Lectio et Oratio

We read about what to do when the flame of devotion seems to be going out. How should we react when our spiritual lives do not match our expectations? How should we respond to our own lack of determination? Patience, humility, resignation.

We read about the various tests that God allows those who love him to undergo. Thomas a Kempis calls these the tests of true lovers. The Lord wants us to love Him with a pure love. These tests can take on many different forms. Let us not be surprised. Let us look to the example of the saints.

Will the love of God change our lives?

We read about the effects of divine love in our lives. When we begin to love Christ, such love overflows into many aspects of our lives. Being in love with God changes the way we look at everything. Life only truly begins when loving Christ becomes the most important aspect of our life. In the evening of life, a saint has said, we will be judged by our love. The goal of our lives is to become loving persons, sharing in God’s own way of loving.

Besides our regular time alone with the Lord, what else is necessary for a deep life of prayer?

Living humbly before Him. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis stresses the need to live in the right way. We pray as we live and we live as we pray. We cannot expect the Lord to give Himself to us and to speak words of consolation in prayer if we fail to honour Him during the day.

We read about the importance of asking Christ for things. Even in his lifetime, Our Lord heard and answered prayers made to him. Our Lord spent much time listening and talking to people. Book III teaches us, in the way it is written, that living in conversation, dialogue, with the Lord is absolutely necessary.

Is the human heart content only to hear the prophets speak?

No. Our hearts long to hear God speak to us. Our hearts long to hear the Word of the Lord in the flesh. Thomas a Kempis distinguishes the effects of the words of Moses and the other prophets from the effects of Christ Himself. He alone gives the strength to follow the path of God. Our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.

We begin book III of the Imitation of Christ. We read about the way Christ speaks inwardly in the heart. As we grow in his friendship, we learn to discern the still small voice of the Lord as he speaks through the conscience, the peaceful ideas in our minds, and the gentle movements of our hearts. We begin to know the signs of his peace and joy. All of our self-denial, all of our efforts to deny ourselves, and all our willingness to pick up the Cross have a goal: closer union with Christ. We say No to ourselves in order to say Yes to Christ. His friendship is the great Attraction.

Why is the Cross a Royal road?

Christ walked this road. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis explains why our carrying our own cross is a royal road. A road is royal that a King walks. To walk a royal road is to follow the steps of the king. Christ has shown us the path that leads to his Father in heaven. We must not be afraid to carry our Cross. There is no other road that Christ walked. There is no other road that leads to heaven.

What is the true path to heaven and holiness?

Carrying our Cross. In this final chapter of book II, Thomas a Kempis places before us all the advantages that come from carrying our crosses. He wants us to understand the true glory of sharing in Christ's cross. He wants us to understand that the power of Christ's own Cross enters our lives through the crosses we have to carry.

We read about the fewness of those who actually want to carry the Cross. In particular, Thomas a Kempis points us to the main reason we try to avoid the Cross: our bad self-love. We tend to love ourselves, not with true self-love, not as God loves us, that is, in relation to Christ. But we tend to love ourselves as isolated from Christ.