Here are some passages from the 56^th Chapter of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, translated from the Latin by Aloysius Croft and Harold Bolton.

The Voice of Christ

MY CHILD, the more you depart from yourself, the more you will be able to enter into Me. As the giving up of exterior things brings interior peace, so the forsaking of self unites you to God. I will have you learn perfect surrender to My will, without contradiction or complaint.

Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way which you must follow, the Truth which you must believe, the Life for which you must hope. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth, the unending Life. I am the Way that is straight, the supreme Truth, the Life that is true, the blessed, the uncreated Life. If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free, and you shall attain life everlasting.

If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.

The Disciple

Lord Jesus, because Your way is narrow and despised by the world, grant that I may despise the world and imitate You. For the servant is not greater than his Lord, nor the disciple above the Master. Let Your servant be trained in Your life, for there is my salvation and true holiness. Whatever else I read or hear does not fully refresh or delight me….

The Voice of Christ

My child, now that you know these things and have read them all, happy will you be if you do them. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me. And I will love him and will show Myself to him, and will bring it about that he will sit down with Me in My Father's Kingdom.

HOMILY 55. On the Book of John, chapter 14

from the HOMILIES OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

WE need everywhere works and actions, not a mere show of words. For to say and to promise is easy for any one, but to act is not equally easy. Why have I made these remarks? Because there are many at this time who say that they fear and love God, but in their works show the contrary; but God requireth that love which is shown by works. Wherefore He said to the disciples, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." For after He had told them, "Whatsoever ye shall ask, I will do it," that they might not deem the mere "asking" to be availing, He added, "If ye love Me," "then," He saith, "I will do it." And since it was likely that they would be troubled when they heard that, "I go to the Father," He telleth them "to be troubled now is not to love, to love is to obey My words. I have given you a commandment that ye love one another, that ye do so to each other as I have done to you; this is love, to obey these My words, and to yield to Him who is the object of your love."

Ver. 21. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."

It is not enough merely to have them, we need also an exact keeping of them. But why doth He frequently say the same thing to them as, "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments" (ver. 15); and, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them"; and, "If any one heareth My word and keepeth it, he it is that loveth Me--he that heareth not My words, loveth Me not." (Ver. 24.) I think that He alluded to their despondency; for since He had uttered many wise sayings to them concerning death, saying, "He that hateth his life in this world shall save it unto life eternal" (c. xii. 25); and," Unless a man take his cross and follow Me, he is not worthy of Me" (Matt. x. 38); and is about to say other things besides, rebuking them, He saith, "Think ye that ye suffer sorrow from love? The not sorrowing would be a sign of love." And because He wished all along to establish this, as He went on He summed up His discourse in this same point; "If ye loved Me," He saith, "ye would have rejoiced, because--I go to My Father" (ver. 28), but now ye are in this state through cowardice. To be thus disposed towards death is not for those who remember My commandments; for you ought to be crucified, if you truly loved Me, for My word exhorteth you not to be afraid of those that kill the body. Those that are such both the Father loveth and I. "And I will manifest Myself unto him…

O SON OF MAN!

Neglect not My commandments if thou lovest My

beauty, and forget not My counsels if thou

wouldst attain My good pleasure.

O ye peoples of the world! Know assuredly that

My commandments are the lamps of My loving

providence among My servants, and the keys of My

mercy for My creatures. Thus hath it been sent down

from the heaven of the Will of your Lord, the Lord of

Revelation. Were any man to taste the sweetness of the

words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to

utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in

his possession, renounce them one and all, that he

might vindicate the truth of even one of His

commandments, shining above the Dayspring of His

bountiful care and loving-kindness.

Say: From My laws the sweet-smelling savour of

My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the

standards of Victory will be planted upon the highest

peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven

of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation

these words: "Observe My commandments, for the love

of My beauty." Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the

divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words,

laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can

describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice

wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful favour

will circle around My commandments that shine above

the Dayspring of My creation.

By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful

favour, will circle around My commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation.

Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. To this beareth witness

that which the Pen of Revelation hath revealed. Meditate upon this, O men of insight!...

Whenever My laws appear like the sun in the heaven of Mine utterance, they must be faithfully obeyed by all, though My decree be such as to cause the heaven of every religion to be cleft asunder. He doth what He pleaseth. He chooseth; and none may question His choice.

Seize ye, O loved ones of the All-Merciful, the chalice of

eternal life proffered by the hand of the bountiful favours

of your Lord, the Possessor of the entire creation, then

drink ye deep therefrom. I swear by God, it will so enrapture

you that ye shall arise to magnify His Name and

proclaim His utterances amidst the peoples of the earth and

shall conquer the cities of the hearts of men in the name of

your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised.

Moreover, We announce unto everyone the joyful

tidings concerning that which We have revealed in Our

Most Holy Book--a Book from above whose horizon the

day-star of My commandments shineth upon every

observer and every observed one. Hold ye fast unto it and

fulfil that which is revealed therein. Indeed better is this for

you than whatsoever hath been created in the world, did ye

but know it. Beware lest the transitory things of human life

withhold you from turning unto God, the True One.

Ponder ye in your hearts the world and its conflicts and

changes, so that ye may discern its merit and the station of

those who have set their hearts upon it and have turned

away from that which hath been sent down in Our

Preserved Tablet.