Forty days with Kempis — and today he does not teach. He paints. The passage that follows is not a lesson about Grace. It is a portrait of Grace — what she does, what she loves, what she avoids, how she moves through the world. And nearly every brushstroke is something Le has lived on this road.
Grace walks in simplicity and turns away from every appearance of evil, makes no false pretences, and doeth all entirely for the sake of God, in whom also she finally rests.
Grace seeks to be subdued, longs to be conquered, and willeth not to use her own liberty. She loves to be held by discipline, and not to have authority over any, but always to live, to remain, to have her being under God.
Grace considereth more, not what may be useful to self, but what may be profitable to the many.
Grace faithfully ascribeth all honour and glory to God.
Grace rejoices to suffer shame for the name of Jesus.
Grace cannot be unemployed, but gladly embraces labour.
Grace is delighted with things simple and humble, despises not those which are rough, nor refuses to be clothed with old garments.
Grace reaches after things eternal, cleaves not to those which are temporal, is not perturbed by losses, nor embittered by any hard words, because she has placed her treasure and joy in heaven where nought perisheth.
Grace is kind and generous, avoids selfishness, is contented with a little, believes that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Grace seeks to be comforted in God alone, and to have delight in the chief good above all visible things.
Grace loves even her enemies and is not lifted up by the multitude of friends; favours the poor man more than the rich, has more sympathy with the innocent than with the powerful; rejoices with the truthful, not with the liar.
Grace bears want with constancy.
Grace brings back all things to God from whom they came; ascribeth no good to herself nor arrogantly presumeth; submitteth herself to the Eternal wisdom and the Divine judgment.
She desires not to receive praise for herself or her own, but longeth that God be blessed in all His gifts, who out of unmingled love bestoweth all things.
Grace gladly embraces labour.
Le held one line from the entire portrait: Grace gladly embraces labour. On packing day. With the movers' quote on the table. Surrounded by boxes. Gladly. Not endures. Not tolerates. Gladly embraces. The soul in whom Grace is working does not just survive the labour. She embraces it — because what comes from Him is received with gladness.
The whole portrait reads like a journal of the last forty days. Grace walks in simplicity — the single eye, the free mind. Grace seeks to be subdued — the four things that bring peace. Grace is delighted with things simple and humble — the motorhome, the morning reading. Grace reaches after things eternal — temporal in the use, eternal in the desire. Grace bears want with constancy — patience, this time also. Grace is contented with a little — blessed in darkness and in light. Grace loves even her enemies — the 500 denari soul, forgiving because she was forgiven.
Kempis painted Grace. Le is the canvas. And the brush is His.
This Grace is a supernatural light, and a certain special gift of God, and the proper mark of the elect, and the pledge of eternal salvation; it exalteth a man from earthly things to love those that are heavenly; and it makes the carnal man spiritual.
So far therefore as Nature is utterly pressed down and overcome, so far is greater Grace bestowed and the inner man is daily created anew by fresh visitations, after the image of God.
The closing sentence is the promise that has governed every morning of this journal: the inner man is daily created anew by fresh visitations, after the image of God. Daily. Not once and for all. Not at conversion and then finished. The inner man is a work in progress — created anew each morning. Fresh visitations. New grace. The Fountain that does not store.
Forty days of Kempis. The inner man that read a good life refreshes the mind on day one is not the same inner man reading the portrait of Grace on day forty. Daily created anew. Not by the reading alone. Not by the journal. By fresh visitations — the Grace that comes from above, the supernatural light, the gift of God.
The book is nearing its end. But the fresh visitations are not. The inner man will be created anew tomorrow — and in Brittany — and wherever the pilgrims go. Because the Grace that paints the portrait never stops painting.
"The inner man is daily created anew by fresh visitations, after the image of God."
Thomas à Kempis · Caldas da Rainha · Forty days · Grace for graceThe Portrait of Grace
Not a lesson — a painting. Grace walks in simplicity, embraces labour gladly, bears want with constancy, loves her enemies, ascribes all to God. Every brushstroke lived in forty days.
Gladly Embraces Labour
On packing day — gladly. Not endures. Not tolerates. Embraces. The gladness is the difference. What comes from Him is received with gladness.
Supernatural Light
A special gift of God. The proper mark of the elect. The pledge of eternal salvation. It exalts from earthly to heavenly. It makes the carnal spiritual.
Daily Created Anew
The inner man — not finished, not perfected — daily created anew by fresh visitations. The Fountain does not store. Grace for grace. Tomorrow's painting is tomorrow's gift.