Verba Virginis gloriose sue humilitatis declaracionis ad filiam et qualiter humilitas per mantellum designatur et de condicionibus vere humilitatis et de eius fructu mirabili.
The Mother of Mercy
The Virgin Mary invites the soul to find refuge under her mantle, emphasizing her readiness to receive all who return to her with a sincere heart.
Many wonder why I speak with you. It is certainly so that my humility may be shown. Just as the heart finds no joy in a sick limb until it has regained its health, and rejoices all the more once that health is restored, so I, no matter how much a person sins, am ready to receive them the moment they return to me with all their heart and a true change of life. I don't look at how much someone has sinned, but rather at the intention and will with which they return. Everyone calls me the Mother of mercy. Truly, daughter, the mercy of my Son has made me merciful, and the sight of His mercy has made me compassionate. Therefore, anyone who can approach mercy but doesn't is truly miserable. So come, my daughter, and hide yourself under my mantle.
The Mantle of Humility
The Virgin explains that her humility acts as a protective mantle against the storms of insults and the coldness of the world.
Outwardly, it seems contemptible, but inwardly it's useful for three reasons. First, it shelters you from stormy weather; second, it protects you from biting cold; and third, it defends you against the downpour of the clouds. This mantle is my humility. To those who love the world, it seems completely contemptible and superstitious to imitate. What is more contemptible than being called a fool and not getting angry, or offering no reply? What is more contemptible than to leave everything behind and be in need of everything? What is more painful to worldly people than to overlook an injury done to them, to trust everyone, and to consider themselves more unworthy and humble than anyone else? This, my daughter, was my humility; this was my joy, this my whole will, for I thought of pleasing no one but my Son. Still, this humility is useful to those who follow me in three ways. First, because of the corrupt and stormy air—that is, because of the insults and contempt of others. Just as a fierce and powerful wind pushes a person from every side and chills them, so insults easily cast down an impatient person who doesn't think about the future, causing the soul to slacken in its love. But whoever carefully considers my humility should think about what I, the Lady of all, had to hear, and seek my praise, not their own. Let them consider that words are nothing but air, and they'll soon find relief. Why are worldly people so impatient with words and insults, if not because they seek their own praise more than God's? They have no humility because they've kept their eyes shut to their own sins. Therefore, even though written justice says that insulting words shouldn't be heard without cause or endured, it's still a virtue and a reward to have heard and endured them patiently for God's sake.
Defending the Soul from Worldly Attachments
The Virgin describes how true humility guards the soul against the coldness of carnal friendships and the filth of worldly desires.
Second, my humility protects you from a burning cold—that is, from carnal friendship. For there is a kind of friendship where a person is loved only for these present things, like those who speak this way: Feed me and I'll feed you in this life, because I don't care who feeds you after death. Honor me and I'll honor you, for it means nothing to me what kind of honor follows hereafter. For this is a cold friendship, lacking the warmth of God, hard as ice frozen in love and compassion for a neighbor in need, and fruitless for any reward. Once the fellowship is broken and the table set aside, the entire benefit of the friendship is immediately dissolved, and its fruit comes to nothing. Whoever truly imitates my humility does good to everyone for God's sake, to enemies just as much as to friends. You should love your friends because they stand firm in the honor of God, and you should love your enemies because they are God’s creatures and may yet become good. Third, reflecting on my humility protects me from the downpours and the filth of the water falling from the clouds. After all, where do clouds come from if not from the moisture and vapors rising from the earth? When these rise into the sky with the heat, they condense in the upper regions, and from them come three things: rain, hail, and snow. This cloud represents the human body, which comes from impurity. Yet the body carries three things with it, just as the cloud does. The body has the capacity to hear, see, and feel. Because the body can see, it craves the things it sees. It craves good things and beautiful faces; it craves vast possessions. But what are all these things if not a kind of rain falling from the clouds, staining the soul with the desire to accumulate, unsettling it with anxieties, scattering it through useless thoughts, and disturbing it with the loss of what has been gathered? Because the body is capable of hearing, it gladly listens to its own honor and the friendship of the world. It listens to whatever is delightful to the body, even though it's harmful to the soul. What are all these things but like snow that melts quickly, leaving the soul cold toward God and hardened against humility? But because the body is capable of feeling, it gladly seeks its own pleasure and physical comfort. What is this but a kind of hail, frozen from the waters of impurity, which makes the soul unfruitful toward spiritual things, strong toward worldly things, and soft toward the pleasures of the body? Therefore, whoever wants to be defended from this cloud should take refuge in my humility and imitate it. Through it, our sight is guarded against greed so it doesn't crave what is forbidden; our hearing is guarded against pleasure so it doesn't listen to what is contrary to the truth; and the flesh is guarded against its own desires so it doesn't succumb to illicit impulses.
Living in True Humility
The Virgin exhorts the soul to not only contemplate her humility but to actively imitate it by avoiding pride and refraining from judging others.
I tell you truly, contemplating my humility is like a good cloak that warms those who wear it—that is, those who carry it not only in their thoughts, but in their actions as well. A physical cloak doesn't keep you warm unless you actually wear it, and my humility doesn't help those who only think about it, unless each person also strives to imitate it as best they can. So, my daughter, clothe yourself in this humility as best you can, because the women of the world wear cloaks that are prideful on the outside, but hold very little value within. Avoid these garments entirely, for unless the love of the world first becomes worthless to you, unless you constantly reflect on God's mercy toward you and your own ingratitude toward Him, and unless you always think about what you have done, what you are doing, and what judgment you deserve for these things, you won't be able to take up the mantle of my humility. Why, after all, did I humble myself so much, or how did I deserve such great grace, if not because I thought about and knew that I am nothing and have nothing of my own? That’s why I didn’t want any praise for myself, but only for the One who gave it and created me. Therefore, daughter, take refuge in the mantle of my humility, and think of yourself as a sinner above all others. Even if you see people acting badly, you don't know what will become of them tomorrow; you also don't know the intention or knowledge behind their actions, whether they act out of weakness or by design. Therefore, don't put yourself above anyone, and don't judge anyone in your heart.
Read the original Latin
"Multi mirantur, cur tecum loquor. Certe ideo, ut humilitas mea ostendatur.
Sicut enim cor de membro corporis infirmo non gaudet, antequam iterum receperit sanitatem, et recepta sanitate plus letatur, sic ego, quantumcumque homo peccat, si ex toto corde et vera emendacione ad me reuersus fuerit, statim parata sum recipere reuertentem.
Nec attendo, quantum peccauerit sed cum quali intencione et voluntate redit.
Ego vocor ab omnibus 'mater misericordie'. Vere, filia, misericordia filii mei fecit me misericordem et misericordia eius visa compacientem.
Ideo miser erit, qui ad misericordiam, cum possit, non accedit. Ergo tu, filia mea, veni et absconde te sub mantello meo!
Hic est exterius contemptibilis, intus vero utilis propter tria. Primo obumbrat ab aere tempestuoso, secundo munit a frigore urente, tercio defendit contra nubium imbrem.
Hic mantellus humilitas mea est. Hec videtur a mundi amatoribus valde contemptibilis et supersticiosa ad imitandum.
Quid enim contemptibilius est quam vocari fatua et non irasci vel verba reddere?
Quid despeccius quam omnia relinquere et omnibus indigere?
Quid dolorosius apud mundiales quam iniuriam suam dissimulare et omnibus se credere et tenere indigniorem et humiliorem?
Talis, o filia, erat humilitas mea, hoc gaudium meum, hec voluntas tota, que nulli nisi filio meo placere cogitabam.
Verumptamen hec humilitas sequentibus me valet ad tria.
Primo pro aere corruptiuo et tempestuoso, idest pro obprobrio hominum et despeccione. Sicut enim aer impetuosus et fortis ab omni parte impellit hominem et infrigidat, sic hominem impacientem et futurorum inconsideratiuum obprobria faciliter deiciunt et animum a caritate remittunt.
Sed quicumque ad humilitatem meam sedule attendit, cogitet, qualia ego, domina omnium, audiui, querat laudem meam, non suam.
Consideret, quod verba non sunt nisi aer, et mox habebit refrigerium.
Ut quid enim mundiales tam impacientes sunt ad verba et obprobria, nisi quia plus querunt laudem propriam quam Dei? Et humilitas in eis est nulla, quia obturatum habent oculum a peccatis.
Ergo, quamuis iusticia scripta dicit verba contumeliosa non debere audiri sine causa vel sustineri, virtus tamen est et merces illata pacienter propter Deum audiuisse et sustinuisse.
Secundo humilitas mea defendit a frigore urente, idest ab amicicia carnali. Est enim quedam amicicia, qua diligitur homo propter presencia ista, sicut illi, qui loquuntur sic:
'Ciba tu me et ego te in presenti, quia non curo, quis te cibabit post mortem! Honora tu me et ego te, nam pro minimo est michi, qualis sequatur honor futurus.'
Hec enim est amicicia frigida, absque calore Dei, dura quasi nix congelata in amore et compassione proximi indigentis, infructuosa ad premium.
Disiuncta enim societate et deposita mensa, statim dissoluta est omnis amicicie utilitas et fructus euacuatus.
Quicumque vero humilitatem meam imitatur, ipse benefacit omnibus propter Deum, tam inimicis quam amicis.
Amicis, quia in honore Dei stabiliter persistunt; inimicis vero, quia creatura Dei sunt et forte futuri boni.
Tercio defendit humilitatis mee consideracio ab imbribus et immundicia aque, que procedit de nubibus.
Unde enim procedit nubes nisi de humore et vaporibus procedentibus de terra? Que cum calore ascendentes in celum densantur in superioribus, et sic fiunt inde tria, scilicet pluuia, grando et nix.
Hec nubes corpus hominis significat, quod de immundicia procedit. Habet autem corpus tria secum, sicut et nubes secum.
Habet enim corpus audire, videre et sentire. Ex eo enim, quod corpus habet videre, concupiscit ea, que videt.
Concupiscit bona et pulchras facies, concupiscit latas possessiones.
Quid autem sunt omnia ista nisi quasi quedam pluuia, procedens de nubibus, maculans animam in affectu congregacionis, inquietans per sollicitudines, distendens per inutiles cogitatus et perturbans in congregatorum amissione.
Ex eo vero, quod corpus habet audire, libenter audit honorem proprium, mundi amiciciam. Audit quecumque corpori sunt delectabilia animeque nociua.
Hec omnia quid aliud sunt nisi quasi nix cicius dissoluenda, frigidam faciens animam ad Deum et obduratam ad humilitatem?
Ex eo vero, quod corpus habet sentire, sentit libenter suam voluptatem et corporis quietudinem.
Hoc quid aliud est nisi quasi grando ex aquis immundicie congelata, animam infructiferam reddens ad spiritualia, fortem ad mundialia et mollem ad corporis oblectamenta?
Ergo quicumque ab hac nube defendi desiderat, confugiat ad humilitatem meam et imitetur eam.
Per hanc enim defenditur a cupiditate visus, ne concupiscat illicita, defenditur a delectacione auditus, ne audiat contra veritatem, defenditur a voluptate carnis, ne succumbat in illicitis motibus.
Vere dico tibi, quod humilitatis mee consideracio ipsa est tamquam bonus mantellus, calefaciens portantes se, eos scilicet, qui non solum eum portant cogitacione sed et opere.
Non enim calefacit mantellus corporalis, nisi portetur, nec humilitas mea proficit eam cogitantibus, nisi et pro modulo suo unusquisque studuerit eam imitari.
Ergo, filia mea, indue te hac humilitate pro viribus tuis, quia mulieres mundi mantellos portant, qui extra habent superbiam, intus vero modicam utilitatem!
Has vestes omnino fuge, quia, nisi vilescat tibi prius amor mundi, nisi continuo pensaueris circa te Dei misericordiam et tuam circa eum ingratitudinem, nisi cogitaueris semper ea, que fecisti et que facis et qualem sentenciam iudicii pro hiis mereris, non poteris apprehendere mantellum humilitatis mee.
Ut quid enim ego me tantum humiliabam aut unde promerui tantam graciam, nisi quia cogitaui et sciui me nichil a me esse vel habere?
Ideo et nolui laudem meam sed solius datoris et creatoris.
Ergo, filia, fuge ad mantellum humilitatis mee et cogita te peccatricem super alios! Quia eciam si aliquos videris malos, nescis, quid eis cras futurum est; nescis eciam, qua intencione et qua sciencia hoc faciunt, utrum in infirmitate an industria.
Ideo nullis te preferas nullosque in corde tuo debes iudicare.
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