THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST

BY THOMAS A KEMPIS
Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1941

CHAPTER 38: OF THE GOOD GOVERNMENT OF OURSELVES IN OUTWARD THINGS,
AND OF HAVING RECOURSE TO GOD IN DANGERS

SON, thou oughtest diligently to aim at this, that in every place, and in every action or external occupation, thou be inwardly free, and master of thyself; and that all things be under thee, and not thou under them.

That thou mayst be lord and ruler of thine actions, and not a slave or mercenary.

But rather a freeman and true Hebrew, transferred to the lot and to the liberty of the sons of God.

Who stand above things present, and contemplate the eternal; who with the left eye regard things passing, and with the right those of Heaven.

Whom things temporal draw not away to adhere to them; but they rather draw these things to subserve well the end for which they were ordained by God, and appointed by that sovereign Artist, Who has left nothing disordered in His whole creation.

2. If, likewise, in all events, thou depend not upon things as they appear outwardly, nor regard with a carnal eye things seen and heard, but if instantly, on every occasion, thou enter, like Moses, into the tabernacle to consult the Lord, thou shalt sometimes hear the Divine answer, and shalt return instructed about many things present and future.

For Moses always had recourse to the tabernacle for the deciding doubts and questions, and fled to the aid of prayer for succor against the dangers and wickedness of men.

So must thou, in like manner, fly to the closet of thy heart, and there most earnestly implore the Divine assistance.

For therefore, as thou readest, were Josue and the children of Israel deceived by the Gabaonites, because they did not first consult the Lord; but, too easily giving credit to pleasant words, were deluded with counterfeit piety.

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.

EXTERIOR occupations oftentimes withdraw the soul from within, and hinder it from being recollected, and from keeping itself in the presence of God, particularly when we give ourselves wholly to them, and reserve not for God the freedom of our hearts. But when we only lend ourselves to exterior employments, and give ourselves, while performing them, to the accomplishment of the will of God, Who requires them of us, then we do not become dissipated, but in the diversity of our employments we do the one thing, which is to seek to please God. The desire to please God should include every other desire, and constitute our peace and happiness. No exterior actions can distract that soul Which reduces all to unity-----that is, which seeks only to please God and finds it all in Him.

PRAYER.

I AM well aware, my God, that the peace of the soul in this life is not what it will be in the next; for in eternity we shall enjoy the certainty of pleasing Thee, and of possessing Thy love; but in time, we can be certain of neither. Ah! how hard and painful is this uncertainty to a soul that loves Thee, O God, and loves but Thee alone! If Thou wilt not assure me that I love Thee, grant at least that I may live as though I were sure I did love Thee, that thus Thou mayst have all the satisfaction of my love, and I, all the merit of it. Amen.

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