The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno (1909) - Page 15

CHAP.		PAGE
VI.	How all the ways of the Passion must be digested within the heart, or at least be repeated by the mouth . . . .	45
	The "Passion" refers to the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. To "digest" it in the heart means to meditate so deeply on these events that they become part of one's own internal life.
VII.	How the soul may speedily and easily find God by means of devout, pure, constant, humble, and fervent prayer . . . .	49
VIII.	Of the Book of Life, which is Christ, wherein man learneth to know God and man, himself, and all things needful for man's welfare . . . .	53
	The "Book of Life" is a popular medieval metaphor. Rather than a physical book, Angela presents the person of Christ as the ultimate source of knowledge and a "text" to be studied through prayer.
IX.	Of the great poverty of Christ . . . .	54
X.	How Christ revealed Himself poor in power .	56
XI.	How Christ laid aside His wisdom and His own nature . . . . . .	59
	These chapters emphasize "Holy Poverty," a core value of the Franciscan order. It describes "kenosis," the idea of Christ emptying himself of divine power to share in human suffering.
XII.	How poverty of spirit is despised by many .	63
XIII.	Of the humility and contempt of our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . . . .	66
XIV.	Of the constant and many sufferings which Christ did bear in divers ways . . . .	71
	The word "divers" is an older English term meaning "various" or "many different."
XV.	Of the many and divers cruelties used towards Christ . . . . . . .	78
XVI.	How that we should follow the infallible Guide and Redeemer upon the straight road which He hath shown unto us . . .	84
	The "infallible Guide" refers to Christ. In Angela's theology, the "straight road" is the path of suffering and humility that leads directly to God.

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