Quidam simulans se mundum reliquisse et velle seruire Deo consuluit sponsam, in quo statu Deo seruiret. Cui Christus dicit, quod iste nondum transiuit Iordanem, idest nondum contempsit mundum perfecte et voluntatem suam, et ideo non audiet responsum secrete voluntatis Dei.
The Inquiry of the Soul
A seeker asks for guidance on how to serve God, prompting a divine response through the Bride.
A certain person said he wanted to serve God, and wishing to know in what state he might best please Him, he consulted the Bride, desiring to receive a divine response. Speaking to the Bride about him, Christ said:
Crossing the Jordan of the World
Christ explains that the seeker has not yet crossed the Jordan, which represents the fleeting and unstable nature of the world.
He hasn't reached the Jordan yet, nor has he crossed it—just as it's written of Elijah, who, after crossing the Jordan and reaching the desert, heard the secrets of God. But what is this Jordan, if not the world, which flows away like water? For worldly things now rise up with a person, now fall away; now they lift him up with honor and prosperity, now they cast him down with adversity, and a person is never without anxiety and trouble.
The Requirement of Total Surrender
True spiritual intimacy requires the abandonment of earthly attachments and the surrender of one's own will to God.
So, anyone who longs for heavenly things must clear all earthly attachments from their soul, because for the person to whom God has become sweet, earthly and fleeting things truly lose their value. But this person hasn't yet reached the point of despising all things; in fact, they still keep their own will in their own hands. Therefore, they aren't ready to hear the secrets of heaven until they have more perfectly despised the world and surrendered their own will into the hand of God."
Read the original Latin
Quidam dicebat se velle seruire Deo et volens scire, in quo statu magis placeret Deo, consuluit sponsam desiderans habere diuinum responsum. De quo Christus loquens sponse dixit:
"Iste nondum peruenit ad Iordanem et minus pertransiit, sicut scribitur de Helya, quod, transito Iordane cum peruenisset ad deserta, audiuit secreta Dei.
Sed quis est Iordanis iste nisi mundus, qui fluit quasi aqua? Quia temporalia nunc ascendunt cum homine, nunc descendunt, nunc eleuant eum honore et prosperitate, nunc deprimunt aduersitate, et numquam homo est sine sollicitudine et tribulacione.
Ergo, qui desiderat celestia, necesse est, vt ab animo omnes terrenas affecciones remoueat, quia cui dulcescit Deus, vere ei vilescunt terrena et caduca.
Sed hic homo nec dum ad hoc peruenit, vt omnia contempneret, ymmo adhuc voluntatem suam habet in manu sua. Ideo adhuc celestia secreta auditurus non est, donec perfeccius mundum contempserit et voluntatem suam dimiserit in manu Dei."
Revelationes (Heavenly Revelations) companion
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