Il modo di resistere agli impulsi improvvisi delle passioni
Anticipating the Trial
Prepare your mind for adversity by anticipating potential challenges and the circumstances in which they may arise.
Since you're not yet accustomed to defending against the sudden blows of insults or other contrary things, learn to anticipate them and to want them more and more, expecting them with a prepared mind. The way to anticipate them is to consider the condition of your passions, and also to think about the people you'll interact with and the places you'll frequent: from this, you can easily conjecture what might happen to you. And if any other unforeseen adversity comes upon you, besides the help you gain from keeping your mind prepared for the others you have anticipated, you will be able to make greater use of this other method.
Embracing the Cross
When trials strike, lift your heart to God and embrace the cross as a divine instrument of purification and union.
As soon as you start to feel the first blows of insult or any other painful thing, stay alert, gather your strength, and lift your mind to God, considering His ineffable goodness and the love with which He sends you that adversity, so that by enduring it for His sake, you may be further purified, drawn closer, and united to Him. And having seen how pleased He is that you endure it, turn to yourself, taking yourself to task and saying to yourself: “Ah! Why don’t you want to bear this cross, which is sent to you not by this or that person, but by your heavenly Father?” . Then, turning to the cross, embrace it with as much patience and joy as you can, saying: “O cross, fashioned by divine providence before I was born! O cross, sweetened by the sweet love of my Crucified One! Nail me now to you so that I may give myself to Him who, by dying on you, has redeemed me.”
Removing the Root of Disturbance
Address the underlying causes of your emotional disturbances by detaching from disordered affections and learning to love those who trouble you.
If at the beginning, when passion is strong within you, you can't lift yourself up to God and instead remain wounded, try to do so as soon as possible, as if you weren't wounded at all. But for an effective remedy against these sudden impulses, you'll soon need to remove the cause from which they arise. For example, if you notice that your affection for something leads you to become disturbed whenever you're confronted with it, the way to address this in a timely manner is to train yourself to detach from that affection. If, however, your disturbance comes not from the thing itself but from a person whom you don't care for, and every little action of theirs bothers and disturbs you, the remedy is to strive to incline your will to love and cherish them: for besides being a creature formed by the sovereign hand, and redeemed by the same divine blood as you, if you endure that person, they also provide you with the opportunity to become like your loving and kind Lord toward everyone.
Read the original Latin
Non essendo ancora assuefatta a parare i colpi improvvisi delle ingiurie o di altra cosa contraria, per farvi l'abitudine impara a prevederli e a volerli poi più e più volte, aspettandoli con animo preparato. Il modo di prevederli è che, considerata la condizione delle tue passioni, consideri anche le persone con le quali tratterai e i luoghi che frequenterai: da questo facilmente potrai congetturare quello che ti potrebbe avvenire. E sopravvenendoti qualsiasi altra avversità non pensata, oltre l'aiuto a te recato dal tenere l'animo preparato alle altre che hai previsto, potrai maggiormente servirti di quest'altro modo.
Non appena tu cominci a sentire i primi colpi dell'ingiuria o altra cosa penosa, sta' desta, fatti forza ed eleva la mente a Dio, considerando la sua ineffabile bontà e l'amore verso di te con cui ti manda quell'avversità, affinché, sopportandola per suo amore, ti purifichi di più, ti accosti e ti unisca a lui. E veduto quanto egli si compiace che tu la sopporti, rivolgiti a te stessa riprendendoti e dicendo fra te: “Ah! Perché non vuoi sostenere questa croce, che non questi o quegli ma il tuo Padre celeste ti manda?” . Poi rivolta alla croce, abbracciala con la maggior pazienza e allegrezza possibili, dicendo: “O croce, fabbricata dalla provvidenza divina prima che io fossi! O croce, addolcita dal dolce amore del mio Crocifisso! Inchiodarmi ormai in te perché possa darmi a chi, morendo in te, mi ha redenta”.
E se nel principio, prevalendo in te la passione non potessi elevarti in Dio ma restassi ferita, cerca con tutto ciò di farlo quanto prima come se ferita non fossi. Ma per efficace rimedio contro questi impulsi improvvisi, toglierai ben presto la causa da cui procedono. Ad esempio: se per l'affetto che hai a qualche cosa, vedi che quando in essa vieni molestata sei solita cadere nell'improvviso turbamento dell'animo, il modo di provvedere a ciò per tempo è che tu ti abitui a toglierne l'affetto. Se invece H turbamento procede non dalla cosa ma dalla persona della quale, perché non ti sta a cuore, ogni piccola azione ti infastidisce e ti turba, H rimedio è che tu ti sforzi d'inclinare la volontà ad amarla e ad averla cara: infatti oltre a essere creatura, come te formata dalla mano sovrana e come te redenta dallo stesso sangue divino, se la sopporterai, quella persona ti porge anche l'occasione di renderti simile al tuo Signore amoroso e benigno con tutti.
Spiritual Combat companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere