THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

BOOK THREE
INTERNAL CONSOLATION

Liber Tertius
De interna consolatine.

Chapter 39 A MAN SHOULD NOT BE UNDULY SOLICITOUS ABOUT HIS AFFAIRS THE VOICE OF CHRIST - MY CHILD, always commit your cause to Me. I will dispose of it rightly in good time. Await My ordering of it and it will be to your advantage.	Cap. 39. Quod non sit importunus in negociis. 1. Fili, committe mihi semper causam tuam, ego bene disponam in tempore suo. Exspecta ordinationem meam et senties exinde profectum.
THE DISCIPLE - Lord, I willingly commit all things to You, for my anxiety can profit me little. But I would that I were not so concerned about the future, and instead offered myself without hesitation to Your good pleasure.	2. Domine, satis libenter omnes res tibi committo, quia parum potest cogitatio mea proficere. Utinam non multum adhærerem futuris eventibus, sed ad beneplacitum tuum me incunctanter offerrem.
THE VOICE OF CHRIST - My child, it often happens that a man seeks ardently after something he desires and then when he has attained it he begins to think that it is not at all desirable; for affections do not remain fixed on the same thing, but rather flit from one to another. It is no very small matter, therefore, for a man to forsake himself even in things that are very small.	3. Fili mi, sæpe homo rem aliquam agitat, quam desiderat: sed cum ad eam pervenerit, aliter incipit sentire, quia affectiones circa idem non sunt durabiles, sed magis de uno vel in aliud nos impellunt. Non est ergo minimum etiam in minimis se relinquere.
A man's true progress consists in denying himself, and the man who has denied himself is truly free and secure. The old enemy, however, setting himself against all good, never ceases to tempt them, but day and night plots dangerous snares to cast the unwary into the net of deceit. "Watch ye and pray," says the Lord, "that ye enter not into temptation."	4. Verus profectus hominis est abnegatio sui ipsius, et homo abnegatus valde liber est et securus. Sed antiquus hosti, omnibus bonis adversans, a tentatione non cessat, et die noctuque graves molitur insidias, si forte in laqueum deceptionis possit præcipitare incautum. Vigilate et orate, dicit Dominus, ut non intretis in tentationem.