Christus loquens sponse dicit ei modum, quem debet tenere miles spiritualis in prelio, scilicet quod confidat in Deo et non in viribus propriis; datque ei duas oraciones breues, quas quotidie dicat; et dicit eciam, quod debet esse armatus armis spiritualibus hic contentis.
The Foundation of Spiritual Warfare
The spiritual soldier must rely on God's mercy and grace rather than personal strength to avoid falling.
The Son says: "Whoever wants to fight must be brave enough to get back up if they fall, trusting not in their own strength, but in my mercy." For anyone who doubts my goodness, thinking to themselves like this: Anyone who thinks, "If I try to do anything—whether by fasting to restrain my body or by working through vigils—I won't be able to persevere or stay away from vices because God isn't helping me," will deservedly fall. Therefore, anyone who wants to fight spiritually should trust in me and in the fact that they can succeed through the cooperation of my grace.
Prayers for the Soldier
Christ provides specific prayers for the soldier to use daily to seek mercy, protection, and perseverance.
Next, they should have the will to do good, to avoid evil, and to rise again as often as they fall, by reading this prayer: Lord God Almighty, you who lead everyone toward what is good. I, a sinner, have wandered much too far from you through my own wicked deeds. I thank you, because you’ve brought me back to the right path. Therefore I ask you, most loving Jesus, to have mercy on me—you who stood on the cross, bloodied and full of sorrow. I ask you, by your five wounds and by the sorrow that flowed from your pierced veins to your heart, to protect me today so that I don't fall into sin. Grant me also the strength to resist the enemy's arrows, and to rise up courageously if I happen to fall into sin. To help the spiritual soldier persevere in doing good, they should pray like this: 'O Lord God, for whom nothing is impossible and who can do all things, give me the strength to do good works and to persevere in what is good.'
The Sword of Confession
The spiritual soldier is instructed to use the sword of confession, balanced by fear of God, justice, and mercy.
After this, let them take up the sword—a pure confession—which must be well-sharpened and shining: sharpened, so that it may diligently examine my conscience, how and how much and where I have sinned, and for what reason. It must also be shining, so that you’re ashamed of nothing, hide nothing, and speak of it exactly as you sinned. This sword must have two sharp edges: the will to sin no more, and the will to make amends for what you've done. The point of this sword should be compunction, which kills the devil when a person—who once took pleasure in sin—now feels crushed and groans because they have provoked Me, their God, to anger. This sword must also have a hilt, which is the consideration of the great mercy of God. His mercy is so great that there is no sinner, no matter how grave or what kind, who cannot obtain forgiveness if they ask for it with the will to amend their life. With this intention, then—that God is merciful above all things—you must hold the sword of confession; but so that your hand isn't wounded by the blades, let the iron that sits between the blades and the hilt stand in the way. And so the sword doesn't fall from your hand, let the 'tolus'—that is, the fear of God—hold it fast. Likewise, anyone who wields the sword of confession, hoping that their sins will be forgiven and cleansed through the mercy of God, must be careful not to fall through the presumption of being forgiven. Therefore, let the 'tolus'—that is, the fear of God—stand in the way, by fearing that God might withdraw his grace and bring down his anger because of excessive presumption. But so your hand isn't wounded or weakened by excessive fervor in your labor and a lack of discretion, let the iron between your hand and the blade—that is, the consideration of God’s justice—act as a guard. For although I am just to the point that I leave nothing unexamined or unpunished, I am nonetheless so merciful and fair that I don't demand more than nature can well bear, and because of a good will, I forgive the greatest punishment and grave sin in exchange for a small amendment.1
Armor for the Soul
The soldier is equipped with the breastplate of abstinence, the helmet of hope, and the shield of patience.
Abstinence, however, is the soldier's breastplate. For just as a breastplate is made of many small links, so abstinence is made of many virtues—namely, from evil sight and likewise in the other senses, and from gluttony, lust, and superfluous habits, and from many other things that Saint Benedict commanded should not be done. Truly, no one can fit this armor to themselves without someone else's help. Therefore, my Mother, the Virgin Mary, should be invoked and honored, because in her was every way of life and every form of virtue; and when she is steadfastly invoked, she will reveal to the mind every perfect abstinence. The helmet is perfect hope, which should have, as it were, two openings through which the soldier may look. The first opening is the thought of what must be done; the second is the consideration of what must be left undone. Because everyone who hopes in God should always consider what they ought to do or leave undone in accordance with God's will. Let patience be your shield, by which you willingly endure everything that comes your way.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Quicumque velit pugnare sit magnanimus resurgendo, si cadet, confidens non de propriis viribus sed de misericordia mea. Qui enim diffidit de bonitate mea cogitans secum taliter:
'Si aliqua attemptauero vel refrenando carnem ieiuniis vel laborando vigiliis, non potero perseuerare nec abstinere a viciis, quia Deus non me adiuuat,' iste merito cadet.
Ergo qui pugnare spiritualiter velit confidat de me et quod possit perficere cooperante gracia mea. Deinde habeat voluntatem faciendi bona et omittendi mala et resurgendi, quociens cadit, istamque legendo oracionem:
'Domine Deus omnipotens, qui omnes ducis ad bonum. Ego peccator nimis longe recessi a te per facinora mea. Gracias ago tibi, quia reduxisti me ad viam rectam. Ideo rogo te, piissime Ihesu, ut miserearis mei, qui in cruce stetisti sanguineus et dolorosus.
Et rogo te per quinque vulnera tua et per dolorem, qui de venis tuis perforatis ad cor processit, quatenus conseruare digneris me hodie, ne cadam in peccata.
Da quoque michi virtutem resistendi telis inimici et viriliter resurgere, si contingat me cadere in peccata.'
Ad hoc autem, quod pugnans possit perseuerare in bonis, oret isto modo: 'O, Domine Deus, cui nichil est impossibile et qui omnia potes, da michi fortitudinem faciendi bona opera et in bonis posse perseuerare.'
Post hec assumat gladium in manu, id est confessionem puram, que debet esse bene limata et splendens: limata, ut diligenter discuciat conscienciam meam, quomodo et quantum et ubi deliquerit et qua de causa. Sit eciam splendens, ut nichil erubescat, nichil occultet nec aliter dicat, quam sicut peccauit.
Hic gladius debet habere duas acies acutas, scilicet voluntatem ultra non peccandi et voluntatem commissa emendandi.
Cuius gladii cuspis sit contricio, qua Dyabolus occiditur, quando homo, sicut prius in peccato gaudebat, sic nunc conteratur et ingemiscat ex eo, quod me Deum ad iram prouocauit.
Hic gladius eciam debet habere capulum, id est consideracionem magne misericordie Dei. Cuius misericordia tanta est, quod nullus talis nec tantus peccator est, qui non habeat veniam, si eam pecierit cum voluntate se emendandi.
Cum hac igitur intencione, scilicet quod Deus est misericors super omnia, tenendus est gladius confessionis, sed ne forte ex aciebus vulneretur manus, obsistat ferrum, quod est inter acies et capulum. Et ne forte gladius cadat de manu, prohibeat tolus.
Similiter qui habet gladium confessionis sperans per misericordiam Dei remitti et purgari peccata caueat, ne cadat per presumpcionem venie. Ideo obsistat tolus, id est timor Dei, metuendo scilicet, ne Deus auferat graciam et inferat iram propter nimiam presumpcionem.
Sed ne forte vulneretur et minuatur manus operacionis per nimium feruorem laboris et indiscrecionem, prohibeat ferrum, quod est inter manus et acies, id est consideracio equitatis Dei;
quia licet iustus sim in tantum, quod nichil dimitto indiscussum et impunitum, ita tamen misericors et equus sum, quod non requiro ultra, quam natura bene ferre possit, et propter bonam voluntatem dimitto maximum supplicium et peccatum magnum pro parua emendacione.
Lorica vero militis est abstinencia. Sicut enim lorica constat ex multis cathenulis, sic abstinencia est ex multis virtutibus, scilicet a prauo visu et sic in reliquis sensibus, et a gula et luxuria et habitu superfluo et a multis aliis, que beatus Benedictus precepit non agenda.
Verum hanc loricam non potest personaliter aliquis adaptare sibi sine adiutorio alterius. Ideo Mater mea, Virgo Maria inuocanda et honoranda est, quia in ea fuit omnis modus vite et omnis forma virtutum; que stabiliter inuocata omnem perfectam abstinenciam menti indicabit.
Galea vero est spes perfecta, que habeat quasi duo foramina, per que miles respiciat. Primum foramen est cogitacio faciendorum, secundum est consideracio omittendorum.
Quia omnis, qui sperat in Deo, cogitet semper, quid sit ei secundum Deum faciendum quidue omittendum. Clipeus vero sit paciencia, qua omnia adueniencia libenter paciatur."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'equus' here carries the sense of 'equitable' or 'fair' in judgment, rather than the animal.
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