Verba Christi ad sponsam sui ipsius magnificenciam ostendencia; et qualiter omnia secundum eius ordinacionem perseuerant preterquam misera anima peccatoris; et de omnibus inducuntur in exemplum; et qualiter voluntas in agendis est custodienda.
The Divine Order of Creation
God explains that all things in creation, including rational souls, were foreseen and ordered by His divine providence without violating human free will.
The Son speaks to the bride: "I am one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit." In the providence of my divinity, all things were foreseen and established from the beginning and before the ages; and everything, both physical and spiritual, has a specific arrangement and order. Everything stands and runs according to what has been ordained and foreseen in my foreknowledge, as you'll be able to understand through an example of three things. First, consider living things: it's like how a woman gives birth, not a man. Second, it's clear from trees, because sweet ones bear sweet fruit and bitter ones bear their own kind. Third, it's clear from the stars, for the sun, the moon, and all the heavenly bodies complete their course just as it's predetermined in my Godhead. In the same way, rational souls are foreseen in my Godhead, and what they will become is known beforehand; yet my foreknowledge has never hindered them, nor does it hinder them now, because I have given them the free movement of their own will—that is, free choice and the power to choose whatever pleases them.
Fruitfulness and the Soul's Choice
Using the metaphors of birth and trees, the Lord contrasts the fruitful life of the faithful soul with the deceptive, thorny path of those who follow the world.
Just as a woman gives birth and a man does not, so a good soul—the bride of God—must give birth with the help of God; for the soul was created for this purpose: to advance in virtues and grow fruitful with the seed of virtues, so that it may come to rest in the arms of divine love. But a soul that turns away from its origin and its Creator, and fails to bear fruit for Him, acts against God’s design and is therefore unworthy of God’s sweetness. Second, God’s unchanging order is evident in trees: sweet trees bear sweet fruit, and the opposite is true for those that are bitter. Just as a date has two parts—the sweetness and the hard pit—so it has been foreseen from eternity that where the Holy Spirit dwells, all worldly pleasure loses its appeal. There, every worldly honor is a burden; and in that heart, the strength and firmness of the Spirit of God are so great that it isn't broken by any impatience, isn't cast down by any adversity, and isn't puffed up by any prosperity.1 It has also been foreseen from eternity that wherever the devil's thorn is, there is a fruit that looks red on the outside, but is full of filth and prickles on the inside. In the devil's pleasure, there is a sweetness that is fleeting and merely apparent, but it's full of thorns and troubles; for the more you entangle yourself in the world, the heavier the burden of accountability you're forced to carry.2 Just as every tree produces fruit that matches its roots and trunk, so every person is judged by the intention behind their actions.
The Responsibility of the Will
The Lord calls the soul to align its will with the Creator's design, warning that the devil can only prevail when the human will is corrupted.
Third, all elements remain in their proper order and motion, just as was foreseen from eternity, and they move according to the will of their Creator. In the same way, every rational creature ought to be moved and prepared according to the Creator's design. But when someone does the opposite, it's clear they're abusing their free will. And while irrational things keep to their own boundaries, a rational human being degrades themselves and makes their own judgment heavier because they fail to use their reason. Therefore, a person's will must be guarded, because I do no greater injury to the devil than I do to my angels. For just as God demands from His bride that unspeakable, pure sweetness, so the devil seeks from his bride thorns and stings. And the devil won't be able to prevail in anything, unless the will has been corrupted.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur ad sponsam: "Ego sum cum Patre et Spiritu sancto unus Deus. In deitatis mee prouidencia omnia ab inicio et ante secula preuisa et stabilita sunt et omnia, tam corporalia quam spiritualia, certam disposicionem et ordinacionem habent, omniaque stant et currunt secundum quod in presciencia mea est ordinatum et prescitum, sicut per exemplum intelligere poteris ex tribus.
Primo ex hiis que vitam habent: sicut illud est, quod femina parit et non homo; secundo patet ex arboribus, quia dulcia portant dulcem fructum et amara suum fructum; tercio patet ex sideribus: nam sol et luna et omnia celestia cursum suum peragunt secundum quod in deitate mea est prefinitum.
Sic et anime racionales prescite sunt in deitate mea, quales future erunt precognite; quibus tamen presciencia mea in nullo obfuit nec obest, quia dedi eis liberam voluntatis sue mocionem, id est liberum arbitrium et potestatem eligendi, quidquid eas delectat.
Ergo sicut femina parit et non homo, sic anima bona, uxor Dei, parere debet auxilio Dei, quia anima ad hoc creata est, ut virtutibus proficiat et semine virtutum fecunda crescat, ut veniat inter brachia diuine caritatis.
Anima autem que degenerat ab ortu suo et creatore suo nec ei fructificat facit contra disposicionem Dei, et ideo indigna est dulcedine Dei.
Secundo apparet immutabilis disposicio Dei in arboribus, quia dulces arbores portant dulcia et econtra que amara sunt. Sicut in dactilo duo sunt, dulcedo scilicet et lapis durus, sic ab eterno preuisum est, quod ubi Spiritus sanctus habitator est, ibi omnis mundana delectacio vilescit;
ibi omnis mundanus honor est onerosus, tantaque in illo corde est fortitudo Spiritus Dei et duricia, quod nulla frangitur impaciencia, nulla deicitur aduersitate, nulla prosperitate super se eleuatur.
Sic eciam ab eterno preuisum est, quod ubi est spina Dyaboli, ibi est fructus ab extra rubeus sed intus plenus immundiciis et aculeis.
Sic in delectacione Dyaboli momentanea et apparens est dulcedo sed plena sentibus et tribulacionibus, quia quo plus quis implicatur mundo, tanto grauiori onere computacionis oneratur.
Itaque sicut omnis arbor talem profert fructum, qualis est radix et truncus, sic omnis homo ex intencione operis sui iudicatur.
Tercio omnia elementa stant in ordine suo et motu, sicut ab eterno preuisum est, et mouentur secundum factoris voluntatem. Sic omnis racionalis creatura moueri et parata esse debet secundum creatoris institucionem.
Cum autem facit contrarium, perspicuum est, quod arbitrio libero abutitur. Et ubi irracionabilia custodiunt metas suas, ibi racionalis homo degenerat et aggrauat iudicium suum, quia non utitur racione.
Itaque custodienda est voluntas hominis, quia non maiorem iniuriam facio Dyabolo quam angelis meis. Quia sicut Deus exigit a sponsa sua castam dulcedinem illam indicibilem, sic Dyabolus querit a sponsa sua spinas et aculeos. Nec in aliquo preualere poterit Dyabolus, nisi voluntas fuerit viciata."
Notes
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