OF THE INWARD LIFE
“Why do you cast your eyes hither and thither, since this is not the place of your rest? In heaven ought your habitation to be, and all earthly things should be looked upon as it were in the passing by. All things pass away, and you, equally with them. Look that you cleave not to them, lest you be taken with them and perish. Let your contemplation be on the Most High, and let your supplication be directed unto Christ without ceasing. If you cannot behold high and heavenly things, rest you in the passion of Christ and dwell willingly in His sacred wounds. For if you devoutly fly to the wounds of Jesus, and the precious marks of the nails and the spear, you shall find great comfort in tribulation, nor will the slights of men trouble you much, and you will easily bear their unkind words.
Christ also, when He was in the world, was despised and rejected of men, and in His greatest necessity, was left by His acquaintance and friends to bear these reproaches. Christ was willing to suffer and be despised, and dare you complain of any. Christ had adversaries and gainsayers, and do you wish to have all men your friends and benefactors? Whence shall your patience attain her crown if no adversity befalls you? If you are unwilling to suffer any adversity, how shall you be the friend of Christ? Sustain yourself with Christ, and for Christ, if you will reign with Christ.
If you have once entered into the mind of Jesus, and have tasted, yea, even a little of his tender love, then would you care nought for your own convenience or inconvenience, but would rather rejoice at trouble brought upon you, because the love of Jesus makes a man to despise himself. He who loves Jesus, and is inwardly true and free from inordinate affections, is able to turn himself readily unto God, and to rise above himself in spirit, and to enjoy fruitful peace.
He who knows things as they are, and not as they are said or seem to be, he truly is wise, and is taught of God more than of men. He who knows how to walk from within, and to set little value upon outward things, requires not places nor waits for seasons, for holding his intercourse with God. The inward man quickly recollects himself, because he is never entirely given up to outward things. No outward labour and no necessary occupations stand in his way, but as events fall out, so does he fit himself to them. He who is rightly disposed and ordered within, cares not for the strange and perverse conduct of men. A man is hindered and distracted in so far as he is moved by outward things.
If it were well with you, and you were purified from evil, all things would work together for your good and profiting. For this cause do many things displease you and often trouble you, that you are not yet perfectly dead to yourself nor separated from all earthly things. Nothing so defiles and entangles the heart of man, as impure love towards created things. If you reject outward comfort, you will be able to contemplate heavenly things, and frequently to be joyful inwardly.”
Thomas a Kempis
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 