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The Fifty-Ninth Chapter
ALL HOPE AND TRUST ARE TO BE FIXED IN GOD ALONE
THE DISCIPLE
WHAT, Lord, is the trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest
comfort among all the things that appear under heaven? Is it not You, O Lord, my
God, Whose mercies are without number? Where have I ever fared well but for You?
Or how could things go badly when You were present? I had rather be poor for
Your sake than rich without You. I prefer rather to wander on the earth with You
than to possess heaven without You. Where You are there is heaven, and where You
are not are death and hell. You are my desire and therefore I must cry after You
and sigh and pray. In none can I fully trust to help me in my necessities, but
in You alone, my God. You are my hope. You are my confidence. You are my
consoler, most faithful in every need.
All seek their own interests. You, however, place my salvation and my profit
first, and turn all things to my good. Even though exposing me to various
temptations and hardships, You Who are accustomed to prove Your loved ones in a
thousand ways, order all this for my good. You ought not to be loved or praised
less in this trial than if You had filled me with heavenly consolations.
In You, therefore, O Lord God, I place all my hope and my refuge. On You I cast
all my troubles and anguish, because whatever I have outside of You I find to be
weak and unstable. It will not serve me to have many friends, nor will powerful
helpers be able to assist me, nor prudent advisers to give useful answers, nor
the books of learned men to console, nor any precious substance to win my
freedom, nor any place, secret and beautiful though it be, to shelter me, if You
Yourself do not assist, comfort, console, instruct, and guard me. For all things
which seem to be for our peace and happiness are nothing when You are absent,
and truly confer no happiness.
You, indeed, are the fountain of all good, the height of life, the depth of all
that can be spoken. To trust in You above all things is the strongest comfort of
Your servants.
My God, the Father of mercies, to You I look, in You I trust. Bless and sanctify
my soul with heavenly benediction, so that it may become Your holy dwelling and
the seat of Your eternal glory. And in this temple of Your dignity let nothing
be found that might offend Your majesty. In Your great goodness, and in the
multitude of Your mercies, look upon me and listen to the prayer of Your poor
servant exiled from You in the region of the shadow of death. Protect and
preserve the soul of Your poor servant among the many dangers of this
corruptible life, and direct him by Your accompanying grace, through the ways of
peace, to the land of everlasting light.
