De exemplo Sanctorum Patrum.

The Saints' Example Shames Our Lukewarmness

The holy Fathers lived in such radical devotion that our own efforts appear as nothing by comparison.

Look at the vivid examples of the holy Fathers, in which true perfection once shone forth, and you'll see how very little — truly, how nothing at all — is what we do.¹ Alas, what is our life, if it's measured against theirs?² The saints and friends of Christ served the Lord in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in labor and weariness, in watchings and fastings, in prayers and holy meditations, in persecutions and many reproaches.

The Desert Fathers' Hidden Life of Prayer

The saints endured every tribulation, renounced all things, and lived in unceasing prayer, rich in grace though poor in earthly goods.

O how many and how severe the tribulations the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, and all the rest have suffered — all who desired to follow in the footsteps of Christ. For they hated their own souls in this world, so that they might possess them in eternal life.^✦^✦³ O how strict and renounced a life the holy Fathers led in the desert! How long and severe the temptations they endured, how often they were harassed by the enemy, how earnest and fervent the prayers they offered to God, how rigid the fasts they carried out, what great zeal and fervor for spiritual progress they had, how mighty a war they waged against the subjugation of vices, how pure and upright the intention toward God they held! Through the day they labored, and through the nights they gave themselves to prolonged prayer, and even while laboring they did not in the least cease from mental prayer.⁴⁵ They spent every moment usefully; every hour seemed too short for being free to be with God. And because of the great sweetness of contemplation, even the need for bodily refreshment was given over to forgetfulness. They renounced all riches, dignities, honors, friends, and family. They desired to have nothing from the world; they scarcely took the necessities of life, and they grieved even to serve the body when necessity demanded it. They were poor, then, in earthly things, but very rich in grace and in virtues. Outwardly they lacked, but inwardly they were refreshed by grace and divine consolation.

True Humility and the Call to Progress

The saints were strangers to the world yet dear to God, advancing daily in humility and love — an example that should spur the faithful onward.

They were strangers to the world, but close to God and intimate friends of his. To themselves they seemed as nothing, and despised by this world, but in the eyes of God they were precious and chosen.^✦ In true humility they stood, in simple obedience they lived, in love and patience they walked, and so they advanced daily and obtained great grace from God.⁶ They have been given as an example to all religious, and they ought to spur us on to make good progress more than the number of the lukewarm ought to lead us to slack off.^✦⁷

From Ancient Fervor to Present Decline

The early religious burned with devotion and subdued the world, but now even minimal patience is praised, and we have quickly lost our first fervor.

Oh, how great was the fervor of all religious people at the beginning of their holy way of life! Oh, what devotion in prayer, what eagerness for virtue, how great the discipline that flourished, and what reverence and obedience under the rule bloomed in all things!⁸⁹ The traces they left behind still bear witness that they were truly holy and perfect men — men who, fighting so strenuously, subdued the world.¹⁰ Nowadays a person is thought truly great if only he has not been a transgressor, if only he has been able to bear with patience what he has received.¹¹ Oh, what lukewarmness and negligence mark our state—that we so quickly turn aside from our former fervor, and now it wearies us to live, because of weariness and lukewarmness.¹²¹³ If only the progress of virtues in you would not altogether fall asleep—you who have so often seen many examples of the devout.¹⁴¹⁵

Read the original Latin

Intuere Sanctorum Patrum vivida exempla, in quibus vera perfectio fulsit, et videbis quam modicum sit, et vere nihil, quod nos agimus. Heu quid est vita nostra, si illis fuerit comparata. Sancti et amici Christi Domino servierunt in fame et siti, in frigore et nuditate, in labore et fatigatione, in vigiliis et jejuniis, in orationibus et sanctis meditationibus, in persecutionibus et opprobriis multis.

O quam multas, et graves tribulationes passi sunt Apostoli, Martyres et Confessores, Virgines et reliqui omnes, qui Christi vestigia voluerunt sequi. Nam animas suas in hoc mundo oderunt, ut in vitam æternam eas possiderent. O quam strictam et abdicatam vitam sancti Patres in eremo duxerunt, quam longas, et graves tentationes pertulerunt: quam frequenter ab inimico vexati sunt, quam graves, et fervidas orationes Deo obtulerunt, quam rigidas abstinentias peregerunt, quam magnum zelum, et fervorem ad spiritualem profectum habuerunt, quam forte bellum adversus edomationem vitiorum gesserunt, quam puram, et rectam intentionem ad Deum tenuerunt, per diem laborabant, et noctibus orationi diutinæ vacabant: quamquam laborando ab oratione mentali minime cessarent.

Omne tempus utiliter expendebant, omnis hora ad vacandum Deo brevis videbatur. Et præ magna dulcedine contemplationis, etiam oblivioni tradebatur necessitas corporalis refectionis. Omnibus divitiis, dignitatibus, honoribus, amicis et cognatis renuntiabant. Nihil de mundo habere cupiebant: vix necessaria vitæ sumebant, corpori servire etiam in necessitate dolebant. Pauperes igitur erant rebus terrenis, sed divites valde in gratia, et virtutibus. Foris egebant, sed intus gratia, et consolatione divina reficiebantur.

Mundo erant alieni, sed Deo proximi, ac familiares amici. Sibi ipsis videbantur tanquam nihili, et huic mundo despecti, sed erant in oculis Dei prætiosi, et delecti. In vera humilitate stabant, in simplici obedientia vivebant, in charitate et patientia ambulabant, et ideo quotidie proficiebant, et magnam apud Deum obtinebant gratiam. Dati sunt in exemplum omnibus Religiosis et plus provocare nos debent ad bene proficiendum, quam tepidorum numerus ad relaxandum.

O, quantus fervor omnium Religiosorum in principio suæ sanctæ institutionis fuit; o, quanta devotio orationis, quanta æmulatio virtutis, quam magna disciplina viguit, quanta reverentia et obedientia sub regula in omnibus floruit. Testantur adhuc vestigia derelicta, quod vere viri sancti et perfecti fuerunt, qui tam strenue militantes, mundum suppeditaverunt. Jam magnus utique putatur, si quis transgressor non fuerit, si quis quod accepit cum patientia tolerare potuerit.

O, tepor et negligentia status nostri, quod tam cito declinamus a pristino fervore et jam tædet vivere præ lassitudine et tepore. Utinam in te penitus non dormiret profectus virtutum, qui multa sæpius exempla vidisti devotorum.

Scripture echoes

↩John.12.25 — Whoever loves their life loses it, and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
↩Luke.17.33 — Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will keep it alive.
↩1Sam.16.7;1Pet.2.4 — But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees does God see, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." 1Pet.2.4 — As you come to Him—a living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious in His sight—
↩Rev.3.15-Rev.3.16 — I know your works—that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! Rev.3.16 — So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Notes

1 ↩vivida exempla rendered as 'vivid examples' to capture the force of vividus as lively, striking, not merely historical.
2 ↩fuerit is ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; the conditional clause favors a subjunctive reading ('if it were compared'), but the sense is rendered here as a straightforward conditional comparison.
3 ↩The phrase 'hated their own souls' (animas suas … oderunt) echoes the dominical saying on losing one's life to save it (cf. John 12:25; Matt 16:25; Luke 17:33). The 'soul' here stands for the whole self as given over to the world's pattern.
4 ↩The word edomationem (token 47) is a rare or possibly corrupt form, unattested in standard Latin lexica. It may be a corruption of domationem ('subjugation') or daemonationem. The translation 'subjugation' follows the most plausible intended sense — mastery or domination by vices — but the source reading is uncertain.
5 ↩Graves applied to orationes (token 24) rendered as 'earnest' rather than 'heavy/severe' to capture the devotional sense of weighty, serious prayer rather than merely burdensome.
6 ↩charitate rendered as 'love' per lexeme policy (charitas → love by default); the theological-virtue sense is clear here.
7 ↩Religiosis rendered as 'religious' (noun) in the sense of those in religious life, consistent with religio → religious life/discipline policy.
8 ↩Religiosorum rendered 'religious people' per lexeme policy for religio — here referring to those in ordered devotional practice, not religion in the abstract sense.
9 ↩Devotio rendered 'devotion' per lexeme policy for devotional disposition.
10 ↩Vestigia derelicta rendered 'traces they left behind' — the vestiges of their holy lives remain as evidence.
11 ↩Jam ('now') contrasts the present age with the era of the holy fathers — the exclamatory tone of s1 makes this temporal contrast explicit. The two si-clauses express minimal conditions that now pass for greatness.
12 ↩tepor rendered as 'lukewarmness' to capture the spiritual torpor Thomas laments, not mere physical temperature.
13 ↩quod here is causal ('that / because'), not relative; the exclamation laments the fact that we so quickly fall away.
14 ↩profectus virtutum rendered as 'progress of virtues' — the advancement or growth in virtuous living.
15 ↩devotorum (genitive plural) rendered as 'of the devout,' substantivized: those who are devoted to the spiritual life.