Reuelacio vndecima in libro questionum, in qua Christus loquens sponse sue beate Birgitte dicit ei, quare et quando inceperunt ei ministrari et infundi ab eo verba diuinarum reuelacionum in spirituali visione. Et dicit ei, quod verba predicta reuelacionum, que in istis libris continentur, habent principaliter istas quatuor virtutes: saciant enim spiritualiter sicientem veram caritatem, calefaciunt frigidos, turbatos letificant et debiles animas sanant.
The Alchemy of Divine Love
Christ uses the metaphor of steel, stone, and oil to describe how divine grace transforms the soul.
The Son of God says: "A healthy drink can be made from natural things—specifically, from cold iron and hard stone, from a withered tree and bitter herb." But how? Certainly, if steel were to strike a sulfurous mountain with force, then fire would indeed come from the steel, and it would set the mountain ablaze.1 From its heat, a nearby olive tree—dry on the outside but full of oil within—began to flow, so much so that even the bitter grass growing beneath it was sweetened by the oil dripping down, and from it, a healthy drink could be made.
The Refining Fire of Suffering
Christ explains how the loss of worldly attachments and the pain of bereavement served to ignite the spark of divine love in the soul.
This is how I have acted toward you spiritually. Your heart was like cold steel toward my love, yet inside it, a small spark of love for me still stirred—specifically, when you thought of me as worthy of love and honor above all else.2 But your heart fell onto a mountain of sulfur when worldly glory and pleasure turned against you, and your husband, whom you loved with a carnal love above all others, was taken from you by death. Worldly pleasure and delight are truly well compared to a sulfurous mountain, because they carry with them the swelling of the soul, the stench of lust, and the burning of punishment. When your soul was shaken by the deep distress of your husband’s death, the spark of my love—which had been lying hidden, as it were—began to emerge, because you considered the vanity of the world and surrendered your entire will to me, longing for me above all things.
The Healing Power of the Word
The fruits of divine revelation are described as a healing drink that satisfies, warms, gladdens, and restores the soul.
Because of that spark of love, the dry olive branch—that is, the words of the Gospels and the conversation of my teachers—began to taste good to you, and abstinence became so pleasing that everything which had previously seemed bitter began to grow sweet. When the olive began to flow and my words of revelation came to you in the spirit, someone standing on a mountain cried out: 'This drink quenches thirst, warms the cold, gladdens the troubled, and heals the weak.' And so, I am God myself, who calls out. My words, which you frequently hear from me in spiritual vision, satisfy those who thirst for true love like a good drink; secondly, they warm the cold; thirdly, they bring joy to the troubled; and fourthly, they heal those who are weak in soul.
Read the original Latin
Filius Dei loquitur: "Per naturalia potest fieri saluber potus, scilicet de frigido ferro et duro lapide, de arbore arida et herba amara.
Sed quomodo? Certe, si calibs caderet supra montem sulphureum fortiter, tunc quidem de calibe exiret ignis, qui succenderet montem.
Ex cuius calore oliua prope posita, licet extra arida intus tamen plena pinguedine, inciperet fluere, in tantum eciam quod herba amara sub oliua posita ex defluenti oliua dulcesceret et inde posset fieri saluber potus.
Sic ego spiritualiter feci tibi. Nam cor tuum erat quasi calibs frigidum ad amorem meum, in quo tamen mouebatur scintilla quedam modica amoris ad me, scilicet quando cogitasti me dignum amore et honore super omnes.
Sed istud cor tuum tunc cecidit supra montem sulphureum, quando gloria et delectacio mundana aduersabantur tibi et ille maritus tuus, quem pre ceteris carnaliter dilexisti, a te moriendo auferebatur.
Vere voluptas et delectacio mundana bene comparantur monti sulphureo, quia tumorem animi et fetorem concupiscencie et ardorem pene secum habent.
Cumque tunc in morte eiusdem mariti tui animus tuus grauiter turbacione concuteretur, tunc scintilla amoris mei, que quasi clausa latebat, cepit exire, quia considerata vanitate mundi omnem voluntatem tuam michi dimisisti, me super omnia desiderando.
Propter istam itaque scintillam amoris oliua arida, idest verba euangeliorum et conuersacio doctorum meorum sapuerunt tibi et abstinencia placuit tibi in tantum, quod omnia, que prius videbantur amara, ceperunt dulcescere tibi.
Cumque oliua cepisset fluere et verba mea reuelacionum in spiritu tibi superuenerunt, quidam stans supra montem clamauit dicens: 'Ex isto potu extinguitur sitis, frigidus calescit, letificatur turbatus, conualescit infirmus.'
Itaque ego ipse Deus sum, qui clamo. Verba mea, que tu in spirituali visione frequenter a me audis, saciant quasi bonus potus sicientes veram caritatem; secundo calefaciunt frigidos, tercio turbatos letificant, quarto debiles in anima sanant."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'calibs' (chalybs) refers to steel, often used in medieval texts to describe the striking of flint or stone to produce fire.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'calibs' (chalybs) refers to steel, often used in medieval imagery to represent a heart hardened or cold, yet capable of being struck to produce a spark.
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