VISIO SEPTIMA, cap. X
The Cloud of Believers in the Southern Sky
The countless figures moving across the southern sky represent believers who imitate Christ with burning desire, never satisfied in their longing for God, and so closely united to Him that they are crowned with the heavenly host.
But the countless images of people you see, as it were, moving across the entire southern sky like a cloud drifting through the air — this is the great number of believers who have imitated and are imitating the Son of God with burning righteousness, lifting their minds toward heavenly things, rising and continuing to rise from strength to strength. Some of them carry what look like crowns on their heads, because as they lift their minds upward, they adorn their souls with the desire for heavenly rewards through the just and holy longings of their hearts, since good desires are the beginning of a good start. Others hold very ornate palms in their hands, because they display the victory of a good struggle in their works. Others are like flutes — that is, the rewards they've earned through their teaching in the fear and love of God. Others are like harps: the rewards of the hard and narrow way that leads to life. Others are like organs, because the many virtues that reach toward God in praise are visible in them. And the sound of these instruments rings out like the sweet sound of thundering clouds, because the praises that resound in the dignities and rewards of the virtues just described are fully deserved by those who labor in virtue and lift their minds toward heavenly things — since the rewards people receive correspond to the good they do in righteousness. So the minds of the faithful, as was said, move like clouds, since in the soul's desire — the desire with which a blessed person seeks from God the work to be done — they are never satisfied, just as streams flowing from the sea never stop flooding. And since holy desires — which are the beginning of all good things — are fixed in them in this way, as was described, God crowns them with the heavenly host, because they cling so closely to him that they will never be separated from him in any way.
Suffering, Sacrifice, and Angelic Likeness
Drawing on the Mosaic sacrifice as a type of martyrdom, the vision shows how the faithful torment themselves by fighting the flesh and pouring out their blood, becoming like angels and resounding as flutes of holiness through their teaching.
For God's ordering of creation first established that human beings must be brought to new life in the spiritual life. Under the law he commanded that certain animals be bound, killed, and burned, and their blood be shed — thus he showed beforehand that some people, like clouds running and looking toward him, would be tormented and killed and so offered up in sacrifice, consumed by love for him. And because these people draw deeply from the breasts of the virtues, so as to flee lust and other vices, they carry the victory-palm — even pouring out their blood before they fall by works of unfaithfulness out of the net of righteousness. So they torment themselves in two ways: fighting against their own body, and, by God's ordinance, pouring out their blood. For this reason they are also made like the angels who always stand before God. Those who carry out their ministry through the teaching of almighty God by instructing others resound as flutes of holiness, singing justice into people's minds through the voice of reason — just as the word dictates and the sound rings out, so that through the sound the word is heard and surrounds the listener, making itself audible.
The Instruments of Praise: Virgins, Harps, and Humility
The vision extends to those who amplify God's word like pipes, virgins who fly to God like eagles, those who render harp-praises beyond human learning, and humble soldiers who gather virtues like sheaves, opening heaven by their humility while God delights in the twin praises of angels and human beings.
And just as a voice carries farther through a pipe, so a teacher's voice must carry among people in the fear and love of God—gathering the faithful and putting the faithless to flight. In this way others rise up too, who despise and throw themselves away, restraining themselves in the modesty of virginity, treating the pleasure of the world as punishment, and persevering in angelic praises; and like an eagle they fly to God in the full desire of their hearts, like the dawn that goes before the sun, and with the eyes of a dove's simplicity always gazing on God. And so with harps they render to God, to whom they are joined in this way, praises of this kind that human learning can in no way set forth. But there are also others who gather countless virtues to themselves like sheaves from the commandments of God, and fight as soldiers on the instruments for humility the queen of virtues, since they cast themselves down as if to the ground out of the fear and love of God. For humility opens heaven to those who imitate it, and shuts it to those who neglect it, so that it cannot be opened by any persecution of enemies, and it throws pride down into hell, which is the inheritance of minds that are puffed up. And he reigns with those who fight alongside it in heaven; for just as instruments are tuned to the sound of praise with the various kinds of voices, so God has shaped human praises to resemble those of the angels, since just as the heavenly host overcame pride in the sight of God, so too do people who restrain themselves from evil always overcome pride within themselves. For a human being is the work of the right hand of almighty God, which he himself brought into being, and will fill the choir of the lost angels; and so a human being is also under the protection of the good angels. And God takes great delight in these two orders of angels and of human beings, namely in the praises of angels and in the holy works of human beings, because through them he accomplishes all things according to his will, things that had been foreknown in eternity in this way.
Angelic Stability and the Promise of Unclouded Vision
Angels stand stable before God while humans are unstable, so divine revelations are often clouded for mortals; yet when a person becomes unchangeable, they will see God's brightness and remain with Him, as David testifies in Psalm 62.
An angel, however, stands firm before God, while a human being is unstable, and so it's fitting that human effort falls short; the praises of angels, however, never fail. Heaven and earth also touch God, since they were made through him and exist for the glory of God; but because a human being is mortal, divine revelations—which are sometimes made known to prophets and the wise—are often clouded over like a shadow.✦ But when a human being has become unchangeable out of mutability, then they will see the brightness of God by knowing it, and will remain with God, just as David my servant says in my will: Words from David in Psalm 62 that bear on the same point, and how they ought to be understood.
Read the original Latin
Quod autem quasi alias innumerabiles hominum imagines per totam australem plagam sicut nubem in aere fluentem vides, hoc est quod multitudo credentium qui Filium Dei in ardenti justitia imitati sunt et imitantur, mentes suas ad coelestia elevantes, de virtute in virtutem ascenderent et ascendunt. Quorum alii in capitibus suis velut coronas ferunt, quoniam isti cum mentes suas sursum erigunt, justis et sanctis desideriis cordium suorum animabus suis ornatum supernorum praemiorum imponunt, quia bona desideria initium bonae incoeptionis sunt, alii ut palmas valde ornatas in manibus suis tenent, quoniam victoriam boni certaminis in operibus suis ostendunt; alii ut fistulas, id est mercedes, quas in timore et amore Dei per doctrinam suam promeruerunt; alii, ut citharas, videlicet praemia durae et angustae viae, quae ad vitam ducit; alii ut organa, quia multiplices virtutes, quae in laudibus ad Deum tendunt, in eis apparent; sonusque eorumdem instrumentorum quemadmodum dulcis sonus nubium intonat, quoniam laudes quae in praedictis virtutum dignitatibus et remunerationibus resonant, exoptabili merito in virtutibus operantium, mentesque suas ad coelestia extollentium consonant, quia secundum quod homines bona in rectitudine facientes promerentur, mercedes eorum in remuneratione erunt. Mentes itaque fidelium, ut praefatum est, velut nubes discurrunt, cum in desiderio animae in quo beatus homo quaerit a Deo opus quod operetur, nunquam saturatur, sicut nec rivuli de mari fluentes, ab inundationibus suis desistunt. Et quoniam sancta desideria, quae initium omnium bonorum existunt, ipsis hoc modo ut praefatum est infixa sunt, Deus cum coelesti militia eos coronat, quia ipsi ita adhaerent, quod nullo modo ab eo separabuntur. Ordinatio enim Dei in creaturis primum designavit quod homo in spiritali vita revivificari debuit, quia cum in lege quaedam pecora ligari, occidi ac comburi, eorumque sanguinem spargi praecepit, quosdam homines sicut nubes currentes, et ad ipsum respicientes, in amore ejus torqueri, et occidi, atque sic immolari praemonstravit. Et quoniam isti ubera virtutum sugunt, quatenus luxuriam aliaque vitia fugiant, victoriam palmarum ferunt, cum etiam sanguinem suum effundunt, antequam per opera infidelitatis ex reti justitiae cadant; sic duobus modis se cruciantes, videlicet contra corpus suum pugnando, atque per ordinationem Dei sanguinem suum effundendo. Unde etiam angelis qui Deo semper assistunt assimilantur. Qui autem per doctrinam omnipotentis Dei officium suum exercent, alios docendo, fistulis sanctitatis resonant, cum per vocem rationalitatis justitiam in mentes hominum canunt; sicut etiam verbum dictat, et sonus resonat, et ut per sonum verbum auditur, et circumdatur, quatenus audiri possit.
Et ut per fistulam vox multiplicatur, ita in timore et amore Dei vox doctoris in hominibus multiplicari debet, ubi fideles congregat, et infideles fugat. Hoc modo et alii exsurgunt, qui se ipsos contemnunt et abjiciunt, in virginitatis pudore se constringentes, voluptatemque saeculi pro poena habentes, atque in angelicis laudibus perseverant, et sicut aquila in pleno desiderio cordium suorum ad Deum volant, similes aurorae quae solem praecedit existentes, et cum oculis columbinae simplicitatis Deum semper intuentes. Quapropter et in citharis Deum cui hoc modo adjuncti sunt, hujusmodi laudes referunt, quas humana scientia nequaquam explicare potest. Sed et alii sunt qui innumerabiles virtutes quemadmodum manipulos in praeceptis Dei ad se colligunt, atque humilitati reginae virtutum in organis militant, cum se ipsos quasi ad terram pro Dei timore et amore prosternunt. Humilitas enim ipsam imitantibus coelum aperit, eamque negligentibus illud claudit, ita ut nulla persecutione inimicorum reserari possit, superbiamque in infernum dejicit, qui haereditas hominum elatarum mentium est. Atque cum his qui cum ea militant in coelo dominatur; quia sicut cum generibus vocum organa ad sonum laudis convertuntur, ita Deus laudes hominum ad similitudinem angelorum constituit, quoniam ut coelestis exercitus in conspectu Dei superbiam superavit, ita et homines qui se a malis continent, superbiam in semetipsis semper superant. Homo namque opus dexterae omnipotentis Dei, quod ipsa operata est existit, chorumque perditorum angelorum implebit, et ideo etiam in defensione bonorum angelorum est. Et in his duobus ordinibus angelorum et hominum Deus valde delectatur, videlicet in laudibus angelorum, ac in sanctis operibus hominum, quia cum his secundum voluntatem suam omnia perficit, quae sic in aeternitate praescita fuerant.
Angelus autem coram Deo stabilis est, homo vero instabilis, et ideo convenienter opus hominis deficit; laudes autem angelorum non deficiunt. Coelum quoque et terra Deum tangunt, quoniam per ipsum facta sunt, et ad gloriam Dei sunt; sed quia homo mortalis est, divinae revelationes quae prophetis et sapientibus aliquando manifestantur, velut umbra multoties obnubilantur. Cum autem homo ex mutabilitate immutabilis fuerit, tunc claritatem Dei cognoscendo videbit, et cum Deo permanebit, quemadmodum David servus meus in voluntate mea dicit:
Verba David ex psalmo LXII ad idem pertinentia, et quo sensu accipi debeant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.1.3 — All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
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