VISIO TERTIA, cap. VII
The Strength of the Just
The just person's inner house grows ever stronger as he ascends from virtue to virtue, dwelling in heavenly heights and drawing all earthly things into ordered service without being broken by them.
"The house of the just has great strength, and in the fruits of the impious there is turmoil.✦ This is clear to the understanding in the following way: just as the sun, when it ascends upward at midday, burns most intensely in its heat, so too the house—that is, the mind of this just person, who performs all his works in such a way that he stands as if assisted by the judgment of God—shows the greatest strength in itself, because as he advances by ascending from virtue to virtue, he is not diminished in this, just as the sun is not weakened by its ascent, nor by the distribution of its heat in its orbit, since the more the blessed man grows warm in good, the more he burns with blessed zeal.✦ For his dwelling places are in the heights above, where he is engaged with his whole intention and his whole desire, nor will he be able to be satisfied by their sweetness.✦ His strength is also higher than the firmament, and reaches all the way to the depth of the abyss, because man is mightiest of all creatures, and every creature serves him.✦ The earth is also sometimes shaken and moved by the motion of the firmament, and the firmament serves the earth, pouring rain over it so that they are not separated from each other, and so that through the air and the dew it may commendably bring forth its fruits; but the blessed man draws all earthly things away from himself, and he does not stop—neither because of brokenness nor because of the fear of earthly desires—from ascending into the heavenly height and building up good works with the joy of eternal life.1
The Turmoil of the Impious
The impious person staggers in worldly turmoil, feeding on husks and unable to cast off carnal desires or hope in the eternal light.
But in those fruits that the impious person brings forth in evil and perverse works, there is turmoil, because he staggers, overwhelmed by the turmoil of the world; he does not walk in the day, nor does he hope in the eternal light, but he eats the husks of the swine, not finding life in them, because he does not cast away his carnal desires.✦✦
Bodily Change and Its Spiritual Sign
A human being undergoes alternations of health and infirmity through celestial and elemental motions and through God's approaching judgment, and these physical changes signify something in the spiritual life.
Because, from the complex interplay of winds and air, from the shifting courses of the sun and moon, or from the approaching judgment of God, a human being, undergoing change, sometimes experiences alternations of health and infirmity — and what is signified through this in one's spiritual life.
Read the original Latin
« Domus justi plurima fortitudo, et in fructibus impii conturbatio . » Quod sic intellectui patet: Sicut sol cum in meridie sursum ascendit, in calore suo maxime ardet, ita etiam domus, id est mens justi hujus, qui omnia opera sua hoc modo operatur, quasi judicio Dei assistat, plurimam fortitudinem in se ostendit, cum de virtute in virtutem ascendendo proficit, nec in hoc minuitur, quemadmodum nec sol propter ascensum suum, nec propter distributionem caloris sui in circulo suo attenuatur, quoniam beatus homo quanto plus in bono calescit, tanto plus felici studio inardescit. Nam mansiones istius in supernis locis sunt, in quibus tota intentione et toto desiderio versatur, nec eorum dulcedine saturari poterit. Fortitudo quoque ejus altior firmamento est, et usque ad profundum abyssi pertingit, quia homo cum omni creatura fortissimus est, et omnis creatura ei deservit. Terra etiam de motione firmamenti aliquando concutitur et movetur, ac firmamentum terrae deservit, eam pluvia perfundendo ne ab invicem separetur, et ut per aerem et rorem fructus suos laudabiliter proferat; beatus autem homo omnia terrena sibi abstrahit, nec propter contritionem, nec propter metum terrenarum concupiscentiarum desistit quin in supernam altitudinem ascendendo, bona opera aedificet cum gaudio aeternae vitae. Sed in fructibus illis quos impius in malis et perversis operibus profert, conturbatio est, quoniam ille in conturbatione saeculi inundando titubat, nec in die ambulat, nec in aeterna luce sperat, sed siliquas porcarum comedit, in eis vitam non inveniens, quia carnalia desideria non abjicit
Quod ex multifaria necessitudine ventorum et aeris, ex diverso cursu solis et lunae, seu judicio Dei accedente, homo quoque immutationem suscipiens variationes sanitatis et infirmitatis nonnunquam incurrat, et quid per hoc in spiritali ejus vita figuretur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.15.6 — In the house of the righteous is great wealth, but in the income of the wicked is trouble.
- ↩Ps.83.8 — Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre
- ↩John.14.2 — In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you? I go to prepare a place for you.
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen.1.28 — And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'
- ↩Luke.15.16 — He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.
- ↩1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Notes
- 1 ↩Rendered 'contritionem' as 'brokenness' to distinguish from the technical sacramental sense of contrition, fitting the parallel with earthly fear and desires.
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