Mirror of the Honesty of Life

...thoughts. For the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain, and since there is no invisible creature for Him, nothing at all can be thought that is hidden from Him. Whence the Apostle: "For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" Hebrews 4:12.

A large decorative initial 'S' in red ink marks the start of the next section.

Concerning the contemplation of God.

Let Christ, therefore, be in your heart, and let the image of the crucifix never depart from your mind. Let Him be your food and drink, your sweetness and your refreshment, your consolation, your prize and desire. Your meditation, your prayer, your life, your reason, and your resurrection. Always think of Him, either placed in the manger, or wrapped in cloths, or appearing to the prophets in the temple, or questioning the doctors in the temple—He who teaches all wisdom—and afterwards being subject to his parents, to whom every creature is by right subject, or even teaching the crowds, or praying alone on the mountain, or hungering in the desert—the bread of life, the fountain of wisdom who feeds among the lilies and fills every living thing with blessing—or fatigued on a long journey, praying, and administering to all things sufficiently, even by the angel, He who is the sweetness and consolation of the angels, consoling...