De instabilitate humani cordis
The Call to Interior Recollection
The soul is urged to abandon external distractions and return to the heart to find true peace in God.
Whoever remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. People's thoughts and affections are varied and unstable, and everything that doesn't come from God is empty and impure. O human heart, so greedy and insatiable: how harmful and bitter it is for you to abandon your God. Why do you dwell on so many empty things that cannot perfectly comfort or fully satisfy you? What, then, will you do, and where will you turn to find peace? Return quickly to your heart; see how much you have offended, and take care to amend what you have done wrong. Prepare the house of your mind for God; guard yourself against intrusive images and external cares, so that you may be filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Whoever wanders outside too often is rarely improved by it.
Finding Stability in the Supreme Good
True stability is found only by referring all things to the Creator rather than seeking satisfaction in created goods.
Everything that looks bright on the outside eventually amounts to nothing. What is seen doesn't satisfy the one who sees, nor do things heard fill the heart; and unless everything is referred to the praise of the Creator, every vision of the observer is empty. That is why holy David sings praises to God with his harp in every church. You have delighted me, Lord, in your creation, and I will exult in the works of your hands. No one finds stability in a created good, but only in God, the supreme good. Stand in the truth, and the truth will set you free from every lie and iniquity, and from your own fabricated persona. Everything falsely contrived about a neighbor will return upon the head of the one who speaks against him. Christ is the truth, and whoever follows Christ is a lover of truth and of every virtue.
Walking in Truth and Humility
The believer is encouraged to remain in truth and love, practicing patience and humility despite the deceptions of the world.
Anyone who abandons the truth for the sake of temporary gain or honor loses their faith and the beauty of virtue. God is truth, and He doesn't let liars stay hidden for long. A wicked person can pretend for a while, but in the end, the truthful will prevail, and the fake will be put to shame where they least expect it. Don't think about or desire anything except what is right and what pleases God most; for these are the virtues and good works done for the honor of God. Remain in truth and love, and you'll be acceptable to God, to the angels, and to people. Do not be afraid. A wicked person may take away some temporary things, but God will repay the one who endures with things much greater and eternal. If you want to have peace and a good conscience, keep humility, patience, and obedience.
The Mastery of the Self
Peace is achieved by overcoming self-agitation through the humble examination of one's own faults.
There’s no worse enemy to you than yourself when you’re deeply agitated. For if you carefully consider your own faults, you'll think very little of what others do.
Read the original Latin
Qui manet in me et ego in eo: hic fert fructum multum. Cogitationes et affectiones hominum variae sunt et instabiles: sed inanes omnes et impurae quae de Deo non sunt. O cor humanum cupidum nimis et insatiabile: quam malum est tibi et amarum relinquere Deum tuum. Cur multa inania cogitas; quae te perfecte consolari nequeunt nec plene satiare? Quid igitur facies; quo te vertes ut bene habeas? Revertere cito ad cor tuum; vide in quantis offendisti: cura emendare quae deliquisti. Praepara Deo domum mentis; custodi te ab irruentibus imaginibus et curis externis: ut replearis consolatione sancti Spiritus. Qui saepius foris evagatur: raro inde melioratur.
Omnia ad nihilum tendunt: quae foris nitida apparent. Nec videntem satiant visa, nec audita implent corda; et nisi omnia referantur ad laudem Creatoris: inanis est omnis visio videntis. Hinc sanctus David cum cithara: laudes canit Deo in omni ecclesia. Delectasti me Domine in factura tua: et in operibus manuum tuarum exultabo. Nemo stabilitur in bono creato: sed tantum in Deo solo summo bono. Sta in veritate; et veritas liberabit te de omni mendacio et iniquitate: de tua persona fabulata. Omnia quae de proximo male finguntur: revertentur in caput obloquentis. Christus veritas est: et qui sequitur Christum amator est veritatis, et omnis virtutis.
Qui deserit veritatem propter lucrum temporale vel honorem: perdit fidem et virtutis decorem. Deus veritas est: et mendaces non sinit diu latere. Malus ad tempus se fingere potest; sed finaliter veridicus praevalebit: et fictus confundetur ubi non aestimat. Noli aliqua cogitare nec desiderare nisi quae recta sunt et Deo maxime placent; haec enim sunt virtutes et bona opera: ad honorem Dei facta. Mane in veritate et caritate: et eris acceptus Deo et angelis et hominibus. Ne timeas. Malus potest auferre aliqua transitoria: sed Deus reddet patienti multo maiora et aeterna. Si vis habere pacem et bonam conscientiam: serva humilitatem patientiam et oboedientiam.
Nullus peior hostis tibi: quam tu ipse tibi graviter commotus. Si enim proprios defectus caute consideras: aliorum facta parum ponderabis.
The Little Garden of Roses & The Valley of Lilies companion
Fourteen readings down. The other 39 chapters are waiting.
Chosen Portion serves the complete Little Garden and Valley of Lilies — plus the Imitation — as daily portions.
These treatises were composed as brief daily counsels for a community's rhythm of reading, and Chosen Portion delivers them the same way: one short chapter each morning.
- All 53 chapters of both treatises in modern readable English
- A new short reading delivered every morning, no deciding what's next
- Complete both treatises in under two months at one chapter a day