Lady Holy Poverty, God keep you,
with your sister, holy Humility.
Lady Holy Love,
God keep you,
with your sister, holy Obedience.
All holy virtues,
God keep you,
God, from whom you proceed and come.
In all the world
there is not a man who can possess any one of you without first dying to
himself.
The man who
practises one and does not offend against
the others
possesses all;
The man who
offends against one, possesses none and violates all.
Each and every
one of you
puts vice and sin to shame.
Holy Wisdom puts
satan
and all his wiles to shame.
Pure and holy
Simplicity puts all the learning of this world, all natural wisdom, to shame.
Holy Poverty puts
to shame all greed, avarice, and all the anxieties of this life.
Holy Humility
puts pride to shame,
and all the inhabitants of this
world and all that is in the world.
Holy Love puts to
shame all the temptations of the devil and the flesh and all natural fear.
Holy Obedience
puts to shame all natural and selfish desires.
It mortifies our
lower nature and makes it obey the spirit and our fellow men.
Obedience subjects a man to everyone
on earth,
And not only to
men,
but to all the beasts as well and to
the wild animals,
So that they can do what they like with him, as far as God allows them.
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