Of the proving of the true lover
1. "My Son, you are not yet strong and prudent in your love."
2. Wherefore, O my Lord?
3. "Because for a little opposition you fall away from your
undertakings, and too eagerly seek after consolation. The
strong lover stands fast in temptations, and believes not the
evil persuasions of the enemy. As in prosperity I please him, so
in adversity I do not displease.
4. "The prudent lover considers not the gift of the lover so
much as the love of the giver. He looks for the affection more
than the value, and sets all gifts lower than the Beloved.
The noble lover rests not in the gift, but in Me above every
gift.
5. "All is not lost, though you sometimes think of Me, or of My
saints, less than you should desire. That good and sweet
affection which you sometimes perceive is the effect of
present grace and some foretaste of the heavenly country; but
hereon you must not too much depend, for it goes and comes.
But to strive against the evil motions of the mind which come to
us, and to resist the suggestions of the devil, is a token of
virtue and great merit.
6. "Therefore let not strange fancies disturb you, whensoever
they arise. Bravely observe your purpose and your upright
intentions towards God. It is not an illusion when you are
sometimes suddenly carried away into rapture, and then suddenly are brought back to the wonted vanities of your heart. For you do rather unwillingly undergo them than cause them; and so long
as they displease you and you strive against them, it is a
merit and no loss.
7. "Know you that your old enemy altogether strives to hinder your pursuit after good, and to deter you from every godly
exercise, to wit, the contemplation of the Saints, the pious
remembrance of My Passion, the profitable recollection of sin,
the keeping of your own heart, and the steadfast purpose to grow
in virtue. He suggests to you many evil thoughts, that he may
work in you weariness and terror, and so draw you away from
prayer and holy reading. Humble confession displeases him, and
if he were able he would make you to cease from Communion.
Believe him not, nor heed him, though many a time he has laid
for you the snares of deceit. Account it to be from him, when
he suggests evil and unclean thoughts. Say unto him, 'Depart
unclean spirit; put on shame, miserable one; horribly unclean are you, who brings such things to my ears. Depart from me,
detestable deceiver; you shall have no part in me; but Jesus
shall be with me, as a strong warrior, and you shall stand
confounded. Rather would I die and bear all suffering, than
consent unto you. Hold your peace and be dumb; I will not hear you more, though you plot more snares against me. The Lord
is my light and my salvation: whom then shall I fear? Though a
host of men should rise up against me, yet shall not my heart be
afraid. The Lord is my strength and my Redeemer.'
8. "Strive you like a good soldier; and if sometimes you fail
through weakness, put on your strength more bravely than before,
trusting in My more abundant grace, and take you much heed of
vain confidence and pride. Because of it many are led into
error, and sometimes fall into blindness well-nigh irremediable.
Let this ruin of the proud, who foolishly lift themselves up, be
to you for a warning and a continual exhortation to humility."
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