Quid in primo libro proposuerit considerandum: et quod manifeste vitiosi ab hac sint consideratione removendi.
The Sweet Yoke and Its Hidden Toil
Love is the summit of all virtues and the fulfillment of the law, yet even those who have taken up Christ's sweet yoke find themselves struggling under its hidden toil.
Earlier in this little work, when we were discussing the perfection of love, we showed — as best we could — that the summit of all virtues consists in love. For a virtue ought not to be called such if this root has not produced it, nor will any work be considered perfect if this end has not enclosed it. In love both the fulfillment of the law and the perfection of the gospel are shown to be found — since in love there is both the true spiritual circumcision of the inner and outer person, the true sabbath rest of the mind, the truth of all sacrifices, and the fullness of every commandment.✦1 And we have already touched briefly on circumcision above; that the sabbath rest of the mind is nowhere to be found — and cannot exist — except in love, we have shown. For love itself is that sweet yoke and light burden to which the mercy of the Savior invites us.✦ 'And you will find rest for your souls,' he says (Matt.✦ xi). But because very many of us who appear to have placed our necks under this yoke are shown to be struggling in many ways, we have tried to show that this yoke of captivity brings forth toil.
Cupidity, Charity, and the Root of Vice
The author resumes his threefold scheme of disordered desire from 1 John, contrasts cupidity as the root of all evils with charity as the root of all virtues, and insists that the poisonous root of vice must be torn out entirely.
From this we proposed three things to be considered, in which the evangelist John seems to have encompassed every kind of desire — namely, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John).✦ 2). But the death of our most beloved has interrupted the work; and having spent some time in tears and lamentation, we have reserved this discussion for a new beginning. Therefore, so that we may take our beginning from Paul's words, we say that the root of all evils is cupidity (1 Tim.✦ 6), just as, on the opposite side, the root of all virtues is charity. Accordingly, as long as this poisonous root remains in the very inmost parts of the soul, even if certain little branches are cut back here and fresh growth returns, others must necessarily sprout up — until the root itself is torn out by the roots, so that the most pernicious offspring of vices can no longer arise from it and take hold.
Removing the Manifestly Vicious; Penetrating the Hidden Depths
Those entangled in coarse, manifest vices must be set aside from this discussion, while those who profess the evangelical yoke are called to deep self-examination, penetrating the soul's hidden depths to root out the secret roots of disease.
Furthermore, there are certain people who, entangled in more manifest and — so to speak — coarser vices, soon display the mark of their own shame right on their face; I judge that such people should be removed from the present discussion, because their mind has been shown sufficiently above to be devoid of all rest. But we, who have submitted to the evangelical yoke — which the Savior's own word declares most sweet — and to the Lord's burden, which the same one's authority proves nevertheless most light (Matth.✦ We seem to have put our minds to the task, and yet we are shown to be struggling—we who profess the cross of Christ, I mean—having taken up the key of God's word, unlocking the barriers of our hearts, and penetrating all the way to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow as well; let us discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart; and without flattering handling, perceiving what lies more secretly hidden in the very depths of the soul, let us endeavor to root out the very roots of our diseases.✦23
Read the original Latin
Superiore opusculi hujus parte de charitatis perfectione disserentes, in ea omnium virtutum summam consistere, sicut valuimus, demonstravimus. Neque enim virtus dicenda est, quam radix ista non protulerit; nec opus perfectum aestimabitur, quod finis iste non concluserit. In hac et legis consummatio et evangelica probatur esse perfectio: cum in ea et spiritualis interioris exteriorisque hominis circumcisio, vera mentis sabbatizatio; veritas sacrificiorum, et omnis sit plenitudo praeceptorum. Et de circumcisione quidem superius pauca perstrinximus, mentis sabbatum nusquam, nisi in charitate esse, aut esse posse, ostendimus. Ipsa est namque jugum illud suave, et onus leve, ad quod nos Salvatoris invitat clementia. Et invenietis, inquit, requiem animabus vestris (Matth. xi). Verum, quia plerique nostrum, qui videmur huic jugo supposuisse cervices, in multis convincimur laborare, conati sumus ostendere, captivitatis jugum hunc parturire laborem.
Unde tria illa proposuimus consideranda, in quibus evangelista Joannes omnigenam videtur comprehendisse cupiditatem, concupiscentiam scilicet carnis, concupiscentiam oculorum et superbiam vitae (I Joan. ii). Sed interveniente morte dilectissimi nostri interruptum est opus: aliquodque tempus lacrymis et planctui indulgentes, hanc considerationem alteri exordio reservavimus. Igitur ut a Pauli verbis sumamus initium, dicimus quia radix omnium malorum est cupiditas (I Tim. vi), sicut a diverso radix omnium virtutum charitas. Proinde quandiu in ipsis animae praecordiis radix haec virulenta resederit, licet summatim quidam ramusculi recidantur, germine redivivo necesse est alios pullulare, donec radix ipsa evulsa radicitus, unde perniciosissima vitiorum soboles oriatur, ulterius non relinquat. Porro sunt quidam, qui manifestioribus, et, ut ita dicam, crassioribus implicati vitiis, confusionis suae notam prima mox fronte praetendunt: quos a praesenti consideratione aestimo semovendos; quod eorum mentem omni vacuam requie satis superius demonstratam sit. At nos qui evangelico jugo, quod suavissimum Salvatoris sententia manifestat, Dominicoque oneri, quod levissimum ejusdem nihilominus probat auctoritas (Matth.
xi), videmur mentis humeros subjecisse, et tamen convincimur laborare, nos, inquam, professores crucis Christi, assumpta clave verbi Dei, reserentes claustra pectoris nostri, et penetrantes usque ad divisionem animae ac spiritus, compagum quoque ac medullarum, discernamus cogitationes et intentiones cordis; et sine adulatoria palpatione quid in ipsis animae recessibus secretius latitet pervidentes, ipsos potius morborum radices eruere conemur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.10.16;Rom.2.29 — So circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. Rom.2.29 — But the one who is truly a Jew is one who is so inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter. His praise is not from human beings but from God.
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- ↩Matt.11.29 — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- ↩1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
- ↩1Tim.6.10 — For the root of all evils is the love of money, which some, reaching for it, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- ↩Heb.4.12 — For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Notes
- 1 ↩Sabbatizatio is a rare Latin coinage; rendered as 'sabbath-rest' to capture the devotional sense of interior stillness before God.
- 2 ↩The phrase 'division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow' echoes Hebrews 4:12 (Vulgate: 'usque ad divisionem animae ac spiritus, compagum quoque ac medullarum'). The author applies this scriptural image to the interior work of self-examination and spiritual discernment.
- 3 ↩morborum rendered as 'diseases' rather than 'sins' to preserve the medical metaphor; the spiritual sense (sins/spiritual maladies) is clear from context.
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
Use the study map with the free Chosen Portion app's daily readings to work through Aelred at a sustainable pace.
Aelred wrote the Mirror as a rule for daily interior discipline in community, and Chosen Portion carries that discipline forward as a short ordered reading each day.
- All 3 books and 102 chapters mapped into 4 weekly themes with page-level pointers
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