Qualiter Dyabolus apparuit sponse volens ipsam per raciones apparentes decipere in sacramento corporis Christi; et qualiter Christus in adiutorium affuit sponse Dyabolum cogendo ad veritatem coram sponsa dicendam; et de confirmacione et informacione utilissima Christi ad sponsam de suo glorioso corpore in sacramento.
The Tempter's Challenge
A demon attempts to undermine the bride's faith in the Eucharist by appealing to sensory logic and the perceived indignity of the Sacrament.
A demon with a long belly appeared to the bride and said, "What are you believing, woman, and why are you thinking such big thoughts?" I, too, know many things and can prove what I say with clear logic, but I advise you: stop thinking about things that are hard to believe and trust your own senses." Don't you see with your own eyes, and don't you hear with your own ears, the sound of breaking a material piece of bread? You've seen it vomited up, handled, dishonorably thrown to the ground, and many other unworthy things done to it—things I would never tolerate being done to me. And if it were possible for God to be in the mouth of a righteous person, how could He descend to the unrighteous, whose greed is bottomless and without limit?
The Bride's Prayer of Gratitude
The bride responds to the temptation by turning to Christ, thanking Him for the gifts of penance, love, and consolation.
She responded to the humanity of Christ, which appeared immediately after the temptations, saying: "O Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for all things, and especially for three." First, because you clothe my soul by inspiring it—namely, with penance and compunction—by which every sin, no matter how grave, is washed away. Second, you feed the soul by pouring in your love and the memory of your passion, in which the soul finds delight as if it were the finest food. Third, you comfort everyone who calls upon you in their distress. Therefore, Lord, have mercy on me and help my faith; for although I deserve to be given over to the devil's illusions, I believe nonetheless that he can do nothing without your permission, and your permission is never without consolation.
The Lord Interrogates the Deceiver
Christ intervenes, forcing the devil to confess his own history and his malicious intent toward the bride.
Then Christ said to the Devil, "Why are you speaking to my new bride?" The Devil replied, "Because she was bound to me, and I still hope to catch her in my net." At that time, she was bound to me because, by consenting to me, she found more pleasure in following my advice than in following you, her Creator." I’ve kept watch over her ways, and they haven't yet faded from my memory." The Lord replied, "So, you're a negotiator and a scout of all paths?" The devil answered him, "I am a scout, truly, but only in the darkness, because you made me dark." And the Lord said, "When did you see this, and how did you become dark?" "I saw," the demon said, "when you created me most beautiful, but because I recklessly rushed into your splendor, I was blinded by that light like a basilisk." "I saw you when I desired your beauty; I saw you in my conscience, and I knew when you cast me out." I also know you in the human flesh you took on, and I did what you allowed me to do; I know when, by rising again, you stripped me of my captives, and I recognize your power daily, by which you mock and confound me. And the Lord said, "If you know and understand the truth about me, why do you lie to my chosen ones, when you know the truth about me?"
The Mystery of the Glorified Body
Christ challenges the devil regarding the nature of His resurrected body and its presence in the Sacrament.
Didn't I say that whoever eats my flesh lives forever? And yet you say it's a lie, and that no one eats my flesh. My people, therefore, are more idolatrous than those who worship stone and wood. But because I know all things, answer me while this person—who is standing here and cannot understand spiritual realities except through a likeness—is listening. Thomas, who touched me after the resurrection—was the body he touched spiritual or physical?✦ And if it was physical, how did it enter through closed doors?✦ But if it was spiritual, how was it visible to physical eyes? The devil replied, "It's difficult to speak here, where the speaker is suspect to everyone and is forced against his will to speak the truth." Nevertheless, I am compelled to say that in your resurrection you were both corporal and spiritual; and therefore, because of the eternal power of your divinity and the special prerogative of your glorified flesh, you enter everywhere and can be everywhere."
Divine Power and Sacramental Reality
Using the examples of Moses' staff and the loaves, Christ demonstrates that His power transcends human logic and sensory perception.
The Lord said again: "When Moses' staff was turned into a serpent, tell me, was it just the appearance of a serpent, or was it a serpent through and through, inside and out?" And regarding those baskets of bread or fragments of bread, tell me, was it true bread in its entirety, or just the appearance of bread?" The devil answered, "The whole thing in the rod was a serpent, the whole thing in the baskets was bread, and it was all done by your power and your patience." And the Lord said, "Do you think it's any harder for me to perform a similar or even more wonderful miracle now than it was then, if I choose to?" Or, since that glorified body was able to enter to the apostles through locked doors, why shouldn't it be able to be in the hands of a priest now? Is it really such a struggle for my divinity to join the lowest things to the highest, and the earthly to the heavenly? Not at all. But truly, father of lies, just as your malice is immense, so my love is and will be above all things. Even if one person were to burn that Sacrament, and another to trample it underfoot, I alone know the faith of everyone, and I order all things with measure and patience—I who make something out of nothing, and the invisible out of the visible; who also show something visible in sign and form, which nevertheless is truly one thing in what is signified, and appears as another. The Devil replied, "I experience the truth of this every day, when people who are my friends distance themselves from me and become yours." But what more can I say? A servant left to his own devices shows clearly enough by his will what he would actually do if he were permitted."
The Truth of Eucharistic Reception
Christ explains the nature of His presence in the Sacrament for both the faithful and the wicked, emphasizing that the effect depends on the recipient's disposition.
Then the Son of God speaks again: "Believe, daughter, that I am Christ, the restorer of life and not a deceiver; I am truthful and Truth itself, not a liar, and I am the eternal power, without whom nothing has been or will be." For if you have faith that I am in the hands of the priest, then even if the priest himself were to doubt, I am truly in his hands because of the faith of those who believe and those who are present, and because of the word that I myself personally instituted and spoke. And everyone who receives me receives my divinity, my humanity, and the form of bread. For what is God, if not life and sweetness, a light that illuminates, a goodness that delights, a justice that judges, and a mercy that saves? And what, truly, is my humanity, if not the most agile flesh, the union of God and man, the head of all Christians? Therefore, everyone who believes in God and receives His Body also receives the Godhead, because he receives the Life; he also receives the humanity by which God and man are joined, and he receives the form of bread, because He who lies hidden under His own form is received under another form for the sake of the proof of faith. In the same way, the wicked person receives the same divinity, but as a judge rather than a comfort; they receive the humanity, but it is less merciful to them; and they receive the form of bread, because under that visible form they receive the hidden truth, but not the sweetness that brings them joy. For when you bring me to your mouth and teeth, once the Sacrament is complete, I withdraw with my divinity and humanity, and only the form of bread remains for you. It isn't that I am not truly present there with the wicked just as I am with the good, because of the institution of the Sacrament, but rather that the good and the wicked do not experience the same effect. Finally, in the very sacrifice, Life itself—God—is offered to man; and while Life enters, It doesn't remain with the wicked, because they don't abandon their wickedness, and so only the form of bread remains for their senses. It isn't that the form of the bread—which exists under the substance of the bread—has any power in itself to affect them; rather, it's because they think of nothing regarding that reception except as if they were seeing and feeling the form of bread and wine, just as if a powerful lord were to enter someone's house, and they were to remember his appearance while ignoring the presence of his goodness.
Read the original Latin
Item apparuit sponse quidam demon longo ventre et ait: "Quid credis tu, mulier, et quid magna cogitas? Ego eciam multa scio et aperta racione probare valeo dicta mea, sed consulo tibi, dimitte cogitare incredibilia et crede sensibus tuis.
Nonne tu vides oculis et auribus carnis tuis audis sonum fraccionis hostie materialis panis? Vidisti eum euomi, tangi, inhoneste deici in terram pluraque indigna fieri, que ego in me non tolerarem. Et si Deum in ore iusti possibile esset esse, quomodo descendit ad iniustos, quorum auaricia est sine fundo et sine modo?"
Respondit illa ad humanitatem Christi, que statim apparuit post temptaciones, dicens: "O, domine Ihesu Christe, regracior tibi pro omnibus et specialiter pro tribus. Primo, quia vestis animam meam inspirando scilicet penitenciam et contricionem, qua omne diluitur peccatum quantumcumque graue.
Secundo cibas animam infundendo caritatem tuam et memoriam passionis tue, qua anima quasi cibo optimo delectatur. Tercio consolaris omnes te inuocantes in tribulacione.
Ergo, Domine, miserere mei et adiuua fidem meam; quamuis enim digna sim tradi illusionibus Dyaboli, credo tamen, quod sine permissione tua ipse nichil potest, nec permissio tua est sine consolacione."
Tunc ait Christus ad Dyabolum: "Cur," inquit, "loqueris sponse mee noue?" Cui Dyabolus respondit: "Quia," inquit, "colligata erat michi, et spero adhuc eam irreciendam rete meo. Tunc autem colligata erat michi, quando consenciendo michi plus placuit et placere studuit consiliis meis quam tibi, creatori suo. Nam custodiui vias eius, et nondum exciderunt a memoria mea."
Respondit Dominus: "Ergo negociator es tu et viarum omnium explorator?" Cui Dyabolus: "Vere explorator sum sed in tenebris, quia tenebrosum me fecisti." Et Dominus: "Quando," inquit, "vidisti, et quomodo tenebrosus factus es?"
"Vidi," inquit demon, "quando me creasti pulcherrimum, sed quia incaute irrui in splendorem tuum, tanquam basiliscus excecatus sum a splendore. Vidi te, cum desiderabam pulchritudinem tuam, vidi te in consciencia mea et noui, quando deiecisti me.
Noui eciam te in carne assumpta et feci quod permisisti michi, noui, quando resurgendo spoliasti a me captiuos meos, nosco quotidie potenciam tuam, qua me illudis et confundis."
Et Dominus: "Si," inquit, "nosti et scis de me veritatem, cur mentiris electis meis, ubi scis veritatem de me? Nonne ego dixi, quod qui manducat meam carnem viuit ineternum? Et tu dicis, quod mendacium est et quod nemo manducat meam carnem.
Ergo populus meus plus ydolatra est quam qui colit lapides et ligna. Verumptamen, quia omnia scio, responde michi audiente ista, que hic astans spiritualia nisi per similitudinem intelligere non valet.
Thomas qui tetigit me post resurreccionem, utrum erat corpus, quod tangebat, spirituale an corporale? Et si erat corporale, quomodo intrabat ianuis clausis? Si vero spirituale, quomodo visibile fuit oculis corporeis?"
Respondit Dyabolus: "Graue est ibi loqui, ubi loquens omnibus est suspectus et inuitus cogitur loqui veritatem. Verumptamen compulsus loquor, quod resurgendo et corporalis et spiritualis eras, et ideo propter eternam deitatis virtutem et propter specialem carnis glorificate prerogatiuam ubique ingrederis et ubique esse potes."
Dixit iterum Dominus: "Virga Moysi, cum conuertebatur in serpentem, dic utrum similitudo fuit serpentis an totum intus et extra serpens? Aut sporte ille panum seu fragmenta panum, dic utrum verus panis fuit totus an similitudo panum?"
Respondit Dyabolus: "Totum erat in virga serpens, totum in sportis panis et totum virtute tua, totum paciencia tua factum est."
Et Dominus: "Numquid," inquit, "difficilius est michi nunc operari quam tunc miraculum consimile aut mirabilius, si placet michi? Aut ex quo tunc caro glorificata potuit ianuis clausis intrare ad apostolos, et quare nunc in manibus sacerdotis esse non valet?
An forsan labor aliquis est deitati mee yma sociare celestibus terrenaque summis? Nequaquam. Sed vere, pater mendacii, sicut malicia tua maxima est, sic caritas mea est et erit super omnes.
Nam eciam si sacramentum illud unus videretur comburere, alter terere sub pedibus, ego solus scio fidem omnium et in mensura et paciencia dispono omnia, qui de nichilo facio aliquid et de visibili inuisibile, qui et in signo et forma aliquid visibile ostendo, quod tamen in signato aliud veraciter est aliudque videtur."
Respondit Dyabolus: "Huius rei veritatem ego quotidie experior, quando homines amici mei elongant se a me et fiunt amici tui. Sed quid dicam amplius? Seruus dimissus sibi ipsi satis ostendit voluntate, quid faceret actu, si permitteretur."
Tunc iterum loquitur Filius Dei: "Crede, filia, quod ego sum Christus, reparator vite et non proditor, verax et ipsa veritas et non mendax potestasque eterna, sine qua nichil fuit neque erit.
Nam si habueris fidem, quod ego sum in manibus sacerdotis, eciam si sacerdos dubitaret, tamen propter fidem credencium et astancium et propter verbum, quod ego ipse personaliter institui et dixi, ego veraciter sum in manibus eius. Et omnis, qui sumit me, sumit deitatem et humanitatem et formam panis.
Quid enim est Deus nisi vita et dulcedo, lux illuminans, bonitas delectans, iusticia iudicans, misericordia saluans? Quid vero est humanitas mea nisi caro agilissima, coniunccio Dei et hominis, caput omnium Christianorum?
Ergo omnis, qui credit in Deum et accipit corpus eius, ipse sumit deitatem, quia sumit vitam, sumit et humanitatem, qua Deus et homo coniunguntur, sumit et formam panis, quia sub alia forma sumitur ipse, qui latet sub forma sua propter fidei argumentum.
Similiter et malus suscipit eandem deitatem sed iudicantem non demulcentem, sumit et humanitatem sed minus placabilem sibi, sumit et formam panis, quia sub forma visa recipit latentem veritatem sed non dulcescentem sibi suauitatem.
Nam quando applicauerit me ad os suum et dentes, completo sacramento ego recedo cum deitate et humanitate, sola forma panis remanet sibi. Non quia non veraciter ibi sum ita cum malis sicut cum bonis propter sacramenti institucionem, sed quia similem effectum non habent boni et mali.
Denique in sacrificio ipso offertur homini vita ipsa, Deus, et ingreditur vita sed non permanet cum malis, quia malum non relinquunt, et ideo remanet sensibus eorum sola forma panis.
Non tamen quod forma illa panis, que est sub substancia panis, aliquid sit eis effectiuum, sed quia de sumpcione illa nichil recogitant, nisi quasi si viderent et sentirent formam panis atque vini, tanquam si dominus potens ingrederetur domum alicuius, et species eius quidem reminisceretur sed presencia bonitatis eius negligeretur."
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.20.27 — Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it into my side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
- ↩John.20.19 — On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
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