VISIO DECIMA, cap. XV
The Fireless Dog and the Turning to Justice
The torpid days of injustice are depicted as a fireless dog, yet some will turn toward justice and uprightness.
But 'the days' that grow sluggish through injustice — as was foretold — are depicted in the book of Scivias as a fireless dog, yet not burning, with others, stronger in strength, following close behind them, in which certain people, looking toward uprightness and setting aside the fickleness spoken of above, will turn themselves toward justice.
Justice Ascending Through the Ages
Justice rose from the Incarnation through the prophets and apostles to great splendor, then began to decline toward a worldly judge.
So then, justice, from the Incarnation of the Son of God, through the course of many days, climbed to the heights of holiness as if by certain steps in the Catholic faith, and bathed as though in the purest gold of good works, it shone brightly through that same faith, and was not stained by any vileness of wicked deeds, but stood firm, unconquerable. But in those days, I say, stretching out at great length even to the aforementioned days of feminine fickleness, within that same faith it began to bend low through certain descents of indignation, and to be darkened by the shadows of injustice. For justice and the decency of conduct, and all the other dignities of the virtues, gradually grew in human beings from the days of the flood, and little by little climbed to their heights even to the days of the prophets, who strengthened them so effectively that they gave forth their greatest splendor even to the Son of God. And afterward, through the apostles and the rest of the teachers, they endured in that same dignity and splendor for the greatest length of time, almost to the rising of the aforementioned worldly judge — more a cultivator of adultery than of the fear of God — before whose beginning they began gradually to diminish and to incline toward worse things, just as, from the flood to the prophets, they had also gradually climbed upward.
The Root of Iniquity and the Serpent's Ruler
A root of iniquity sprang up, advancing under a ruler with the cunning of the serpent, whom God struck down.
But from the days of that same judge, a root of iniquity and a forgetting of justice and decency sprang up, which, spreading and extending themselves as if in feminine weakness, advanced even to another ruler who bore a spiritual name, who had the cunning and malice of the serpent, whom the judgment of God struck down.
Divine Purification Through Suffering
Human vices boiled over under divine scrutiny, and bitter purification stirred people to sorrow and grief amid danger.
In whose days the aforementioned iniquity, and the excessive customs of human vices, began to grow hot, to boil over, and to cast up their foam, through divine scrutiny and for purification. And so they are now cultivated so sharply and so bitterly, and are cleansed from their own foam, so that in these dangers people may be stirred with great sorrow and grief.
The Day of Grief Has Not Yet Come
The full day of grief and sorrow has not yet arrived.
But the day of grief and sorrow has not yet come.
The Heavenly Judge Will Purify and Restore
The heavenly judge will bring vengeance on transgressors and wicked prelates through adversity until they are purified and restored to uprightness.
Because the heavenly judge, meanwhile looking up at the complaint of justice, will bring his vengeance upon the transgressors of equity, and especially upon the wicked prelates of the Church, through many judgments of adversity, until, having been purified by a thorough examination, they come to their senses through penance, and so each order, restored in uprightness, will be restored to the honor of its dignity.
Read the original Latin
Dies autem istos qui injustitia torpent, ut praefatum est, canis igneus, sed non ardens in libro Scivias designat, aliis in fortitudine fortioribus eos subsequentibus, in quibus homines quidam rectitudinem inspicientes supradictamque levitatem deponentes ad justitiam se convertent. Justitia itaque ab Incarnatione Filii Dei per plurima curricula dierum ad excelsa sanctitatis velut per quasdam scalas in fide catholica ascendit, et quasi purissimo auro bonorum operum perfusa et per lucida in eadem fide effulsit, nec ulla indignitate pravorum operum sorduit, sed invincibilis perstitit. Diebus autem illis, inquam, plurima longitudine usque ad supradictos muliebris levitatis dies transactis, in eadem fide per quasdam descensus indignationes coepit inclinari, et quibusdam tenebris injustitiae obtenebrari. Nam justitia et honestas morum, caeteraeque dignitates virtutum a diebus diluvii in hominibus paulatim creverunt, et ad fastigia sua paulatim ascenderunt usque ad dies prophetarum, qui illas ita corroboraverunt, ut maximum splendorem usque ad Filium Dei darent. Et deinde in apostolis caeterisque doctoribus per plurimam longitudinem dierum in eadem dignitate et splendore duraverunt usque fere ad ortum praefati saecularis judicis, moechiae magis quam timoris Dei cultoris, ante cujus initium paulatim decrescere et ad deteriora inclinari coeperunt, sicut etiam a diluvio usque ad prophetas paulatim sursum ascenderant. A diebus autem ejusdem judicis radix iniquitatis ac oblivio justitiae et honestatis ortae sunt, quae ita se dilatando et propagando quasi in muliebri debilitate processerunt usque ad alium rectorem spiritalis nominis gestatorem, qui prudentiam et malitiam serpentis habuit, quem judicium Dei occidit. In cujus diebus praefata iniquitas, atque superfluae consuetudines vitiorum hominum per divinam examinationem ad purgationem coeperunt incalescere, et fervere, atque spumas ejicere. Unde et tam acriter et acerbe nunc colantur, et a spumis suis purgantur, ut homines in periculis istis magno moerore et tristitia commoveantur.
Sed dies moeroris et tristitiae nondum adsunt.
Quia supernus judex querimoniam justitiae interim suspiciens, vindictam suam super praevaricatores aequitatis, et maxime super iniquos Ecclesiae praelatos per multa incommodorum judicia inducet, donec debita examinatione purgati per poenitentiam resipiscant, et sic ordo quisque in rectitudine restitutus ad honorem dignitatis suae revertetur.
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