VISIO TERTIA, cap. VI
Winds of Desire and the Breath of the Virtues
The stirring of moist humors by the winds signifies how the longings of the faithful, once turned toward the good, submit to the dignity of the virtues and are set on fire by the Spirit of fortitude and the illuminations of good inspirations.
What you see next points out that when the moist humors in a person are stirred up and changed by the varying quality of the winds and air as they clash against each other, they take on the quality of those forces — and this signifies that when the longings of the faithful agree with each other, and a person wills the things that are God's, then human thoughts, however far from God they may be, once turned toward the good, submit themselves to the dignity of the virtues and to the longings of the saints, through the different ways the virtues breathe out their power. For the air that suits the quality of each higher element — the very element that is driven around by the force of the winds — is present in it; otherwise it would not be moved. This signifies that the longing of the faithful person, which suits each higher virtue and comfort, is present through the breathing forth of the virtues to overthrow evil; otherwise it would not be turned toward the good. And from each of these, along with the ministry of the sun, moon, and stars, the air that governs the world breathes forth, showing that from all the higher virtues and comforts, and from the Spirit of fortitude and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, together with all the other illuminations of good inspirations, the longings that yearn in the hearts of the faithful for heavenly blessedness are set on fire.
Grace Alone Sets the Soul in Motion
All good that a person does flows from God's grace, not from merit, and when divine judgment and the higher virtues rouse powers for salvation, the faithful are summoned upward and their minds are turned toward every good.
Whatever good a person does proceeds not from their own merit, but from the gift of God's grace. But when any element is struck — whether by the heat of the sun's course or by God's judgment — toward any quarter of the world, there, stirred by the moving air, it sends forth a blast (which is called wind) from that same air into the lower region below. For when, through the Spirit of fortitude and through the divine ordering of the higher virtues, powers are roused for humanity's salvation, and the longings of the faithful rise up to God and call on God, these longings, once summoned by that higher desire from God, direct an inspiration into their minds so that they may be turned toward every good.
The Shield of the Pure in Heart
When a person calls on God with purity and faithfulness, God surrounds them with a shield of righteous judgment as they flee evil and reach for the good.
For when a person calls on God with purity and faithfulness, God surrounds them with a shield by righteous judgment, because they are hastening to flee evil and reach the good.
Made Like God Through the Virtues
The righteous, already in some part from God and like God, harmonize their minds with the breathing-forth of the virtues, mastering fleshly desires and strengthening virtue while weakening vice.
Whoever soon mingles themselves with that air — because they are already in some part from God, and are somewhat like God — this signifies that the minds of the righteous are in harmony with the breathing forth of the virtues, because while they love what is just, it is from the virtues that they do so; and therefore they make themselves like the virtues in this way. And so this same air touches the person, and the moist humors within them — which share the quality of that wind and air — are often changed, whether toward weakness or toward strength. For the minds of the blessed, now turned toward justice, master their fleshly desires, and their thoughts breathe forth the virtues and fix their devotion on the longings of heaven, adding strength to the virtues and weakness to the vices.
Lifting the Inner Spirit: A Witness from Wisdom
When a person restrains the flesh by reason for God's sake, the inner spirit is lifted toward blessedness, as Wisdom testifies, and a testimony from the Proverbs of Solomon is inserted to clarify this meaning.
For when a person, for God's sake, restrains their flesh by reason, they lift their inner spirit upward toward blessedness — as Wisdom testifies when she says: A passage from the Proverbs of Solomon has been added to clarify this meaning, along with an explanation of how it should be understood.
Read the original Latin
Quod autem deinde vides quia per diversam qualitatem ventorum et aeris, cum sibi invicem concurrunt, humores qui sunt in homine commoti et immutati qualitatem illorum suscipiunt, hoc designat, quod per diversos modos exspirationis virtutum, necnon et per qualitatem desideriorum hominum cum sibi invicem concordant, atque homo vult ea quae Dei sunt, cogitationes hominum a Deo remotae, et ad bonum conversae dignitati virtutum et sanctorum desideriorum se substernunt. Unicuique enim superiorum elementorum aer qualitati illius conveniens, per quem illud scilicet elementum vi ventorum ad circumvolutionem impellatur, inest, alioquin non moveretur, significans quod quibusque superioribus virtutibus et confortationibus desiderium fidelis hominis conveniens, per quod exspiratione virtutum ad eversionem mali confortatur, adest; alioquin ad bonum non converteretur, et de quolibet istorum cum ministerio solis, lunae et stellarum, aer, qui mundum temperat, exspiratur, ostendens quod de omnibus superioribus virtutum confortationibus, de spiritu quoque fortitudinis, de spiritu timoris Domini, cum caeteris bonarum exspirationum illuminationibus, desideria quae in cordibus fidelium ad supernam beatitudinem anhelant incenduntur. Quidquid enim boni homo operatur, non de merito ipsius, sed de dono gratiae Dei procedit. Cum autem aliquando aut per ardorem cursus solis, aut per judicium Dei quodcunque elementum versus quamlibet plagam mundi tangitur, illud ibi cum aere se movente commotum, ex eodem aere flatum qui ventus dicitur, in subteriorem praefatum aerem emittit, quoniam, cum per spiritum fortitudinis et per divinam dispositionem superiorum virtutum, vires ad salutem hominum excitantur, ubi desideria fidelium hominum ad Deum ascendunt, Deumque invocant, illae cum superno desiderio advocatae, ab ipso exspirationem ad mentes eorum hominum dirigunt, quatenus ad quaelibet bona convertibiles sint. Nam cum homo Deum pure et fideliter invocat, justo judicio Deus illum munimine circumdat, quia malo abjecto ad bonum festinat properare. Qui se mox illi intermiscet, quia etiam ex aliqua parte ex ipso est, et aliquantum ei consimilis existit, significans quod mentes justorum exspirationi virtutum concordant, quia dum id quod justum est amant ex virtutibus est, quapropter et se illis similes hoc modo faciunt. Sicque idem aer hominem tangit, unde et humores qui in ipso sunt secundum qualitatem ipsius venti et aeris cum ejusdem qualitatis sunt, seu ad debilitatem, seu ad fortitudinem saepius immutantur, quoniam eaedem mentes beatorum ad justitiam conversae carnales concupiscentias in illis domant, cogitationesque ipsorum exspirationi virtutum et devotioni supernorum desideriorum infigunt, debilitatem vitiis fortitudinemque virtutibus addentes. Cum enim homo propter Deum carnem suam rationabiliter constringit, spiritum interiorem sursum ad beatitudinem attollit, Sapientia attestante quae ait:
Testimonium de proverbiis Salomonis ad hanc significationem elucidandam insertum, et quomodo intelligendum sit.
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