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← Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works)/Book 3 · Liber Divinorum Operum — Pars 3
Chapter 37LDO.3.37

VISIO NONA, cap. X

The North Turned Away

God hides the friends of the north from all light, and the devil, blinded and cast down, still drags consenting souls toward destruction without rest.

And this image had turned its back toward the north, because almighty God had hidden all the friends of the north, since he chose to do this with his Son, and just as he threw them backward so they would see no light at all, so in no knowledge could they see the work of the Son of God, and because God had ordered all these things through his ancient plan, they were hidden from them. For through the force of God's zeal the devil was plunged into the abyss, and every light was taken from him, so that now he sees no brightness of blessedness at all, because he is completely blinded, because he wanted to have the likeness of the One who is from nothing but who exists through himself, and though by his useless fear he now experiences God's judgments and answers them — namely the things that belong to him — by punishing. For in fear of God's judgments he knows that he can in no way resist God; yet he still cuts off the branches of his work, just as he did in the first human beings, namely by seducing those who consent to him with their whole heart. For this reason they too go toward destruction, where the same enemy always roars to devour souls, and he does not cease from this fury out of any weariness.

Hidden Divinity and the Heavenly Restoration

God reveals hidden divinity through creatures, and through his Son restores the heavenly choir with righteous souls to greater praise than before.

But God, in great proclamations and many signs, shows his hidden divinity to human beings, and through wisdom in creatures he has shown them many things, in which they may know the secrets of his divinity, just as a human being paints many forms through his knowledge with colors. And yet just as the ancient serpent could not resist God in his fall, so neither could he contradict God, but God restored the heavenly choir to greater praise through his Son with the souls of the righteous, from which they had fallen — those who will not fully know the work of this same Son of God before the last day, and who then endured great confusion from the heavenly host, because their place will be filled with a greater blessing than it had been before.

The Virgin Birth Foretold

The Son of God comes as offspring of the holy Virgin Mary, a predestined, spiritual birth hidden in divinity and unique from eternity.

For the Son of God, as was said, went forth in a strange way, beautiful beyond others, offspring of a virgin nature, because the first virgin was corrupted through the serpent's counsel; but the Virgin Mary was entirely holy, who conceived a Son from the Holy Spirit, and as a virgin gave birth, and remained a virgin. This birth was predestined through the ancient plan, and entirely spiritual, it lay hidden in the divinity, and it did not fly into human knowledge, because it was not multiple but unique in the divinity, where the same Son of God was born from the Father before the antiquity of days, because the Father always had it within his will that he should become a human being.

Christ's Victory and Ongoing Work

In human nature Christ overthrows Leviathan, works spiritual things to the last day, and through baptism the soul is spiritually reborn to eternal life.

Coming in the foreign nature of humanity, he overturned the left side of Leviathan when he tore a thousand vices of sinners from its throat through the works of chastity, because the abstinence and contrition of sinners are the wings of chastity, on which virgins and penitents fly to the betrothal of the Lamb on account of the forgiven sins of carnal desires, for the Son of God too, the Son of the Virgin, crowned by virginity, has received penitents running to him.✦✦✦1 For from the beginning of the garment of his humanity, he was working all spiritual things in man, which he will also complete right up to the last day, and these things are in the midst of his power, not by the number of days, but by the force of his work, and he holds them in an upright balance, so that he can't be overcome by any illusion.✦✦ For in his humanity he flew on the wings of the winds, and just as an eagle into the sun, so he himself looked into the face of the Father, because just as Abraham received the circumcision of the flesh, through which the spiritual life that water signifies is understood—as fish live in water, so also the soul of man is circumcised through baptism, and in water is spiritually reborn to life, in which it will live forever in the seat of blessedness, just as it is also said of the seat of the majesty of God.✦✦✦✦

David's Psalm and the Incarnation Recapitulated

The chapter closes by citing Psalm 101 on God's heavenly seat and promising a brief recapitulation of the Lord's Incarnation.

These are David's words from Psalm 101, where it is written, "The Lord has prepared his seat in heaven." Here I will explain in what sense they should be received, along with a brief recapitulation of the Lord's Incarnation.

Read the original Latin

Et imago haec dorsum ad aquilonem verterat, quoniam omnipotens Deus cunctos aquilonis amicos celavit, quod cum Filio suo facere voluit, et sicut illos retrorsum dejecit, ne ullum lumen viderent, ita in nulla scientia opus Filii Dei videbant, et quoniam haec omnia Deus per antiquum consilium ordinaverat, idcirco illis abscondita erant. Per vim enim zeli Dei diabolus in abyssum dimersus est, omneque lumen illi ablatum est, ita ut jam nullum fulgorem beatitudinis videat, quia omnino excaecatus est, quoniam similitudinem illius qui de nullo, sed qui per semetipsum est habere voluit, et licet inutili timore judicia Dei nunc sentit et eis respondet, illa scilicet quae ad ipsum pertinent puniendo. Nam in timore judiciorum Dei novit, quod Deo nequaquam resistere potest; sed tamen ramos operis illius abscindit, sicut in primis hominibus fecit, illos videlicet seducendo qui ei ex toto corde consentiunt. Propter quod etiam in perditionem vadunt, qua idem hostis semper rugit ut animas devoret, nec ab hoc furore ullo taedio cessat. Deus autem in magnis praeconiis et multis signis occultam divinitatem suam hominibus ostendit, atque per sapientiam in creaturis multa eis demonstravit, in quibus secreta divinitatis ipsius cognoscant, quemadmodum homo multas formas per scientiam suam coloribus depingit. Sed et sicut antiquus serpens in casu suo Deo resistere non potuit, sic etiam nec contradicere valuit, quin Deus supernum chorum in majore laude per Filium suum cum animabus justorum restitueret, de quo illi ceciderunt, qui opus ejusdem Filii Dei ante novissimum diem pleniter scire non poterunt, et qui tunc de coelesti exercitu magnam confusionem sustinebant, quia locus eorum in majore benedictione replebitur, quam ante fuisset. Filius enim Dei, ut praedictum est, in aliena via prae aliis formosus processit, proles virgineae naturae existens, quoniam prima virgo per serpentinum consilium corrupta est; Virgo autem Maria tota sancta fuit, quae de Spiritu sancto Filium concepit, et virgo peperit virgoque permansit. Haec nativitas per antiquum consilium praedestinata erat, et tota spiritalis in divinitate occultata latebat, nec in scientiam hominum volavit, eo quod non multiplex, sed unica in divinitate esset, ubi idem Dei Filius ante antiquitatem dierum ex Patre natus exstitit, quoniam Pater eum hominem fieri in voluntate sua semper habuit.

Qui in aliena natura humanitatis veniens, sinistram partem Leviatan evertit, cum mille vitia peccatorum de gutture illius per opera castitatis abstraxit, quia abstinentia et contritio peccatorum alae castitatis sunt, in quibus virgines et poenitentes propter dimissa peccata carnalium desideriorum ad desponsationem Agni volant, quoniam et Filius Dei, Virginis Filius, virginitate coronatus, poenitentes ad ipsum currentes suscepit. Ab initio enim indumenti humanitatis suae omnia spiritualia in homine operabatur, quae etiam usque ad novissimum diem perficiet, et haec in medio potentiae suae sunt, non per numerum dierum, sed per vim operis sui, ac ea in recta statera habet, ita ut per nullam illusionem superari possit. Nam in humanitate sua super pennas ventorum volavit, et sicut aquila in solem, sic ipse in faciem Patris aspexit, quia sicut Abraham circumcisionem carnis acceperat, per quam spiritalis vita, quam aqua significat, intelligitur, ut pisces in aqua vivunt, ita etiam anima hominis per baptismum circumciditur, atque in aqua spiritaliter ad vitam regeneratur, in qua in aeternum in sede beatitudinis vivet, quemadmodum etiam de sede majestatis Dei dicitur.

Verba David ex psalmo CI, ubi scriptum est: « Dominus in coelo paravit sedem suam, » et quo sensu accipienda sint, et brevis recapitulatio de incarnatione Domini.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.19.7-Rev.19.9 — Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Rev.19.8 — And it was granted to her that she be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Rev.19.9 — And he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
  2. ↩Ps.74.14 — You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the people of the wilderness.
  3. ↩1Pet.5.8 — Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
  4. ↩Phil.1.6 — I am confident of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
  5. ↩Ps.102.27 — They will perish, but you will stand; they will all wear out like a garment; like clothing you will change them, and they will be changed.
  6. ↩Ps.18.10 — He spread out the heavens and came down, with thick darkness under his feet.
  7. ↩Gen.17.10-Gen.17.14 — This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. Gen.17.11 — You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Gen.17.12 — And at eight days old every male among you shall be circumcised throughout your generations — both the one born in the house and the one bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Gen.17.13 — Both the one born in your household and the one bought with your money must be circumcised, so that my covenant may be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. Gen.17.14 — Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin — that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
  8. ↩Col.2.11-Col.2.12 — In him you were also circumcised—not with a circumcision performed by human hands, but with the circumcision of Christ, having been stripped of the body of the flesh. Col.2.12 — having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
  9. ↩Ps.102.19 — Let this be recorded for a generation yet to come, and a people yet to be created shall praise the LORD.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The syntax of 'abstinentia et contritio peccatorum alae castitatis sunt' is dense; 'peccatorum' is taken as an objective genitive modifying the virtues (abstinence from and contrition for sin), which serve as the wings of chastity.

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