Verba beati Petri ad sponsam de desiderio quod habuit ad saluandas gentes; et qualiter informat sponsam ad memoriam obtinendam et de magnis mirabilibus, que adhuc in urbe Romana debent adimpleri vel compleri.
The Plow of Apostolic Zeal
Peter reflects on his past apostolic fervor and the sweetness of his intimate union with God.
Blessed Peter says to the bride of Christ, "My daughter, you have compared me to a plow that cuts wide furrows and tears out the roots." This was certainly true. I was so on fire against vice and so driven to promote virtue that, if I could have turned the whole world to God, I wouldn't have spared my own life or my own labor. God himself was truly sweet to me in my thoughts, sweet in my speech, and sweet in my actions, to such a degree that everything except God seemed bitter to me to even think about. Yet God himself was also bitter to me—not because of who He is, but because of who I am. Whenever I thought about how much I had failed and how I had denied Him, I wept bitterly, because I now knew how to love perfectly; and my tears were as delightful to me as sweet food.
The Path to True Memory
Peter teaches the bride that true memory of God is found through humility and reliance on divine grace rather than self-sufficiency.
As for your request that I give you a memory, I answer you: haven't you heard how forgetful I was? I had been fully instructed in the way of God and had sworn an oath to stand and die with God, yet when questioned by the word of a single woman, I denied the truth. And why? Because at that time God left me to myself, and I didn't even recognize who I was. But what did I do then? I truly considered myself, and realized that on my own I was nothing. I rose up and ran to the Truth, to God, who impressed the memory of His name so deeply upon my heart that I couldn't forget Him, not even before tyrants, nor amidst the lash, nor in the face of death. So you do the same: rise through humility to the Master of memory and ask Him for memory. For He alone is the one who can do all things. But I will help you, so that you may share in the grains that I have placed upon the earth.
The Restoration of Rome
A prophetic vision of the corruption of Rome and its eventual transformation through divine intervention.
Furthermore, I tell you that this city of Rome was a city of champions, whose streets were paved with gold and silver. But now, its sapphire stones have turned into mud, and its inhabitants are very few. Their right eye has been gouged out and their right hand cut off; toads and vipers live among them, and because of their poison, gentle creatures dare not appear, nor can my fish lift their heads. Therefore, fish will still gather into it; and even if they aren't as numerous as they once were, they will still be just as sweet and bold, to the point that from their clashing, toads and frogs and snakes will descend, and they will be changed into lambs, and lions will be like doves at their windows. He adds, "I tell you further, that in your own days you'll hear it said: 'Long live the vicar of Peter!'" And you'll see him with your own eyes. For I will dig through the mountain of delights, and those who sit upon it will come down. But those who refuse to descend willingly will come under compulsion, contrary to everyone's expectations, because God intends to be exalted in mercy and truth.
Read the original Latin
Beatus Petrus loquitur sponse Christi: "Tu, filia, comparasti me aratro, quod facit sulcos latos et extirpat radices. Hoc utique verum fuit.
Nam sic feruens contra vicia fui et ad mores accensus, quod si totum mundum potuissem ad Deum conuertisse, nullatenus pepercissem vite mee nec labori.
Ipse quippe Deus dulcis michi fuit in cogitatu, dulcis in locucione, dulcis in operacione, in tantum quod omnia erant michi amara ad cogitandum preter Deum. Attamen ipse Deus eciam michi amarus fuit, non ex se sed ex me ipso.
Nam quociens cogitabam, quantum deliqui et quomodo eum negaueram, fleui amare, quia noueram iam perfecte amare et fuerunt michi lachrime mee delectabiles tamquam cibus dulcis.
Quod vero rogas me dare tibi memoriam, respondeo tibi: Numquid non audisti, quam obliuiosus ego fui? Ego quippe plene instructus viam Dei iuramento me obligaui ad standum et moriendum cum Deo, sed interrogatus ad verbum unius mulieris negaui veritatem.
Et quare? Quia tunc reliquit me Deus michi ipsi et ego ipse me ipsum non agnoscebam. Sed quid feci ego tunc? Consideraui quippe me ipsum, quod nichil eram ex me.
Et surrexi et cucurri ad veritatem, Deum, qui tantum memorie nominis sui impressit cordi meo, quod nec coram tyrannis nec inter flagella seu in morte poteram eum obliuisci.
Sic igitur fac et tu: Surge per humilitatem ad magistrum memorie et pete ab eo memoriam. Ipse enim est solus, qui omnia potest. Ego vero iuuabo te, ut particeps fias granorum, que ego posui super terram.
Insuper dico tibi, quod ciuitas ista Rome ciuitas erat pugilum, cuius platee strate auro et argento. Nunc autem lapides eius saphirei versi sunt in lutum, habitatores eius paucissimi,
quorum dexter oculus erutus est, dextera manus abscisa, bufonesque et vippere habitant cum eis, pro quorum veneno animalia micia non audent apparere nec pisces mei eleuare caput.
Ideo adhuc in eam pisces congregabuntur; et si non ita multi ut olim, erunt tamen eque dulces et audaces, in tantum quod ex eorum collisione descendent bufones et rane et serpentes mutabuntur in agnos et leones erunt ut columbe ad fenestras suas."
Item addit: "Dico tibi amplius, quod adhuc in diebus tuis audietur: 'Viuat vicarius Petri!' Et videbis eum oculis tuis. Fodiam enim montem deliciarum et descendent sedentes in eo.
Qui autem beniuole noluerint descendere venient compulsi contra spem omnium, quia exaltari vult Deus cum misericordia et veritate."
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