Verba sponse ad Deum de eius virtute et magnificencia; et responsio virginis ad filiam ipsam comfortans; et qualiter boni serui Dei non debent cessare a predicacione et monicione gencium, siue conuertantur siue non, quod probat per exemplum.
The Beauty of Divine Communion
The soul praises the triune God and seeks to be transformed by drawing near to His divine beauty.
Blessed are you, my God, who are three and one: three in persons and one in nature. You are goodness itself and wisdom itself; you are beauty itself and power; you are justice itself and truth, through whom all things exist, live, and subsist. You are truly like a flower growing alone in a field; everyone who draws near to this flower finds sweetness in its taste, relief in their minds, delight in its sight, and strength in every other part of their being. In the same way, everyone who draws near to you becomes more beautiful by leaving sin behind, wiser by following your will instead of the flesh, and more just by pursuing the good of the soul and the honor of God. Therefore, most loving God, grant that I may love what delights You, resist temptations with strength, despise all worldly things, and keep You constantly in my memory.
The Trap of False Humility
The Mother corrects the daughter's temptation to remain silent, warning that the devil uses false humility to hinder the work of charity.
The Mother answered: "That good Jerome earned this greeting for you; he turned away from false wisdom and found true wisdom, and he rejected worldly honor to gain God Himself." Blessed is such a Jerome, and blessed are those who imitate his teaching and his life. He was a lover of widows, a mirror for those making progress, and a teacher of all truth and purity. But tell me, daughter, what is troubling your heart? She replied, "A thought comes to me, saying: 'If you are good, your own goodness is enough for you.'" 'What is it to you to judge and provoke others, or to teach those who are better than you, when that is neither your order nor your status?'" From this thought, the soul becomes so hardened that it forgets itself and grows entirely cold to the love of God." The Mother replied, "This thought holds many people back from God, even those who are spiritually advanced."
The Apostolic Duty of Love
God's friends are encouraged to persist in their mission of teaching and conversion, regardless of the visible outcome, for their reward is based on their labor and obedience.
For the devil hinders the good from speaking to the wicked, lest they perhaps be moved to compunction. He also hinders them from speaking to the good, lest they perhaps be raised to a higher place, because the good, having heard the teaching of the good, are raised to higher merits and places. That eunuch, while reading Isaiah, would indeed have come to a lesser punishment of hell, but Philip met him and, by teaching him the shortcut to heaven, raised him to a place of happiness. In the same way, Peter was sent to Cornelius. If Cornelius had died before that, he would indeed have reached a place of refreshment because of his faith, but Peter arrived and brought him to the gate of life. Similarly, Paul came to Dionysius and led him to his blessed reward. Therefore, friends of God shouldn't grow weary in God's service, but should work so that the bad person might become better and the good person might advance to greater things. For anyone who wants to whisper into the ears of everyone passing by that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, and who tries as hard as they can to bring about the conversion of others, Even if no one or only a few were to be converted, he would still receive the same reward as if everyone were converted, as I say by way of example. If two laborers were to dig through a very hard mountain at their master's command, and one found choice gold while the other found nothing, they would both be worthy of the same reward because of their labor and their willingness. Just as Paul converted many while other apostles converted fewer, they were all of one will, but the divine dispensation remains hidden. Therefore, don't stop, even if few or none receive the words of God, because just as a thorn protects a rose and a donkey carries its master, In this way, the devil—like the thorn of sin—serves the elect through tribulations just as a thorn serves a rose, so they aren't led astray by the vanity of a presumptuous heart; and like a donkey, he carries them toward the consolation of God and a greater reward.
Read the original Latin
"Benedictus sis tu, Deus meus, qui es trinus et unus: trinus in personis et unus in natura. Tu es ipsa bonitas et ipsa sapiencia, tu ipsa pulchritudo et potestas, tu ipsa iusticia et veritas, per quam sunt omnia, viuunt et subsistunt.
Tu vere similis es flori crescenti singulariter in campo, de quo omnes appropinquantes flori obtinent suauitatem in gustu, alleuiacionem in cerebro, delectacionem in visu, fortitudinem in reliquis membris.
Sic omnes appropinquantes tibi fiunt pulchriores relinquendo peccatum, fiunt sapienciores sequendo voluntatem tuam et non carnis, fiunt iustiores sequendo utilitatem anime et honorem Dei.
Propterea, piissime Deus, da michi id amare quod te delectat, temptacionibus viriliter resistere, mundana omnia contempnere et te iugiter in memoria mea retinere."
Respondit Mater: "Hanc salutacionem promeruit tibi ille bonus Ieronimus, qui recessit de falsa sapiencia et inuenit sapienciam veram, qui contempsit honorem terrenum et lucratus est ipsum Deum.
Felix talis Ieronimus, felices qui eius imitantur doctrinam et vitam. Qui fuit amator viduarum, speculum proficiencium doctorque tocius veritatis et puritatis. Sed dic, filia, quid est quod te sollicitat in corde tuo?"
Et illa: "Occurrit," inquit, "cogitacio dicens: 'Si bona es, sufficit tibi bonitas tua. Quid ad te iudicare et prouocare alios docereque meliores, quod nec tui ordinis est nec status?' Ex qua cogitacione ita obduratur animus, quod et suiipsius obliuiscitur totusque refrigescit a Dei caritate."
Respondit Mater: "Hec cogitacio multos eciam prouectos retrahit a Deo. Nam Dyabolus impedit bonos, ne loquantur malis, ne forte compungerentur. Impedit eciam, ne loquantur bonis, ne forte eleuarentur ad alciorem locum, quia boni audita doctrina bonorum eleuantur ad alciora merita et loca.
Sic eunuchus ille legens Ysaiam venisset quidem ad minorem penam inferni, sed occurrit Philippus et docens eum compendium ad celum eleuauit eum ad felicem locum.
Sic eciam Petrus mittebatur ad Cornelium. Si Cornelius prius fuisset mortuus, venisset quidem propter fidem ad refrigerium, sed aduenit Petrus et proiecit eum ad portam vite. Similiter eciam Paulus venit ad Dyonisium et duxit eum ad beatam remuneracionem.
Ergo amici Dei non debent attediari in seruicio Dei sed laborare, ut homo malus fiat melior et homo bonus veniat ad perfecciora.
Nam quicumque voluntatem haberet sibilandi in aures omnium transeuncium, quod Ihesus Christus esset vere Dei filius, et faciendo conaretur, quantum posset, ad aliorum conuersionem,
licet nulli vel pauci conuerterentur, nichilominus eandem mercedem obtineret ac si omnes conuerterentur, sicut per exemplum dico.
Si duo mercenarii ex precepto domini foderent montem durissimum, et alius inueniret aurum electum, alius vero nichil, isti propter laborem et voluntatem digni equali essent mercede,
sicut Paulus, qui plures conuertit, alii apostoli, qui pauciores conuertebant, omnes tamen unius erant voluntatis, sed dispensacio diuina occulta.
Propterea non est cessandum, quamuis vel pauci vel nulli recipiant verba Dei, quia sicut spina conseruat rosam et asinus transfert dominum suum,
sic Dyabolus spina peccati per tribulaciones proficit electis tamquam rosis, ne per presumpcionem cordis dissoluantur inaniter, et quasi asinus producit eos ad Dei consolacionem et maiorem remuneracionem."
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