Visio Quinta
The Vision of the Synagogue
The visionary figure of the Synagogue is revealed as a pale, blind, and incomplete image standing before the altar of God.
After this, I saw a figure that looked like a woman. She was pale from her head to her navel, black from her navel to her feet, and her feet were stained with blood. Yet, she was surrounded by a cloud, most white and pure, at her feet. She was blind, and she held her hands tucked under her armpits, standing near the altar that is before the eyes of God, but not touching it. Abraham stood in her heart, Moses in her chest, and the rest of the prophets in her womb, each displaying their own signs and marveling at the beauty of the new bride. She appeared immense, like the massive tower of a city, and on her head she wore something like a circle that resembled the dawn. Again, I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: 'God imposed the austerity of the law upon the ancient people when He commanded circumcision to Abraham. He later turned this into the grace of sweetness when He gave His Son, the truth of the Gospel, to those who believe. In Him, He soothed those wounded by the yoke of the law with the oil of mercy.' Therefore, the woman's figure you see, pale from the head to the navel, is the Synagogue, the mother of the incarnation of the Son of God. From the time her children first rose up until they reached their strength, she foresaw the secrets of God in a shadow, but did not fully reveal them. For she is not the glowing dawn of which it speaks openly, but rather it looks upon her from afar with great wonder, as it is said of her in the Song of Songs: 'Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, and leaning upon her beloved?' This is what is meant: Who is this new bride who lifts herself up in many good works through the deserts of the nations—those who abandon the legal precepts of wisdom and worship idols—ascending to heavenly desires, flowing abundantly with the delights of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and thus panting with great zeal and leaning upon her spouse, the Son of God? For this is she who, endowed by the Son of God with glorious virtues, shines forth, abounding in the streams of the Scriptures.
The Wonder of the New Bride
The Synagogue observes the Church with wonder, recognizing the spiritual virtues and angelic protection that it lacks.
And the same Synagogue, in great wonder, asks my servant Isaiah about the children of that new bride: "Who are these who fly like clouds, and like doves to their windows?" This is what it means: Who are those who withdraw their minds from earthly and carnal desires, flying toward heavenly things with full longing and full devotion, and who, with the simplicity of a dove and without the bitterness of gall, protect their bodily senses and seek with great ardor for the good virtues of the fortress of the most firm Rock, who is the only-begotten Son of God? For these are the ones who, because of their love for what is above, trample earthly kingdoms underfoot and seek after heavenly things. The Synagogue, therefore, was in wonder at the new bride, which is the Church, because it didn't recognize itself as being adorned with similar virtues when it saw her; for the Church is surrounded by angelic protection so that the devil may not tear it apart and cast it down, while the Synagogue, abandoned by God, lies in vice.
The Stains of the Law
The physical attributes of the Synagogue—her blindness, her hidden hands, and her bloodstained feet—are interpreted as signs of her rejection of the truth.
You see, then, that she is also black from the navel down to her feet; this means that from the height of her expansion to the end of her duration, she was stained by violating the law and transgressing her fathers' covenant, because she neglected God's commandments in many ways and followed the desires of her own flesh. She is bloodstained at her feet, yet around them she has a cloud, most white and pure, because at her end she killed the prophet of prophets, where she herself fell and collapsed. Yet in that same end, a most bright and clear faith rose up in the hearts of believers, because where the Synagogue met its end, the Church arose, as the apostolic teaching spread throughout the whole world after the death of the Son of God. But that image is also blinded in its eyes, holding its hands under its armpits, because the Synagogue did not look toward the true light when it held the only-begotten Son of God in contempt. Hence, it covers the works of justice—not casting them away out of weariness or sluggishness, but carelessly hiding them as if they didn't exist. It stands beside the altar that is before the eyes of God, but it doesn't touch it, because it knew the law of God—which it received by divine command and inspection—only on the surface. It didn't touch it interiorly, because it abhorred it rather than loved it, neglecting to offer to God the sacrifices and incense of devout prayers. But Abraham stands in its heart, because he himself was the beginning of circumcision in the Synagogue. And Moses is in its breast, because he brought the divine law into the hearts of men, and the rest of the prophets are in its womb—that is, in that institution which had been handed down to them divinely—as inspectors of the divine commandments. They each showed their own signs and marveled at the beauty of the new bride, because they themselves showed the wonders of their prophecy in miraculous signs, and they attended to the splendor of the Church's nobility with great admiration.
From Shadow to Light
The transition from the Old Testament law to the New Testament Gospel is explained through the metaphor of the dawn and the sun.
She appears of such great stature, like the tallest tower of a city, because by embracing the magnitude of the divine commandments, she declared herself the fortification and defense of a noble and chosen city. She has on her head something like a circle resembling the dawn, because the Church at her birth demonstrated the miracle of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten of God and showed the clear virtues and mysteries that follow. She was crowned as if in the early morning when she received the divine commandments, signifying Adam, who first perceived the command of God but later fell into death through his transgression. The Jews did the same, for they received the divine law at first, but then rejected the Son of God in their unbelief. But just as humanity was rescued from the ruin of death through the death of the Only-Begotten of God near the end of time, so too will the Synagogue, awakened by divine mercy before the final day, abandon its unbelief and truly arrive at the knowledge of God. What does this mean? Doesn't the dawn rise before the sun? But the dawn fades, and the brightness of the sun remains. What does this mean? The Old Testament has passed away, and the truth of the Gospel remains, because what the ancients observed carnally in legal observances, the new people in the New Testament practice spiritually; for what they showed in the flesh, these people fulfill in the spirit.
The Covenant of Mercy
God reflects on the history of the Synagogue, her infidelity, and the promise of a renewed covenant through the incarnation.
Circumcision hasn't perished, because it has been translated into baptism; for just as they were marked in one member, so too are these in all their members. Thus, the ancient precepts haven't perished, because they have been translated into a better state. Even in the final time, the Synagogue will faithfully transfer itself to the Church. For, O Synagogue, when you were wandering in many iniquities, polluting yourself with Baal and other such things, breaking the custom of the law with the foulest habits, and lying naked in your sins, I did what my servant Ezekiel speaks of, saying: 'I spread my cloak over you, and covered your shame, and I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you.' What is said—'I, the Son of the Most High, in the will of my Father, extended my incarnation over you, O Synagogue'—means for your salvation, taking away your sins, which you committed in many forgettings, and I confirmed for you a remedy of salvation, so that I manifested the ways of my covenant for your salvation when I opened the true faith to you through apostolic teaching, so that you might observe my precepts just as a woman ought to be subject to the authority of her husband. I took away from you the harshness of the exterior law, gave you the sweetness of spiritual teaching, and showed you all my mysteries in spiritual teachings through myself, but you deserted me, the Just One, and joined yourself to the devil. But you, O human, understand: just as his wife deserted Samson, so that he was deprived of his light, so too the Synagogue deserted the Son of God when she hardened herself, spurned him, and rejected his teaching. But after his hair had grown back, so that the Church of God was strengthened, the Son of God in his fortitude cast down the Synagogue and disinherited her children, when even through Gentiles who did not know God they were struck with zeal for God; for she had subjected herself to many errors of total confusion and schism, and had polluted herself in the prevarications of total iniquity.
The Final Restoration
The Synagogue will eventually be restored to the light of truth at the end of time, mirroring the reconciliation of David and his wife.
Just as David eventually took back his wife—whom he had first betrothed to himself, but who had defiled herself with another man—so too will the Son of God eventually receive the Synagogue (which was first joined to Him at His incarnation, but which abandoned the grace of baptism and followed the devil) near the end of time, once she abandons the errors of her infidelity and returns to the light of truth. For the devil seized the Synagogue in her blindness and handed her over to infidelity in many errors, and he will not stop doing this until the son of perdition. When he falls in the exaltation of his pride—just as Saul perished, struck down on Mount Gilboa, after he had driven David from his land—and when the son of iniquity attempts to drive My Son out from among His chosen ones, then My Son, having cast down the Antichrist, will call the Synagogue back to the true faith, just as David took back his first wife after the death of Saul. For when people at the end of time see the one by whom they were deceived defeated, they will run back to the way of salvation with great haste. It wasn't fitting, however, for the truth of the Gospel to announce the shadow of the Law, since it is fitting that carnal things come first and spiritual things follow; for even a servant announces that his master is coming, and a master doesn't go before his servant in service. So too, the Synagogue went before in the shadow of symbolism, and the Church has followed in the light of truth. Therefore, whoever has knowledge in the Holy Spirit and wings in faith shouldn't disregard my admonition, but should embrace and grasp it in the taste of their own soul.
Read the original Latin
Post haec vidi velut quamdam muliebrem imaginem a vertice usque ad umbilicum pallidam, et ab umbilico usque ad pedes nigram, et in pedibus sanguinolentam, circa autem pedes suos candidissimam et purissimam nubem habentem, at oculis orbatam, manus vero sub axellas suas tenebat, stans juxta altare quod est ante oculos Dei, sed ipsum non tangebat. Et in corde ipsius stabat Abraham, et in pectore ejus Moses, in ventre vero reliqui prophetae, singuli signa sua demonstrantes, et pulchritudinem novae sponsae admirantes. Haec vero tantae magnitudinis apparuit velut alicujus civitatis ingentissima turris habens in capite suo quasi circulum similem aurorae. Audivique iterum vocem de coelo dicentem mihi: Antiquo populo austeritatem legis Deus imposuit, cum Abrahae circumcisionem indixit, quam postea in gratiam suavitatis convertit, cum Filium suum veritatem Evangelii credentibus dedit, in qua jugo legis sauciatos, oleo misericordiae delinivit. Quapropter vides velut quamdam muliebrem imaginem a vertice usque ad umbilicum pallidam, quae est Synagoga, mater incarnationis Filii Dei et ab initio surgentium filiorum suorum usque ad fortitudinem eorum, secreta Dei in umbratione praevidens, sed ea non pleniter aperiens. Illa enim non est rutilans aurora quam aperte loquitur, sed eam in multa admiratione a longe intuens, ut in Canticis de ipsa dicitur: Quae est ista quae ascendit per desertum deliciis affluens: et innixa super dilectum suum? Quod dicitur: Quae est haec nova nupta, quae in plurimis bonis operibus se elevat per deserta gentium legalia praecepta sapientiae deserentium et idola adorantium, ascendens ad superna desideria deliciis donorum Spiritus sancti abundantius, et sic multo studio anhelans et se innitens super sponsum suum scilicet Dei Filium. Haec enim est, quae a Filio Dei dotata in praeclaris virtutibus fulget in rivulis Scripturarum abundans.
Sed et eadem Synagoga de filiis illius novae sponsae in multa admiratione servum meum Isaiam sic interrogat: Qui sunt ii qui ut nubes volant, et quasi columbae ad fenestras suas? Quod dicitur: Qui sunt ii qui in mentibus suis se abstrahentes a terrenis ac carnalibus concupiscentiis: pleno desiderio et plena devotione ad superna volant, et columbina simplicitate absque amaritudine fellis, sensus corporis sui muniunt et munimentum firmissimae petrae, qui Unigenitus Dei est, multo ardore bonarum virtutum appetunt. Hi enim sunt, qui propter supernum amorem terrena regna conculcant, et coelestia quaerunt. Synagoga itaque admirabatur de nova sponsa quae Ecclesia est, quoniam se similibus virtutibus ita ornatam non agnovit ut illam vidit, quia Ecclesia angelicis praesidiis circumdata est, ne eam diabolus dilaceret et dejiciat, cum Synagoga a Deo deserta in vitiis jaceat.
Quapropter vides etiam ipsam ab umbilico usque ad pedes nigram: quod est a fortitudine suae dilatationis usque ad consummationem suae durationis, in praevaricatione legis, et in transgressione testamenti patrum suorum fuisse sordidam, quia multis modis divina praecepta neglexit voluptatem carnis suae secuta. Et in pedibus sanguinolenta, circa autem pedes suos candidissimam et purissimam nubem habet, quoniam in consummatione sua prophetam prophetarum occidit, ubi et ipsa lapsa corruit; in eadem tamen consummatione in mentibus credentium lucidissima et perspicacissima fide surgente, quia ubi Synagoga finem accepit, Ecclesia surrexit, cum apostolica doctrina post mortem Filii Dei se per totum orbem terrarum diffudit. Sed et imago illa oculis orbata est manus suas sub axellas tenens quia Synagoga in veram lucem non aspexit, cum Unigenitum Dei in despectu habuit. Unde et opera justitiae in taedio boni operis et torpore a se non projiciens tegit, et ea velut non sint negligenter abscondit. Stat juxta altare quod est ante oculos Dei, sed ipsum non tangit, quoniam legem Dei quam divino praecepto et divina inspectione accepit in cortice quidem novit, sed eam interius non tetigit, quia eam potius abhorruit quam dilexerit, sacrificia et incensum devotarum orationum Deo offerre negligens. Sed in corde ipsius stat Abraham, quoniam initium circumcisionis in Synagoga ipse fuit. Et in pectore ejus Moses, quia in praecordia hominum divinam legem ille attulit, ac in ventre reliqui prophetae, id est in institutione illa quae ipsi divinitus tradita fuerat, inspectores divinorum praeceptorum. Singuli signa sua demonstrantes et pulchritudinem novae sponsae admirantes, quoniam ipsi magnalia prophetiae suae in mirabilibus signis ostenderunt, et speciositatem generositatis Ecclesiae in multa admiratione attenderunt.
Ipsa vero tantae magnitudinis apparet velut alicujus civitatis altissima turris, quia magnitudinem divinorum praeceptorum suscipiens, munitionem et defensionem nobilis et electae civitatis pronuntiavit habens in capite suo quasi circulum similem aurorae, quia Ecclesia in ortu suo miraculum incarnationis Unigeniti Dei demonstravit, et claras virtutes ac mysteria quae sequuntur ostendit; nam ipsa velut primo mane coronata fuit, cum divina praecepta accepit, designans Adam, qui primum jussionem Dei percepit, sed postea in transgressione sua in mortem cecidit. Sic et Judaei fecerunt, qui divinam legem primitus susceperunt, sed deinde Filium Dei in incredulitate sua abjecerunt. Sed et sicut homo per mortem Unigeniti Dei circa novissimum tempus de perditione mortis ereptus est, ita et Synagoga ante novissimum diem per divinam clementiam excitata incredulitatem deseret, et ad cognitionem Dei veraciter perveniet. Quid hoc? Nonne aurora ante solem ascendit? Sed aurora recedit et claritas solis permanet. Quid hoc? Vetus Testamentum recessit, et veritas Evangelii permanet, quia quae antiqui in legalibus observationibus carnaliter observabant, haec novus populus in Novo Testamento spiritualiter exercet, quoniam quod illi in carne ostenderunt, hoc isti in spiritu perficiunt.
Nam circumcisio non periit, quia in baptismum translata est, ut enim illi in uno membro signati sunt, sic et isti in omnibus membris suis. Unde antiqua praecepta non perierunt, quia in meliorem statum translata sunt. Etiam in novissimo tempore Synagoga ad Ecclesiam se fideliter transferet. Nam, o Synagoga, cum in multis iniquitatibus errares ita quod cum Baal et cum caeteris his similibus te pollueres, consuetudinem legis turpissimis moribus scindens, et nuda in peccatis tuis jacens: feci quod Ezechiel servus meus loquitur, dicens: Expandi amictum meum super te, et operui ignominiam tuam, et juravi tibi et inii pactum tecum . Quod dicitur: Ego Filius Altissimi in voluntate Patris mei extendi incarnationem meam, o Synagoga, super te, id est pro salute tua, auferens peccata tua, quae in multis oblivionibus operata es, et firmavi tibi remedium salvationis, ita quod itinera foederis mei ad salutem tuam manifestavi, cum veram fidem per apostolicam doctrinam tibi aperui, quatenus praecepta mea observares veluti mulier potestati mariti sui subjacere debet. Nam asperitatem exterioris legis a te abstuli, et suavitatem spiritualis doctrinae tibi dedi ac omnia mysteria mea in spiritualibus doctrinis per memetipsum tibi ostendi, sed tu me justum deseruisti, et diabolo te conjunxisti. Sed tu, o homo, intellige: ut Samsonem uxor ipsius deseruit, ita quod lumine suo privatus est, sic et Synagoga Filium Dei deseruit, cum eum obdurata sprevit, et cum doctrinam illius abjecit. Sed postquam capilli ejus jam renati sunt, ita quod Ecclesia Dei confortata est, Filius Dei in fortitudine sua Synagogam dejecit, et natos illius exhaereditavit, cum etiam per gentiles Deum ignorantes zelo Dei contriti sunt; ipsa enim multis erroribus totius confusionis et schismatis se subjecerat, et in praevaricationibus totius iniquitatis se polluerat.
Sed etiam quemadmodum David uxorem suam quam sibi primitus desponsaverat et quae cum alio viro se polluerat, tandem revocavit, ita etiam et Filius Dei Synagogam (quae sibi primum in incarnatione sua conjuncta fuit, sed gratiam baptismi deserens diabolum secuta est) tandem circa novissimum tempus recipiet, ubi ipsa errores infidelitatis suae deserens ad lumen veritatis redibit. Nam diabolus Synagogam in caecitate illius rapuit, et eam infidelitati in multis erroribus tradidit, nec hoc usque ad filium perditionis facere cessabit. Qui dum in exaltatione superbiae suae ceciderit sicut Saul in monte Gelboe interfectus periit, qui David de terra sua fugaverat, ut filius iniquitatis Filium meum in electis suis expellere tentabit, tunc Filius meus, Antichristo dejecto, Synagogam ad veram fidem revocabit quemadmodum et David primam uxorem suam post mortem Saulis recepit: cum enim novissimo tempore homines illum per quem decepti fuerant victum viderint, ad viam salutis cum multa festinatione recurrent. Non autem decuit ut veritas Evangelii umbram legis praenuntiaret, quoniam decet ut carnalia praecurrant et spiritualia subsequantur, quia etiam servus dominum suum venturum praedicit et non dominus servum in servitio praecurrit; ita et Synagoga in umbra significationis praecurrit, et Ecclesia in lumine veritatis subsecuta est. Unde quicunque scientiam in Spiritu sancto et pennas in fide habet, iste admonitionem meam non transgrediatur, sed eam in gustu animae suae amplectendo percipiat.
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