Verba Christi ad sponsam ineffabilis trinitatis misterium declarantia, et quomodo dyabolici peccatores per contritionem et voluntatem emendandi obtinent Dei misericordiam, et de responsione Christi, qualiter miseretur omnibus, scilicet tam Iudeis et cetera, et de duplici iudicio, damnandorum scilicet et saluandorum.
The Mystery of the Holy Trinity
Christ explains the unity of the Godhead and the distinctness of the three Persons.
The Son speaks: "I am the creator of heaven and earth, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the true God; for God is the Father, God is the Son, and God is the Holy Spirit—not three gods, but three persons and one God." You might ask: if there are three Persons, why aren't there three Gods? I answer you that God is nothing other than power itself, wisdom itself, and goodness itself—the source from which comes all power beneath heaven, and all wisdom and all goodness that can be conceived.1 Therefore, God is three and one: three in persons, one in nature. For the Father is power and wisdom, from whom all things exist and who is before all things, powerful not from any other source but from himself and eternally. The Son, who is also the Power and Wisdom of God, is equal to the Father; He doesn't derive His power from Himself, but is powerfully and ineffably begotten by the Father—the Beginning from the Beginning—and is never separated from the Father. Power and wisdom, and also the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, eternal with the Father and the Son, and equal in majesty and power. God is therefore one, and the persons are three, because the nature of the three is one, their operation and will are one, and their glory and power are one; He is thus one in essence, while they are also distinct by the property of their persons. The entire Father is in the Son and in the Spirit, the Son is in the Father and in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in both, within the one nature of the Godhead—not in a way that implies before and after, but in an ineffable way. There is nothing before or after, nothing greater or lesser than another, but all is ineffable and equal. That is why it is well written that God is wonderful and highly to be praised.
The Call to Conversion and Mercy
Christ laments the lack of devotion in the world and promises immediate forgiveness to any sinner who turns to Him with a contrite heart.
Now, however, I can complain that I am little praised and unknown to many, because everyone seeks their own will, but few seek mine. But you, stay steady and humble, and don't let your thoughts get carried away when I show you the dangers others are in; and don't reveal their names unless you're instructed to do so. For their dangers aren't shown to you to shame them, but so that they might be converted and come to know the justice and mercy of God. But don't avoid them as if they were already condemned, because even if I say today that someone is the worst of sinners, if they call out to me tomorrow with compunction and a desire to amend their life, I am ready to forgive them.2 The person I called the worst of sinners yesterday, I call my dearest friend today because of their compunction; and to such an extent that if that compunction remains steady, I forgive them not only the sin but also the penalty for the sin, as you can understand from this example: it is as if there were two drops of quicksilver, and both rushed together to merge into one. If there were nothing left of their union but a single atom, God would still have the power to keep them from coming together. Even if a sinner were so deeply rooted in devilish works that they stood at the very brink of destruction, they would still obtain pardon and mercy if they called upon God with contrition and a will to amend.
The Judgment of All Nations
Christ addresses the salvation of those outside the faith, explaining that judgment is tempered by the conscience and the light available to each person.
Now, since I am so merciful, you might ask why I don't show mercy to the Gentiles and the Jews—some of whom, if they were taught the true faith, would gladly die for God. I answer that I show mercy to everyone, both Gentiles and Jews, and no creature is left without my mercy. For as for those who hear that their faith isn't true and yet fervently desire the truth, or those who believe that what they hold is the best because they've never been taught anything else and do everything they can with all their might, their judgment will be tempered with mercy. There is a twofold judgment: one for those who are to be condemned, and another for those who are to be saved. The judgment for Christians who are to be condemned will be without mercy; their punishment will be eternal, along with darkness and a will fixed against God. For those who are to be saved, there will be the vision of God, glorying in God, and willing what is good for God. Gentiles, Jews, and both the wicked and the false Christians are excluded from these things. Although they didn't have the right faith, they still had their own conscience as a judge, believing that the God they worshipped and offended was the same God.
The Weight of Grace and Desire
Christ explains the different baptisms and how He rewards every soul according to their merits and the sincerity of their desire for truth.
For those whose will and actions were and are in accordance with justice and opposed to sin, they will receive a judgment of mercy in their punishments because of their love for justice and their hatred of sin, yet they won't have the consolation of serving in glory or the vision of God. They won't see Him because they lack baptism, since some temporal or hidden judgment of God held them back from seeking and obtaining salvation fruitfully. If, however, nothing kept them from seeking the true God and being baptized—not fear, not labor, not the loss of possessions or status, but only an obstacle that truly overwhelmed their human frailty—I know how to reward them more deeply and perfectly, just as their faith requires, for I am the one who saw Cornelius and the Centurion even before they were baptized. There is one kind of ignorance born of malice, and another born of piety or hardship; likewise, there is a baptism of water, a baptism of blood, and a baptism of perfect desire. God, who knows the hearts of all, knows how to weigh all these things. Therefore I, who was born eternally without beginning from the Beginning, and who was also born in time at the end of the ages, know how to reward the merits of each person, and I give to everyone according to their merits. Even the smallest good deed done for the honor of God won't go unrewarded. Therefore, you're bound to give great thanks to God, because you were born of Christians and in a time of salvation; for many longed to obtain and see what is offered to Christians, yet they didn't obtain it.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Ego sum creator celi et terre, unus cum patre et spiritusancto, verus Deus, quia Deus est pater, Deus filius, Deus spiritussanctus, non tres Dij sed tres persone et unus Deus.
Nunc autem querere poteris, si tres persone, quare non tres Dij? Respondeo tibi, quod non est aliud Deus nisi ipsa potentia, ipsa sapientia, ipsa bonitas, a qua est omnis potestas infra celum et supra omnis sapientia et omnis pietas, que poterit cogitari.
Itaque Deus trinus est et unus, trinus in personis, unus in natura. Nam potentia et sapientia est pater, a quo sunt omnia, et qui est ante omnia, potens non aliunde sed a seipso et eternaliter.
Potentia et sapientia eciam filius equalis patri non a seipso potens sed a patre potenter et ineffabiliter genitus, principium de principio, et a patre numquam separatum.
Potentia et sapientia eciam spiritussanctus a patre et filio procedens, eternus cum patre et filio, et equalis in maiestate et potestate. Unus ergo Deus et tres persone, quia una natura trium, una operatio et voluntas, una gloria et potestas, qui ita est unum in essentia, qui eciam sunt distincti proprietate personarum.
Nam totus pater est in filio et spiritu et filius in patre et spiritu et spiritus in utroque in una deitatis natura, non sicut prius et posterius sed ineffabiliter. Ubi nichil est prius aut posterius nichil alio maius aut minus vel alterius sed totum ineffabile et equale. Propterea bene scriptum est, quod Deus est mirabilis et multum laudabilis.
Nunc autem conqueri possum, quod laudabilis sum parum et multis ignotus, quia omnes querunt propriam voluntatem sed pauci meam.
Tu vero esto stabilis et humilis nec te extollas in cogitatu, cum aliorum ostendo tibi pericula, nec eorum prodas nomina nisi tibi precipiatur. Non enim ad confusionem eorum ostenduntur tibi eorum pericula, sed ut conuertantur et cognoscant iusticiam et misericordiam Dei.
Sed nec eos fugere debes tamquam iudicatos, quia eciam si dixero hodie, quod aliquis pessimus est, si inuocauerit me cum contritione cras et cum voluntate emandandi, paratus sum indulgere ei.
Et quem heri dixi pessimum, hunc hodie dico amicum carissimum propter contritionem, in tantum quod si contritio fuerit stabilis, dimitto ei non solum peccatum sed et penam peccati, sicut per exemplum cognoscere poteris, quasi si essent duo frusta argenti viui et ambo concurrerent festinando inuicem.
Si in eorum coniunctione non esset residuum nisi quasi unus athomus, adhuc potens esset Deus facere, ne conuenirent. Sic si aliquis peccator esset ita radicatus in diabolicis operibus, quod staret in ipso puncto perditionis, adhuc obtineret veniam et misericordiam, si Deus inuocaretur cum contritione et voluntate emendandi.
Nunc autem cum ita sim misericors querere poteris, cur non misereor gentilibus et Iudeis, quorum aliqui si erudirentur fide recta libenter pro Deo morerentur? Respondeo tibi, quod omnibus facio misericordiam tam gentilibus quam Iudeis, nec relinquitur aliqua creatura sine misericordia mea.
Nam quicumque audiunt, quod fides eorum non est vera et desiderant feruenter veram aut quicumque credunt hoc esse optimum quod tenent, quia non est eis aliud umquam predicatum faciuntque toto conamine, que possunt, horum iudicium erit in leuiori misericordia.
Nam duplex est, iudicium damnandorum scilicet et saluandorum. Christianorum enim damnandorum erit sine misericordia, quorum pena erit eterna et tenebre et voluntas firmata contra Deum.
Saluandorum vero erit visio Dei et gloriatio in Deo et velle Deo bonum. Ab hijs exclusi sunt gentiles et Iudei et mali et falsi Christiani. Qui quamuis non habuerunt fidem rectam, habuerunt tamen iudicem conscientiam suam credentes eundem esse Deum, quem coluerunt et offenderunt.
Isti autem quorum voluntas et actio erat et est secundum iusticiam et contra peccatum, habebunt cum minus malis Christianis iudicium misericordie in supplicijs propter dilectionem iusticie et odium peccati, sed non habebunt consolationem in seruitione glorie et visionis Dei,
quem non videbunt propter baptismi carentiam, quia aliquod temporale aut occultum iudicium Dei retraxit eos, ne salutem fructuose quererent et obtinerent.
Si vero nichil retraxit eos in querendo Deum verum et baptizando non timor aut labor non dispendium bonorum vel honorum sed impedimentum solum humanam fragilitatem superans, istos, ego qui Cornelium et Centurionem nondum baptizatos vidi, altius et perfectius remunerare scio, sicut eorum exigit fides.
Quia est alia ignorantia malicie, alia pietatis et difficultatis, similiter et alius est baptismus aque, alius sanguinis, alius perfecte voluntatis. Que omnia nouit pensare Deus, qui omnium nouit corda. Propterea ego, qui sine principio natus sum eternaliter de principio, qui et iterum in fine temporum natus sum temporaliter ab initio noui singulorum remunerare merita et do unicuique iuxta merita sua.
Nec minimum bonum, quod fit ad honorem Dei, transiet sine remuneratione. Ideo teneris tu multum regratiari Deo, quia de Christianis nata es et in tempore salutis, quia multi desiderabant hoc obtinere et videre, quod offertur Christianis et non obtinuerunt."
Notes
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