Qualiter sponsa, ammonicione Dei preuenta, elegit sibi paupertatem et renuit diuicias et carnalitatem et de veritate in sibi reuelatis et de tribus notabilibus, a Christo sibi ostensis.
The Call to Detachment
God invites the soul to renounce worldly riches and carnal pleasures in favor of eternal spiritual joy.
You must be like someone who lets go, and like someone who gathers. For you must let go of riches and gather virtues; let go of what is passing and gather what is eternal; let go of what is visible and gather what is invisible. For in place of the pleasure of the flesh, I will give you the soul's exultation; in place of the world's joy, the joy of heaven; in place of the world's honor, the honor of the angels; in place of the sight of parents, the vision of God; and in place of the possession of goods, I will give you myself—the giver and creator of all things. Tell me three things I’m asking of you. First, whether you want to be rich or poor in this world. And she answered: "Lord, I would rather be poor, because riches do nothing good for me except cause a certain anxiety and pull me away from your service." "Tell me a second thing: have you found anything in the words you heard from my mouth that you find objectionable or false?" She replied, "Certainly not, because everything is in accordance with reason." "Third, tell me: does the pleasure of the flesh that you once had please you, or the pleasure of the spirit that you have now?" And she replied: "It’s a shame in my heart to even think about that former pleasure of the flesh; it’s like poison to me now, and it’s all the more bitter now because I once loved it so intensely." I would rather die than ever return to it, and there is no comparison between this spiritual pleasure and that one."
The Mystery of Divine Patience
God explains why He permits the delay of justice and the persistence of sin, emphasizing His mercy and the instruction of the faithful.
"So," he said, "you prove within yourself that everything I told you is true." Why, then, are you afraid, or why are you anxious because I delay in doing what I told you must be done? Consider the prophets, consider the apostles and the holy doctors! Did they find anything in me but the truth? That is why they didn't care for the world or for its cravings. Why did the prophets prophesy so long ago about things to come, if not because God wanted his words to be known first and his works to follow later, so that the unlearned might be instructed in the faith? In fact, all the mysteries of my incarnation were made known to the prophets beforehand—even the star that went before the Magi, who, by believing the words of the prophet, earned the right to see what they had believed and were all the more quickly confirmed once they saw the star. In the same way, my words must be announced first; later, when the deeds have come to pass, they'll be believed more clearly. I have shown you three things. First, the conscience of a person whose sin I have revealed and proven with the clearest signs. But why? Couldn't I have destroyed him personally? Or couldn't I have plunged him into the depths in an instant, if I had wanted to? I certainly could have. But to instruct others and clarify my words, so I can show how just and patient I am, and how miserable the person is who is dominated by the devil, I still put up with him for now. For because of the will he has to remain in sin, and because of the pleasure he takes in it, the devil's power over him has grown so great that neither the gentleness of words, nor the severity of threats, nor the fear of hell can call him back. And that is only right, because since he always had the will to sin—even if it didn't break out into action—he would deservedly be handed over to the devil forever. For anyone who takes pleasure in even the smallest sin and doesn't correct it, that is enough to lead them to ruin.
The Soul, Conscience, and the Devil
God clarifies the distinction between the soul and the conscience, explaining how the devil may influence one without possessing the other.
I showed you two others. The devil tormented the body of one, but he wasn't in the soul; he clouded the conscience of the other with his deceit, yet he wasn't in that person's soul, nor did he have power over it.1 But you might ask: "Aren't conscience and the soul the same thing?" "Isn't it in the soul whenever it's in the conscience?" Not at all. Just as the body has two eyes to see with—and even if their sight is taken away, the body can remain healthy—so it is with the soul. For although the intellect and conscience are sometimes disturbed in terms of suffering, the soul is not always harmed in terms of guilt. That is why the devil prevailed in one person's conscience, but not in their soul. I'll show you a third person, someone whose soul and body are under the devil's total control. Unless he's forced by my power and special grace, he'll never be driven out of that person, nor will he leave on his own. The devil leaves some people willingly and quickly, but he only leaves others when forced and against his will. The devil enters some people because of their parents' sin or because of some hidden judgment of God, as happens with children and the simple-minded; he enters others because of their unbelief or some other sin. The demon leaves these people willingly if he is cast out by those who know incantations or some such art of casting out demons, provided they perform such an expulsion for the sake of vainglory or some temporal gain; for the devil has the power to enter into the one who cast him out, and into the one from whom he was cast out again, because in neither of them was there divine charity. As for those whose soul and body he possesses completely, he never leaves them except by my power. For just as vinegar, if mixed into the sweetest wine, ruins all the wine's sweetness and is never separated from it, so too the devil never leaves any soul he possesses unless it is by my power. And what is this wine, if not the soul, which was sweeter to me than any other creature, and so dear to me that I had my nerves cut and my flesh torn down to the bone for its sake? And before I would go without it, I even accepted death for its sake. This wine was kept in the dregs because I placed the soul itself in a body, where it was guarded like a sealed vessel according to my will. But mixed into this sweet wine is the foulest vinegar—that is, the devil—whose malice is sharper and more abominable to me than any vinegar. By my power, this vinegar will be separated from this man—whose name I am telling you—so that in him I may show my mercy and wisdom, while in the former I show my judgment and justice.
Three Accounts of Possession
The chapter concludes with three historical examples of individuals possessed by the devil, illustrating God's justice and mercy.
The first was a nobleman and a proud singer who, having set out for Jerusalem without the Pope's permission, was seized by the devil. There is also an account regarding this demoniac. The second demoniac from this same chapter was a monk of the Cistercian order, whom the devil tormented so severely that he could barely be held by four men. His tongue appeared to be stretched out like an ox's, and the bonds on his hands were broken invisibly. Through Lady Birgitta, he was saved after a month and two days by the words of the Holy Spirit. The third demoniac was a tax collector from Östergötland who, when urged to repent, said to the one urging him, "Can the occupant of a house sit wherever he pleases?" The devil holds my heart and my tongue. How can I repent?" He even cursed the saints of God and died that very night without the Sacraments and without confession.
Read the original Latin
"Tu debes esse sicut homo, qui relinquit et sicut, qui congregat. Debes enim relinquere diuicias et congregare virtutes, relinquere casura et congregare eterna, relinquere visibilia et congregare inuisibilia. Dabo enim tibi pro delectacione carnis anime exultacionem, pro iocunditate mundi iocunditatem celi, pro honore mundi honorem angelorum, pro visione parentum visionem Dei, pro possessione bonorum me ipsum, datorem et creatorem omnium.
Dic michi tria, que quero a te! Primo, si vis esse diues in hoc seculo an pauper." Et illa respondit: "Domine, volo magis esse pauper, quia diuicie nichil boni faciunt michi nisi quandam sollicitudinem et retrahunt me a seruicio tuo."
"Dic michi secundo, numquid inuenisti in verbis meis, que audisti de ore meo, aliquid reprehensibile secundum cor tuum vel falsum?" Et illa: "Non certe, quia omnia sunt secundum racionem."
"Tercio dic michi, utrum tibi placet delectacio carnis, quam prius habuisti, an delectacio spiritus, quam nunc habes!" Et illa respondit: "Pudor est in corde meo cogitare de illa carnis delectacione priori et est michi nunc quasi venenum et eo amarior nunc, quo prius dilexi eam feruencius. Mallem enim mori quam umquam in illam redire, et nulla est comparacio istius spirtualis delectacionis ad illam."
"Ergo", inquit, "probas in te ipsa omnia esse vera, que tibi dixeram. Quid ergo times vel cur sollicitaris, quia protraho ea, que facienda tibi dixi? Considera prophetas, considera apostolos et sanctos doctores! Numquid inuenerunt in me aliquid nisi veritatem? Ideo non curauerunt de mundo nec de eius concupiscencia.
Aut cur prophete tam longe vaticinati sunt de futuris, nisi quia voluit Deus, quod verba primo innotescerent, deinde venirent opera, et ut ad fidem erudirentur imperiti? Omnia nempe misteria incarnacionis mee antea innotuerunt prophetis, eciam stella, que precedebat magos, qui credentes verbis prophete meruerunt videre, quod crediderunt, et visa stella cicius certificati sunt.
Sic nunc verba mea prius debent annunciari et postea, cum venerint opera, euidencius credetur eis.
Tria ostendi tibi. Primo unius conscienciam, cuius peccatum cum manifestarem, signis euidentissimis probaui. Sed quare? Numquid non possem eum interficere personaliter? Aut non possem eum demergere in puncto, si vellem? Utique possem.
Sed propter erudicionem aliorum et euidenciam verborum meorum ut ostendam, quam iustus sim et paciens et quam infelix ille est, cui dominatur diabolus, ideo suffero eum adhuc. Nam ex voluntate, quam habet esse in peccato, et ex delectacione illius sic aucta est in eum potestas diaboli, quod nec lenitas verborum nec austeritas minarum nec timor gehenne potest eum reuocare.
Et bene digne, quia, cum semper habuerat voluntatem peccandi, eciam si non prodiret in opus, merito traderetur in eternum diabolo. Quia minimum peccatum, quicumque in eo delectatur nec emendat, satis est ei ad perdicionem.
Duos alios ostendi tibi. Quorum alterius corpus vexabat diabolus, sed non erat in anima; alterius conscienciam fallacia sua obumbrabat nec tamen in eius anima erat nec potestatem habuit super illam.
Sed forte potes querere: 'Numquid non idem sunt consciencia et anima? Numquid non tunc est in anima, cum est in consciencia?' Nequaquam. Sed sicut corpus habet duos oculos, quibus videt, et licet ab eis auferatur visus, corpus tamen nichilominus sanum esse potest, sic in anima est. Nam licet intellectus et consciencia quandoque perturbantur quantum ad penam, non tamen semper leditur anima quantum ad culpam. Et ideo preualuit diabolus in consciencia unius, non in anima.
Tercium ostendam tibi, in cuius anima et corpore totaliter dominatur diabolus. Qui, nisi potencia mea et gracia speciali coactus, numquam ab eo expelletur nec ab eo exibit. Ab aliquibus quippe hominibus exit diabolus libenter et cito et ab aliquibus non nisi inuitus et coactus.
Nam in aliquos intrat diabolus vel propter delictum parentum vel propter aliquod occultum iudicium Dei, utputa in pueros et insipientes; in aliquos propter infidelitatem vel aliud aliquod peccatum. Ab hiis libenter exit demon, si eicitur ab hiis, qui sciunt coniuraciones vel artem talem eiciendi demones, si ipsi faciunt talem eieccionem propter vanam gloriam vel propter aliquod lucrum temporale, quia diabolus habet potestatem ingrediendi in illum, qui eiecit, et in illum iterum, a quo eiectus est, quia in neutro diuina caritas fuit.
Ab illis autem, quorum animam et corpus totaliter possidet, numquam exit nisi per meam potenciam. Sicut enim acetum, si vino dulcissimo misceatur, totam vini dulcedinem inficit et numquam ab eo separatur, sic nec diabolus ab alicuius anima exit, quam possidet, nisi per meam potenciam.
Quid est autem hoc vinum nisi anima, que michi dulcissima fuit super omnem creaturam, que michi sic cara fuit, ut neruos meos incidi et carnes meas lacerari usque ad costas fecerim pro ea? Et, antequam ea carerem, eciam mortem recepi pro ea.
Hoc vinum conseruabatur in fece, quia ipsam animam posui in corpore, in quo tamquam in vase clauso custodiebatur ad meam voluntatem. Sed huic dulci vino mixtum est pessimum acetum, idest diabolus, cuius malicia est michi acrior et abhominabilior omni aceto.
Hoc acetum per meam potenciam ab homine isto, cuius nomen tibi dico, separabitur, ut in isto ostendam misericordiam meam et sapienciam, in priori vero iudicium meum et iusticiam."
Primus fuit nobilis et cantor superbus, qui, sine licencia pape Ierosolimam profectus, arreptus est a diabolo. De isto demoniaco habetur eciam.
Secundus demoniacus eiusdem capituli fuit monachus ordinis Cisterciensis, quem diabolus tantum vexabat, quod vix a quatuor teneri potuit. Cuius lingua extracta videbatur quasi bouis, cuius vincula manuum inuisibiliter confringebantur. Iste per dominam Birgittam post mensem et duos dies per verba sancti Spiritus saluatus est.
Tercius demoniacus fuit exactor Osgocie, qui, cum moneretur ad penitenciam, dixit monenti: "Numquid habitator domus sedere poterit, ubi sibi placuerit? Diabolus tenet cor et linguam meam. Quomodo possum penitere?" Qui eciam maledicens sanctis Dei ipsa nocte sine sacramentis et confessione mortuus est.
Notes
- 1 ↩The distinction between the body/conscience and the soul is central here; the soul remains the seat of the person's core integrity before God, even when the conscience is under assault or the body is suffering.
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