VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XXVII
The Mighty Works of God's Right Hand
The psalmist proclaims the saving power of the Lord's right hand and the triumph of life over death.
The Lord's right hand has done mighty things; the Lord's right hand has lifted me up; the Lord's right hand has done mighty things. I will not die, but I will live, and I will declare the works of the Lord.
From Fear to Love
The soul turns from the left of sinful fear to the right of heavenly love, clothing itself in spiritual armor.
This is how it becomes clear to the understanding: a person starts out turning aside from the left, because of the fear of God and of hellish punishments, and afterward ascends to the right, that is, to the desires for heavenly goods, through the love of God. Once a person has begun to do this, they put on the strongest armor, because they have set good knowledge apart from evil.
The Eye of Good Knowledge
Good knowledge is likened to an eye that discerns the vanity of carnal desire and lifts the soul to God.
And so the eye is compared to this twofold knowledge — the eye that has a watery circle positioned below its own brightness, just as a vessel holds a mirror within itself, since evil knowledge, which is understood through the left, is like the vessel of good knowledge, which is received through the right. For the right eye of good knowledge looks everywhere and considers that carnal desire is useless, and does not look at the light of truth, and that when it exults in wicked works, afterward through sorrow it is suffocated as if by a watery drowning. And so the right-hand part of good knowledge lifts itself up to God, and tramples down evil delight, and draws away sorrow.
Insatiable Desire for God
God's right hand leads the repentant sinner from fear into an unquenchable love, snatching them from death to declare his wonders.
In this way, therefore, the Lord's right hand — that is, his strength — does this mighty work: so that people may know him through faith, and do his works in fear of him, and the same right hand lifts me up through repentance, though I had previously been stained in sins, and it also does this mighty work after the repentance of my sins, so that I may burn with such great desire in the love of God that I can never be filled from it. So even in my sins I won't die, since through repentance I rise from them; but through the true and pure repentance I hold toward God, I will live forever — and so, snatched from death, I will tell of the Lord's wonders in fear and love of him, because death didn't hand me over, but he tore me away from hell's destruction.12
The Bear, the Lamb, and the Serpent
The vision shifts to ask why the northern wind displays the forms of a bear, a lamb, and a serpent.
So why does the principal northern wind, coming from the left side of that human figure, appear as if it were the head of a bear inside a circle of black fire—and why do its two accompanying winds, one taking the form of a lamb and the other the shape of a serpent's head, become visible there?
Read the original Latin
« Dextera Domini fecit virtutem, dextera Domini exaltavit me, dextera Domini fecit virtutem. Non moriar sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini. » Quod sic intellectui patet: Homo primitus per timorem Dei et gehennalium poenarum a sinistra declinat, ac postea per amorem Dei ad dexteram, id est ad desideria coelestium bonorum ascendit. Quod dum facere incoeperit, fortissima arma sibi induit, quia bonam scientiam a mala separavit. Unde et huic duplici scientiae oculus comparatur, qui aquosum circulum infra albedinem suam situm habet, quemadmodum et vas speculum in se continet, quoniam mala scientia, quae per sinistram intelligitur, est velut vas bonae scientiae quae per dexteram accipitur. Nam dexter oculus bonae scientiae ubique circumspicit et considerat quod carnalis concupiscentia inutilis est, et lucem veritatis non inspicit, et quod cum incestis operibus exsultat, post per tristitiam quasi aquosa submersione suffocatur. Itaque dextera pars bonae scientiae ad Deum se levat, et malam delectationem conculcat, atque tristitiam abstrahit. Sic ergo dextera Domini, id est fortitudo ejus facit virtutem hanc, ut homines eum per fidem cognoscant, et opera sua in timore ipsius operentur, atque eadem dextera per poenitentiam exaltat me, qui prius in peccatis sordueram, necnon et ipsa facit virtutem post poenitentiam peccatorum meorum, ita ut tanto desiderio in amore Dei ardeam, quatenus inde saturari non possim.
Unde etiam in peccatis non moriar, quando per poenitentiam eorum resurgo, sed per veram et puram poenitentiam quam ad Deum habeo, in aeternitate vivam, et sic de morte ereptus, narrabo mirabilia Domini in timore et amore ipsius, quoniam morti me non tradidit, sed me de infernali perditione eripuit.
Quare principalis septentrionalis ventus a sinistra parte illius humanae imaginis quasi caput ursi in circulo nigri ignis appareat; cur etiam duo collaterales ejus venti alter in agni, alter in forma capitis serpentis videatur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The opening clause echoes Psalm 117:17 (Vulgate) — 'Non moriar sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini' — which the previous section quotes directly. Here the author reworks it into a personal confession grounded in repentance.
- 2 ↩poenitentiam rendered 'repentance' (not 'penance') to keep the interior, relational sense; theologically the passage presupposes sacramental repentance but the emphasis here is on the soul's movement toward God.
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