Works › The Paradise of the Soul
Volume 37 · ≈ pp. 504–505
Chapter XXXVII. On Contempt of the World.
A marker with ≈ is an approximate page boundary, placed by measure of the text; the page photographs remain the authority. In the paired views, clicking a page marker brings that page into view.
Caput XXXVII.
De Contemptu mundi.
A. Verus contemptus mundi est abrenuntiare mundi rebus temporalibus, pompis saeculi, dignitatibus, et praelaturis spiritualibus: et abstrahere se a cunctis amicis carnalibus, et moribus saecularibus, propter spem beatitudinis aeternae. Ad hoc monet nos B. Joannes, in canonica sua dicens: Nolite diligere mundum, neque ea quae in mundo sunt 1. Hunc contemptum habuit D. Augustinus, cum displicebat ei quidquid agebatur in saeculo: cumque colloquebatur cum matre sua valde dulciter, displicebat et vilescebat ei mundus inter verba, cum delectabilibus suis 2. Similiter B. Agnes, Catharina, Caecilia, et aliae virgines, regnum mundi, et omnem ornatum saeculi contempserunt propter amorem Domini nostri Jesu Christi.
B. Ad contemptum et odium mundi inducere nos debet, quod tantam infidelitatem exhibet in fine dilectoribus suis. Nam et hoc factum est creatori a mundanis, quem in die Palmarum gloriose susceperunt, exeuntes obviam ei, et cantantes: Hosanna filio David! benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini: hosanna in altissimis 3! Sed post modum in sexta feria, processerunt clamantes coram Pilato: Crucificatur! Crucificatur! Si non esset hic malefactor, non tibi tradidissemus eum 4. Et cum penderet in cruce, deridebant eum dicentes: Salva temetipsum: si Filius Dei es, descende de cruce 5. Et quem palmis, floribus, et frondibus susceperunt, virentibus spinis coronaverunt, virgis et flagellis ceciderunt. Et cui vestimenta in via straverunt, ante crucem omnibus vestibus nudaverunt et spoliaverunt: et gloriam exhibitam in contumeliam mutaverunt.
Chapter XXXVII.
On Contempt of the World.
A. True contempt of the world is to renounce the temporal things of the world, the pomps of the age, dignities, and spiritual prelacies, and to withdraw oneself from all carnal friends and secular manners because of hope of eternal blessedness. Blessed John warns us to this in his canonical epistle, saying: Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world 1. St. Augustine had this contempt when whatever was done in the world displeased him, and when he conversed very sweetly with his mother, the world with its delights displeased him and grew vile to him amid their words 2. Similarly blessed Agnes, Catherine, Cecilia, and other virgins despised the kingdom of the world and every adornment of the age because of love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. This ought to induce us to contempt and hatred of the world, that it shows such great faithlessness to its lovers in the end. For this also was done by worldly persons to the creator. On Palm Sunday they received him gloriously, going out to meet him and singing: Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest 3! But afterward on Friday they came forward crying before Pilate: Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified! If he were not this evildoer, we would not have handed him over to you 4. And when he hung on the cross, they derided him, saying: Save yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross 5. And the one whom they received with palms, flowers, and branches, they crowned with green thorns, and struck with rods and scourges. And the one for whom they spread garments in the way, before the cross they stripped and despoiled of all garments; and they changed the glory exhibited to him into insult.
Ad ejusdem contemptum et odium nos inducere debet periculum ex amore mundi proveniens. Nam teste Jacobo: Nescitis quia amicitia hujus mundi inimica est Dei? Quicumque ergo voluerit amicus esse saeculi hujus, inimicus Dei constituitur 6. Et quia mundus odivit Dominum Jesum, et omnes amicos ejus: sicut ipse dixit Apostolus ad consolationem: Si mundus vos odit, scitote quia me priorem vobis odio habuit 7.
C. Argumentum veri contemptus habet, qui non curat generis nobilitatem, nec quaerit carnis voluptatem, nec divitias appetit, nec culmen honoris. Talis fuit Moyses, de quo Apostolus: Fide Moyses grandis factus negavit se esse filium filiae Pharaonis, contra nobilitatem: magis eligens affligi cum populo Dei, quam temporalis peccati habere jucunditatem, contra voluptatem: majores divitias aestimans thesauro Aegyptiorum improperium Christi, contra divitias: adspiciebat enim in remuneratorem 8.
Aliud argumentum veri contemptus mundi habet qui nec saeculi blanditiis mulcetur, nec minis terretur, nec vituperio et laude humana movetur. In hoc contemptu fuit Apostolus, quando dixit: Omnia detrimentum feci, et arbitror ut stercora, ut Christum lucrifaciam 9.
D. Argumentum falsi contemptus mundi habet, qui ab amore saeculi et illecebris mundi tunc primo se abstinet, quando prae senectute et paupertate, se in ipsis exercere non valet. Tunc enim non relinquit mundum, sed a mundo relinquitur. Sicut, heu! quam plurimi sunt, qui primum peccare desistunt, quando amplius peccare non possunt.
The danger arising from love of the world ought to induce us to contempt and hatred of the same. For James testifies: Do you not know that friendship of this world is an enemy of God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of this age is made an enemy of God 6. And because the world hated the Lord Jesus and all his friends, as he himself said to the Apostles for consolation: If the world hates you, know that it had me in hatred before you 7.
C. He has the proof of true contempt who does not care for nobility of family, does not seek pleasure of the flesh, does not desire riches, and does not desire the summit of honor. Such was Moses, concerning whom the Apostle says: By faith Moses, when grown up, denied that he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, against nobility; choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God than to have the pleasure of temporal sin, against pleasure; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians, against riches; for he looked to the rewarder 8.
He has another proof of true contempt of the world who is neither soothed by the flatteries of the age, nor terrified by threats, nor moved by blame and human praise. The Apostle was in this contempt when he said: I have made all things loss, and I reckon them as dung, that I may gain Christ 9.
D. He has the proof of false contempt of the world who first abstains from love of the age and the enticements of the world when because of old age and poverty he is not able to exercise himself in them. For then he does not leave the world, but is left by the world. Thus, alas, very many are those who first cease to sin when they can no longer sin.
Notes
- 1 John 2:15. (I Joannis II, 15.) ↩
- St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 8, chapter 1, and Book 9, chapter 10. (S. Augustinus, Lib. VIII Confessionum, cap. 1, et Lib. IX Conf. cap. 10.) ↩
- Matthew 21:9. (Matth. XXI, 9.) ↩
- John 18:30. (Joan. XVIII, 30.) ↩
- Matthew 27:40. (Matth. XXVII, 40.) ↩
- James 4:4. (Jacobi IV, 4.) ↩
- John 15:18. (Joan. XV, 18.) ↩
- Hebrews 11:24 and following. (Ad Hebr. XI, 24 et seq.) ↩
- Philippians 3:8. (Ad Philip. III, 8.) ↩
If a page does not appear, its photograph has not been uploaded yet.