VISIO NONA, cap. IX
The Unshaken Earth and the Steadfast Church
God's fullness stabilizes the earth and the Church, so neither can be overthrown, and his miracles in creation and in his people continue until the elect are complete.
"For he established the orb of the earth, which will not be moved.✦ "The understanding of this sentence is to be received in this way: when God filled the orb of the earth with full work, therefore it will not be moved, because if it were not filled with creatures, shaken by a certain emptiness it would be moved. For every creature fills its own place which it bears by ministering to it; but God works his miracles in man, and entrusted the orb of the earth to him for the necessity of his own body. He himself also established the Church spread abroad in the whole orb of lands, which will be crushed by no storm of adversaries, although it will be wearied many times by very many tribulations. For God continually accomplishes his miracles in her, and will not cease in this until the number of his elect is completed with heavenly harmony.
The Face of God and the Heavens That Behold Him
The divine face stands over the heavenly harmony, and those called heavens shine from God's splendor and prophesy him, including the heaven where the Son appeared in humanity.
The face of the Divinity, however, is over that harmony, nor will it be able to be ended by any end, nor can it do anything by itself but only by the showing of the face of the Divinity, just as a shadow appearing in a mirror does nothing by itself, but by its own form from which it proceeds. And they are called heavens who behold God, and heavens who prophesy him; there was also a heaven in which the Son of God showed himself in humanity. Those heavens, however, are named who from the splendor of the face of God shine forth just as sparks from fire, and in whom God overcame all his enemies.
The Human Heart as Image of the Son in the Father
Humanity's place between heaven and earth images the Son in the Father's heart, since just as counsel proceeds from the heart without division, so the Son proceeds from the Father.
But when God created heaven and earth, he placed humankind in their midst, so that by ruling over them they might exercise dominion, and this middle corresponds to that other middle — the way the Son of God is in the midst of the Father's heart — because just as counsel goes out from the human heart, so also the Son went forth from God the Father. For the heart holds counsel, and counsel is in the heart, and the two are one, and no division can exist there.
The Hidden Plan of Incarnation Turned Toward the North
The image's turned back toward the north signifies that God concealed the plan of the Incarnation and redemption from the devil and all wicked spirits.
Because the prescribed image had turned its back toward the north, this signifies that God hid the plan for the Incarnation of his Son and for the redemption of the human race from the devil and from all wicked spirits.
Read the original Latin
« Etenim firmavit orbem terrae qui non commovebitur. » Hujus sententiae intellectus hoc modo accipiendus est: Deus cum pleno opere replevit orbem terrae, et ideo non commovebitur, quoniam si creaturis repletus non esset, quadam inanitate concussus moveretur. Omnis enim creatura locum suum qui ipsam ministrando portat replet; sed Deus miracula sua in homine operatur, orbemque terrae illi ad necessitatem corporis sui commisit. Ipse etiam firmavit Ecclesiam toto orbe terrarum diffusam, quae nulla tempestate adversariorum conteretur, quamvis plurimis tribulationibus multoties fatigetur. Nam miracula sua Deus in illa assidue perficit, nec in hoc cessabit, quousque numerus electorum suorum cum coelesti harmonia compleatur. Vultus autem Divinitatis super harmoniam istam est, nec ipsa ullo fine terminari poterit, nec quidquam per se sed per ostensionem vultus Divinitatis facere valet, sicut nec umbra in speculo apparens aliquid per se facit, sed per formam suam de qua procedit. Et coeli dicuntur qui Deum inspiciunt, coelique qui eum prophetant, coelum quoque fuit, quod Filius Dei in humanitate se ostendebat. Coeli autem illi nominantur qui de splendore vultus Dei quemadmodum scintillae ab igne resplendent, et in quibus Deus omnes inimicos suos superavit.
Sed cum Deus coelum et terram creavit, in medio eorum hominem posuit, quatenus eis dominando imperaret, et hoc medium secundum medium illud est, quo Filius Dei in medio corde Patris est, quia ut consilium a corde hominis, ita et Filius a Patre Deo exivit. Nam cor consilium habet, et consilium in corde est, et unum sunt, nec ulla divisio ibi esse potest.
Quia in eo quod praescripta imago dorsum ad aquilonem verterat hoc designetur quod Deus consilium Incarnationis Filii sui et redemptionis humanae a diabolo et omnibus spiritibus malignis absconderit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.92.1 — A Psalm. A song for the day of the Sabbath.
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