Prohemium notabile informacionis utilis viuendi facte a Christi sponsa ad quendam clericum sibi deuotum, in quo multa bona continentur.
The Call to Spiritual Renewal
The author praises God for the grace of conversion, contrasting the coldness of a prideful world with the warmth of divine life.
Praise and glory to almighty God for all His works. May He also receive everlasting honor, because He has begun to show you grace. We see that when the earth is covered in snow and cold, any seeds scattered in it certainly cannot sprout, except in those few places warmed by the sun's rays, where, by the sun's favor, grasses and little flowers spring up. From these things, it will be possible to know what kind they are, or what their virtue is. In much the same way, the whole world seems to me so frozen by the cold of pride, greed, and lust that, sadly, there are very few whose words and actions show that the perfect charity of God dwells within their hearts.
The Trials of the Newly Converted
Drawing on the example of Lazarus, the author warns that rising from sin invites opposition from both worldly people and demonic forces.
You should know that just as the friends of God rejoiced to see Lazarus raised from the dead for the glory of God, so too can the friends of God rejoice now when they see someone rise from those three vices mentioned earlier, which are truly eternal death. It's also worth noting that just as Lazarus, after being raised from the dead, faced a double hatred—for he had physical enemies, namely, men who were enemies of God and hated Lazarus physically, and he also had spiritual enemies, namely, demons who never desire to become friends of God and hated him spiritually—so it is now. In the same way, anyone who now rises from mortal sins, wanting to keep their chastity and flee from pride and greed, incurs a double hatred. For the enemies of God want to harm them physically, and the devils also try in two ways to condemn or harm them spiritually. First, worldly people criticize them with their words. Second, if they can, they gladly harass them with their actions, so that they might make them like themselves in their life and behavior, drawing them away from the good things they've begun. But a person of God who has only recently turned to the spiritual life can best overcome these malicious people if they have patience in the face of what is said against them, and if they then practice good spiritual and divine works more frequently and fervently while those people are watching.
Discerning the Enemy's Deceptions
The author identifies the two primary ways demons attempt to hinder the soul: through relapse into sin or through excessive, indiscreet asceticism.
Demons also try to deceive him in two other ways. First, what they want most is to make this new servant of God fall back into sin. If they can't manage that, the demons work hard to get him to perform his good works unreasonably and without discretion—for instance, by keeping vigils or practicing fasts beyond what is reasonable—so that his strength is drained more quickly and he becomes weaker in his service to God.
The Remedies of Confession and Obedience
The author prescribes confession and humble obedience to a spiritual elder as the essential safeguards for the soul's progress.
The best remedy for the first is frequent and pure confession of your sins, and true, inward compunction of heart for your offenses. The best remedy for the second is this kind of humility: you should rather obey a spiritual elder than govern yourself in how you carry out your works and penances. This medicine is truly so deeply helpful and excellent that even if the one giving the advice were more unworthy than the one receiving it, you should still have the most certain hope. For divine wisdom itself, which is God, will cooperate through its grace to help the one giving counsel offer the most useful advice—advice that would be most beneficial to the one receiving it, provided that both of them have a perfect will for the honor and glory of God.
A Humble Partnership in Grace
The author concludes with a prayer for mutual grace and an expression of gratitude for the recipient's humility in seeking counsel.
Now then, dear friend, since we have both risen from our sins, let us pray to God that He may deign to grant us both His divine help—to me in speaking, and to you in obeying. God is to be sought all the more for this, because you—wealthy, wise, and noble—have deigned to consult me, who am unworthy, of little understanding, and unknown. I truly hope that God will look upon your humility and bring about what is useful for your body and soul, which I am writing to you for His honor.
Read the original Latin
Laus et gloria sit omnipotenti Deo pro omnibus suis operibus. Sit et ipsi honor perpetuus, quia tecum inchoauit graciam facere.
Nos videmus, quod, dum terra cooperta fuerit niue et frigore, quecumque semina in eam sparsa fuerunt, certum est, quod germinare non possunt nisi in locis paucissimis, que ex radiis solaribus calefiunt, ubi ex beneficio solis gramina et flosculi oriuntur;
ex quibus cognosci poterit, cuius generis sint aut cuius virtutis.
Vere simili modo totus mundus michi videtur superbie et cupiditatis atque luxurie frigore tam duriter iam coopertus existere, quod heu paucissimi sunt, quorum verbis atque operibus intelligi possit Dei perfecta caritas in ipsorum cordibus habitare.
Vnde sciendum est, quod sicut Dei amici inde gauisi sunt, quod Lazarum a morte resuscitatum viderunt ad Dei gloriam, ita et nunc Dei amici gaudere possunt, quando aliquem resurgere viderint a predictis tribus viciis, que sunt verissime mors eterna.
Item notandum est, quod sicut Lazarus resuscitatus post resurreccionem suam duplex odium incurrit, -- nam quosdam hostes corporales habebat scilicet homines qui erant inimici Dei et hii Lazarum corporaliter oderunt, quosdam eciam habebat hostes spirituales scilicet demones, qui nunquam desiderant amici Dei fieri et illi eum oderunt spiritualiter --,
ita eciam quicumque nunc a viciis mortalibus resurrexerint seruare volentes castitatem et fugere superbiam et cupiditatem duplex odium incurrunt.
Nam dupliciter homines qui Dei inimici sunt eis nocere volunt corporaliter, et dyaboli eciam duplici modo eos dampnare seu nocere conantur spiritualiter.
Primo namque homines mundani verbis suis vituperant eos. Secundo eciam, si possunt, libenter eos operibus suis molestant, ut sic eos sibi in vita et actibus similes faciant retrahendo eos a bonis inceptis.
Sed homo Dei sic nouiter conuersus ad vitam spiritualem istos malignos homines optime vincere potest, si contra verba sibi contraria pacienciam habuerit et si tunc frequencius et feruencius opera bona spiritualia et diuina ipsis videntibus exercuerit.
Demones eciam aliis duobus modis ipsum decipere nituntur. Primo, quod summe desiderant, ut ipsum nouum seruum Dei recidiuum faciant ad peccata.
Quod si hoc nequiuerint, tunc ipsi demones ad hoc sollicite laborant, ut irracionabiliter et indiscrete ille sua bona opera perficiat scilicet in vigilando vel abstinencias indiscretas ultra debitum modum indiscrete faciendo, ut sic eius vires cicius euacuentur et in diuinis laboribus sit infirmior.
Contra primum est optimum remedium ipsa frequens et pura suorum peccatorum confessio et pro delictis vera cordis interna contricio. Contra secundum optimum remedium est talis humiliacio, videlicet ut magis velit alicui seniori spirituali obedire quam se personaliter regere in suis operibus et penitenciis faciendis.
Et vere hec medicina est valde proficua et optima in tantum, quod eciam si adhuc indignior esset dator consilii quam acceptor, et tunc certissime sperandum est,
quod ipsa diuina sapiencia, que Deus est, per suum adiutorium cooperabitur datori consilii ad illa conferenda consilia, que utilissima fierent acceptori, si ambo ad Dei honorem et gloriam perfectam voluntatem habuerint.
Nunc igitur, amice dilecte, quoniam ambo scilicet tu et ego de peccatis surreximus, deprecemur Deum, ut nobis ambobus diuinum adiutorium donare dignetur michi in dicendo et tibi in obediendo.
Et tanto magis super hoc Deus rogandus est ex eo, quod vos, qui estis diues, sapiens et nobilis, dignatus fuistis me indignam et modicum intelligentem atque ignotam consulere. Et vere spero, quod Deus vestram humilitatem velit respicere et ad corpus et animam vobis utile facere, quod ad suum honorem vobis scribo.
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