Book 3, Chapter 32: Of Self Denial and the Casting Away of All Selfishness.
Chapter Focus: What is liberty? How does this differ from freedom? What is liberty in the sense of this passage versus civil, secular liberty we pursue in a free society? And how do you square liberty and freedom against obedience and sacrifice? I’ll try to answer some of these by way of definitions.
Liberty is freedom from something such as restraint or freedom from despotic control. Freedom, as an element of liberty, speaks to an absence of necessity, duress, or constraint in choice or action and runs to unrestricted use. Being obedient means submitting to the restraint or command of authority (Merriam-Webster).
Thomas brings liberty into play in opposition to personal slavery. We break free of self-slavery when we refuse to be owned by our possessions or 
passions. Sometimes this freedom comes from obedience to our superiors. This does not mean that we cannot own anything or that we cannot feel anything or that we cannot know anything. Rather, we find liberty during our quest to renounce the “lust” for riches, pleasures, emotions, and positions. The pursuit of such passions can quickly become disordered to the point of fraud, betrayal, and even murder. Hence, we obey the law – civil or natural, as well as our hierarchy of authority. The law acts as a governor of unbridled liberty.
In our spiritual journey, such liberty helps us to obey the Lord. This is the hard part – obedience. He gives us the freedom to obey his Will and that of our superiors. At first glance, we see this as giving up our liberty and our freedom in a sacrifice to God or the greater good of the community. But the prophet Samuel posits this conundrum for us: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22).”
“Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.”
So here we have liberty, freedom, and obedience, bound together as a method to pursue perfection. But liberty of spirit presents itself as the challenge in this chapter. In a way, liberty of spirit is the combined effect of liberty and obedience. Liberty of spirit is that which lets us set aside our selfish wants and comforts and aim, as the Voice of Christ counsels, to pursue perfection (that is, completeness) by renouncing all things and giving up our lust for these worldly attachments.
Thomas, through the Voice of the Beloved, calls us to value wisdom in our hearts. This is in contravention to our worldly bent toward wanting recognition for our achievements. Again, nothing wrong with these achievements, but when our spirit is wrapped in such pursuits, we quickly confuse our priorities.
It is through fostering the habits of self-denial and obedience that we will gain the liberty of spirit which leads to perfection. Instead of diving for pearls to become rich, look for pearls of heavenly Wisdom. Heavenly Wisdom is so valuable and so rare that once you find it, you will never want to sell it or even wear it. You want to admire Wisdom and cherish it. Jesus, help me to welcome and love your authority in my life. Make my life bring you greater honor and fame.
Here is my list of things to think on from this chapter.
Renounce self
Mortify the senses
Detach from pleasure
Love our friends in God
Love our enemies for God
Scorn our selfish propensities
Attach ourselves only to God, our duties and salvation
Direct our heartfelt energies toward God
Desire nothing but to please God
Chapter 32, In Short.
1. You cannot possess perfect liberty unless you fully deny yourself.
2. The quest for such liberty is not mere child’s play.
3. You ought to be provoked to higher aims.
4. Heavenly wisdom disguises itself as vile, small, and forgettable.
Scripture Memory Prayer: “…obedience is better than sacrifice.” (1 Sam 15:22)
Question: What possession or comfort is enslaving you?
Key Quote: Renounce all things, and you shall find all things; give up your lust, and you shall find rest.
The Text of Chapter 32: Of Self Denial and the Casting Away of All Selfishness.
Christ: “My Child, you cannot possess perfect liberty unless you fully deny yourself. All are enslaved who possess riches, who love themselves, the selfish, the curious, the restless; those who seek after soft things, and not after the things of Jesus Christ; those who continually plan and devise that which will not stand. For whatever does not come from God will perish.
“Hold fast to this short saying: ‘Renounce all things, and you shall find all things; give up your lust, and you shall find rest.’ Meditate upon this in your mind, and when you are full of it, you shall understand all things.”
2. Disciple: O Lord, this is not the work of a day, nor children’s play. Truly, this short saying contains all the perfection of the devout.
3. Christ: “My child, you should not turn away from this challenge, nor immediately be downcast because you have heard the way of the perfect.
Mary, Seat of Wisdom.
Rather you ought to be provoked to higher aims and at the least, long after the desire of it. Oh, if only this were true of you, and that you had come to this, if only you were not a lover of your own self, but were always ready to conform to My nod, and to obey whomever I have placed over you as your superior. That would please Me greatly, and all your life would go on in joy and peace. Then you would please Me exceedingly, and all your life would then proceed in joy and peace. You still have many things to renounce, which if you do not turn over completely to Me, you shall not gain what you seek.
“‘I advise you to buy from Me gold tried in the fire, so that you may be rich (Rv 3:18),’ that is, heavenly Wisdom, which despises all base things. Put away earthly wisdom, and pleasure, whether common to you or to all.
4. “I have said, strive for those contemptible things that few people value rather than those things that all the people cry out for. For true heavenly Wisdom seems worthless and small, and is almost given up as forgotten; not thinking of high things itself, nor seeking to be magnified upon the earth. Many honor Wisdom with their lips, but their hearts are far from it (Mt 15:8). Such Wisdom is indeed the pearl of great price, which is hidden from many (Mt 13:45-46).”