SR
← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 16Imit.3.16

Quod verum solatium in solo Deo est quærendum.

The Futility of Earthly Comfort

The soul is counseled to seek consolation not in fleeting worldly pleasures but in God alone, for no earthly good can satisfy a soul created for eternal things.

Whatever I might desire or imagine for my comfort, I don't look for it here but in the future — because even if I had every comfort this world offers and could enjoy every pleasure to the full, one thing is certain: they couldn't last long. And so you cannot be fully consoled, my soul, nor perfectly refreshed — unless it's in God, the consolation of the poor and the protector of the humble. Wait a little while, my soul; wait for God's promise, and you'll have an abundance of every good in heaven. But if you reach too greedily for these present things, you'll lose what is eternal and heavenly. Let temporal things serve your use; let eternal things be your desire. You cannot be satisfied by any earthly good, because you were not created for the enjoyment of these things.

True Consolation Found Only in God

Even possessing all created goods cannot bring true happiness; only in God—perceived inwardly through truth—does the soul find full and lasting consolation.

Even if you had every good thing that's ever been created, you still couldn't be happy and blessed; but in God, who created all things, your whole blessedness and happiness consists — not the kind that the foolish lovers of the world see and praise, but the kind that the faithful followers of Christ look forward to and sometimes get a foretaste of, those whose hearts are spiritual and set on the world above, whose life is hidden with Christ in heaven.✦✦ All human consolation is empty and short-lived; the blessed and true consolation is the kind that's perceived within, from truth itself.

Carrying Christ as Comforter

The devout soul invites Jesus to be its constant companion and source of consolation in every circumstance.

The devout person carries his comforter Jesus with him everywhere and says to him: 'Be present with me, Lord Jesus, in every place and time.'✦

Embracing Divine Will in Suffering

The soul resolves to find comfort in willingly accepting the absence of human consolation and in submitting to God’s will, trusting in His mercy and temporary discipline.

Let this be my consolation: to willingly want for every human comfort. And if your consolation is lacking to me, let your will and a just trial be for me as the highest comfort. 'For you will not be angry forever, nor will you threaten eternally.'✦

Read the original Latin

Quidquid desiderare vel cogitare possum ad solatium meum, non hic exspecto, sed in posterum: quia, si omnia solatia mundi hujus haberem, et omnibus deliciis frui possem, certum est quod diu durare no possent. Unde non potes plene, anima mea, consolari, nec perfecte recreari, nisi in Deo, consolatione pauperum et susceptore humilium. Exspecta modicum, anima mea: exspecta divinum promissum, et habebis abundantiam omnium bonorum in cælo; et, si nimis inordinate ista appetis præsentia, perdes æterna et cælestia. Sint temporalia in usu, æterna in desiderio. Non potes aliquo bono temporali satiari, quia ad hæc fruenda non es creata.

Etsi omnia bona creata haberes, non posses esse felix et beata; sed in Deo, qui cuncta creavit, tota beatitudo tua et felicitas consistit, non qualis videtur et laudatur a stultis mundi amatoribus, sed qualem exspectant boni Christi fideles, et prægustant interdum spirituales ac mundi corde, quorum conversatio est in cælis. Vanum est et breve omne humanum solatium: beatum et verum solatium, quod intus a veritate percipitur. Devotus homo ubique fert secum consolatorem suum Jesum et dicit ad eum: Adesto mihi, Domine Jesu, in omni loco et tempore. Hæc mihi sit consolatio, libenter velle carere omni humano solatio. Et si tua defuerit consolatio, sit mihi tua voluntas, et justa probatio pro summo solatio. Non in perpetuum enim irasceris, neque in æternum comminaberis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Phil.3.20 — For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
  2. ↩Col.3.3 — For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  3. ↩Ps.138.7;Matt.28.20 — If I walk in the midst of trouble, You give me life; You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my enemies, and Your right hand saves me. Matt.28.20 — teaching them to observe everything I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
  4. ↩Ps.102.9 — All day long my enemies taunt me; those who mock me use my name as a curse.