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← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 59Imit.3.59

Quod omnis spes et fiducia in solo Deo est figenda.

God Alone Is My Confidence

The soul confesses that all true consolation, confidence, and well-being rest in God alone, preferring poverty and pilgrimage with Him over any blessing without Him.

Lord, what confidence do I have in this life, and what greater consolation is mine than anything visible under heaven? Are you not, Lord my God, you whose mercy has no measure? When has anything ever gone well for me without you? Or when could things go badly for me with you present? I would rather be poor for your sake than rich without you. I would rather sojourn on earth with you than possess heaven without you. Where you are, there is heaven; and where you are not, there is death and hell. You are the one I long for, and so I must groan and cry out and plead for you. In the end, I cannot find full rest in anyone who is more help in their difficulties — except in you alone, my God.1 You are my hope and my confidence, my consoler, and most faithful in all things.

God Orders All Things for Good

God alone seeks the soul’s salvation, turning even temptations and adversities to its benefit, and deserves equal praise in trial as in consolation.

Everyone goes after what's their own; you alone set my salvation and my progress before me, and you turn everything to my good.✦ And even if you expose me to all kinds of temptations and hardships, you're arranging every bit of it for my benefit — you who are used to testing your beloved in a thousand ways.✦ In that testing, you deserve to be loved and praised just as much as if you had filled me with heavenly consolation.

No Created Help Without God

All hope is placed in God because every human and created support—friends, counselors, books, places—proves powerless without His direct presence.

So in you, Lord my God, I place my whole hope and refuge; on you I rest all my tribulation and distress, because everything I look at outside of you I find completely weak and unstable. For many friends will be of no help, nor will strong helpers be able to assist, nor wise counselors give a useful answer, nor the books of the teachers console, nor any other precious resource set you free, nor any secret place shelter you — if you yourself do not stand by me, help me, strengthen me, comfort me, instruct me, and guard me.23

To Hope in God Is Supreme Comfort

Apart from God, all apparent peace is vanity; He is the summit of all good, and the soul prays to be made His holy dwelling, protected through exile and guided to eternal glory.

All things that seem to bring peace and happiness, when you are absent, are nothing — they contribute nothing to happiness or to truth. You are the goal of all good things, the height of life and the depth of all utterance; and to hope in You above all things is the strongest comfort for all Your servants. My eyes are fixed on You; I trust in You, my God, Father of mercies. Bless and sanctify my soul with heavenly blessing, that it may become Your holy dwelling and the seat of Your eternal glory; and let nothing be found in the temple of Your dignity that offends the eyes of Your majesty.4 "According to the abundance of Your compassions" and the greatness of Your goodness, "look upon me," and hear the prayer of Your poor servant, far exiled in the region of the shadow of death.56 Protect and preserve the soul of Your little servant amid all the dangers of this corruptible life, and with Your grace accompanying me, direct me along the way of peace to the everlasting homeland of happiness and glory.7

Read the original Latin

Domine, quæ est fiducia mea quam in hac vita habeo, aut quod majus solatium meum ex omnibus apparentibus sub cælo? Nonne tu, Domine Deus meus, cujus misericordiæ non est numerus? Ubi mihi bene fuit sine te? Aut quando male esse potuit præsente te? Malo pauper esse propter te, quam dives sine te. Eligo potius tecum in terra peregrinari, quam sine te cælum possidere. Ubi tu, ibi cælum; atque ibi mors est atque infernus, ubi tu non es. Tu mihi in desiderio es, et ideo post te gemere et clamare et exorare necesse est. In nullo denique possum plene considere, qui in necessitatibus auxilietur opportunius, nisi in te solo Deo meo. Tu es spes mea, et fiducia mea, et consolator meus, et fidelissimus in omnibus.

Omnes quæ sua sunt quærunt: tu salutem meam, et profectum meum solummodo prætendis et omnia in bonum mihi convertis. Et si variis tentationibus et adversitatibus exponas me, hoc totum ad utilitatem meam ordinas, qui mille modis dilectos tuos probare consuevisti. In qua probatione non minus diligi debes et laudari, quam si cælestibus consolationibus me repleres.

In te ergo, Domine Deus meus, pono totam spem meam et refugium; in te omnem tribulationem meam et angustiam meam constituo, quia totum infirumum et instabile invenio quidquid extra te conspicio. Non enim proderunt multi amici, neque fortes auxiliarii adjuvare poterunt, neque prudentes consiliarii responsum utile dare, neque libri Doctorum consolari, nec alia prætiosa substantia liberare, neque locus aliquis secretus contutari, si tu ipse non assistas, juves, confortes, consoleris, instruas et custodias.

Omnia namque, quæ ad pacem videntur esse et felicitatem habendam, te absente nihil sunt, nihilque felicitatis et veritate conferunt. Finis ergo omnium bonorum et altitudo vitæ et profunditas eloquiorum tu es; et in te super omnia sperare, fortissimum solatium omnium servorum tuorum. Ad te sunt oculi mei; in te confido, Deus meus; misericordiarum Pater, benedic et sanctifica animam meam benedictione cælesti, ut fiat habitatio sancta tua et sedes æternæ gloriæ tuæ, nihilque in templo tuæ dignitatis inveniatur, quod oculos tuæ majestatis offendat. Secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum et magnitudinem bonitatis tuæ respice in me, et exaudi orationem pauperis servi tui, longe exulantis in regione umbræ mortis. Protege et conserva animam servuli tui inter tot discrimina vitæ corruptibilis, ac comitante gratia tua, dirige per viam pacis ad perpetuæ patriam felicitatis et claritatis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.8.28 — And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good — for those who are called according to his purpose.
  2. ↩1Pet.1.6-1Pet.1.7 — 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.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin 'qui in necessitatibus auxilietur opportunius' is a relative clause whose antecedent is ambiguous: it could mean 'in no one who might be helped in their needs' or 'in no one who could provide more timely help.' The rendering follows the sense that no other person offers fuller rest or more timely aid in necessities than God alone.
  2. 2 ↩The repeated negative-additive chain (neque…neque…neque…nec…neque…neque) builds a rhetorical crescendo stripping away every created support; rendered with repeated 'nor' to preserve the rhetorical force.
  3. 3 ↩contutari is a rare deponent form (contutor); translated as intended sense 'shelter/protect.'
  4. 4 ↩Habitatio and sedes together evoke the soul as both God's dwelling-place and the throne of His glory — temple imagery applied to the interior person.
  5. 5 ↩"Secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum" and "respice in me" are marked as quoted spans; both echo the Psalms (cf. Ps 50:3/Vulgate and Ps 137:7/Vulgate tradition). Final resolution deferred.
  6. 6 ↩Regio umbræ mortis — the land of the shadow of death — is a standard patristic and monastic image for earthly exile.
  7. 7 ↩Servulus (diminutive of servus) conveys tender self-abasement — 'little servant' captures the humility.