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Chapter 79LDO.3.79

VISIO DECIMA, cap. XXXVIII

The Voice from Heaven and the Feminine Vessel

A heavenly voice praises God's work in humanity's restoration and then turns to the humble, suffering feminine vessel through whom the revelation was given, asking for her anointing, preservation, and eternal coronation.

And again I heard a voice from heaven teaching me these words: Now let God be praised in his work — that is, in the human being, for whose restoration he waged great battles on earth, and whom he deigned to raise up above the heavens, so that together with the angels he might praise God's face in that unity in which he is true God and true human being. But may almighty God himself, through the poor feminine form by which he brought forth this writing, deign to anoint her with the oil of his mercy, since she lives without any security, and has no knowledge of the building up of the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit set forth for the instruction of the Church, and that stand like the wall of a great city. For from the day of her birth she has been trapped, as it were, in a net of weaknesses and pains, so that in all her veins, her marrow, and her flesh she is tormented by constant sufferings — yet it has not pleased the Lord to release her from this, because through the hollow of her rational soul she spiritually beholds certain mysteries of God. This vision so pierced through the veins of this same human being that she is often shaken by great weariness on account of it — sometimes more gently, sometimes more deeply — laboring in the weariness of weakness. For this reason she holds herself aloof from the diverse customs of human beings, just like an infant whose veins are not yet so full that it can discern people's characters. For she comes into being with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and takes her bodily constitution from the air; and so weakness is so fixed in her from that very air, from rain, from wind, and from every change of weather, that she can have no bodily security at all — otherwise the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could not dwell in her. But the Spirit of God sometimes raises her up from this weakness with the great power of his tenderness, like the dew of some cooling refreshment from death, so that she may be able to live out her time in the world with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May almighty God, who has truly known every weariness of this human being's suffering, deign to bring his grace to completion in her, so that his tenderness may be glorified in this, and when her soul has departed from this world to eternal glory, may she rejoice to be gently received and crowned by him.

The Book of Life and the Warning Against Tampering

The Scripture is identified with the book of life breathed forth through a simple feminine form, and a solemn warning is given against adding to or diminishing its words, on pain of the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit.

But the book of life — which is the Scripture of the Word of God, through which every creature came into being, and which had preordained the life of all according to the will of the eternal Father as though within itself — breathed forth this Scripture through no teaching of human knowledge, but through a simple and unlearned feminine form, as it pleased him, wondrously giving it forth.✦ So no one should be so bold as to add anything to the words of this Scripture by amplifying them, or to take anything away by diminishing them, lest they be erased from the book of life and from every blessedness that exists under the sun — unless it's on account of the copying of letters or of words that were simply brought forth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.✦✦1 But whoever presumes otherwise sins against the Holy Spirit.✦ Therefore it won't be forgiven them, neither here nor in the age to come.✦

Doxology and Call to Faithful Reception

The chapter closes with praise to God as the first and the last, and an exhortation to believers to receive the words with heartfelt devotion.

Now again, let praise be to almighty God in all his works, before all ages and for all ages, because he himself is the first and the last.✦ Let the faithful, then, receive these words with the devotion of a heartfelt love, since through him who is the first and the last they have been published for the benefit of believers.✦

Read the original Latin

Et iterum de coelo vocem verba ista me docentem audivi: Nunc laus Deo sit in opere suo, homine videlicet, pro cujus reparatione maxima praelia in terra fecit, quemque super coelos elevare dignatus est, ut simul cum angelis faciem ipsius in unitate illa qua verus Deus et homo est laudet. Sed ipse omnipotens Deus pauperculam femineam formam per quam hanc scripturam edidit, oleo misericordiae suae ungere dignetur, quoniam ipsa absque omni securitate vivit, nec etiam scientiam aedificationis Scripturarum, quas Spiritus sanctus ad instructionem Ecclesiae proposuit, et quae velut murus magnae civitatis sunt habet. A die enim nativitatis suae in doloribus infirmitatum, quasi reti illaqueata est, ita ut in omnibus venis, medullis et carnibus suis, continuis doloribus vexetur, nec dum tamen eam dissolvi Domino placuit, quoniam per cavernam rationalis animae quaedam mystica Dei spiritaliter videt. Haec autem visio venas ejusdem hominis ita pertransivit, ut ipsa propter eam multa fatigatione saepe commoveatur, aliquo tamen tempore levius, aliquo depressius, in fatigatione infirmitatis laborans. Unde etiam mores a diversis moribus hominum alienos habet, quemadmodum infans, cujus venae nondum ita plenae sunt, quatenus mores hominum discernere possit. Ipsa enim cum inspiratione Spiritus sancti officialis existit, et complexionem de aere habet; ideoque de ipso aere, de pluvia, de vento, et de omni tempestate infirmitas ei ita infixa est, ut nequaquam securitatem carnis in se habere possit, alioquin inspiratio Spiritus sancti in ea habitare non valeret. Sed Spiritus Dei magna vi pietatis suae ea interdum ab hac infirmitate quasi rore cujusdam refrigerii a morte suscitat, quatenus officialis cum inspiratione Spiritus sancti in saeculo vivere possit. Omnipotens autem Deus, qui omnem fatigationem passionis ejusdem hominis veraciter cognovit, gratiam suam in ipsa ita perficere dignetur, ut pietas ejus in hoc glorificetur, et illius anima cum de hoc saeculo migraverit ad aeternam gloriam ab eo clementer suscipi et coronari gaudeat.

Sed liber vitae, qui scriptura Verbi Dei est, per quod omnis creatura apparuit, et quod omnium vitam secundum voluntatem aeterni Patris velut in se praeordinaverat, exspiravit, hanc scripturam per nullam doctrinam humanae scientiae, sed per simplicem et indoctam femineam formam ut sibi placuit mirabiliter edidit. Unde nullus hominum tam audax sit, ut verbis hujus scripturae aliquid augendo apponat, vel minuendo auferat, ne de libro vitae, et de omni beatitudine quae sub sole est deleatur, nisi propter excribrationem litterarum, aut dictionum, quae per inspirationem Spiritus sancti simpliciter prolata sunt, fiat. Qui autem aliter praesumpserit, in Spiritum sanctum peccat. Unde nec hic nec in futuro saeculo illi remittetur. Nunc iterum laus sit omnipotenti Deo in omnibus operibus suis ante aevum, et in aevum, quia ipse primus et novissimus est. Verba autem haec fideles devoto cordis affectu percipiant, quoniam per illum, qui primus et novissimus est, ad utilitatem credentium edita sunt.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.22.19 — And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
  2. ↩Deut.4.2;Rev.22.18-Rev.22.19 — You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. Rev.22.18 — I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written in this book; Rev.22.19 — And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
  3. ↩Eccl.1.2 — Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
  4. ↩Matt.12.31-Matt.12.32;Mark.3.29;Luke.12.10 — Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Matt.12.32 — And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven them; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven them, neither in this age nor in the one to come. Mark.3.29 — but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin Luke.12.10 — And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
  5. ↩Matt.12.32 — And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven them; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven them, neither in this age nor in the one to come.
  6. ↩Rev.1.8;Isa.44.6 — "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Isa.44.6 — Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."
  7. ↩Rev.1.8 — "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Notes

  1. 1 ↩excribrationem: a rare word, likely meaning 'copying out' or 'transcription' (related to excribro); rendered as 'copying' to preserve the sense of scribal reproduction of inspired text.

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