Christus dicit matri, quod homines mentalibus oculis ceci possunt visum recuperare, vt valeant Deum videre et super omnia diligere, ex tribus, scilicet ex consideracione iusticie temporalis et ex bonitate, scilicet per pulchritudinem creaturarum, et ex omnipotencia et sapiencia sua. Errant autem omnes, qui credunt mala vel bona euenire ex fortuna vel ex constellacione stellarum.
The Mother's Compassion
Mary expresses her deep compassion for humanity's spiritual blindness and neglect of God's justice and mercy.
Mary says, "Blessed are you, my Son, my God, and my Lord!" Although I cannot feel sadness, I do feel compassion for humanity in three things. First, it's because a person has eyes but is blind. For they see their own captivity and yet follow it; they mock your justice and laugh openly at their own desires, falling in an instant into eternal punishment and losing the most blessed, everlasting glory.1 Second, I feel compassion for humanity, because they crave the world and look to it with joy, failing to notice your mercy, seeking what is trivial and casting aside what is greatest. Third, I feel compassion because, even though you are the God of all, your honor is still forgotten and neglected by people, and your works are dead in their eyes. Therefore, my blessed Son, have mercy on them!
The Eyes of the Soul
Christ explains that humanity's blindness is a choice, as they ignore the evidence of God's justice, beauty, and providence in favor of worldly vanity.
The Son replied: "Everyone in the world who has a conscience sees that there is a justice in the world by which sinners are punished." If, then, physical offenses are punished by worldly people out of justice, how much more just is it that an immortal soul be punished by an immortal God? A person could see and understand this if they wanted to, but because they turn their eyes toward the world and their heart toward their own pleasure, they are like an owl that follows the night: they pursue fleeting goods and hate what is meant to last. Second, if you choose to look and reflect, you can see that if the planets, trees, and plants are beautiful, and if all these worldly things are so desirable, how much more beautiful and desirable is the Lord and Creator of them all? And if this fleeting, temporary glory is so passionately desired and loved, how much more should that eternal glory be desired? A person could see this if they wanted to, because they have a good enough sense of this understanding: that what is greater and nobler ought to be loved more than what is inferior and lesser; but because a person, like an animal, is always inclined toward lower things—even though they were made to look upward—they end up weaving a spider's web.✦ They abandon the beauty of an angel and imitate what is fleeting; and so, like grass, they flourish for a little while, and like grass, they quickly fall. Third, those who are willing can understand in their own conscience—and they can carefully consider this from these created things—that there is one God and Creator of all. If there were no Creator, everything would fall into disorder, because nothing is disordered except what man himself disorders—even if it seems otherwise to those who don't understand the movements of the planets and the seasons, and to whom the judgments of God remain hidden because of their past sins. If, then, there is one God and He is supreme—since every good thing flows from Him—why doesn't a person honor Him above all else and more than anything else, when their own reason tells them that they must honor above all else the One from whom all things come? But as you said, man has eyes yet sees nothing; in fact, he has personally closed his own eyes through the blasphemy of attributing to the stars the reason why people are good or evil.2 They blame fate—or, in other words, fortune—for anything that happens to them that is contrary or harsh, as if they had some divine power within them to create or accomplish anything, when in fact fate or fortune is nothing at all. But human life and all things are provided for by the stability of God, and are managed in time, reasonably and according to the needs of each thing. A person’s goodness or wickedness isn't written in the stars, even though many things about them might seem logical—that is, ordered and tempered by the qualities of nature and the times. Therefore, people could see these things if they wanted to.
The Veil of Unbelief
Mary and the Son discuss the 'film' over human eyes and the necessity of revealing God's justice and mercy to awaken the lukewarm.
The Mother replied, "Everyone with a good conscience clearly understands that God is to be loved above all else, and they prove this in their actions as well." But because a film has grown over the eyes of so many, they cannot see—even though the pupil itself is healthy. And what does this membrane signify, if not a failure to consider the things to come, which has clouded the understanding of so many? Therefore, I ask you, my dearest son, to please reveal to someone what your justice is like—not so that their shame and misery might increase, but so that the punishment they deserve for their sins might be lightened, and so that your justice might be known and feared.3 For if a sack were full of something, or a vessel full of milk, how would a person know what was inside the sack unless it were shaken out vigorously and openly? Even though your justice is great, if you didn't reveal it through an open judgment, it would be feared by only a few, because your marvelous works have lost their value through the passage of time and the magnitude of sin. Second, I ask that you deign to manifest your mercy through someone dear to you, for the sake of the devotion of others and the consolation of the miserable. Third, I ask that your name be honored, so that those who love you may be known and the lukewarm may be set on fire. The Son replied: "Where many friends enter and pray, it is fitting that they be heard." How much more so if a lady most dear to the Lord enters and prays!
A Warning for the House of God
Christ promises to manifest His justice and mercy, while Mary warns of the impending collapse of a religious house built on false foundations.
Let it be done, then, as you wish! For my justice will be so clearly revealed that whoever experiences it will feel it; their deeds will be brought into the light, and their very limbs will tremble. Second, I will give a person mercy, as much as they can hold and as much as they need. Their body will be exalted and their soul will be glorified, so that my mercy may be made manifest. Then the Mother speaks: "This place of religious life has turned away from the good and is built upon ice, even though its foundation was from the beginning the purest gold." Beneath it, however, lies a great abyss. But when the sun grows hot, the ice will melt, and what has been built will fall into the abyss. Therefore, my blessed son, have mercy on them! For the fall is horrific, the precipice unbearable, and there is eternal darkness and prolonged punishment.
Read the original Latin
Maria loquitur: "Benedictus sis tu, fili mi, Deus meus et Dominus meus! Ego licet tristari non possum, tamen super tribus compacior homini.
Primo, quia homo oculos habet et cecus est. Nam videt captiuitatem suam et sequitur eam, deridet iusticiam tuam et ore ridet ad cupiditatem suam, cadit in puncto in penam perpetuam et amittit gloriam felicissimam sempiternam.
Secundo compacior homini, quia affectat et respicit gaudenter mundum, quod misericordiam tuam non attendit, quod illud, quod modicum est, querit et illud, quod maximum est, proicit.
Tercio compacior, quia, cum tu Deus omnium sis, honor tamen tuus ab hominibus oblitus et neglectus est et opera tua mortua sunt ante eos. Ergo, benedicte fili mi, miserere eis!"
Respondit Filius: "Omnes, qui in mundo sunt et conscienciam habent, vident, quod in mundo est iusticia, qua peccatores puniuntur. Si ergo corporales excessus a temporalibus hominibus puniuntur ex iusticia, quanto magis est iusticia, vt anima immortalis a Deo immortali puniatur?
Hoc videre et intelligere posset homo, si vellet, sed quia oculos flectit ad mundum et affectum ad delectacionem suam, ideo, sicut bubo sequitur noctem, sic homo insequitur bona fugitiua et odio habet permansura.
Secundo videre et considerare posset homo, si vellet, quod, si planete, arbores et herbe pulchre sunt, si omnia ista mundialia sic desiderabilia sunt, quanto magis pulchrior et desiderabilior est omnium istorum Dominus et creator?
Et si gloria ista temporalis fugitiua sic ardenter concupiscitur et diligitur, quanto magis concupiscenda esset gloria illa eterna?
Hoc videre posset homo, si vellet, quia bene huius intelligencie habet sensum, quod illud, quod maius et nobilius est, magis diligendum esset quam id, quod deterius et minus est, sed quia homo sicut animal semper ad inferiora inclinatur, cui datum est sursum respicere, ideo quasi aranearum texit telam;
pulchritudinem deserit angeli et imitatur transitoria, et ideo sicut fenum ad modicum tempus floret et quasi fenum cito cadit.
Tercio intelligunt in consciencia sua, qui volunt, et hoc ex istis creatis diligenter considerare possunt, quod vnus est omnium Deus et creator.
Nisi enim esset creator, omnia irent inordinate, cum nulla sint inordinata nisi illa, que homo inordinat, licet hominibus sic videatur, quibus planetarum et temporum cursus incognitus est et quibus iudicia Dei propter peccata premissa sunt occulta.
Si ergo vnus est Deus et ipse optimus, quia ab eo procedit omne bonum, cur non honorat eum homo pre omnibus et plus quam alia, cum racio eorum dicit eis eum pre omnibus honorandum, a quo sunt omnia?
Sed homo, sicut dixisti, oculum habet et nichil videt, ymmo personaliter ipse clausit oculum suum per blasfemiam, qua stellis deputat, quod homines mali vel boni sunt.
Fato eciam, idest fortune, imputant, quidquid contrarium vel asperum acciderit eis, ac si diuinum aliquid esset in eis, quo vel generare vel quid facere possent, cum tamen fatum seu fortuna nichil sit.
Sed disposicio hominis et omnium rerum in stabilitate diuina prouisa sunt et temporaliter secundum exigenciam vniuscuiusque rei racionabiliter ministrata.
Ne c in stellis est, quod homo bonus vel malus sit, quamuis in eis multa videntur racionabilia, scilicet secundum qualitatem nature et temporum ordinata et temperata. Ergo illa possent homines videre, si vellent."
Respondit mater: "Omnis homo, qui habet bonam conscienciam, bene intelligit, quod Deus est plus quam aliquid aliud diligendus, et hoc eciam opere perficit. Sed quia membrana superducta est pluribus in oculo, licet pupilla sit sana, ideo videre non possunt omnes.
Quid autem notat hec membrana nisi inconsideracionem futurorum, que superducta est intelligencie multorum?
Ideo rogo te, carissime fili, vt, qualis iusticia tua sit, super aliquem manifestare digneris, non vt eius pudor et miseria fiat eo maior sed vt pena eius pro meritis debita eo micior fiat et vt iusticia tua sciatur et timeatur.
Vbi enim saccus esset plenus aliqua re aut vas plenum lacte, quid sciret homo, quid contineretur intus in sacco, nisi valenter et aperte excuteretur?
Sic quamuis iusticia tua magna est, nisi tu aperto iudicio monstraueris illam, a paucis timeri posset, quia opera tua mirabilia diuturnitate temporum et peccati magnitudine viluerunt.
Secundo rogo, vt misericordiam tuam manifestare digneris per aliquem tibi carum propter aliorum deuocionem et miserorum consolacionem. Tercio rogo, vt nomen tuum veniat in honorem, vt diligentes sciantur et tepidi accendantur."
Respondit Filius: "Vbi multi amici ingrediuntur et orant, dignum est, vt exaudiantur. Quanto magis, si ingreditur et orat aliqua domina carissima domino!
Fiat ergo, quod vis! Iusticia enim mea euidenter manifestabitur in tantum, quod, qui eam experietur, senciet, opera eius venient in publicum et membra contremiscent.
Secundo dabo vni persone misericordiam, quantum capere possit et indiget. Corpus eius exaltabitur et eius anima glorificabitur ad hoc, vt misericordia mea manifestetur."
Deinde mater loquitur: "Locus iste religiosorum euersus est a bono et fundatus super glaciem, cuius fundamentum ab inicio erat aurum mundissimum. Subtus autem chaos maximum est.
Cum vero incaluerit sol, dissoluetur glacies et, quod edificatum est, cadet in abissum. Ergo, benedicte fili mi, miserere eis! Horrendus enim est casus et precipicium intollerabile, tenebre eciam perpetue et pena prolongata."
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.59.5 — They hatch vipers' eggs and weave spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs dies, and when one is crushed, a viper breaks out.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'ore ridet ad cupiditatem suam' suggests a mocking or foolish laughter directed toward one's own sinful cravings.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'oculum habet' (singular) is rendered as 'has eyes' to match natural English idiom, though it refers to the faculty of spiritual sight.
- 3 ↩The Latin 'micior' (mitior) is rendered here as 'lighter' in the context of punishment, reflecting the sense of tempering or softening the severity of the penalty.
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