VISIO QUARTA, cap. XLVII
The Moist Soil of Grace
Just as moist ground nourishes hair, the soul watered by the Holy Spirit's tears and inspiration brings forth enduring virtues and joyful perseverance in Christ.
But the fact that in some people's heads the hairs, holding their strength from above, are not torn out but remain so as not to be uprooted — this is found in those whose flesh arises from moist humors, since these people nourish their hair, just as irrigated ground produces an abundance of grass. Through this it is shown that the soul, through its own powers, brings forth fruitful virtues of good works in those people who, with devout minds gladly hearing the words of God, through the fiery inspiration of the Holy Spirit often produce the moisture of tears in sighs and longing for heavenly things. The holy intention of these people, as if in the richness of good soil, brings forth with joy the fruit of fruitful works, so that the soul — in good works with the body consenting to it — may already rejoice exulting in Christ, and truly strengthened by the sweetness of His love, may persist in blessed perseverance so firmly that it no longer withers away by failing through any wandering of spiritual or fleshly vices.
The Barren Ground of Forgetfulness
Just as dry heat causes hair to fall out, the soul hardened in forgetfulness of God lacks the moisture of the Spirit, becoming barren, unstable, and stripped of virtue.
But in those whose heads hairs are torn out so that they become bald, this is the case because their flesh is dry in heat, since heat passing to the top of their heads gradually and one by one pulls out the hairs, because they have no moisture — just as ground lacking moisture, because of its dryness, is without the greenness of grass. So those people who live in such hardness of forgetfulness of God that they yield consent to the soul's will neither through the admonition of the Holy Spirit, nor through the teaching or counsel of faithful teachers, are compared to dry ground that is without moisture and, because of its dryness, produces no fruit — since they direct all their works according to the will of their own desire and not according to the nature of the soul. Hence, too, weighed down by a shifting variety of sins, with no hope of blessedness they reach toward heavenly things, nor in earthly matters do they wish to show themselves of any use to people. For these people, not burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, lack discernment, which is the mother of virtues, so that because of the inconstancy of their ways what pleased before displeases now, and for this reason they are deprived of the stability of holy virtues just as a head is stripped of its hair.
The Soul's Cardinal Orientations
A person facing east with the cardinal directions around them signifies the soul's various spiritual effects and orientations.
What the position of a person facing east, looking back toward the west, with the south to the right and the north to the left, signifies in the soul's various effects.1
Read the original Latin
Quod autem crines in quorumdam hominum capitibus fortitudinem suam superius non evulsi retinent, ita ut non eradicentur, hoc in illis est, quorum caro ex humoribus humida existit, quoniam isti capillos nutriunt, quemadmodum et terra irrigua multitudinem graminis producit. Per hoc ostenditur quod anima per vires suas fructuosas virtutes bonorum operum in illis hominibus operatur, qui devotis mentibus verba Dei libenter audientes per igneam inspirationem Spiritus sancti humiditatem lacrymarum in suspiriis et desiderio coelestium saepe producunt. Istorum sancta intentio quasi in pinguedine bonae terrae fructuosorum operum fructus cum gaudio profert, ita ut anima, in bonis operibus corpore sibi consentiente, in Christo jam exsultando gaudeat, ejusque charitatis dulcedine veraciter firmata in beata perseverantia ita persistat, ut jam nulla vagatione spiritalium vel carnalium vitiorum deficiendo arescat. In quorum vero capitibus capilli evelluntur, ita ut calvi efficiantur, hoc ideo est, quia caro eorum sicca in calore existit, quoniam calor ad verticem ipsorum transiens, capillos paulatim et singillatim evellit, cum humorem non habent, velut etiam terra humore carens pro ariditate sua viriditate graminum expers est. Sic homines illi qui in tanta duritia oblivionis Dei vivunt, ut nec per admonitionem Spiritus sancti, nec per doctrinam, vel consilium fidelium doctorum voluntati animae consentiant, aridae terrae quae sine humore est, et pro ariditate nullum fructum profert, assimilantur, quoniam omnia opera sua secundum voluntatem desiderii sui et non secundum naturam animae constituunt. Unde etiam multiplici vicissitudine peccatorum oppressi, nulla spe beatitudinis ad coelestia tendunt, nec in terrenis adjutorio alicujus utilitatis hominibus prode se cupiunt. Isti namque homines igne Spiritus sancti non calentes, discretione quae mater virtutum est, carent, ita ut propter inconstantiam morum suorum, quod prius placuit modo displiceat, ideoque stabilitate sanctarum virtutum privantur quemadmodum caput crinibus suis destituitur.
Quid in diversis effectibus animae designet positio hominis in facie orientem, retrorsum occidentem, dextrorsum austrum, et sinistrorsum aquilonem habentis.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'habentis' (having) is syntactically ambiguous; it is parsed here as a genitive participle modifying 'hominis' (person), yielding 'a person having the south to the right and the north to the left'.
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