De eminentia liberæ mentis quam supplex oratio magis meretur quam lectio.
The Free Mind Above Earthly Cares
The perfect soul keeps its gaze on heaven, passing through many cares as if free from care, by the prerogative of a mind unbound by disordered attachment.
Lord, this is the work of a perfect person: never to let the mind relax from its focus on heavenly things, and to pass through many cares as if free from care — not in the manner of someone numb, but by a certain prerogative of a free mind, clinging to no creature through disordered affection.12
Prayer for Deliverance from Entangling Cares
The soul begs God to be kept from worldly entanglement, bodily demands, and the miseries of mortality that block interior freedom.
I beg you, most loving Lord my God, preserve me from the cares of this life, lest I become too entangled by the many demands of the body, lest pleasure seize me through every obstacle to my soul, lest I be broken by troubles and cast down. I don't mean the things that worldly vanity pursues with its whole desire, but the miseries that grievously weigh down and hinder the soul of your servant under the common curse of mortality, so that it cannot enter into freedom of spirit whenever it may wish.3
Turning Carnal Sweetness to Bitterness
God is asked to transform every carnal consolation that draws the soul away from eternal love into bitterness.
O my God, sweetness beyond words, turn every fleshly comfort into bitterness when it pulls me away from loving eternal things and lures me toward itself with the seductive appeal of some passing, pleasant good.4
Victory Over Flesh, World, and Devil
The soul prays not to be conquered by flesh and blood, the world's brief glory, or the devil's cunning.
Don't let me be conquered, my God — don't let flesh and blood defeat me, don't let the world and its fleeting glory deceive me, don't let the devil and his cunning trip me up.5
Fortitude, Patience, and Constancy
A brief, threefold petition asks for strength to resist, patience to endure, and constancy to persevere.
Give me strength to stand firm, patience to endure, and constancy to keep going.
The Sweet Anointing in Place of Worldly Love
The soul asks to receive the Spirit's anointing instead of worldly consolation and the love of God's name instead of carnal love.
Instead of all the world's comforts, grant me the sweet anointing of your Spirit; and instead of carnal love, pour into me the love of your name.6
The Burden of Bodily Necessities
Even basic bodily needs—food, drink, clothing—are a burden to a fervent spirit.
Look: food, drink, clothing, and all the other material things that sustain the body are a burden to a fervent spirit.
Moderation, Not Excess, in the Body's Needs
The soul prays to use the body's remedies with moderation and without excessive desire.
Grant that I may use such remedies with moderation, and not be entangled by excessive desire.7
Nature Sustained, Flesh Restrained
While nature must be sustained, the pursuit of luxury is forbidden lest the flesh grow insolent against the spirit.
It is not permitted to cast everything away, because nature must be sustained; but to seek out luxuries and things that merely delight — the holy law forbids this. Otherwise the flesh would grow insolent against the spirit.✦89
A Final Plea for God's Guiding Hand
The chapter closes with a humble request that God guide and teach the soul so that nothing is done to excess.
In all this I ask you — guide me with your hand, Lord, and teach me, so that nothing is done to excess.
Read the original Latin
Domine, hoc opus est perfecti viri, nunquam ab intentione cælestium animum relaxare et inter multas curas quasi sine cura transire, non more torpentis, sed prærogativa quadam liberæ mentis, nulli creaturæ inordinata affectione adhærando.
Obsecro te, piissime Domine Deus meus, præserva me a curis hujus vitæ, ne nimis implicer a multis necessitatibus corporis, ne voluptate capiar ab universis animæ obstaculis, ne molestiis fractus dejiciar. Non dico ab his rebus, quas toto affectu ambit vanitas mundana, sed ab his miseriis, quæ animam servi tui communi maledicto mortalitatis pœnaliter gravant et retardant, ne in libertatem spiritus quoties libuerit valeat introire.
O, Deus meus, dulcedo ineffabilis, verte mihi in amaritudinem omnem consolationem carnalem ab æternorum amore me abstrahentem, et ad se in intuitu cujusdam boni delectabilis præsentis male allicientem. Non me vincat, Deus meus, non me vincat caro et sanguis, non me decipiat mundus, ac brevis gloria ejus, non me supplantet diabolus et astutia illius. Da mihi fortitudinem resistendi, patientiam tolerandi, constantiam perseverandi. Da pro omnibus mundi consolationibus suavissimam spiritus tui unctionem, et pro carnali amore tui nominis infunde amorem.
Ecce cibus, potus, vestis ac cætera utensilia ad corporis sustentaculum pertinentia, ferventi spiritui sunt onerosa. Tribue talibus fomentis temperate uti, non desiderio nimio implicari. Abjicere omnia non licet, quia natura sustentanda est; requirere autem superflua et quæ magis delectant, lex sancta prohibet: nam alias caro adversus spiritum insolesceret. Inter hæc quæso manus tua, Domine, me regat et doceat, ne quid nimium fiat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gal.5.17 — For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do the things you wish.
Notes
- 1 ↩Thomas contrasts two ways of seeming above care: torpor (spiritual numbness) versus the genuine freedom of a mind liberated by grace. The 'prerogative' is not natural temperament but a spiritual gift.
- 2 ↩Disordered affection — attachment to creatures that is misaligned with the soul's proper ordering toward God.
- 3 ↩maledicto rendered as 'curse' preserves the theological weight of the Fall's shared penalty; could also be read as 'accursed condition.'
- 4 ↩Dulcedo ineffabilis ('ineffable sweetness') is a direct address to God as the soul's deepest sweetness. The phrase ab æternorum amore ('from the love of eternal things') uses amor in the sense of the soul's love directed toward eternal goods, not God's love toward the soul.
- 5 ↩Caro et sanguis ('flesh and blood') is a biblical idiom for human weakness or mortal nature. The triple non me … non me … non me structure is a litany of petition against the three classic enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil.
- 6 ↩Unctio spiritus tui ('anointing of your Spirit') refers to the interior consolation of the Holy Spirit, a central theme in Book 3. The contrast is between all worldly consolations taken together and this single divine gift. Pro carnali amore ('in place of carnal love') frames the exchange: natural affection is to be replaced by love directed toward God's name.
- 7 ↩fomentis: rare noun rendered 'remedies' in the sense of supports or aids to nature; could also be 'sustenance.'
- 8 ↩autem marks the shift from concession (nature must be sustained) to contrast (seeking luxuries is forbidden); rendered as 'but' to capture the adversative force.
- 9 ↩nam introduces the reason the law forbids luxuries; rendered as 'otherwise' to convey the causal-explanatory sense in natural English.