Here is this week's thought from one of our spiritual fathers or mothers...
This Christian classic was most probably written by the Medieval monk Thomas à Kempis in the fifteenth century. It is a devotional book encouraging a holy and prayerful lifestyle. This translation comes from The Cyber Library.
The Imitation of Christ
Book One - Thoughts Helpful in the Life of the Soul
Chapter 6 - Unbridled Affections
When a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.
True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man.
This is the third in a Sunday series. Here are the others:
The Imitation of Christ - Book 1 Chapter 1
The Imitation of Christ - Book 1 Chapter 4
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