Verba virginis ad filiam de tribus modis tribulacionum, qui per tres modos panum designantur.
The Three Kneadings of the Soul
The spiritual life is compared to the kneading of dough, which results in different qualities of bread.
The Mother says, "Wherever dough is mixed, it must be worked and kneaded vigorously." But wheat bread is set before the masters, while a lesser bread is set before the community, and a third bread, even worse, is given to the dogs.
Tribulation as a Measure of Love
The highest form of tribulation is the sorrow felt for the lack of love and honor given to God.
By this 'kneading' we understand tribulation, because the spiritual person is most deeply troubled by the fact that God does not receive honor from His creature, and that there is so little love in her. Everyone, therefore, who is troubled in this way is that wheat in which God and all the host of heaven rejoice.
Degrees of Suffering and Their Ends
Suffering is categorized by its source, distinguishing between worldly adversity and the malice of the wicked.
Anyone troubled by the world's adversities is like a lower grade of bread, yet it still helps many reach heaven. But those who are troubled because they can't do all the evil they want to do—these are the bread of the dogs in hell.
Read the original Latin
Mater loquitur: "Vbicumque consparsio panum est, debet fortiter coagitari et laborari. Sed dominis apponitur panis triticeus, communitati vero apponitur panis deterior, tercius vero panis adhuc peior datur canibus.
Per coagitacionem ergo intelligitur tribulacio, quia spiritualis homo ex eo maxime tribulatur, quod Deus non habet honorem a creatura sua, et quod modica caritas est in ea.
Omnes ergo quicumque isto modo tribulantur, ipsi sunt triticum illud, de quo Deus et omnis exercitus celi gaudetur.
Omnis vero qui turbatur de aduersitate mundi, hii sunt quasi panis deterior; attamen valet multis ad obtinendum celum.
Qui vero tribulantur ex eo, quod non valent omnino mala facere, que vellent, isti sunt panes canum illorum qui sunt in inferno."
Revelationes (Heavenly Revelations) companion
Keep going — one revelation a day
The full 496-chapter Revelationes lives in the Chosen Portion app, served as free daily portions.
Birgitta's revelations arrived over three decades of daily attentiveness, and the Chosen Portion app lets readers receive them the same way — one portion per day.
- Finish the guided path in 8 weeks at roughly 15 minutes a day
- All 8 books, 496 chapters, in modern English — the complete transmitted text
- Daily delivery so a 30-year masterwork becomes a sustainable habit