VISIO OCTAVA, cap. III
The Divine Invitation to Virtue
A heavenly voice calls the soul to imitate God by embracing love, humility, and peace, which are revealed as three images standing in a pure spring under a perforated stone.
Again I heard a voice from heaven speaking to me: 'Everything that God has done, he has accomplished in love, in humility, and in peace — so that you, too, would love love, lay hold of humility, and hold on to peace, and not go with that one into ruin, who mocked these virtues at his very first rising.' For you can also see, as it were, in the middle of the southern region mentioned before, three images — two of them standing in a most pure spring, enclosed and adorned above with a round, perforated stone, so that they seem rooted in the stone itself, the way trees are sometimes seen growing in water — which three virtues, in the strength of burning justice, exist in the name of the Holy Trinity: the first is love, the second humility, the third peace.
Love and Humility in the Godhead
Love and humility are inseparable from the Godhead, pointing to the Son of God who descended to earth and returned to heaven, clothed in the purple fire of desire and the white brightness of uprightness.
Love and humility exist in the most pure divinity, from which the rivers of blessedness flow, because these two virtues point to the only Son of God — diffamed across the whole world — for the liberation and raising up of the human being, who lay crushed in the depths of sins, since his body, pierced and buried on the cross, rose again by the marvelous power of the Godhead, and showed himself to be the stone of strength and honor, since all the miracles that the same Son of God performed in the world he brought back to the glory of his Father. Nor are these virtues separated from the Godhead, just as a root is not severed from its tree, since God, being love, holds humility in all his works and judgments. For love and humility, descending to earth with the same Son of God, brought him back as he returned to the heavens. One is clothed in a purple radiance, the other in a brilliant white, so that you could not look on them fully — which signifies that love burns in heavenly desire like purple fire, while humility shakes off earthly stains in the brightness of uprightness from within itself.
The Call to Imitation and the Gift of Peace
Though full imitation is difficult in the flesh, one must still love and humble themselves; meanwhile, the third image of peace stands outside the spring, guarding earthly affairs through the cornerstone who is Christ.
And although it is difficult for a mortal person, as long as they live in the flesh, to imitate all these things completely, still they must not neglect to love God above everything and to humble themselves in all things for the reward of eternal life. And that the third image stands outside the same spring, above the stone mentioned before, means this: the peace that remains in heavenly things also guards earthly affairs that lie outside the heavenly — because the Son of God himself, being the true cornerstone, brought that peace when he illuminated the whole world by his birth, and when the angels, together with him, in their glorious song, recognized both God and man.
The Brilliance of Heavenly Peace
The face of peace shines with a brilliance that cannot be contained by earthly instability, reflecting the firm unity of heavenly realities.
And its face shines with such brilliance that the brightness itself reflects back from its countenance, because the peace that rose up through the Son of God cannot be held in earthly things the way it exists in the heavenly realm, since heavenly realities always stand firm in the stability of complete unity, while earthly things are tossed about, thrown this way and that, and constantly changing.
The Soul's Ascent through Virtue
Marked with God's image, the human soul praises God and, guided by love and humility, flows from strength to strength toward the glory of the saints, adorned by love as a ring by a gem and revealed in the humanity of the Son.
But the human being, who is God's handiwork, will praise God, because the human soul will be in praise as the angel is, for while a person lives in the world, they cultivate the earth as they wish and as they desire, and they show God, because they are marked with God's image. And before them the blessed ranks of the saints appear as if in a cloud, which they gaze at intently, because it is through love and humility that one reaches the glory of heavenly exaltation, as the minds of the faithful flow like clouds from strength to strength, where love and humility also, examining and guarding them with careful attention, eagerly and gently kindle them toward the desires of heavenly things.✦ For love is the adornment of God's works, just as a ring is adorned by a precious stone; but humility revealed itself openly in the humanity of the Son of God, who rose from the perfect star of the sea.
Christ's Victory over the Fall
Unfallen and rooted in divinity, Christ did not fear humanity's first fall but renewed human nature to a more glorious life, overcoming the devil's pride and fulfilling the promise to crush the serpent's head.
And he did not fear the fall of the first human being, nor did the expulsion of the first human being terrify him, because no sin touched him, since he was wholly rooted in divinity, but certain ones who saw him and walked with him withered up and fell away like dry leaves. He himself, however, caused others to spring up in their place, and he took no human counsel about how to overcome his enemies, who had fallen from him by their own will. But neither was he idle, as the first human being was in his fall, neglecting good works, because he was renewing humanity into a more glorious life than it had been placed in before, nor did he seat himself in the throne of pride the way the devil did, who deceived humanity with the plague of disobedience, and had no regard for how he was taking humanity from God, because he foresaw that his head would be crushed by surpassing strength.✦
The Church Led into the King's Chamber
Adorned with the virtues of love, humility, and peace, the Church is led into the king's chamber, fulfilling the words of David in Psalm 44.
Adorned and endowed with the virtues spoken of before, the Church was led into the king's chamber, as it is written: These words of David from Psalm 44 commend the Church, adorned with the varied cultivation of virtues.
Read the original Latin
Iterumque vocem de coelo ad me dicentem audivi: Omnia quae cunque Deus operatus est, ea in charitate, in humilitate ac in pace perfecit, quatenus etiam homo charitatem diligat, humilitatemque apprehendat, pacem quoque teneat, ne cum illo in interitum vadat, qui virtutes istas in primo ortu suo subsannabat. Nam vides etiam quasi in medio praefatae australis plagae tres imagines, duas videlicet in quodam purissimo fonte stantes, circumsepto et ornato superius rotundo et perforato lapide, velut in ipso radicatae sint, quemadmodum arbores in aqua interdum crescere videntur, quae in fortitudine ardentis justitiae tres virtutes in nomine sanctae Trinitatis sunt, quarum prima est charitas, secunda humilitas, tertia pax. Charitas quidem et humilitas in purissima divinitate, de qua flumina beatitudinis fluunt existunt, quia hae duae virtutes ad liberationem et erectionem hominis, qui in imis peccatorum depressus jacebat, unicum Dei Filium per totum orbem terrae diffamatum demonstrant, cum corpus ejus in cruce perforatum et sepultum mirabili potentia divinitatis surrexit, lapidemque fortitudinis et honoris se esse ostendit, quoniam omnia miracula quae idem Filius Dei in mundo gessit ad gloriam Patris sui reduxit. Nec eaedem virtutes a divinitate separatae sunt, sicut nec radix ab arbore secernitur, quia Deus charitas existens, in omnibus operibus et judiciis suis humilitatem tenet. Charitas enim et humilitas cum eodem Dei Filio ad terras descendentes, eum ad coelos redeuntem reduxerunt. Altera quidem purpureo, altera autem candido fulgore ita circumdata, ut eas perfecte intueri non possis, quod designat charitatem in coelesti amore velut purpuram ardere, humilitatem vero terrenas sordes in candore rectitudinis de se excutere. Quod quamvis mortali homini difficile sit per omnia imitari quandiu vivit in carne, Deum tamen super omnia diligere, et se in omnibus humiliare propter mercedem aeternorum non negligat. Quod autem tertia imago extra eumdem fontem supra praefatum lapidem illius stat, hoc est quod pax quae in coelestibus manet etiam terrena negotia, quae extra coelestia sunt defendit, quia ipsam Filius Dei verus angularis lapis existens attulit, cum totum mundum nativitate sua illuminavit, et cum ipsum angeli in laudabili carmine suo Deum et hominem cognoverunt.
Ejusque facies tanta claritate fulget, ut ipsa claritas faciem suam reverberet, quoniam pax, quae per Filium Dei surrexit, non ita ut in supernis est, in terrenis teneri potest, quia cum coelestia in stabilitate unanimitatis semper sint, terrena in titubatione hac et illac projecta multotiens immutantur. Sed tamen homo, qui opus Dei est, ipsum laudabit, quoniam anima hominis in laude erit, ut angelus est, quia dum homo in saeculo vivit, terram colit quomodo vult et quomodo desiderat, Deumque ostendit, quoniam secundum illum signatus est. Et coram eis beati ordines sanctorum velut in nube apparent, quos diligenter intuentur, quia per charitatem et humilitatem ad gloriam supernae celsitudinis pervenitur, cum mentes fidelium quasi nubes de virtute in virtutem fluunt, ubi etiam illos charitas et humilitas diligenti examinatione et tuitione considerantes, ad desideria supernorum strenue et leniter accendunt. Nam charitas ornatrix operum Dei est, quemadmodum annulus per nobilem lapidem ornatur; humilitas autem in humanitate Filii Dei aperte se manifestavit, qui de integra stella maris surrexit. Et ipse casum primi hominis non extimuit, nec expulsio primi hominis eum exterruit, quoniam nullum peccatum ipsum tetigit, quia totus in divinitate radicatus fuit, sed quidam qui eum videbant et cum eo ibant exaruerunt, et velut arida folia ceciderunt. Ipse tamen in locum eorum alios germinare fecit, nec ullius hominis consilium habuit, quomodo inimicos suos superaret, qui ab eo voluntate propria ceciderant. Sed et otiosus non erat sicut primus homo in casu suo a bonis operibus vacabat, quoniam in gloriosiorem vitam, quam prius positus fuisset, hominem renovabat, nec in sedem superbiae se reclinavit, quemadmodum diabolus qui hominem cum pestilentia inobedientiae decepit, timoremque non habuit, quomodo hominem illi auferret, quia caput ejus valida fortitudine conterendum praescivit. Praedictis quoque virtutibus Ecclesia exornata et dotata in cubiculum regis ducebatur, ut scriptum est:
Verba David ex psalmo XLIV Ecclesiam vario virtutum cultu decoratam commendantia.
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