What letteth a man to heere and see Jhesu withinne hymsilf.
The Call to Interior Silence
The author invites the soul to awaken from spiritual sleep and heed the divine call to detach from worldly distractions.
Still, I hope it's rather that you are asleep to Him, and not He to you; for He calls you very often with His sweet, secret voice and stirs your heart very gently, so that you should leave every other chatter of vanities in your soul and only take heed to Him in order to hear Him speak. So David says of our Lord: Audi, filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum, et domum patris tui (Psalms 44:11).✦1 My daughter, hear and see, and bend your ear to me, and forget the people of your worldly thoughts and the house of your fleshly and natural affections.2 Look, here you can see how our Lord calls you and all others who will listen to Him.
Removing the Noise of the World
The author identifies the obstacles to hearing God and instructs the soul to replace worldly desires with virtue to allow for the reformation of God's image.
What holds you back, then, so that you can neither see Him nor hear Him? Truly, there is much din and clamor in your heart from vain thoughts and fleshly desires, so that you can neither hear Him nor see Him; and therefore put away the restless noise, break the love of sin and of vanity, and bring into your heart the love of virtues and full charity—and then you will hear your Lord speak to you.3 For as long as He doesn't find His image reformed in you, He remains a stranger and far from you.
Read the original Latin
Neverthelees, I hope betere that thou slepist to Hym and not He to thee; for He calleth thee wel ofte with His swete prevy vois and stireth thyn herte wel stilli, that thou schuldest leve alle othere jangelynge of vanitees in thi soule and oonli take keep to Him for to heere Him speke. Thus seith David of oure Lord: Audi, filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum, et domum patris tui (Psalms 44:11). Mi doughter, heere and see and bowe thyn ere to me, and forgete the folk of thy worldeli thoughtes and the hous of thi fleischli and kyndeli affeccions. Loo, here mai thou see how oure Lord calleth thee and alle othere whiche wolen herkene to Hym. What letteth thee thanne, that thou mai neither see Hym ne heere Him? Sotheli there is mykil dene and criynge in thyn herte of veyn thoughtes and fleischli desires, that thou mai neither heere Hym ne see Him; and therfore put awey unrestful dene and breke the love of synne and of vanité, and bringe into thyne herte love of vertues and ful charité, and thanne schalt thou here thi Lord speke unto thee. For as longe as He fyndeth not His ymage reformed in thee, He is straunge and fer fro thee.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.44.11 — You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered for themselves.
Notes
- 1 ↩Vulgate Psalm 44:11 citation retained as supplied; modern Protestant numbering often maps this to Psalm 45:10. Latin quotation preserved for later Moses resolution.
- 2 ↩kyndeli affeccions rendered as 'natural affections' (from ME kynde = nature), not 'kindly' in the modern sense.
- 3 ↩ful charité rendered as 'full charity' to preserve theological-virtue force rather than flattening to ordinary affection.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent