VISIO QUARTA, cap. XC
The Uneven Earth and the Soul's Warfare
The uneven, mountain-bearing earth and the surrounding air symbolize the proud and greedy person who, under the devil's influence, acts unjustly while excusing their own sin.
The earth bears mountains and hills, and within its roundness it is not level; yet the air touches it everywhere, and the earth itself carries mountains and hills above and below, like a stag carrying its horns. The soul, which is a breath from God, hates the gnashing torment of greed—the greed that is the neck of lust—because through these two vices a person cannot have peaceful and gentle ways, either within themselves or toward others. The soul itself is also sent into the body so that it may fight against the devil's confusion, standing against his suggestion alongside the person—because lust, through that very suggestion of Leviathan (who wants to swallow the whole world), rises up in the person, and through it, just as a greedy person wants money, the devil longs to defile souls and draw them to himself. A person who is proud and greedy, given the opportunity to sin, is by no means level, just like the earth weighed down with mountains and hills; they weigh themselves down when, having abandoned the fear of God and acting as though they won't be judged by him, they do whatever they want according to the desires of their own heart. And just as the air does not join with the earth but touches it according to the nature of the storm, so this person, excusing their works of wrongdoing, acts unjustly according to the vanity of their own heart.
The Soul's Lament and Cry for Mercy
Afflicted by its own sinful knowledge, the soul casts down the mountain of pride, laments its defilement, and cries out to God for mercy and healing.
But the soul also, with its own strength, makes that person sigh toward God for their sins by afflicting them, and by casting down the mountain of pride within them, it compels them to do holy and good works in humility upon the earth—the same person who had previously worked sins in pride as if under the earth. The soul itself also works good and evil in the power of its own knowledge, and from the great affliction it has in the body from pride it says: 'Alas, alas, where have I come from, and what am I working out now?' With sighs I utter a lamenting voice, I who mix my knowledge with the rottenness of sins. And so, by mourning, it moves a person to adore the Lord with these words. Have mercy on me, Lord, because I have defiled my soul in sins, and heal the bruised scars of my wounds, because against you alone have I sinned.✦1 O my God, again and again, teach me to do holy and good works, by which my soul may be healed, which I have so deeply disturbed.
The Feast of Repentance and the Soul's Steely Defense
Turning fully to God in the joy of repentance, the soul gains a hardened strength that repels the devil's assaults like iron repels water.
Afterward, then, a person turns entirely toward God, and as the hunger of their soul fades, they rejoice in the feast of repentance.2 Just as the lower surface of the earth, as though made of iron, beats back the waters that strike against it and flow around it, so too the power of the soul, like steel that sharpens other tools, ought to tame the deceit and assaults of the devil and drive them away from itself.
Read the original Latin
Terra namque montes et colles portat, et intra rotunditatem suam plana non est; sed tamen aer eam ubique tangit, ipsaque supra et subtus montes et colles fert, quemadmodum cervus cornua sua. Anima, quae spiraculum a Deo est, frendenti molestia avaritiam, quae collum luxuriae existit, odit, quoniam homo per haec duo vitia pacificos et mansuetos mores nec in se nec ad alios habere potest. Ipsa quoque anima corpori ideo immissa est, ut ad confusionem diaboli contra suggestionem ipsius cum homine pugnet, quia luxuria per ipsam suggestionem Leviatan, qui totum mundum deglutire vult, in ipso exsurgit, per quam etiam, ut avarus homo pecuniam, animas inquinare et ad se trahere desiderat. Homo namque qui superbus et avarus existit, possibilitate peccandi, quemadmodum terra montibus et collibus ponderata, nequaquam plana est, se ponderat, cum relicto timore Dei ac si per eum judicandus non fit, secundum desideria cordis sui quaecunque vult operatur. Et sicut aer terram non communit, sed secundum qualitatem tempestatis tangit, sic ipse opera iniquitatis excusando secundum vanitatem cordis sui injuste operatur. Sed anima etiam viribus suis hominem istum affligendo ad Deum pro peccatis suis suspirare facit, ac montem superbiae in ipso prosternens, eum super terram in humilitate sancta et bona opera facere cogit, qui prius peccata in superbia quasi sub terra operatus est. Ipsa etiam in potestate scientiae suae bonum et malum operatur, et ex magna afflictione quam in corpore ex superbia habet dicit: « Ach, Ach, unde veni, et quid operor modo? cum suspiriis plangentem vocem profero, qui scientiam meam cum putredine peccatorum misceo.
» Et ita lugendo hominem cogit, ut his verbis Dominum adoret. « Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam animam meam in peccatis pollui, et sana contritiones cicatricum vulnerum meorum, quia tibi soli peccavi. O Deus meus, amplius, amplius doce me sancta et bona operari, quibus anima mea sanetur, quam multum perturbavi. » Postea namque homo se totum ad Deum inclinat, et esurie animae suae deficiente, in convivio poenitentiae laetatur.
Quod sicut inferior superficies terrae pulsantes se et circumfluentes aquas quasi ferrea repellit, sic et vis animae velut chalybs qui caetera acuit ferramenta fallaciam et immissiones diaboli domare et a se repellere debeat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.51.4;Ps.51.6 — Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Ps.51.6 — Against you, you alone, I have sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak, and blameless when you judge.
Notes
- 1 ↩contritiones cicatricum vulnerum is a dense image: 'the contritions/crushings of the scars of my wounds'. Rendered as 'bruised scars of my wounds' to capture the layered damage of sin without losing the physical metaphor.
- 2 ↩esurie is a rare form (ablative of esuries); rendered as 'hunger' to pair with the 'feast of repentance' metaphor.
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