Virgo Maria loquebatur cum sponsa Filii sui de quodam episcopo, pro quo ipsa deuote orabat, et dat hic notabilem doctrinam et formam virtuosissimam, secundum quam veri episcopi viuere et se ac subditos suos regere debeant spiritualiter et deuote.
The Vision of the Scales
The Virgin Mary reveals to the bride the spiritual state of a blind bishop through a vision of heavy and light scales.
The Mother of Mercy said to the bride of Christ, "What are we to do with this blind bishop?" For he has three things. He works, in fact, to please people more than God, He loves a treasure—not the kind that angels guard, but the kind that thieves can steal—and he loves himself more than his neighbor, and more than his God. At that very moment, the bride saw about six scales, three of which were heavy because they were being weighed down by their own weight. The other three were so light that they were lifted entirely upward, because there seemed to be nothing in them but something light, like a feather. The Mother said, "Look at this bishop; even though he has the three faults mentioned earlier, he still lives in constant fear. It's because of this fear—which is a kind of gateway to charity—that you've been given the grace to see his true state." Those three heavy scales represent his actions that are contrary to God, which weigh down his soul; they appear as three to you because, through his affections, his speech, and his actions, he descends toward the world like a scale. However, the other three scales seem light to you as they rise, because he now ascends to God in his thoughts, now in his will, and now in his actions. Yet worldly things still outweigh spiritual ones, because he’s so much more intensely and deeply caught up in them—to the point that the Devil is already dragging him by the feet, and the snare is set.
The Three Friends of the Soul
The Mother of Mercy explains the divine desire to guide the bishop through three stages of counsel, mirroring the path of salvation.
The bride replied, "O Lady of mercy, you're putting something on the scales." To which the Mother replied, "Agnes and I were waiting to see if the bishop might perhaps reconsider our love, but he doesn't pay much attention to our concern." Yet we want to do for him what three friends sitting on the road, who know the way, would do for their friend by showing him that same path—the first of whom would say: Friend, the path you're taking isn't right or safe. If you keep on this way, robbers will harm you, and just when you think you're safe, you'll die. The second might say: 'The path you're on seems pleasant, but what good is that pleasure to you if it ends in bitterness of soul?' The third would say: 'O friend, I see your weakness.' Therefore, don't be displeased if I offer you counsel, and don't be ungrateful if I show you special charity.' Agnes and I want to do this for this bishop: if he listens to the first, the second will show him the way, and the third will lead him into the realm of light.
The Path to Charity
The Mother provides a practical framework for avoiding sin and acquiring divine charity, detailing the transformation of the soul.
Afterward, the things being sent divinely to instruct the bishop were shown to the bride, as follows. The Mother speaks again: "Tell the bishop this: although God can do all things, a person must still personally cooperate so that sin may be avoided and divine charity obtained." There are three things that lead us to avoid sin, and three that help us gain charity. The first three, by which sin is avoided, are these: This means: to repent faithfully of everything that troubles your conscience, to refuse to commit those things again willingly, and to firmly amend what you have committed and confessed, according to the counsel of those who have turned their backs on the world. There are three other things that help in acquiring charity: first, to ask God for his help, so that twisted pleasure may be taken away and a will may be given to do the things that please God. For divine love isn't obtained unless it's desired, and no desire will be reasonable unless it's grounded in the love of God. And so, there are three things in a person before charity enters, and three other things that enter when divine charity is poured in. For before the love of God is poured into a person, they are troubled by the approach of death, troubled by the loss of honors and friendships, and troubled by the adversities of the world and the infirmities of the flesh. Once charity is obtained, joy enters the soul from the worldly troubles it endures; the mind feels constrained to possess the world, yet it rejoices to honor God and to suffer for the sake of God's honor.
Read the original Latin
Mater misericordie loquebatur sponse Christi: "Quid faciemus isti ceco episcopo? Ipse enim habet tria. Laborat quippe ut placeat hominibus plus quam Deo,
diligit thesaurum, non quem angeli custodiunt sed quem furari possunt fures, diligit eciam se plus quam proximum suum et plus quam Deum suum."
Et ecce in eodem momento vidit sponsa quasi sex stateras, quarum tres ponderose erant, quia deprimebantur a pondere.
Alie vero tres ita leues erant, quod ex toto eleuabantur ad superiora, quia in eis nichil esse videbatur nisi leue quoddam quasi pluma.
Et dixit mater: "Ecce iste episcopus, licet habeat tria mala prius dicta, tamen timet semper; propter quem timorem, qui est inductiuum quoddam caritatis, datum est tibi videre statum eius.
Nam ille tres ponderose statere significant opera eius contraria Deo, que deprimunt animam eius; que ideo videntur tibi tres, quia affeccione, locucione et operacione more statere descendit ad mundum.
Ideo vero tres alie statere leues videntur tibi ascendere, quia nunc cogitacione, nunc voluntate, nunc opere ascendit ad Deum;
sed tamen mundialia preponderant spiritualibus, quia in hiis implicatur feruencius et copiosius, in tantum quod iam Dyabolus trahit eum per pedes, et laqueus est paratus."
Respondit sponsa: "O, domina pietatis, impone tu aliquid stateris." Cui mater: "Agnes et ego expectabamus, si forte episcopus recogitare voluerit caritatem nostram, sed non multum attendit sollicitudinem nostram.
Attamen facere ei volumus sicut tres amici sedentes in via et scientes viam ostenderent amico eorum eandem viam quorum primus diceret:
'O, amice, via quam vadis non est recta nec tuta. Si continuaueris viam istam, latrones eciam tibi nocebunt, et cum securum te credideris, morieris.'
Secundus diceret: 'Via ista quam vadis delectabilis videtur, sed quid prodest tibi illa delectacio, si amaritudo mentalis est in fine?'
Tercius vero diceret: 'O, amice, video infirmitatem tuam. Ideo non displiceat tibi, si do tibi consilium, nec sis ingratus, si fecero tecum specialem caritatem.'
Sic facere volumus ego et Agnes isti episcopo: si audierit primum, secundus monstrabit ei viam, tercius vero introducet eum in regionem lucis."
Postea sponse ostendebantur ea que mittebantur diuinitus ad informacionem dicti episcopi, ut sequitur.
Item loquitur mater: "Sic dicetur episcopo: Deus licet omnia possit facere, tamen homo personaliter cooperari debet ad hoc, ut peccatum fugiatur et caritas diuina obtineatur.
Tria namque sunt inductiua ad fugiendum peccatum et tria cooperatiua ad acquirendam caritatem. Tria prima, quibus vitatur peccatum sunt ista,
scilicet penitere fideliter de omnibus, que remordent conscienciam, nolle ea iterum voluntarie committere, commissa et confessa stabiliter emendare iuxta consilia eorum qui mundum contempserunt.
Alia vero tria cooperatiua ad acquirendam caritatem sunt ista: Rogare primo Deum in adiutorium, ut auferatur praua delectacio, et detur voluntas facienda ea que placent Deo.
Nam caritas diuina non obtinetur nisi desideretur, nec desiderium erit racionabile nisi in Dei caritate stabiliatur.
Et ideo tria sunt in homine antequam ingrediatur caritas, et tria alia ingrediuntur, quando infunditur caritas diuina.
Nam ante infusionem caritatis Dei turbatur homo de aduentu mortis, turbatur de diminucione honorum et amiciciarum, de mundi aduersitate et carnis infirmitate.
Obtenta vero caritate gaudium ingreditur in anima de tribulacionibus mundi, quas patitur, angustiatur mens possidere mundum et gaudet facere honorem Deo et pro honore Dei tribulari.
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