Читать книгу Living With Contradiction - Esther de Waal - Страница 6

¹Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. ²The labour of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. ³This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord.

⁴First of all, every time you begin a good work, you must pray to him most earnestly to bring it to perfection. ⁵In his goodness, he has already counted us as his sons, and therefore we should never grieve him by our evil actions. ⁶With his good gifts which are in us, we must obey him at all times that he may never become the angry father who disinherits his sons, ⁷Nor the dread lord, enraged by our sins, who punishes us forever as worthless servants for refusing to follow him to glory.

⁸Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Romans 13: 11). ⁹Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this charge. ¹⁰If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts (Psalm 94 [95]:8). ¹¹And again: You that have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 2:7). ¹²And what does he say? Come and listen to me, sons; I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Psalm 33 [34]:12). ¹³Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you (John 12:35).

¹⁴Seeking his workman in a multitude of people, the Lord calls out to him and lifts his voice again: ¹⁵Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days? (Psalm 33[34]:13 ¹⁶If you hear this and your answer is “I do,” God then directs these words to you: ¹⁷If you desire true and eternal life, keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; turn away from evil and do good; let peace be your quest and aim (Psalm 33[34]:14–15). ¹⁸Once you have done this, my eyes will be upon you and my ears will listen for your prayers; and even before you ask me, I will say to you: Here I am (Isaiah 58:9), ¹⁹What, dear brothers, is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us? ²⁰See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life. ²¹Clothed then with faith and the performance of good works, let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide, that we may deserve to see him who has called us to his kingdom (1 Thessalonians 2:12).

²²If we wish to dwell in the tent of this kingdom, we will never arrive unless we run there by doing good deeds. ²³But let us ask the Lord with the Prophet: Who will dwell in your tent. Lord; who will find rest upon your holy mountain? (Psalm 14[15]:1) ²⁴After this question, brothers, let us listen well to what the Lord says in reply, for he shows us the way to his tent. ²⁵One who walks without blemish, he says, and is just in all his dealings; 26who speaks the truth from his heart and has not practised deceit with his tongue; 27who has not wronged a fellow man in any way, not listened to slanders against his neighbour (Psalm 14[15]:2–3). ²⁸He has foiled the evil one, the devil, at every turn, flinging both him and his promptings far from the sight of his heart. While these temptations were still young, he caught hold of them and dashed them against Christ (Psalm 14[15]:4; 136[137]:9). ²⁹These people fear the Lord, and do not become elated over their good deeds; they judge it is the Lord working in them. ³⁰They praise (Psalm 14[15]:4) the Lord working in them, and say with the Prophet: Not to us. Lord, not to us give the glory, but to your name alone (Psalm 113[115:1):9). ³¹In just this way Paul the Apostle refused to take credit for the power of his preaching. He declared: By God's grace I am what I am (I Corinthians 15:10). ³²And again he said: He who boasts should make his boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17). ³³That is why the Lord says in the Gospel: Whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon rock; ³⁴the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, but it did not fall: it was founded on rock (Matthew 7:24–25).

³⁵With this conclusion, the Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his holy teachings. ³⁶Therefore our life span has been lengthened by way of a truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. ³⁷As the Apostle says: Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent (Romans 2:4)? ³⁸And indeed the Lord assures us in his love: I do not wish the death of the sinner, but that he turn back to me and live (Ezekiel 33:11).

³⁹Brothers, now that we have asked the Lord who will dwell in his tent, we have heard the instruction for dwelling in it, but only if we fulfil the obligations of those who live there. ⁴⁰We must, then, prepare our hearts and bodies for the battle of holy obedience to his instructions. ⁴¹What is not possible to us by nature, let us ask the Lord to supply by the help of his grace. ⁴²If we wish to reach eternal life, even as we avoid the torments of hell, ⁴³then – while there is still time, while we are in this body and have time to accomplish all these things by the light of life – ⁴⁴we must run and do now what will profit us for ever.

⁴⁵Therefore we intend to establish a school for the Lord's service. ⁴⁶In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. ⁴⁷The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a litle strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. ⁴⁸Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. ⁴⁹But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. ⁵⁰Never swerving from his instructions, then, but faithfully observing his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom.

Amen.