Thought for the Day – 8 May – The Imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary By Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
Extracts from The Imitation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
By Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471)
Imprimatur 17 February 1947
PART ONE
THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Chapter I
SERMON
The Model and Imitation
I. To imitate is to reproduce a model – but, the model can be larger or smaller than the reproduction. Thus, it is in the imitation of Jesus, of Mary and of the Saints.
The models in this case are greater than nature.
We can, nevertheless, succeed in resembling them by reproducing their life.
II. Life is a complexity of virtues and of faults, of forces and of instincts. Nothing is evil by nature but, according as one rises or falls, one becomes good or bad. It can be said that a middle way does not exist. One must choose vice or virtue.
To practice virtue an effort must be made; such is the meaning of the Latin word – “virtus.”
III. The Christian soul, in the face of the Divine model, Mary, exalts itself to the practice of the virtues which it admires in her, who is, at the same time, a sublime model and an admirable mistress, an example and a mother.
MEDITATION
The Work of Sanctification
It is a science, to know how to regard a model; it is an art, to be able to reproduce it. This art and this work, contain the whole secret of the spiritual life.
Consideration is meditation or contemplation, the study of Divine harmonies. We emulate the Saints and, in order to do so, we must suffer. That is why, grief teaches, more than joy. He who has not suffered, what does he know?!
A heart which loves has already been half-opened by a sword!
Strike the heart, for in it is genius, said the poet and there too, is sanctity!
Practice: To wear a medal of Mary, as beautiful as possible, is an easy means of recalling that, to imitate her, one must make an effort.
Thought: To one who loves Mary, everything seems sweet and light.
“Bitter things become sweet, heavy things become light.
Amara dulcia fiunt, gravia levia veniunt.”
AnaStpaul 
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