Iudex conqueritur sponse de vniuersis peccatoribus omnium statuum et condicionum, narrans beneficia, que fecit eis, et ingratitudinem eorum. Comminatur quoque eos cum sentencia terribili ire sue, ammonet tamen eos, quod conuertantur ad eum, et suscipiet eos cum misericordia sicut pater.
The Vision of the Heavenly Court
The visionary is granted a glimpse of the divine majesty and the Queen of Heaven before the Lord speaks.
I saw a great palace, like a clear, serene sky, in which there was an innumerable army of the heavenly host, like specks of dust in the sun, shining with a brilliance like the sun's own rays. In the palace, however, sat someone on a wondrous throne who looked like a man—a Lord of incomprehensible beauty and immense power, whose garments were marvelous and of an indescribable brightness. A certain virgin stood before the one sitting on the throne, and she was brighter than the sun. All those of the heavenly host who stood by honored her reverently as the Queen of Heaven. But the one who sat on the throne spoke and said:
A Call to Repentance
The Lord addresses all ranks of humanity, lamenting their ingratitude and their preference for the devil's ways.
Listen, all you enemies of mine living in the world, for I'm not speaking to my friends who follow my will. Listen, all you clergy, archbishops, and bishops, and all of you in the lower ranks of the Church! Listen, all you religious, whatever order you belong to! Listen, you kings, princes, and judges of the earth, and all who serve! Listen, you women—princesses and all ladies and servants—and all of you, whatever your status or rank, great or small, who inhabit the world: listen to these words that I myself, who created you, am now speaking to you. I am complaining because you've turned away from me and given your loyalty to the devil, my enemy. You've abandoned my commands, you follow the devil's will, and you obey his suggestions. Do you not pay attention to the fact that I, the unchanging and eternal God, your Creator, came down from heaven to the Virgin, taking on flesh from her, and lived among you? I myself opened the way for you and showed you the counsel by which you might go to heaven. I was stripped, scourged, and crowned with thorns, and stretched so violently on the cross that nearly all the nerves and joints of my body were pulled apart. I heard every insult and endured the most contemptible death and the most bitter sorrow of heart for your salvation. You don't pay attention to all these things, my enemies, because you've been deceived. That’s why you carry the devil’s yoke and burden with a deceptive sweetness; you don't know it, nor do you feel it, until the pain of an endless burden draws near. These things aren't enough for you; your pride is so great that if you could rise above me, you'd gladly do it. And your pleasure in the flesh is so great that you would more willingly go without me than give up your disordered delight. Furthermore, your greed is insatiable, like a bag with a hole in it, because nothing can ever satisfy it.
The Warning of Judgment
The Lord warns of the severe consequences of continued pride and greed, contrasting his current patience with future judgment.
Therefore, I swear by my divinity that if you die in your current state, you will never see my face; instead, because of your pride, you will be plunged so deeply into hell that all the devils will be over you, afflicting you without any hope of comfort. Because of your lust, you'll be filled with a horrible, devilish poison; because of your greed, you'll be filled with pain and anguish, and you'll share in all the evil that exists in hell. My enemies, you who are abominable, ungrateful, and degenerate, to you I seem like a worm dead in winter. That’s why you do whatever you want and prosper. But I will rise up in the summer, and then you’ll be silenced, and you won’t escape my hand.
An Invitation to Mercy
Despite their rebellion, the Lord invites his enemies to return to him and find rest in his mercy.
Even so, my enemies, because I redeemed you with my own blood and want nothing but your souls, come back to me now with humility, and I will gladly welcome you as my children. Shake off the devil's heavy yoke from yourselves and remember my love, and you'll see in your conscience that I am gentle and kind.✦
Read the original Latin
Vidi palacium grande simile celo sereno, in quo erat exercitus celestis milicie innumerabilis quasi athomi solis, habens fulgorem sicut radii solis.
In palacio vero sedebat in throno mirabili quasi persona quedam hominis, incomprehensibilis pulchritudinis et immense potencie dominus, cuius vestes erant mirabiles et indicibilis claritatis.
Et quedam virgo stabat ante sedentem in throno, que erat fulgencior sole. Quam omnes illi assistentes celestis milicie honorabant reuerenter vt reginam celorum. Ille vero, qui sedebat in throno, aperiens os suum dixit:
"Audite omnes inimici mei in mundo viuentes, quia ad amicos meos non loquor, qui sequuntur voluntatem meam. Audite omnes clerici, archiepiscopi et episcopi et omnes inferioris gradus Ecclesie! Audite omnes religiosi, cuiuscumque ordinis estis!
Audite reges et principes et iudices terre et omnes seruientes! Audite mulieres, principisse ac omnes domine et ancille, et omnes, cuiuscumque condicionis et gradus estis, magni et parui, qui habitatis orbem, verba hec, que ego ipse, qui creaui vos, nunc loquor ad vos.
Ego conqueror, quia recessistis a me et dedistis fidem dyabolo, inimico meo. Vos dereliquistis mandata mea et sequimini dyaboli voluntatem et obeditis suggestionibus eius.
Non attenditis, quod ego, immutabilis et eternus Deus creator vester, descendi de celis ad virginem, sumens ex ea carnem, et conuersatus sum vobiscum. Ego per memetipsum aperui vobis viam et ostendi consilia, per que iretis in celum.
Ego fui nudatus et flagellatus et spinis coronatus et ita fortiter extensus in cruce, quod quasi omnes nerui et compages mei corporis soluerentur. Ego audiui omnia obprobria et sustinui contemptibilissimam mortem et amarissimum cordis dolorem pro salute vestra.
Hec omnia, o inimici mei, non attenditis, quia decepti estis. Ideo portatis iugum et onus dyaboli cum suauitate fallaci, et nescitis nec ista sentitis, antequam dolor super onus interminabile appropinquat.
Nec sufficiunt vobis ista sed et tanta est superbia vestra, quod, si possetis ascendere super me, libenter faceretis. Tantaque est vobis voluptas carnis, quod libencius velletis carere me quam dimittere inordinatam delectacionem vestram.
Insuper cupiditas vestra est insaciabilis quasi saccus perforatus, quia nichil est, quod saciare potest cupiditatem vestram.
Ideo iuro in deitate mea, quod, si moriamini in statu, in quo nunc estis, numquam videbitis faciem meam, sed pro superbia vestra sic profunde demergemini in infernum, quod omnes dyaboli erunt super vos, inconsolabiliter affligentes vos.
Pro luxuria vero implebimini horribili veneno dyabolico et pro cupiditate vestra implebimini dolore et angustia, et participes eritis tocius mali, quod est in inferno.
O inimici mei, abhominabiles et ingrati et degenerantes, ego videor vobis quasi vermis mortuus in hyeme. Ideo facitis, quecumque vultis, et prosperamini. Ideo consurgam ego in estate et tunc vos silebitis et non effugietis manum meam.
Verumptamen, o inimici mei, quia ego sanguine meo redemi vos et nichil quero nisi animas vestras, ideo redite adhuc ad me cum humilitate, et gratanter vt filios suscipiam vos.
Excutite graue iugum dyaboli a vobis et recordemini caritatis mee, et videbitis in consciencia vestra, quod ego sum suauis et mitis."
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.11.29-Matt.11.30 — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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