the mystical temple of god 584 with your whole heart” (Mt 22:37). In explaining this, Lipomanus38 says “The Lord wishes to be held, believed, worshiped and loved alone: and as He alone is our Lord, so He demands that we should be entirely His.”39 Otherwise, the slightest disordered feeling toward a small trifle, [or] toward ourselves, very much impedes this perfect love. “For those who love God,” as Theodoretus40 says, “with all their heart, do not divide their feeling by placing it both among earthly matters and among heavenly things, but bear it entirely upwards.”41 I do not proceed further, but contain myself within the sphere of the heart, and so conclude. If “the heart is the altar of God,” as St. Bernard would have it, let it be consecrated to God alone. “He wishes to have your heart for Himself alone” (he admonishes you, Christian, Imitator of Christ42) “and to sit as a King on His own throne” (1. 2, c. 7),43 as God on His altar. O God! Make it that this be so forever. 38 Luigi Lippomano, or Aloisius Lipomanus (1500-1599) is the author of the works: A Chain on Genesis, Paris 1546; A Chain on Exodus, Paris 1550. Cf. Benigni, U., Lippomano, Luigi or Aloisius Lipomanus: EC IX, 279-280; De Gaiffier B., Lippomani (Lippomano, Lipomanus) Luigi: LThK VI, 1071. 39 This text of Lipomanus could not be located. 40 Cf. Peterson, Erik, Theodoretus of Ciro: ECat XI, 1926-27, where it may be read that he wrote “exegetical works on many texts of the Octateuch.” 41 It was not possible to find this text. In The Complete Works of Theodoretus, Ed. Sirmand, Paris 1642, in the section: “Index of Names and Subjects,” on the words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, etc.,” only one passage is indicated where Theodoretus provided a commentary on these words, that is, in “Questions on Deuteronomy,” Inter. III: ibid., I, 170s, d, where however it was not possible to find a different text although it was very similar as far as the sense is concerned: “The Lord has clearly taught us that nobody can serve two masters. And in this passage therefore we are taught that love cannot be shared between God and gold, or between God and friends: but we are instructed to consecrate the whole force of love to God the creator.” 42 “The Imitator of Christ,” that is, the author of an anonymous book called On the Imitation of Christ. He is believed by many to be Thomas Hemerk à Kempis, of the Order of Regular Augustinian Canons (d. 1471). 43 Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Bk. II, Ch. 7. [The English translations of The Imitation of Christ are all translated directly from the Latin quotations of The Imitation from Templum Dei Mysticum, in order to fully convey the meaning that St. Stanislaus intended. Hereafter The Imitation of Christ will be abbreviated as IC.]
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