NORMA VIVENDI (Appendix XV)

Appendix XV The Rule of Life. Act, son, as you ought, act as is fitting, act as is worthy. Set before yourself that you not sin, that you not repeat your faults, that after a fall you not transgress again; bear good and bad as they come; endure whatever happens with a free mind; devote yourself above all to patience and gentleness; overcome mockery by despising it; break the arrows of insult with the shield of patience; prepare against every glance the shield of patience; against the sword of the tongue offer the buckler of tolerance, for by silence you will conquer better (see Isidoriana, ch. 82). i. Learn modesty from Christ, learn also moderation, and attend to the tolerance of Christ, and you will not grieve over injuries. It is the greatest virtue if you do not harm one by whom you have been harmed, or even if you permit yourself to be harmed. It is the greatest virtue if you spare anyone to whom you were able to do harm; for when you are tormented on account of something, your sins gird you; when you threaten, your evils make their way; whatever adverse thing happens to you happens to you on account of your sins. Therefore, temper your grief by consideration of justice; you will bear grief better if you attend to the reasons for which things happen to you.

When, therefore, something is said against you, pray; when you are cursed, then bless; oppose blessing to cursing, and strive to soothe the angry person with patience; dispel seething anger with gentleness; conquer wickedness with a word of goodness; overcome malice with kindness, appease all enemies with modesty, overcome the evils of others with your own goodness. With a tranquil mind, destroy the insults heaped upon you; open your sorrows with a calm heart; a wound deep in the heart, however grave, evaporates when opened, but greatly consumes the mind when kept hidden. For the more you conceal it, the more you increase it; therefore open it with a grateful spirit, and let it not torment you. If you have saddened your brother in any matter, make amends to him. If you have sinned against him, do penance with him. If you have offended someone, propitiate him with prayer, forgive quickly, promptly ask pardon for your offense in order to be reconciled; do not sleep unless you turn to peace; do not rest unless you have been reconciled with your brother. Recall him with the swiftest affection of love. Recall him with humility to grace; prostrate yourself before him with the affection of humility, and in a suppliant manner beg for pardon; also willingly grant pardon to him who asks it of you, and, appeased, dismiss him who seeks indulgence.

Embrace holy reverence, and immediately receive with kind charity; do not forgive the one sinning justly, but knowing the fault, because judgment is to come upon you; you will not have indulgence unless you give it. Even if he does not entreat, and humbly does not ask to be forgiven, if his conscience does not recognize his sin through evil habit, yet you from the heart release, also grant pardon by your own will; remove from your heart fraternal offense or affront, and do not serve another's wickedness; for hatred separates from God, nor is it blotted out by spilled blood. Love peace, cherish peace, have and hold peace with all, and embrace all in gentleness and charity; prepare to love more than you yourself are loved; do not be faithless in peace, do not be fickle in friendship, always retain the bond of constancy; invite those who hate to peace. Judge yourself by your own, not by another's judgment; nor measure yourself by another's speech, but by your own mind. No one can know better and more what you know than you, when you are conscious of yourself. But to whom does it profit if you are proclaimed evil or good? Or what praise of men pertains to you, if you are other than you are praised? Therefore avoid pretense, avoid hypocrisy, do not feign sanctity under a darker garment.

You wish to be regarded in a certain way; be so in your profession and your habit; and in your gait let there be simplicity, and in your movement purity; let nothing disgraceful, nothing wanton, nothing petulant, nothing insolent appear in your gait; for the gesture of the body is a sign of the mind; do not offer to others a spectacle of yourself, nor give them occasion for detraction. Do not attach yourself to frivolous persons, nor mingle with the vain; shun the wicked, beware the unjust, flee the malicious, spurn the ignorant, flee from yourself the crowds of men, especially of that age which is prone to vices. Join with the good, and associate yourself inseparably with the holy. If you do this, you will be a companion of their conversation and of their virtues; for it is perilous to associate with the worst; it is better to have their hatred than their fellowship. Close your ears, lest you hear anything shameless; for vain speech quickly pollutes the mind, and it is easily wounded by shameful things and by all evils, and what is heard is willingly acted upon. For no one is believed to hate that by whose report he is not wounded; let nothing proceed from your mouth by which you may be ashamed, or which is shameful; but let these things burst forth from your mouth and from your lips which do not pollute the ears of the hearers; for vain speech is an index of a vain conscience. A man’s character reveals his tongue, and as his speech is shown, so is his mind proven. Restrain your tongue from idle speech, and do not speak empty words; for idle speech will not be without judgment. For each one will render an account of his own words; before the face of every man his words will stand.

He who does not restrain evil words quickly passes to harmful deeds; and he who does not reject the least things rushes headlong into the greatest; for the fault of lesser things gives rise to greater. Vices grow little by little, and while we do not guard against small things, we slip into great ones; therefore avoid the lesser, and you will not come to the greater. Let what you speak be refined with gravity and learning, and let your speech be irreprehensible, useful for the expectation of your hearers; strive to speak everything whatsoever as is fitting; discern what you should say and what you should be silent about. Attend, and speak, and in speaking be skilled. Deliberate much on what you wish to say, lest you be unable to recall what you have said; flee the slips of the tongue, and let your mouth not lie open to the darts of insult. Always maintain silence with a friend, watch for the opportunity of speaking, and of uttering speech, and of weighing it. Let measure remain in your mouth, let a balance be in your speech, cut off from your tongue the vice of detraction, and do not defile your mouth with another’s evil; what you detract in another, fear rather in yourself.

ii. Never desire to know what people say among themselves, nor seek anyone who might tell you; set aside a matter that does not pertain to your soul, and do not, forgetful of your own habits, scrutinize those of others; correct your own vices with as much zeal as you have observed in examining those of others. Flee every kind of lie with all your might; do not defend anyone’s life by means of the talk of garrulous brothers or by any deceit; no lie is just that disagrees with the truth, in which also a double oath is forbidden, for the habit of perjury creates a custom of it. Do the good that you have promised; be not easy in words, but difficult in deeds and works; never do or presume anything without consideration; when you are able to do something, do not promise to do it. You will be greatly guilty before God if you do not render what you have vowed; in evil promises, however, break faith. A promise that is fulfilled with sorrow is no promise.

If you wish to fulfill your virtues, do not betray them; conceal virtues for the sake of pride; hide good deeds for the sake of arrogance; flee from being seen as what you have merited to be; what you could lose by revealing, guard by silence. But reveal the vices of your heart, manifest evil thoughts at once, for a sin that is revealed is quickly cured, while a concealed fault grows. If a vice is open, from great it becomes small; if a sin is hidden, from the smallest it becomes greatest. It is better that you avoid a vice than that you correct it, lest, when you have fallen into it, you cannot call it back because of the worst habit. The bonds of habit are scarcely loosened, and long-ingrained faults are corrected slowly. Deliberate long upon a decision you are beginning, and what you wish to do for a long time, examine, test, and do it for a long time; for nothing in action is done with hasty counsel, but delay is better. However, in good matters, slowness is to be removed; for in good things, delay harms, and what is expedient, putting off hinders. In good things, let there be no sluggish laziness, let there be no negligence; the vices of the flesh quickly seize the idle; for through torpor, strength and talent flow away, and idleness corrupts nature; dullness extinguishes the light of knowledge, but diligence makes one better; the mind becomes more ardent when joined with study, and slower minds are sharpened by studies. Industry rouses the torpor of nature, assiduity sharpens the slowness of spirit.

Wakefulness perfects the spirit; through wakefulness more is known, for it often overcomes habit, and often from habit an effect upon nature is produced; for assiduity creates character, constant use turns itself into nature; what you accomplish with difficulty through use, you will accomplish without difficulty. Learn what you do not know, lest you be found a useless teacher; but lead the good you have learned; when you share wisdom with others, you increase it for yourself; wisdom thereby becomes longer; by retaining it, it is less, and while it is imparted more, it abounds. Let your words precede the work; what you promise with your mouth, fulfill with your work; what you teach with words, exhibit and show by execution. Be not only a teacher, but an imitator of virtues. If you teach and also do, then you will be glorious. For it is not enough to praise what you have said, unless you join deeds to words. In the teaching of yourself, do not praise yourself in your own times; instruct others in such a way that you guard yourself; teach in such a way that you do not lose the grace of humility.

Beware, lest while you raise another by teaching, you yourself be lowered by the desire for praise. When you instruct them, do not use obscurity, but speak so that you are understood, lest by speaking you displease the simple or offend the prudent; the speech of teachers will be according to the spirit of the hearers. Teaching must be begun according to character; remedies are to be applied according to the wound, for various wills desire different discipline. Therefore each one is to be taught according to his own profession. The usefulness of persons is to be considered, and treat each one in instructing accordingly. Entrust the secrets of your profession to all, speak openly. Announce hidden things to few; do not be ashamed to speak what you know how to defend; and what you feel is lacking in your knowledge, seek from others; for by seeking, hidden things become clear, and difficulties are opened up by conferring. Let there be no curiosity in you for knowing hidden things, nor seek knowledge beyond what is written. Do not desire what it is not lawful to know. In disputation do not contradict justice; nor strive to empty what is right; in every disputation hold to what is right, and love to hear more than to speak. In the beginning listen, at the end speak. In every matter the end is to be attended to, the final things are to be sought, and the last speech is better than the first.

Revere all who are better in knowledge and life, and grant to each the reverence befitting his own merit of a higher degree of sanctity, nor show yourself equal to one more holy. Offer obedience to your elders, and comply with their age through deference. In all precepts obey in such a way that by obeying the wishes of men you do not offend God. Do not become accustomed to doing evil, nor, even if punishments threaten, acquiesce to anyone who is sinning; for it is better to suffer death than to fulfill pernicious evils. Not only the doer, but also the accomplice in sin is held liable; nor is one free from crime who obeyed in order to do evil. He who obeys evil is like him who does evil; bind the doer and the follower with equal punishment. Strive to be more revered than feared by your subjects, so that they cling to you more by the duty of love than by the necessity of contradiction. Let your subjects revere you more than they fear you; for from reverence love proceeds, and fear brings hatred; fear destroys trust, affection restores it; fear does not preserve lasting trust; where fear dares, strength follows it; where there is fear, audacity follows; and where there is dread, despair occurs. Therefore, temper the sowing of your mouth, and it is fitting to rule subjects with the highest goodness; do not be terrible to those under you, but so govern that they delight to serve you.

Maintain moderation at all times, so that you do nothing immoderate, neither less nor more than is fitting, nor should you be anything other than moderate even in good things. For all remedies are useful, and at the right time everything becomes useful; indeed, right things are corrupted by immoderate use, and every excess is a vice. Therefore consider what is suitable for you, and for the time, and where, when, why, and for how long something ought to be done; examine the causes and times of things, and carefully distinguish the discriminations of each action. Discern everything you do, why you begin a good, why you complete it; in every action maintain discretion, and be indiscreet in nothing. When you have well discerned your work, many things are corrupted by custom, many are presumed by depraved usage, and many are usurped against chaste morals; then least of all preserve custom and law; let usage yield to authority, and let law and reason overcome depraved usage. Harm no one by your testimony, nor bring the voice of testimony to bear to anyone’s peril. Let your speech hinder neither anyone’s soul nor property; defend no one against the truth.

When you judge, do not be swayed by affection for any person; look to the case, not the person, whether poor or rich. Spurn bribes, lest justice be corrupted through them; for gifts always pervert the truth, and justice is quickly violated by a man. Do not seek temporal gain from a just judgment; seek no reward for yourself for justice. When you judge, reserve the reward for the future, and do not seek on earth that which is owed to you in heaven. Empty your hands of every bribe, if you wish to dwell in the heavens; sit in judgment also without mercy. Guard the justice of discretion, and do not be more just than is fitting. For everything that is excessive is a vice. It is an impious justice to be ignorant of human frailty; therefore, do not love to condemn, but rather to amend than to correct. Maintain rigor in the discretion of justice; let mercy follow the examination of the judgment; let indulgence temper the rigor of discipline. Be as clement in the faults of others as in your own, and judge no one more harshly than you judge yourself. Judge others as you wish to be judged; for while you indulge the sins of others, you show mercy to yourself; the judgment you impose on others you yourself will bear. For in that in which you judge, you are to be judged; in the measure you have been measured, it will be remeasured to you.

Define all matters you investigate with justice; never judge by the mere suspicion of your own opinion. First prove, then judge; for it is not the one who is accused, but the accuser who is guilty. It is dangerous to judge anything presumptuously. In ambiguous cases, reserve your judgment. When you know your own limits, and when you do not know, reserve the matter for divine judgment. Do not strive to condemn by human judgment what God keeps for His own examination. Let us judge uncertain things only until the Lord comes at last, who brings hidden things to light. For although some things are not to be believed, they are nevertheless to be dismissed only if they are not approved by certain proofs, and not if they are committed to manifest examination, and not if they are confirmed by judicial order. 25. Let truth be supreme for you in the highest honor. However sublime your power may be, restrain your loftiness within yourself. Let not honor exalt you, but let humility preside over the summit of sublimity. Be as much the more humbly conspicuous as you are distinguished by great dignity. Fulfill the duties entrusted to you with humility, and undertake the ministry given to you with a submissive mind. Be obedient to divine disposition, and do not dare to oppose its will. Exercise the rights of acquired power with moderation, and arrange everything not with a turbulent heart, but with a tranquil one. Avoid honors which you cannot hold without fault. For the sublimity of honors—the magnitude of crimes at a higher rank—without doubt brings greater punishment.

If you wish to be tranquil, covet nothing of the world. You will always have peace of mind if you cast aside care for the world, and you will always enjoy eternal quiet if you withdraw yourself from the tumult of earthly things. Cast away from yourself whatever can hinder a good purpose, and with your whole soul hate the losses which the world loves. Whatever you have, turn it to mercy. Your virtue is supported in your works. Do not choose whom you pity, lest you perhaps pass over the one who deserves to receive. Give to all, lest perchance the one to whom you do not give be Christ himself; and when you bestow, bestow with cheerfulness; and whatever you give, give with affection; give mercy without murmuring, offer alms without weariness. Let your benevolence be greater than what is given. Let your grace be greater than what is expended; for your work will be such as your intention is. For what is dispensed with good affection, this God receives: he who gives with weariness loses his reward. He who extends his hand with sadness loses the fruit of recompense; there is no mercy where there is no benevolence. From your just labors minister to the poor. Do not take from one in order to give to another. It profits nothing if you relieve one while you make another empty. That compassion condemns, it does not propitiate. Do the good which you do for the sake of mercy, not of boasting; do nothing for temporal opinion, nothing for fame, but for eternal life and the love of God.

Whatever you do, do it for the sake of a future reward; let the expectation of eternal recompense hold you. Moreover, whatever you do for the sake of glory, that is of your own deed, if you give it so that it becomes known to three men, you have given not to God but to your own person, and it profits not for eternal glory but for the glory of this life. Behold, you have received a modest rule; the norm of living has been given to you; no ignorance excuses you; you are no longer ignorant of life; you are not imprudent or unknowing; I have described the law you ought to follow, what sort of disposition you ought to have. You have knowledge of the commandments. Now you know what it is to live rightly. See that you do not offend further; see that you do not despise in living what you receive in reading. It is good to know, to retain what is received, and to fulfill in deed what you have learned by precept. Henceforth see that you do not despise the good you have received. Amen.