Christus ostendit obedienciam esse virtutem, qua omnia imperfecta perficientur, et sine ea indiscrecio in conceptibus mentis oritur et sequuntur deuocionis diminucio et tribulacio frequenter mentis et corporis.
The Perfection of Obedience
Christ establishes obedience as the foundational virtue by citing his own example of self-denial.
Christ says: "Obedience is the virtue that perfects every imperfection and extinguishes all negligence." For I, God, who am most perfect above all and perfection itself, obeyed the Father even to the cross, so that I might show by my own example how pleasing it is to God to deny one's own will.
The Perils of Self-Will
Those who prioritize their own ideas over discernment suffer from spiritual pride and unnecessary tribulation.
But many people, failing to pay attention to the virtue of obedience and lacking a discerning zeal, follow their own ideas; as a result, they indiscreetly afflict their bodies for a short time, only to find themselves useless to themselves for much longer. Because of this, they are less pleasing to God and a burden to others. And when such people consider their own failings and want to turn back from what they started, they're immediately overcome by a sense of shame, and out of stubbornness, they don't dare to take up a better path. This is the kind of person you see. Someone who ignores the advice of those with experience and disregards my words—the words I said: 'I do not want the death of the flesh, but of sin.' Therefore, he should be afraid, lest he fall into greater tribulation and a failure of the soul.
The Fruit of Submission
True spiritual growth and protection from corruption are found in submitting one's soul to wise counsel.
But if he obeys the wise and detaches his soul from his own ideas, his crown will be doubled and his spiritual devotion will grow within him.1 Otherwise, as it is written, it will happen to him: 'An enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and as they grew, the thorns choked the seed.'
Read the original Latin
Christus loquitur: "Obediencia est virtus, qua omnia imperfecta perficientur et omnes negligencie extinguuntur.
Nam ego Deus, pre omnibus perfectissimus et ipsa perfeccio, obediui Patri vsque ad crucem, vt ostenderem exemplo meo, quam placitum est Deo abnegare velle proprium.
Sed multi non attendentes virtutem obediencie nec habentes zelum discretum sequuntur conceptum mentis sue, et sic modico tempore indiscrete affligunt carnem, vt longiori tempore sint inutiles sibi ipsis.
Ex quo sunt Deo minus placentes et aliis onerosi. Cumque tales considerant defectus suos et retractare volentes priora, statim accedit rubor mentis dimittere incepta, et ex pertinacia non audent aggredi saniora.
Ex talibus est iste homo, quem vides. Qui non attendit ad consilia probatorum virorum, nec attendit ad verba mea, que dixi: 'Nolo mortem carnis sed peccati.' Ideo timendum est ei, ne veniat in tribulacionem maiorem et defectum mentis.
Verumptamen, si obedierit sapientibus et submiserit animam suam a conceptibus propriis, duplicabitur ei corona et spiritualis deuocio augebitur in eo.
Alioquin, sicut scriptum est, fiet ei: 'Venit homo et superseminauit zizania, et simul exorte spine suffocauerunt semen eius.'"
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'submiserit animam suam a conceptibus propriis' suggests a deliberate act of letting go or detaching oneself from one's own private judgments or mental constructs.
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