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← Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works)/Book 2 · Liber Divinorum Operum — Pars 2
Chapter 37LDO.2.37

VISIO QUINTA, cap. XXXVII

Lights of Discernment and Love

God's command to create lights is read tropologically as the gift of discernment and the twin loves that illuminate the soul's path toward God and neighbor.

God said: "Let there be lights in the sky, and let them separate day from night, and let them serve as signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them shine in the sky and illuminate the earth."✦ And so it was done. This is how you should understand it: God, in the prompting of the Holy Spirit, said, "Let lights be made as a gift of the Holy Spirit within discernment, so that a person may love God and neighbor as himself."✦1 How will this happen? With the whole vigor of a soul firmly straining toward God, so that a person does not seek an alien god in faithlessness as though he were a stranger, but looks back toward me with a manly resolve.2 Let a person also love his neighbor as himself, so that he diligently provide whatever necessities belong to his condition, because that neighbor is himself a form and brother of his in humanity.3 And let a person not consider his neighbor unworthy, as though a vile creature were subjected to him, but receive him willingly into fellowship, because God, who is just, established both him and that neighbor in the same form. Let a person also beware lest, in the death of that neighbor's soul, he have any communion with that neighbor's sins by consenting to them, so that he does not kill that neighbor's soul as he would not kill his own.4

The Firmament of the Mind

The lights shining in the firmament of heaven are unfolded as the soul's discernment ordering prayer, charity, and daily obedience under the two commandments.

And let these lights shine in the firmament of heaven — that is, in the discernment of reason — so that the person themselves may, with discernment, rightly distinguish the day: that is, with what honor they should hold me, the almighty God, in the longing of their soul, and freely sigh toward me in their groans. Let them also illuminate the night — that is, the darkness hidden in the body, which belongs to earthly matters, namely the needs of oneself and of one's neighbor — and with that same discernment let them shine in such a way that they are not drawn away from the hope of higher things by what is lower, but even in these things they may always sigh toward heavenly desires. Let these same lights also be inward signs for them, showing how they ought to sigh, pray, and weep toward God and to call upon the Holy Spirit for their help; let them also serve as seasons — that is, how they are to be exercised in their own life and in their neighbor's use; let them also serve the days of faith, so that all their works may shine back in me through the building up of good work. And let them be for them as years, so that they observe the yearly season well — beginning in all these things through holy works with God and with their neighbor, and ending well in every commandment of God — so that throughout the whole time of their life they may offer good examples to their neighbor in all established matters that depend on the two commandments. And let these lights shine in the firmament of heaven — that is, in the discernment of the mind — upon the commandments spoken of, and let all the lights of this work illuminate the earth, that is, the person, so that they may shine before God in mind and body. And this will come about in a person through the compunction of burning love for God and for their neighbor, so that they may discern all these things in God. "And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars."✦ And he placed them in the firmament of heaven to shine over the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.✦

Faith, Neighbor-Love, and Right Thoughts

The greater light is true faith beholding God within, the lesser light is love of neighbor seen outwardly, and the stars are right thoughts governing the body and its needs.

God works in a person through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that they may gaze upon him with all their strength, loving him, and that this light of day — that is, the true faith — which shines before God's eyes, may preside within them, since a person cannot see God with their outward eyes, but touches him inwardly in the soul through faith. And the lesser light is the love of one's neighbor, which is less than the love of God, because a person beholds God with their whole desire within the soul, but their neighbor they see by touching and looking, face to face, with their outward eyes. And so this light presides over the night, because the sight of this world is a night-sight, which cannot exist without the stain of sin. And the stars — that is, the upright and right thoughts that God places in the firmament, that is, in a person's discernment — are there so that in all matters they may perceive what is good and what is useful, and so that they are not darkened by the shadows of ignorance in their own knowledge, and so that the person may watch over the weakness of the body by governing it, and may foresee in their thoughts all that is to be done. These thoughts themselves must also preside over the light of justice and over the needs of the body, so that they may rightly order them, and so that, by placing these above the dark necessity of the world and the body, they may discern the light of God's justice. "And God saw that it was good" — approving, that is, his house in the human being, rightly ordered according to his justice, and rejoicing that this person had fulfilled, in their works, the commandments by which they had been reconciled to him. "And there was evening and morning, the fourth day." God himself brings the beginning of the aforementioned law to a good end in the human being, because he provides a good end for all virtues.

The Necessity of a Good End

A work that begins well but ends badly is cut off like a barren tree, while the love of God and neighbor stands as the fourth virtue common to all believers.

But if the end is not good, the work of the beginning is also cut off, just as a useless tree is destroyed: its branches sprout and begin to wither, yet they bear no fruit. And just as that tree, if it persists in this way, will be cut down, so too will that person be uprooted by God — the one who begins to do good and does not bring what was started to completion, because God does not look with favor on a beginning of good works without a good end. And in the believing peoples who make use of the four elements, as it were on the fourth day this fourth virtue will come to be — namely, the love of God and neighbor — which is common to both spiritual and secular people for the sake of observance.

Looking Ahead to the Fifth Day

A transitional note points forward to the literal and tropological reading of the fifth day's creation of living creatures from the waters.

How this is to be understood at the literal level, and how the person is to be fitted to what is written: "Let the waters bring forth a living soul that creeps, and a flying creature over the earth," up to this point: "And there was evening and morning, the fifth day."✦ "

Read the original Latin

« Dixit autem Deus: Fiant luminaria in firmamento coeli, et dividant diem et noctem, et sint in signa, et tempora, et dies, et annos, et luceant in firmamento coeli, et illuminent terram. Et factum est ita . » Hoc considerandum sic est: Deus in admonitione Spiritus sancti dixit: Fiant ex dono Spiritus sancti in discretione luminaria, ut homo Deum et proximum suum sicut se ipsum diligat. Quomodo faciet hoc? Tota viriditate animae ad Deum firmiter anhelet, ita ut alienum deum in infidelitate quasi extraneus non quaerat, sed in virili animo ad me respiciat. Proximum quoque suum sicut se ipsum diligat, ita ut quaeque necessaria, quae ad formam suam pertinent, illi diligenter provideat, quia ipse forma et frater ejus secundum humanitatem est. Et eum indignum non habeat, quo sicut vilis illi creatura subjectus sit, sed in societate sua voluntarie suscipiat, quia Deus qui justum, ipse etiam et illum in eadem forma constituit. Caveat quoque ne in morte animae illius ullam communionem peccatis ipsius consentiendo habeat, ita ne animam ipsius sicut nec suam occidat.

Et ista luminaria in firmamento coeli, id est in discretione rationis luceant, ita ut ipse homo cum discretione diem recte discernat, scilicet quali honore me omnipotentem Deum in desiderio animae suae habeat, et in gemitibus suis ad me libenter suspiret. Noctem quoque, id est illud obscurum quod in corpore latet, et ad terrena pertinet, scilicet necessitatem sui ipsius et proximi, ita cum eadem discretione illuminet, ut nec propter inferiora a spe superiorum avocetur, sed in his etiam ad coelestia desideria semper suspiret. Ipsa quoque luminaria sint ei in interiora signa, quomodo suspirare, orare et flere ad Deum et Spiritum sanctum in adjutorium suum advocare debeat; sint ei et in tempora, videlicet qualiter in proprio et in proximi sui usu exerceatur; sint ei etiam in dies fidei, ut omnia opera sua in aedificatione boni operis in me reluceant. Et sint ei in annos, ita ut annuale tempus observet, bonum in his omnibus per sancta opera cum Deo et proximo suo incipiens, et in omni lege Dei bene finiens, ita ut per omne tempus vitae suae bona exempla proximo suo praebeat, in omnibus constitutis rebus, quae in duobus praeceptis pendent. Et haec luminaria in praedictis praeceptis in firmamento coeli, id est in discretione mentis luceant, atque omnia lumina operis hujus terram, videlicet hominem, illuminent, ut ante Deum mente et corpore refulgeat. Et hoc in homine ita fiet per compunctionem ardentis amoris Dei et proximi sui, ut haec omnia in Deo discernat. « Fecitque Deus duo magna luminaria, luminare majus ut praeesset diei, et luminare minus ut praeesset nocti, et stellas. Et posuit eas in firmamento coeli ut lucerent super terram, et praeessent diei et nocti, et dividerent lucem ac tenebras .

» Facit Deus in homine per inspirationem Spiritus sancti, ut totis viribus ipsum amando inspiciat, ut hoc lumen diei, id est verae fidei, quae ante oculos Dei lucet, praesint, quia homo Deum exterioribus oculis videre non potest, sed eum per fidem in anima interius tangit. Et luminare minus, scilicet dilectionem proximi sui; quae minor dilectione Dei est, quia homo toto desiderio Deum intra animam suam aspicit, proximum autem palpando et videndo cum exterioribus oculis facie ad faciem videt; et ideo ipsa nocti praeest, quia visio hujus mundi nocturna est, quae sine contagione peccati esse non potest. Et stellas, id est rectas et bonas cogitationes quas Deus in firmamento, id est in discretione hominis ponit, ut in omnibus rebus quid bonum et utile sit deprehendat, ne tenebris ignorantiae in scientia sua obscuretur, et ut ipse super infirmitatem corporis illud regendo vigilet, et cogitationibus suis agenda quaeque praevideat; ipsae quoque cogitationes lumini justitiae et necessitati corporis ita praesint, ut eas recte disponant, et ut lumen justitiae Dei a tenebrosa necessitate saeculi et corporis illam isti praeponendo discernant. « Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum, » approbans scilicet domum suam in homine secundum justitiam suam recte dispositam, et gaudens illum praecepta sua quibus ei reconciliatus est, operibus adimplevisse. « Et factum est vespere et mane dies quartus » Ipse Deus in homine bonum finem cum initio praedictae legis facit, quia omnibus virtutibus bonum finem providet. Quod si finis bonus non est, operatio initii etiam obtruncatur, sicut inutilis arbor peribit, cujus rami virescunt, et llorere incipiunt, sed tamen fructum non proferunt. Et quemadmodum arbor illa, si sic perseveraverit, abscindetur, ita et homo ille a Deo eradicabitur, qui bene operari incipit, et coeptum ad finem non perducit, quia Deus initium bonorum operum sine bono fine non respicit. Et in credentibus populis, qui quatuor elementis utuntur, quasi dies quartus fiet haec quarta virtus, scilicet dilectio Dei et proximi, quae spiritalibus et saecularibus ad observandum communis est.

Quomodo ad litteram intelligendum sit, et quomodo homini coaptetur quod scriptum est: « Producant aquae reptile animae viventis, et volatile super terram, » usque ad id: « Et factum est vespere et mane dies quintus. »

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.1.14-Gen.1.16 — And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years." Gen.1.15 — and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth — and it was so. Gen.1.16 — And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
  2. ↩Gen.1.14 — And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years."
  3. ↩Gen.1.16 — And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
  4. ↩Gen.1.17-Gen.1.18 — And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, Gen.1.18 — and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
  5. ↩Gen.1.20-Gen.1.23 — And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." Gen.1.21 — And God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Gen.1.22 — And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth." Gen.1.23 — And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin frames the Genesis light-making as a tropological event occurring 'in discretione' through the Spirit's gift; 'Fiant' is reused from Genesis as a spiritual imperative.
  2. 2 ↩Viriditas animae is rendered as vigor of a soul; the metaphor points to fresh, lively interior strength directed entirely toward God.
  3. 3 ↩Forma is rendered as form in the sense of shared human nature/condition; the theological claim is that the neighbor shares the same human form and brotherhood.
  4. 4 ↩Communio is rendered as communion in the sense of shared participation, not Eucharistic; the moral sense is complicity in another's sin.

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