Oct 27 Fri
God scolds us to correct us.
The Lord says, listen to my words: I have not stopped speaking to all. My son, my words are spirit and life, and cannot be comprehended by human senses alone. They are not to be interpreted according to the capricious pleasure of the listener, but they must be listened to in silence, and received with all humility and great affection.
And I said: Blessed is the man whom you teach, Lord, and whom you instruct in your law; for him you will soften the blow of the evil day, and you do not desert him on the earth.
The Lord says: Even to the present time, I have not stopped speaking to all men, but many are deaf and obstinate in response.
Many hear the world more easily than they hear God; they follow the desires of the flesh more readily than the pleasure of God. The world promises rewards that are temporal and insignificant, and these are pursued with great longing; I promise rewards that are eternal and unsurpassed, yet the hearts of mortals respond slowly.
Blush, then, you lazy, complaining servant, for many are more inclined to the works of death than to the works of life. They take more joy in vanity than in truth.
Yet they are often deceived in their hope, while my promise deceives no one, and leaves empty-handed no one who trusts in me. What I have promised, I shall give; what I have said, I will fulfill for any man who remains faithful in my love to the very end. I am the Rewarder of all good men, the One who rigorously tests the devoted.
Write my words in your heart and study them diligently, for they will be absolutely necessary in the time of temptation. Whatever you fail to understand in reading my words will become clear to you on the day of your judgment.
I visit my elect in a double fashion: that is, with temptation and with consolation. And I read to them two lessons each day: one to scold them for their faults; the other to exhort them to increase their virtue.
He who possesses my words, yet spurns them, earns his own judgement on the last day.
From “The Imitation of Christ”
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