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The Imitation of Christ
Thomas à Kempis
The Twenty-Second Chapter
REMEMBER THE INNUMERABLE GIFTS OF GOD
THE DISCIPLE
OPEN my heart, O Lord, to Your law and teach me to walk in the way of Your
commandments. Let me understand Your will. Let me remember Your blessings -- all
of them and each single one of them -- with great reverence and care so that
henceforth I may return worthy thanks for them. I know that I am unable to give
due thanks for even the least of Your gifts. I am unworthy of the benefits You
have given me, and when I consider Your generosity my spirit faints away before
its greatness. All that we have of soul and body, whatever we possess interiorly
or exteriorly, by nature or by grace, are Your gifts and they proclaim Your
goodness and mercy from which we have received all good things.
If one receives more and another less, yet all are Yours and without You nothing
can be received. He who receives greater things cannot glory in his own merit or
consider himself above others or behave insolently toward those who receive
less. He who attributes less to himself and is the more humble and devout in
returning thanks is indeed the greater and the better, while he who considers
himself lower than all men and judges himself to be the least worthy, is the
more fit to receive the greater blessing.
He, on the other hand, who has received fewer gifts should not be sad or
impatient or envious of the richer man. Instead he should turn his mind to You
and offer You the greatest praise because You give so bountifully, so freely and
willingly, without regard to persons. All things come from You; therefore, You
are to be praised in all things. You know what is good for each of us; and why
one should receive less and another more is not for us to judge, but for You Who
have marked every man's merits.
Therefore, O Lord God, I consider it a great blessing not to have many things
which human judgment holds praiseworthy and glorious, for one who realizes his
own poverty and vileness should not be sad or downcast at it, but rather
consoled and happy because You, O God, have chosen the poor, the humble, and the
despised in this world to be Your friends and servants. The truth of this is
witnessed by Your Apostles, whom You made princes over all the world. Yet they
lived in this world without complaining, so humble and simple, so free from
malice and deceit, that they were happy even to suffer reproach for Your name
and to embrace with great affection that which the world abhors.
A man who loves You and recognizes Your benefits, therefore, should be gladdened
by nothing so much as by Your will, by the good pleasure of Your eternal decree.
With this he should be so contented and consoled that he would wish to be the
least as others wish to be the greatest; that he would be as peaceful and
satisfied in the last place as in the first, and as willing to be despised,
unknown and forgotten, as to be honored by others and to have more fame than
they. He should prefer Your will and the love of Your honor to all else, and it
should comfort him more than all the benefits which have been, or will be, given
him.
