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← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 30Imit.3.30

De divino auxilio petendo, et confidentia recuperandæ gratiæ.

The Lord Draws Near in Tribulation

The Lord calls the soul to turn to Him in distress, warning that delay in seeking Him hinders consolation, and promises abundant restoration.

Son, I am the Lord, strengthening you in the day of tribulation. Come to me when things aren't going well for you. This is what most hinders heavenly consolation: you turn to prayer too late. For before you earnestly ask me, you meanwhile seek many comforts and refresh yourself in outward things. And so it happens that all these things help very little, until you turn your attention to me — because I am the one who cares for those who hope in me. There is no strong counsel outside me, no useful remedy, and no lasting one either. But now, take heart again after the storm, and recover your strength in the light of my mercies — because I am near, says the Lord, ready to restore you in all things: not only fully, but also abundantly and beyond measure.✦

Wait for the Lord with Courage

The soul is exhorted to stand firm in faith, reject anxious imaginings, and trust that consolation will come in God’s time, not its own.

Is anything too hard for me? Or will I be the same to the one who says and does not do? Where is your faith?✦ Stand firm and persevere. Be patient and be a person of courage. Consolation will come to you in its own time. Wait for me, wait: I will come and take care of you. It is temptation that torments you, and a vain fear that terrifies you. What good is anxiety about future contingencies, except that it brings sadness upon sadness?1 "Each day has trouble enough of its own."✦2 It is vain and useless to be troubled about the future or to rejoice over things that may never happen at all.

Discernment in Spiritual Trial

The soul is taught not to be deceived by the enemy’s tactics or its own feelings, but to trust in God’s hidden nearness and the hidden merit in apparent loss.

But it is human to be mocked by imaginings of this kind, and it is still a sign of a small spirit to be drawn so lightly by the enemy's suggestion. For he himself doesn't care whether he mocks and deceives you with true things or with false, and whether he subjugates you by love of what is present or by fear of what is to come. So don't let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Believe in me, and place your trust in my mercy.✦ When you think you're far from me, I'm often nearer. When you think yourself completely lost, then the gain of greater merit is often pressing in. Not everything is lost when things turn out the opposite of what you expected. You shouldn't judge by how you feel in the present moment, nor cling to and accept any heaviness, from whatever source it comes, as though all hope of rising were taken away.

Trials as the Way to the Kingdom

God explains that trials are not abandonment but a means of salvation, preventing pride and deepening dependence on grace.

Don't think you've been completely abandoned, even though for a time I've allowed some trial to come your way — for it's through such things that one enters the kingdom of heaven.✦3 And this is without doubt more profitable for you and for my other servants — that you be tested by various trials than if you had everything just as you wanted it.✦4 I know your hidden thoughts: because it's greatly for your salvation's sake that you're sometimes left without any sense of my presence, so that you don't grow proud in your success and start taking pleasure in yourself for something you're not.56 What I've given, I can take away, and restore it whenever I please.✦7

God’s Sovereign Grace in Giving and Taking

The Lord affirms His absolute sovereignty over gifts and trials, assuring the soul that His actions are just and merciful, even when burdensome.

When I give, it is mine; when I take away, I have not endured what is yours: because every good gift and every perfect gift is mine.✦ If I allow heaviness upon you, or any kind of adversity, don't be indignant, and don't let your heart collapse, because I can quickly lift you up and transform every burden into joy. Nevertheless, what I do with you is just and greatly commendable, since I deal with you in this way.

Rejoice in Being Chastened

The soul is called to rejoice in affliction as a sign of divine love, following Christ’s own path of labor, scorn, and fruitful patience.

If you're truly wise and see things as they really are, you should never let troubles drag you down so deeply. Instead, rejoice and give thanks. No — count this as your one true joy: that in afflicting you with sorrows, I do not spare you.8 "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you" — I said this to my beloved disciples, whom I surely did not send into earthly pleasures, but into great struggles; not into honor, but into scorn; not into leisure, but into labor; not into rest, but into bearing much fruit through patience.✦910 Remember these words of mine, my son.

Read the original Latin

Fili, ego Dominus confortans in die tribulationis. Veni ad me, cum tibi non fuerit bene. Hoc est quod maxime impedit consolationem cælestem, quia tardius convertis te ad orationem. Nam antequam me intente roges, me, multa interim solatia quæris et recreas te in externis. Ideoque fit ut parum omnia prosint, donec advertas, quia sum ego qui curo sperantes in me; nec est extra me valens consilium neque utile, sed neque durabile remedium. Sed jam reassumto spiritu post tempestatem reconvalesce in lucem miserationum mearum, quia prope sum, dicit Dominus, ut restaurem in universa, non solum integre, sed et abundanter et cumulate.

Numquid mihi quidquam difficile est? aut similis ero dicenti et non facienti? Ubi est fides tua? Sta firmiter et perseveranter. Esto longanimis et vir fortis. Veniet tibi consolatio in tempore suo. Exspecta me, exspecta: veniam et curabo te. Tentatio est quæ te vexat, et formido vana quæ te exterret. Quid importat sollicitudo de futuris contingentibus, nisi ut tristitiam super tristitiam habeas? Sufficit diei malitia sua. Vanum est et inutile de futuris conturbari vel gratulari, quæ forte nunquam evenient.

Sed humanum est hujusmodi imaginationibus illudi, et parvi est adhuc animi signum, tam leviter trahi a suggestione inimici. Ipse enim non curat an veris an falsis illudat et decipiat et utrum præsentium amore an futurorum formidine prosternat. Non ergo turbetur cor tuum neque formidet; crede in me, et in misericordia mea habeto fiduciam. Quando tu te elongatum exstimas a me, sæpe sum propinquior. Quando exstimas te totum perditum, tunc sæpe magis merendi instat lucrum. Non est totum perditum, quando res accidit in contrarium. Non debes judicare secundum præsens sentire, nec sic gravitati alicui undecumque venienti adhærere et accipere, tamquam omnis spes sit ablata emergendi.

Noli putare te relictum ex toto, quamvis ad tempus permiserim tibi aliquam tribulationem: sic enim transitur ad regnum cælorum. Et hoc sine dubio magis expedit tibi et cæteris servis meis, ut exercitemini a diversis, quam si cuncta ad libitum haberetis. Ego novi cogitationes absconditas: quia multum expedit pro salute tua, ut interdum sine sapore relinquaris, ne forte eleveris in bono successu, et tibi ipsi placere velis in eo quod non es. Quod dedi auferre possum et restituere, cum mihi placuerit.

Cum dedero, meum est; cum subtraxero, tuum non tuli: quia meum est omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum. Si dimisero tibi gravitatem, aut quamlibet contrarietatem, non indigneris, neque concidat cor tuum, quia ego cito sublevare possum, et omne onus in gaudium transmutare. Verumtamen justus sum et commendabilis multum, cum sic facio tecum.

Si recte sapis et in veritate aspicis, nunquam debes propter adversa tam dejecte contristari, sed magis gaudere, et gratias agere. Immo hoc unicum reputare gaudium, quod affligens te doloribus, non parco tibi. Sicut dilexit me Pater, et ego diligo vos, dixi dilectis discipulis meis, quos utique non misi ad gaudia temporalia, sed ad magna certamina; non ad honores, sed ad despectiones; non ad otium, sed ad labores; non ad requiem, sed ad afferendum fructum multum in patientia. Horum memento, fili me, verborum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.41.13 — For I, the LORD your God, am the one who takes hold of your right hand, the one who says to you, 'Do not fear — I have helped you.'
  2. ↩Luke.8.25 — He said to them, "Where is your faith?" But they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?"
  3. ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
  4. ↩John.14.1 — Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
  5. ↩Matt.5.20;Acts.14.22 — For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Acts.14.22 — strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to remain in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
  6. ↩Jas.1.2-Jas.1.4;1Pet.1.6-1Pet.1.7 — Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, Jas.1.3 — because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Jas.1.4 — And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. 1Pet.1.6 — In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 1Pet.1.7 — so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that is perishable even though refined by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
  7. ↩Job.1.21 — And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.'
  8. ↩Jas.1.17 — Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
  9. ↩John.15.9 — As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩nisi ut rendered as 'except that' to capture the result force of the clause: the only outcome of such worry is compounded sorrow.
  2. 2 ↩Quotation of Matthew 6:34b (Vulgate). The Latin carries the familiar biblical cadence and is rendered accordingly.
  3. 3 ↩enim rendered as 'for' to preserve the explanatory force of the connective.
  4. 4 ↩ut rendered as 'that' to express purpose; the double et links 'for you' and 'for my other servants' as a compound indirect object.
  5. 5 ↩quia rendered as 'because' to preserve the causal force; ut rendered as 'so that' for purpose; ne rendered as 'so that…don't' for negative purpose.
  6. 6 ↩sapore (sapor) rendered as 'sense of my presence' — the devotional sense of spiritual consolation or sweetness, not literal taste.
  7. 7 ↩cum rendered as 'whenever' to capture the temporal sense; et links 'take away' and 'restore' as coordinated infinitives.
  8. 8 ↩The speaker is Christ. 'Non parco tibi' — 'I do not spare you' — expresses the Father's loving severity: suffering is not abandonment but purposeful discipline.
  9. 9 ↩Opening quote: John 15:9 (Vulgate: Sicut dilexit me Pater, et ego diligo vos). Full sentence is Christ's direct speech, blending the Johannine quotation with an extended dominical discourse on the disciple's vocation to suffering. Candidate scripture allusion flagged for tx-08 Moses resolution.
  10. 10 ↩dilectis discipulis meis rendered 'beloved disciples' to preserve the theological weight of dilectus as chosen/loved, not merely 'dear.'