Week 7: Book Two, Chapters VII–XII — Loving Jesus, Bearing the Cross

1.Chapter VII opens with one of Thomas's most beloved lines: 'He who cleaveth to created things will fall with their slipperiness; but he who embraceth Jesus will stand upright for ever.' He then says that if we seek ourselves in others, we find ourselves to our own hurt — but if we seek Jesus in all things, we find Jesus. Where are you currently looking for the stability that only Jesus can give?

2.Chapter VIII famously begins: 'When Jesus is present all is well and nothing seemeth hard, but when Jesus is not present everything is hard.' Thomas points to Mary Magdalene, who 'rose up quickly from the place where she wept when Martha said, The Master is come and calleth for thee.' When have you experienced that sudden shift — from heaviness to life — at a renewed sense of Christ's presence? What brought it about?

3.Chapter IX introduces St. Laurence, who 'despised everything in the world' including his beloved bishop Sixtus, choosing God's good pleasure over even the deepest human affection. Thomas uses this to argue that true love of God eventually requires releasing even the things we love most. Does this call to radical detachment feel like liberation or loss to you? How might it be both?