De virtute orationis et utilitate sacrae lectionis
The Necessity of Constant Prayer
In a world filled with spiritual dangers, constant prayer serves as a vital defense and a means of communion with God.
Pray without ceasing. Why? Because troubles and temptations are everywhere; there are traps and attacks from evil spirits all around. Good news is rarely heard; battles break out everywhere—fears within and fighting without; no day goes by without labor, and no hour passes without the dread of death. Yet wars and fires happen by the just judgment of God because of human sin, and so that the chosen may be stirred by these lashes to seek heavenly things. Therefore, constant prayer is absolutely necessary against all the dangers of the world, like a strong breastplate against the enemy's arrows. Whoever doesn't pray doesn't fight; and whoever doesn't fight and resist is quickly conquered and loses the crown. But who can pray and fight at all times? Anyone who calls upon God and trusts in Him can do all things. For the Lord is near to everyone who calls upon Him in truth. If you can't always cry out with your voice, pray in spirit and in mind; pray with longing and with a devout intention. The constant sacrifice on the altar of the heart is a good will to always act well and always serve God. For he is always right who always does what is right. Whoever grieves over past evils and sighs for future goods never ceases to pray. Say with holy David in the psalm: “Lord, all my desire is before You, and my groaning is not hidden from You.”
The Harmony of Reading and Action
Sacred reading and prayer work together to guide the soul, while God invites us to seek Him through both study and devotion.
The word of God and sacred reading are very useful for gathering back a soul that has been distracted by various things or weighed down by some passion. Reading shows the right way to live; examples provoke us to imitate them; prayer obtains the grace to carry it out. Reading about God is good; prayer to God is better; acting for the sake of God is best. Blessed is the person who directs all their words and deeds toward the praise of God as the goal of their happiness, so that God may be all in all, and blessed and praised above all things forever. How can someone be called religious and become devout if they prefer to chat rather than to read and pray? Whoever willingly listens to empty talk and speaks of trivial things sells their soul at a cheap price. In every tribulation and temptation, run back to prayer as to a safe harbor for the soul, imploring divine help. The sooner, the better; the later, the worse. The more often you do it, the more useful it is; the more fervently you do it, the more acceptable it is to God. God is loving and merciful and wants to be asked; He gives us reasons to pray and promises the hope of being heard when He says: “Ask, and it will be given to you.” He encourages us with words, provokes us with examples, threatens us with the rod, and entices us with gifts; He chastises us with adversity and gladdens us with prosperity, and so, evening and morning, the day becomes one. God often gives the experience of inner sweetness to those who pray devoutly, remain in secret, and willingly keep silent—a gift He denies to those who chatter and wander about outside. Whoever wants to hear good news should listen to Christ speaking about the kingdom of God and the future judgment, about the heavenly Jerusalem, about the happiness of the citizens above, and about the ranks and choirs of angels rejoicing forever and ever. Let him listen to the prophets announcing the mysteries of Christ and thundering punishments against sinners. Let him listen to the apostles and evangelists openly narrating the works and miracles of Christ.
The Discipline of a Devout Life
True devotion requires humility, the application of knowledge, and a guarded heart that resists vice through spiritual discipline.
Listen to teachers who speak beautifully and explain obscure things clearly; those who adorn their lives with good character and refute heresies and errors. Let everyone take what serves and pleases them; don't despise simple things, and don't criticize deep things you don't understand. It's foolish to criticize the wise, and wrong to judge those who are godly and holy. Strive first to learn humbly and to put small things into practice, and God will give you the ability to understand greater things sooner, if it's useful. For it is written. To the one who knows what is good and does not do it, it is a sin. Whoever knows and reads much, if they don't do what they know and have learned, leaves the good table empty. Whoever prays rarely and works little will remain cold and poor for a long time. Anyone who argues against vices but doesn't resist them is just throwing good seeds among thorns. You'll gather little fruit from many words if you don't use prayer to fortify your heart against wicked thoughts. Blessed is the soul that keeps itself strictly guarded against every encroaching impurity, and doesn't allow anything to linger in the hidden depths of the heart that might secretly offend the eyes of God. A humble confession of sins cleanses all vices in a heart that is humble and contrite before God. The devout person finds delight in prayer; the studious in books; the virtuous in virtues; the proud in honors; the humble in being looked down upon; the rich in estates; the greedy in money; the beggar in alms; the glutton in food and drink; the idle in gossip; the sober in abstinence; the wise in wisdom; the good monk in the discipline of his order. But above all things, it is the love of God and a good conscience that delight and gladden the heart. If you want to conquer the most wicked enemies of your soul, then flee, be silent, rest, pray, fast, study, and work. A holy person thinks holy thoughts, speaks the truth, does what is right, scorns present things, and contemplates eternal ones. The humble person listens to advice; the prudent person guards against dangers; the patient person bears their troubles with piety; the diligent person does not neglect their work.
The Path to Eternal Reward
By rejecting worldly vanity and grounding oneself in humility, the soul finds its true reward in the love of God.
Whoever doesn't guard against small things will fall into worse. Anyone who is lukewarm in the morning rarely glows with fervor by evening. Whoever quickly casts off sluggishness and takes up hard work gains joy and great honor for themselves. If not by people, then certainly by God—which is something to be desired and preferred above all else. For He Himself is the reward for all good labors, sweats, and sorrows, and the everlasting crown of the saints. The idle person is never satisfied with stories; the virtuous person abstains even from what is permitted. That person stands well and walks rightly who grounds themselves in humility and counts all the honors of the world as nothing. That person is truly wise and acts wisely who strives to please God alone: they flee outward things, seek inward ones, crave heavenly things, loathe all earthly things, despise themselves, and always prefer the love of God to all good things.
Read the original Latin
Sine intermissione orate. Quare? Quia ubique sunt tribulationes et temptationes: ubique insidiae et immissiones per angelos malos. Raro audiuntur bona nova; ubique insurgunt proelia multa: intus timores, foris pugnae; nulla dies sine labore: nulla hora absque mortis horrore. Fiunt autem iusto Dei iudicio bella et incendia propter hominum peccata: et ut electi excitentur flagellis ad caelestia quaerenda. Ideoque continua oratio summe est necessaria contra omnia mundi pericula: tamquam fortis lorica contra hostium iacula. Qui non orat non pugnat; et qui non pugnat et resistit: cito vincitur et coronam perdit. Sed quis potest semper orare et pugnare?
Omnia potest qui Deum invocat: et in eo confidit. Nam prope est Dominus omnibus invocantibus eum in veritate. Si non potes semper ore clamare; ora spiritu et mente: ora desiderio et pia intentione. Iuge sacrificium in ara cordis: est bona voluntas semper bene agendi et semper Deo serviendi. Semper enim rat: qui semper bene facit. Qui de praeteritis malis dolet, et pro futuris bonis gemit: orare non desinit. Dic cum sancto David in psalmo. Domine ante te omne desiderium meum: et gemitus meus a iste non est absconditus.
Valde utilis est sermo Dei, et sacra lectio ad recolligendum animum per diversa distractum: aut aliqua passione gravatum. Lectio ostendit rectam viam vivendi; exempla provocant ad imitandum: oratio impetrat gratiam ad perficiendum. Bona est lectio de Deo; melior oratio ad Deum: optima operatio propter Deum. Beatus qui omnia verba et facta sua ordinat ad laudem Dei sicut in beatitudinis finem; ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus: et super omnia benedictus et laudatus in saecula. Quomodo potest dici religiosus et effici devotus; quem delectat magis fabulari quam legere et orare? Qui libenter vana audit et levia profert: vili pretio animam suam vendit. In omni tribulatione et temptatione ad orationem recurre: sicut ad portum animae tutum, divinum implorando auxilium. Quanto citius tantos melius: quanto tardius tanto peius.
Quanto saepius tanto utilius: quanto ferventius tanto Deo acceptius. Pius et misericors Deus vult rogari; causas dat orandi: spem promittit exaudiendi dicens. Petite: et dabitur vobis. Hortatur verbis, provocat exemplis: minatur virgis, blanditur donis; castigat adversis, laetificat prosperis: et sic fit vespere et mane dies unus. Saepe etiam dat Deus experimentum internae suavitatis devote orantibus, secrete manentibus, et libenter tacentibus: quod denegat fabulantibus et foris vagantibus. Qui vult bona nova audire: audiat Christum loquentem de regno Dei, deo iudicio futuro; de caelesti Ierusalem, de felicitate civium supernorum: de ordinibus et choris angelorum laetantium in saecula saeculorum. Audiat prophetas mysteria Christi nuntiantes: et peccatoribus poenas intonantes. Audiat apostolos et evangelistas: opera et miracula Christi aperte narrantes.
Audiat doctores pulchre sermocinantes, obscura clare exponentes; moribus vitam ornantes: haereses et errores confutantes. Capiat quilibet, quod sibi deservit et placet; non spernat simplicia: nec reprehendat quae non intellegit alta. Stultum est enim reprehendere sapientes: iniquum iudicare sdivinos et sanctos. Stude primo humiliter discere et parva implere: et Deus dabit tibi maiora si utile fuerit citius intellegere. Scriptum est enim. Scienti bonum et non facienti: peccatum est illi. Qui multa scit et legit, si non facit quae novit et didicit: vacuus de bona mensa recedit. Qui raro orat et parum laborat: diu frigidus et pauper remanebit.
Qui contra vitia disputat et vitiis non resistit: bona semina inter spinas iactat. Parvum fructum de multis verbis colligit: qui orando cor a pravis cogitationibus non praemunit. Felix anima quae ab omni impuritate irruente stricte se custodit: nec patitur quid morari in abdito cordis quod oculos Dei latenter offendat. Humilis confessio peccatorum: purgatio est omnium vitiorum in corde humili et contrito ante Deum. Devotus delectatur in precibus: studiosus in libris, virtuosus in virtutibus; superbus in honoribus, humilis in despectibus, dives in praediis, avarus in pecuniis: mendicus in eleemosynis, gulosus in cibis et potibus, otiosus in fabulis, sobrius in abstinentia; sapiens in sapientia, bonus monachus in ordinis disciplina: super omnia autem delectat et laetificat amor Dei et bona conscientia. Si vis vincere animae tuae nequissimoss hostes; fuge tace quiesce: ora ieiuna stude labora. Sanctus cogitat sancta; loquitur vera, operatur recta: spernit praesentia, contemplatur aeterna. Humilis audit consilia, prudens cavet pericula patiens pie fert sibi molesta: diligens non neglegit opera sua.
Qui parva non cavet: ad peiora corruet. Tepidus de mane: raro fervescit in vespere. Qui cito abicit a se torporem et arripit laborem: gaudium sibi acquirit et magnum honorem. Etsi non ab hominibus: certe a Deo quod est omnibus amplius optandum et praeferendum. Nam ipse merces omnium bonorum laborum, sudorum et dolorum perpesque corona sanctorum. Otiosus non satiatur fabulis: virtuosus etiam abstinet a licitis. Ille bene stat et recte ambulat; qui in humilitate se fundat: et omnes mundi honores pro nihilo taxat. Ille optime sapit et sapienter agit; qui soli Deo placere studet: exteriora fugit, interna quaerit; caelestia appetit, terrena omnia fastidit, se despicit: et amorem Dei omnibus bonis semper praeponit.
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
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