Mirror of the Honesty of Life

...the beginning of his own suffering. Or at the column, the support of the world and the support of the whole world, bound and scourged. And He who is the glory of the angels, spit upon and mocked, struck on the face with a palm, crowned with a crown of thorns, sated with reproach. To the end, counted among the wicked and hanging on the cross and dying for you. Thus, therefore, your beloved will remain as a bundle of myrrh between your breasts Song of Songs 1:13. And thus, from all the anxieties and bitterness of your Lord, you may gather a kind of bundle of conceived sorrow, from which you may fashion a bitter cup and, so to speak, sweet tears. If, however, sometimes, burned by the most ardent love of Christ, you desire, with the Apostle, to know and taste more highly those things which are above, you will lift the eyes of your mind little by little to the victory of the Resurrected One and to the majesty sitting and reigning in the glory of the Father. Yet, do not linger there long, lest, if you are a scrutineer of majesty for too long, you be overwhelmed by the glory.

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Concerning pride to be detested.

Before all things, you should know that you must avoid all elation of heart, boasting, and arrogance as if they were pests and venomous animals, and a certain poison of souls. Knowing, without doubt, that everyone who exalts his heart is unclean before...