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Chapter 3Ansl.1.3

ORATIO III AD DEUM. Contra tres inimicos qui peccatorem gravius multoties infestant et, nisi misericordia Dei eum tueatur, saepius ad mortem vulnerant, scilicet inanis gloria, invidia, superbia.

A Cry for Mercy in the Midst of Assault

The soul, besieged on every side by enemies and aware of its own persistent inclination to evil, casts itself entirely upon God's mercy, appealing not to its own worth but to the dignity God bestowed in creation.

Lord my God, in you I have placed my hope. Save me from all who persecute me, and set me free.✦ In you, Lord, I have hoped; let me never be put to shame. In your justice, set me free and snatch me away.✦✦1 Lord my God, my Creator and my Guide — as I have said, so I will always say — in you I have hoped, and in you I still hope. Nor, as long as breath remains in my nostrils, will I ever despair of your mercy.✦2 If I look honestly at myself and carefully examine all my actions, I always fall into despair, because I am always turning toward evil works. But when I look back to my most sweet Creator, to my most patient Lord — who sees that I live badly, and still waits for my correction, waiting and enduring, listening to see whether I might take care in anything to amend my life — then I breathe again, and I call upon the mercy of my Creator, who bears with me so gently.34 On every side my enemies assail me; already they pierce me from nearly every side and burst into the deepest places of my heart. And unless that most merciful Lord who created me comes to my aid — coming to help and striking terror into my enemies who so afflict me, driving them back — my soul, bound unhappily in their chains, will soon be led away captive.56 So set me free, Lord, from all who persecute me — and if not for my sake, then at least for your own. On my own account, I confess, most sweet Lord my God, you have no reason to set me free — because it almost always delights me to do evil and to persist in evil works.7 But for your own sake set me free — because it brings shame on you when your enemies mock your creature this way, when they mistreat one so mocked and stained by their most foul vices, one whom you created with such dignity, adorned with the great honor of reason, whom you fashioned in your own image and likeness.✦89

The Three Furies: Vainglory, Envy, and Pride

The soul identifies its most dangerous adversary as empty glory, which corrupts even good works, summons envy as its ally, and calls upon its mother pride to destroy the captive's capacity to love God and neighbor.

Look, my sweetest God, look — my wretched spirit is being devoured on every side by evil works, barely torn free from the teeth of its own enemies, by which it was being wretchedly ripped apart. It begs for your help; it sighs for the visitation of your grace, because unless you quickly come to its aid, so heavily wearied by their pursuit that it won't even be able to pant for you.✦ Many are my enemies, as you see, most merciful Creator of mine, by whose cruelty I am heavily struck — beaten and mocked — and I endure no small pains. But one among the rest always attacks me more fiercely, and always, without any pity, strives to strike me down even to destruction. For more often, when my other enemies rest from pursuing me as if they were wearied, one bolder than the rest brandishes his weapon more fiercely — namely, empty glory, which not only stains the wretched man with evil works, but even from the very good works he seems to do, if he does not carefully guard himself, it slays him. This plague was born from that pride which first struck down man, and having struck him down and wounded him, drove him out from that happiness which he possessed. And so that it may strike down more forcefully the wretched man it invades, empty glory summons envy to help it — envy, through which death entered the world — calling it to its side to aid itself. Envy, therefore, burns the wretched man it seizes, and by burning makes him sad and, as if possessed by a languor, causes him to walk. Empty glory, for its part, as if by refreshing him, exalts the wretched man from the very good works which it feigns him to do. But so that empty glory may lead the wretched man it has once seized a more unhappy captive, and leave him no hope of escape, it has recourse to its mother, pride. And animated by pride's deadly counsel, it first cuts off from him the virtue of loving both God and his neighbor.✦

The Wretchedness of Self-Exaltation

The soul examines how vainglory makes even apparent good works fruitless by destroying love of neighbor and love of God, and contrasts the downward gravity of pride with the heavenly dwelling of humility.

While the person whom empty glory infects longs to be seen as superior to everyone else, if there's someone he notices who is better than he is in good works and living a more upright life — someone he can't deny is outpacing him — he crushes that person, if he can, along with everything that person does. And if he can't, because those good works are plainly evident for what they are, he at least works hard to cloud them over in some way, so they won't be believed to be entirely rightly done. And so the wretched mind, held captive by this slavery, doesn't act rightly — even when it seems to be doing something right — because it doesn't love its neighbor, whom it's commanded to love as itself, and it doesn't love God, whom by its very actions it's proven not to love. For whoever doesn't love his neighbor doesn't help him either, as much as he can, to grow in what's good; and God doesn't love that person, nor does God look with favor on his works — even if before other people those works seem to be good. What indeed — what could be more wretched than a person who exalts himself over a good work? Whoever thinks to exalt himself rushes from the heights down to the depths; for pride always lies, by its very nature, in the deep pit of hell — humility, on the other hand, always dwells in the heavens and remains in heaven.✦ And the person whom empty glory casts down from the heights, its mother pride receives into the arms of eternal destruction; just as, on the contrary, the person whose humble life is lived on earth — God, who looks upon what is lowly and recognizes what is lofty from far away — raises that person from the lowest manner of life up to the heavens.✦

Confession, Lament, and Hope in the Creator-Defender

The soul confesses its grievous wounding by the three furies, laments the inescapable captivity of the sinner, acknowledges the lukewarmness of its own prayer, and appeals to God as Creator and Defender for protection in this life and arrival at cleansing in the life to come.

I confess, most gentle God — I confess that I have been grievously laid low by these three evils, or rather by these three infernal furies, and wounded in my soul almost to the point of destruction; and that unless your most indulgent mercy comes quickly to my aid, I deserve an even harsher condemnation. Alas, wretched me — alas, wretched me, always and everywhere — alas, wretched me: what captivity belongs to a wretched person! If one lives badly, it is open damnation; if one seems indeed to live rightly but guards oneself carelessly, then boasts of it — for that person there is again certain death and eternal damnation. O God, our refuge — O our Creator and our strength against those who persecute us: even if they see you abandon us because of our sins, they still lie in ambush. Help us, merciful one, who always stand in need of your mercy, the help of your compassion, though we ask for it more lukewarmly than would be good for us. And even if you despise us — because we are enveloped in many iniquities — at least turn your merciful eyes toward us, because we are your creatures. And just as it is most true that you are always our Creator, so may we always and everywhere perceive you to be our defender and an unfailing protector against our enemies — so that in this present life, always defended and helped by you, once the temporal course has ended, we may arrive, cleansed and absolved from all sins, at you, our Creator and Lord. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Domine, Deus meus, in te speravi, salvum me fac ex omnibus persequentibus me et libera me. In te Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum in tua justitia libera me et eripe me. Domine, Deus meus, creator meus, et gubernator meus, sicut dixi et semper dicam, in te speravi, et in te spero, nec, quandiu fuerit halitus in naribus meis, a misericordia tua desperabo. A meipso vero, si diligenter omnes actiones meas inspicio, semper despero, quia semper in malis operibus conversor; sed respiciens ad dulcissimum Creatorem meum, ad patientissimum Dominum meum, qui male me vivere conspicit, et adhuc exspectat correctionem meam, exspectans et tolerans auscultat si in aliqua re curarem, emendare vitam meam, respiro, et misericordiam Creatoris mei, qui tam dulciter me tolerat, invoco. Ex omni parte invadunt me inimici mei et jam fere ex omni parte perforant et irrumpunt interiora cordis mei, et nisi ille piissimus Dominus meus, qui me creavit, mihi subveniat subveniens et terrens inimicos meos, qui sic me tribulant repellat, illorum vinculis infeliciter ligata jam cito ducetur captiva anima mea. Ergo libera me, Domine, ex omnibus persequentibus me; et si non propter me, saltem propter te. Propter me, fateor, dulcissime Domine Deus meus non est tibi ratio liberandi me, quia fere semper delectat me malum facere, et in malis operibus perseverare. Sed propter te libera me, quia verecundia tua est inimicos tuos creaturam tuam sic deludere, sic delusam et eorum sordidissimis vitiis faedatam male tractare quam tam honestam creasti, tanto honore rationis exornasti, quam ad imaginem et similitudinem tuam plasmasti.

Ecce, dulcissime Deus meus, ecce infelix spiritus meus malis operibus undique corrosus, de dentibus inimicorum suorum, quibus infeliciter dilaniabatur, vix erutus tuum auxilium implorat, tuae gratiae visitationem suspirat, quia nisi cito subvenias, eorum insecutione graviter fatigatus jam etiam ad te nec anhelare valebit. Multi sunt inimici mei, sicut vides, piissime Creator meus, quorum saevitia graviter ferior, percussus et illusus non modicos dolores sustineo; sed unus inter caeteros semper gravius me appetit, et semper sine ulla miseratione usque ad interitum prosternere contendit. Saepius enim cum alii inimici mei ab insecutione mea quasi fatigati quiescunt, unus audacior caeteris fortius telum vibrat, scilicet inanis gloria, quae non solum miserum hominem malis operibus maculat, sed etiam de ipsis bonis operibus quae agere videtur, si se caute non custodit, jugulat. Haec pestis progenita est ab illa superbia quae primum hominem prostravit, prostratum et vulneratum ab illa felicitate, quam possidebat, expulit. Et ut miserum, quem invadit, fortius prosternat, invidiam, per quam mors intravit in orbem terrarum, secum ad adjuvandum se advocat. Invidia igitur miserum quem arripit, urit, urendo, tristem et quasi languore possessum incedere facit. Inanis vero gloria, quasi recreando, de ipsis bonis operibus quae facere fingit, extollit. Sed ut miserum quem semel inanis gloria intercipit, infelicius captivum ducat, nec ei ullam spem evadendi relinquat, ad matrem superbiam recurrit, et ejus animata mortifero consilio virtutem diligendi Dum et proximum ei primum abscidit.

Dum enim infelix, quem inanis gloria inficit, superior caeteris videri cupit, si quem considerat in bonis operibus meliorem se esse, rectiusque incedere negare non possit, illum, si valet, et omnia quae agit, opprimit; non valet, quia aperte recta sunt, saltem ut non ex toto recte acta credenda sint, quocunque modo obnubilare satagit. Sicque miser animus hac captivitate possessus, nec rectum agit, si quid rectum agere videatur, quia nec proximum diligit, quem sicut se amare praecipitur, nec Deum amat, quem hoc agendo non amare convincitur. Qui enim proximum suum non amat, nec eum, in quantum valet ut in bono proficere possit, adjuvat, nec Deus illum amat, nec ad ejus opera respicit, etiamsi coram hominibus videantur esse bona. Quid vero, quid miserius potest esse homine qui se de bono opere extollit? Qui, dum sese putat extollere, de supernis ad ima ruit; superbia enim semper naturaliter in profundum inferni jacet, humilitas vero semper in coelis habitat, et in coelo manet. Et quem inanis gloria de summis dejicit, superbia mater ejus in brachiis aeternae perditionis excipit; sicut econtrario, cujus humilis conversatio est in terris, Deus qui humilia respicit, et alta a longe cognoscit, eum de ima conversatione elevat in coelos

Fateor, mitissime Deus, fateor me his tribus malis, imo his tribus furiis infernalibus graviter esse prostratum, et fere usque ad interitum in anima vulneratum, et, nisi indulgentissima misericordia tua cito subveniat, gravius esse damnandum. Heu miser, heu miser, semper et ubique, heu miser, quanta captivitas est miseri hominis. Si male vivit, est aperta damnatio; si recte quidem vivere videtur, sed incaute se custodiens, inde gloriatur, iterum est misero certa mors, et aeterna damnatio. O Deus, nostrum refugium, o Creator noster, et virtus nostra adversus eos qui nos persequuntur, et si te nos viderint propter peccata nostra dimittere, semper insidiantur, adjuva nos, misericors, tua misericordia semper indigentes, tuae miserationis auxilium, plusquam nobis expediret, tepide postulantes. Et si nos despicis, ideo quia multis iniquitatibus involvimur, saltem reduc ad nos misericordes oculos tuos, quia creatura tua sumus. Et sicut verissimum est te nostrum semper esse Creatorem, sic semper et ubique sentiamus te nostrum esse defensorem, et adversus inimicos nostros indeficientem protectorem, ut in praesenti vita semper a te defensi et adjuti, finito temporali cursu, ad te Creatorem nostrum et Dominum perveniamus ab omnibus peccatis mundati et absoluti. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.7.1-Ps.7.2 — A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. Ps.7.2 — O LORD my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me.
  2. ↩Ps.31.2 — In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, deliver me.
  3. ↩Ps.71.2 — In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; incline your ear to me and save me.
  4. ↩Ps.146.2;Job.27.3 — I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God as long as I am. Job.27.3 — For as long as my breath is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
  5. ↩Gen.1.26 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
  6. ↩Ps.41.2 — Blessed is the one who has regard for the poor; in the day of trouble, the LORD delivers him.
  7. ↩Matt.22.37-Matt.22.39 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Matt.22.38 — This is the great and first commandment. Matt.22.39 — And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  8. ↩Jas.4.6;1Pet.5.5 — But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' 1Pet.5.5 — Likewise, younger people, submit to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
  9. ↩Ps.137.6;Ps.139.6 — Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy. Ps.139.6 — Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩aeternum rendered as 'never' (adverbial) rather than 'forever/in eternity' to capture the idiomatic force of non confundar in aeternum.
  2. 2 ↩gubernator rendered as 'Guide' to convey governance and providential direction in contemporary English.
  3. 3 ↩vero rendered as 'honestly' (adverbial force of self-examination) rather than the discourse particle 'truly/indeed' to keep the contemporary register.
  4. 4 ↩dulciter rendered as 'gently' rather than 'sweetly' to avoid a sentimental tone; the Latin conveys tender, gracious forbearance.
  5. 5 ↩interiora cordis mei rendered as 'the deepest places of my heart' to capture the interiority of the Latin while remaining natural in English.
  6. 6 ↩anima rendered as 'soul' per lexeme policy, preserving the theological weight of the person before God.
  7. 7 ↩ratio liberandi rendered as 'reason to set me free' — the Latin gerundive construction conveys obligation or grounds.
  8. 8 ↩verecundia tua rendered as 'shame on you' — the Latin conveys the dishonor done to God when His creature is abused by the enemy.
  9. 9 ↩ad imaginem et similitudinem tuam plasmasti preserves the Genesis 1:26 language of image and likeness; 'fashioned' used for plasmasti to echo the creative act.

Orationes sive Meditationes — Collection for Princess Adeliza of Normandy companion

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