VISIO DECIMA, cap. XIII
The Martyrs' Rest and the Fulfilling of Their Number
The martyrs are told to rest a little longer until the destined number of fellow servants and brothers who will also suffer death for God is completed.
And they were told to rest a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who were to be killed just as they had been, should be gathered in.✦ The meaning of this sentence should be understood in the following way. By divine inspiration it was shown to those who had submitted to temporal death for the love of God, that their bodies would rest in the dust of dissolution a little while longer — that is, until that destined number is reached, until those who will be servants of God are brought to full perfection, clearly to serve God in all truth, just as they and their brothers will also, in their bodies, be subject to suffering as they themselves were, and so, worn down by many tribulations on account of the Son of God, they would undergo bodily death.
The Cry of Innocent Blood and the Multitude to Come
The martyrs' blood-scented cry rises to God, and in divine splendor they foresee an innumerable multitude yet to come, their innocence and witness to the Lamb preserving their cry from being obscured.
The blood-scented cry of the martyrs, who knew neither their sins nor why they were being put to death, rises to God; but the splendor of the divine nature shines on them, so that in that same divine splendor they foresee an innumerable multitude yet to come. For the brightness of eternal life is given to them, in which they recognize the answer that is shown to them; and their cry is not obscured by the filthy works of sinners, because they were innocent, and because their blood was shed on account of the Incarnation of the Son of God, where they also bore witness to the Lamb who would pour out his own blood.
Fellow Servants, Brothers, and the Voice of Abel's Blood
The fellow servants are those killed for faith and justice, the brothers are those destroyed by the Antichrist, and the cry of shed blood rises to God from Abel onward, with the soul receiving its reward.
And their fellow servants are described as those who are killed for faith and justice; but their brothers, who in the last days will be destroyed by the Antichrist, like the children destroyed by Herod, who denied the Son of God, just as the Antichrist will deny him. For the cry of a person's shed blood rises upward through their soul, crying out and complaining that it has been driven out from the seal of the body in which God had placed it: and afterward that same soul receives the reward of its works, whether in glory or in punishments. The first cry of blood, in Abel, began to cry out to God, because Cain had rashly and defiantly destroyed the work of God.✦
The Son's Complaint and the Angels' Witness
The Son of God speaks again, lamenting the suffering he endures from the rebellious and the little ones who fall to vanity, while angels gaze upon human good works as in a mirror of praise.
So the Son of God says again: Likewise, the Son's complaint to the Father about the suffering he endures in his body from those who rebel against him out of malice, and on behalf of the little ones who by embracing vanity fall away from what is good; and that the angels, though they shine with immense brightness, nevertheless gaze upon the good works of people as in a mirror of praise, approving them.
Read the original Latin
« Et dictum est illis ut requiescerent tempus adhuc modicum, donec compleantur conservi eorum, et fratres eorum, qui interficiendi sunt sicut et illi . » Hujus sententiae intellectus hoc modo accipiendus est. Divina inspiratione ostensum est illis, qui propter amorem Dei temporali morti se subjecerant, ut corpora eorum requiescerent in pulvere resolutionis tempus adhuc modicum, id est ad praedestinationem illam donec compleantur in omni perfectione qui servi Dei erunt, videlicet Deo in omni veritate servituri, sicut ut et ipsi et fratres eorum, quia etiam in corporibus suis quemadmodum et ipsi passibiles erunt, ita quoque ut propter Filium Dei quamplurimis tribulationibus attriti, mortem corporalem subeant. Sanguinea etenim vox martyrum, qui nec peccata, nec quare occiderentur sciebant, ad Deum ascendit; sed splendor divinitatis eis resplendet, ita ut in eodem divinitatis splendore innumerabilem multitudinem futuram praevideat. Nam claritas aeternae vitae illis datur, in qua cognoscunt responsum quod ipsis ostenditur; clamorque eorum cum squalidis operibus peccatorum obnubilatus non est, quoniam innocentes fuerunt, et quia sanguis ipsorum propter Incarnationem Filii Dei effusus est, ubi et Agnum sanguinem suum effusurum protestati sunt. Et horum conservi dicuntur, qui propter fidem et justitiam occiduntur; fratres autem, qui in novissimo tempore per Antichristum consumentur, sicut infantes per Herodem consumpti sunt, qui Filium Dei negavit, quemadmodum et Antichristus eum negabit. Nam vox effusi sanguinis hominis per animam ejus sursum ascendit clamando et conquerendo, quod illa de sigillo corporis, in quo eam Deus posuerat, expulsa sit: ac deinde mercedem operum suorum sive in gloria, sive in poenis eadem anima recipit. Prima nempe vox sanguinis in Abel ad Deum clamare coepit, quoniam Cain constructionem operis Dei praecipitanter et proterve destruerat.
Quapropter Filius Dei iterum dicit:
Item querimonia Filii ad Patrem pro tribulatione quam in corpore suo patitur ab his qui per malitiam contra eum calcitrant, et pro parvulis qui vanitatem amplectendo a bono deficiunt; et quod angeli licet ex immensa claritate refulgeant, sanctorum tamen opera hominum quasi speculum laudis approbando inspiciant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.6.11 — And a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who were about to be killed as they also had been, would be fulfilled.
- ↩Gen.4.10 — And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground."
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