Reuelacio sexta in libro questionum, in qua Christus loquens sponse sue beate Birgitte instruit eam dicens, quod in vita spirituali labore et vigorosa perseuerancia et acquiescere cum humilitate consilio senioris, resistendo viriliter temptacionibus, acquiritur requies mentis et eterna gloria. Et ponit exemplum de Iacob, qui seruiuit pro Rachel. Nam dicit, quod quibusdam veniunt fortissime temptaciones in principio conuersionis ad vitam spiritualem, quibusdam veniunt in medio tempore vite spiritualis et circa finem. Et ideo timendum et cum humilitate in virtutibus et labore vsque ad finem perseuerandum est.
The Labor of Love
Using the example of Jacob serving for Rachel, Christ explains that love makes the labor of the spiritual life light.
The Son says: "It is written that Jacob served for Rachel, and the days seemed few to him because of the greatness of his love, for the greatness of love made his labors light."✦ Yet when Jacob thought he was about to reach his heart's desire, he was thwarted. Even so, he didn't give up on the work, because love isn't discouraged by difficulty until it attains what it longs for. It's the same way in the spiritual life.
Temptation as Purification
Temptations are not signs of failure but tools for purification that occur at different stages of the spiritual journey.
Many people work hard with prayers and pious efforts to gain heavenly things, but when they believe they've reached the quiet of contemplation, they find themselves caught up in temptations; troubles increase, and where they thought they were nearly perfect, they find themselves completely imperfect. It's no wonder. For there are temptations that test, purify, and perfect a person. That is why some people face increased temptations right at the start of their conversion to the spiritual life, and these are the ones who are more perfectly strengthened in the end. Others face more severe temptations in the middle or toward the end; these people must watch over themselves carefully and never be overconfident, but instead work all the harder, just as Laban said:✦ "It's the custom," he says, "to take the older sister first," as if to say: "First you must labor, and afterward you'll have the rest you desire."
Perseverance Until the End
Christ encourages the soul to remain humble and vigilant against temptation until the very end, promising that such trials lead to eternal peace.
Therefore, daughter, don't be surprised if temptations increase even in old age, because just as it's possible to live, it's also possible to be tempted. For the devil never sleeps, because temptation is an occasion for perfection, so that a person might not become presumptuous. Look, I'll show you an example involving two people. One person was tempted right at the start of their conversion, but they stood firm, made progress, and reached what they were seeking. Someone else may experience severe temptations in their old age that they knew little about in their youth. They become so entangled in these that they almost forget all the ones that came before. But because he followed counsel and kept working, even when he felt cold and lukewarm, he reached what he had hoped for and found peace of mind. He recognized within himself that the judgments of God are hidden and just, and that if those temptations hadn't come, he would have struggled to reach eternal salvation.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Scriptum est, quod Iacob seruiuit pro Rachel et videbantur sibi dies pauci pre amoris magnitudine, quia magnitudo amoris labores alleuiabat.
Verum cum Iacob credebat se assequi desiderabile suum, circumuentus est. Nec tamen adhuc a labore destitit, quia amor de difficultate non causatur, donec assequitur, quod optat.
Sic est et in spiritualibus. Multi enim, vt optineant celestia, laborant viriliter oracionibus et piis laboribus, sed cum ad contemplacionis quietem pertingere credunt, inuoluuntur temptacionibus; accrescunt tribulaciones, et vbi se quasi perfectos arbitrabantur, inueniunt se ex toto imperfectos.
Nec mirum. Nam temptaciones sunt, que hominem probant et purgant et perficiunt. Ideo quibusdam accrescunt temptaciones in principiis conuersionis sue ad vitam spiritualem, et hii tales perfeccius in fine solidantur.
Alii grauius temptantur in medio et circa finem, et hii sollicite de se ipsis aduertant et numquam de se presumant sed eo forcius laborent, sicut dixit Laban:
'Consuetudo est', inquit, 'prius sororem maiorem accipere', quasi diceret: 'Prius exerce laborem et postea habebis requiem optatam'.
Ideo, filia, non mireris, si eciam in senectute accrescunt temptaciones, quia sicut licet viuere, ita eciam possibile est temptari. Dyabolus enim numquam dormit, quia temptacio occasio est perfeccionis, vt homo non presumat.
Ecce, ostendo tibi exemplum de duobus. Vnus in principio conuersionis sue temptatus est et perstitit et profecit et assecutus est, quod quesiuit.
Alius in senectute sua expertus est graues temptaciones, quas parum nouit in iuuentute. Quibus sic inuolutus est, vt omnium priorum quasi obliuisceretur.
Verum quia stetit consilio et a labore non destitit, licet frigidus factus et tepidus, ideo peruenit ad optata et ad requiem mentis, cognoscens in se ipso, quod iudicia Dei occulta sunt et iusta, et nisi fuissent ille temptaciones, difficulter peruenisset ad eternam salutem."
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