VISIO SEPTIMA, cap. III
The Good Word Poured Forth
The Father declares that before all creation the divine power poured forth the good Word—the eternal Son through whom all things were made—and that prophecy, moving through diverse ages and persons, foretold this same Word would take flesh and be made known as King over all the earth.
"My heart has poured forth a good word: I speak my works to the King.✦ The meaning of this sentence is also to be understood in this way. I, the Father of all, plainly declare that before every creation my inner power poured forth a good word — namely, that I begot my Son, through whom all things very good were made. Therefore I also speak through diverse things without changing myself — I who make my works known to him who is to reign over the whole world. For all my works that were made from the beginning are known to my Son. Prophecy too poured forth a good word in its power, when it proclaimed those wondrous works, declaring that the same Word through which all things were made was to be clothed in flesh, and when it pointed to that coming King of kings — and that the whole earth, which had not been broken by the work of man, ought to bring forth this righteous offspring. This prophecy knew through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit — that is, in certain old men, in certain young men too, and in certain boys — who spoke of this same offspring, which is the Word of God, through many signs by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For God created man from the earth and changed him into flesh of blood; but woman, taken from the same man, remained flesh from flesh, not to be changed into something else.✦
The Rod, the Prophets, and the Shadow of the Incarnation
Prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit foretold that a woman would conceive the Son of God without man, prefigured by Aaron's rod and the stump of Jesse, and though they spoke as through a shadow, their words pointed to the fullness of the incarnate Word who would later be formed in the sight and hearing of humanity.
And these, in the spirit of prophecy, knew that a woman, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would give birth to the Son of God—just as a flower grows from the sweetest air, and as it was also prefigured in Aaron's rod, which, cut off from the tree, pointed to the Virgin Mary. From whose mind a man was so cut off that he would never be touched by the pleasure of any carnal union, but through the ardor of the Holy Spirit he procreated one man, whom he surrounded with all creatures, because they, proceeding from him, had perceived his taste; wherefore they also all obeyed his voice.✦1 For the prophets had said that a woman about to give birth should proceed from the work of love, like the rod from the stump of Jesse, and they all ascribed this virginal birth to the King, that is, to the Son of God.✦ For when this woman surrounded the Son of God, the men who saw and heard him in the likeness of his image loved him more than if they had not seen him, because what people see in shadow they cannot fully know. Hence even the prophets, when they spoke in the sound of a shadow, sometimes passed through them as it were like a shadow; all these things, however, were later formed in people, because the sound of prophecy proceeds from the hidden mysteries of divinity.2
The First Image: Life Before the Flood
The first of two images at the eastern end of the revealed building, appearing wild and beastlike, signifies the time before the flood when humanity lived without law or knowledge of the true God, in cruelty more bestial than human.
Because the first of the two images standing at the eastern end of the revealed building, appearing almost entirely in wild and beastlike form, signifies the time before the flood, when people lived without law and without knowledge of the true God — cruelly and in a way more bestial than human.
Read the original Latin
« Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum, dico ego opera mea Regi. » Hujus quoque sententiae intellectus hoc modo accipiendus est. Ego qui Pater omnium sum, manifeste ostendo quod ante omnem creaturam eructavit interior vis mea verbum bonum, scilicet quod genui Filium meum per quem omnia valde bona facta sunt. Quapropter etiam dico in diversa non mutans me, ego qui sum propalans opera mea illi, qui per orbem terrarum regnaturus est. Omnia enim opera mea quae ab initio facta sunt, Filio meo nota sunt. Prophetia quoque eructavit in virtute sua verbum bonum, cum idem verbum, per quod omnia facta sunt, carne induendum dicendo mirabilia illa opera pronuntiavit, et cum illud regem regum futurum demonstravit, atque justum germen hoc integra terra proferre deberet, quae per opus viri contrita non esset. Istud prophetia per infusionem Spiritus sancti cognovit scilicet in quibusdam senibus, in quibusdam quoque juvenibus, atque in quibusdam pueris, qui in plurimis signis de eodem germine, quod Verbum Dei est, per inspirationem Spiritus sancti loquebantur. Deus namque masculum de terra creavit, et illum in carnem sanguineam mutavit; sed mulier de eodem viro sumpta, caro de carne in aliud non mutanda permansit.
Et isti in spiritu prophetiae cognoverunt, mulierem per inspirationem Spiritus sancti Filium Dei parituram, quemadmodum flos de suavissimo aere crescit, et ut etiam in virga Aaron praesignatum est, quae ab arbore abscissa Mariam Virginem ostendebat, de cujus mente vir ita abscissus est, ut nunquam delectatione copulationis alicujus tangeretur, sed per ardorem Spiritus sancti virum unum procreavit, quem omnibus creaturis circumdedit, quoniam illae ab ipso procedendo, gustum perceperant, quapropter etiam omnes voci ipsius obediebant. Prophetae namque dixerant quod ex opere charitatis mulier paritura procedere deberet, sicut virga de stirpe Jesse, omnesque virginalem hunc partum Regi, scilicet Filio Dei ascripserunt. Cum enim mulier haec Filium Dei circumdedit, homines qui ipsum in similitudine imaginis suae videbant et audiebant, plus eum diligebant, quam si ipsum non viderent, quia quod homines in umbra vident, ad plenum scire non possunt. Unde et prophetae cum in sono umbrae loquerentur, haec aliquando velut umbra ipsos petransierunt; quae tamen omnia in hominibus postea formata sunt, quoniam sonus prophetiae de occultis mysteriis divinitatis procedit.
Quia prior duarum imaginum in orientali fine ostensi aedificii consistentium, tota fere ferino habitu apparens, tempus quod ante diluvium fuit significet, in quo homines sine lege et cognitione veri Dei crudeli et magis bestiali quam humano ritu vivebant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.44.2 — God, we have heard with our own ears—our ancestors told us what you did in their days, in days of old.
- ↩Gen.2.7 — Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
- ↩Num.17.8 — Moses and Aaron came before the Tent of Meeting.
- ↩Isa.11.1 — A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin syntax shifts between the Virgin Mary (mulierem) and the male progenitor (vir). 'From whose mind a man was so cut off' refers to the vir (Joseph or the male principle) being separated from Mary's intention/design (mens) regarding carnal relations, preserving the virgin birth.
- 2 ↩The rare verb 'petransierunt' (per + transio) indicates that the prophets, while speaking in shadowy sounds, momentarily transcended or passed through that shadow. The pronoun 'ipsos' likely refers to the prophets themselves.
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