Caput 6
The Burden of Questioning
A seeker presents difficult questions regarding divine justice and the mysteries of life, to which the Judge responds with a call to deeper understanding.
Then the one who had appeared before stood in his place and said, "O Judge, I ask you: Why does one infant come out of its mother's womb alive and receive baptism, while another, having received a soul, dies inside the mother's womb?" Why do so many setbacks happen to a just person, while everything goes the way the unjust person wants? Why do plagues and famines happen, along with the hardships that afflict the body? Also, why does death come so unexpectedly that we can rarely see it coming? And why do you allow people who are full of deliberate anger and envy to go to war with a desire for revenge? The Judge replied, "My friend, your questioning doesn't come from charity, but from my permission." That is why I am answering you through a certain likeness of words.
The Mystery of Life and Death
The Judge explains the natural and divine reasons behind the timing of birth and death, emphasizing mercy over punishment.
You ask why one infant dies in the mother's womb, while another is born alive. There is a reason.1 Every bit of a child's physical strength is drawn from the seed of the father and mother, but because what is conceived lacks the proper strength due to some infirmity in the father or mother, it dies all the sooner. Many things happen because of the negligence and carelessness of parents, and many things also happen because of my divine justice, so that what is joined together may be separated all the sooner. And yet, because of this, a soul—even if it didn't receive more time to bring its body to life—doesn't draw near to the harshest punishments, but rather to the mercy that I know. Just as the sun shining into a house isn't seen in its full beauty except by those looking toward the sky—only its rays are—so the souls of such people, even though they don't see my face because they lack baptism, still draw closer to mercy than to punishment, though not in the same way as my chosen ones.2
The Discipline of the Just
The Judge clarifies why the just suffer while the wicked prosper, framing earthly trials as a form of loving correction and preparation for eternity.
As for why hardships happen to a just person, I answer: My justice is that every just person should obtain what they ask for; but no one is truly just who doesn't, for the sake of obedience and the perfection of justice, desire to suffer hardships, and who doesn't do good to their neighbor out of divine charity. Therefore, my friends, considering what I, God and their Redeemer, have done and promised them, and at the same time observing the malice that exists in the world, they more willingly seek the world's hardships for the sake of caution and to honor me, to ensure their own salvation, and to avoid sin, rather than seeking its prosperity. That’s why I allow trials to happen to them; and even if some of them endure these trials with less patience, I still don't allow them to happen without a purpose, and I stand by them in their tribulation. Just as a child, when corrected by a loving mother in his early years, hardly knows how to thank her because he can't grasp the reason for the discipline, but upon reaching maturity thanks her because her discipline turned him away from bad habits and accustomed him to good character and order, so I do for my chosen ones. Because they entrust their own will to me and love me above all things, they are troubled for a time; and although they may not fully understand my benefits in the present, I still do what is best for them in the future. As for the wicked, because they don't care about justice and aren't afraid to harm others, and because they seek only what is fleeting and love only what is earthly and delightful, they are allowed to prosper for a time by my justice and remain free from suffering, so that they don't sin even more if they were to be touched by adversity. Still, I don't give everything they want to all wicked people, so that they might know it's within My power to give whatever I wish to whomever I choose; for I even bestow good things upon the ungrateful, though they don't deserve them.
The Purpose of Hardship and Uncertainty
Hardships, famines, and the uncertainty of death are explained as tools for spiritual growth and the cultivation of love and fear of God.
As for why plagues and famines come, I answer: It is written in the Law that whoever commits theft must pay back more than he has stolen. Because people are ungrateful—accepting my gifts but abusing them, and failing to give me the honor they owe—I demand more suffering from the body in this life, so that the soul may be spared in the life to come. Sometimes, by sparing the body, I punish a person through the very things they love, so that those who refused to acknowledge me in their joy might come to know and understand me in their suffering. As for why death comes suddenly, I answer: if people knew when they were going to die, they’d serve me out of fear and would collapse from the sheer dread of it.3 The reason the hour of everyone’s death is uncertain—and rightly so—is so that you might serve me out of love, and so that you might always be anxious about yourself while remaining secure in me. When someone has abandoned what is certain and true, it’s only fitting and necessary that they should be afflicted by what is uncertain.
The Justice of Human Choice
The Judge explains that those who choose malice become instruments of the devil, and that divine justice permits this to fulfill the consequences of human free will.
“As for why I allow people to go to war while full of rage, I answer: anyone who has a settled will to harm their neighbor is like the devil, and is his member and instrument.” I would be doing the devil an injustice if I were to take his servant away from him without justice. Therefore, just as I use my instrument for whatever pleases me, so it is justice that the devil should work and do what is his own in someone who chooses to be his member rather than mine—whether for the purification of others or to fulfill his own malice—with me permitting it in this way and sin demanding it.
Read the original Latin
Item apparuit in gradu suo qui prius dicens: "O iudex, quero a te: Cur alius infans procedit de vtero matris viuus, consecutus baptisma, alius accepta anima intra viscera matris moritur?"
"Item cur homini iusto contraria multa succedunt, iniusto autem omnia sunt ad votum?"
"Item cur pestilencie et fames accedunt et incommoda, que affligunt corpus?"
"Item cur mors ex improuiso venit ita, vt preuideri rarissime possit?"
"Item cur pateris homines habentes deliberatam iram et inuidiam ad bella venire animo vindicandi?"
Respondit iudex: "Amice, inquisicio tua non est ex caritate sed permissione mea. Ideo per similitudinem quandam verborum respondeo tibi.
Queris, cur alius infans moritur intra viscera matris, alius procedit viuus.
Racio est. Omnis quippe fortitudo corporis pueri de patris et matris semine sumitur, sed quia, quod conceptum est, propter aliquam patris vel matris infirmitatem non habet debitam fortitudinem, ideo cicius moritur.
Multaque adueniunt ex negligencia et incuria parentum, multa eciam ex diuina iusticia mea, vt cicius ea, que coniuncta sunt, separentur.
Nec tamen propter hoc anima, quamuis ad viuificandum corpus longius tempus non acceperit, durissimis appropinquat suppliciis sed magis misericordie michi cognite.
Sicut enim sol irradians domum non videtur, vt est in pulchritudine, nisi a respicientibus celum sed solummodo radii, sic anime talium, quamuis propter baptismi carenciam non videant faciem meam, vicinius tamen appropinquant misericordie quam pene, sed non sicut electi mei."
"Item, cur homini iusto accidunt contraria, respondeo: Iusticia mea est, vt vnusquisque iustus optineat, que petit, sed non est iustus, qui non pro obediencia et perfeccione iusticie appetit pati contraria et qui non facit proximo suo bona ex caritate diuina.
Ideo amici mei considerantes, que ego Deus et redemptor eorum feci et promisi eis, simul et attendentes, que in mundo est malicia, libencius ad honorem mei et salutem propriam et peccatum cauendum petunt magis contraria mundi propter cautelam quam prospera.
Ideo et ego permitto eis fieri tribulaciones, quorum aliqui et si minus pacienter sufferunt, ego tamen non sine causa permitto fieri et in tribulacione assisto eis.
Sicut enim filius, cum a matre caritatiua corripitur in puericia, modicum scit regraciari matri, quia perpendere nescit, qua de causa arguitur, sed perueniens ad annos discrecionis regraciatur ei, quia per disciplinam matris a prauis distractus est et assuetus bonis moribus et discipline, similiter ego facio electis meis.
Ipsi enim, quia voluntatem suam committunt michi et me super omnia diligunt, ideo tribulantur ad tempus, et licet in presenti non intelligant plene beneficia mea, facio tamen, quod expedit eis in futurum.
Impii vero, quia non curant iusticiam nec aliis formidant inferre iniuriam, qui et transitoria petunt et delectabilia terrena diligunt, ideo prosperantur ex iusticia mea ad tempus et a flagellis sunt liberi, ne peccent amplius, si tangerentur contrariis.
Attamen non omnibus malis dantur, que cupiunt, vt sciant potestatis mee esse, cui aliqua dare voluero, qui ingratis eciam bona tribuo, quamuis non mereantur."
"Item, cur pestilencie et fames veniunt, respondeo: Scriptum est in lege, quod, qui furtum fecerit, reddat plus quam abstulerit.
Ergo, quia homines ingrati dona mea recipiunt et abutuntur eis nec honor michi debitus ab eis michi impenditur, ideo plus exigo tribulacionis a corpore in presenti, vt parcatur anime in futuro.
Quandoque eciam parcendo corpori punio hominem in hiis et per ea, que diligit, vt, qui noluit agnoscere me letus, cognoscat et intelligat vel tribulatus."
"Item, cur mors venit subita, respondeo: Si homo sciret tempus mortis sue, seruiret michi ex timore et pre dolore deficeret.
Ideo, vt ex caritate homo seruiat michi et vt semper sit de se ipso sollicitus et de me securus, ideo incerta est hora exitus omnium, et merito.
Quando enim homo deseruit, quod erat certum et verum, necesse fuit et dignum, vt ab incerto affligeretur."
"Item, cur permitto homines procedere ad bella completam habentes iram, respondeo: Omnis, qui voluntatem perfectam habet nocendi proximo suo, hic similis est dyabolo eiusque membrum est et instrumentum.
Cui, scilicet dyabolo, facerem iniuriam, si eius seruum sine iusticia ab eo auferrem.
Ergo, sicut ego instrumento meo vtor ad quecumque michi placita, sic iusticia est, vt dyabolus in eo, qui vult esse membrum eius magis quam meum, operetur et faciat, quod suum est, aut ad purgacionem aliorum aut ad perficiendam maliciam suam, me sic permittente et peccato exigente."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'Racio' is a variant spelling of 'Ratio'. The context implies a logical explanation for the preceding question about infant mortality.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'carenciam' (lack/want) is a medieval form; translated here as 'lack' to maintain the theological sense of the absence of the sacrament.
- 3 ↩The Latin 'pre dolore' literally means 'from pain' or 'from grief,' but in the context of sudden death and the fear of judgment, 'dread' or 'anguish' captures the intended emotional weight better than 'pain'.
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