LXVin. De jpoeniientia pro discordia.

LXVin. De jpoeniientia pro discordia.

And I saw and understood these things. And from that living light, I heard a voice speaking to me again: "What you see is true, and as you see it, so it is, and there is more to it than this." But those who want to turn away from the spirit that leads them to discord, and those who wish to escape the penalties of the same fault, should afflict themselves with sackcloth and the harshest fasts and the most severe beatings, along with justice, and also avoid indulgences for their bodies. About the eighth discord. Those who love discord and who are always eager to cling to it are worn down by an evil spirit; therefore, they will be commanded to pass into the torments of their own wickedness. For discord is the helper of serpent-like malice; it whispers eagerly, plots various schemes, scatters good advice, criticizes the actions of others, and gnashes at the wrongdoing of others. And she knows what wisdom is, but she neglects to imitate it, and being full of malediction, she touches heaven with the worst evils, since she sent the serpent into Paradise, who stripped man of his garment of innocence and said that he would become like God. But it mocks wisdom, scatters good and upright morals, and tries to shake the towers of virtue; where it stirs up games, it builds up anger, and in those places it gathers great ruins to itself, for which it readily makes excuses. And when it has done all these things to others, whom it often provokes, it says: 'I have failed; what have you done?' And then he claims to carry holiness, doing so with deception, just as someone who is an illusion of holiness would, carrying sacred vessels in the street so that they might be mocked there, and thus he counts it as sacrilege. In this way, the Devil also deceived man. But when discord gathers many iniquities to itself, it devours them along with blasphemies, leading them into confusion and disgrace, as if it had never gathered them at all. However, a simple person who gets caught up in sin doesn't recognize it; therefore, God does not reject him, since He leads him to repentance, where a discordant and unrepentant person falls into the great wrath of God, because he lacks the fear of the Lord and walks backward, disregarding the just path. The same flaw also fully completed its work when the Jews saw My Son in His humanity and recognized His wonders; but because of the wickedness of their hearts, they turned away from Him and threw themselves into death, just as it is written: