L'Imitation

Are you familiar with The Imitation of Christ? Perhaps it's now lying at the bottom of a closet, covered in dust, or abandoned at a second-hand dealer's? What a shame!

For more than five centuries, this book has nourished generations of Christians eager to progress in their spiritual life and strive for holiness. Read and reread for five and a half centuries, this book has formed souls yearning for holiness, leading them to conquer themselves, to contemplate Christ in his Passion, and to be nourished by his life in the Eucharist.

This work was born at the heart of a vast spiritual movement of the 14th and 15th centuries: the Devotio Moderna. This movement, both simple and concrete, was aimed at humble and sincere souls, at a time when scholastic theology had become too abstract and intellectual.

Reading The Imitation, one is struck by the biblical richness of its texts: the author constantly refers to Holy Scripture, quoting 86 of the 150 psalms, 92 passages from the prophets, and more than 260 excerpts from the Old Testament. For the New Testament, there are 193 references to the Gospels, 13 to Acts, 190 to Saint Paul, and 87 to other writings.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus testified to the importance of this book in her life:

"For a long time I had nourished myself with the 'pure flour' contained in the Imitation; it was the only book that did me good, for I had not yet discovered the treasures hidden in the Gospel. I knew almost all the chapters of my beloved Imitation by heart; this little book never left me; in summer, I carried it in my pocket, in winter, in my muff, so it had become a tradition. At my aunt's house, they had a lot of fun with it, and opening it at random, they made me recite the chapter that was in front of me."

When spiritual dryness overwhelmed her, "Holy Scripture and the Imitation come to my aid," she said, "in them I find solid and pure nourishment." For Thérèse, The Imitation of Christ was both a source of inspiration and a guide for life, the foundation of her “little way” to God.

Such a spiritual legacy should encourage us, too, to rediscover The Imitation of Christ.