Simplicitas vix scientis Pater noster plus placet Deo quam prudencia superborum, et docta insipiencia per dileccionem seruat mandata, consilia, euangelica iura omnia et leges.
The Wisdom of Simplicity
Christ contrasts the humble simplicity of a faithful soul with the prideful cleverness of the world.
A simple man, who didn't even know the Lord's Prayer by heart, sought spiritual counsel from Lady Birgitta. Christ said to him: The simplicity of this person's soul pleases me more than the cleverness of the proud, because their pride drives God from the heart, while this one's humility brings God into the heart. Tell him to keep on with his usual work just as he has been doing, and he'll have his reward along with those to whom I said: 'Come to me, all you who labor, and I will feed you with the bread of eternity.'✦ If I were to tell him what I told the man who came to me asking for advice in bad faith—'Keep the commandments,' I said, 'and sell what you have'—he wouldn't be able to handle it, because old age can't take in new instruction, and poverty has nothing to sell. Still, for anyone aiming at eternal life, the commandments are necessary; without them, no one can be saved, provided they have the time and the means to be taught. This person's learned simplicity and good will are as pleasing to me as the widow's two copper coins, which I valued more than the riches of kings. For in that very simplicity, they possess all wisdom.
Learned Ignorance and the Law of Love
True wisdom is defined as the capacity to love God, which fulfills all commandments and legal requirements.
They love me with their heart, but where would that come from if not from my Spirit? To the wise of this world, it seems like foolishness not to love riches and not to know how to talk about grand things. I called it 'learned ignorance' because that person has learned true wisdom from my Spirit, which is to love God. Doesn't this person seem truly wise to you? It's because they know only one word: to love. Through this love, they keep all the commandments of the Law of Moses; through it, they give to God what belongs to God; through it, they keep all the counsels of my Gospel; and through it, they observe all laws and requirements.✦ Through this love, they love their neighbor, not by coveting what belongs to others—in fact, they desire nothing but what is necessary—and they neither seize nor defraud their neighbor. Through this, they are constantly mindful of their own death and of the judgment by which they must be judged before me. And so, whoever wants to come to me doesn't need to worry about ignorance of the law, provided they are willing to use their own conscience, which tells them they should be willing to suffer what they do to others.
The Vanity of Curiosity
Christ critiques the pursuit of knowledge for show and emphasizes that a sincere heart is more pleasing than rote learning.
Why, then, do people learn so much and study so many books? Is it to serve me? Isn't it rather out of curiosity, to pass the time, to show off, and to be called a master? Yet everyone stands in their own conscience, and by it, everyone is judged. Therefore, daughter, whoever reads these three words with perfect faith and intention: 'Jesus, have mercy on me!' pleases me more than someone who has read thousands of verses without attention.
Read the original Latin
Quidam simplex, qui nesciuit plene Pater noster, quesiuit consilium anime a domina Birgitta. Cui Christus dixit:
"Plus placet michi simplicitas anime simplicis huius hominis quam prudencia superborum, quia in illis est superbia elongans Deum a corde, in isto est humilitas introducens Deum in cor.
Ideo dic ei, quod continuet opus suum solitum sicut hucusque, et habebit mercedem cum hiis, quibus dixi: 'Venite, qui laboratis, et ego cibabo vos pane eterno.'
Nam si dixero ei, sicut dixi Iudeo petenti a me consilium fraudulenter: 'Serua', inquiens, 'mandata et vende, que habes', non potest sustinere, quia senectus non capit informacionem et paupertas non habet, quod vendat.
Verumptamen homini tendenti ad eternam vitam necessaria sunt mandata, quia sine illis saluari non potest homo, dummodo tempus et copiam habet instruentis.
Istius vero hominis docta insipiencia et voluntas bona sic placet sicut illius vidue duo denarii, quos pretuli diuiciis regum. Nam ipse in sua insipiencia omnem habet sapienciam.
Diligit enim corde me, sed vnde nisi ex Spiritu meo? Et hoc videtur sapientibus mundi insipiencia, non amare diuicias et nescire grandia loqui.
Ideo dixi 'docta insipiencia', quia ipse a Spiritu meo didicit veram sapienciam, hoc est diligere Deum. Numquid non videtur tibi esse vere sapiens iste? Quia non scit nisi vnicum verbum, scilicet 'diligere'.
Per hanc enim dileccionem ipse seruat omnia mandata legis Moysi, per hanc dat Deo, que Dei sunt, per hanc conseruat omnia consilia euangelii mei, per hanc seruat omnia iura et leges.
Per hanc diligit proximum, non concupiscendo aliena, ymmo nec nisi necessaria, nec rapiendo nec defraudando proximum.
Per hanc memor est continue mortis sue et iudicii, quo apud me est iudicandus. Et ideo, qui voluerit venire ad me, non habet sollicitari de ignorancia legis, dummodo vti voluerit consciencia sua, que dicit hoc velle pati, quod facit alteri.
Ad quid enim homo addiscit tot et tanta et tot reuoluit libros? Numquid ad seruiendum michi? Nonne magis propter curiositatem et deduccionem temporum et ostentacionem et velle magister vocari?
Verumptamen vnusquisque stat in consciencia sua et ex ea iudicatur vnusquisque. Propterea, filia, quicumque ex perfecta fide et voluntate tria ista verba legit: 'Ihesu, miserere mei!' plus michi placet quam ille, qui milia versuum legerit sine attencione."
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