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← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 35Imit.3.35

Quod non est securitas a tentatione in hac vita.

Armed for the Struggle

Because this life is never free from spiritual danger, the disciple must take up the shield of patience, fix the heart firmly in Christ, and press forward courageously, trusting that conquest brings manna and sluggishness brings misery.

My child, you are never safe in this life; but as long as you live, you'll always need the weapons of the spirit. You find yourself surrounded by enemies; you're attacked from the right and from the left. So if you don't use the shield of patience on every side, you won't go long without being wounded.✦ And besides, if you don't fix your heart firmly in me with a true willingness to endure all things for my sake, you won't be able to bear that burning desire, nor reach the palm of the blessed.✦✦12 So you must courageously pass through everything, and use a strong hand against whatever stands in your way. For to the one who conquers, manna is given; and to the one who is sluggish, great misery is left behind.✦✦3

True Rest in God Alone

The disciple is warned not to seek earthly rest but to embrace patient endurance and suffering for the love of God, since true peace is found only in God and eternal glory awaits those who bear passing shame.

If you look for rest in this life, how will you then come to eternal rest? Don't set your heart on a great deal of rest, but on great patience. Look for true peace not on earth but in heaven, not in other people or in any other created thing, but in God alone. For the love of God you should willingly undergo everything: labors, of course, and pains; temptations and vexations; anxieties and hardships; weaknesses, injuries, insults, reprimands, humiliations, confusions, corrections, and contempt. I will give that person eternal reward for brief labor, and infinite glory for passing shame.

Waiting on the Lord in Trial

The disciple is reminded that spiritual consolations are not guaranteed, that the saints endured desolation with patience, and that steadfast offering of body and soul to God will be fully repaid and accompanied by His presence in every trial.

Do you think you'll always have spiritual consolations just because you want them? My saints did not have such consolations, but many burdens and various temptations, and great desolations; yet they bore up patiently in all things and trusted God more than themselves, knowing <quote>that the sufferings of this time are not worth comparing with the glory</quote> to be revealed.✦ Do you want to have right away what many people barely obtained after many tears and great labors? Wait for the Lord. Act with courage and take heart. Don't lose confidence, don't give up, but offer your body and soul steadfastly for the glory of God. I will repay you most fully; I will be with you in every trial.

Read the original Latin

Fili, nunquam es securus in hac vita: sed quoad vixeris, semper arma spiritualia tibi sunt necessaria. Inter hostes versaris; a dextris et a sinistris impugnaris. Si ergo non uteris undique scuto patientiæ, non eris diu sine vulnere. Insuper si non ponis cor tuum fixe in me cum vera voluntate cuncta patiendi propter me, non poteris ardorem istum sustinere, nec ad palmam pertingere Beatorum. Oportet ergo te viriliter omnia pertransire, et potenti manu uti adversus objecta. Nam vincenti datur manna et torpenti relinquitur multa miseria.

Si quæris in hac vita requiem: quomodo tunc pervenies ad æternam requiem? Non ponas te ad multam requiem, sed ad magnam patientiam. Quære veram pacem non in terris sed in cælis, non in hominibus nec in cæteris creaturis, sed in Deo solo. Pro amore Dei debes omnia libenter subire, labores scilicet et dolores, tentationes et vexationes, anxietates et necessitates, infirmitates, injurias, oblocutiones, reprehensiones, humiliationes, confusiones, correctiones et despectiones. Ego reddam ei æternam mercedem pro brevi labore, et infinitam gloriam pro transitoria confusione.

Putas, quod semper habebis pro tua voluntate consolationes spirituales. Sancti mei non habuerunt tales, sed multas gravitates et tentationes varia, magnasque desolationes, sed patienter sustinuerunt se in omnibus et magis confisi sunt Deo quam sibi: scientes quia non sunt condignæ passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam promerendam. Vis tu statim habere, quod multi post multas lacrymas et magnos labores vix obtinuerunt? Exspecta Dominum, viriliter age et confortare; noli diffidere, noli discedere, sed corpus et animam expone constanter pro gloria Dei. Ego reddam plenissime; ego tecum ero in omni tribulatione.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Eph.6.16 — In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
  2. ↩Matt.10.38-Matt.10.39;Matt.16.24 — And whoever does not take up their cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Matt.10.39 — Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matt.16.24 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
  3. ↩Rev.7.9 — After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
  4. ↩Rev.2.17 — The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written that no one knows except the one who receives it.
  5. ↩Exod.16.13-Exod.16.21 — And in the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. Exod.16.14 — And when the layer of dew had lifted, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. Exod.16.15 — When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.' Exod.16.16 — This is the thing that the LORD has commanded: Gather from it, each person according to what he can eat—an omer per person, according to the number of your people; each one shall take it for those who are in his tent. Exod.16.17 — The people of Israel did just that—some gathered much and some gathered little. Exod.16.18 — And when they measured by the omer, the one who gathered much had no excess, and the one who gathered little had no lack; each gathered according to what they would eat. Exod.16.19 — Moses said to them, "No one is to leave any of it until morning." Exod.16.20 — But they did not listen to Moses. Some of them kept part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Exod.16.21 — They gathered it morning by morning, each as much as he could eat; and when the sun grew hot, it melted.
  6. ↩Rom.8.18 — For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩cor rendered as 'heart' per lexeme policy for inner attention and will.
  2. 2 ↩cum with ablative voluntate treated as preposition of accompaniment ('with a true willingness'), not causal conjunction.
  3. 3 ↩manna echoes Exodus 16 and Revelation 2:17 ('hidden manna'), though the pairing with torpenti and miseria is Thomas's own construction.