VISIO QUINTA, cap. XX
The Empty Earth and the Darkness of Unbelief
The earth is described as empty, void, and dark, mirroring Genesis 1:2, and this primordial chaos is interpreted as the spiritual condition of humanity—empty of faith, blind, and deaf to the knowledge of God.
Now the earth was empty and void, and darkness lay over the face of the abyss.✦ All people—Jew and Gentile alike—who lived across the face of the abyss, which is the earth, dwelt there driven by the provocation of their own spirit: empty of faith, blind and deaf to the knowledge of God, and void of good works, because they did not carry these things out according to the teaching of the Most High Son, until he himself ascended to the Father.✦1 And so over the earth, which is the face of the abyss, the darkness of unbelief was present, in which people, not knowing God, lived as though they were blind.✦
The Spirit Moved Over the Waters
The Spirit of God is carried over the waters, echoing the moment in Genesis when divine presence hovers over the deep.
And the Spirit of God was carried over the waters.✦
The Holy Spirit Upon the Apostles
After the Lord's ascension, the fiery Holy Spirit is carried over the apostles, who are likened to the primordial waters—the first teachers from whom all subsequent Church teachers flow.
After the Lord's ascension, the fiery Holy Spirit was carried over the waters—that is, over the apostles—because the love of the Son did this in the will of the Father. For just as in the creation of the world the waters sprang up before other creatures, so also the apostles were the first teachers before the other teachers of the Church.✦2 And just as from those waters that sprang up in the creation of the world all other waters flow forth, so from the apostles, the first teachers, all the teachers of the Church were spread abroad, as the Psalmist David testifies, saying:
The Harmony of Prophets, Apostles, and Teachers
The words of David in Psalm 28, along with those of the prophet, the apostle, and the teachers, are shown to be in harmony regarding how these divine mysteries are to be received.
The words of David in Psalm 28, and of the prophet, the apostle, and the teachers, are in harmony on this point, and they show how these things are to be received.
Read the original Latin
« Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi . Omnis populus, scilicet Judaicus et gentilis, qui super faciem abyssi, id est terram habitabat, per irritationem spiritus sui inanis fidei, et caecus et surdus in agnitione Dei fuit, et vacuus a bonis operibus, quoniam ea secundum doctrinam Altissimi Filii non operabatur, donec ipse ad Patrem ascendit. Et sic super terram, quae facies abyssi est, tenebrae infidelitatis erant, in qua homines Deum non cognoscentes quasi caeci vivebant. « Et Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas. » Post ascensionem Domini igneus Spiritus sanctus super aquas, id est apostolos ferebatur, quod charitas Filii in voluntate Patris fecit, quia ut in creatione mundi ante alias creaturas aquae ortae sunt, sic etiam apostoli primi doctores prae aliis doctoribus Ecclesiae fuerunt. Et ut etiam ab aquis illis quae in creatione mundi ortae sunt, omnes aquae profluunt, sic ab apostolis primis doctoribus omnes doctores Ecclesiae propagati sunt, ut Psalmista David testificatur dicens:
Item verba David in psalmo XXVIII prophetae, apostoli et doctores consona voce, et qualiter accipienda sint.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.2 — And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- ↩Gen.1.2 — And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- ↩Gen.1.2 — And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- ↩Gen.1.2 — And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- ↩Gen.1.2 — And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Notes
- 1 ↩The allegory reads the 'empty earth' of Genesis as the faithless human condition before Christ's ascension; 'irritatio spiritus sui' rendered as 'provocation of their own spirit' captures the Latin's sense of self-caused agitation.
- 2 ↩The allegory reads the Spirit's movement over the waters (Genesis 1:2) as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pentecost; 'igneus Spiritus sanctus' rendered as 'fiery Holy Spirit' captures the Pentecostal imagery.
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