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← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 34Imit.3.34

Quod amanti sapit Deus super omnia et in omnibus.

God Is All Things to the Loving Soul

The soul discovers in God its complete sufficiency, joy, and the only true seasoning of all things.

Look—my God, and everything! What more could I want? And what could I desire more blessedly? O rich and sweet word—but only to the one who loves the word, not the world or the things in the world.✦1 My God, and everything. To someone who understands, that's enough said; and to someone who loves, it's a joy to hear it again and again. When you're present, everything is delightful; but when you're absent, everything grows wearisome. You make my heart tranquil, and grant great peace and joyful gladness. You enable me to think rightly about all things and to praise you in all things; and nothing can please for long without you. But if anything is to be truly pleasing and taste as it should, your grace must be present to season it, and it must be enlivened by the savor of your wisdom.2

The Taste of God and the Taste of the World

Those who share God's taste find security, while worldly wisdom leads to vanity and death; the gulf between Creator and creature is vast.

The one whose taste you share — what will ever go wrong for that person? And the one whose taste you do not share — what will ever truly bring that person delight? But the world's wise, who relish the flesh, fall short of your wisdom: because there vanity abounds, and here death is all you'll find.3 But those who follow you through contempt of worldly things and mortification of the flesh are recognized as truly wise, because they are transferred from vanity to truth, and from the flesh to the spirit.4 To these God is sweet, and whatever is found in all creation they refer back to the praise of their Creator. Yet how unlike — how vastly unlike — is the taste of Creator and creature, of eternity and time, of uncreated light and light that has only been illumined.

Longing for God's Full Presence

The soul prays for divine illumination and the longed-for hour when God will be all in all, yet confesses the inner war that still rages.

O eternal light, surpassing all created lights—flash forth a gleam from on high, piercing into the deepest places of my heart. Purify, gladden, enlighten, and bring to life my spirit with its own powers, for clinging to you in exultant advances. O when will this blessed and longed-for hour come, when your presence will satisfy me and you will be all in all to me.✦ As long as this has not been given, there will be no full joy. Even now—O grief!—the old self still lives in me. It is not yet wholly crucified, not yet perfectly dead. It still lusts fiercely against the spirit.✦✦ Internal wars rage, and the soul's kingdom cannot be at rest.

Cry for Deliverance and Refuge

The soul calls on God to still the inner storms, scatter hostile powers, and show His mighty deeds, for there is no other hope.

But you who hold dominion over the power of the sea, you who calm the motion of its waves — rise up and help me.✦5 Scatter the nations that want war; crush them in your strength.6 Show me your great deeds, I ask, and let your right hand be glorified — because there is no other hope and no refuge for me except in you, Lord my God.✦7

Read the original Latin

Ecce Deus meus et omnia. Quid volo amplius? Et quid felicius desiderare possum? O, sapidum et dulce verbum, sed amanti verbum non mundum, nec ea quæ in mundo sunt. Deus meus et omnia. Intelligenti satis dictum est, et sæpe repetere jucundum est amanti. Te siquidem præsente jucunda sunt omnia: te autem absente fastidiunt cuncta. Tu facis cor tranquillum, et pacem magnam, lætitiamque festivam. Tu facis bene sentire de omnibus, et in omnibus te laudare: nec potest aliquid diu sine te placere; sed si debet gratum esse et bene sapere, oportet gratiam tuam adesse, et condimento tuæ sapientiæ condiri.

Cui tu sapis, quid ei recte non sapiet? Et cui tu non sapis, quid ei recte ad jucunditatem esse poterit? Sed deficiunt in tua sapientia mundi sapientes, et qui carnem sapiunt: quia ibi plurima vanitas, et hic mors invenitur. Qui autem te per contemtum mundanorum et carnis mortificationem sequuntur, vere sapientes esse cognoscuntur, quia de vanitate ad veritatem, et de carne ad spiritum transferuntur. Istis sapit Deus, et quidquid invenitur in creaturis totum referunt ad laudem sui Conditoris. Dissimilis tamen est et multum dissimilis sapor Creatoris et creaturæ, æternitatis, et temporis, lucis increatæ et lucis illuminatæ.

O, lux perpetua, cuncta creata transcendens lumina: fulgura coruscationem de sublimi penetrantem omnia intima cordis mei. Purifica, lætifica, clarifica, et vivifica spiritum meum cum suis potentiis ad inhærendum tibi jubilosis successibus. O, quando veniet hæc beata et desiderabilis hora, ut tua me saties præsentia, et sis mihi omnia in omnibus. Quamdiu hoc non datum fuerit, nec gaudium plenum erit. Adhuc, proh dolor, vivit in me vetus homo, non est totus crucifixus, non est perfecte mortuus, adhuc concupiscit fortiter adversus spiritum. Bella movent intestina, nec regnum animæ patitur esse quietum.

Sed tu qui dominaris potestati maris, et motum fluctuum ejus tu mitigas, exsurge, adjuva me. Dissipa gentes quæ bella volunt; contere eas in virtute tua. Ostende quæso magnalia tua, et glorificetur dextera tua: quia non est spes alia, nec refugium mihi nisi in te, Domine Deus meus.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1John.2.15 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
  2. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  3. ↩Rom.6.6 — We know this: our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
  4. ↩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.
  5. ↩Ps.88.9 — You have put my acquaintances far from me; you have made me an abomination to them; I am shut in and cannot go out.
  6. ↩Ps.137.7-Ps.137.8 — Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, 'Raze it, raze it, down to its foundations.' Ps.137.8 — Daughter Babylon, the one who is destroyed — blessed is the one who repays you with the same treatment you gave us.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The italicized spans echo 1 John 2:15 (non diligamus mundum neque ea quae in mundo sunt). Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  2. 2 ↩Condimentum rendered as 'season' / 'savor' to preserve the culinary metaphor of sapientia as divine seasoning.
  3. 3 ↩Sapientes mundi carries an ironic edge — 'the so-called wise' — which the translation tries to preserve through phrasing.
  4. 4 ↩Contemtum mundanorum renders contemptus in the classical sense of 'looking down on' / 'disdaining,' not modern 'contempt' as active hostility.
  5. 5 ↩Echoes Psalm 88:9 (Vulgate) — 'Lord, God of hosts, who is like you? You rule the power of the sea, and you calm the motion of its waves.' The speaker turns this psalm directly into prayer.
  6. 6 ↩Quotation of Psalm 67:31 (Vulgate): 'Increpa bestias arundinatos, congregatio taurorum in vaccis populorum... Dissipa gentes quae bella volunt.' Thomas uses the imperative as prayer.
  7. 7 ↩Draws on Psalm 137:7–8 (Vulgate) and related psalmic language: 'Non est spes alia' and 'refugium nisi in te' echo the psalmist's exclusive trust in God. 'Magnalia tua' recalls the great deeds of God celebrated throughout the Psalms (e.g., Ps. 70:19, 105:2).