There are some...whom the Lord called out of a world of much vanity and ostentation where they could have been satisfied in conformity with its laws. And the Lord has so doubled their joys in this house that they realized clearly He has given them a hundred joys for every one they left. And they can't get enough of thanking His Majesty. With others, He has changed what was good into something better. To those who are young He gives fortitude and knowledge so that they are unable to desire anything else, and they understand that to be detached from all the things of life is to live in the greatest calm, even in regard to earthly things. To those who are older and have poor health He gives strength, and He gives them the power to bear the austerity and penance the others do.
O my Lord, how obvious it is that You are almighty! There's no need to look for reasons for what You want. For, beyond all natural reason, You make things so possible that You manifest clearly there's no need for anything more than truly to love You and truly to leave all for You, so that You, my Lord, may make everything easy...
They who really love You, my God, walk safely on a broad and royal road. They are far from the precipice. Hardly have they begun to stumble when You, Lord, give them Your hand. One fall is not sufficient for a person to be lost, nor are many, if they love You and not the things of the world. They journey in the valley of humility. I cannot understand what it is that makes people afraid of setting out on the road of perfection. May the Lord, because of who He is, give us understanding of how wretched is the security that lies in such manifest dangers as following the crowd and how true security lies in striving to make progress on the road of God. Let them turn their eyes to Him and not fear the setting of this Sun of Justice, nor, if we don't first abandon Him, will He allow us to walk at night and go astray.
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