Vigils: Weekday

DIRECT YOUR THOUGHTS UTTERLY TO GOD
From “The Form of Living” by Richard Rolle 5
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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.

5 Richard Rolle. The English Writings. Trans. Rosamund S. Allen. New York: Paulist Press, 1988.
157-158, 160-161, 163