Talk:.NQ.MTc5

<--from line 10 onward, translated July 16, 2017 by Eleanor Walsh, BA in Classics, Medieval Cultures, eleanor_walsh@alumni.brown.edu-->

In the first book of Theological Mystericae, chapter 55.

On the Acquisition of Virtues

Virtue is closed to no one; it lies open to all; It invites all; admits all. It does not collect the master, nor wealth; It is content with the bare human. But as Cassian says in the Collationes Patrum, a person seeking to be so divided from passions that he is willing to bear the pains of martyrdom; without which the desire of the spirit cannot be possessed. Without punishment of the flesh, he seeks to obtain chastity; Without the work of vigilance, to acquire purity; With relaxation of the flesh, to overflow with spiritual virtue; without the irritating cry of anyone, to possess the grace of patience; humility without Christ trains a loss of mundane honor; to preserve the simplicity of religion with worldly ambition; to praise Christ with men and to be a slave to favor; at last, he wants to follow good fortune such that he does not admit a helpful presence. To which Augustine responds: Our way is Christ; turn towards Christ. He came in this way to suffer and to be glorified; he is scorned. but also is exalted. His work terrifies you; [yet] a reward is expected. Why do you, kind one, want to arrive at this state to which no one brings [anything] if not toil? Nothing is wonderful if wretched men do not arrive, because they want a blessed life: for it is a companion to him and without whom no one from it is worthy, but does not want to live correctly. This eternal law was strengthened by unchangeable stability so that it is deserved in desire, but in kindness also malice, reward and penalty. In this way, however, man is directed by the human in the divine, when the will of man is put before the will of the divine.