VISIO OCTAVA, cap. IV
The Church as the Bride in Gold
The Psalm's image of the queen in the gold-fringed robe is unfolded as the Church espoused to Christ, clothed in his blood and adorned with manifold virtues drawn from the Father's house.
"The queen stood at your right hand, arrayed in a gold-fringed robe, surrounded by variety."✦ "The meaning of this saying is to be understood in this way: O Son of the Father, in the espousal of the catholic faith the Church stood for the flourishing of heavenly desires, endowed with your humanity; she is suffused with the redness of your blood, and also clothed about with manifold virtues, which she brought from the house of your Father, when she placed herself in the embraces of your love."1
The Royal Nuptials Wrought by Humility
God's will gathers and adorns humanity with the garment of justice through Christ's suffering, and man—God's own work—is called to the royal nuptials that humility makes possible.
For this espousal proceeded through the will of almighty God, who brought it to completion with a radiant work, when he gathered man from the highest even to the lowest, and adorned him with the garment of justice, since the Son of God willed to suffer in the flesh for the redemption of man. For man is the work of God's right hand, through whom he himself is clothed and called to the royal nuptials, which humility made, when the most high God looked into the lowest parts of the earth, and gathered the Church from the common people, so that he who had fallen might rise again through repentance, and renew himself in holy ways, adorned with the variety of virtues like the verdure of flowers.
Pride Corrupts, Humility Gathers All Virtues
Pride crushes and divides, but humility retains all things in love, and God himself bent down to earth to gather the virtues that are joined to him and led to the King's nuptials.
Pride, however, is always corrupt, because it crushes, divides, and pulls away every single thing; humility, on the other hand, seizes or pulls away nothing from anyone, but retains all things in love, and in humility God leaned himself down to the earth, and gathered all virtues through her. For the virtues tend toward the Son of God, just as a virgin, by repudiating a man, calls Christ her bridegroom, and they themselves are joined to humility, when he leads them to the nuptials of the King.
A Call to Receive with Devoted Hearts
The faithful are invited to receive these words with heartfelt devotion, since they have been set forth for believers' benefit by the One who is the first and the last.
Let the faithful receive these words with the devoted affection of their heart, since through him who is the first and the last they have been set forth for the benefit of believers.✦
Read the original Latin
« Astitit regina a dextris tuis in vestitu deaurato circumdata varietate. » Hujus sententiae intellectus hoc modo accipiendus est: O Fili Patris, in desponsatione catholicae fidei astitit Ecclesia prosperitati supernorum desideriorum dotata humanitate tua, quae rubore sanguinis tui perfusa est, circumamicta quoque multiplicibus virtutibus, quas de domo patris tui tulit, cum in amplexus dilectionis tuae se posuit. Ista quippe desponsatio per voluntatem omnipotentis Dei processit, qui illam cum fulgenti opere perfecit, ubi a summo usque ad imum hominem collegit, quem indumento justitiae decoravit, cum Filius Dei pro redemptione hominis in carne pati voluit. Homo enim opus dextrae Dei est, per quem ipse vestitus et vocatus ad regales nuptias est, quas humilitas fecit, cum Deus altissimus in ima terrae respexit, et ecclesiam de communi populo collegit, quatenus ille qui ceciderat per poenitentiam resurgeret, seque in sanctis moribus renovaret varietate virtutum quasi viriditate florum adornatus. Superbia autem semper corrupta est, quia unamquamque rem comprimit, dividit et abstrahit; humilitas vero nulli quidquam rapit seu abstrahit, sed omnia in charitate retinet, et in ipsa Deus ad terras se reclinavit, atque omnes virtutes per ipsam collegit. Virtutes namque ad Filium Dei tendunt, sicut virgo virum repudiando Christum sponsum suum vocat, ipsaeque humilitati adjunctae sunt, cum eas ad nuptias Regis perducit. Verba haec fideles devoto cordis affectu percipiant, quoniam per illum qui primus et novissimus est ad utilitatem credentium edita sunt.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩The word 'prosperitati' (prosperity/flourishing) is rendered as 'flourishing' to fit the context of the Church's spiritual growth and heavenly desires.
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