Quaestio, cur quidam ampliori dulcedine in remissiore vita, quam in arctiori, compungantur.
Sweetness in Laxity, Dryness in Strictness
A monk confesses that he once experienced profound sweetness and compunction while living loosely, but now in strictness he is dry and unable to weep.
But what is this, you say — that when I was living a little more loosely, eating richer food, drinking a bit more freely, getting a little more sleep, not pushing my body with work or rough clothing, or holding myself back with so much silence — I was so pierced, so moved, I melted into such sweetness of soul; and now, under this strictness, I walk so dry and parched that I cannot even force tears from my eyes?
Compunction Amid Gross Sin
A second example shows a man deep in vice yet frequently pierced by compunction and wondrous love for Jesus, not merely from fear but from affective sweetness.
And I ask you: what do you think should be said about a man who, swallowed up in a monstrous whirlpool of vices, handed himself over to every kind of filth and uncleanness, shrinking from no shameful act whatsoever — and yet in that life was pierced with compunction more often, wept more often, and not only from fear of punishment and the memory of his sins (which perhaps no one would be surprised by), but also, melted by a wondrous affection into the sweetness of love for Jesus, seemed to embrace Him with a kind of kiss of the mind?
Grace Is Not a License for Vice
Rhetorical questions reject the idea that vice should be pursued in order to obtain such grace, and the speaker affirms these experiences as certain truths known by Christ.
What then? Is his life something to imitate? Are these ways to be followed? Are we to hand our limbs over to hollow temptations, subject them to lust, just to enjoy a similar sweetness? Who would say that? Only someone completely out of their mind. And I do not bring these up as though they are in doubt; but — as Jesus Himself knows them to be true and certain — I declare them.
The Weeping Brother Who Would Not Change
A brother who spent his days in worldly company returned to the monastery weeping bitterly, yet never abandoned his temptations, raising the question of whether strictness should be abandoned for the sake of compunction.
I myself knew a brother who, after spending the whole day mixed in with secular men and women, chatting and drinking, would come back late to the monastery and break into such tears and sighs that he would even assault the ears of many with his relentless groaning — and yet even for that reason he did not hold back from such temptations even a little. So is the regular strictness of this man's life to be abandoned for the hope of compunction — and is a similar filth to be pursued?
Confirming the Pattern of Grace
The narrator concludes that this latest case is entirely consistent with the pattern already described.
There is nothing in this report that contradicts what has just been described.
Read the original Latin
Sed quid est, inquiens, quod cum aliquanto remissius viverem; saginatioribus uterer cibis, poculis pauculum relaxarer, plusculo somno indulgerem, nec corpus labore, aut tanta vestium asperitate afflictarem, nec silentio tanto supprimerer, ita compungebar, ita afficiebar, ita quadam mentis dulcedine resolvebar; at nunc in hac districtione ita aridus et siccus incedo, ut nec vi quidem ab oculis meis lacrymas valeam extorquere? Et ego quaero a te quid de eo aestimes judicandum, qui cum immani vitiorum gurgite absorptus omni se spurcitiae, et immunditiae traderet, nihil prorsus flagitii perhorresceret, in tali vita saepius compungebatur, saepius lacrymabatur, nec solum timore poenae, et peccatorum suorum recordatione, quod forte nemo miraretur, sed etiam miro affectu in amoris Jesu dulcedinem resolutus, quodam mentis osculo ipsum videretur amplecti. Quid ergo? Hujusne aemulanda vita, hi sectandi mores, tradenda cavo illecebris, membra subdenda libidini, ut simili dulcedine perfruamur? Quis hoc dementissimus dixerit? Nec ego ista quasi ambigua; sed sicut novit ipse Jesus, vera et certa prenuntio. Novi et ipse fratrem, qui cum tota die saecularibus viris ac feminis immistus, fabulis et potationi vacaverit, sero rediens monasterium ita in lacrymas ac suspiria erumpit, ut etiam importunis gemitibus multorum aures compellet; nec ideo vel modicam ab hujusmodi illecebris temperet. Hujusce igitur spe compunctionis regularis districtio deserenda; et similis est sectanda spurcitia?
Cujus non hoc abhorret auditus.
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
- Aelred's choice-motion-fruit test, turned into a one-page self-examination worksheet
- 16 discussion questions ready for personal journaling or a 4-session small group