De occultanda gratia sub humilitatis custodia.

Guarding Grace in Humility

The reader is urged to hide the grace of devotion in humble self-distrust rather than clinging to consolation or neglecting duty in times of dryness.

My child, it is more useful and safer for you to keep the grace of devotion hidden — not to puff yourself up or speak much about it, not to dwell on it at length — but rather to look down on yourself and tremble, as one unworthy, over the grace that has been given you. You should not cling too tightly to an affection that can quickly turn into its opposite. Think about how wretched you are in possessing grace, and how destitute you tend to be without it. A person's progress in the spiritual life is not measured only by the grace of consolation they have received, but by how humbly, self-denyingly, and patiently they have borne its withdrawal. So do not grow sluggish in your zeal for prayer, and do not let the rest of your duties — the things you ought to be doing as a matter of practice — slip away entirely. Instead, do willingly whatever lies within your power, as best you can and as well as you understand. And do not neglect yourself completely just because of the dryness or anxiety of mind you are experiencing.

The Danger of Presuming on Grace

Those who follow their own impulses rather than God’s measure, or refuse humble guidance, risk losing grace and falling into delusion.

For there are many who, when things do not go well for them, immediately become impatient or give up. For the way of a person is not always within their own power; it belongs to God to give and to console — when he wills, and as much as he wills, and to whom he wills, just as it has pleased him — and nothing beyond that.^✦¹ Some incautious people have destroyed themselves on account of devotion's grace, because they wanted to do more than they were able — not considering the measure of their own smallness, but following the impulse of the heart rather than the judgment of reason.² And because they presumed to do more than was pleasing to God, they quickly lost his grace and were left destitute and worthless — they who had built their nest in the sky — so that, humbled and stripped bare, they might learn not to fly on their own wings, but to hope under my wings.³ Those who are still new and inexperienced in the way of the Lord — unless they let themselves be guided by the counsel of discerning people — can easily be deceived and led astray.

True Humility versus Self‑Deception

The text contrasts humble reliance on God and others with the pride of following one’s own judgment, especially in prosperity and adversity.

Since they would rather follow their own feelings than trust those with more experience, their end will be dangerous — yet they have not been able to let go of their own notion. Those who are wise in their own eyes rarely allow themselves to be humbly led by others.^✦ It is better to know a little with humility and to have a small understanding than to possess great treasures of learning with vain self-satisfaction. It is better to have less than to have so much that you could become proud. Whoever gives himself over entirely to joy, forgetting his former poverty and the chaste fear of the Lord, does not act with enough discretion. He does not fear losing the grace that has been offered to him. Nor is that person wise in a truly virtuous way who, in a time of adversity or any serious trial, behaves too desperately and thinks and feels less confidently about me than he should.

Stability Through Self‑Knowledge and Moderation

Over‑confidence in peaceful times leads to collapse in trials, whereas humble self‑moderation preserves the soul from rash falls.

Whoever wants to be too secure in time of peace will often be found too cast down and fearful in time of war. If you knew how to remain always humble and restrained within yourself, and also how to moderate and govern your spirit well, you would not fall so quickly into danger and offense.

Learning to Live with the Ebb and Flow of Grace

The reader is taught to anticipate the withdrawal of fervor, to interpret trial as useful, and to measure progress by humble love rather than extraordinary experiences.

It is good counsel to reflect, while the spirit of fervor is still alive in you, what things will be like once that light has gone. When that happens, think again, and consider whether the light that I withdrew for a time — to your caution, but to my glory — can return once more. For such a trial is often more useful than if you always had things go the way you wanted. For merits are not to be judged by this: whether someone has many visions or consolations, or is learned in the Scriptures, or is placed in a higher rank. Rather, a person should be founded on true humility and filled with divine love; they should always seek God's honor purely and wholeheartedly, count themselves as nothing, and in truth look down on themselves — and even rejoice more at being despised and humbled by others than at being honored.⁴

Read the original Latin

Fili, utilius est tibi et securius devotionis gratiam abscondere nec in altum te efferre, nec multum inde loqui, neque multum ponderare, sed magi teipsum despicere, et tanquam indigno datam timere. Non est huic affectioni tenacius inhærendum, quæ citius potest mutari in contrarium. Cogita quam miser in gratia, et inops esse soles sine gratia. Nec est in eo tantum spiritualis vitæ profectus, cum consolationis habueris gratiam, sed cum humiliter, et abnegate patienterque tuleris ejus subtractionem. Ita quod tunc ab orationis studio non torpeas, nec reliqua opera tua ex usu facienda omnino dilabi permittas, sed sicut potueris melius et intellexeris, libenter quod est in te facias, nec propter ariditatem sive anxietatem mentis quam sentis te totaliter negligas.

Multi enim sunt qui, cum non bene eis successerit, statim impatientes fiunt aut desides. Non enim semper est in potestate hominis via ejus, sed Dei est dare et consolari, quando vult et quantum vult, et cui vult, sicut sibi placuerit, et non amplius. Quidam incauti propter devotionis gratiam se ipsos destruxerunt, quia plus agere voluerunt quam potuerunt, non pensantes suæ parvitatis mensuram sed magis cordis affectum sequentes, quam rationis judicium. Et quia majora præsumserunt, quam Deo placitum fuit, idcirco gratiam perdiderunt cito, et facti sunt inopes, et viles relicti, qui in cælum posuerant nidum sibi: ut humiliati et depauperati discant non in alis suis volare, sed sub pennis meis sperare. Qui adhuc novi sunt et imperiti in via Domini, nisi consilio discretorum se regant, faciliter decipi possunt et illudi.

Quod si sentire suum magis sequi, quam aliis exercitatis credere volunt, erit eis periculosus exitus, sed tamen retrahi a proprio conceptu non valuerint. Raro sibi ipsis sapientes, ab aliis regi humiliter patiuntur. Melius est modicum sapere cum humilitate, et parva intelligentia quam magi scientiarum thesauri cum vana complacentia. Melius est minus habere, quam multum, unde posses superbire. Non satis discrete agit, qui se totum lætitiæ tradidit, obliviscens pristinæ inopiæ suæ, et casti timoris Domini, qui non timet gratiam oblatam amittere. Non etiam satis virtuose sapit, qui tempore adversitatis et cujuscumque gravitatis nimis desperate se gerit, et minus fidenter de me, quam oportet, cogitat ac sentit.

Qui tempore pacis nimis securus esse voluerit, sæpe tempore belli nimis dejectus et formidolosus reperietur. Si scires semper humilis et modicus in te permanere necnon spiritum tuum bene moderare et regere, non incideres tam cito in periculum et offensam.

Consilium bonum est ut fervoris spiritu concepto mediteris quid futurum sit abscedente lumine. Quod dum contigerit, recogita, ac denuo lucem posse reverti, quam ad cautelam tibi, mihi autem ad gloriam, ad tempus subtraxi. Utilior enim est sæpe talis probatio, quam si semper prospera pro tua haberes voluntate. Nam merita non sunt ex hoc extimanda, si quis plures visiones aut consolationes habeat, vel si peritus sit in Scripturis, aut in altiori gradu ponatur: sed si fuerit vera humilitate fundatus, et divina charitate repletus; si Dei honorem pure et integre semper quærat, si se ipsum nihil reputet, et in veritate despiciat atque ab aliis etiam despici et humiliari magis gaudeat quam honorari.

Scripture echoes

↩Jer.10.23 — I know, O LORD, that the way of a man is not his own; it is not for a man who walks to direct his own steps.
↩Prov.3.7 — Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn from evil.

Notes

1 ↩The italicized span 'Non … est in potestate hominis via ejus' echoes Jeremiah 10:23 (Vulgate): 'Non est hominis via ejus, nec viri est ut ambulet et dirigat gressus suos.' Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
2 ↩affectum (affectus) rendered as 'affection' in the sense of disordered emotional impulse, per lexeme policy for affectio/affectus in negative contexts.
3 ↩The phrase 'non in alis suis volare, sed sub pennis meis sperare' echoes Psalm 90:4 (Vulgate 91:4): 'Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi, et sub pennis ejus sperabis.' The shift from plural 'wings' to singular 'my wings' suggests Christ speaking. Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
4 ↩charitate rendered as 'love' per lexeme policy; the theological-virtue sense (caritas) is preserved by context ('divine love').