VISIO QUARTA, cap. CIV
The Soul's Journey Through the Body
The soul works with the body in this life, is bound by its weight, but after the last day will be glorified, reunited with its body, and see God face to face, while the angels rejoice.
But when a person does right actions, the elements have right paths; yet when they accomplish unjust actions, the elements bring punishment and suffering upon themselves. For the body acts together with the soul according to the will's desire, and God judges a person according to their works, either for life or for punishment. And the soul flows through the whole body in thinking, speaking, and sighing, just like a wind that sends its currents through every part of a house. But as long as the body is at work with the soul in a person, it is bound to one place and heavy, and cannot lift itself from the earth; yet when the body is renewed with a living soul — that is, after the last day — then it will be light and swift, like a bird that has wings. Itself, too, while it is in the body, senses God — since it comes from God — and as long as it is engaged in created things as its sphere of action, it does not see God; but after it has been led out of the body's prison and comes before the Lord's presence, then it will know what it truly is, and what clung to it while it remained in the body. And because it will then know the glory of its great honor, it will seek again its dwelling-place, so that it may know its glory together with itself. And so it will eagerly look forward to the last day, because it has been stripped of its beloved garment — that is, its body — in which, together with the angels, it will fully see the glorious face of God, namely when it receives that body again. Once this has happened, the angels are once again set ablaze in praise, just as on the first day they were kindled by the victory of their battle.
Eternal Praise of God's Work in Man
After the last day, the angels will forever praise God's new work in man, marveling at the form of humanity as John the Evangelist wrote under divine inspiration.
For after the last day they will be perfected in the praises of God, when they praise the new miracles of God's work, which is man, and when they strike the harp of glorious joyfulness from there — and they will not grow weary from this, nor fail, nor come to an end. And just as they will always desire to look into the face of God without failing, so also they will never stop marveling at God's works in man. Therefore, as was said above, such is the form of man with body and soul — a work of God existing with every creature — just as John, inspired by my Spirit, wrote, saying:
An Exposition on the Gospel of John
A summary of the exposition on John's Prologue, covering the eternity of the Word, the creation of angels and man, the Incarnation, Christ's teaching, and the restoration of fallen humanity.
An exposition on the first chapter of the Gospel according to John, from the place where it is written, "In the beginning was the Word," all the way to the point "full of grace and truth." In this exposition, the subject is the eternity of the Word of God and of creatures: how they existed in the art of the Creator without his coeternity before they existed in themselves. On the creation of the angels and the vengeance of God's zeal against the apostate spirits; on the plan of making man in the image of God; and on how the power and the light of the wisdom of the Creator shines forth in the workmanship of the human body. On the Incarnation of God, and the words of his teaching, and the examples of his justice, which he published to the world. Likewise, on the restoration of fallen man and his happiness after this life.
Read the original Latin
Quando autem homo recta opera facit, elementa recta itinera habent; sed cum injusta opera perficit, elementa cum poenali afflictione super se inducit. Corpus enim secundum desiderii sui voluntatem cum anima operatur, et Deus hominem secundum opera sua sive ad vitam sive ad poenam dijudicat. Et anima in totum corpus cogitando loquendo et suspirando defluit, quemadmodum ventus, qui in aliqua domo ubique flatus suos emittit. Sed quandiu corpus cum anima in homine operatur, ille localis et gravis est, nec a terra se levare potest; cum vero corpus cum vivente anima renovabitur, scilicet post novissimum diem, tunc levis et volatilis erit quasi avis quae pennas habet. Ipsa quoque dum in corpore est Deum sentit, quoniam ab eo venit, et quandiu in creaturis officialis est, Deum non videt; sed postquam ab ergastulo corporis educta ante conspectum Domini venerit, tunc cognoscet quid ipsa sit, et quid ei adhaeserit dum in corpore maneret. Et quia tunc gloriam magni honoris sui sciet, habitaculum suum reposcet quatenus gloriam suam secum sciat. Unde et inhianter novissimum diem exspectabit, eo quod amabili veste, scilicet corpore suo, nudata est, in quo cum angelis gloriosam faciem Dei pleniter videbit, videlicet cum illud receperit. Quod postquam evenerit, angeli denuo in laudibus accenduntur, sicut in primo die per victoriam praelii sui accensi sunt.
Nam post novissimum diem in laudibus Dei perficientur, cum nova miracula operis Dei, quod homo est, laudabunt, et cum citharam gloriosae jucunditatis exinde percutient, nec in hoc taedio afficientur, nec deficient, nec finientur. Et sicut in vultum Dei sine defectu semper aspicere desiderabunt, sic etiam nunquam cessabunt quin opera Dei in homine semper mirentur. Itaque, ut supra dictum est, talis est forma hominis cum corpore et anima, opus etiam Dei cum omni creatura existens, quemadmodum Joannes spiritu meo inspiratus scripsit dicens:
Expositio capituli primi Evangelii secundum Joannem, ab eo loco ubi scriptum est: « In principio erat Verbum, » usque ad id, « plenum gratis et veritatis. » In qua scilicet expositione tractatur de aeternitate Verbi Dei, de creaturis quomodo in arte Creatoris sine coaeternitate ipsius erant antequam essent in se ipsis. De creatione angelorum et ultione zeli Dei in apostatas spiritus, de consilio faciendi hominis ad imaginem Dei, et quomodo vis potentiae, et lux sapientiae Conditoris in opificio humani corporis resplendeat. De Incarnatione Dei et verbis doctrinae, et exemplis justitiae, quae mundo edidit. Item de reparatione lapsi hominis et felicitate ejus post hanc vitam.
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