Vigils Reading – Office for Vocations

DIRECT YOUR THOUGHTS UTTERLY TO GOD

From “The Form of Living” by Richard Rolle6

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Because you have abandoned the comforts and the pleasures of this world and devoted yourself to the solitary life for the love of God, in order to endure distress and hardship in this life and subsequently to come to [rest and joy in heaven], I believe most sincerely that the consolation of Jesus Christ, and the sweetness of his love, with the fire of the Holy Spirit who cleanses all sin, shall be in you and with you, leading you and instructing you how you are to meditate, how you are to pray, and what you are to do, so that after a few years you shall certainly have more delight in being yourself and speaking with your beloved and your spouse, Jesus Christ…

People suppose that we live in suffering and in a life of” privation, but we have more pleasure and more real delight in one day than they have in worldly things throughout their entire lives. They see our bodies, but they do not see our hearts, where all our comfort lies. If they could see the heart, many of them would abandon all they have in order to follow us. So be heartened and emboldened and do not fear any discomfort or hardship, rather fix your whole desire on Jesus, so that your life may be good and quiet… It is the special goodness of God that he should encourage miraculously those who have no encouragement from the world. If they give their hearts entirely to him and desire nothing, and look for nothing except himself, then he gives himself in sweetness and delight, in the ardor of love… No man can arrive at such revelation and grace on the first day, but through long labor and diligence in loving Jesus Christ…

Direct your thoughts utterly to God, as you have by your outward appearance directed your body. For I don’t want you to think that all those who bear the outward appearance of holiness are holy and not preoccupied by the world; nor that all who concern themselves with worldly affairs are sinful. But those alone are holy, whatever condition or rank they are in, who despise all worldly things, that is to say, who do not cherish the things of the world, but burn in the love of Jesus Christ, whose every desire is directed toward the joy of heaven, and who hate all sin, and never give up doing good, and feel in their heart a sweet savor of the love that never ends.

And all the same, they reckon themselves to be the most despicable of all men, and consider themselves the most contemptible, most insignificant and most abject. This is the lifestyle of the holy: follow it, and be holy… For those who follow Jesus Christ in voluntary poverty, and in humility, in love and in patience, give up exactly the same amount as those want to acquire who do not follow him. And consider how great and how good is the state of mind within you, with which you present your vows before him, because that is what he is looking for, and also whether you are offering your prayers with great yearning love, and strive eagerly, with great fervor, to see him, seeking no earthly consolation except for the taste of heaven, and take your delight in the contemplation of it.

I want you to be constantly climbing toward Jesus, and intensifying your love and your attendance on him… If you apply all your thoughts on how you may love your Jesus Christ more than you have been doing, then I venture to say that your worth is increasing and not diminishing