De pura et integra resignatione cordis ad obtinendam sui libertatem.

The Invitation to Let Go

Christ calls the soul to release all self-ownership and self-choice, promising that in this surrender the soul will find Him and receive even greater grace.

Son, let go of yourself, and you'll find me; stand free from all choice and every claim of ownership, and you'll always gain.^✦¹² For even greater grace will be added to you at once, once you've given yourself over completely and taken nothing back.³⁴⁵

The Soul's Question of Surrender

The disciple asks how often and in what measure the self must be yielded to God.

Lord, how often will I hand myself over to you? And in what things will I let go of myself?

Total and Unreserved Stripping

Christ answers that surrender must be constant, universal, and without exception—stripped of every will both within and without—for only then can true mutual belonging exist.

Always and at every hour — in small things as in great. I make no exceptions — I want you to be found stripped in all things. Otherwise, how can you be mine and I yours, unless you've been stripped of every will of your own, within and without? The more quickly you do this, the better off you'll be; and the more fully and sincerely you do it, the more you'll please me, and the more you'll gain.

The Failure of Partial Surrender

Those who hold something back or retreat under trial cannot attain the freedom of a pure heart or the grace of intimate union with Christ.

Some people surrender themselves, but with some reservation — for they don't fully trust in God — and so they busy themselves making provisions for their own needs.⁶⁷ Some at first offer everything, but afterward, when temptation presses in, they return to their own ways — and so they make no progress at all in virtue.⁸⁹ These people will not attain true freedom of a pure heart, nor the grace of my sweet intimacy, unless they have first made a complete surrender and a daily sacrifice of themselves. Without this, the fruitful union will not endure — it does not even exist.¹⁰¹¹¹²

The Call to Naked Freedom

Christ repeats His urgent call to full surrender, promising inner peace, freedom from darkness, and the death of all disordered fear and love, so that the soul may follow naked Jesus and live forever in Him.

I've told you many times, and now I say it again: let go of yourself, surrender yourself, and you'll enjoy great inner peace. Give everything for everything; don't seek anything for yourself, don't demand anything back. Stand purely and cling to me, and you'll have me.¹³ You'll be free in heart, and darkness won't crush you. Strive for this, pray for this, long for this: that you may be stripped of every claim to ownership, and naked follow naked Jesus — die to yourself, and live to me forever.¹⁴ Then all vain illusions will fade, every wicked disturbance and every needless anxiety. Then excessive fear will also fall away, and disordered love will die.

Read the original Latin

Fili, relinque te, et invenies me; sta sine electione, et omni proprietate et semper lucraberis. Nam et adjicietur tibi amplior gratia statim, ut te resignaveris nec resumpseris.

Domine, quoties me resignabo? et in quibus me relinquam?

Semper et in omni hora: sicut in parvo, sic et in magno. Nihil excipio, sed in omnibus te nudatum inveniri volo. Alioquin quomodo poteris esse meus et ego tuus, nisi fueris ab omni propria voluntate intus et foris spoliatus? Quanto celerius hoc agis, tanto melius habebis; et quanto plenius et sincerius, tanto mihi plus placebis, et amplius lucraberis.

Quidam se resignant, sed cum aliqua exceptione: non enim plene in Deo confidunt; ideo providere sibi satagunt. Quidam etiam primo offerunt totum, sed postea tentatione pulsante ad propria redeunt; ideo minime in virtute proficiunt. Hi ad veram puri cordis libertatem, et jucundæ familiaritatis meæ gratiam non pertingent, nisi integra resignatione, et quotidiana sui immolatione prius facta, sine qua non stabit, nec stat unio fruitiva.

Dixi tibi sæpissime et iterum nunc dico: Relinque te, resigna te, et frueris magna interna pace. Da totum pro toto, nihil exquire, nil repete, sta pure et inhæsitanter in me, et habebis me. Eris liber in corde, et tenebræ non conculcabunt te. Ad hoc conare, hoc ora, hoc stude desiderare, ut ab omni proprietate possis exspoliari et nudus nudum Jesum sequi, tibi mori, et mihi æternaliter vivere. Tunc deficient omnes vanæ phantasiæ, conturbationes iniquæ, et curæ superfluæ. Tunc etiam recedet immoderatus timor, et inordinatus amor morietur.

Scripture echoes

↩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."

Notes

1 ↩proprietate rendered as 'claim of ownership' to convey the sense of proprietary self-possession Thomas has in mind.
2 ↩lucraberis (ambiguous between future passive and deponent future) rendered as 'you will always gain' to capture the sense of spiritual profit.
3 ↩Nam rendered as 'For' to preserve the explanatory force. et at the start of the clause rendered as 'even' to capture its emphatic/additive sense.
4 ↩resignaveris and resumpseris are ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; rendered with 'once you have…' to convey the purpose/result sense of ut.
5 ↩nec rendered as 'and…not' compressed into 'and taken nothing back' to preserve the negative-additive force naturally.
6 ↩sed introduces an adversative qualification: the surrender is real but incomplete. enim gives the explanatory reason — lack of full trust — and ideo draws the consequence: anxious self-provisioning.
7 ↩resigno rendered 'surrender' in the sense of self-resignation to God's will. satagunt ('busy oneself, take care') is rare; the sense of anxious self-management is contextually clear.
8 ↩sed marks the contrast between the initial generous offering and the later retreat under temptation. ideo draws the consequence: stagnation in virtue.
9 ↩tentatione pulsante is an ablative absolute ('with temptation assailing'), rendered dynamically as 'when temptation presses in.' propria ('their own things') rendered as 'their own ways' to capture the sense of reverting to self-directed living.
10 ↩et (first) coordinates the two goals: true freedom and the grace of intimacy. et (second) coordinates the two required conditions: complete surrender and daily self-sacrifice. nec is negative-additive, continuing the negation from non stabit: 'will not endure, nor even exists.'
11 ↩jucundæ familiaritatis meæ gratiam — 'the grace of my sweet familiarity/intimacy' — Christ speaks in the first person. jucundus rendered 'sweet' to capture warmth and delight. fruitiva (rare) rendered 'fruitful' modifying unio ('union'). integra resignatione rendered 'complete surrender.' quotidiana sui immolatione rendered 'daily sacrifice of themselves.'
12 ↩The passage sets a stringent condition: only total, daily self-offering makes possible both interior freedom and intimate union with Christ. The double negation (non stabit, nec stat) emphasizes that without this surrender, the union is not merely unstable — it is absent altogether.
13 ↩inhæsitanter is a rare form; rendered as 'cling to' to capture persistent, devoted attachment.
14 ↩nudus nudum Jesum sequi — the doubling of 'naked' echoes a long ascetical tradition (following Christ stripped of all things, as on the cross). Rendered to preserve the striking repetition.