Visio Quarta
The Vision of the Human Form
The visionary experiences a complex revelation of the Creator's secret, featuring a human form vivified by a fiery sphere.
Then I saw a great and most serene radiance, burning as if with many eyes and having four corners turned toward the four quarters of the world; it was revealed to me in a great mystery, signifying the secret of the Creator on high, and in it another radiance appeared, like the dawn, holding within itself the brightness of a purple glow. And look, I saw people on earth carrying milk in earthen vessels and making cheese from it; a certain part of it was thick, from which strong cheeses were made, a certain part was thin, from which weak cheeses were curdled, and a certain part was mixed with decay, from which bitter cheeses came forth; and so I saw something like a woman having the complete form of a human in her womb. And look, through the secret arrangement of the Creator on high, that same form gave motion to vital activity, and a fiery sphere, having no features of a human body, took possession of the heart of that form, touched its brain, and poured itself through all its limbs. And then, as that human form came forth from the woman's womb, vivified in this way, it changed its color according to the movements that the sphere had within that human form, and according to those movements as well. And I saw that many storms were attacking a certain sphere of this kind remaining in the human body, bending it down to the ground, but it, having regained its strength, stood up manfully and resisted them manfully, and with a groan it complained in this way:
The Lament of the Stranger
The soul laments its exile from its heavenly inheritance and its current state of suffering and spiritual captivity.
Where am I, a stranger? In the shadow of death. And what path am I walking? The path of error. And what consolation do I have? The kind that strangers have. For I was meant to have a tabernacle adorned with squared stones, the sun, and brighter stars; because the setting sun and the setting stars were not meant to shine within it, but rather the glory of the angels was meant to be there, since the topaz was meant to be its foundation, all its structure made of gems, its stairs set with crystal, and its streets paved with gold. For I was meant to be a companion of the angels, because I am a living breath that God sent into dry clay. And so, I ought to have known God and felt his presence. But alas! When my tabernacle realized it could see into every path with its own eyes, it set its instrument toward the north. Ah! Ah! I was captured and stripped of my vision and the joy of knowledge; my garment was torn to pieces, and I was driven from my inheritance. I was led into a foreign place that lacks all beauty and honor, where I am subjected to the worst kind of servitude. But those who began to strike me with their fists also made me eat with pigs, and by sending me into a desert place, they even offered me the most bitter herbs dipped in honey to eat. Afterward, they stretched me out on a winepress and afflicted me with many torments; then, stripping me of my clothes and inflicting many wounds upon me, they handed me over to a place where the worst and most poisonous serpents—like scorpions, asps, and their kind—captured me and covered me entirely with their venom, so that I became completely drained and weakened. So they mocked me, saying, "Where is your honor now?" Ah! I trembled all over, and with a deep groan of sorrow, I said to myself in silence, "Where am I?" Ah! How did I get here? And who can I look to for comfort in this captivity? How can I break these chains? Oh, what eye could ever look upon my wounds? And what nostrils could ever endure this foul stench? Or what hand will anoint it with oil? Ah! Who will show mercy to my pain? May heaven therefore hear my cry; may the earth tremble at my sorrow; and may all that lives bow down in pity for my captivity, for a most bitter pain presses upon me; because I am a stranger, without consolation and without help. Oh, who will comfort me, since even my mother has abandoned me, because I have wandered from the way of salvation? Who will help me if not God? But when I remember you, O Mother Sion, in whom I ought to have lived, I look upon the most bitter servitude to which I am now subject.
The Struggle for Ascent
The soul seeks to return to its mother Sion, facing spiritual obstacles and the persistent attacks of its enemies.
And when I call to mind every kind of music that is in you, I pay attention to my wounds. But when I remember the joy and the happiness of your glory, I loathe the poisons that have infected me. Where can I turn? And where can I flee? My sorrow is beyond measure, for if I persist in these evils, I will be a companion to those with whom I have lived shamefully in the land of Babylon. And where are you, my mother Sion? Woe is me! for I have unhappily turned away from you; because if I did not know you, I would bear my sorrow more lightly. Now, however, I must flee from my worst companions, because unhappy Babylon has placed me in a leaden scale and crushed me with massive beams, so that I can barely breathe. But when I pour out my tears and groans to you, O my mother, unhappy Babylon emits such a roar of crashing waters that you don't hear my voice. Therefore, I must carefully seek out the narrow paths so that I might escape my worst companions and this unhappy captivity. And when I had said these things, I slipped away along a narrow path where I hid myself in a small hole facing north, weeping most bitterly because I had lost my mother; there I also pondered all my pain and all my wounds, and I shed such floods of tears, weeping and weeping, that every pain and every bruise of my wounds became soaked and softened by those tears. And look, a most sweet scent, like a gentle breeze sent from my mother, filled my nostrils. Oh, how many groans and tears I shed then, when I felt that a small consolation was near. And I gave such wails with abundant weeping for joy that even that mountain in whose hole I had hidden myself was moved by it. And I said: O mother, O mother Sion, what will finally become of me? And where is your noble daughter now? Oh, how long I’ve been without your motherly sweetness—you who nurtured me so gently in such great delights. In these tears, I found such comfort, as if I were seeing my mother. But my enemies, hearing my cries, said: "Where is she whom we have held until now in our company according to our own will, and who has until now fulfilled our every desire?" Look, now she is calling upon the citizens of heaven. Let us therefore stir up all our arts, guarding her with such zeal and such care that she may never be able to escape from us, because we have already completely subjected her to ourselves. If we do this, she’ll follow us again. But I, having secretly slipped out of the hole where I had hidden, longed to go to a certain height where my enemies wouldn't be able to find me. But they set before me a kind of sea of such intense fervor that I could in no way wade across it. And yet, there was also a bridge there, so small and narrow that I couldn't cross by it either. At the end of that sea, a certain height of mountains with such sharp peaks appeared that I felt no path could be found there either. And I said, "Oh, what am I, a miserable soul, to do now?" I had just felt the sweetness of my mother for a little while, and so I thought she wanted to draw me back to herself; but ah! Will she leave me again? Ah! Where am I to turn? For if I were to fall back into my former captivity, I would be a greater laughingstock to my enemies now than I was before, because I cried out faithfully to my mother, and because I felt the sweetness of her tenderness for a little while, only to be abandoned by her again now. But because of that sweetness I had felt from my mother earlier, I still had enough strength to turn toward the east and begin to attempt those narrow paths again. Those paths, however, were so blocked by thorns, briars, and other obstacles that I could barely find a place to set my feet; yet, with great labor and sweat, I finally managed to pass through them, though the effort left me so exhausted that I could hardly breathe. So, at last, having escaped with great fatigue to the mountain peak where I had previously hidden myself, I leaned toward its valley, where, as I wanted to descend, adders, scorpions, dragons, and other such serpents rushed at me together and hissed. Terrified, I let out a great cry: "O Mother, where are you?" For I would suffer less if I hadn't felt the sweetness of your visitation before, because now I am falling back into that same captivity where I had lain for so long. Where, then, is your help now? Then I heard the voice of my mother speaking to me.
The Tabernacle of Steel
Strengthened by grace, the soul builds a fortified tabernacle to protect itself from the enemy's assaults.
Daughter, run, for the most powerful Giver, whom no one can resist, has given you wings to fly. So, fly quickly over all these obstacles. Strengthened by great consolation, I took up those wings and quickly flew over all those poisonous and deadly things. I arrived at a tabernacle, which was built entirely of the strongest steel on the inside. Once I entered, I performed works of light, whereas before I had performed works of darkness. In that tabernacle, however, I placed a column of unpolished iron toward the north; on it I hung fans of various feathers moving here and there, and finding manna, I ate it. Toward the east, however, I built a bulwark of square stones, and kindling a fire in it, I drank myrrh-scented wine there with new wine. Toward the south, I built a tower of square stones; in it, I hung red shields, and in its windows, I placed ivory trumpets. In the middle of that tower, I poured out honey, from which I made a precious ointment with other spices, so that a great fragrance might spread from it throughout the entire enclosure of the tabernacle. To the west, however, I placed no work, because that side was turned toward the world. But meanwhile, as I was occupied with this work, my enemies grabbed their quivers and attacked my tabernacle with their arrows. Because I was so focused on my work, I didn't notice their madness for a long time, until the doors of the tabernacle were filled with arrows. Still, none of the arrows damaged the door, nor could they penetrate the steel of the tabernacle, so I couldn't be harmed by them. When they realized this, they released a massive flood of water to knock me and my tabernacle down, but they accomplished nothing in their malice. Because of this, I boldly mocked them, saying, "The craftsman who built this tabernacle was wiser and stronger than you." So gather up your arrows and put them away, for from now on you won't be able to achieve any victory of your will over me. Look, what wounds do they show? I fought many battles against you with much pain and labor when you wanted to hand me over to death; but you couldn't, because I was protected by the strongest armor. I brandished sharp swords against you, through which I defended myself vigorously against you. Go away, then—just go away—because you won't be able to possess me any longer.
The Nature of the Soul and Body
A detailed theological exploration of the soul's role in the body, the nature of human vice, and the struggle of the will.
But I, fragile and untaught, saw even those things that many storms rushed into, wanting to cast them down into another sphere; yet they could not, because she, resisting bravely, gave them no room to rage, though she still complained: 'Although I am very poor, I have nonetheless obtained a great office.' Oh, what am I? And what is the complaint of my cry? For I am a living breath placed in man, into a tabernacle of marrow, veins, bones, and flesh, so that I give life to that same tabernacle, and I carry it everywhere in its movements. But alas! Its sensibility brings forth filth, lasciviousness, petulance of character, and all kinds of vices. Ah! Oh, with what great groaning I lament this. When I find success in the work of my tabernacle, a diabolical persuasion meets me, ensnaring me in everything and puffing me up with such pride that I often say: I want to act according to the desires of my earthly powers; for I understand all the work within my tabernacle, but I am so hindered by its cravings that I don't discern my own actions until I feel dire wounds within me. Oh, what a lament I send up then! And I say: O God, did You not create me? Look, vile earth oppresses me. And so, flight in Him? How? When my tabernacle has carnal desire, then, because I take pleasure in the work, I perform that work along with it. But the reason that thrives in me alongside my knowledge shows me that I was created by God; in that same reason, I also sense that when Adam transgressed the divine command, he was afraid and hid himself. So I, too, am afraid and hide myself from the face of God when I sense that my works in my own tabernacle are contrary to Him. But when I weigh the leaden scale of sin, I despise all those works that burn with carnal desires. Woe to me, a wanderer! How will I be able to stand in these dangers? And when the devil's persuasion invades me, saying: "Is this good, which you don't know, nor see, nor are able to do? What will happen then?" And when he says again: "What you know, and what you understand, and what you are able to do—why do you abandon this?" what then am I to do? But I will respond with deep sorrow. Ah, how wretched I am! For through Adam, harmful poisons have been breathed into me, since he transgressed the divine command and was cast out into the earth, gathering carnal tabernacles. For in the taste that he himself experienced in the fruit through disobedience, harmful sweetness enters into blood and flesh, and thus produces the pollution of vices. Therefore, I feel the sin of the flesh within me; yet I neglect the most pure God because I am intoxicated by guilt. But I should not follow what the taste of my tabernacle possesses. Since Adam was created pure and simple by God in the beginning, I fear God, knowing that through Him I was also created pure and simple. But now, through the evil habit of vices, I am turned into unrest. Oh, in all these things, I am a stranger and a wanderer. Because of this, the storms of various noises bring forth many lies that rise up within me, saying: Who are you? And what do you say? And what kind of struggles are you caught up in? For you are miserable. For you do not know whether your work is good or evil. Where will you eventually go, and who will protect you? And what are those errors that are driving you to madness? Will you finish what delights you, or will you flee what distresses you? Oh! What will you do, since you know this but are ignorant of that? For you aren't permitted to have what delights you, and God’s command compels you toward what distresses you. And how do you know if these things are so? It would be better for you if you had never existed. And after these storms have risen up in me, I begin to walk another path, which is heavy for my flesh, because I begin to do justice. But again I doubt within myself whether this comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit or not, and I say: This is useless. And then I want to fly above the clouds. How? I want to rise above my own understanding and start things I cannot finish. But when I try to do this, I stir up great sadness within myself, so I accomplish nothing—neither in the heights of holiness nor on the level ground of good will. Instead, I feel the restlessness of doubt, despair, sorrow, and the crushing weight of all things. And when diabolical persuasion disturbs me like this, oh, what a calamity then overwhelms me! for all the evils that exist or could exist—in vituperation, in cursing, in the mortification of body and soul, in foul words against purity, salvation, and the heights that are in God—all these things come upon me in my misery. From this, this iniquity also rises up in me: that every happiness and every good thing, whether in man or in God, becomes troublesome and burdensome to me, proposing death to me rather than life. Ah! What a miserable struggle it is, forcing itself upon me—from labor to labor, from pain to pain, from division to division—stripping away all my happiness.1 But where does the evil of these errors come from? It's clear. For the ancient serpent carries within himself cunning and deceptive craftiness, along with the deadly poison of iniquity. In his cunning, he injects into me a stubbornness in sin, taking away my understanding of the fear of the Lord, so that I don't fear to sin, saying: Who is God? I don't know who God is. But in his deceptive craftiness, he brings a blockage upon me, so that I am blocked in evil. Yet with that deadly poison of iniquity, he takes away my spiritual joy, so that I cannot even rejoice in God, thus inducing in me the doubt of despair—namely, that I wonder whether I can be saved or not. Oh, what are these tabernacles that endure such great dangers in diabolical deception? But when I remember, through the gift of God, what He has created, I answer these diabolical persuasions this way, even in the midst of such oppression. I won't strike at the fragility of the earth, but I will wage the strongest of wars. How? When my tabernacle wants to practice works of injustice, I will defend myself by crushing my marrow, blood, and flesh in the wisdom of patience, just as a strong lion defends itself, and as a serpent hides in its hole to escape a death-blow. For I must neither accept the devil's arrows nor practice the desires of the flesh. How? For when anger tries to stir around my tabernacle, I look to the goodness of God, whom anger has never touched; and so I become gentler than the air that waters the dryness of the earth with its softness, finding spiritual joy as the virtues begin to show their strength in me. In this way, I feel the goodness of God. But when hatred tries to blacken me, I look to the mercy and the martyrdom of the Son of God; and so I restrain my flesh, taking up in faithful remembrance the sweet scent of the roses that spring from the thorns, and in this way I acknowledge my Redeemer. But when pride tries to set the tower of its vanity in me without the foundation of the Rock, and to raise up in me this height that wants to have no equal, but always to appear higher than others. Oh, who will help me then, since the ancient serpent—who fell into death because he wanted to be above everyone else—is trying to cast me down? Then with sorrow I say: Where is my King and my God? What good can I do without God? Nothing. So I look to God, who gave me life, and I run to that most blessed Virgin who crushed the pride of the ancient pit; having become the strongest stone in God's building, the rapacious wolf that was strangled by the hook of divinity will no longer be able to overcome me. In this way, I recognize the sweetest good—that is, humility—in the height of God and in the remembrance of the humility of the most blessed Virgin above all others, sensing the sweetness of an inexhaustible balm. Rejoicing in the sweetness of God as if I were in the fragrance of all spices, I cast down all other vices with the great strength of humility. Then I, a poor little woman, saw another sphere contracting itself from the lines of its own form; it loosened its knots, pulled itself away from them with a groan, and sorrowfully tore apart its own seat. And it said, "I will go out from my tabernacle." But I, a miserable woman full of sorrow, where am I to go? Along dreadful and terrifying paths to the judgment where I will be judged. For I will show the works I have done in my tabernacle, and there I will receive my reward according to my merits. Oh, what great fear! Oh, what great anguish will be mine there? As it was loosening itself this way, certain spirits—both bright and shadowy—arrived; they had been companions of its life based on how it had moved in its seat, and they were waiting for its release so that, once it had freed itself, they could lead it away with them.
The Mystery of Divine Knowledge
The vision explains the Trinity and the Incarnation as the means by which humanity is led back to truth.
And I heard a living voice saying to them, 'Let each be led from place to place according to their works'; and again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'The blessed and ineffable Trinity revealed itself to the world when the Father sent His only-begotten Son—conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin—into the world, so that humans, born into such great diversity and bound by so many sins, might be led back through Him to the way of truth, so that, once freed from the bonds of this bodily weight, they might carry good and holy works with them and attain the joys of the heavenly inheritance.' So that you might grasp this more deeply, O human, and judge it more clearly: you see a great and most serene radiance, burning as if with many eyes, having four corners turned toward the four corners of the world. This signifies the great knowledge of God in its mysteries and its pure manifestations, radiating with the greatest depth of clarity and extending the sharpest edges of fourfold stability toward the four regions of the earth, where it most keenly foresees those who are cast away and those who are gathered in as they come. It shows the mystery of the heavenly majesty, which is demonstrated to you, as you see, in the image of the highest height and the deepest depth. In this, another radiance also appears, similar to the dawn, holding within itself the brightness of a purple glow; for the knowledge of God also shows this: that the only-begotten of the Father, taking on flesh from the Virgin, deigned to pour out His blood in the purity of faith for the salvation of humanity. In this knowledge of God, both good and evil are shown, since it is not obscured by the darkness of any thing. But you, O human, say: "What will a person do, when God has already foreseen everything that they are going to do?" To which I say: You fool, in the wickedness of your heart, you imitate the one who, first rejecting the way of truth, set a lie against the truth when he wanted to make himself like the Highest Good. Who could ever grasp the beginning and the end of all things, whatever lies hidden in the One who is, who was, and who will remain? But who are you? You are but a spark of ash. And what did you know when you didn't even exist yet? Yet you, having a lamentable beginning and a miserable end, contradict what you neither know nor ought to know: namely, the incomprehensible beauty of God's justice, in which no suspicion of injustice is found, nor has it ever been found, nor will it ever be found. You fool, where do you think the father of iniquity, whom you imitate, is? What is this? When pride puffs you up above the stars, and you want to be raised above other creatures, above the angels who fulfill God's commands in all things, and above everything else. But you'll fall just as he fell, who set a lie against the truth. For he loved a lie, and therefore, wrapped in death, he fell into the abyss. Therefore, human, pay attention. When you neither look at the charity by which God freed you, nor notice the many good things God always bestows on you, nor consider how He calls you back from death, you frequently fall into sins where you love death more than life. If then at last you call to mind the scriptures and those teachings which your ancient and faithful fathers proposed to you—namely, that you must avoid evil and do good—and if then from the depths of your heart you say, 'I have sinned gravely; therefore I must return with worthy penance to my Father who created me,' then your Father kindly receives you and, placing you in His bosom, embraces you in His sweet arms. Now, however, you despise knowing the blessedness that God proposed to you, and you refuse to hear or practice the justice of God. If it were possible, would you call God's judgment unjust rather than just? Therefore, if you hadn't been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, you would lie lost in perdition. But God’s judgment is true and just. So, man, what good do you get from tearing yourself down in my judgment? In the choir of angels and in my chosen vineyard, there is the praise of those who laud and say, 'Glory to you, Lord, who are just and truthful.' They don't contradict my judgment, for they are just. But what good did it do the devil to set himself against me? When he saw that he possessed great brightness, he wanted to exalt himself above everyone, to the point that an innumerable crowd of proud spirits agreed with him. Divine power cast them all down along with him in the zeal of its own justice. Just so, all who try to put off God’s justice through persistence in evil are cast down, because they labor to pervert the highest good into the perversity of wickedness. Therefore, God by no means establishes what is unjust; rather, he has ordained everything that is right in the equity of his goodness. But those who rejected God in their faithlessness, creating idols for themselves that the devil entered and used to deceive them, rose up in the madness of this vanity long after the generation had passed away to whom Adam and Eve had told how they were made by God and cast out of paradise. Others, following them in the same perversity, worshipped God’s creation more than their Creator, thinking that lifeless things could manage their lives. Therefore, let those still wallowing in that same faithlessness abandon their foolishness and turn faithfully to Him who crushed the devil’s snares, putting aside the old ways of ignorance and embracing a new life, as my servant Ezekiel urges: "Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit." This is what is meant: O you who wish to persevere in righteousness in the sun of justice, along whose path the blessed sheep run, cast out from the conscience of your heart the questioning of those hidden things that are useless to you in necessary and saving doctrine, in which you wanted to fly toward a vain height; for you have been plunged into a steep pit where no order dwells, but only that horrible confusion which does not know God. And when you have done this, walk the way of truth for your own salvation, where you’ll find the newness of the radiant heaven in your heart, and you’ll possess it as a life-giving breath in your spirit.
The Anatomy of Human Life
A comprehensive explanation of human conception, the soul's powers, and the final judgment of the spirit.
You also see people on earth carrying milk in earthen vessels and making cheese from it; these are the people in the world—both men and women—who carry human seed in their bodies, from which the race of diverse peoples is begotten. A certain part of this is thick, from which the cheese is formed, because that seed, when it is usefully and well-cooked and tempered in its own strength, produces vigorous people to whom great clarity of both spiritual and carnal gifts is granted in great fathers and in high-ranking persons. They flourish clearly in their works, both before God and before men, in the attainment of prudence, discernment, and the utility of life, because the devil finds no place in them. And there is a certain thin part from which weak cheeses are curdled, because this seed, being imperfectly cooked and tempered in its tenderness, produces frail people who, for the most part, are found to be foolish, lukewarm, and useless in their works, both before God and before the world, and who do not seek God with vigor. But there is also a part mixed with decay, from which bitter cheeses are made, because that seed, having been wickedly brought forth in the weakness of a corrupt mixture and uselessly combined, produces misshapen people who often suffer bitterness, difficulty, and oppression of heart, and so they are unable to lift their minds to higher things. Many, however, become useful from among these; yet they suffer many storms and anxieties, both in their hearts and in their ways, but they emerge as victors, because if they were to give in to their own anxiety, they would render themselves lukewarm and useless. Therefore, God, in restraining them, helps them and leads them to the way of salvation, just as it is written: 'I will kill, and I will make to live; I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.' This is what is meant: 'I who am, having neither beginning nor end, put to death the wicked in their deeds; those who are worn down in vices through the filth of the devil, and those who are deceived in the parts of an unhappy seed through the devil's caverns.' Oh, how cunning is the viperous jaw that inflates them so that death enters into them! Therefore, I take away from them the prosperity of this world, where they are killed by so many hardships that they cannot overcome, but which are always present to them by just judgment. But I, who am not cast down by any malice, often make these people live miserably in another way: where, living within them, I draw their breath up from earthly things so that it does not perish within them. I also afflict them at times with blows through the great infirmity of the labor of their lives; those who, through pride, desire to ascend to a height of mind that is harmful to them, thinking that they cannot be cast down by anyone. I, who am present everywhere, also raise them up at times to true health, so that they are not consumed by fallacious vanities in fallacious dangers. But in all these things, there is no human being nor any other creature that can avert these works of mine by their own cunning or perverse power, because there is no one who can resist my will and my justice. Often, as you see, the union of man and woman is brought about in my neglect and in the devil's mockery, and the conception of new human life is found there; yet I permit this wondrous creation to happen among humans for my glory and that of my saints, so that because their parents have transgressed my commands, they may be tormented in their very children and return to me in repentance, and so that while those who are distorted in this way are restored to health through the help of my chosen ones, my name may be glorified by people all the more ardently for it. But those who bind themselves by this law, seeking the beauty of virginity, ascend like the dawn toward heavenly secrets, because for the love of my Son they cut away the pleasures of their own bodies. But as for what you see—a woman having what looks like the complete form of a human in her womb—this is because after a woman has conceived human seed, the infant is formed in the hidden chamber of her belly in the integrity of its limbs. And look: through the secret arrangement of the heavenly Creator, that same form gives the movement of vivid life; for since you, as an infant in the mother's womb, received the spirit at the time appropriately and rightly ordained by God in his secret and hidden command and will, you show yourself to be alive by the movement of your body, just as the earth opens itself and brings forth its flowers and fruits when the dew has fallen upon it. It is like a sphere of fire that, having no features of a human body, possesses the heart of that form, because the soul, burning in the fire of deep knowledge, discerns various things within the circle of its understanding; and though it has no form of human limbs, because it is neither corporeal nor perishable as the human body is, it strengthens the human heart, which exists as the foundation of the body, rules the whole body, and like the firmament of heaven, contains the lower parts and covers the higher, and even touches the human brain, because in its powers it tastes not only earthly but also heavenly things when it wisely knows God, and pours itself through all the limbs of the human, because it grants vigor of marrow, veins, and all limbs to the whole body, just as a tree imparts sap and greenness to all its branches from its root. But then that form of the human, coming forth from the mother's womb enlivened in this way, changes its color according to the movements that the sphere itself has in that same human form, and according to them as well; for after a human has received the vital spirit in the mother's womb and has been born, and has given the movement of its own operation according to the works that the soul performs with the body, its merits exist according to these things, because it clothes itself in brightness from good deeds and in darkness from evil ones. The soul also shows its own strength according to the strength of the body, expressing simplicity in a person's infancy and fortitude in their youth; then, in the prime of life, when all a person's veins are full, it declares its greatest strength in wisdom, just as a tree is tender in its first budding, then shows its fruit, and finally brings it forth in full usefulness. But later, in a person's old age, when their marrow and veins have begun to bend toward weakness, the soul shows lighter strength, as if weary of human knowledge, just as the sap of a tree draws back into its branches and leaves when winter approaches, and the tree itself begins to bend in its old age. A person has three paths within them. What are they? The soul, the body, and the senses; in these, a person's life is exercised. How so? The soul gives life to the body and breathes into the senses; the body, however, draws the soul to itself and opens the senses; the senses, in turn, touch the soul and entice the body. The soul provides life to the body, just as fire pours light into darkness, having two principal powers—intellect and will—like two arms. It isn't that the soul has arms to move itself, but that it manifests itself in these powers, just as the sun declares itself through its own splendor. Therefore, O person, you whom the burden of marrow does not weigh down, pay attention to the knowledge of the Scriptures. The intellect is as firmly attached to the soul as an arm is to the body. For just as an arm, to which a hand and fingers are attached, extends from the body, so the intellect also—along with the operation of the other powers of the soul through which it understands every human act—proceeds most certainly from the soul. It understands whatever is in human actions, whether good or evil, more than the other powers of the soul do; so that through it, as through a teacher, all things are understood, since the soul itself sifts everything in this way, just as wheat is purged of all contrariety, inquiring whether things are useful or useless, lovable or hateful, or whether they lead to life or to death. Therefore, just as food is tasteless without salt, the other powers of the soul are insipid and lack discernment without the intellect. Yet it exists in the soul like the shoulder blade in the body or the marrow in the brain—the core of the soul's other powers—and like a strong shoulder of the body, it is a kind of bending of the arm that understands both divinity and humanity in God, while also holding right faith in its work. This is also like the bending of the hand, with which it then discerns various works in discretion, as if with fingers; yet it does not operate as the other powers of the soul do. What does this mean? The will warms the work, the soul receives it, and reason brings it forth; the intellect, however, understands the work by showing what is good and what is evil, just as the angels possess an intellect that loves the good and hates the evil. And just as the body has a heart, so the soul has an intellect, which exerts its power in that part of the soul just as the will does in the other. How so? For the will holds great power over the soul. How so? The soul stands in the corner of the house—that is, in the firmament of the heart—like someone in a corner of their own home who, looking out over the whole house, governs all its instruments, raising the right arm to signal and show what is useful for the house, and turning itself toward the east. The soul does the same through the corridors of the entire body, looking toward the rising sun; for it places the will, like a right arm, into the firmament of the veins and marrow and into the movement of the whole body, since the will performs whatever work, whether good or evil. For the will is like a fire, cooking every work as if in a furnace. Bread is baked for this purpose: so that people may be fed and strengthened by it, to the extent that they are able to live. In the same way, the will is the strength of every action, because it works in deception and adds leaven in strength, and strikes in hardness. It prepares its work like bread through reflection, bakes it to perfection with the full force of its own ardor, and in this way creates a greater food for people in action than in bread. For a person's food sometimes ceases, but the work of the will lasts in them until the soul is separated from the body. And in whatever great diversity that work may exist—whether in infancy, youth, full maturity, or the stooped state of old age—it still proceeds within the will, and in it, the will demonstrates its perfection. But the will has a certain tabernacle in the heart of a person, namely the mind, which the intellect, the will itself, and every power of the soul breathe upon with their own strength; and all these are warmed and joined together in that same tabernacle. How? If anger arises, the bile is inflamed, and by sending smoke into the tabernacle in this way, it brings anger to completion. But if shameful desire rises up, the fire of lust is stirred in its own material, and that petulance which pertains to sin is lifted up and gathered together in the same tabernacle. Yet there is another, lovable joy that is kindled in this tabernacle by the Holy Spirit; the soul rejoices in it, faithfully receives it, and brings good work to completion in heavenly desires. There is also a certain sadness, from which lethargy is born in that same tabernacle out of those humors that are around the bile; it produces indignation, hardness, and stubbornness in people, and weighs down the soul, unless it is quickly rescued by the grace of God. But when contrary causes occur to that tabernacle, it is frequently stirred up in hatred and other deadly things that kill the soul and prepare great ruins in perdition. When the will makes a choice, however, it moves the instruments of its tabernacle and sets them in a burning heat, whether they are good or bad. If those instruments please the will, it cooks its food there and offers it to the person to taste. Consequently, a great crowd of both good and evil rises up in that very tabernacle, just as when an army gathers in a specific place. But when the commander of the army arrives, if the army pleases him, he accepts it; if it displeases him, he orders it to leave—and the will acts in the same way. How so? If something good or bad arises in the inner chamber of the heart, the will either carries it out or ignores it. But reason is also shown in the intellect and in the will like the sound of the soul, which completes every work, whether it is of God or of man. Sound lifts the word on high; just as the wind lifts an eagle so it can fly, the soul sends forth the sound of reason into the hearing and intellect of people, so that its powers may be understood and every work may be brought to perfection. The body, however, is the tabernacle and support for all the powers of the soul, since the soul, remaining in the body, works with it, and the body works with the soul, whether the work be good or evil. The senses are what the work of the soul's interior powers clings to, so that these powers are understood through the fruits of every action by means of the senses; the senses are subject to them because they lead the senses to act, but the senses do not impose work upon them, since the senses are merely their shadow, acting according to what pleases them. Yet the exterior person also awakens, starting with the senses in the mother's womb before birth, while the other powers of the soul remain hidden. What does this mean? Just as the dawn announces the light of day, so the human senses, along with reason, reveal all the powers of the soul. And just as the Law and the prophets hang upon the two commandments of God, so the human senses thrive within the soul and its powers. What does this mean? The Law was established for the salvation of humanity, and the prophets reveal the hidden things of God; likewise, the human senses drive away whatever is harmful from a person and lay bare the interior life of the soul. For the soul breathes life into the senses. How? It brings life to the human person through the living face, and it endows them with sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. This is so that a person may be alert in all things through the sense of touch; for the sense is a sign of all the soul's powers, just as the body is a vessel for the soul. How? The sense encompasses all the powers of the soul. What does this mean? A person is known by their face, sees with their eyes, hears with their ears, opens their mouth to speak, touches with their hands, and walks with their feet; therefore, the sense in a person is like precious stones, and like a precious treasure sealed within a vessel. But just as the vessel is seen and the treasure within it is known, so too are the other powers of the soul understood through the sense. The soul is the master, while the body is the servant. How so? The soul governs the entire body by giving it life, and the body receives that life-giving rule from the soul; for if the soul did not give life to the body, the body would dissolve and fall apart. But when a person knowingly commits an evil act with the soul's consent, it's as bitter to the soul as poison is to the body when the body knowingly takes it in. The soul rejoices in a good work, just as the body is delighted by sweet food. And the soul flows into the body just as sap flows into a tree. What does this mean? Through the sap, a tree flourishes, produces flowers, and then bears fruit; it's the same for the body through the soul. And how, then, is the fruit of the tree brought to maturity? By the tempering of the air. How so? The sun warms it, the rain waters it, and in this way, it's brought to perfection by the tempering of the air. What does this mean? The mercy of God's grace illuminates a person like the sun; the breathing of the Holy Spirit waters them like rain; and in this way, discernment—like the good tempering of the air—leads them to the perfection of good fruits. But the soul is also in the body like sap in a tree, and its powers are like the tree's form. How is that? The intellect in the soul is like the greenness of branches and leaves on a tree; the will is like its flowers; the spirit is like the first fruit breaking forth; reason is like the fruit perfected in maturity; and the senses are like the extension of its breadth. In this way, the human body is strengthened and sustained by the soul. Therefore, O human, understand what you are in your soul; for you cast aside your good intellect and wish to be compared to beasts. But you, O human, seeing these things, consider also that many storms invade this sphere dwelling in the human body and bend it down to the earth. This means that as long as a person lives in soul and body, many invisible temptations disturb the soul, which frequently incline it through the pleasure of the flesh toward the sins of earthly desires. Yet the soul, having regained its strength, rises up manfully and resists them firmly. For a faithful and anxious person, when they have sinned, is often pierced by the gift of God, abandons their sins, and placing their hope in God, casts off diabolical illusions, faithfully seeking their Creator, just as a faithful soul, lamenting its miseries, truly shows above. But as for what you see—that many storms rush into another sphere and wish to cast it down, yet cannot—this means that many diabolical snares invade this soul and try to drag it toward the sins of many crimes, yet they cannot prevail against it with their illusions. For the soul, resisting firmly, gives them no place to act insanely, because it arms itself with heavenly inspiration, expels the darts of deceptive fallacies from itself, and runs back to its Savior, just as it declares above in the words of its lament, as has been shown before. And as you see, another sphere, contracting itself from the lines of its form, resolves its knots. This means that the soul, abandoning the members of its bodily dwelling, leaves their connection when the time for the resolution of its dwelling has arrived, and it draws itself out from them with a groan, and mourning, breaks its seat. For as it lifts itself from its body with anguish, it allows the place of its habitation to fall with great trembling, fearing the impending judgment of the heavenly Judge, because it will then feel the merits of its works in the just judgment of God, just as it also manifests above in its lament. Therefore, when a spirit resolves itself in this way, both bright and shadowy ones arrive—those who have been companions of its life according to how it moved within its own seat. For in that moment of resolution, when the soul of a person leaves its dwelling, angelic spirits—both good and evil—are present according to the just and true ordinance of God. They have been observers of its deeds, watching how it acted in the body while it was in the body, and they await its release so that, once it has freed itself, they may lead it away with them. They are waiting for the sentence of the just Judge regarding that soul at the moment of its separation from the body, so that once it is released from the body, they may lead it to where the heavenly Judge has decreed according to the merits of its works, just as it was faithfully shown to you there, O human.
Exhortation to Faith and Repentance
A final call to obedience, repentance, and faith in the Trinity, emphasizing the necessity of the Incarnation for salvation.
Therefore, my dearest children, open your eyes and ears, and obey my commands. And why do you despise your Father, who freed you from death? The choirs of angels sing: 'You are just, O Lord, for the justice of God has no stain; He did not even free man by His power, but by compassion, when He sent His Son into the world for the redemption of man.' For just as no filth of dregs can pollute the sun, so too can no perversity of injustice touch God. But you, O human, look upon good and evil through contemplative knowledge. And what are you when you are filthy with a multitude of carnal desires? And what are you when the brightest gems of virtue shine within you? The first angel despised the good and craved the evil, which is why he received evil in the death of eternal perdition and was buried in death, because he rejected what is good. The good angels, however, despised evil and loved the good, seeing the fall of the devil who wanted to crush the truth and establish a lie. For this reason, they burned with the love of God, holding fast to the foundation of all that is good, so that they want nothing other than what pleases God, never ceasing in His praise. But the first man also knew God and loved Him in simplicity, and by accepting His command, he submitted himself to obedience; yet afterward, he turned toward evil by committing disobedience. For when the devil suggested evil to him, he abandoned the good, committed evil, and was cast out of paradise. Therefore, evil must be cast away into the ruin of death, and the good must be embraced in the love of life. But you, O human, since you have the memory of good and evil, you are placed as if at a crossroads. If you despise the darkness of evil and want to look toward Him whose creature you are—and whom you confessed in holy baptism, where the old injury of Adam was cast off—and if you say that you want to flee the devil and his malice and follow the true God and His commands, then consider how you have been taught to turn away from evil and do good. Because the heavenly Father did not spare His only-begotten Son, but sent Him for your liberation, pray to God that He may help you, and He, hearing you, will say: 'These eyes are pleasing to me.' And if you then cast away weariness and run strongly in the commands of God, He hears the cry of your prayers everywhere. For you must tame your flesh and subjugate it to the rule of the soul. But you say: 'I feel such great and heavy burdens in my flesh that I'm not able to overcome myself.' But since God is good, may He Himself make me good. How could I possibly tame my flesh when I'm only human? God is good; may He Himself bring all good things to completion in me. For when it pleases Him, He will be able to make me good. But I answer you: Since God is good, why do you refuse to know His goodness? For He Himself handed over His Son for you; He who delivered you from death in the midst of many hardships and great labors. But when you say that you cannot perform good works, you are speaking out of the injustice of iniquity. For you have eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to think, hands to work, and feet to walk; so that with your whole body you can stand up or bend down, sleep or stay awake, eat and fast—this is how God created you. So, resist the cravings of your flesh, and God will help you. For when you stand against the devil like a brave warrior facing his enemy, God takes delight in your struggle, wanting you to call on Him constantly in every hour and in all your distress. But when you aren't willing to tame your flesh, you let it feast on vices and sins, because you remove the bridle of the fear of the Lord—the very thing you should use to restrain it so it doesn't head toward ruin. That is why you look toward the devil just as he looked toward wickedness when he fell into death. And he, rejoicing in your ruin, says, "Look, here is a human who is like us." Then he falls upon you and places his ways in you, in the shadow of death, just as he pleases. But God knows what good you are capable of doing; therefore, a law has been set for you, according to what you are able to work at. From the beginning of the world until its end, God desires to take pleasure in His chosen ones, so that they, adorned most faithfully in the brightness of virtues, may be crowned. How? A person should resist the desires of their flesh in this way, so they don't drift away into the pleasures of this world, and they shouldn't live so securely as if they were staying in their own home; for they are a traveler, and their Father is waiting for them, if they wish to return to Him in heaven, where they know He is. Therefore, if you turn your eyes to the two paths—good and evil—you'll be instructed, and you'll understand both the great and the small. How? Through faith, you understand the one God in His divinity and in His humanity, and you also see that the devil's works are in evil. And when you have recognized the just and unjust paths in this way, you are then questioned through Me. Which path do you desire to walk? If you wish to walk in good paths and listen faithfully to My words, pray to God with constant and sincere prayer that He may help you and not desert you, since you are fragile in your flesh; bow your head in humility, shake off those things in your works that are evil, and cast them away from you quickly, for God requires this of you. It's like if someone offered you gold and lead and told you to reach out your hand for whichever you wanted: you'd grab the gold as eagerly as you could and leave the lead behind, because you love gold more than lead. In the same way, you ought to value your heavenly home more than the weight of your sins. But if you do fall into sin, get up immediately through confession and sincere repentance before death takes hold of you. Your Father wants you to cry out, weep, and ask for help, so that you don't remain in the filth of your sins. But if you have been wounded, seek a doctor so you don't die. Doesn't God often send storms to people so that they will call upon Him all the more intently? But you, O human, say: I cannot do good works. I, however, say: You can. And you ask, how? I answer: through intellect and reason. You say: I don't have the desire for it in me. I answer: learn to fight against yourself. And you say: I can't fight against myself unless God helps me. Listen, then, to how you should fight against yourself: when evil rises up in you and you don't know how to cast it off, then, helped by the touch of my grace—for my grace touches you through the ways of your inner eyes—cry out, pray, confess, and weep, so that God may help you, take the evil away from you, and give you strength in what is good. You have this from the knowledge by which you understand God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For if you were working for someone, whenever you had to do something difficult for your body, wouldn't you endure many things laboriously for the sake of your earthly reward? And why don't you serve God for the sake of a heavenly reward, when He gave you both soul and body? For if you wanted to have some temporal thing, oh, how you would labor so that you could have it, at least for a little while. Now, however, you're tired of seeking what has no end. For just as an ox is driven by a goad, so you too must discipline your body with the fear of the Lord; because if you do this, God will not cast you off. If a tyrant were to hold you captive, you'd immediately turn to someone who could help you, begging and praying to him, and even promising him your wealth so that he might rescue you. Do the same, O human, when wickedness begins to take hold of you; turn to God, beg, pray, and promise to amend your ways, and God will help you. But you, O human, are blind to seeing, deaf to hearing, and foolish in defending yourself; for you treat the intellect that God poured into you, and the five senses of your body that He gave you, as if they were nothing and vanity. Don't you have intellect and knowledge? The Kingdom of God can be bought, but it cannot be acquired through play. Listen, therefore, O humans, and do not despise the entrance to the heavenly Jerusalem; do not touch death, deny God, or confess the devil; do not grow in sins, or fail in good works. You don't want to listen to God when you refuse to walk in His commandments, and you run to the devil when you strive to satisfy the desires of your flesh. Repent, then, and take heart, because this is necessary for you. A faithful person should consider their own sorrow and seek a physician before they fall into death. If they examine their sorrow and seek the physician, the one they find will show them the bitter medicine by which they can be healed—these are the bitter words by which they must be tested, to see whether their repentance proceeds from the root of their heart or from the wind of their instability. And when they have proven this, He gives them the wine of compunction and repentance to wash away the stench of their wounds, and He also offers them the oil of mercy so that they may apply it to those same wounds for healing. Then He also enjoins them to be diligent about their healing, saying: 'See that you remain earnest and steady in this medicine, and do not grow weary of it, because your wounds are deep.' But there are many who barely undertake the repentance of their sins, and although they do it with much labor, they still do it only out of the fear of death. Yet I reach out My hand to them and turn that bitterness into sweetness for them, so that they perform that repentance out of love for Me with great tranquility, even though they began it with great difficulty. Anyone who neglects to repent for their sins because they claim it's too hard to discipline their body is a miserable person; they refuse to look into themselves, refuse to seek out a physician, and refuse to have their wounds healed, but instead hide their own festering rot and cover up their death with a pretense so that it cannot be seen. Consequently, they are sluggish toward the taste of repentance, unwilling to look into the oil of mercy or to seek the consolation of redemption; and so they rush toward death because they have loved death and have not sought the kingdom of God. Therefore, you faithful ones, run toward the commandments of God so that the condemnation of death does not overtake you. Imitate the new Adam and cast off your old self. For the kingdom of God is open to the one who runs, but it is closed to the one who lies on the ground; and those who worship the devil while ignoring God are truly miserable. Why is that? Because they do not worship the one God in the Trinity, nor do they wish to know the Trinity in unity. Therefore, whoever wishes to be saved should not doubt in the right and catholic faith. What does this mean? Anyone who rejects the Son doesn't honor the Father; anyone who ignores the Father doesn't love the Son; anyone who rejects the Holy Spirit doesn't have the Son; and anyone who doesn't honor the Father and the Son doesn't receive the Holy Spirit. Therefore, unity in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity must be understood. O human, are you living without a heart and without blood? Likewise, the Father is not to be believed to exist without the Son or without the Holy Spirit, nor the Son without the Father or without the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit without them. But the Father sent His Son into the world for the redemption of humanity and drew Him back to Himself again, just as a person sends out the thoughts of their heart and gathers them back to themselves. Hence, regarding this life-giving mission of the Only-Begotten of God, Isaiah speaks in the will of the supreme majesty, saying: 'The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it fell upon Israel.' The 'Word through whom all things were made'—the Only-Begotten of God, who was always in the heart of the Father according to His divinity, without any beginning of time—means that the Lord, the supreme Father, sent Him through the mouths of the prophets into Jacob. They faithfully foretold that the same Son of God would come into the world for the salvation of humanity, so that people, warned and protected by them, might prudently overcome the devil and wisely turn away from the cunning of his deceptions. And so the same Word fell upon Israel when that same only-begotten Son of God came into the high purity of the Virgin, upon whom no man had set his foot, but who kept her flower inviolate, so that He, born of a virgin, might lead back to the true path those who were ignorant of the light of truth through a deceptive blindness, and restore them to an unfailing salvation; therefore, whoever possesses knowledge in the Holy Spirit and wings in faith should not disregard this warning of mine, but should grasp it by embracing it in the taste of their own soul.✦
Read the original Latin
Et deinde vidi maximum serenissimumque splendorem velut plurimis oculis flammantem, quatuorque angulos ad quatuor partes mundi versos habentem; qui secretum superni Creatoris designans, in maximo mysterio mihi manifestatus est, in quo etiam alius splendor similis aurorae in se purpurei fulgoris claritatem tenens apparuit. Et ecce vidi in terra homines in fictilibus lac portantes et inde caseos conficientes; cujus quaedam pars spissa fuit unde fortes casei facti sunt, pars quaedam tenuis; de qua debiles casei coagulati sunt, et pars quaedam tabe permista; de qua amari casei processerunt, et ita vidi quasi mulierem velut integram formam hominis in utero suo habentem. Et ecce per secretam dispositionem superni Conditoris eadem forma motum vitalis motionis dedit, et ignea sphaera nulla lineamenta humani corporis habens cor illius formae possedit, et cerebrum ejus tetigit, et se per omnia membra ipsius transfudit. Ac deinde forma illa hominis de utero mulieris hoc modo vivificata egrediente, secundum motus quos sphaera in illa forma hominis habuit, secundum etiam illos et colorem suum mutavit. Et vidi quod quamdam hujusmodi sphaeram in humano corpore manentem multi turbines invadentes, eam usque ad terram incurvabant, sed illa resumptis viribus se viriliter erigens eis viriliter restitit, et cum gemitu sic questa est:
Ego peregrina ubi sum? In umbra mortis. Et qua via vado? In viam erroris. Et quam consolationem habeo? quam peregrini habent. Ego enim debui habere tabernaculum lapidibus quadris sole et stellis lucidioribus ornatum, quia occidens sol occidentes stellae non debebant in eo lucere, sed in eo debuit esse angelica gloria, quoniam topazius debuit esse fundamentum ipsius, et omnes gemmae structura ejus, scalae ejus ex crystallo positae et plateae ipsius auro stratae. Nam ego debui esse consors angelorum; quia sum vivens spiraculum quod Deus misit in aridum limum.
Unde deberem Deum scire, et ipsum sentire. Sed heu! cum tabernaculum meum intellexit se posse oculis suis in omnes vias videre, instrumentum suum ad aquilonem posuit. Ah! ah! ubi capta sum et spoliata oculis et gaudio scientiae, veste mea tota scissa, et sic de haereditate mea pulsa; ducta sum in alienum locum, qui omni pulchritudine et honore caret, ubi pessimo servitio subjecta sum. Sed et ii qui me coeperunt colaphis percutientes, cum porcis me manducare fecerunt, et ita in desertum locum mittentes, amarissimas etiam herbas melle intinctas mihi ad esum porrexerunt. Postea quoque super torcular me extendentes, multis tormentis afflixerunt, deinde vestibus meis me exeuntes et multas plagas mihi inferentes, invenationem me dederunt ubi pessimi et venenosi serpentes ut scorpiones, et aspides, et similes mei capturam fecerunt et me totam suo veneno consperserunt, ita quod inde tota enervis et debilitata facta sum.
Unde illi me deridentes dixerunt: Ubi nunc est honor tuus? Ah! ego tunc tota contremui, et magno gemitu moeroris mecum in silentio dixi: O ubi sum? Ah! unde huc veni? Et quem consolatorem hujus captivitatis quaeram? Quomodo has catenas dirumpam? O quis oculus vulnera mea videre poterit?
Et quae nares fetorem hunc tetrum sufferre valebunt? Aut quae manus ea oleo perunget? Ah! quis dolori meo misericordiam impendet? Coelum ergo clamorem meum exaudiat: et terra moerore meo tremiscat, et omne quod vivit ad captivitatem meam se miserando inclinet, quia amarissimus dolor me premit; quoniam, sine consolatione et sine adjutorio peregrina sum. O quis consolabitur me, quoniam et mater mea dereliquit me, quia a via salutis erravi? Quis me adjuvabit nisi Deus? Cum autem recordor tui, o mater Sion, in qua habitare debui, amarissima servitia quibus subjecta sum inspicio.
Et cum omne genus musicorum quod in te est ad memoriam duco; vulnera mea attendo. Sed cum et recordor gaudii et laetitiae gloriae tuae; tunc venena illa quibus infecta sum detestor. O quo me vertam? Et quo fugiam? Dolor enim meus innumerabilis est, quoniam si in malis istis perseveravero, socia illorum ero cum quibus in terra Babylonia turpiter conversata sum. Et ubi es, o mater mea Sion? Hei mihi! quia a te infeliciter recessi, quoniam si te nescirem, levius dolorem meum perferrem.
Nunc autem pessimos sodales meos fugiam; quia infelix Babylonia in plumbeam stateram me posuit, ac maximis trabibus me oppressit, ita ut vix respirare possim. Sed cum lacrymas meas ad te, o mater mea, cum gemitibus meis effundo, tantos strepitus sonantium aquarum infelix Babylonia emittit, quod vocem meam non attendis. Ergo multa sollicitudine arctas vias quaeram, in quibus pessimos sodales meos et infelicem captivitatem meam effugere queam. Et cum haec dixissem, elapsa sum angustam semitam ubi me in parvo foramine contra septentrionem abscondi amarissime flens, quoniam matrem meam perdideram; ibi etiam omnem dolorem meum et omnia vulnera mea considerabam, tantasque effusiones lacrymarum flendo et flendo ibi emisi; quod omnis dolor et omnis livor vulnerum meorum lacrymis istis perfusus maduit. Et ecce suavissimus odor velut lenis aura a matre mea emissus, nares meas imbuit. O quantos gemitus et quantas lacrymas tunc effudi, cum parvam consolationem illam adesse sensi. Et tantos ululatus cum copiosis fletibus prae gaudio dedi; ut etiam mons ille in cujus foramine me absconderam inde commotus fuerit. Et dixi: O mater, o mater Sion: quidnam tandem fiet de me?
Et ubi nunc est nobilis filia tua? O quandiu quandiu maternae dulcedinis tuae expers sum, quae in multis deliciis me blande enutrieras? Et in his lacrymis ita delectabar; quasi matrem meam viderem. Sed inimici mei clamores meos audientes, dicebant: Ubi est illa quam hactenus in consortio nostro secundum voluntatem nostram tenuimus quae et omnem voluntatem nostram hactenus perfecit? Ecce nunc coelicolas invocat. Omnes ergo artes nostras excitemus, eam tanto studio et tanta sollicitudine custodientes, ne usquam a nobis effugere possit, quia eam nobis prius omnino subjecimus. Si hoc fecerimus, iterum nos sequetur. Sed ego foramen in quo me absconderam latenter egressa, in quamdam altitudinem ire cupiebam ubi me inimici mei invenire non valerent.
At ipsi quoddam mare tanti fervoris mihi opposuerunt, ut illud nullo modo transvadare potuerim. Sed et ibi quidam pons tantae parvitatis et angustiae erat; ut nec per illum transire valuerim. In fine quoque maris illius quaedam altitudo montium tantorum acuminum apparuit quod nec ibi iter haberi posse sensi. Et dixi: O quid ego misera nunc faciam? Suavitatem matris meae nunc parumper senseram, unde putabam quod me vellet ad se reducere; sed ah! num iterum relinquet me? ah! quo me vertam?
Nam si modo in priorem captivitatem venero, inimicis meis magis nunc quam prius ero ludibrio, quia ad matrem meam fideliter ejulavi et quoniam suavitatem dulcedinis ejus parumper sensi, cum iterum modo ab ea derelicta sim. Sed ego per suavitatem illam quam prius per matrem meam venientem senseram adhuc tantae fortitudinis fui quod me ad orientem verti et quod iterum angustissimas semitas tentare coepi. Illae autem semitae spinis et tribulis et aliis hujusmodi impedimentis ita septae erant, quod vix ulla vestigia in eis figere valebam; sed tamen cum maximo labore et sudore eas tandem vix pertransiens: ex illo labore tantam fatigationem incurri, quod vix respirare valui. Sic tandem cum maxima fatigatione ad cacumen montis in quo me prius absconderam evadens; ad vallem ejus me inclinavi, ubi descendere volenti, aspides, scorpiones, dracones et alii hujusmodi serpentes simul occursantes, in me sibilos suos emiserunt. Unde ego exterrita, maximos ululatus emisi, dicens: O mater, ubi es? Levius enim dolerem, si suavitatem visitationis tuae prius non sensissem, quia nunc iterum in captivitatem illam incidam in qua dudum jacueram. Ubi ergo nunc est auxilium tuum? Tunc vocem matris meae audivi mihi dicentem.
O filia, curre, pennae enim ad volandum tibi datae sunt a fortissimo datore; cui nullus valet resistere. Ergo velociter transvola omnes has contrarietates. Et ego multa consolatione confortata, pennas illas suscepi et omnia venenosa ac mortifera illa velociter transilii. Et veni ad quoddam tabernaculum, quod interius totum erat ex fortissima calybe fabricatum. Et subiens illud, opera claritatis feci, cum prius opera tenebrarum fecissem. In illo autem tabernaculo ad septentrionem columnam impoliti ferri posui; in qua flabella diversarum pennarum se hac et illac moventium suspendi, et manna inveniens, illud comedi. Ad orientem vero propugnaculum ex quadris lapidibus construxi: et in eo ignem accendens ibi myrrhatum vinum cum musto bibi. Sed ad meridiem turrim ex quadris lapidibus struxi; in qua clypeos rubri coloris suspendi, et in cujus fenestras tubas ex ebore factas collocavi.
In medio autem illius turris mel effudi, ex quo pretiosum unguentum cum aliis aromatibus confeci, ita ut ex eo maximus odor per totum ambitum funderetur tabernaculi. Ad occidentem vero nullum opus posui; quia pars illa ad saeculum versa erat. Sed interim dum in hoc labore occupata versarer; inimici mei pharetras suas arripientes, sagittis suis tabernaculum meum aggressi sunt; sed ego prae studio operis quod faciebam; tandiu insaniam eorum nom attendi usque dum fores tabernaculi sagittis complerentur: nulla tamen sagittarum nec januam laesit, nec calybem tabernaculi penetrare valuit, unde nec ego ab eis laedi potui. Quod illi percipientes, maximam inundationem aquarum emiserunt, ut me et tabernaculum meum dejicerent: attamen in hac malitia sua nihil profecerunt. Quapropter eos audacter derisi, dicens: Faber qui hoc tabernaculum struxit, vobis sapientior et fortior fuit. Unde sagittas vestras colligentes eas deponite, quoniam nullam amodo victoriam voluntatis vestrae in me valebunt proficere. Ecce quae vulnera ostendunt? Ego multo dolore et labore plurima bella adversum vos egi, cum me morti tradere velletis; sed tamen non potuistis, quia fortissimis armis munita.
acutos gladios contra vos vibravi, per quos me a vobis strenue defendi. Recedite ergo, recedite, quoniam me ulterius habere non poteritis.
Sed ego fragilis et indocta vidi etiam quae in aliam sphaeram plurimi turbines irruentes eam dejicere voluerunt sed non valuerunt, quoniam illa fortiter repugnans, locum eis insaniendi non dedit, attamen sic cum querela dixit: Quamvis paupercula sim, magnum tamen officium nacta sum. Oh quid sum ego? Et quae est querimonia clamoris mei? Spiraculum enim vivens in homine sum posita, in tabernaculum medullarum, venarum, ossium et carnis, ita quod eidem tabernaculo vegetationem tribuo, et illud ubique in motibus suis circumfero. Sed heu! sensibilitas illius profert spurcitiam, lasciviam et petulantiam morum ac omnia genera vitiorum. Ah! o quam magno gemitu hoc conqueror.
Nam cum prosperitatem vitae in operibus tabernaculi mei habeo: occurrit mihi diabolica persuasio in omnibus me irretiens, ac in flatum elationis ita me erigens quod saepenumero dico. Ego secundum appetitum virium terrae meae operari volo; in tabernaculo enim meo omnia opera intelligo; sed concupiscentia ejus ita impedior quo opera mea non discerno antequam dira in me vulnera sentio. O quantum planctum tunc emitto? Et dico: O Deus, nonne creasti me? Ecce vilis terra opprimit me. Et sic fugam in eo? Quomodo? Cum tabernaculum meum carnalem concupiscentiam habet; tunc quia voluptatem in opere habeo, cum ipsa opus illud perficio.
Sed ratio quae in me cum scientia viget, ostendit mihi quoniam a Deo creata sum, in qua ratione etiam sentio; quia Adam cum divinum praeceptum transgressus esset, timens abscondit se. Sic et ego timens, a facie Dei me abscondo: cum opera mea in tabernaculo meo contraria Deo sentio. Cum autem plumbeam stateram peccati super pondero: omnia opera illa quae in carnalibus concupiscentiis ardent contemno. Heu me errabundam! quomodo in his periculis subsistere valebo? Et cum diabolica persuasio me invadit sic dicens: Estne hoc bonum quod nescis, nec quod vides, nec quod facere potes: quid tunc erit? Et cum iterum dicit: Quod nosti, et quod intelligis, et quod facere vales, cur hoc deseris? quid tunc faciam?
At plena dolore respondebo. Ah me miseram! quia per Adam noxia venena mihi afflata sunt, cum ipse divinum praeceptum transgressus et in terram ejectus carnalia tabernacula coadunavit. Nam in gustu quem ipse in pomo per inobedientiam gustavit, noxia dulcedo sanguini et carni se ingerit, et ita pollutionem vitiorum producit. Unde peccatum carnis in me sentio; purissimum autem Deum, quia per culpam inebriata sum, negligo. Sed hoc quod gustus tabernaculi mei in se habet, sequi non debeo. Nam ex hoc quod Adam in prima apparitione purus et simplex a Deo creatus erat, timeo Deum, sciens quoniam per ipsum pura et simplex creata sum. Sed modo per malam consuetudinem vitiorum, in inquietudinem vertor.
O in his omnibus peregrina et errabunda sum! Quapropter turbines diversorum sonituum multa mendacia proferunt, quae in me surgunt sic dicentia: Quae es? Et quid ais? Et qualia sunt certamina quae exerces? Infelix enim es. Nam ignoras utrum bonum an malum opus tuum sit. Quo tandem ibis, et quis te conservabit? Et qui sunt errores illi qui te ad insaniam ducunt?
An perficies quod te delectat, an fugies quod te angustiat? Oh! quid facies, quia istud scis, et illud ignoras? Quod enim te delectat hoc tibi licitum non est, et quod te angustat, ad hoc praecepto Dei compelleris. Et unde scis si haec ita sint? Melius tibi esset, si non fuisses. Et postquam isti turbines ita in me surrexerunt; incipio alteram viam ambulare, quae carni meae gravis est, quia incipio justitiam facere. Sed iterum intra me dubito, utrum hoc ex dono Spiritus sancti sit an non, et dico: Hoc inutile est.
Et deinde super nubes volare volo. Quo modo? super intellectum meum volo ascendere, et ea incipere quae perficere non possum. Sed cum haec facere tento, maximam tristitiam in me excito, ita quod nec in altitudine sanctitatis, nec in planitie bonae voluntatis ullum opus perficio, sed inquietudinem dubietatis, desperationis moeroris et oppressionis omnium rerum in me sentio. Et cum diabolica persuasio me sic inquietat. O quanta calamitas me tunc obruit! quia omnia mala quae sunt aut esse possunt in vituperatione, in maledictione, in mortificatione corporis et animae, in turpibus verbis contra munditiam, salutem et altitudinem quae in Deo sunt: haec omnia mihi infelici occurrunt. Unde etiam haec iniquitas mihi insurgit, scilicet quod omnis felicitas et omne bonum quod tam in homine quam in Deo est mihi molestum et grave erit magis mortem quam vitam mihi proponens.
Ah! quam infelix certamen sic de labore in laborem, de dolore in dolorem, de schismate in schisma se mihi ingerit, omnem felicitatem mihi auferens?
Sed unde excitatur malum istorum errorum? ex hoc videlicet. Antiquus enim serpens in se habet astutiam et deceptricem versutiam, atque mortiferum iniquitatis venenum. Nam in astutia sua ingerit mihi contumaciam peccatorum, a timore Domini intellectum meum auferens: ita quod peccare non timeo, sic dicens: Quis est Deus? Nescio quis Deus sit. In deceptrice autem versutia sua obturationem mihi inducit, ita quod in malo obturor. Sed in mortifero iniquitatis veneno spirituale gaudium mihi aufert, ita quod nec in Deo laetari valeo, sic dubietatem desperationis mihi inducens, scilicet quae dubito utrum salvari possim an non? O quae sunt ista tabernacula, quae tanta pericula sustinent in diabolica deceptione?
Sed cum per donum Dei recordor quae a Deo creata sunt; tunc inter has oppressiones, his diabolicis persuasionibus hoc modo respondeo. Ego fragile terrae non caedam, sed fortissima bella exercebo. Quomodo? Cum tabernaculum meum opera injustitiae exercere vult: medullam, sanguinem et carnem in sapientia patientiae conterendo me defendam, quemadmodum fortis leo se defendit, et ut serpens in antro suo ictum mortis fugiens se abscondit. Nam nec sagittas diaboli debeo suscipere, nec voluntatem carnis exercere. Quomodo?
Cum enim ira circa tabernaculum meum intendere voluerit; in bonitatem Dei respicio quem ira nunquam tetigit, et ita aere qui sua lenitate ariditatem terrae rigat suavior evado spirituale gaudium habens, cum virtutes in me vigorem suum ostendere incipiunt. Et sic bonitatem Dei sentio. Cum autem odium me denigrare tentaverit: in misericordiam et in martyrium Filii Dei aspicio, et ita carnem meam constringo suavem odorem rosarum quae de spinis oriuntur fideli recordatione suscipiens, et ita Redemptorem meum agnosco. Sed cum superbia turrim vanitatis suae sine fundamento petrae in me contenderit ponere, et hanc altitudinem in me erigere quae nullum sibi similem vult habere, sed semper altior caeteris videri. O quis mihi tunc succurret, quoniam antiquus serpens qui super omnes esse volens in mortem cecidit me dejicere conatur? Tunc cum moerore dico. Ubi est rex meus et Deus meus? Quid possum boni absque Deo?
Nihil. Et sic ad Deum qui mihi vitam dedit respicio, et ad beatissimam virginem illam quae superbiam antiquae speluncae contrivit curro; sic fortissimus lapis aedificii Dei effecta, rapacissimus lupus qui hamo divinitatis strangulatus est, me amodo superare non poterit. Et ita suavissimum bonum, id est humilitatem in altitudine Dei et recordatione inter omnes humilitatem beatissimae Virginis cognosco, suavitatem indeficientis balsami sentiens, et ita in dulcedine Dei gaudens velut sim in odore omnium pigmentorum; caetera etiam vitia fortissimo humilitatis dejicio.
Et deinde ego paupercula vidi quod alia quaedam sphaera ex lineamentis formae suae se contrahens: nodos ejus resolvit, et se ab eis cum gemitu extraxit, sedemque suam moerens dirupit. Et dixit: De tabernaculo meo exibo. Sed ego misera plenaque moeroris quo vadam? Per horrendas et permetuendas semitas ad judicium ubi judicabor. Opera enim quae in tabernaculo meo operata sum ostendam: et ibi remunerationem secundum merita mea recipiam. O quantus timor? o quanta angustia illic mihi erit? Cumque se hoc modo resolveret: quidam spiritus et lucidi et umbrosi venerunt qui socii conversationis ejus secundum quam in sede sua se moverat fuerunt, resolutionem ejus exspectantes, ut, postquam se solvisset, eam secum abducerent.
Et audivi viventem vocem illis dicentem: secundum opera sua, de loco ad locum ducatur; et iterum audivi de coelo vocem mihi dicentem: Beata et ineffabilis trinitas se mundo manifestavit, cum Pater Unigenitum suum de Spiritu sancto conceptum et de Virgine natum misit in mundum quatenus homines multa diversitate nati, multisque peccatis obligati per eum ad viam veritatis reducerentur, ita ut ipsi a nexibus corporeae molis absoluti bona et sancta opera secum portantes: gaudia supernae haereditatis adipiscerentur.
Quod ut profundius, o homo, capias et apertius dijudices: vides maximum serenissimumque splendorem velut plurimis oculis flammantem, quatuorque angulos ad quatuor partes mundi versos habentem, qui magnam in mysteriis puramque in manifestationibus scientiam Dei significat, maxima profunditate perspicuitatis radiante et acutissimas acies quadrifidae stabilitatis ad quatuor plagas orbis extendentem ubi ipsa tam illos qui abjiciuntur quam illos qui colliguntur venientes acutissime praevidet; mysterium supernae majestatis ostendens: quod in typo summae altitudinis et profunditatis tibi ut cernis demonstratur. In quo etiam alius splendor similis aurorae in se purpurei fulgoris claritatem tenens apparet; quia scientia Dei etiam hoc ostendit, quod unigenitus Patris de virgine carnem sumens, sanguinem suum in candore fidei pro salute hominum fundere dignatus est, in qua scientia Dei, boni et mali ostenduntur, quoniam ipsa nulla obscuritate ullius rei obnubilatur. Sed tu, o homo, dicis: Quid faciet homo, cum Deus praenovit omnia quae ipse facturus est? Ad quae ego:
O stulte, in nequitia cordis tui, illum imitaris qui viam veritatis primum recusans mendacium veritati opposuit, cum se summae bonitati similem facere voluit. Quis poterit initium et finem omnium quidquid latere qui est, fuit et permanebit? Sed tu quis es? Favilla cineris es. Et quid nosti cum non esses? Sed tu lamentabile initium et miserabilem finem habens, contradicis quod nec scis, nec scire debes: videlicet incomprehensibilem pulchritudinem justitiae Dei in qua nulla suspicio injustitiae invenitur, nec inventa est unquam, nec invenietur. O stulte, ubi putas esse patrem iniquitatis quem imitaris? Quid hoc?
Cum superbia te inflat super sidera, et super alias creaturas, et super angelos vis elevari qui praecepta Dei per omnia et super omnia adimplent. Sed tu cades sicut et ille cecidit; qui mendacium veritati opposuit. Mendacium enim ipse dilexit, et ideo morte involutus in abyssum corruit. Ergo, o homo, attende. Cum nec inspicis charitatem illam qua te Deus liberavit, nec attendis quanta bona tibi Deus semper impendit, nec tu consideras quomodo ipse te a morte revocat: frequenter in peccata corruis ubi magis mortem quam vitam diligis, si tunc tandem ad mentem tuam revocas scripturas et doctrinas illas quas tibi antiqui et fideles patres tui proposuerunt, scilicet quod malum debes devitare et bonum operari; si tunc ex intimo cordis dixeris, graviter peccavi; quare oportet me cum digna poenitentia ad patrem meum qui me creavit redire, tunc pater tuus benigne suscipit te et in sinum suum te reponens dulcibus ulnis amplectitur te. Nunc autem beatitudinem illam quae tibi a Deo proposita est scire contemnis, ac justitiam Dei audire vel operari recusas. Nunquid si fieri posset magis judicium Dei injustum quam justum vocares? Quapropter si sanguine Filii Dei redemptus non esses, in perditione perditus jaceres.
Sed judicium Dei verum et justum est. Unde, o homo, quam utilitatem inde consequeris: quod te in judicio meo decerpis? In choro angelorum et in electa vinea mea est laus laudantium et dicentium: Gloria tibi, Domine, qui justus es et verax, nec judicio meo per eos contradicitur; quoniam justi sunt. Sed quid diabolo profuit quod se mihi opposuit? Qui cum vidit se multam claritatem habere; super omnes se voluit exaltare, ita quod ei innumerabilis turba superborum spirituum consensit, quos omnes divina virtus in zelo justitiae suae simul cum illo dejecit; sic etiam omnes dejiciuntur qui in perseverantia mali justitiam Dei postponere conantur; quoniam ipsi summum bonum in perversitatem nequitiae pervertere laborant. Unde nequaquam Deus quod injustum est constituit; sed omne quod rectum est in aequitate bonitatis suae ordinavit.
Sed et illi homines qui in infidelitate sua Deum abjecerunt, sculptilia sibi facientes in quibus diabolus ingressus illos illusit, in insania hujusmodi vanitatis surrexerunt postquam genus hominum pertransiit quibus Adam et Eva dixerant quomodo a Deo facti essent et quomodo de paradiso expulsi fuissent. Quos alii in eadem perversitate insequentes, creaturam Dei magis quam ipsum creatorem suum coluerunt, et ea quae non vivunt vitam suam disponere putaverunt. Unde et ii qui adhuc in ipsa infidelitate sordent, stultitiam suam deserant et ad cum qui diaboli laqueos contrivit fideliter convertantur vetustatem ignorantiae deponentes, et novitatem vitae amplectentes, ut servus meus Ezechiel hortatur, dicens: Projicite a vobis omnes praevaricationes vestras in quibus praevaricati estis, et facite vobis cor novum et spiritum novum . Quod dicitur: O vos qui in rectitudine perseverare vultis in sole justitiae cujus itinera beatae oves currunt, projicite a conscientia cordis vestri sciscitationem illorum occultorum quae in necessaria et salutari doctrina vobis inutilia sunt, in quibus vanam celsitudinem volare voluistis; cum in praecipitem lacum demersi estis in quo nullus ordo habitat, sed illa horribilis confusio quae Deum ignorat. Et cum hoc feceritis, viam veritatis pergite pro salute vestra, ubi rutilantis coeli novitatem in corde vestro invenietis et ut vivificae spirationis in vestro spiritu possidebitis.
Vides etiam in terra homines in fictilibus lac portantes et inde caseos conficientes: hi sunt in mundo homines, tam viri quam mulieres, in corporibus suis humanum semen habentes, de quo genus diversorum populorum procreatur, cujus quaedam pars spissa est unde formantes casei fiunt; quia semen illud in fortitudine sua utiliter et bene coctum et temperatum strenuos homines producit, quibus etiam magna claritas tam spiritualium quam carnalium donorum in magnis patribus et in altis personis tribuitur: ita quod in assecutione prudentiae, discretionis et utilitatis vitae in operibus suis et coram Deo et coram hominibus perspicue florent, quoniam diabolus in eis locum suum non invenit, et pars quaedam tenuis de qua debiles casei coagulantur: quoniam hoc semen in teneritudine sua imperfecte coctum et temperatum, teneros homines educit qui ut plurimum stulti tepidi et inutiles, tam apud Deum quam apud saeculum, in operibus suis inveniuntur, et qui Deum strenue non quaerunt. Sed et pars quaedam tabe permista est, de qua amari casei efficiuntur; quia semen illud in debilitate permistionis nequiter eductum et inutiliter commistum informes homines efficit qui saepe amaritudinem, difficultatem et oppressionem cordis habent, unde mentem suam ad superiora levare non valent. Multi tamen ex his utiles fiunt; attamen multas tempestates, et inquietudines, et in cordibus, et in moribus suis patiuntur, sed victores evadunt; quoniam, si inquietudini suae acquiescerent, tepidos et inutiles se redderent. Unde Deus illos coercens adjuvat, et ad viam salutis ducit quemadmodum scriptum est: Ego occidam, et ego vivere faciam; percutiam et ego sanabo, et non est qui de manu mea possit eruere . Quod dicitur: Ego qui sum, nec initium nec finem habens, flagitiosos homines in actibus suis interimo; qui per spurcitias diaboli in vitiis macerantur, et qui in partibus infelicis seminarii per diabolicas speluncas decipiuntur. O quam versuta est viperea maxilla quae eos ita inflat, ut mors in ipsos subintret; unde ab eis prosperitatem hujus saeculi tollo, ubi ita per plurimas aerumnas occiduntur quas superare non possunt, sed quae eis justo judicio semper adsunt. Sed ego qui nulla malitia dejicior, istos etiam in alia parte vivere miserabiliter saepe facio: ubi in ipsis vivens spiraculum eorum sursum de terrenis traho ne in ipsis pereat, illos etiam percussionibus per multam infirmitatem laboris vitae suae interdum affligo; qui per superbiam mentem suam sibi nocivam altitudinem ascendere cupiunt, putando quod a nullo dejici valeant, eos etiam qui ubique praesens sum ita interdum sursum ad veram sanitatem erigens, ne in fallacibus periculis per fallaces vanitates consumantur. Sed in his omnibus non est homo nec alia creatura quae hujusmodi opera mea suo astu aut proterva potestate possit avertere; quia nullus est qui voluntati et justitiae meae valeat resistere.
Saepe quoque ut vides in oblivione mea et in irrisione diaboli commistio maris et feminae perpetratur ibi et contractio nascentium hominum invenitur: ut quoniam parentes illorum praecepta mea transgressi sunt, in ipsis filiis suis cruciati ad me in poenitentia revertantur, saepe etiam hanc mirabilem creationem pro gloria mea et sanctorum meorum in hominibus fieri permitto, ut, dum illi qui hoc modo distorti sunt per subventionem electorum meorum sanitati restituuntur, nomen meum ex hoc tanto ardentius ab hominibus glorificetur. Qui autem hac lege se constringunt, ita quod virginitatis decus appetunt; velut aurora ad coelestia secreta ascendunt, quia propter amorem Filii mei delectationes corporis sui a se abscindunt. Sed quod vides quasi mulierem velut integram formam hominis in utero suo habentem: hoc est quia postquam femina humanum semen concepit, infans in integritate membrorum suorum in abdito cubiculo ventris ipsius formatur. Et ecce per secretam dispositionem superni Conditoris, eadem forma motum vividae motionis dat; quoniam tu in secreta et occulta jussione et voluntate Dei infans in materno utero congruo et recte divinitus disposito tempore spiritum acceperit, motu corporis sui se vivere ostendit, velut terra se aperit et flores fructus sui profert, cum ros super eam ceciderit. Ita quod velut ignea sphaera nulla lineamenta humani corporis habens, cor formae illius possidet, quia anima in igne profundae scientiae ardens, diversas res in circuitu suae comprehensionis discernit; nec formam humanorum membrorum habens: quoniam ipsa nec corporea, nec caduca quemadmodum corpus hominis est, cor hominis confortat: quod quasi fundamentum corporis existens totum corpus regit et velut firmamentum coeli inferiora continet et superiora tegit, et etiam cerebrum hominis tangit, quia in viribus non solum terrena, sed etiam coelestia sapit, cum Deum sapienter cognoscit, ac se per omnia membra hominis transfundit, quoniam vigorem medullarum ac venarum et omnium membrorum toto corpori tribuit, veluti arbor ex sua radice succum et viriditatem omnibus ramis impartit. Sed deinde forma illa hominis de utero mulieris hoc modo vivificata egrediens secundum motus quos ipsa sphaera in eadam forma hominis habet, secundum illos etiam et colorem suum mutat; quia postquam homo in materno utero vitalem spiritum acceperit et ita natus fuerit, et motus operationis suae dederit secundum opera illa quae anima cum corpore operatur, secundum haec etiam et merita ipsius existunt quoniam de bonis claritatem et de malis tenebrositatem sibi induit.
Ipsa quoque secundum vires corporis, vires suas ostendit, ita quod in infantia hominis simplicitatem profert, et in juventute fortitudinem; at in plena aetate cum omnes venae hominis plenae sunt, fortissimas vires suas in sapientia declarat, sicut etiam arbor in primo germine tenera existens ac deinde fructum in se ostendens, tandem cum plenitudine utilitatis educit; sed et postea in senectute hominis cum medulla et venae ipsius jam ad debilitatem se incurvare coeperint, anima leviores vires velut in taedio scientiae hominis ostendit: quemadmodum et succus arboris cum jam hiemale tempus instat, se in ramis et foliis suis contrahit, et ut eadem arbor in senectute sua jam incurvari incipit. Homo autem tres semitas in se habet. Quid hoc? Animam, corpus et sensus; in his vita hominis exercetur. Quomodo? Anima corpus vivificat et sensus spirat; corpus autem animam sibi attrahit et sensus aperit: sensus vero animam tangunt et corpus alliciunt. Anima enim corpori vitam praebet, velut ignis lumen tenebris infundit: duas principales vires scilicet intellectum et voluntatem velut duo brachia habens, non quod anima brachia ad se movendum habeat, sed quod in his viribus se manifestat, velut sol per splendorem suum se declarat. Unde, o homo, quem non gravat sarcina medullarum, in scientia Scripturarum attende.
Intellectus ita fixus est animae, velut brachium corpori. Nam ut brachium cui manum cum digitis adjuncta est a corpore extenditur, ita etiam intellectus cum operatione caeterarum virium animae cum quibus quaeque opera hominis intelligit, ex anima certissime prodiens; ipse enim prae aliis viribus animae quidquid in operibus hominum est sive bonum, sive malum sit intelligit; ita quod per eum velut per magistrum omnia intelliguntur, quoniam ipsa anima hoc modo omnia discutit, sicut et triticum ab omni contrarietate expurgatur; perquirens utrum utilia an inutilia, utrum amabilia an odibilia sunt, vel utrum ad vitam an ad mortem pertineant. Unde sicut esca sine sale insulsa est, sic etiam caeterae vires animae sine intellectu insipidae et non discernentes sunt. Sed et ipse in anima ut scapula in corpore, medulla in cerebro caeterarum virium animae existens et velut humerus corporis fortis, divinitatem etiam et humanitatem in Deo intelligens quaedam inflexio brachii est, ita quoque rectam fidem in opere suo habens: quod etiam inflexio manus est, cum qua tunc diversa opera in discretione quasi cum digitis discernit; ipse autem non operatur ut caeterae vires animae. Quid hoc?
Voluntas enim opus calefacit et animus illud suscipit et ratio producit, intellectus autem opus intelligit bonum et malum ostendens, velut angeli intellectum habent bonum diligentes et malum odientes. Et ut corpus habet cor, ita et anima intellectum, qui etiam in illa parte animae vim suam exercet, sicut et voluntas in altera. Quomodo? Voluntas enim magnam vim animae habet. Quomodo? Anima stat in angulo domus, id est in firmamento cordis velut aliquis homo in aliquo angulo domus suae ut totam domum perspiciens, omnia instrumenta domus regat, dextrum brachium levans signando et ostendendo quaeque utilia domus suae et se ad orientem vertens. Sic et anima facit per plateas totius corporis, ad ortum solis respiciens; ipsa enim voluntatem quasi dextrum brachium ponit in firmamentum venarum et medullarum ac in commotionem totius corporis, quoniam voluntas quodcunque opus sive bonum sive malum sit operatur. Nam voluntas est velut ignis unumquodque opus quasi in fornace coquens.
Panis enim ad hoc coquitur ut homines exinde pasti confortentur, quatenus vivere possint. Sic et voluntas totius operis fortitudo est, quia ipsa in deceptione molit et in robore fermentum imponit, ac in duritia tundit; et ita opus suum velut panem in consideratione parans, illud pleno opere ardoris sui in perfectione coquit, atque hoc modo majorem cibum hominibus in opere quam in pane facit; nam esca hominis interdum in eo cessat: opus autem voluntatis in eo usque ad separationem animae ipsius a corpore perdurat, et in qua magna diversitate opus sit, scilicet ab infantia, a juventute, a plena aetate, a decrepita incurvatione; in voluntate tamen incedit et in ea perfectionem suam demonstrat. Sed voluntas habet in praecordio hominis quoddam tabernaculum videlicet animum, quem et intellectus et ipsa voluntas ac quaeque vis animae sua fortitudine afflant, et hae omnes in eodem tabernaculo calefiunt et se invicem conjungunt. Quomodo? Si ira surrexerit, fel inflatur et ita fumum in tabernaculum emittens iram perficit. Quod si turpis delectatio se erexerit, incendium libidinis in materia sua suscitatur, et petulantia illa quae ad peccatum pertinet attollitur, ac in eodem tabernaculo coadunatur. Sed aliud amabile gaudium est, quod in isto tabernaculo de Spiritu sancto incenditur; cui anima congaudens illud fideliter suscipit, et opus bonum in coelestibus desideriis perficit. Est etiam quaedam tristitia, de qua in eodem tabernaculo ex humoribus illis qui circa fel sunt, torpor nascitur: indignationem, obdurationem et contumaciam in hominibus pariens, animamque deprimens, nisi gratia Dei succurrente citius eripiatur.
Sed et cum illi tabernaculo contrariae causae occurrerint: frequenter in odio et reliquis mortiferis rebus commovetur quae animam occidunt, et magnas ruinas in perditione parant. Cum autem voluntas voluerit, instrumenta tabernaculi sui movet, et ea in fervente calore sive bona sive mala sint deponit. Quod si voluntati illa instrumenta placuerint, ibi escam suam coquit et eam homini ad gustandum proponit. Unde et in ipso tabernaculo plurima turba boni et mali exsurgit: quemadmodum cum aliquis exercitus in aliquo loco coadunatur. Sed cum princeps exercitus supervenerit, si exercitus ille ipsi placuerit, eum suscipit: si vero ipsi displicuerit, illum abire jubet, sic et voluntas facit. Quomodo? Si bonum vel si malum in praecordio cordis surrexerit, voluntas illud aut perficit aut negligit. Sed et in intellectu et in voluntate ratio velut sonitus animae ostenditur; quae quodque opus sive Dei sive hominis sit perficit.
Sonitus enim verbum in altum tollit; sicut ventus qui aquilam sublevat ut volare possit, ita et anima sonitum rationis et in auditu et in intellectu hominum emittit; quatenus vires ipsius intelligantur et ut quodque opus ad perfectum ducatur. Corpus autem omnium virium animae tabernaculum et sublevamen est, quoniam anima in corpore manens, cum corpore operatur, et corpus cum illa sive bonum sive malum sit.
Sensus vero est cui opus interiorum virium animae adhaeret; ita quod ipsae in fructibus cujusque operis per eum intelliguntur, et ille eis subjectus est; quia eum ad opus perducunt, non autem ipse eis opus imponit, quoniam umbra earum est, faciens secundum quod ipsis placuerit. Sed et exterior homo, inprimis cum sensu in ventre matris antequam nascatur, evigilat; caeteris viribus animae adhuc in abscondito manentibus. Quid hoc? Aurora lucem diei denuntiat; sic et sensus hominis omnes vires animae cum ratione declarat. Et ut lex et prophetae in duobus praeceptis Dei pendent, ita et sensus hominis in anima et in viribus ejus vigent. Quid hoc? Lex ad salutem hominis posita est, et prophetae occulta Dei manifestant: sic et sensus hominis quaeque nociva ab homine depellit et interiora animae denudat. Nam anima sensum spirat.
Quomodo? Ipsa hominem vivente facie vivificat, et visu, auditu, gustu, odoratu et tactu dotat. Ita quod homo sensu tactus, pervigil in omnibus rebus sit; sensus enim signum omnium virium animae est, sicut et corpus vas animae est. Quomodo? Sensus omnes vires animae claudit. Quid hoc? Homo in facie cognoscitur, oculis videt, auribus audit, os ad loquendum aperit, manibus palpat, pedibus ambulat, et ideo sensus in homine est velut lapides pretiosi, et ut pretiosus thesaurus in vase signatus. Sed ut vas videtur, et thesaurus in eo scitur; ita etiam in sensu caeterae vires animae intelliguntur.
Anima autem est magistra, caro vero ancilla. Quomodo? Anima totum corpus in vivificatione regit, corpus autem regimen vivificationis illius suscipit, quoniam si anima corpus non vivificaret, corpus in solutione difflueret. Sed cum homo malum opus sciente anima operatur, hoc tam amarum animae est velut venenum corpori cum illud corpus scienter accipit. De bono autem opere anima gaudet, sicut et corpus suavi cibo delectatur. Et anima corpus ita illabitur, velut succus arborem. Quid hoc? Per succum arbor viret et flores producit ac deinde fructum facit, sic et per animam corpus.
Et quomodo tunc fructus arboris ad maturitatem perducitur? Temperie aeris. Quomodo? Sol eum calefacit, pluvia eum irrigat, et ita in temperie aeris perficitur. Quid hoc? Misericordia gratiae Dei velut sol hominem illustrat, spiratio Spiritus sancti velut pluvia ipsum irrigat, et sic eum discretio velut bona temperies aeris ad perfectionem bonorum fructuum ducit.
Sed et anima in corpore est velut succus in arbore et vires ipsius quasi arboris forma. Quomodo? Intellectus in anima est velut viriditas ramorum et foliorum in arbore, voluntas autem quasi flores in ea, animus vero velut primus erumpens fructus ipsius, ratio autem quasi fructus in maturitate perfectus, sensus vero quasi extensio latitudinis ipsius. Et secundum hunc modum corpus hominis, ab anima solidatur et sustentatur. Unde, o homo, intellige quid in anima tua sis; qui bonum intellectum tuum deponis, et te pecoribus comparari vis. Quod autem tu, o homo haec videns, considera etiam quia quamdam hujusmodi sphaeram in humano corpore manentem multi turbines invadentes eam usque ad terram incurvant: hoc est quod animam hominis quandiu homo in anima et in corpore vivit multae invisibiles tentationes perturbant, quae ipsam per delectationem carnis crebro ad peccata terrenarum concupiscentiarum inclinant, sed illa resumptis viribus se viriliter erigens, eis fortiter resistit; quia fidelis et sollicitus homo cum peccaverit, saepe per donum Dei compunctus peccata deserit et spem suam in Deum ponens diabolica figmenta abjicit, Creatorem suum fideliter quaerens, velut etiam fidelis anima miserias suas conquerens superius veraciter ostendit. Sed quod vides quia in aliam sphaeram plurimi turbines irruentes eam dejicere volunt, sed tamen non valent, id est quia animam istam plurimae diabolicae insidiae invadentes ad peccata multorum scelerum protrahere conantur, sed tamen ei suis illusionibus praevalere non possunt quoniam illa fortiter repugnans locum eis insaniendi non dat, quoniam superna inspiratione se muniens, a se jacula fallacium deceptionum expellit, et ad Salvatorem suum recurrit, quemadmodum etiam superius in verbis querelae suae declarat, ut praemonstratum est. Quae vero ut vides alia quaedam sphaera ex lineamentis formae suae se contrahens nodos ejus resolvit: hoc est quod anima illa membra corporalis habitaculi sui deserens, juncturam eorum reliquit cum tempus resolutionis habitaculi sui institerit, et se ab eis cum gemitu extrahit, sedemque suam moerens dirumpit, quoniam a corpore suo cum angustia se tollens, locum habitationis suae multo tremore cadere permittit, imminens judicium superni judicis metuens, quia tunc merita operum suorum justo judicio Dei sentiet, velut etiam in querela sua superius manifestat.
Quapropter cum se hoc modo resolvit quidam spiritus; et lucidi et umbrosi veniunt qui socii conversationis ipsius secundum quod in sede sua se movet sunt; quia in resolutione illa cum anima hominis habitaculum suum deserit angelici spiritus et boni et mali secundum justam et veram Dei ordinationem adsunt, qui inspectores operum illius secundum quod in corpore suo cum corpore operata est fuerunt resolutionem ejus exspectantes ut postquam se exsolverit eam secum abducant, quoniam ipsi sententiam justi judicis de anima illa in separatione ejus a corpore praestolantur; ut ipsa a corpore soluta, eam ducant quo supernus judex judicaverit secundum merita operum illius ut ibi etiam, o homo, fideliter praemonstratum est.
Idcirco vos, o charissimi filii mei, oculos vestros et aures vestras aperite, et praeceptis meis obedite. Et cur Patrem vestrum contemnitis, qui vos de morte liberavit? Chori angelorum canunt: Justus es, Domine, quoniam justitia Dei non habet ullam maculam; qui etiam hominem non liberavit sua potestate, sed compassione, quando Filium suum ad redemptionem hominis misit in mundum. Solem enim nulla inquinatio fecis polluit, sic etiam nec Deum ulla perversitas injustitiae tangere poterit. Sed tu, o homo, in contemplativa scientia bonum et malum inspicis. Et quid es: cum in multitudine carnalium desideriorum sordes? Et quid es: cum clarissimae gemmae virtutum in te fulgent? Primus angelus bonum contempsit et malum concupivit, quare malum in morte aeternae perditionis accepit, et in morte sepultus est, quia quod bonum est abjecit.
Boni vero angeli malum contempserunt et bonum amaverunt, casum diaboli videntes qui veritatem volebat opprimere et mendacium erigere: quapropter ipsi in amore Dei exarserunt firmum fundamentum totius boni habentes, ita quod aliud nolunt quam quod Deo placet, nunquam in laude ejus cessantes. Sed et primus homo Deum cognovit et eum in simplicitate dilexit ac praeceptum ejus suscipiens se obedientiae subdidit, postmodum ad malum se incurvavit, inobedientiam operatus. Nam cum ei diabolus malum suggereret, bonum deseruit et malum perpetravit, et de paradiso ejectus est. Unde malum in perditione mortis abjiciendum est, et bonum in amore vitae amplectendum. Sed tu, o homo, cum habes recordationem boni et mali velut in bivio positus es, quia si tunc tenebras mali contempseris volens in illum aspicere cujus creatura es et quem in sancto baptismo confessus es ubi vetus noxa Adae dejecta est, et si dixerit diabolum et malitiaam ejus fugere velis et Deum verum ac ejus praecepta sequi; tunc considera quomodo doctus es a malo declinare et bonum facere, et quia coelestis Pater Unigenito suo non pepercit, sed cum ad liberationem tuam misit, et ora Deum ut tibi succurrat, et ipse te exaudiens, dicet: Isti oculi mihi placent. Et si tunc taedium abjeceris in mandatis Dei fortiter currens, clamorem precum tuarum ubique exaudit. Carnem enim tuam debes domare et imperio animae subjugare. Sed tu dicis: Tanta et tam magna pondera in carne mea sentio, quod me superare non valeo.
Sed quoniam Deus bonus est, ipse me bonum faciat. Quomodo possem carnem meam domare cum homo sim? Deus bonus est, ipse bona omnia in me perficiat. Nam cum sibi placuerit, me bonum facere poterit. Sed tibi respondeo: Cum Deus bonus sit, cur bonitatem ejus scire contemnis? quia ipse Filium suum pro te tradidit; qui te in multis aerumnis et in magnis laboribus de morte liberavit. Sed cum dicis, quoniam bona opera operari non possis, hoc in injustitia iniquitatis dicis. Oculos enim habes ad videndum, aures ad audiendum, cor ad cogitandum, manus ad operandum, pedes ad ambulandum; ita quod toto corpore te potes erigere vel incurvare, dormire vel vigilare, manducare et jejunare; sic te Deus creavit.
Unde et concupiscentiis carnis tuae resiste et Deus adjuvabit te. Nam cum te opponis diabolo velut fortis bellator inimico suo; tunc Deus delectatur in certamine tuo, volens ut eum omnibus horis et in omnibus angustiis tuis constanter invoces. Sed cum carnem tuam non vis domare, tunc facis eam vitiis et peccatis epulari, quoniam ei frenum timoris Domini abstrahis; cum quo eam coercere deberes, ne in perditionem iret. Quapropter ita ad diabolum respicis sicut et ipse ad iniquitatem respexit, cum in mortem cecidit. Et ipse de perditione tua gaudens dicit: Ecce homo qui nobis similis est. Et tunc super te cadit, atque vias suas in umbra mortis secundum quod sibi placet in te reponit. Sed Deus novit quid boni facere possis; ideo tibi lex posita est, secundum quod laborare potes. Deus ab initio saeculi usque ad consummationem ejus in electis suis complacere vult, ut ipsi in claritate virtutum fidelissime ornati coronentur.
Quomodo? Homo voluptati carnis suae hoc modo resistat ne deliciis hujus mundi diffluat, nec etiam tam secure vivat, quasi in propria domo sua maneat, quoniam peregrinus est, quia Pater ipsius eum exspectat; si ad ipsum in coelum redire vult, ubi eum esse novit. Unde, o homo, si oculos tuos ad duas semitas, id est ad bonum et ad malum verteris: tunc edoceris, et magna et parva intelligis. Quomodo? Per fidem unum Deum in divinitate et in humanitate intelligis; et etiam diabolica opera in malo esse vides. Et cum ita justas et injustas vias cognoveris; tunc per me interrogaris. Quam viam ire desideras? Si tunc in bonas vias ire volueris, et si verba mea fideliter audieris: assidua et sincera prece Deum ora ut tibi succurrat et ne te deserat, quoniam fragilis in carne tua es, atque ad humilitatem caput tuum inclina; et ea quae in operibus tuis mala sunt excute, et a te illa festinanter projice; haec a te Deus requirit.
Et ut si quis tibi aurum et plumbum proponeret ac diceret, ad quod volueris manum tuam extende: aurum avidissime caperes et plumbum dimitteres, quia aurum magis quam plumbum diligeres. Sic et coelestem patriam magis quam depressionem peccatorum attendere debes. Quod si in peccatis cecideris, mox in confessione et pura poenitentia surge, antequam mors oriatur in te. Pater enim tuus vult ut clames, plores et auxilium petas: ne in sordibus peccatorum permaneas. Sed si vulnera acceperis, medicum quaere ne moriaris. Nonne saepe Deus tempestates hominibus immittit, ut tanto attentius ab eis invocetur? Sed tu, o homo, dicis: Bona opera operari non possum. Ego vero dico: Potes.
Et tu quaeris, quomodo? Respondeo: Intellectu et ratione. Dices: Desiderium in me non habeo. Respondeo: Disce pugnare contra te. Et dicis: Contra me pugnare non valeo, nisi Deus adjuverit me. Audi ergo quomodo pugnes adversum te: Cum malum in te surgit nescientem quomodo illud abjicias; tunc tactu gratiae meae adjutus (nam in viis interiorum oculorum tuorum gratia mea tangit te) clama, ora, confitere et plora; ut tibi Deus succurrat, et ut malum a te auferat, et ut tibi vires in bono tribuat; istud enim habes ex scientia qua Deum per inspirationem Spiritus sancti intelligis; nam si alicujus hominis operarius esses: quoties oporteret te id facere quod corpori tuo difficile esset, nonne multa laboriose sustineres propter terrenam mercedem tuam? Et cur Deo propter supernam mercedem non servis; qui tibi et animam et corpus dedit? Si enim aliquam temporalem rem habere velles, o quantum laborares ut illam saltem vel parvo tempore habere posses.
Nunc autem fastidit te illud quaerere quod finem non habet. Nam ut bos stimulo agitur, sic et tu corpus tuum timore Domini exercere debes; quia si hoc feceris, Deus non abjiciet te. Si enim aliquis tyrannus te captivaret, protinus ad illum te converteres qui tibi auxilio esse posset et ei supplicares eumque orares, et substantiam tuam illi promitteres ut tibi succurreret. Sic et tu, o homo, fac cum iniquitas te coeperit; ad Deum te convertens supplica, ora et correctionem tuam promitte, et Deus te adjuvabit. Sed tu, o homo, caecus es ad videndum, surdus ad audiendum, vecors ad te defendendum; quoniam intellectum quem tibi Deus infudit et quinque sensus corporis tui quos tibi dedit, quasi pro nihilo et pro vanitate habes. Nonne intellectum et scientiam habes? Regnum Dei potest emi, non autem joco acquiri. Audite ergo, o homines, et nolite despicere introitum coelestis Jerusalem, nolite tangere mortem et Deum negare et diabolum confiteri, nolite in peccatis crescere, et in bonis deficere.
Deum enim audire non vultis cum in praeceptis ipsius ambulare recusatis, et ad diabolum curritis cum desiderium carnis vestrae perficere contenditis. Resipiscite ergo et confortamini quia hoc vobis necessarium est. Fidelis autem homo dolorem suum consideret et medicum quaerat antequam in mortem ruat. Quod si dolorem suum inspexerit et medicum quaesierit, inventus ostendet ei amarum succum pigmenti per quem sanari poterit, quae sunt amara verba per quae probandus est, utrum poenitentia ejus de radice cordis ipsius an de vento instabilitatis ejus procedat. Cumque hoc probaverit, dat ei vinum compunctionis et poenitentiae, ut fetorem vulnerum suorum abluat et etiam offert ei oleum misericordiae quatenus eadem vulnera ad sanitatem liniat. Tunc etiam injungit ei ut circa sanitatem suam sollicitus sit, dicens: Vide ut in hac medicina studiosus et stabilis permaneas, nec taedium inde capias, quia vulnera tua gravia sunt. Sed multi sunt qui vix poenitentiam suorum peccatorum suscipiunt, et quamvis multo labore tamen eam propter metum mortis peragunt. At ego eis manum porrigo, et amaritudinem illam eis in dulcedinem verto, ita quod poenitentiam illam propter amorem meum magna cum tranquillitate perficiunt, quam cum magna difficultate inceperunt.
Qui autem poenitentiam peccatorum suorum neglexerit, quoniam corpus suum castigare sibi difficile esse dicit, miser est quia non vult in se ipsum respicere, nec ullum medicum quaerere, nec vulnera sua sanari, sed pessimum livorem in se celat et mortem in simulationem tegit ne videri possit. Unde piger ad gustum poenitentiae est, nolens respicere in oleum misericordiae, nec consolationem redemptionis quaerere: et ideo in mortem properat quoniam mortem dilexit, nec regnum Dei quaesivit. Ergo, o fideles, in praecepta Dei currite, ne vos damnatio mortis apprehendat. Novum Adam imitamini, et veterem hominem abjicite. Nam currenti, regnum Dei apertum est, in terra autem jacenti, clausum est, sed miseri sunt illi qui diabolum venerantur, Deum ignorantes. Quomodo? Qui Deum unum in Trinitate non colunt; nec Trinitatem in unitate scire volunt. Unde qui salvari vult, in recta et catholica fide non dubitet.
Quid hoc? Quoniam Patrem non colit, qui Filium abnegat; nec Filium diligit, qui Patrem ignorat; nec Filium habet, qui Spiritum sanctum abjicit; nec Spiritum sanctum accipit, qui Patrem et Filium non veneratur. Ergo unitas in trinitate, et trinitas in unitate intelligenda est. O homo, nunquid es sine corde et sine sanguine vivens? Sic nec Pater sine Filio nec sine Spiritu sancto, nec Filius sine Patre, nec sine Spiritu sancto, nec Spiritus sanctus sine ipsis esse credendus est. Sed Pater Filium suum pro redemptione hominis misit in mundum et iterum ad se retraxit eum: sicut homo cogitationes cordis sui emittit, et iterum ipsas ad se recolligit. Unde de hac salutifera Unigeniti Dei missione, Isaias in supernae majestatis voluntate loquitur, dicens: Verbum misit Dominus in Jacob, et cecidit in Israel . Quod dicitur: Verbum per quod omnia facta sunt, scilicet Unigenitum Dei, qui in corde Patris secundum divinitatem semper sine initio temporis fuit, ipsum misit Dominus, videlicet supernus Pater per ora prophetarum in Jacob, cum ipsi eumdem Filium Dei in mundum pro salute hominum venturum fideliter praenuntiarent; ut homines per eos praemoniti et praemuniti, diabolum prudenter supplantarent, et versutias deceptionum ejus sapienter declinarent.
Et ita idem verbum cecidit in Israel, cum idem Unigenitus Dei venit in altam puritatem virginis, in quam nullus vir gressum suum imposuit; sed quae florem suum inviolabiliter tenuit, ut ipse natus ex virgine, eos qui lumen veritatis per fallacem caecitatem ignorabant ad verum iter reduceret, et indeficienti saluti restitueret Unde quicunque scientiam in Spiritu sancto et pennas in fide habet, iste admonitionem meam non transgrediatur, sed eam in gustu animae suae amplectendo percipiat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.9.8 — And all the people shall know it—Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—in pride and in the greatness of heart, saying,
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'schisma' here refers to the interior fragmentation or discord of the soul, rather than a formal ecclesiastical schism.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
Keep Hildegard in your mornings
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Hildegard's visions were meant to be read and prayed over daily by her community; Chosen Portion continues that pattern with a curated historic devotional reading each morning.
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