Verba ammonicionis Matris ad filiam et per exemplum probancia, qualiter amici Dei nec attediari nec cessare debent a labore predicacionis; et de magna talium remuneracione.
The Disciplined Vessel
The Mother instructs the soul to maintain a balanced life of disciplined restraint rather than unrestrained indulgence.
The Mother says: "You must be like an empty vessel, ready to be filled—not so wide that what is poured in spills out, nor so deep that it has no bottom." This vessel is your body, which is truly empty when it's free from the appetite for pleasure. It is, however, moderately wide when the flesh is disciplined with discernment, so that the soul is capable of understanding spiritual things and the body is robust enough for labor. But the vessel is bottomless when the flesh isn't restrained by any abstinence, and whatever the mind craves isn't denied to the body.
The Duty of the Herald
God warns against the negligence of those who know the truth but refuse to share it.
But listen to what I say: My servant brought forward a thoughtless word, saying, 'What is it to me to talk about things that don't touch my own situation?' That kind of talk doesn't befit a servant of God. For anyone who hears and knows the truth is guilty if they keep silent about it, unless they are being completely ignored.
The Fortress and the Call
Through an allegory of a besieged fortress, the Lord calls his soldiers to battle and warns the herald against lukewarm service.
For there was a certain lord who possessed a strong fortress, in which there were four good things: namely, incorruptible food that drives away all hunger, life-giving water that quenches all thirst, a fragrant scent that repels all poisonous things, and necessary weapons that weaken every enemy. At last, the lord, seeing that the fortress was besieged by others, took notice. Understanding this, the lord said to his herald, his servant: 'Go,' he said, 'and call out in a loud voice to my soldiers: I, the lord, will liberate my fortress; whoever follows me with a willing heart will be with me in glory and honor, as my equal.' But whoever falls in the battle, I will raise them up to a life that has no defect or anxiety, and I will give them lasting honor and an unending abundance. The servant, having received the command, called out, but he was not diligent enough in his calling, so much so that his cry did not reach the most valiant soldier, and for that reason, the soldier stopped his work. What, then, will the Lord do for the soldier who was willing to work but didn't hear the herald's voice? He'll certainly be rewarded for his willingness, but the lukewarm herald won't escape correction.
The Church Under Siege
The Lord interprets the allegory as the state of the Church and encourages the faithful to persevere in their labor for an eternal reward.
Therefore, this fortress is the holy Church, founded on the blood of my Son, in which is his Body—which drives away all hunger—the water of evangelical wisdom, the fragrance of his holy examples, and the weapons of his Passion. This fortress is under siege by enemies because, in the holy Church, many preach my Son with their voices but don't match that with their lives. Even when they speak, they contradict it with their wills, not caring about the heavenly homeland as long as they can get what they want for themselves. So, so that the enemies of God may be diminished, the friends of God must not grow weary, because their reward won't be something temporary, but something that knows no end.
Read the original Latin
Mater loquitur: "Tu debes esse sicut vas vacuum, aptum ad implendum, quod non sit sic latum, ut defluant imposita, nec sit ita profundum, ut careat fundo. Vas autem istud corpus tuum est, quod tunc vacuum est, cum ab appetitu voluptatis extraneum est.
Tunc autem moderate est latum, quando caro discrete affligitur, ut anima habilis sit ad intelligenda spiritualia et corpus robustum ad laborandum. Tunc vero vas est sine fundo, quando caro nulla coartatur abstinencia, sed quidquid animus appetit, hoc corpori non negatur.
Sed audi que loquor: Seruus meus protulit verbum impennatum dicens: 'Quid ad me loqui de hiis que non tangunt statum meum?' Verbum tale non decet seruum Dei. Nam omnis qui audit et scit veritatem, si tacuerit eam, reus est, nisi omnino contempnatur.
Nam dominus quidam erat habens castrum forte, in quo erant quatuor bona, scilicet cibus imputridus pellens omnem famem, aqua salutaris extinguens omnem sitim, odor odoriferus depellens omnia venenosa, arma necessaria debilitancia omnem inimicum.
Tandem domino intendente aliis obsessum est castrum. Quod intelligens dominus ait preconi famulo suo: 'Vade,' inquit, 'et clama alta voce militibus meis sic: Ego dominus liberabo castrum meum; quicumque me sequitur bona voluntate erit mecum in gloria et honore consimilis.
Qui vero in pugna ceciderit, suscitabo eum ad vitam que non habet defectum nec anxietatem, daboque ei honorem permanentem et habundanciam indeficientem.'
Seruus itaque accepto mandato clamauit sed minus sollicitus fuit in clamando in tantum, quod clamor ad strenuissimum militem non peruenit, et ideo miles destitit a labore.
Quid ergo facturus est dominus militi, qui libenter voluit laborare sed non audiuit vocem preconis? Vtique remunerabitur pro voluntate, sed preco tepidus non immunis erit a correpcione.
Itaque castrum istud est Ecclesia sancta fundata sanguine Filii mei, in qua est corpus suum, quod depellit omnem famem, aqua sapiencie euangelice, odor exemplorum sanctorum eius et arma passionis eius.
Hoc castrum nunc obsessum est ab hostibus, quia in Ecclesia sancta multi reperiuntur, qui voce predicant Filium meum sed moribus non concordant; ymmo et si voce dicunt, voluntate contradicunt non curantes de celesti patria, si voluptatem suam possent adipisci.
Ergo ut minuantur hostes Dei, attediari non debent amici Dei, quia remuneracio non erit temporalis sed illa que nescit finem."
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