VISIO NONA, cap. XIV
Wisdom's Firmament and the Garment of Creation
Wisdom establishes the firmament and adorns it with celestial lights, making creation itself a garment that touches the divine work.
So God set the firmament in place through wisdom, and fastened it together with the forces of the stars as if with nails, just as a person strengthens his own house with nails so it won't collapse. The stars are also present to the moon, which is kindled by the sun, and in its eclipse it pours out its light on the stars — the very light that wisdom, in its ancient counsel, made fruitful for humankind together with the sun, since every creature is, when it pours the juice of the earth into it; but the sun designates divinity, while the moon designates the innumerable number of the human race, and all of these are the adornments of wisdom. The firmament too is the seat of all its ornaments, just as a person has a seat, which is the earth, which sustains him; and God placed that firmament with its adornment for his praise, just as wisdom had preordained this. And so creation was like a garment to wisdom itself, because it touched its work, just as a person feels his own garment.
The Hidden God and the Defeat of Evil
Just as God is hidden beneath creation like a body beneath garments, he is perceived only by faith; and all wisdom's works are made to withstand the devil's malice until his final defeat.
If, however, a person had been created in such a way that he could lack garments, then he would have no need for work, nor would he be honored through any service, except that the body alone would be the covering of the soul, and he would be moved through the soul. God also cannot be seen, but is known through creation, just as the human body also cannot be seen on account of its garments. And just as the inner brightness of the sun is not perceived, so neither is God seen by mortal creation, but is understood through faith, just as the outer circle of the sun too is beheld by watchful eyes. And every work that wisdom established, she made against the malice of the devil, because he has always held and still holds all her work in hatred, to the end of the full number, when he himself, struck down in such great strength, will perish, so that he will not attempt to wage war against God any longer.
The Soul's Journey to Immortality
Washed in the Lamb's mercy, the human spirit endures; though thoughts multiply in mortal life, the soul is ultimately transformed into an immortal spirit that ceases from bodily labor.
Every arrangement of wisdom is also sweet and pleasing, because it washes its own tunic in the blood of the Lamb who is merciful, when it has been sprinkled with filth; and therefore it is to be loved above all the adornments of creation, and it appears lovable to all holy souls, because in the embrace of its sight they will never be able to grow weary.✦1 Just as wisdom also ordained, the spirit in a person lives and watches, and will not come to an end at all; but as long as a person lives in the body, their thoughts multiply beyond number within them, just as the sound of praise among the angels is also innumerable. Thought also lives in a person's youth, and they send it forth with the word of rationality, and through it they carry out their work; yet it does not live in itself at all, because it had a beginning. But eternity lives in itself, and has never shown any decline, because before time it was life eternally. But when the soul is changed into immortality, afterward it is not called a soul, because through thoughts it then accomplishes nothing with a person, but from then on it is among the praises of the angels who are spirits. Hence even it will then also be called a spirit, because it will no longer labor with the body of flesh.
The Seal of God's Wonders
Made in God's likeness, the human being is life itself, enclosing divine mysteries and dictating all works in the heart before carrying them out.
A person is rightly called life, because when they live by the breath it is life, but also when through the death of the flesh they are changed into immortality, they will be in life; after the last day too, with body and soul in eternity, they are life, because when God formed the person, He enclosed His hidden mysteries within them, because by knowing, thinking, and working they were made in the likeness of God.✦ For the Divinity had the ordering of all Its work within Itself, how that work ought to be done, and according to this It established the person so that they could think, so that they might first dictate all their works in their own heart before they carry them out, because they are the seal of God's wonders.2
Angelic Praise and the Eye of Faith
While angels possess knowledge and offer ceaseless praise, humans recognize God through faith's eye; the angel presents both good and worthless works to the judge, and the faithful receive these words with devotion.
God orders, but the human being thinks; the angel, however, possesses knowledge, and in that knowledge it always resounds with the voice of praise and with the love of honoring God — and it desires nothing other than to gaze on God and to praise him. And God, before any age, held within himself, without any pause in the work he was about to do; and so the human being, who is the enclosure of his miracles, recognizes him with the eye of faith, and embraces him with the kiss of knowledge — though with fleshly eyes one cannot see him — and acts in accordance with him. The angel also offers chosen works to God with a good fragrance, sending them upward through good will; and the worthless works that look toward another path rather than toward God, the same angel also points out to the righteous judge. Let these words, however, be received by the faithful with a devoted heart's affection, since they have been brought forth through him who is the first and the last, for the benefit of believers.
Read the original Latin
Deus itaque per sapientiam firmamentum posuit, et hoc cum viribus siderum velut cum clavis compilavit, sicut et homo domum suam cum clavis firmat ne cadat. Sidera etiam lunae adsunt, quae de sole accenditur, et in defectu suo lumen sideribus stillat, et quam utique sapientia in antiquo consilio fecundam cum sole homini fecit, qui omnis creatura est, cum illa succum terrae infundit, sed sol divinitatem, luna vero innumerabilem numerum humani generis designat, et haec omnia ornatus sapientiae sunt. Firmamentum quoque sedes omnium ornamentorum suorum est, sicut et homo sedem habet, quae terra est, quae illum sustinet; illudque Deus cum ornatu suo ad laudem suam posuit, sicut sapientia hoc praeordinaverat. Unde et creatura ipsi sapientiae quasi vestis fuit, quoniam opus suum tetigit, sicut et homo vestem suam sentit. Si autem homo sic creatus esset, ut vestibus carere posset, tunc opere non indigeret, nec ullo ministerio honoraretur, nisi quod tantum corpus tegimen animae esset, et per animam moveretur. Deus quoque videri non potest, sed per creaturam cognoscitur, quemadmodum etiam corpus hominis propter vestes videri non potest. Et sicut interior claritas solis non cernitur, ita nec Deus a mortali creatura videtur, sed per fidem intelligitur, velut etiam exterior circulus solis vigilantibus oculis aspicitur. Et omne opus quod sapientia instituit, hoc contra malitiam diaboli fecit, quia ille omne opus ipsius semper odio habuit et odit, usque in finem pleni numeri, cum ipso in tanta fortitudine percussus peribit, ut deinceps adversus Deum praeliari non tentet.
Omnis quoque ordinatio sapientiae suavis et lonis existit, quoniam ipsa tunicam suam in sanguine Agni qui misericors est lavat, cum sordibus aspersa fuerit; quapropter et super omnia ornamenta creaturarum amanda est, omnibusque sanctis animabus amabilis videtur, quia in amplexione aspectus ejus nunquam extaediari poterunt. Quemadmodum etiam sapientia ordinavit, spiritus in homine vivit et vigilat, nec ullatenus finietur, sed quandiu homo in corpore vivit, cogitationes ipsius supra numerum in eo multiplicantur, sicut etiam sonus laudis in angelis innumerabilis est. Cogitatio quoque in juventute hominis vivit, et ipse illam verbo rationalitatis emittit, ac per eam opus suum operatur, quod tamen in se nequaquam vivit, quoniam ille initium habuit. Sed aeternitas in semetipsa vivit, nec unquam in defectu apparuit, quia ante aevum aeternaliter vita fuit. Cum autem anima in immortalitatem mutatur, postmodum anima non vocatur, quoniam per cogitationes cum homine tunc nihil operatur, sed deinceps in laudibus angelorum est qui spiritus sunt. Unde et ipsa etiam tunc spiritus vocabitur, quia cum corpore carnis deinceps non laborabit. Merito autem homo vita dicitur, quoniam cum per spiraculum vivit vita est, sed et cum per mortem carnis in immortalitatem mutatur, in vita erit; post novissimum quoque diem cum corpore et anima in aeternitate vita est, quoniam cum Deus hominem plasmavit, occulta mysteria sua in ipso clausit, quia sciendo, cogitando, et operando ad similitudinem Dei factus est. Divinitas enim ordinationem omnis operis sui in semetipsa habuit, quemadmodum illud fieri deberet, et secundum hoc hominem ut cogitare posset constituit, ita ut ille omnia opera sua in corde suo primitus dictet, quam faciat quia clausura mirabilium Dei est.
Deus namque ordinat, homo autem cogitat, angelus vero scientiam habet, in qua semper cum voce laudis et cum dilectione honoris Dei sonat, nec aliud quam in Deum perspicere et ipsum laudare desiderat. Et Deus ante aevum absque omni cessatione operis quod facturus erat in se habuit; et sic homo, qui clausura miraculorum ejus est, cum oculo fidei ipsum cognoscit, eumque cum osculo scientiae amplectitur, quem oculis carnalibus videre non potest, atque secundum ipsum operatur. Angelus etiam electa opera ejus Deo cum odore bono offert, quae ille ad superna per bonam voluntatem mittit, viliaque opera quae in aliam viam magis quam ad Deum aspiciunt, etiam idem justo judici demonstrat. Verba autem haec fideles devoto cordis affectu percipiant, quoniam per illum qui primus et novissimus est, ad utilitatem credentium edita sunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.7.14 — And I said to him, 'My lord, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin reads 'lonis', which is likely a scribal corruption for 'bonis' (good/pleasing) or 'donis' (gifts). Translated as 'pleasing' to align with 'suavis' (sweet).
- 2 ↩The Latin 'clausura' literally means enclosure or closure, but in this context parallels the 'clausura miraculorum ejus' in LDO.3.41.3.s2, commonly rendered as 'seal' or 'culmination'.
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