| I taught my prophets |
|---|
My
son, says the Lord, listen to my words, the most delightful of all
words, surpassing all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of
this world. My words are spirit and life and cannot be comprehended by
human senses alone. They are not to be interpreted according to the vain
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 soften the blow of the
evil day, and you do not desert him on the earth.
The Lord says, I have instructed my prophets from the
beginning. 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 unsurpassable, yet the hearts of mortals respond sluggishly.
Who serves and obeys me in all matters with as much care as the world and its princes are served?
Blush, then, you lazy, complaining servant, for men
are better prepared for the works of death than you are for the works of
life. They take more joy in vanity than you in truth.
Yet they are often deceived in their hope, while my
promise deceives no one, and leaves empty-handed no one who confides 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 unto 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 visitation.
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 rebuke them for their faults; the other to exhort them to
increase their virtue.
He who possesses my words, yet spurns them, earns his own judgment on the last day.
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