XIV
An Even Spirit
The soul asks God for an unchanging spirit that receives every event without presuming to choose what providence has hidden.
Grant, my God, that I may receive every kind of event with a spirit that is always even and the same, since we do not know what we ought to ask for, and that I cannot wish for one rather than another without presumption, and without making myself the judge and responsible for the outcomes your wisdom has rightly chosen to hide from me.
Only This I Know
The only certain good is to follow God; beyond that, health and sickness, wealth and poverty, and all worldly things remain unknown.
Lord, I know that I know only one thing: that it is good to follow you, and that it is bad to offend you. After that, I do not know which is better or worse in all things; I do not know which is more profitable for me—health or sickness, wealth or poverty.1 nor of all the things of the world.
Secrets of Providence
True discernment exceeds men and angels and rests in God’s hidden providence, which the soul adores without probing.
It is a discernment that surpasses the strength of men and of angels. and that is hidden in the secrets of your providence, which I adore and which I do not wish to probe into.
Read the original Latin
Faites, mon Dieu, que dans une uniformité d’esprit toujours égale je reçoive toutes sortes d’événemens, puisque nous ne savons ce que nous devons demander, et que je n’en puis souhaiter l’un plutôt que l’autre sans présomption, et sans me rendre juge et responsable des suites que votre sagesse a voulu justement me cacher. Seigneur, je sais que je ne sais qu’une chose ; c’est qu’il est bon de vous suivre, et qu’il est mauvais de vous offenser. Après cela, je ne sais lequel est le meilleur ou le pire en toutes choses ; je ne sais lequel m’est profitable de la santé ou de la maladie, des biens ou de la pauvreté. ni de toutes les choses du monde. C’est un discernement qui passe la force des hommes et des anges. et qui est caché dans les secrets de votre providence que j’adore et que je ne veux pas approfondir.
Notes
- 1 ↩des biens rendered as wealth (material goods/prosperity), parallel to pauvreté; not the theological sense of 'goods' as blessings alone.
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