Verba Christi ad sponsam de instrumentis in tercia domo reponendis et qualiter per talia instrumenta bone cogitaciones, sensus disciplinati et vera confessio designantur, et omnium istorum optima declaracio et de clausura istarum domorum in generali.
The Three Houses of the Soul
The Lord describes the first house of the soul, where vessels of good and bitter thoughts are stored for purification and growth.
The Son of God said to the bride, "I told you before that there would be instruments in the third house, divided into three types." First, there are the vessels into which liquids are to be poured. Second, there are the tools for preparing the ground outside, like a rake, an axe, and similar items, used to restore what is broken. Third, there are living instruments, such as donkeys, horses, and the like, by which both living and dead things are moved forward. In the first house, where liquids are stored, there must be two types of vessels: first, containers for pouring in fluid and sweet liquids, like water, oil, wine, and similar things; second, containers for pouring in bitter and thick liquids, like mustard, flour, and the like. Do you understand what these things mean? The liquids clearly represent the good and bad thoughts of the soul. A good thought is like sweet oil and fine wine. An evil thought, however, is like bitter mustard, because it makes the soul bitter and troubled. Just as a person sometimes needs thick liquids—which, though they don't do much to sustain the body, are still useful for cleansing and healing the body and the brain—so it is with bad thoughts. Although they don't nourish and satisfy the soul like the oil of good thoughts, they still help in the soul's purification, just as mustard helps in the purification of the brain. If evil thoughts didn't occasionally intervene, a person would be an angel rather than a human, and would imagine that they had everything from themselves. So that a person may understand the weakness they have from themselves and the strength they have from me, it's necessary that, out of great mercy, they be allowed to be tempted by evil thoughts from time to time. If you don't consent to these things, they serve to cleanse your soul and guard your virtues; and though they are bitter to endure—like mustard—they still heal the soul deeply and lead it toward eternal life and the health that cannot be had without bitterness.1 Therefore, the vessels of the soul where good thoughts are stored must be carefully prepared and kept clean, because it's useful for even evil thoughts to come and test you, so that you may gain greater merit. The soul must work diligently, however, to ensure it doesn't consent to them or take pleasure in them. Otherwise, the soul's sweetness and growth will be drained away, leaving only bitterness behind.
Cultivating the Interior Life
The second house contains tools for cultivating the senses and examining intentions through divine charity.
In the second house, there must also be two types of tools: first, the exterior tools used to prepare the ground for seed and to pull up thorns, like a plow and a rake; second, tools useful for both interior and exterior needs, like an axe and similar implements. The tools used to cultivate the earth represent a person's senses, which must be directed toward the good of one's neighbor, just as a plow is directed toward the soil. For wicked people are like the earth, because they are always thinking about earthly things. They are dry and lack compunction for their sins, because they consider sin to be nothing. They are cold in divine love because they seek nothing but their own will. They're sluggish when it comes to doing good because they're eager for the honor of the world. Therefore, a good person must cultivate these things through their outward senses, just as a good farmer cultivates the land with a plow. First, you must cultivate your neighbor through your speech by saying things that are useful to the soul and by guiding them toward the way of life; then, you must do whatever good works you can, so that your neighbor may be instructed by your words and stirred to do good as well. Next, you should cultivate your neighbor through your other members so that they might become fruitful—specifically, by keeping your eyes simple so you don't look at anything indecent, so that your neighbor, even if they are indecent, might learn modesty in all their members. Let her cultivate her ears so she doesn't listen to nonsense, and her feet, so she may be eager for the work of God. To this ground, so cultivated, I, God, will grant the rain of my grace through the labor of the one who tills it, and the worker will rejoice in the fruit of the earth that was once parched, as soon as it begins to sprout. As for the tools you need to prepare your inner life—like an axe and similar things—they represent a discerning intention and a divine examination of your work.2 Whatever good a person does, they shouldn't do it for the sake of human honors and praise, but out of divine charity for the sake of an eternal reward. So, let a person carefully examine their works—the intention behind them and the reward they were done for—and if they find any pride in their work, let them cut it away immediately with the axe of discernment. That way, just as they cultivate their neighbor on the outside (who is, as it were, outside the house—that is, outside the fellowship of my friends through evil works), they may likewise bear fruit for themselves on the inside through divine charity. Just as a farmer's work will quickly come to nothing if he lacks the tools to repair what's broken, so too, unless a person examines their actions with careful discernment—considering how to lighten them if they seem burdensome, and how to mend them if they fall apart—they won't make any real progress. Therefore, you shouldn't just work effectively on the outside; you must also carefully consider on the inside how and with what intention you are working.
Confession and the Restoration of Works
The third house contains living instruments of confession, which restore dead works and advance the soul toward God.
In the third house, there must be living instruments that advance both the dead and the living—namely, horses, donkeys, and other animals. These instruments are true confession. For it is this that promotes both the living and the dead. What does 'the living' refer to, if not the soul, which was created by my divinity and lives forever? Through true confession, it draws closer and closer to God every day. Just as an animal, the more frequently and better it is fed, the stronger it becomes for carrying burdens and the more beautiful it is to look at, so too with confession: the more frequently and diligently it is made—covering both the smallest and the greatest things—the more it advances the soul and pleases God, to the point that it even brings the soul into the heart of God. But what do these dead things signify—which even confession promotes—if not good works that die through mortal sin? For good works themselves, when they die in mortal sin, are dead in the eyes of God, because no good thing can please God unless the sin is first corrected, either by a perfect act of will or by an actual deed. Sweet things and foul things can't exist well together in the same vessel. If, however, someone kills their good works through mortal sin but then makes a true confession of what they’ve done, with a sincere will to amend and to be on guard from now on, those good works that were previously dead soon come back to life through that confession and the virtue of humility, and they contribute to their eternal salvation. If someone dies without having confessed, those good works—which cannot die or be destroyed, yet cannot earn eternal life because of mortal sin—will still serve to lighten their punishment or help others toward salvation, provided that those good works were done with a divine intention and for the honor of God. If, however, you did those works for the sake of worldly honor and your own benefit, then those works die when you do, because you've already received your reward from the world for which you labored.
The Architecture of Divine Union
The Lord concludes by detailing the spiritual contents of the houses and the necessity of hope and love as the door and bolt to secure the soul.
Therefore, my bride—by whom I mean all my friends—let us gather into our houses those things in which God spiritually desires to take delight with a holy soul: first, into the first house, the bread of a sincere will, wanting nothing except what God wants; second, the drink of divine meditation, doing nothing unless the honor of God is considered in it; third, the food of divine wisdom, always thinking about what is to come and how the present must be ordered. In the second house, let’s gather peace from sin toward God and peace from conflict toward our neighbor; second, works of mercy, by which we may also be useful to our neighbor; third, perfect abstinence, by which we may restrain those things that want to disturb our peace. In the third house, let's gather reasonable and good thoughts to adorn our house interiorly; secondly, senses that are well-disciplined and tempered to shine forth to our friends exteriorly; and thirdly, true confession, by which we can revive if we are weakened. But even if you have these houses, you still can't keep what's gathered inside them unless you have doors; and doors can't hang without hinges, nor can they be locked without bolts. To keep what you've gathered safe, put a door on the house—that is, a firm hope—so that you won't be broken by any adversity. This hope should rest on two hinges: that a person doesn't despair of reaching glory or escaping punishment, but in every adversity, always trusting in the mercy of God, hopes for better things. The bolt for the door must be divine love, which secures the entrance so the enemy can't get in. After all, what good is a door without a bolt, or hope without love? If someone hopes for eternal life and hopes in God's mercy, yet doesn't love and fear God, they have a door that's essentially without a lock, through which their mortal enemy can enter whenever he wants and kill them. But true hope requires that anyone who hopes should also do the good they can—the good without which they cannot obtain heavenly things if they knew they could do it and yet refused. If, however, someone realizes they've overstepped or failed to do what they could have, let them have a good will to do the good they're able to do, as well as what they can't yet do, and let them firmly hope that they can still draw near to God through that good will and divine charity. So, let the door—that is, hope—be fortified by divine love. Just as a bolt has many internal latches to keep an enemy from opening it, there should be a similar vigilance within divine love: a care that God isn't offended, a loving fear that He might depart from you, a fiery fervor for how God is to be loved, and a diligence in how He is to be imitated. You should also feel sorrow because you don't do as much as you would like, or as much as you know you are obligated to do. There is also humility, through which a person considers everything they do to be nothing in light of their own sins. Secure the lock with these restraints, so the devil doesn't easily open the lock of charity and let in his own love. The key that opens and closes the bolt must be a desire for God alone, one that aligns with divine love and divine work, so that you wouldn't want to possess anything—even if you could—except for God, and this for the sake of His supreme love. For this desire encloses God within the soul and the soul within God, because the will of both is one. Only the wife and the husband—that is, God and the soul—should hold this key, so that whenever God wants to enter and delight in the soul's virtues, He has free access through the key of steady longing; and whenever the soul wants to enter into the heart of God, she may do so freely, because she desires nothing but God. The soul guards this key through vigilance and by maintaining its own humility, attributing every good it possesses to God. This key is also guarded by God's power and God's love, so that the soul isn't tripped up by the devil. Look, my bride, at the kind of love God has for the soul! Stand firm, then, and do my will!
Read the original Latin
Filius Dei loquebatur ad sponsam dicens: "Dixi tibi prius, quod in tercia domo deberent esse instrumenta sub triplici genere.
Primo instrumenta, in quibus infundentur liquores.
Secundo instrumenta, quibus terra foris preparetur, utputa rastrum et securis et huiusmodi, quibus confracta restaurentur.
Tercio instrumenta viua, sicut asini et equi et similia, quibus et viua et mortua promoueantur.
In prima autem domo, in qua sunt liquores, debent esse duo instrumentorum genera: primo instrumenta, in quibus infundantur liquores fluidi et dulces, sicut aqua et oleum, vinum et huiusmodi; secundo instrumenta, in quibus infundantur liquores amari et spissi, sicut sinapis et farina et consimilia.
Numquid potes tu intelligere, quid ista significant? Liquores certe significant cogitaciones anime bonas et malas.
Cogitacio enim bona est sicut oleum dulce et sicut vinum delectabile. Cogitacio vero mala est sicut sinapis amara, quia amaram facit animam et turbidam.
Et sicut homo quandoque habet necesse de liquoribus spissis, qui, licet non multum proficiunt ad corporis sustentacionem, prosunt tamen ad corporis et cerebri purgacionem et sanacionem, sic eciam cogitaciones male sunt.
Quia, quamuis non impinguant et saciant animam ut oleum bonarum cogitacionum, tamen proficiunt ad anime purgacionem, sicut sinapis ad purgacionem cerebri.
Nisi enim /non/ quandoque interuenirent cogitaciones male, tunc homo esset angelus et non homo, et putaret homo omnia habere a se ipso.
Ideo ut homo intelligat infirmitatem suam, quam habet a se ipso, et fortitudinem, quam habet a me, necesse est, ut permittatur ex magna misericordia quandoque temptari cogitacionibus malis.
Quibus si homo non consentit, purgacio sunt anime et custodia virtutum suarum et, licet amare sunt quasi sinapis ad ferendum, tamen multum sanant animam et ducunt eam ad eternam vitam et sanitatem, que non potest haberi sine amaritudinibus.
Ergo vasa anime, ubi cogitaciones bone reponentur, sedule preparentur et continue mundentur, quia utile est, ut eciam cogitaciones male adueniant propter probacionem et maius meritum.
Laboret autem anima diligenter, ne consenciat eis vel delectetur in eis. Alioquin dulcedo et incrementum anime effundetur et sola amaritudo remanebit.
In secunda domo debent esse instrumenta eciam sub duplici genere: primo instrumenta exteriora, quibus terra foris preparetur ad semen et spine eradicentur, utputa aratrum et rastrum; secundo instrumenta utilia ad necessaria interiora et exteriora, utputa securis et consimilia.
Instrumenta autem, quibus terra excolitur, significant sensus hominis, qui ad utilitatem proximi, tamquam aratrum ad terram, ordinandi sunt.
Mali enim homines sunt sicut terra, quia terrena semper cogitant. Ipsi namque sunt aridi a compunccione pro peccatis suis, quia peccatum nichil reputant.
Ipsi sunt frigidi in diuina caritate, quia nichil nisi suam voluntatem querunt.
Ipsi sunt ponderosi ad agendum bona, quia alacres sunt pro honore mundi.
Ideo vir bonus istos excolere debet per sensus exteriores, sicut et bonus rusticus terram excolit per aratrum.
Primo enim debet excolere per os suum, loquendo eis utilia anime et informando ad viam vite, deinde opere faciendo bona, que poterit, ut proximus informetur per verba et excitetur ad faciendum bona.
Deinde excolet reliquis membris proximum suum, ut fructifer fiat, scilicet oculis simplicibus, ne videat impudica, ut proximus impudicus addiscat in omnibus membris modestiam.
Auribus suis excolat, ne audiat inepta, et pedibus, ut alacer sit ad opus Dei.
Huic terre sic exculte ego, Deus, pluuiam gracie mee per laborem excolentis tribuam, et gaudebit laborans de fructu terre prius aride, cum ceperit germinare.
Instrumenta vero, que ad interiora preparanda necessaria sunt, sicut securis et consimilia, significant intencionem discretam et diuinam discussionem operis sui.
Quia, quidquid boni homo fecerit, non debet facere propter honores et laudes hominum sed ex diuina caritate ad eternam retribucionem.
Ideo examinet homo diligenter opera sua, qua intencione et qua mercede hec fecit, et, si inuenerit in opere suo aliquam superbiam, abscidat statim securi discrecionis, ut, sicut foris excolit proximum suum, qui quasi extra domum est, idest extra societatem amicorum meorum per opera mala, sic intus per diuinam caritatem fructificet sibi.
Quia, sicut opus rustici, qui non habuit instrumenta, quibus repararet destructa, cicius erit in vacuum, sic, nisi discreta discrecione homo examinet opera sua, quomodo alleuientur, si laboriosa videntur, quomodo reparentur, si franguntur, non peruenient ad profectum.
Propterea non solum laborandum est efficaciter exterius, sed et intus sollicite considerandum, quomodo et qua intencione laboratur.
In tercia domo debent esse instrumenta viua, que promoueant mortua et viua, scilicet equi et asini et alia animalia.
Hec instrumenta sunt confessio vera. Ipsa enim est, que viua et mortua promouet.
Quid notat viuum nisi animam, que deitate mea creata est et in eternum viuit? Ipsa enim per confessionem veram cotidie magis ac magis appropinquat Deo.
Sicut enim animal, quo frequencius et melius nutritum fuerit, tanto forcius est ad portandum et pulchrius ad intuendum, sic et confessio, quo frequencius facta fuerit et quanto diligencius, tam de minimis quam de maximis, tanto magis animam promouet et in tantum Deo placet, quod eciam animam in cor Dei inducit.
Quid autem significant mortua, que eciam confessio promouet, nisi opera bona, que per mortale peccatum moriuntur?
Nam ipsa opera bona, in mortalibus peccatis moriencia, mortua sunt apud Deum, quia nullum bonum placere poterit Deo, nisi prius peccatum vel voluntate perfecta corrigatur vel opere.
Nec in uno vase suauia et fetencia bene conuenire poterunt.
Si autem aliquis opera bona mortalibus peccatis mortificat et veram confessionem de commissis assumpserit cum voluntate emendandi et cauendi de cetero, mox per confessionem et virtutem humilitatis reuiuiscunt opera bona, que prius fuerunt mortua, et proficiunt ei ad salutem eternam.
Qui si moritur non facta confessione, opera ipsa bona, que mori et annichilari non possunt nec tamen propter mortale peccatum eternam vitam mereri poterunt, proficiunt ei ad leuiorem penam vel aliis ad salutem, si tamen fecit ipsa opera bona cum diuina intencione et ad Dei honorem.
Si vero fecit ipsa opera propter honorem mundi et ipsius utilitatem, tunc ipsa opera moriente factore moriuntur, quia mercedem suam recepit de mundo, pro quo laborauit.
Propterea, sponsa mea, per quam intelligo omnes amicos meos, congregemus in domos nostras illa, unde spiritualiter Deus vult delectari cum anima sancta: primo, in domum primam scilicet, panem sincere voluntatis, nichil volendo nisi quod Deus; secundo potum diuine premeditacionis, nil agendo, nisi ibi cogitetur Dei honor; tercio edulium diuine sapiencie, cogitando semper, que futura sunt et quomodo presencia ordinanda sunt.
In secundam domum congregemus pacem a peccatis ad Deum et pacem a rixa ad proximum; secundum opera misericordie, quibus eciam opere utiles simus proximo; tercio abstinenciam perfectam, qua coerceamus ea, que turbare volunt pacem.
In terciam domum congregemus racionabiles et bonas cogitaciones ad ornandum domum nostram interius; secundo sensus bene disciplinatos et temperatos ad lucendum amicis nostris exterius; tercio confessionem veram, qua, si infirmamur, reuiuiscere possimus.
Sed quamuis domus habeantur, non tamen possunt conseruari congregata in eis, nisi habeantur ostia, nec ostia possunt pendere sine cardinibus nec serari sine seris.
Ideo ut congregata maneant salua, ponatur in domo ostium, scilicet spes firma, ut nullis frangatur aduersitatibus.
Que spes habeat duos cardines, scilicet ut homo non desperet de adipiscenda gloria nec de fugiendo supplicio, sed in omni aduersitate semper de misericordia Dei confidens speret meliora.
Sera autem ostii debet esse diuina caritas, qua muniatur ostium, ne ingrediatur inimicus.
Quid enim prodest habere ostium sine sera, quid spem sine caritate?
Si enim quis sperat presencia eterna et sperat de Dei misericordia non tamen diligit Deum et timet, ostium quidem habet quasi sine sera, per quod inimicus capitalis ingredi potest, cum voluerit, et occidere.
Sed spes recta est, ut, qui sperat, faciat eciam bona, que potest, sine quibus non potest optinere celestia, si sciuit et potuit facere bona et noluit.
Si vero quis excessisse se intelligit vel non fecisse, cum potuit, habeat bonam voluntatem faciendi bona, que potest et quod facere non poterit, et speret firmiter se ad Deum posse accedere eciam per bonam voluntatem et diuinam caritatem.
Ergo ostium, idest spes, muniatur diuina caritate, ut, sicut sera multa habet intus retinacula, ne hostis aperiat, sic in diuina caritate sit quedam sollicitudo, ne Deus offendatur, sit caritatiuus timor, ne discedat ab eo, feruor eciam igneus, quomodo Deus diligatur, et cura, quomodo imitetur.
Sit eciam dolor, eo quod non sufficit tantum facere, sicut vellet et sicut obligatum se intelligit. Humilitas quoque, qua homo, quod agit, reputat nichilum respectu peccatorum suorum.
Hiis retinaculis muniatur sera, ne diabolus faciliter seram caritatis aperiat et immittat amorem suum.
Clauis vero, qua aperitur et clauditur sera, debet esse desiderium solius Dei, conueniens cum diuina caritate et diuino opere, ut scilicet nichil velit habere homo, eciam si posset, nisi Deum, et hoc propter maximam caritatem eius.
Hoc enim desiderium claudit Deum in anima et animam in Deo, quia una utriusque voluntas.
Hanc vero clauem uxor et vir debent habere soli, idest Deus et anima, ut, quociens Deus ingredi voluerit et delectari in bonis, scilicet anime virtutibus, liberum habeat accessum per clauem stabilis desiderii, quociens eciam anima ingredi voluerit ad cor Dei, libere possit, quia ipsa nichil desiderat nisi Deum.
Hec clauis custoditur per anime vigilanciam et humilitatis sue custodiam, qua Deo ascribit omne bonum, quod habet.
Et custoditur eciam clauis hec per Dei potenciam et Dei caritatem, ne anima a diabolo supplantetur.
Ecce, sponsa mea, qualis caritas Dei est ad animam! Sta ergo firmiter et fac voluntatem meam!"
Notes
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