Letter 1093: The spiritual life is a journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
On the verse: "Arise, let us go hence." Lest by anticipation — that most grievous passion — and by unfounded fear, anyone should be troubled and suppose that the Savior spoke these words out of cowardice and alarm at the approach of his sufferings, we must explain the true meaning. He said "Arise, let us go hence" not as one fleeing, but as one advancing willingly toward his passion. For he who had the power to avoid suffering altogether, and who had often passed through the midst of those who wished to kill him, would hardly have feared at the very moment he had chosen to endure the Cross. Rather, he showed his readiness and eagerness, demonstrating that what he was about to suffer was voluntary, not compelled. He revealed his kinship according to the flesh — that it counted for nothing compared with the divine purpose — and made clear that the time of his self-offering had come. He hastened toward it as one who is master of the events, not mastered by them. The saying therefore displays not weakness but strength, not flight but advance, not reluctance but willing obedience to the Father's will and the plan of salvation determined before all ages. For the soul that has been illuminated by divine grace sees things as they truly are, not as they appear to the deceived eye of the worldly. And the person who acts upon this vision, ordering his life according to the truth rather than according to the appearance, has already begun to taste the blessedness that awaits the faithful in the world to come. Let us therefore strive with all our might to lay hold of the truth, knowing that the truth alone can set us free from the bondage of error and the tyranny of passion.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
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