I think that as ‘Amen’ comes at the end of all things,
our Lord here means by it that we may be delivered from all evil for ever.
When I see how engulfed I am in my weakness, tepidity,
lack of mortification, and many other faults, I feel the need to ask God for
some remedy. Since I shall never be free from these evils in this life, I beg
the Lord to deliver me from all evil for ever.
What good do we perceive on earth, where we are
destitute of all good and absent from our Lord?
Deliver me, O God! From this deadly nightmare: from
the many labours, the frequent anguish, the numberless vicissitudes, the
multitude of duties, and the many, many, many things that harass and weary me.
Unbearable are the uncertainties as to whether I love
Thee of whether my desires are pleasing to Thee. My Lord and my God! Deliver me
from all evil and vouchsafe to take me where all good things are to be found.
(The Way of
Perfection, 42:2,3)
