VISIO DECIMA, cap. XXIII
The Son's Prayer of Fulfilled Obedience
The Son addresses the Father, recounting his completed mission, his authority over enemies, his triumph over evil, and the mutual indwelling of Father and Son.
And the Son speaks to the Father in these same words: "O Father, I have always been with you, and you sent me, clothing me in flesh, and so I walked on earth, and whatever you commanded me, I have accomplished, because I am your truth, and therefore you have also placed all my enemies under my feet, and I stand over them, since they are on the left side, and they have no claim on you, because your true work is at your right hand.✦✦✦ I also work with you, just as you had ordained before the beginning of days, and I judge my enemies as the Lord who crushes the stool of his feet.✦✦ Therefore bend your help toward me, vindicating me from my enemies, for I, your son, walk over the serpent and the basilisk.✦ Therefore look also to the protection of my body and my members, because every work that you willed and laid upon me for my progress I have carried through, and so I am in you and you in me, and we are one.✦
The Father's Eternal Purpose for Humanity
The Son reminds the Father that creation's fullness and the human race were foreseen from the beginning and cannot fail before the ordained time, for the faithful are his body adorned with virtues.
And again the same Son says to the Father: "Now remember that the fullness that was made at the first ought not to have withered, because at the beginning of the world you looked to the end of the world, and did not hand it over to forgetfulness, as you forget those who go to perdition; and that the fullness of the human race, which was foreseen and made in the first time and in the first man, ought not yet to wither in its falling away, because in you it was not destined that humans should utterly fail in their generations before the ordained time.✦✦ And at that time also, when you created the human being, in your ancient counsel you held — your eye, that is, your knowledge, fully foreseeing all things and rightly ordering all things — would never yield from what had been ordained in you; that is, that the human being would perish entirely on account of any intemperance of their own, or that the world would fail, until you saw my body in its members — for the faithful are my members by your ordering — full of gems, that is, perfect in all those who through me trust in you and worship you, gleaming like gems in virtues.✦✦✦ "
Grace for the Afflicted Christian People
When the Christian people are brought low by affliction, divine grace will aid them through miracles, subdue their enemies, and add a great multitude of pagans to the faith.
Because at that time, when the Christian people have been brought low into penance and tormented by many afflictions on account of their sins, divine grace will come to their aid through many miracles, just as he also did for his ancient people, and with their enemies subdued, he will add a very great multitude of pagans to his own faith.
Read the original Latin
Sed et Filius eisdem verbis ad Patrem loquitur: « O Pater, ego semper tecum fui, et tu me misisti carne vestiens me, et sic in terra ambulavi, et quidquid mihi jussisti hoc perfeci, quia veritas tua sum, et ideo etiam omnes inimicos meos sub pedibus meis posuisti, et super ipsos sto, quoniam in sinistra parte sunt, et ad te non pertinent, quia verum opus tuum ad dextram tuam est. Illud quoque tecum operor quemadmodum ante exordium dierum praeordinaveras, atque inimicos meos judico, velut Dominus scabellum pedum suorum comprimit. Itaque adjutorium tuum ad me inclina me vindicans de inimicis meis, quoniam ego filius tuus super aspidem et basiliscum ambulo. Quapropter etiam ad protectionem meam membrorumque meorum conspice, quia omne opus quod voluisti, et mihi imposuisti ad profectum duxi, et ita ego sum in te, et tu in me, et unum sumus. » Iterumque idem Filius ad Patrem dicit: « Nunc memor esto quod plenitudo quae in primo facta est arescere non debuit, quia in principio mundi finem mundi inspexisti, nec oblivioni tradidisti, sicut illorum oblivisceris, qui in perditionem vadunt, et quod plenitudo generationis hominum quae in primo tempore et in primo homine praevisa et facta est, nondum arescere in defectione debuit, quoniam in te non fuit, quod homines ante praeordinatum tempus in generationibus suis omnino deficerent. Et tunc etiam cum hominem creasti in te scilicet in antiquo consilio habuisti, quod oculus tuus videlicet scientia tua omnia pleniter praevidens, omniaque recte disponens nunquam cederet ab illo quod in te praeordinatum erat, id est quod homo propter ullam intemperantiam suam ex toto periret, aut quod mundus deficeret, usque dum corpus meum in membris suis, quia fideles membra mea ordinatione tua sunt, videres plenum gemmarum, id est perfectum in omnibus illis, qui per me in te confidunt, et te colunt; quasi gemma in virtutibus coruscantes. »
Quia tunc temporis Christiano populo in poenitentiam redacto, et multis afflictionibus pro peccatis suis macerato, gratia eis divina per multa miracula, sicut et antiquo populo suo fecit subveniet, et hostibus subactis plurimam paganorum multitudinem fidei suae adjiciet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.17.5 — And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
- ↩Ps.109.1 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, do not be silent.
- ↩Ps.110.1;Matt.25.34 — The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." Matt.25.34 — Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'
- ↩Eph.1.4;1Pet.1.20 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love 1Pet.1.20 — He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
- ↩Ps.109.1;Luke.20.43 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, do not be silent. Luke.20.43 — until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
- ↩Ps.90.13 — Return, O LORD—how long?—and relent concerning your servants.
- ↩John.14.10-John.14.11 — Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. John.14.11 — Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you cannot, then believe because of the works themselves.
- ↩Acts.17.26;Eph.1.4 — And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling place, Eph.1.4 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love
- ↩Rom.11.1-Rom.11.2;2Cor.2.15-2Cor.2.16 — I say then: Did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Rom.11.2 — God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 2Cor.2.15 — For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2Cor.2.16 — To the one we are an aroma of death leading to death, and to the other an aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
- ↩Eph.1.4;1Pet.1.20 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love 1Pet.1.20 — He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
- ↩1Cor.12.12-1Cor.12.27;Eph.1.22-Eph.1.23 — For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1Cor.12.13 — For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor.12.14 — For the body is not one member, but many. 1Cor.12.15 — If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.16 — And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.17 — If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 1Cor.12.18 — But now God has placed each one of the members in the body just as he desired. 1Cor.12.19 — If they were all one member, where would the body be? 1Cor.12.20 — Now there are many parts, but one body. 1Cor.12.21 — The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 1Cor.12.22 — On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable. 1Cor.12.23 — and the parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe with greater honor; and our unpresentable parts receive greater propriety, 1Cor.12.24 — but our presentable parts have no such need. Rather, God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 1Cor.12.25 — so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 1Cor.12.26 — And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1Cor.12.27 — Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. Eph.1.22 — And he put all things under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church. Eph.1.23 — which is his body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.
- ↩Rev.21.10-Rev.21.21 — And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Rev.21.11 — having the glory of God, its radiance like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal Rev.21.12 — It had a great, high wall, with twelve angels at the gates, and names inscribed on them — the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Rev.21.13 — On the east, three gates; on the north, three gates; and on the south, three gates; and on the west, three gates. Rev.21.14 — And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Rev.21.15 — And the one who was speaking with me had a golden measuring rod, so that he might measure the city, and its gates, and its wall. Rev.21.16 — The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia. Its length and breadth and height are equal. Rev.21.17 — And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits, according to human measurement, which is also the angel's. Rev.21.18 — and the wall's foundation was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Rev.21.19 — The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, Rev.21.20 — the fifth foundation stone was sardonyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. Rev.21.21 — And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made from a single pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
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