6 July
2020
Shunning Over Familiarity
DO NOT open your heart
to every man, but discuss your affairs with one who is wise and who fears God. Do
not keep company with young people and strangers. Do not fawn upon the rich,
and do not be fond of mingling with the great. Associate with the humble and
the simple, with the devout and virtuous, and with them speak of edifying
things. Be not intimate with any woman, but generally commend all good women to
God. Seek only the intimacy of God and of His angels, and avoid the notice of
men.
We ought to have
charity for all men but familiarity with all is not expedient. Sometimes it
happens that a person enjoys a good reputation among those who do not know him,
but at the same time is held in slight regard by those who do. Frequently we
think we are pleasing others by our presence and we begin rather to displease
them by the faults they find in us.
Thomas
à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p13
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