SR
Revelationes (Heavenly Revelations)/Book 4 · Liber IV (partial)
Chapter 38Revel.4.38

Verba Ihesu Christi ad sponsam de fide non habenda in sompniis, ymo precauenda quantumcumque leta vel tristia; et quomodo Dyabolus in talibus falsitatem admiscet veritati, propter que insurgunt in mundo multi errores; et quod prophete ideo non errauerunt, quia super omnia veraciter Deum dilexerunt.

The Deception of Dreams

Christ warns against placing faith in dreams, explaining how the devil uses them to manipulate emotions and sow confusion.

The Son says, "Why do pleasant dreams lift you up like this?" And why do sad dreams weigh you down so much? Didn't I tell you that the devil is envious, and that without God's permission he can do no more than a piece of straw before your feet? I also said that he is the father and inventor of lies, and that he mixes truth into all his falsehoods. That’s why I tell you that the devil doesn’t sleep, but prowls around, looking for any opportunity. You must be on your guard, because the Devil—who uses his subtle knowledge to read your inner life through your outward actions—might deceive you. For sometimes he puts joyful things into your heart so that you might rejoice in vanity, and other times he puts sad things there, so that by grieving you might abandon good works you could have done, and so that you might become miserable and sorrowful before the troubles even arrive. Sometimes the devil also plants many falsehoods in a heart that is deceived and wants to please the world, leading many people astray, just as the false prophets were. And this happens to anyone who loves something else more than God himself. That’s why you often find truth mixed in with false words; the Devil could never deceive anyone if he didn't mix some truth into his lies, just as you saw in that possessed man.1 Although he confessed one God, his shameless behavior and other strange words showed that the Devil was the one possessing and inhabiting him.

Divine Permission and Human Sin

God explains that He permits spiritual deception as a consequence of human pride and the desire to know things beyond one's station.

You might ask: Why do I allow the Devil to lie? I answer: I have permitted this, and I continue to permit it, because of the sins of the people and the clergy who wanted to know things I did not want them to know, and who longed to prosper in places where I saw it would not serve their salvation. God permits many things because of our sins—things that wouldn't happen if people didn't abuse grace and reason. But those prophets who desired nothing but God, and who only wanted to speak the words of God for God's sake, were not deceived; they spoke the words of truth and loved Him.

Discerning the Spirit

Practical guidance is given on how to handle dreams through detachment, humility, and reliance on God's will.

Still, just as not all dreams should be accepted, neither should all be dismissed, because sometimes God inspires good things even in the wicked—and their outcomes—so that they might turn back from their sins, and sometimes He even gives good things to the good in dreams, so that they might advance further toward God. So, whenever these things happen, don't set your heart on them. Instead, weigh and discern them with wise, spiritual friends, or simply let them go and clear them from your heart as if you’d never seen them, because anyone who takes pleasure in such things is more often deceived and disturbed. Stay steady in your faith in the Holy Trinity, love God with all your heart, and be obedient in both difficult and prosperous times. Don't think more highly of yourself than others, stay watchful even when things go well, don't prefer your own judgment to the judgment of others, and commit your entire will to God, ready for whatever He may want. Then you have no reason to fear dreams. For if they are pleasant, don't put your faith in them or crave them, unless the honor of God is clearly at stake; but if they are distressing, don't let yourself be troubled, but instead entrust your whole self to God.

The Mother's Promise

The Mother of Mercy offers a final word of comfort, promising provision and reward for the faithful soul.

Then the Mother spoke: "I am the mother of mercy, who prepares clothes for the daughter who sleeps, prepares food for the daughter who dresses herself, and prepares a crown and every good thing for the daughter who labors."

Read the original Latin

Filius loquitur: "Quid te sic eleuant sompnia leta? Cur sic vero te deprimunt sompnia tristia? Numquid non dixeram tibi, quod Dyabolus inuidus est et quod sine permissione Dei non plus facere poterit quam stramen ante pedes tuos?

Dixi eciam, quod ipse est pater et inuentor mendacii et quod in omnibus falsitatibus suis admiscet veritatem. Propterea dico tibi, quod Dyabolus non dormit sed circuit, ut inueniat aliquam occasionem.

Ideo cauendum est tibi, quod Dyabolus, qui ex subtilitate sciencie sue ex motibus exterioribus deprehendit interiora, non decipiat te. Nam quandoquoque immittit cordi leta, ut inaniter gaudeas, quandoque tristia, ut dolendo dimittas aliqua bona, que potuisses facere, et ut ante miserias fias misera et dolorosa.

Quandoque eciam Dyabolus immittit cordi deluso et volenti placere mundo multas falsitates, per quas decipiuntur multi, sicut falsis prophetis. Et hoc contingit homini qui plus aliud diligit quam ipsum Deum.

Ideo contingit, quod in multis falsis verbis inueniuntur multa vera, quia Dyabolus nunquam decipere posset, nisi falsitati admisceret veritatem, sicut patuit in illo arrepticio quem vidisti;

qui licet confiteretur unum Deum, impudicus tamen gestus et verba alia extranea ostendebant, quod Dyabolus erat in eo possessor et inhabitator.

Nunc autem querere poteris: Cur permitto Dyabolo mentiri? Respondeo: Hoc permisi et permitto propter peccata populorum et clericorum, qui illa scire voluerunt, que Deus noluit eos scire, et ibi prosperari desiderabant, ubi Deus videbat saluti eorum non proficere.

Propterea Deus multa permittit propter peccata, que non contingerent, si homo non abuteretur gracia et racione. Illi vero prophete qui nichil desiderabant nisi Deum nec verba Dei loqui voluerunt nisi propter Deum, isti non decipiebantur sed verba veritatis loquebantur et dilexerunt.

Verumptamen sicut omnia sompnia non sunt recipienda, sic nec omnia sunt contempnenda, quia quandoque Deus eciam malis inspirat bona et exitus suos, ut resipiscant a peccatis suis, quandoque eciam bonis bona in sompniis, ut amplius proficiant ad Deum.

Ideo quando et quociens tibi aliqua talia occurrerint, non apponas cor tuum sed pondera et discerne illa cum amicis tuis sapientibus spiritualibus, aut dimitte et exclude illa de corde tuo quasi non visa, quia qui talibus delectatur frequencius illuditur et perturbatur.

Ergo esto stabilis in fide sancte Trinitatis, dilige Deum toto corde, esto obediens tam in contrariis quam in prosperis, nulli te preferas in cogitacionibus sed time eciam in benefactis, non preferas sensus tuos sensibus aliorum voluntatemque tuam totam committe Deo parata ad omnia, que velit Deus.

Tunc timere non habes sompnia. Si enim leta fuerint, non credas eis vel non appetas, nisi ibi perpendatur honor Dei; si vero tristia fuerint, non contristeris sed pone te totam ad Deum."

Deinde loquebatur Mater: "Ego sum mater misericordie, que filie dormienti preparo vestes, filie induenti se preparo cibum, filie laboranti preparo coronam et omne bonum."

Notes

  1. 1The term 'arrepticio' refers to one seized or possessed by an evil spirit.

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