§1Disciplina custos spei, retinaculum fidei, dux itineris salutaris, fomes ac nutrimentum bonae indolis, magistra uirtutis, facit in Christo manere semper ac iugiter Deo uiuere, ad promissa caelestia et diuina praemia peruenire.
Discipline, the guardian of hope, the bond of faith, the guide of the salvific journey, the spark and nourishment of a good disposition, the teacher of virtue, causes us to remain always in Christ and to live continually for God, to attain the heavenly promises and divine rewards.
hanc et sectari salubre est et auersari ac neglegere letale.
To follow this is salutary, and to turn away from and neglect it is fatal.
in psalmis loquitur Spiritus sanctus: continete disciplinam ne forte irascatur Dominus et pereatis a uia recta, cum exarserit cito ira eius super uos. et iterum: peccatori autem dicit Deus: ad quid exponis iustificationes meas et adsumis testamentum meum per os tuum? tu autem odisti disciplinam et abiecisti sermones meos retro.
In the Psalms the Holy Spirit speaks: "Keep discipline, lest the Lord be angry and you perish from the right way, when His anger shall quickly kindle upon you." And again: "But to the sinner God says: 'Why do you declare my statutes and take my covenant through your mouth?
et denuo legimus: disciplinam qui abicit infelix est. et de Salomone mandata sapientiae monentis accepimus: fili, ne neglexeris disciplinam Dei nec defeceris ab eo correptus: quem enim diligit Deus corripit. si autem Deus quem diligit corripit et corripit ut emendet, fratres quoque et maxime sacerdotes non oderunt sed diligunt eos quos corripiunt ut emendent, quando et Deus per Hieremiam ante praedixerit et tempora nostra significauerit dicens: et dabo uobis pastores secundum cor meum, et pascent uos pascentes cum disciplina. §2Quodsi in scripturis sanctis frequenter et ubique disciplina praecipitur et fundamentum omne religionis ac fidei de obseruatione ac timore proficiscitur, quid cupidius adpetere, quid magis uelle ac tenere nos conuenit, quam ut radicibus fortius fixis et domiciliis nostris super petram robusta mole solidatis inconcussi ad procellas et turbines saeculi stemus, ad Dei munera per diuina praecepta ueniamus, considerantes pariter ac scientes quod templa Dei sint membra nostra ab omni faece contagionis antiquae lauacri uitalis sanctificatione purgata nec uiolari ea aut pollui fas sit, quando qui uiolat et ipse uioletur? eorum nos templorum cultores et antistites sumus: seruiamus illi, cuius esse iam coepimus.
For you have hated discipline and cast my words behind you.'" And again we read: "He who casts away discipline is unhappy." And concerning Solomon we have received the commands of warning wisdom: "My son, neglect not the discipline of God, nor faint when corrected by Him: for whom God loves He corrects." But if God corrects whom He loves, and corrects in order to amend, brothers also, and especially priests, do not hate but love those whom they correct in order to amend, since God also foretold through Jeremiah and signified our times, saying: "And I will give you pastors after my heart, and they shall feed you, feeding with discipline." But if in the holy scriptures discipline is frequently and everywhere commanded, and the entire foundation of religion and faith proceeds from observance and fear, what is it more fitting for us to desire more eagerly, to wish for and hold more, than that, with roots more firmly fixed and our dwellings established upon the rock with a strong mass, we may stand unshaken against the storms and tempests of the world, and come to the gifts of God through divine precepts, considering likewise and knowing that our members are the temples of God, cleansed from all dregs of ancient contagion by the sanctification of the vital bath, and that it is not lawful for them to be violated or polluted, since he who violates shall himself be violated? We are the cultifiers and priests of those temples: let us serve Him, whose we have already begun to be.
Paulus in epistulis suis dicit, quibus nos ad curricula uiuendi per diuina magisteria formauit: non estis uestri: empti enim estis magno [pretio].
Paul says in his epistles, by which he shaped us for the courses of living through divine teachings: "You are not your own: for you were bought with a great price.
clarificate et portate Deum in corpore uestro. clarificemus et portemus Deum puro et mundo corpore et obseruatione meliore, et qui per sanguinem Christi redempti sumus per omnia seruitutis obsequia redemptoris imperio pareamus demusque operam, ne quid immundum et profanum templo Dei inferatur, ne offensus sedem quam inhabitat derelinquat.
Glorify and bear God in your body." Let us glorify and bear God in a pure and clean body and with better observance, and let us who are redeemed by the blood of Christ obey the command of the redeemer through all services of servitude, and let us give diligence that nothing unclean and profane be brought into the temple of God, lest He, being offended, should leave the seat which He inhabits.
sospitantis Domini uerba sunt et docentis, curantis pariter et monentis: ecce, inquit, sanus factus es: iam noli peccare ne quid tibi deterius fiat. dat uiuendi timorem, dat innocentiae legem, postquam contulit sanitatem, nec habenis liberis et solutis uagari postmodum patitur, sed ipsis potius quibus sanatus fuerat mancipato grauius comminatur, quod sit scilicet minor culpa deliquisse ante, cum necdum nosses disciplinam Dei, nulla sit uenia ultra delinquere, postquam Deum nosse coepisti.
These are the words of the saving and teaching Lord, caring likewise and warning: "Behold," He says, "you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you." He gives the fear of living, He gives the law of innocence, after He has conferred health, nor does He allow one to wander afterwards with free and loose reins, but rather threatens more severely him who has been enslaved to those very things from which he had been healed, because indeed it was a lesser fault to have transgressed before, when you did not yet know the discipline of God, but there is no pardon to transgress further, after you have begun to know God.
et quidem hoc tam uiri quam mulieres, tam pueri quam puellae, sexus omnis adque omnis aetas obseruet et curet pro religione et fide quam Deo debet, ne quod sanctum et purum de Domini dignatione percipitur minus sollicito timore teneatur.
And indeed, let this be observed and cared for by both men and women, both boys and girls, every sex and every age, for the sake of the religion and faith which they owe to God, lest what is received as holy and pure from the condescension of the Lord be held with less solicitous fear.
§3Nunc nobis ad nirgines sermo est, quarum quo sublimior gloria est maior et cura est.
Now our speech is to the virgins, whose care is the greater as their glory is more sublime.
flos est ille ecclesiastici germinis, decus adque ornamentum gratiae spiritalis, laeta indoles, laudis et honoris opus integrum adque incorruptum, Dei imago respondens ad sanctimoniam Domini, inlustrior portio gregis Christi.
That is the flower of the ecclesiastical bud, the beauty and ornament of spiritual grace, a joyful disposition, a whole and incorrupt work of praise and honor, the image of God responding to the holiness of the Lord, the more illustrious portion of Christ's flock.
gaudet per illas adque in illis largiter floret ecclesiae matris gloriosa fecunditas, quantoque plus copiosa uirginitas numero suo addit, gaudium matris augescit.
The glorious fecundity of Mother Church rejoices through them and flourishes abundantly in them, and the more copious virginity adds to its number, the joy of the mother increases.
ad has loquimur, has adhortamur adfectu potius quam potestate nec quo extremi et minimi et humilitatis nostrae admodum conscii aliquid ad censuram licentiae uindicemus, sed quod ad sollicitudinem magis cauti plus de diaboli infestatione timeamus.
To these we speak, these we exhort by affection rather than by power, not that we, the last and least, and fully conscious of our lowliness, vindicate anything for the censorship of liberty, but because, being more cautious for solicitude, we fear more the infestation of the devil.