VISIO DECIMA, cap. II
The Ancient Counsel of the One God
God, who is one and untouched by time, foreknew all his works before the oldest of days and gave rational souls the freedom to choose good over harm.
O person, listen and understand the words of the One who was and who is, untouched by any shifting of the seasons, because this was the ancient counsel within him: that he would bring forth his many works; and he looked upon them, like a ray of the sun, before the oldest of days, because they were yet to come.✦ For God is one, and nothing can add itself to this unity, but he foreknew that a certain work he was about to make would try to usurp the likeness of this unity for itself. And so he set against it a barrier of resistance, because that unity itself is the one that has nothing like it — otherwise it could not be called unity at all. And this is why he casts out from himself anyone who wrongly craves this likeness. And so it is that every rational soul in a human being, which comes from him who is the true God, exists so that it may choose what pleases it and reject what displeases it, because it knows what is good for it and what is harmful. But although God is one in power, he nevertheless foreknew, in the strength of his heart, a certain work that he magnificently multiplied. And that God is the living fire through which souls breathe, and he was before the beginning, and he is himself the beginning and the time of times. All of this the present vision makes clear.
The Wheel Between Time and Eternity
A great wheel like a bright cloud reveals God as without beginning or end, its dark middle line separating temporal things from eternal, and its upper line showing divine ordering ready for every act of justice.
For near the mountain that you see, as was said before, as if in the middle of the eastern region — a wheel, as it were, of marvelous breadth, having the likeness of a bright cloud, and turned toward the east — you behold what shows God as lacking beginning and end, yet gentle in his works, and ready for every good thing.✦ This wheel is marked across the middle — from its left side to its right side — by a line of dark color, like a human breath, because God's will appears perfectly through the beginning of the fallen world and through its end as it stretches toward eternity, since he has separated temporal things from those that are eternal. So that even the half of the wheel that lies above that same line is crossed by another line, like a glowing dawn, running from the top of the wheel down to the middle of the line just mentioned. Through this it is shown that the fullness of God's perfection — which exists in the heavens, surpassing temporal things by his will — is divine ordering directed toward every good, and that by a kind of unfailing radiance, before the world's beginning and after its end, and wonderfully appearing within the world's own times, it is made clear that this ordering stands ready for every act of justice.
The Colors of God's Will Over Creation
The upper half of the wheel glows green and red to show God's sustaining will over creation and the reward of the faithful in eternity, while the lower half turns pale and black to signify the hardships and tribulations of the passing world.
And so the upper half of that same wheel, from its left side to its middle, gives off a greenish color, because when God brought creatures forth into labor in their forms, just as he had foreknown them, he held them, as it were, in the greenness of his will. And from its right side to its middle, a reddish color shines out, because after the end of the world, God changes for the better the things that belong to the passing age and lead to life; and also, giving the souls of the faithful the reward of their shining labors, he allows no more toil and no further defect to rule over them—so that those two colors are divided by an equal measure of space between them—because just as eternity lacks a beginning before the world's start, so too, when the world is finished, it has no end; but the world's beginning and end are enclosed, as it were, in a single circle of comprehension. But the lower half of that same wheel, which is drawn crosswise beneath the aforementioned line, shows a pale color mixed with a certain blackness, because it signifies the passing seasons of worldly things, which have a beginning and an end, over which unfailing eternity, bounded by no end, rules; and it bears, now the pallor of hardships, now the blackness of tribulations, heavily and often, as long as the world endures.
The Round Perfection of Divine Power
God's power and strength are one: a round, unchanging equality that orders all things in justice, reveals eternal and temporal realities as a circle without beginning or end, and shows the greenness of gifts yet to bloom in the human heart.
But all these things that have been said also point, in another way, to the salvation of human souls, so that the power of God is joined to the supreme strength that consists in the perfection of blazing justice, because the power and the strength of God adhere to one another. The power of God is indeed a round equality of moderation, because it lacks a beginning and an end, and with vast potential it can do all that it wills; and it shines bright white in the gentleness of heavenly judgments, because no changeability, no alternation of increase or decrease touches God, nor does any time ever divide him, but he always remains unharmed and unchangeable, without a beginning, giving life to all things that exist, and gathering those who worship him purely into supreme blessedness. The fullness of his power, too, arranging all things with just moderation, and existing unknown to humanity in its height and in its depth, reveals eternal and temporal things as though in a circle having neither beginning nor end. And so both the perfection of God's power, which reveals the eternity of the divine ordering, and his providence, shining in the things that are eternal, extending itself from the eternity of his power to the fullness of the divine ordering, declares itself in its works, and proclaims that the souls of the blessed will remain in heavenly glory. The eternity of the perfection of God's power, too, in those arrangements that were yet to be, along with the fullness of creatures, shows the greenness, as it were, of a shoot about to come and grow, when heaven and earth did not yet exist, just as the gifts of the Holy Spirit bring greenness to the human heart, so that it may bear good fruit.
Eternity Without Boundary and Final Judgment
As God's eternity had no beginning before the world, so it will have no end after it, when the saints rejoice forever; yet all things are subject to God, and those who neglect him will be examined and sent to infernal places.
In the things that will come after the end of the world and the stability of immutability, it shows something like a glowing red brightness, because then all things will be perfect, nor will they feel any defect thereafter, with the souls of the saints also lifted up to the heavenly; so that just as the eternity of God had no beginning before the beginning of the world, so also after its end it is enclosed by no boundary, where even then the blessed will rejoice without end in the heavenly places. But the perfection of God's power, enclosing under eternity all temporal things that have diverse modes, also shows that all things are subject to God; and it brings about the consequence that those who neglect God are sent to infernal places, because all things that seem to oppose God will be examined.1
A Question About the Form of Love
The visionary pauses to ask why the power of love appears adorned differently here than in the higher vision.
Why, then, is the power of love seen adorned with a different form of worship in this vision than in the higher one?
Read the original Latin
O homo, audi et intellige verba illius qui erat, et qui est absque officio mutabilitatis temporum, quia in ipso hoc antiquum consilium fuit, quod diversa opera facere voluit; et haec quasi radium solis ante antiquitatem dierum inspexit, quoniam futura erant. Nam Deus unus est, et huic unitati nihil se conferre potest, sed ipse praescivit, quia quoddam opus quod facturus erat, similitudinem hujus unitatis sibi usurpare tentaret. Unde et illi obstaculum repercussionis opposuit, quoniam ipse illa unitas est, quae nullum sibi similem habet, alioquin unitas nominari non posset; et ideo etiam illum a se abjicit, qui similitudinem hanc perverse appetit, et sic quaelibet rationalis anima in homine quae de illo qui verus Deus est existit, ut quod sibi placet eligat, et quod sibi displicet abjiciat, quia quid bonum seu quid nocivum sibi sit cognoscit. Sed quamvis Deus unus sit, in vi tamen cordis sui opus quoddam praescivit, quod magnifice multiplicavit; ipseque Deus ille vivens ignis est, per quem animae spirant, et ante initium fuit, et etiam initium et tempus temporum existit. Haec omnia praesens visio manifestat. Nam juxta montem, quem velut in medio orientalis plagae conspicis ut praedictum est, quasi rotam mirae amplitudinis similitudinem candidae nubis habentem, et ad orientem versam vides, quae Deum initio et fine carentem, sed mitem in operibus suis existentem, et ad omnia bona paratum ostendit. Quam in medio in transversum, scilicet a sinistro latere usque ad dextrum latus suum, linea obscuri coloris velut halitus hominis est distinguit, quia perfecte per principium caduci mundi, et per finem ejus ad aeternitatem tendentem voluntas Dei apparet, cum temporalia ab his quae aeterna sunt sequestravit; ita ut etiam ejusdem rotae medietatem quae super eamdem lineam est, alia linea quemadmodum aurora rutilans a summitate ipsius rotae usque ad medietatem praefatae lineae descendat. Per hoc ostenditur quod perfectionis Dei plenitudinem quae in coelestibus per voluntatem ipsius temporalia excellens existit, divina ordinatio ad quaelibet bona directa, et quasi quodam fulgore indeficiente, ante principium mundi, et post finem ejus, et in ipsis mundi temporibus mirabiliter apparens, ad omnem justitiam paratam esse manifestat.
Unde superior pars medietatis ejusdem rotae a sinistro latere usque ad medietatem sui quasi viridem colorem emittit, quoniam Deus quando creaturas quemadmodum ab ipso prescitae erant in formis suis ad laborem prodire faceret, quasi in viriditate voluntatis suae habebat. Et a dextro latere usque ad medietatem sui velut rubeus color fulget; quia Deus post finem mundi ea quae a transitorio saeculo ad vitam sunt in melius commutans; animabus quoque fidelium mercedem fulgentium laborum suorum reddens, nullum laborem, nullumque defectum eis ultra dominari permittit: « ita ut ii duo colores aequali mensura spatiorum inter se dividantur, » quoniam sicut aeternitatis ante principium mundi initio caret, sic etiam finito mundo finem non habet; sed principium et terminus mundi quasi uno circulo comprehensionis concluduntur. « Medietas vero ejusdem rotae, quae sub praedicta linea in transversum ducitur, colorem pallidum quadam nigredine intermistum demonstrat, quia caduca tempora mundialium rerum initium et finem habentia, quibus indeficiens aeternitas nullo fine conclusa dominatur designat; atque nunc pallorem angustiarum, nunc nigredinem tribulationum, quandiu mundus durat multoties graviter portat. Sed et haec omnia, quae praedicta sunt, alio modo ad salutem animarum hominum respiciunt, ita ut ad summam fortitudinem, quae in perfectione fulgentis justitiae consistit, potestas Dei conjuncta sit, quoniam potestas et fortitudo Dei sibi adhaerentes sunt. Potestas quidem Dei rotunda aequalitate temperantiae est, quia initio caret et fine, et ampla possibilitate omnia quae vult facere potest; candidaque in lenitate coelestium judiciorum fulget, quoniam nulla mutabilitas, nulla vicissitudo incrementi seu detrimenti Deum tangit, nec ullum tempus eum unquam dividit, sed semper absque initio illaesus, et immutabilis permanet, omnibus quae sunt vitam tribuens, et se ipsum pure colentes, ad summam beatitudinem colligens. Plenitudo quoque potestatis ejus justa moderatione cuncta disponens, atque in altitudine, et in profunditate sua incognita homini existens, aeterna et temporalia quasi in circulo nec initium nec finem habentem demonstrat. Itaque et potestatis Dei perfectio, quae aeternitatem divinae ordinationis manifestat, et providentia ejus in his quae aeternae sunt fulgens, ab aeternitate ipsius potestatis ad plenitudinem divinae ordinationis se extendens, in operibus suis se ipsam declarat, animasque beatorum in superna gloria permansuras enuntiat. Aeternitas quoque perfectionis potestatis Dei in his dispositionibus quae futurae erant, cum plenitudine ereaturarum, velut viriditatem venturi et processuri germinis ostendit, cum coelum et terra nondum fuissent, sicut et dona sancti Spiritus cordi hominis viriditatem inferunt, ut bonum fructum afferat.
In his vero quae post finem mundi ac stabilitatem immutabilitatis pervenient, quasi rutilantem fulgorem demonstrat, quia tunc omnia perfecta erunt, nec ullum deinceps defectum sentient, animabus quoque sanctorum ad superna sublatis; ita ut etiam aeternitas Dei sicut ante principium mundi initium non habuit, sic quoque post finem illius nullo termino claudatur, ubi et tunc beati sine fine in coelestibus gaudebunt. Sed et perfectio potestatis Dei sub aeternitate omnia temporalia diversos modos habentia concludens, omnia Deo subjecta esse ostendit; eosque, qui Deum negligunt, ad infernalia loca mitti depromit, quoniam omnia examinabuntur, quae Deo repugnare videntur.
Quare virtus charitas alio in hac quam in superiori visione cultu adornata conspiciatur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Dan.7.9 — I kept watching until thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was flames of fire, its wheels a burning fire.
- ↩Exod.13.21-Exod.13.22 — And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Exod.13.22 — The pillar of cloud did not depart by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Notes
- 1 ↩depromit is a rare verb (literally 'draws down from'); context requires the sense of 'brings forth as a consequence' or 'deduces,' not a literal downward motion, since the direction is toward infernal places.
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