Qualiter modernis temporibus hominum malicia precellit Dyaboli astuciam; et quomodo homines nunc prompciores sunt ad peccandum quam Dyabolus ad temptandum; et de sentencia contra tales illata; et qualiter Dei amici in predicando debent laborare viriliter et celeriter; et de sciencie infusione in suos amicos.
The Preeminence of Human Malice
Humanity has become so hardened in sin that it outpaces the devil's own temptations, exacerbated by the failure of spiritual leadership.
The Son speaks: "If I were capable of being troubled, I could rightly say now: I regret having made man."1 For man is now like an animal that runs headlong into the nets of its own accord. No matter how much he is warned, he still follows the appetites of his own will. It's no longer entirely fair to blame the Devil for dragging a person along by force; in fact, the person himself outruns the Devil's own malice. It's like hunting dogs that are initially kept on leashes, but once they're used to catching and devouring prey, they actually rush ahead of their master in their eagerness for the kill. In this way, humanity, now accustomed to sin and under its spell, is quicker to sin than the devil is to tempt. It's no surprise. It’s been a long time since the Apostolic See, the head of the world, has appeased God with the holiness of its life and example as it once did; because of this, the remaining members have become weak and listless.
The Coming Judgment
Because the world has abandoned the imitation of Christ's poverty, a divine judgment is coming to strip away worldly attachments.
People don't consider why God, who is rich, became needy and poor—namely, to teach us to despise what is perishing and to love what is heavenly. But everyone is eager to imitate the way a person, who is poor by nature, becomes rich in false wealth; and few are found who don't imitate that. Therefore, the plowman will come from the Most Powerful, sharpened by the Most Wise; he doesn't seek land or physical beauty, he doesn't fear the strength of the strong, nor does he dread the threats of princes, and he shows no partiality toward anyone. He will sow the flesh of men and tear down the houses of spirits; he will hand over their bodies to the worms and their souls to those they served. Therefore, the friends I’m sending you to must work vigorously and quickly, because what I’m talking about won’t happen in the final days, as I said before, but in these days. Many people alive today will see this, so that what is written may be fulfilled: 'Let their wives become widows and their children fatherless,' and may everything desirable to men be taken away.
Purification and Divine Consolation
God offers mercy and wisdom to the humble, while purifying the world and silencing the boastful who refused to heed His warnings.
Nevertheless, whoever comes to me with humility, I, the merciful God, will receive them. But to those who have produced the fruit of justice through their works, I will give myself. It’s only right that the house where the King is about to enter should be cleansed; that the glass should be polished so the drink may shine clear; that the grain should be thoroughly crushed so it can be separated from the chaff; and that what is enclosed in the mold should be pressed firmly until it takes on the likeness of the mold. Yet, just as summer comes after winter, so after tribulation I will give consolation to those who desire to be little, and who value heavenly things more than earthly ones. However, just as a person isn't born and doesn't die at one and the same time, so all things will now be fulfilled in their own proper times.✦ Know also that with some people I choose to act according to the common proverb: 'Strike him on the neck and he will run,' because tribulation forces them to hurry. With others, I will act as it is written: 'Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.'✦ But to the third group I will say, bringing them comfort and inspiration: 'Come, you unlearned and simple ones, and I will give you a voice and a wisdom that no glib talker will be able to withstand.' I have already done this in these days: I have filled the simple with my wisdom, and they resist the learned; I have uprooted the boastful and the powerful, and they have suddenly passed away. It's no surprise; for I instructed the wise to cut out the tongues of serpents, just as you heard, and they refused. Nor was the mother, who served as the rod of the community, able to silence their mouths to extinguish the fire of greed kindled in the hearts of the children, just as I had warned. That’s why, when they were prosperous, I cut them down and silenced their tongues.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Si turbari possem, merito nunc dicere possem: Penitet me fecisse hominem. Nam homo modo est sicut animal, quod sponte currit in recia. Quantumcumque enim inclamatur, nichilominus sequitur sue voluntatis appetitum.
Nec iam omnino imputandum est Dyabolo, quod violenter trahit hominem; ymmo homo ipse preuenit maliciam eius. Sicut canes venatici, qui primo ducuntur copulis, inde tamen assueti capere et deuorare animalia eciam in accelerando ad predam preueniunt ductorem,
sic iam homo assuetus et fascinatus in peccato prompcior est ad peccandum quam Dyabolus ad temptandum. Nec mirum est. Diu enim est quod sedes apostolica, caput mundi, non placauit Deum sanctitate vite et exemplo suo, sicut primitus faciebat, et ideo reliqua membra facta sunt debilia et languida.
Nec consideratur, cur Deus diues factus est egenus et pauper, scilicet ut peritura contempnenda doceret et celestia amanda. Sed quod homo pauper natura factus est diues falsis diuiciis, hoc omnes imitari appetunt, paucique inueniuntur alii, qui non imitantur.
Ideo veniet arator a potentissimo, exacuatus a sapientissimo, qui non querit terras et pulchritudinem corporum, non veretur fortitudinem forcium nec timet minas principum, sed nec accipit personas hominum;
qui seminabit carnes hominum et diruet domos spirituum, qui corpora tradet vermibus animasque tradet illis quibus seruierunt.
Ideo amici mei, ad quos te mittam, laborent viriliter et celeriter, quia non erit istud quod dico in nouissimis diebus, ut dixi prius, sed in diebus istis.
Et multorum iam viuencium eciam hoc videbunt oculi, ut impleatur quod scriptum est: 'Fiant uxores eorum vidue et filii sine patribus,' omneque desiderabile hominum auferatur.
Verumptamen, quicumque ad me cum humilitate venerint, hos ego misericors Deus suscipio. Qui vero fructum iusticie operibus impleuerint, hiis ego dabo meipsum,
quia iustum est ut domus purgetur, in qua rex ingressurus est, vitrum mundetur, ut clarescat potus, granum fortiter conteratur, ut ab arista separetur, illudque, quod in formella clauditur, vehementer prematur, donec formelle similitudo obtineatur.
Attamen sicut post yemem venit estas, sic ego post tribulacionem dabo consolacionem hiis scilicet, qui cupiunt esse paruuli et qui celestia preponderant plus quam terrena.
Verumptamen sicut homo non nascitur et moritur uno eodemque tempore, sic omnia temporibus suis nunc implebuntur.
Scito eciam, quod cum aliquibus volo facere iuxta prouerbium commune: 'Percute eum in collo et curret', et tribulacio accelerare cogit. Cum aliis faciam sicut scribitur: 'Aperi os tuum et implebo illud.'
Ad tercios vero dicam consolando et inspirando: 'Venite, ydeote et simplices, et dabo vobis os et sapienciam, quibus linguosi non poterunt repugnare.'
Sic feci iam in diebus istis: impleui simplices sapiencia mea et resistunt doctis, euulsi magniloquos et potentes et subito decesserunt.
Nec mirum; precepi enim sapientibus, ut preciderent linguas serpencium, sicut audisti, et noluerunt. Nec mater, que fuit virga communitatis, valuit extinguere ora, ut ignem extingueret cupiditatis succensum in cordibus filiorum, ut monui.
Ideo ego tempore felicitatis eorum succidi eos et precidi linguas eorum."
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'penitet me fecisse hominem' echoes Genesis 6:6-7, where God 'repented' or 'regretted' having made man.
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