What remedie a man schal use agenes defaute maad in etynge and drinkynge.
The Path of Moderation
The author advises taking food with reasonable moderation while avoiding the trap of excessive self-reproach when mistakes occur.
So do as I tell you: eat your food, and if necessary, arrange for it reasonably, accepting it gladly as a necessity. But beware of the craving that accompanies the need; avoid both excess and deficiency. And when you've done so, and it occurs to you with a prick of conscience that you've eaten too much or too little, and you begin to dwell on it and fall into excessive bitterness, lift the desire of your heart to your good Lord Jesus, acknowledge yourself as a wretch and a beast, and ask Him for forgiveness through His mercy. Once you've done this—the sooner the better—let it go and don't dwell on it any longer, and don't struggle too hard as if you could wipe it out completely, for that is not something you can do. You'll never manage that. Instead, promptly turn to some other occupation, whether bodily or spiritual, as you feel inclined, so that you may make more progress in other virtues, such as humility and charity.
The Priority of Love and Humility
True spiritual growth is found in the pursuit of humility and charity rather than in the obsessive focus on individual bodily disciplines.
For know this well: anyone whose desire and labor have no other aim than humility and charity, always longing for them and seeking how to obtain them, will—in that desire, with the work that follows it—make more progress and grow more in every other virtue, such as chastity, abstinence, and the like, even if he pays them little direct attention, more in one year than he would without this desire in seven years, even if he fought gluttony and lust and the like continually and scourged himself every day from morning until evening prayer.
Read the original Latin
Doo thanne as I seie thee: take thi mete, and ordeyne for it yif nede it be up resoun, and take it gladli as for nede. But beware of lust that cometh with the nede; eschew to moche as wel as to litil. And whanne thou hast doon, and it cometh to thi mynde bitynge in conscience that thou hast eten to moche or to litil, and bigynnest to tarie and drawest thee to over moche bittirnesse, lift up thi desire of thyn herte to thi good Lord Jhesu, and know thisilf for a wrecche and a beeste, and aske Him forgevenesse bi His merci. And whanne thou hast doon thus, the schortliere the levere, leve of thanne and tarie no lengere withal, ne stryve not to moche as thou wolde distroie it uttirli, for it is not for to doo. Thou schal never brynge it so aboute. But redili ordeyne thee to sum othir occupacioun bodili or gostli, aftir thou felist thee disposid, that thou mighttest the more profite in othire vertues, as mekenesse and charité.
For wite thou wel, he that hath in his desire and in his travaile noon othir reward to noon othir thinge but to mekenesse and charité, ai cravynge aftir hem how he myght gete hem, he schal in that desire with worchynge folwynge aftir, profite more and waxe in alle other vertues, as in chastité, abstinence, and siche othire, though he have but litil reward to hem, more in a yeer thanne he schulde have withouten this desire profite in sevene yeer, though he stryve with glotonye and leccherie and siche othire contynueli and bete himsilf eche dai with scourgis from morwe til evesong tyme.
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