The love of friends must only depend on and exist in the Love of God

June 6, 2022 • 1 min

#Doctrine #Exhortation #Love #Friendship

From Imitation of Christ, in file "Imitation of Christ", page 246
By Thomas a Kempis

Chap. XLII.—That our peace is not to be placed in men.

Son, if thou placest thy peace with any person, for the sake of thy contentment in his company, thou shall be unsettled and entangled:

But if thou hast recourse to the ever-living and subsisting Truth, thou shalt not be grieved when a friend departs
or dies.

In me the love of thy friend must
stand; and for me is he to be loved, whoever he be, who appears to thee good, and is very dear to thee in this
life.

Without me no friendship is of any strength, nor will be durable; nor is that love true and pure of which I am not the author.

Thou oughtest to be so far mortified to such affections of persons beloved, as to wish (for as much as appertains to thee) to be without any company of man.

By so much the more does a man
draw nigh to God, by how much the farther he withdraws himself from all earthly comfort.

So much the higher he ascends into God, by how much the lower he descends into himself, and by how much the meaner he esteems himself.