, se tu non senti la voce, che viene sol per trarti di pene, se tu vorrai por fine a tanto errore.
Chi sanza te t’ha fatto, sanza te stesso non ti vuol salvare; se tu non ti se’ astratto dalla tua morte, non ti puoi scusare; se te non vuoi amare, tua fia la colpa, e tuo il danno e ’l dolore.
Deh! rivolgiti a lui, che ti contenterá de’ beni eterni; tuo non se’, ma d’altrui, se tu permetti ch’altri ti governi; poco a lungo discerni, se non contempli chi è il tuo Signore.
E’ muor per darti vita, e diventa mortal per far te dio; la sua gloria infinita patisce per salvarti, infetto e rio. S’egli è benigno e pio, deh, non esser sí tristo pagatore!
Deh prendi la sua via, piglia il suo santo giogo sí suave! Comincia, e fa’ che stia col dolce peso adosso: e’ non fia grave. Tanta pietá questo have, che ti fará felice a tutte l’ore.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.15.13;Gal.2.20 — No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. Gal.2.20 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
- ↩John.10.10-John.10.11;2Cor.5.15 — The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John.10.11 — I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 2Cor.5.15 — and he died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
- ↩Phil.2.6-Phil.2.8;2Pet.1.4 — who, existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to exploit, Phil.2.7 — but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and appearing as a human being. Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 2Pet.1.4 — Through these he has granted to us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Notes
- 1 ↩Archaic Tuscan ará = avrà (“will have”); the refrain formula bene ará + duro/perverso core means “truly hard/perverse-hearted is…,” not agricultural plowing.
- 2 ↩Source sentence is only a dash (likely a dialogue/verse break), with no lexical content to translate.
- 3 ↩The second se-clause (se tu vorrai por fine a tanto errore) may condition either the whole indictment or, more narrowly, the purpose of the voice's coming (it comes to free you if you are willing to end the error). Rendered as a parallel if, preserving both conditionals.
- 4 ↩Renaissance Italian sanza te / sanza te stesso echoes the Augustinian maxim that God creates without our cooperation but does not save/justify without it. Se te non vuoi amare is proper self-love (willing your own eternal good), not vanity.
- 5 ↩Compressed poetic phrasing: poco a lungo can mean little of the long term / of what endures, or little lasting discernment. Rendered as 'you discern little of what lasts' to keep the contrast with eternal goods and contemplation of the Lord.
- 6 ↩Italian far te dio is the classic divinization (theosis) claim: Christ takes on mortality so the sinner may share in divine life. Rendered as "make you a god," not as a claim of equality with God.
- 7 ↩tristo pagatore is a bad/wretched payer — one who repays poorly. "Debtor" keeps the debt-of-gratitude image in natural modern English; the force is "don't repay him so poorly."
- 8 ↩Italian pietá here is Christ's pitying compassion/mercy toward the sinner, not Marian 'Pietà' imagery.
Spiritual 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
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