The Landowner Hiring Labourers
Make no plans for
yourself, except one - always seek to please God by obedience to his will.
Be an example of sincere faith and of a life pleasing to
God, and, like the Apostles, you will be the fragrance of Christ, drawing all
people to follow him. But do not importune all people indiscriminately with
your words, for in this way you will only destroy your peace with others and in
yourself. Have an ardent zeal and a strong desire for everyone to know truth in
the same degree of perfection as you have it, and to be intoxicated with this
wine, which God has promised and which is now given by him without price (Is
55:1). This thirst for the salvation of your neighbours you must always have;
but it must arise from your love of God, and not from ill-judged zeal. God will
himself plant such love for your brethren in your soul, when it has renounced
all things, and will come in his own time
to collect its fruit. But you must not sow anything of your own accord;
all you have to do is to offer to God the earth of your heart, free of tares
and thistles, and he will sow the seed in it, how and when he wills. This seed
will bring fruit in its proper time.
Remember always that God wishes to see your soul
withdrawn from everything in order to unite it with himself. So leave him to
act in you, and do not hinder him by the interference of your will. Make no
plans for yourself, except one - always seek to please God by obedience to his
will. The householder has already gone out to find labourers for his vineyard,
according to the Gospel parable. Put away all care and all thought, strip
yourself of all anxiety about yourself and all passionate attachment to
anything temporal, and God will clothe you in himself and will give you things
you cannot even conceive. Wholly forget about yourself, as much as you can, and
let only love of God live in your soul.