VISIO QUARTA, cap. XLIX
The Body's Mirror of the Cosmos
The winds that uphold the firmament mirror both the soul's life-giving presence in the body and the stars' support of the heavens.
Just as the shoulder blades and upper arms are joined to the neck and shoulders, along with the arms and hands, so the four principal winds are joined to the firmament along with their collateral winds; and the bends of the arm, the upper arm with the shoulder blade, the hand with the fingers, come to its aid — just as those same principal winds, with their wings (that is, the collateral winds), support the firmament — and hand joins to hand, so that each wing extends toward the wing of the other. Now these things signify that the soul — which has life through the Life that is God, and is a breath from the Spirit of God, and does not have the end of living as a human body does — gives life and sustains the body by its own powers, just as the stars support the firmament with their focal point, which is the earth, which the Word of God, placing it in the midst of the firmament, established immovable and illuminated.✦✦
The Soul's Secret Descent and Hidden Grace
The soul descends invisibly into the body to orient a person toward God, just as hidden dew makes the grass fruitful.
For the soul, sent by God, descends invisibly and secretly into the body, and makes a person know God through faith, look toward heaven, and carry out heavenly works. And just as dew falling invisibly on the grass makes it fruitful, so God mercifully waters with the hidden sweetness of his grace a person who places hope in him, tramples the earth — that is, the desires of the flesh — underfoot, and raises the whole body toward heaven to bear the fruit of good works; but contrary works he condemns to the eternal punishments of Gehenna.✦✦
The Four Winds as Human Powers
The four winds correspond to thought, speech, intention, and groaning, giving the soul freedom to choose good or evil.
For a person performs all works, whether good or evil, with the four elements, in the manner of the four winds that exert their powers in the upper parts of the air, and yet sometimes deposit their blasts into the filth and impurities of the mire. For to the four principal winds are likened four powers in a person: namely, thought, speech, intention, and groaning. And just as each of them has the power to send its blasts to the right and to the left, so the soul, equipped with these four powers, can through its natural knowledge turn aside into whatever direction it wills, choosing either good or evil.
The South Wind's Fiery and Cold Wings
The south wind's two wings signify holy thoughts kindled by the Holy Spirit and corrupt thoughts that remain cold and fruitless.
For the south wind has two collateral winds, as if two wings, one of which, toward the east, is warm; it signifies good and holy thoughts, which are kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit through the zeal of a devout intention.✦ The other, facing west, is cold, and it signifies those corrupt and useless thoughts that aren't set ablaze by the fire of the Holy Spirit, but remain cold and produce wicked works.
The Rational Soul Amid Sin's Stench
The rational soul supplies heat to the body even amid sin, just as the sun heats foul things, while the north wind signifies knowledge of good and evil.
The breath that is the fire which is the rational soul—which feels the works of the flesh and blood a person takes delight in, even though by nature it longs for heavenly things—nevertheless supplies strength and heat to the body in the foulest stench of sins, just as the sun heats the rotting filth of the foulest worms with its rays. But the north wind is useless to all creatures; it too has two wings, one stretching toward the east and the other toward the west. These signify the knowledge of good and evil in a person, through which each person considers what is helpful and what is harmful in their mind, as though in a mirror, just as the earth is governed through the firmament above and below.
The East and West Winds: Good and Evil in the Soul
The east and west winds' wings map the soul's oscillation between good and evil, desire and fear, knowledge and folly.
The eastern wind's wing that stretches toward the south points to the person who, through good works, ascends to God in the embrace of true love; the wing that faces north signifies the person stained by the pleasures of the flesh. And just as those two collateral winds are joined to the eastern wind like two wings, so in the soul there is good and evil: good in joy and gladness, through which it shines before God like the sun in its strength; and evil, through which good and holy works are darkened by the blackness of sins, just as the brightness of the sun is obscured by dark clouds. For a person, through the good intention of their soul, comes to know the punishments that exist in the north, and is deeply afraid—even though the body has grown accustomed to the pleasures of sin, it often oppresses the soul. But this intention of the soul has two wings: one is the fear of God, which is kindled in a person through the prompting of the Holy Spirit; the other is the renunciation of sins, which, after setting aside the fear of God, a person returns to again and again. The western wind also has two wings, one stretching toward the south and the other toward the north, signifying that a person perceives good and, through good, comes to know evil.
Desire, Folly, and the Soul's Pervasive Presence
The soul's right wing longs for good while its left reveals inherited folly, for the Spirit-sent soul pervades the whole body as winds fill the world.
And the right wing shows that the soul has a desire and longing for good works, but the left shows the foolishness of man, by which he commits the evils he contracted from the debt of original sin. Because the soul, sent into the body through the Spirit of God, fills its whole being with its own powers, just as the rush of the wind sweeps across the entire world.
Read the original Latin
Ut collo scapulae et humeri cum brachiis et manibus adhaerent, sic et quatuor principales venti cum collateralibus suis firmamento conjuncti sunt; et flexurae brachii, humerus cum scapula, manus cum digitis subveniunt, sicut et iidem principales venti cum alis suis, id est cum collateralibus ventis, firmamentum sustentant, et manus ad manum conjungitur, ut et ala cujusque ad alam alterius extenditur. Haec autem designant quod anima, quae per vitam, quae Deus est, vita existit, et spiraculum de Spiritu Dei finem vivendi ut humanum corpus non habet, corpus viribus suis vivificat et sustentat, velut sidera firmamentum cum puncto suo, quod terra est, quam in medio firmamenti verbum Dei constituens, immobilem firmavit et illuminavit. Siquidem anima quae a Deo missa in corpus invisibiliter et occulte descendit, hominem Deum per fidem cognoscere, coelum respicere, et coelestia operari facit. Et sicut ros invisibiliter super gramen cadens, illud fructiferum reddit, sic Deus hominem qui spem suam in ipso constituit, et terram, videlicet carnis desideria, pedibus calcat, toto corpore ad coelum erigit, ad fructus bonorum operum perferendos, occulta dulcedine gratiae suae misericorditer irrigat, contraria vero opera aeternis gehennae suppliciis damnat. Homo namque omnia opera sua bona vel mala cum quatuor elementis operatur, in modum quatuor ventorum qui in superioribus partibus aeris vires suas exercent, et tamen flatus suos interdum in sordes et in immunditias luti deponunt. Quatuor enim principalibus ventis quatuor vires in homine, scilicet cogitatio, locutio, intentio et gemitus, assimilantur. Et sicut unusquisque eorum flatus suos dextrorsum et sinistrorsum mittendi potestatem habet, sic anima his quatuor stipata viribus per naturalem scientiam in quam partem voluerit, sive bonum sive malum eligendo, declinare potest. Australis enim ventus duos collaterales ventos quasi duas alas habet, quarum altera versus orientem calida est, quae bonas et sanctas cogitationes, quae per ignem Spiritus sancti studio piae intentionis accenduntur, significat.
Altera vero versus occidentem frigida est, quae pravas et inutiles cogitationes in igne Spiritus sancti non calentes, sed frigidas et opera prava designat. Ignem quoque spiraculum, quod anima rationalis est, quae opera carnis et sanguinis, quibus homo delectatur, sentit, licet ad coelestia naturaliter suspiret, corpori tamen vires et calorem in immundissimo fetore peccatorum etiam subministrat, quemadmodum sol fetentem putredinem immundissimorum vermium radiis suis calefacit. Sed septentrionalis ventus omnibus creaturis inutilis est, qui etiam duas alas habet, quarum altera ad orientem, altera ad occidentem extenditur; quae scientiam boni et mali in homine designant, per quam ipse quaeque utilia et inutilia in animo suo velut in speculo considerat, sicut terra per firmamentum superius et inferius regitur. Orientalis autem venti ala, quae ad austrum tendit, demonstrat hominem qui per bona opera ad Deum in amplexione verae charitatis ascendit; ala vero quae ad aquilonem respicit hominem carnis voluptatibus sordidatum significat. Et sicut ii duo collaterales venti orientali vento quasi duae alae juncti sunt, sic animae bonum et malum, bonum in gaudio et laetitia, per quae tanquam sol in virtute sua coram Deo lucet, malum per quod opera bona et sancta nigredine peccatorum, velut claritas solis tenebrosis nubibus obscuratur. Homo namque per bonam intentionem animae suae poenas quas in aquilone esse cognoscit, valde timet, quamvis corpus delectationibus peccatorum assuefactum, animam multoties premat. Sed et haec intentio animae duas alas habet, quarum altera timor Dei est, qui per admonitionem Spiritus sancti in homine accenditur, altera vero abrenuntiatio peccatorum, quae postea, timore Dei postposito, homo saepissime repetit. Occidentalis ventus etiam duas alas habet, quarum altera ad austrum et altera ad aquilonem extenditur, quae significant quod homo bonum sentit et per bonum malum scit.
Et dextera ala ostendit quod anima desiderium et suspirium ad bona opera habet, sinistra autem fatuitatem hominis, cum qua mala perpetrat, quae ex debito originalis peccati contraxit.
Quia anima per Spiritum Dei in corpus missa viribus suis illud totum perfundat, quemadmodum flatus ventorum mundum omnem percurrit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.1.1-John.1.4 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John.1.2 — He was in the beginning with God. John.1.3 — All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. John.1.4 — In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- ↩Ps.119.89 — Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
- ↩Deut.32.2 — May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as showers upon fresh grass, and as raindrops upon tender plants.
- ↩Matt.5.29-Matt.5.30 — If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that one of your members perish than that your whole body be thrown into Gehenna. Matt.5.30 — And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. For it is better for you that one of your members perish than that your whole body go into hell.
- ↩Acts.2.3 — And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed, and it sat upon each one of them.
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