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The Imitation of Christ
Thomas à Kempis
The Thirteenth Chapter
THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE HUMBLY SUBJECT TO THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, he who attempts to escape obeying withdraws himself from grace.
Likewise he who seeks private benefits for himself loses those which are common
to all. He who does not submit himself freely and willingly to his superior,
shows that his flesh is not yet perfectly obedient but that it often rebels and
murmurs against him.
Learn quickly, then, to submit yourself to your superior if you wish to conquer
your own flesh. For the exterior enemy is more quickly overcome if the inner man
is not laid waste. There is no more troublesome, no worse enemy of the soul than
you yourself, if you are not in harmony with the spirit. It is absolutely
necessary that you conceive a true contempt for yourself if you wish to be
victorious over flesh and blood.
Because you still love yourself too inordinately, you are afraid to resign
yourself wholly to the will of others. Is it such a great matter if you, who are
but dust and nothingness, subject yourself to man for the sake of God, when I,
the All-Powerful, the Most High, Who created all things out of nothing, humbly
subjected Myself to man for your sake? I became the most humble and the lowest
of all men that you might overcome your pride with My humility.
Learn to obey, you who are but dust! Learn to humble yourself, you who are but
earth and clay, and bow down under the foot of every man! Learn to break your
own will, to submit to all subjection! Be zealous against yourself! Allow no
pride to dwell in you, but prove yourself so humble and lowly that all may walk
over you and trample upon you as dust in the streets!
What have you, vain man, to complain of? What answer can you make, vile sinner,
to those who accuse you, you who have so often offended God and so many times
deserved hell? But My eye has spared you because your soul was precious in My
sight, so that you might know My love and always be thankful for My benefits, so
that you might give yourself continually to true subjection and humility, and
might patiently endure contempt.
