 Welcome to The Commentaries, a podcast series from Tan in which you'll learn how to read and understand history's greatest Catholic works from today's greatest Catholic scholars. In every series of The Commentaries, your expert host will be your personal guide to not just read the book, but to live the book, shining the light of its eternal truths into our modern darkness. Visit tancommentaries.com to get your copy of the book and to subscribe for access to all the great reading plans, new episodes, bonus content, and exclusive deals for listeners of The Commentaries. Hello and welcome back. This is Father Robert Nixon here. I'm a Benedictine monk and director of the Institute for Benedictine Studies at the Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity in New North Sea, Western Australia. This is The Commentary Series on the Imitation of Christ, The Great Spiritual Masterpiece by Thomas A. Kempis. And today is day 11 of our series, and we'll be covering today book 3, chapters 32 to 37 in the 10 edition of the work. And these are some of the most fascinating chapters in the book. They contain a certain amount of recapitulation of ideas which we've encountered already, and this is one of the characteristics. Thomas A. Kempis wrote the book in this way so that we would revisit the same message time and time again. It's actually not the kind of book which is intended to be read through from beginning to end like a novel, although I guess you could do that. But it's really designed to be read one chapter at a time. And each chapter contains enough material for meditation and reflection for an entire day. And it's very striking phrasing, particularly in the original Latin, but also in the translation which Tan has, which I think is a very accurate translation which has a great deal of literary merit. Chapter 32, Denying Ourselves and Renouncing All Cupidity, a theme which we've heard before. Cupidity by the way is a word which is not really in terribly common usage these days. It's a translation of the Latin word Cupiditas, which means basically desire, wanting things. It's related by the way to the name of the little god of pagan mythology, Cupid, of course, who goes around with a bow and arrow shooting people, so that they're then filled with Cupiditas or Cupidity, desire for a particular person in that case. But now, denying ourselves and renouncing all Cupidity. And it begins with Christ speaking, Son, you cannot possess perfect liberty unless you wholly deny yourself. All self-seekers and self-lovers are bound in fetters full of desires, full of cares, unsettled, and seeking always their own ease, and not the things of Jesus Christ, but oftentimes devising and framing that which will not stand. I think this is a wonderful piece of insight that all people who are self-seekers and self-lovers, which I mean, includes everyone to some degree or another, are bound in fetters full of desires. We think about our earthly desires, they really are fetters which bind us to many things, which bind us to care, to work, to anxiety, to pain, to loss and so forth. The idea of being free from desires means that we'll be free indeed. And of course, we can never be absolutely free of desire for something or the other. But ultimately, all of our desires are for what is good. And the ultimate good exists in God alone. And in setting all our desires on God alone, we then transcend the earthly desires, the desires of the flesh and so forth, which in effect are just prison bonds, which are fetters, which are sources of misery, as even a little experience of life will serve to show us very well. And continuing with the reflection of Christ, set aside the wisdom of the earth, that is all seeking to please the world and yourself. So if we could set aside the wisdom of the earth, or so-called wisdom of the earth, because this so-called wisdom doesn't set us free, in fact it enchains us, it makes us slaves to worldly things, to whatever social system we work in, to whatever set of values we might set ourselves. To open ourselves entirely to God, to see that our true good, our true treasure lies not in this passing and in constant world, but in the eternal realm of heaven. And chapter 33 continues wonderfully, offering a great piece of self-knowledge here. It's entitled, The Inconstancy of Our Hearts, and of directing our final intentions to God. Now, the recognition of the inconstancy of our own hearts is so important. The chapter begins with Christ speaking to the disciple, and he says, my son, and of course that can be understood as my daughter as well, trust not to thy present affection, it will quickly be changed into another. As long as you live you are subject to change, even against thy will. So as to be sometimes joyful, at other times sad, now easing, again troubled, at one time devout, at another time dry, sometimes fervent, at other times slavish, one day heavy, another lighter. But he that is wise and well-instructed in spirit, stands above all these changes. Not minding what he feels in himself, nor on what side the wind of mutability blow, but that the whole bent of his soul may advance towards his due and wished foreend. This is a great recognition that our own selves, our own hearts and souls are subject to this mutability and this inconstancy which we find in everything in the created universe. It means recognising that our own physical being is in itself a part of the created universe and as such is subject to change. We all encounter this change of course in the process of growing older, if we look at a photo from ourselves from 10 or 15 or 20 or maybe even 5 years ago we can often be struck at where the same person, but that we've changed quite a lot. And to think about maybe how our religious life has changed over the years. We might look back at ourselves 5 years ago or 10 years ago and think, did I really believe that or did I really like those kind of things now? And in some cases I mean of course there's a part of us where there's continuity and identity, but there are so many things which change. He is advising us here to rise above those changes, to see them for what they are and I think that particularly applies to our emotional state. You know that if we have a firm idea, a firm grasp of our final destiny which is God himself and a firm dedication to fulfilling the law of God. You know sometimes this will bring us joy, sometimes it will bring us pain, sometimes it will bring us happiness, sometimes it will bring us sorrow, but to realise that these things are just waves which rise and form on the ocean of the self and to transcend them, to step above them. Continuing with our next chapter and this chapter is He who loves God relishes Him above all things and in all things. In this time it's the disciple who is speaking and he says, Behold my God and my all. What would I have more and what can I desire more, happy? O sweet and savoury word, but to Him that loves the word, not the world, nor the things that are in the world. My God and my all, enough is said to Him that understands and it is delightful to Him that loves to repeat it often. You give tranquillity to the heart and great peace and pleasant joy. You make us to think well of all and praise you in all things, nor can anything without you afford any lasting pleasure. But to make it agreeable and relishing, your grace must be present and it must be seasoned with the seasoning of thy wisdom. Well, a fascinating insight here, this utterance which he begins with and repeats several times my God and my all. And how sweet is that sound and that thought. I recommend perhaps trying to repeat that several times as a prayer or as a meditation at various moments throughout the day, to reflect on my God and my all, simply His greatness and glory and infinitude and eternity, without asking for anything, without asking for help even without asking for mercy, but just pure reflection on that wonderful glory of God, which is pure love. He says that speaking to God, you make us to think well of all things and to praise all things. And this is a remarkable thing because I guess for most people, myself included, it's quite rare to be able to say that we think of well of all things and think well of all people. I mean, we can probably think of, you know, at least half a dozen people who we don't think that well of. But if we do all things in God and see God in all things and in all people, we then can begin to think well of them. And this thinking well of is one of the preconditions of truly loving our sisters and our brothers. You know, and some people think, well, you know, I can, I can follow the commands and love my brothers and sisters, but that doesn't mean I have to think well of them. Well, I wonder if that is really true, you know, that unless we think well of them at a fundamental level, then can our love really be genuine or is it just going through a mechanical action of, you know, helping out where we can and so forth. And God asks us to do that, but he also asks us to love. And we love all things by loving God in all things, by seeing the will of God and the glory of God in all things. Of course, this is a grace which comes through contemplation. It's something which we can't force upon ourselves, but it's definitely something we can encourage by this working of the contemplative spirit. In this chapter also, we hear the disciples speaking and kind of indulging in some perceptive self-criticism. Well, this is very dramatic to recognize that in all of us, although we're renewed by the grace of God in the sacrament of baptism, this old man, this man of dust, the old Adam is still within us fighting against what God is calling us to be. And you know, we can often, I think, experience this as a real battle. And to be careful, because as soon as we think that we have actually obtained victory and we're secure, that's often when the forces of sin begin to work in a more hidden and insidious way. Chapter 35, there is no security from temptation in this life, and how true that is, related to what I was just discussing a moment ago about the presence of the old man, the man of sin and dust within each one of us. And in this case, it's Christ speaking, and he says, Thou art never secure in this life, but as long as thou hast always need of spiritual arms. You are in the midst of enemies, and art assaulted on the right hand and on the left. If then, thou dost not make use of the buckler of patience on all sides, that will not long be without a womb. Here is a reminder that this present life for us is a battle, that we're being attacked by spiritual enemies, that we need to arm ourselves and prepare ourselves well. When we hear these kind of words, we should remember that it's spoken on a spiritual level. I mean, of course, there's a lot of actual human conflict in this present life as well, conflict against the elements of nature and so forth. I think the message of Thomas the Campus isn't that we should kind of go out into each day as if we're expecting to go into battle with our brothers and sisters, because, you know, that's a formula for the conflict and disaster. But what he is saying that we should go into each day expecting to fight against the forces of temptation, both from the world and within ourselves. And of course, that is really the battle which matters most. Not any victory in worldly things, but victory over the forces of sin. Because through that victory, we attain the greatest prize of all, which is nothing left than eternal life. In chapter 36 against the vain judgments of men. And in this context, of course, vain means futile, erroneous, faulty, and so forth. So that we need not worry ourselves so much about human judgments as the judgments of God. It begins with Christ speaking, son, cast your heart firmly on the Lord and fear not the judgment of man when your conscience gives testimony of your piety and innocence. Many say many things and therefore little credit is to be given to them. Neither is it possible to satisfy all. Well, a wonderful piece of wisdom that people are saying a lot of things. I mean, in these days of the internet, that's particularly the case. You can think of virtually any opinion you want. Whatever far fetched it is and do a search on the internet, and you'll probably find a whole bunch of people who believe that opinion. He says that we're never going to be able to satisfy all human judgments, and this is kind of a paraphrase in the expression, you can't please all the people all the time. So we shouldn't try to do that. We should try rather to cultivate this innocence of conscience, this true purity of heart, which comes from how we stand in relation to God, not how we stand in relation to humanity or the things of this passing world. And in the practical reflection, a Christian, when assailed by the shafts of calamity, which is disparagement, should in reality regard these trials in a favorable point of view, because they subject him to the happy necessity of flying to God and of appealing to him as the secret witness of his conscience. So in other words, we should kind of rejoice when such things happen. And it's similar to what is said in the Beatitudes, rejoice on that day, because thus did they speak of the prophets of old. Finally, chapter 37 of a pure and full resignation of ourselves for obtaining freedom of heart. And this is a recurrent theme throughout the book. This freedom of heart, which comes from detachment and resignation. And we hear Christ speaking to the disciple. Aim only at this. Pray for this. Desire this, that thou may be divested of all self seeking. Thou shall be at liberty within thy own heart, and darkness shall not overwhelm, and thus follow thy naked Jesus, that thou may die to thyself and live eternally to me. Then shall vanish all vain imaginations, all evil disturbances, and all superfluous cares. Then also immoderate fear shall leave you, and inordinate love shall die. How wonderful this is. And with the death of this inordinate love, these attachments to passing things arises instead that eternal love, the love of the one who alone promises us true and everlasting peace. And to him be glory forever and ever. And that brings us to the end of day 11 in our study of the imitation of Christ. Thank you so much for listening and for joining me on this wonderful journey into the spiritual life led by Thomas E. Kempers. Next time we'll be discussing Book 3, chapters 38 through to 46. Until then, may God bless you. 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