SOLILOQUY

The Morning Paraphrase,

By which he is accustomed to sacrifice to the Physiarch Lord of Nature as if with a daily host, and to consecrate a vow to Him.

The Lord God. 1. Wake up and leap out of the melancholy of the mind, my soul; why are you torn by vain sorrow, why are you fatigued by superfluous cares? Listen to what the Lord God wishes to instill in you. Blessed is the soul that has become poor and a pilgrim for Jesus' sake. Blessed is the soul that reads Christ the Lord speaking within it, and is fed from His mouth with the honeycomb of consolation. Blessed are the ears that obey the lips of the breathing God and fall asleep to the tales of this world. Blessed are the eyes that are closed to carnal things, but open to spiritual ones. Blessed is the mouth that flows with milk from the veins of the divine breast and grows dull to the scenes of the lactations of this life. Blessed indeed is the heart that stirs as soon as it feels the pulse of the celestial spouse and pays no heed to the lubricity of this world. Blessed, I say, are they who devote themselves to God and shake themselves from every secular dream.

2. Pay attention to this, my soul; nay, turn yourself quickly with all your heart to God. Lock the doors of your sensuality, breathe your soliloquies, aspire to dwell alone with yourself, seek no one’s companionship, but rather groan a devoted prayer to God, that you may be able to perceive what the Lord God mutters within you, so that you may retain a contrite mind and a pure conscience. Consider the whole amphitheater of the world as nothing; prefer the feast of God to all exterior things. Nor indeed will you be able to be free for Him and equally delighted in temporal things. If God is to approach you with holy Angels, you must be distanced from the known, from the dear, from friends, and keep your mind secluded from all human solace.