{"id":3937,"date":"2011-03-04T15:09:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T15:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2011\/03\/letter-to-a-brother-on-the-way\/"},"modified":"2011-03-04T15:09:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T15:09:57","slug":"letter-to-a-brother-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2011\/03\/letter-to-a-brother-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to a brother on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sant'<\/a>
\nHow many greater gifts will come to you
\nin the truly blessed life that lies before us,
\nis, I must admit, beyond my capacity to discuss,
\nnor is it within my power to lay them out before you.
\nIt will suffice only to refer in summary
\nto the indescribable outcome of this exchange,
\nfor this is what awaits those who have perfectly left the world:
\n“Things beyond our seeing,
\nthings beyond our hearing,
\nthings beyond our imagining,
\nall prepared by God for those who love Him.”
\nTherefore, hide this treasure, namely Christ, our God and Lord,
\nwho became both redeemer and ransom for us;
\nhe who both promises and is the reward held out to us;
\nwho is the life of men and endless existence of the angels.
\nWith great care hide this treasure, I say,
\nin the receptacle of your heart.
\nWith it in your possession cast away all concern
\nfor any thing else in this world.
\nTake delight in speaking with him in unremitting prayer,
\nand in this way constantly nourish yourself
\nat the feast of holy thoughts.
\nLet him be your food and also your raiment.
\nBut if it should happen that you are also in need
\nof some tangible convenience,
\ndo not hold back,
\nbut place your trust in the firm promise He made to you
\nwhen He said:
\n“Set your mind on God’s kingdom before everything else,
\nand all the rest will come to you as well.”
\nFor if He could satisfy the thirsty throng of Israelites
\nby commanding water to gush from that dry, metallic rock;
\nif for long periods of time
\nHe could serve heavenly manna to the hungry;
\nif He could order vast flocks of quail
\nto light in the camp of those people who complained of their lot,
\nwould He be unable to provide for the necessities of one little man
\nwho is constantly requesting His assistance?
\nAnd for Him who for almost forty years
\nkept the clothes of that great multitude intact,
\nwould it be difficult to replace your tattered old garments with new ones?
\nTruly, we of little faith, must urge ourselves to hold fast to Christ,
\nfor fainthearted diffidence makes Christ a pauper,
\nwhile full confidence causes Him to be rich and generous
\nin dispensing His gifts.
\nTake care to be concerned only with those things that He commands,
\nand let there be no doubt at all about those that He promises.
\nLet the tax collector feel safe when the debtor is prompt to pay.
\nThere is no reason to be apprehensive
\nwhen He who never lies has given His word.
\nThe creditor can breathe easily
\nwhen Truth itself is bound to His promise.
\nSaint Peter Damian, Letter 165<\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many greater gifts will come to you in the truly blessed life that lies before us, is, I must admit, beyond my capacity to discuss, nor is it within my power to lay them out before you. It will suffice only to refer in summary to the indescribable outcome of this exchange, for this <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monastic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-11v","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}