Visio Quinta
The Vision of the Flowering Church
The visionary image of the Church is revealed through radiant colors and symbols, representing the apostolic foundation and the mystery of the Trinity.
After this, I saw a brightness, white as snow and clear as crystal, shining all around that womanly image from her head down to her throat. But from her throat down to her navel, a reddish brightness surrounded her; it glowed like the dawn from her throat to her breasts, and from her breasts down to her navel, it shone like purple mixed with hyacinth. And where it glowed like the dawn, it extended its brightness upward toward the secrets of heaven, in which a most beautiful and girlish image appeared, clothed with her head bare, her hair dark, and wearing a red tunic that flowed down around her feet. And I heard a voice from heaven saying: This is the flowering in the heavenly Zion, the mother and flower of roses and the lily of the valleys. O flowering one, you will be betrothed to the Son of the most powerful King; you will give birth to His most renowned offspring when you are strengthened in your time. And around that same maiden, I saw a great crowd of people standing, brighter than the sun, all of whom were adorned in a wondrous way with gold and gems; and some of them were veiled on their heads with white veils and were girded with a golden belt; above their heads, the likeness of the ineffable Trinity—just as it was shown to me symbolically before—appeared as if sculpted in a sphere within those very veils, and on their foreheads was the Lamb of God; and on their necks was the form of a human, and on their right ear a cherub, and on their left another angelic form: so that even from that very likeness of the glory of the heavenly Trinity, a golden ray extended itself toward these forms. But among them, others appeared wearing miters on their heads and the palliums of episcopal office around their shoulders. And again I heard a voice from on high saying: These are the daughters of Zion, and with them are the harps of the harpists, every kind of music, and the voice of all joy and the gladness of gladnesses. But beneath that same radiance where it shone like the dawn, I saw thick darkness appear between heaven and earth, so horrifying that no human tongue could describe it. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying: If the Son of God hadn't suffered on the cross, this darkness would never have allowed humanity to reach the light above. But where that same radiance shone like purple mixed with hyacinth, it burned, tightly binding the womanly image mentioned earlier. Yet another radiance, like a white cloud, had honorably surrounded that same image from the navel downward, though it hadn't yet grown beyond that point. And these three radiances, spreading themselves widely around the image, revealed many steps and ladders well and properly arranged within it. But when I saw this, I collapsed to the ground, my strength drained by the overwhelming trembling that had seized me, and I couldn't answer anyone. And then, a great radiance like a hand touched me, from which I regained my strength and my voice. And again I heard a voice from that source saying to me: These are great mysteries; consider the sun, the moon, and the stars.
The Sun, Moon, and Stars of Faith
God explains the celestial symbolism of the sun, moon, and stars as representations of Christ, the Church, and the various orders of religious life.
I formed the sun to shine by day, and the moon and stars to shine by night. The sun signifies my Son, who came forth from my heart and illuminated the world when He was born of the Virgin at the end of the ages, just as the rising sun illuminates the world when it appears near the end of the night. But the moon designates the Church, betrothed to that same Son of mine in a true and heavenly marriage. And just as the moon waxes and wanes by its very nature, yet doesn't shine by its own power except when kindled by the light of the sun, so too the Church is in a constant state of movement; its children often grow in virtue, yet often falter through the diversity of their ways and the scattering effect of adversities. Thus, the faithful are frequently attacked in their mysteries by ravenous wolves—by wicked men, whether Christians, Jews, or other unbelievers—and in this, they aren't kindled to endurance by their own power, but are illuminated in me through my Son so that they may persevere in what is good. The stars, however, differing from one another in the brightness of their radiance, signify the people of the various religious orders within the Church.
Apostolic Teaching and the Priesthood
The white radiance signifies apostolic teaching, calling priests to holiness, chastity, and the faithful stewardship of the Eucharist.
This is why you see a certain white splendor, like snow and as clear as crystal, shining all around the vision of the woman from her head down to her throat; it is because the apostolic teaching, which announced the most pure incarnation of the Son of God—who descended from heaven into the womb of the Virgin and who is the strongest and clearest mirror for all believers—surrounds the Church of the faithful, the incorrupt bride of the Son of God. In this way, that same teaching has faithfully surrounded the Church, shining most brilliantly upon her from the very beginning when she first began to be built, right up to the time when she was able to firmly swallow the food of life. How is that? Apostolic teaching shone upon the Church at her head when the apostles first began to build her through their preaching—that is, when they traveled through various places to gather workers who would strengthen her in the Catholic faith, and who would themselves provide for priests, bishops, and the entire ecclesiastical order, and faithfully establish the laws for the men and women living in marriage, and other such things. Therefore, those who follow this teaching are like the spice-merchants who resembled the priests of the legal testimony. Under the law of circumcision, those priests were tasked with nourishing the people with interior food; this is why the apostles chose the orders with which they adorned the Church through heavenly inspiration. What does this mean? Their followers, carrying the most wholesome spices in their place, faithfully travel through squares, villages, cities, and other regions to announce the divine law to the people. They themselves are the chosen fathers and stewards appointed to bring ecclesiastical discipline to all people through their teaching and to dispense the food of life to them. Therefore, they must show themselves to be such in their own lives, so that my sheep are not offended by their works, but rather walk rightly after them. They hold this office so that they may openly provide the food of life to the people and wisely order the faithful duties for each one, constraining themselves so that they do not crave carnal union, since they are bound to offer spiritual food to believers and to offer an immaculate sacrifice to God, as was prefigured in the innocent Abel, just as it is written of him: 'Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat.'✦ What does this mean? At the dawn of the rising age, the sanctification of royal revelation shone forth in him who was innocent in his life; for he touched the house of the almighty God—not the earth, but heaven—with great strength. How so? Because Abel, in his integrity, offered to God the intention of his will and the full duty of that same will: when he thought in his heart to offer Him the first fruit he had in his possession, and when he completed that with a perfect work, so too does the faithful person, honoring the supreme Father and showing Him the reverence that is due. Therefore, just as Abel presided over his flock and kept watch to feed it, and just as he offered to God with simple devotion the first of its yield and the rich nourishment of those same yields, so too should the aforementioned ministers—who have been placed in authority by Christ Himself to feed the children of the Church, that is, His sheep—faithfully nourish them with the words of ecclesiastical discipline, strongly protect them from the snares of the ancient tempter, and with sincere consideration offer to the Inspector of all some gifts from among them. How so? Because if they cannot make them perfect in all things, they should offer to God some such fruit coming from them: first, the right intention of their good will, like a simple seed from the firstborn of their flock, and then the perfect work of their labor in that same will, like a sweet fruit from their fatness. But how did it come to be that Abel worshipped God so devotedly? The faithful chastity of his integrity had driven him to such great devotion. Therefore, those who are set apart in consecration and ought to offer the most holy sacrifice to God should approach His altar in the sweetness of chastity; for if they themselves are the authors of corruption, how can they offer the hand of saving medicine to those wounded by corruption? And so, that they may be able to offer this saving remedy to others with all the more confidence, I desire that they virilely imitate my Son in the love of chastity. But if they should fall, let them hasten to rise more quickly through penance, and in this, let them flee the ignominy of sin as if they were naked, seeking the healing medicine and faithfully following Abel, whose sacrifice was acceptable to God. Yet those among them who keep themselves within the enclosure of obedience in the love of my Son, and who observe in their own conduct the instruction of the wicked which they bring forth by my inspiration—not having the anxiety of the care of the ministers—nevertheless, even though they do not bear the burdens of their anxiety, because they are subject to their superiors for the sake of eternal rewards, they acquire for themselves the heavenly reward in the chosen city along with those same ministers.
The Perfection of Religious Life
The reddish radiance represents the perfection of religious life, characterized by virginal purity and the imitation of Christ's passion.
As for the fact that you see a different splendor of red color surrounding the image from the throat down to the navel, this is because, after the teaching of the apostles, the Church was so strengthened that it was truly able to discern the life-giving food and transmit it to the depths of its own strength; thus, the most noble perfection of religious life arose, which tasted the heavenly sweetness with burning ardor and, by restraining itself most strictly, stretched toward the refining of a more secret strength, yet without reaching the division of carnal bitterness, since it cast off the bond of human union. How so? For that same splendor glows like the dawn from the throat down to the breasts, because that perfection, from the taste of a wondrous vitality, expanded in virginal joy toward the sweetest nourishment of religious life, so that it even shines like purple mixed with hyacinth from the breasts down to the navel; this is because they fortify themselves from the most noble training toward the restraint of intimate chastity, specifically by imitating the passion of my Son for the sake of the heavenly love which he faithfully held in his heart. Therefore, even where it glows like the dawn, it extends its brightness upward to the secrets of heaven, because that perfection which flourishes in the honor of virginity directs its virtue not downward to earthly things, but wondrously upward to those things which are in the heavens. In this image, a most beautiful and girlish figure appears with head uncovered and dark hair; she is innocent virginity, most serene and free from all the filth of human desire, keeping her mind bare of every bond of corruption, yet she is not yet able to fully cast off the weariness of dark thoughts in her children as long as they are in this world, though she does stand firm and resist them. This is why she is clothed in a red tunic that flows around her feet; for through the sweat of labor in virtuous works, she perseveres to the end of a broad and blessed perfection, surrounded by a variety of virtues, imitating Him who is the fullness of holiness. As it is shown to you in the secret of the light above, she is a most noble sprout in the heavenly Jerusalem—the glory and honor of those who shed their blood for the love of virginity, and who, while observing their virginity for Christ in the brightness of humility, have rested in the sweetness of peace; for she herself, betrothed to the Son of the almighty God who is King of all, brought forth to Him a most noble offspring, that is, a most elegant choir of virgins, when she grew and was strengthened in the peace of the Church. As for the great crowd of people you see standing around that same girl, brighter than the sun and adorned in a wonderful way with gold and gems: this means that a special choir of virgins embraces the most noble virginity with the most ardent embraces, and they all shine before God with a brightness more intense than the sun appears on earth, because they trampled themselves underfoot and manfully conquered death; and for this reason, they are also wonderfully and most fittingly adorned in supreme wisdom because of the most brilliant works they humbly performed for Christ. For this reason, some of them are veiled on their heads with white veils and adorned with a golden belt, because they shine in the glory of virginity and show that those who seek the beauty of virginity must cover their minds against every harmful heat and faithfully grasp the whiteness of innocence, adorned with the most beautiful brilliance of chastity. Above their virtues, the likeness of the ineffable Trinity—as shown to you symbolically before—appears sculpted in a sphere upon their veils. This signifies that their intentions firmly and strenuously hold the honor of the heavenly and glorious Trinity, as was truly prefigured to you in the mystery, through the understanding of love and the stability of chastity. The fact that the Lamb of God is on their foreheads, the likeness of a man on their necks, a cherub on their right ear, and another angelic likeness on their left, declares that in the reverence of their chastity they will imitate the gentleness of the Son of God, putting aside the petulance of a proud neck, considering themselves fragile humans, embracing true and unfailing knowledge in the prosperity of their hearing, and seeking angelic protection when adversity of that same hearing occurs, so that a golden ray extends from that very likeness of the glory of the heavenly Trinity to these likenesses, since the ineffable Trinity does not cease to work the wonders of miracles of its profound wisdom for faithful people who seek virtues and flee diabolical seductions. Among them, others appear wearing islands on their heads and the pallia of episcopal office around their shoulders. This is because, among those who flourish in the honor of virginity, some also stand in the heavenly city who, while strenuously bearing the dignity of the ancient fathers and the glory of a superior magisterium in the world, have not lost the beauty of virginity. As you hear, all who have preserved their integrity with sighs for heavenly love are called daughters of Sion in the heavenly dwelling, having imitated my Son in the love of virginity. With them are the resonances of spiritual sounds, the invocations of all kinds of melodies, the ornaments of agile and prosperous minds, and the golden vision of shining stones and gems. How so? They receive this from the Son of God: a sound goes out from the throne, to which the entire choir of virgins sings with the deepest longing, harmonizing a new song, just as John, the beloved virgin, testifies when he says: "And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders." What is this? In those faithful ones who embrace chastity with good intentions and keep their virginity undefiled for the love of God, their good will breaks forth miraculously into the praise of their Creator. How? Because in the dawn of virginity, which always clings to the Son of God, there is a hidden, most powerful praise, to which no earthly office nor any binding of the law can resist, so that it does not sing a heavenly song in a voice of exultation to the glory of God. How? It is because, on a swift journey, it miraculously brings forth that song in the newness of freedom. This song was not heard before the only-begotten Son of God—the true flower of virginity—was incarnate, returned from the world to the heavens, and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Just as new paths, previously unseen, are viewed with wonder, so this new mystery, unheard of before, was then known in the heavens. It resounds in honor of virginity before the majesty of God—because God was able to do this—and before the four wheels that, running through the four corners of the world, carried the truth of the Savior's justice and humanity like living creatures in the new law, and before those ancients who, filled with the Holy Spirit, demonstrated the way of righteousness to humanity in the old law through their own journey. What is this?
Covenants, Vows, and Repentance
God addresses the sanctity of vows, the gravity of breaking them, and the path of repentance for those who have fallen from their commitment.
For in the new grace, God has softened the austerity of the old law.1 But because virginity is so glorious before God, and because they offered it to God of their own free will, they must guard it prudently; for this holy purpose, once undertaken with the highest devotion to virginity, must be kept faithfully. Therefore, even those who have approached this same Sacrament must be careful not to turn back. They are the dearest imitators of my Son when they offer themselves to God in such a way that they aren't bound by marriage or burdened by worldly concerns, rejecting carnal union so they won't be subject to the anxieties of their own flesh; instead, they desire only to cling to the glorious innocence of the innocent Lamb. Therefore, the person who decides in his heart not to join himself to any partner, but desires instead to persevere in the modesty of virginity for the love of my Son, will receive His fellowship—provided he perseveres in the works of that very chastity—because he has offered these holy gifts to my same Son, in the vow of a most sacred pact of religious life, for the glory of the reward above. But if he later abandons that same pact and commits adultery because of the shameful stirrings of his own flesh, he has reduced his freedom to slavery, because he has wickedly corrupted the honor of his own neck—where he should have modestly imitated my Son—through the filth of his own pleasure; and because he has spoken a lie, vowing to live chastely what he did not fulfill. Therefore, even if he perseveres in the guilt of his own rashness, he will suffer the strict judgment of the most just Judge for it, because neither filth nor lies will appear in heavenly glory. But if, with bitter weeping before their end, they do penance for this guilt, the wave of my Son’s blood receives them because they have recoiled from their fault. Yet, he does not restore them to the company of those who flourish in the glory of integrity, because by deserting that fellowship, they cast off the freedom of their covenant and reduced it to the slavery of sin. Furthermore, the girl who of her own will offers herself to my Son in a most holy betrothal is received by him most fittingly, for he desires to have her joined to him in this way within his own company. In what way? So that he may embrace her with chaste love, just as he himself loves her in his secret place, because she is always lovable to him, since she seeks him more than any earthly spouse. But if she later breaks her covenant, she will be defiled in the sight of those who are in heavenly joy. Therefore, even if she persists in that same recklessness, she will lack heavenly glory by a just judgment. But if she repents, she is received as a servant and not as a mistress, because she deserted her royal betrothal, and because she loved another more than the one she ought to have loved. He, too, who violated her by seducing her, if he wishes to amend his fault, must repent as if he had shattered heaven, lest he fall into the ruin of death, because he recklessly corrupted a heavenly betrothal. What does this mean? For if a great prince has a bride who is very dear to him, and a servant of his servants corrupts her by adultery, what does that lord do? He truly sends his officers in great anger to destroy him, because he has shamed him in his own heart. But if that servant, in his fear, prays to all those messengers to intercede for him, and furthermore falls down weeping at his lord’s feet to beg for mercy, then that king, because of his own goodness and because of their petition, lets him live and restores him to the company of his fellow servants; yet he does not reward him as he does the others—his inferiors and familiar friends—even though he does show him the grace due to his fellow servants who are like him. It is the same for the one who seduces and violates the bride of the eternal King. For the supreme King, exercising his judgments with the most righteous zeal, sends to destruction the one who, in this act, treated him like a mocker, oblivious in his own mind. But if that wretched man, anticipating the day of this indignation, humbly prays to the elect of God to obtain mercy for him from their Lord, and looks with weeping upon the humanity of his Savior so that he may be absolved from his sin by His grace, then the King—attending to the blood shed for the redemption of the human race and to the love of the citizens of heaven—snatches him from his guilt and from the devil’s power so he does not go to destruction, and restores him to the salvation of the blessed souls. Yet he will not adorn him with the joy of the royal wedding feast in which the other friends of God rejoice together with those holy virgins who are dedicated to my Son by heavenly dispensation; and as one who has lost the modesty of virginity, he will not crown him with the beauty of virginity, even though he is granted joy in the heavenly city among His other elect, along with an inestimable reward.
The Fall and the Restoration of Humanity
The darkness in the vision represents the fall of humanity, which is overcome through the incarnation and the redemptive blood of Christ.
But the fact that you see the densest darkness appearing between heaven and earth under that same radiance where He Himself shines like the dawn—darkness so horrific that no human tongue could describe it—means that under the glory of virginity, the fall of our first parent, which was so dense in its clouding of unbelief that no one could explain its terror, has been clearly recognized between the spiritual and the carnal mind. How is that? Because in the incarnation of the Son of God, who was born of a virgin, heavenly desire rose up and earthly lust was cast out; for the transgression of Adam was miraculously restored in salvation through the blood of that same Son of God, whereas before, no one but the only-begotten Son of God, sent by the Father into the world, could have undone it to allow for entry into heaven. Hence, as you hear in this symbolic manifestation, if that same Son of God had not shed His blood for the salvation of humanity, that transgression would have so weighed down the human race that it could never have reached the joy of the citizens of heaven. Now, where a splendor like purple mixed with blue shines, burning as it tightly binds the aforementioned feminine image, this signifies the perfection of those who, imitating the passion of my Son in the fire of charity, vigorously adorn the Church through their own restraint. How so? Because they are the high structure of a rising treasure in the divine counsel; for when the Church had already grown strong and recovered, a living fragrance went forth to her beauty, vowing a journey of secret regeneration. What is this? Because then arose a wonderful order that touched my Son in the likeness of his example, for just as my Son came into the world cut off from the common people, so too this company lives in the world separated from the rest of the people, fragrant as balsam sweating sweetly from a tree; thus, this people also first arose singularly in the desert and in hiding, and then, like a tree, gradually spread its branches, progressing in the multitude of its fullness. I have blessed and sanctified this people, for they are to me the most beloved flowers of roses and lilies that grow in the field without human labor. Thus, no law constrains this people to seek that narrow way, but they themselves, with me inspiring them sweetly, undertake it by their own will without the command of the law, doing more than they are ordered to do. Hence, they also acquire much reward from this, just as in the Gospel where the Samaritan brought that wounded man into the inn, as it is written: 'The next day he brought out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said: Take care of him, and whatever you spend beyond this, I will repay you when I return.' What is this? During the first day of salvation—that is, when the Son of God, having been miraculously incarnate, remained bodily in the world—He accomplished many wonderful works in His humanity, right up to His resurrection; through these, He brought the wounded human race back to true, healing remedies. But on the second day, when all the mysteries of truth were openly set forth in the Church after His resurrection, He brought forth in a symbolic manifestation the New and Old Testament—a most certain demonstration of eternal life and the sweetest food for the believing people. He gave these writings through His grace to the pastors of the Church who guard His flock, and He speaks to them in words of His gentle admonition. In your church constitutions, care for the Christian cohort that I have redeemed with My blood and entrusted to you; keep this in your concern, so that it doesn't wander off and fail in matters that pertain to life. Whatever you add in your good will to what I have handed down for you to keep—that is, doing more than you have been commanded—I, who am your leader and savior, now leaving the world and ascending to the Father, will repay you with increased fruit when I return to judge the world and establish it in an unfailing stability, so that it will no longer be weakened by the passing of time; then I will repay you for your labors and your good will. And I will say, 'O faithful and good servant, who ministers faithfully.' Whoever adds more to their vow than what is commanded in the law will receive a double reward, because I hold them glorious in My name, since they have loved Me much. And I say: Neither the virginal state, nor this order of singular devotion, nor those who imitate them like those who dwell in the desert, are under the precept of the law, just as the prophets were not established by men under the carnal law; for they live by moving forward only through My inspiration, and they add more than what they are commanded—which the priestly order and the rest of the institution of the priestly office does not do, because these were commanded in Abraham and in Moses in the Old Testament, just as the apostles also took those things from the same law and, ordering them well in the Holy Spirit according to My will, handed them down to the Church to be kept.
The Call to Asceticism and Discipline
The text explores the life of those who follow the path of secret regeneration, emphasizing asceticism, obedience, and the imitation of John the Baptist.
But the apostolic teaching itself was also set forth in the Gospel through my Son, where his disciples were sent out into the whole world to pour out the words of truth. What then? For when the apostles announced the way of salvation to the people, the most radiant dawn of the daughters of Zion rose in the love of my Son—those, that is, who firmly restrained their flesh and harshly mortified the evil desire within themselves. And just as that chaste virginity followed my Son in burning love back then, so too this order of singular devotion, which is so lovable to me, has imitated his incarnation; they are my true temples, worshiping me like the choirs of angels, and bearing the passion, death, and burial of my same only-begotten Son in their own bodies. Yet they do not die by the sword or other terrors that cause men to fail; rather, they imitate my Son by casting off the will of their own flesh, as they renounce all the worldly things and ornaments in which the world takes delight, just as it is written in the Gospel about John, the lamp of the world: 'John himself wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist.' What is this? The one in whom divine grace had awakened a marvelous abstinence possessed, through that same grace, a defense of this virtue: he had despised worldly honor and riches in his heart. Through the restraint he placed upon the pleasure of his flesh in the mortification of vices, he had firmly tamed the unruly impulses of his body, even as he established greater structures than his predecessors, walking along hard and rough paths to trample down worldly desires. How? Because by strenuously performing many works of virtue, he loved chastity ardently, even offering the way of medicine to those who sought it with devotion. Therefore, those who are a living fragrance, vowing the path of secret regeneration, follow the same John who shone in the deepest darkness of the world by the most intense practice of blessed virtues in their own lives; they flee the foolish height and breadth of worldly things, and by restraining their own scattered hearts and bodies, they cast off evil desire, so that with more excellent tools than those who simply walked in the way of the Lord before them and built simple dwellings, they shine most serenely and seize the sharp and narrow path, firmly trampling underfoot whatever belongs to the pleasures of the world. How so? Because by despising themselves and subjecting their bodies to the service of Christ through the practice of virtues, they reject petulance in the austerity of their character, thus shining most brightly to others through their good examples. For they also faithfully imitate the angelic choir. How so? In the renunciation of worldly things, because just as the angels neither seek nor desire earthly things, so these people follow them in a marvelous way, to the point that they despise all passing things. Just as my Son is the messenger of life-giving Sacraments, the priest of priests, the prophet of prophets, and the builder of blessed towers, so too, if necessity arises, the one who possesses the root of fragrance along with usefulness among such people should be a messenger and priest, a prophet and counselor of ecclesiastical building. He shouldn't be separated from them at all, provided the eye of clarity shines in him and he doesn't sleep regarding ecclesiastical use, but stays awake for its instruction, casting aside the occupation of worldly business and the contagion of worldly things. Neither angels, nor priests, nor prophets will hide the justice of God, but will proclaim it in truth according to His command, just as they did with John, who was not a reed shaken by the wind, whose austerity these people follow; in whose likeness it is written again in the Gospel: "And all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins." What is this? In sighs and groans they were coming out from the delight of vices toward Him, in whom divine grace was working the entire devout will of simple confession and the whole effect of the vision of peace, unanimously, for those people whose hearts had been shaken by the fear of death toward the love of life. How? Because that same John, the forerunner of truth, had made both the bitterness and the sweetness intimate to them. Hence they were begging for the outpouring of compunction from his rectitude, so that by turning away from evils and rising up in good works, making confession of their sins, they might deserve to attain Him who would not announce a remedy to them in the shadow of antiquity, but who would confer true salvation upon them in the light of novelty. But just as that same John, teaching the people coming to him and washing them with the river of irrigation, was receiving the words of their compunction for the honor of the coming Savior, so too now, in the name of that same Savior who came and brought salvation to the faithful, let those who add more to the work through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—namely, by renouncing worldly things and undertaking a new austerity according to that likeness which they approached after putting on the new man through the regeneration of spirit and water in the rejection of diabolical servitude—not neglect to do the same. Where the stimuli of pressing necessity offer themselves, let them extend the hand of devout help to those who ask, by admonishing, raising up, and healing, if they have indeed arrived at that dignity through ecclesiastical promotion, so that in this they may faithfully imitate their predecessor, that what he showed as if in a shadow, they may truly fulfill in the light of novelty. For they are the belt of the Church, binding her tightly; they are occupied in the incarnation of my Son, and they also exercise the angelic order, not ceasing at any hour to sing with sound or to pray in compunction, though not with loud clamors like useless or dry dust without the vigor of compunction. They also do not refuse to work for their own necessity, yet without seeking worldly things in their hands, but looking around at themselves strictly with charity and humility. My people, so strong and so full of love—when I see in them the same suffering my Son endured in his own flesh, I am moved; for they, too, die to themselves just as he died, abandoning their own will and, for the sake of eternal life, submitting to the guidance of their superiors and walking in obedience to their commands. That is why their clothing doesn't look like other people's, because in its integrity, it reveals the incorrupt incarnation of my Son, which is vastly different from the way other humans are born. For the legal authority of a husband and wife did not touch that incarnation, just as this people is not to be forced into this constraint by any written law; rather, whoever approaches it by their own will, out of love for God, must persevere in it, so that they don't turn back and fall, like Lucifer, who abandoned the light and received darkness. For this kind of clothing flies about according to the shimmering of the heavenly spirits with the wings of its own subtlety, and it signifies the incarnation and burial of my Son, because it bears the sign of the incarnation in its clothing—showing itself in the most powerful obedience—and it carries the sign of his burial in that same clothing; it is for those who renounce secular affairs in works of justice. Therefore, whoever is clothed in this same garment by a pure will is relieved by a healing remedy. So, whoever receives it through the invocation of the Holy Spirit in blessings should not cast it aside, because whoever has despised it by rejecting the perseverance of good will will be with the one who despised the angelic order and fell, destined to be buried in death. What is this? Because this people is not spurred to this constraint by the command of the law, but has undertaken of its own will to observe my covenant, and thus to illuminate my Church by its holy way of life. How? Just as the dawn of the sun is seen after the first light of day, so this order arose after the voices of the apostles. What does this mean? The first light of day represents the faithful words of apostolic teaching; the dawn shows the beginning of this religious life, which first sprouted in solitude and in caves following that blessed teaching. The sun, however, declares the orderly and well-arranged path in my servant Benedict, whom I led through a burning fire, teaching him to honor the incarnation of my Son in the habit of his religious life, and to imitate His passion by denying his own will. This Benedict is like another Moses lying in a rocky cleft, tormenting and constraining his body in great austerity for the love of life, just as the first Moses also wrote the harsh and hard law on stone tablets by my command and gave it to the Jews. But just as my Son pierced that same law through the sweetness of the Gospel, so too did my servant Benedict make the purpose of this order—which before him was a very different kind of life—a clear and level path through the sweetness of the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Through this, he gathered a great company of his religious discipline, just as my Son also gathered the Christian people to Himself through the sweetness of His fragrance. And then the Holy Spirit inspired the hearts of His chosen ones, who had sighs for life, so that just as the sins of peoples are washed away in the laver of baptism, so too they might cast off worldly pomps in the sign of the passion of that same Son of mine. How? For just as a person is converted from diabolical power in holy baptism, casting off the sins of the old stain, so too do these people renounce worldly causes in the sign of their habit, in which they also have an angelic sign. How? For they are placed in my will as protectors of my people. Therefore, those among them who have proven themselves through a holy life should be appointed as pastors of my Church, because angels, who are untouched by any stain of worldly concern, are the guardians of my people. For just as angels hold a twofold honor before God, so too do the people of this religious life live in a twofold way. How so? Angels serve God in the heavens without ceasing, and even on earth they always protect people from the devil's traps; in the same way, this people imitates the angelic order when, by despising worldly things, they serve God daily, and when they also protect other people from evil spirits with their prayers, day and night. Therefore, if my Church lacks a righteous pastor, the community of this religious life should help her by crying out and weeping; and whoever is proven in it should, if necessary, take up the office of oversight and defend her vigorously in my zeal. However, no one should rush into this religious life as if waking from sleep, but should first be examined through an inward testing to see if they are able to persevere in this purpose, lest they take it up by their own will within the covenant of blessing, and later, by abandoning it in the perversity of their own error, mock me without repentance and perish miserably in the condemnation of death. Therefore, my dearest children, you who are so scattered in conflict, rise up quickly in humility and charity, and consent to your holy purpose with strength and unity.
Secular Life and the Unity of the Church
The white cloud represents the secular life, which supports the Church through faithful living, marriage, and the observance of God's law.
But, as you see, another radiance—like a bright cloud—gently surrounds the aforementioned womanly image from the navel downward, though it doesn't yet extend beyond that point; this is the secular life, which, in the brightness of a serene intention, embraces the Church from the fullness of its burgeoning strength all the way to that extremity where it has not yet advanced further in its children, holding it in the reverence of just support. Why is that? Because around the navel is the seed of the members from which the whole human race is procreated; and so, the secular people in the Church—through whom she is to be brought to her full number in her various orders—are represented there, since kings and dukes, princes and governors with their subjects, and even the rest of the rich, the poor, and the needy, along with the remaining people, are all shown living there. And the whole Church is greatly adorned by them, because when secular people faithfully keep the law of God that has been set for them, they greatly adorn the Church; they embrace God with many embraces when they obey their masters with sincere humility and devotion, and they discipline their bodies for the love of God with almsgiving, vigils, self-control, and even widowhood and other good works that belong to God. Therefore, those who keep the law established for them according to my will are very dear to me. But if anyone among them desires to bear the yoke of my freedom while living in the lowliness of the secular world, let them come to me quickly, unless they are bound by a carnal union—a tie they should not rashly break except by the will of the one with whom they share that bond. Why is that? Neither a husband should desert his wife, nor a wife her husband, for this purpose, unless it is the will of both. If they have so decided, either both should remain in the world, or both should be separated from it, since it cannot be that one foot remains in the body while the other is cut off, and the person remain whole. It isn't fitting for a husband to live in the world while his wife leaves it, or for a wife to stay in the world while her husband flees it, if they both want to find their beauty in the life above; because if this is done thoughtlessly and foolishly, it won't be called an offering, but a robbery. Therefore, those joined by legal right in the bond of the flesh should live together in unity. Neither one should foolishly tear themselves away from the other without the other's consent, or without the arrangement or clear direction of ecclesiastical authority, just as it is written in the Gospel: "What God has joined, let no one separate." What does this mean? In the creation of the human race, God took flesh from flesh and joined it into one union, establishing that this bond should not be hastily torn apart. How so? Because in the union of man and woman, where flesh is joined to flesh and blood to blood by legal sanction, they must not be separated from each other by foolish, rash behavior, unless it happens for a just cause or out of a reasonable devotion shared by both. In the secret of His wisdom, God has kindly arranged this union of man and woman for the propagation of humanity. Because this union was so fittingly established by Him, human greed shouldn't cause a split in these two parts, nor should one part or the other take the gift of its own blood into a foreign place. Just as God commanded that no one should kill another, He also ordered that no one should, through the cruelty of fornication, tear their own blood away from its rightful place. Therefore, a person should suppress the heat of their own desire and not send their own fire toward a foreign flame. If this burning will conceives the heat of another's will along with the fervent lust of a stronger or softer cause, then they are truly joined together in one, with the longing of their own soul and the binding embrace of that mind. For the outward eye that sees stirs up the inner heat into a blaze. And although this body may not commit the sin with that other body, the living will still performs the work of desire within them, so that their whole inner being is shaken because of their conscience. Therefore, the gates of the outer person must be guarded with such careful watchfulness that the inner person isn't wounded through foolish negligence.
Warnings Against Pride and Lukewarmness
God warns against the pride of those who create their own laws and the danger of living a lukewarm life, which leads to spiritual ruin.
And as you see that these three splendors spread themselves wide around the image itself, this means that in honor of the aforementioned supreme Trinity, three ecclesiastical institutions everywhere embrace and strengthen the happy Church in the expansion of sprouting growth and in the diffusion of blessed virtues in a wondrous way; from which they also show forth many steps and ladders in her, well and decently, which are the diverse orders among both secular and spiritual people, through whom the same Church, in the goodness of character and in the discipline of virtues, leads her children, educated with the sweetest reverence, to heavenly things. How? By spurning earthly things and loving heavenly things. What is this? Because they faithfully fulfill the legal precepts that were instituted for them in divine love. But just as there is one God in three persons, so too in these three aforementioned orders there is one Church, whose founder is He who is the planter of all good things. For whatever He has not planted will not be able to stand. Hence, any institution He Himself did not establish will fall into great illusions. How so? Because God didn't plant them; they are the ones who try to climb toward higher things on the breath of pride, refusing to submit to those above them. This happens when a lesser order tries to elevate itself above a greater one—an order established in my will by the ancient counsel of the principal masters—and when certain people, dressed in various signs of their own choosing, want to expand themselves according to their own ways, just as they imagine in their insanity, as if the order of angels wanted to raise itself above the order of archangels. And what would this be? It is as if those who would divide the rightly established orders of God for the sake of their own vanity were nothing and empty. But this shouldn't happen—that anyone should call out from these people in the insanity of their own diversity—those who always want to be new in their intentions, and who are ignorant in their own knowledge, speaking only what is in their own minds, abandoning the well-trodden path and the well-leveled ark of the ancient Fathers, which the Holy Spirit inspired in them. Hence, many of them, in great pride, abandon the established ordinances that the Church holds from the ancient Fathers, doing so in the many schisms of their own various institutions. For they want to be called fruitful trees in their various wanderings, but they can't even be called empty reeds, just as it is shown to the beloved John regarding the one who, withering in time, is cast out, as it is written: 'I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.' If only you were cold or hot! But because you're lukewarm, I'll begin to vomit you out of my mouth. What does this mean? You fool, you're rotting away inside; I, who know all secrets, see with an all-knowing eye the works of your desires, for you haven't entirely escaped the works that belong to the fire of the fiery Illuminator, nor have you entirely cast off the works that bring the ice of cold rigor. How so? You aren't entirely cold in evil works, nor entirely fervent in good acts; instead, you hang in between like a lukewarm wind because of your mental instability, clearly not knowing who you are, because you consider neither the punishments earned in evil nor the rewards worthy in good. How so? Because you look into such a great depth that you can't find its bottom, and because you also climb such a high mountain that you can't reach its peak. It would be better for you to see yourself as a useless servant and a sinner than to live in a way where you barely even look toward justice. If you were cut off from good deeds, you'd understand that you're a sinner; or if you were to pull yourself away from evil works, you'd have some hope of life. But now you're like a lukewarm wind; it brings no moisture to the fruit, nor does it bring them any warmth. You're like someone who begins but doesn't finish; you touch what is good at the start, but you never feed yourself on it to completion. You're like a wind that strikes a person's face, not like food that slides down into their stomach. Is an empty sound really more precious than a completed work? But a completed work is more acceptable than an empty sound. Therefore, work in the silence of humility and don't exalt yourself with pride, for those who reject the fellowship of the holiness of those who love me in the service of gentleness will be counted as nothing; they pursue through foolish pride what they disdain to fulfill through gentle meekness. If you try to enter into the power of my words—which provide food for the faithful—by beginning with righteousness, but then you fall into worse things while remaining sluggish and showing no sweetness of justice to those who touch you, then I, too, because of the lukewarmness of your negligence, will begin to cast you out, expelling you by that very power of my words. For you show no taste of sweetness through the effectiveness of your own work, and you do not long for the interior depths of a blessed reception. And so, you'll be cast aside and trampled, just like food that is spit out of a person's mouth because it tastes like nothing, before it can even be swallowed. But what now? Winds blow and make a loud noise, but their roots don't bloom and they bear no fruit. For those who ought to be under my yoke are unruly, and they don't walk according to the discipline. What is this? They jump over the straight path and build many useless shelters for themselves. People like this have no fervor for justice, but are sluggish within themselves; they don't burn with the law established for them, nor do they act according to the way of life of their predecessors. Instead, each of them plants a certain singularity in themselves and sets their own law according to their own will, thus lifting themselves up to fly through inflated pride, while remaining in their own thoughts and in great instability. And because they don't hold to the straight covenant of their fathers, they are always new and inexperienced, wandering here and there in great instability according to their own will. That’s why I compare them to foolish builders: they raise a great structure high into the air, but they don’t follow the wisdom of those master builders who, thoroughly trained in many tools and tested by various trials of construction, know well everything that goes into building and arrange all their tools correctly. Instead, these people are empty and foolish, trusting in themselves because they want to seem wiser than others, and they arrange their buildings in such a way that they are unstable in storms, and so they are even knocked down by the winds, because they aren’t built on the rock, but on sand. Those who, in their pride, trust in themselves and want to appear wiser than their ancient fathers do the same thing. They don’t want to walk according to their covenant, but instead set up laws for themselves according to their own will in great instability, and so they are very often shaken into sin by demonic temptations, because they don’t lean on Christ, but on the instability of their own ways.
Humility and the Judgment of Souls
The text emphasizes the necessity of humility in accepting one's place in the Church and warns against the envy and pride that lead to judgment.
To ensure that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which worked in the ancient fathers, isn't emptied out by proud inflation, I want it to be enough for a faithful person to humbly accept what was established for them by their predecessors. They shouldn't seek more out of vanity than they should have sought in humility, lest they grow lukewarm, fall away, and suffer the blush of confusion, as it is written in the Gospel: 'When you are invited to a wedding, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by him, and the one who invited both you and him comes and says to you, "Give this person your place," and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.' What does this mean? When you are prompted by heavenly inspiration to come through your faithful labors to that tabernacle which always abounds in nuptial life—rejoicing constantly in sincerity, honor, and sanctification within the virginal branch and the blessed mother, the Church, and never grieving in the corruption, confusion, and rejection of its own seed and flower—then restrain your mind in humility, and don't lift it up in pride. How? When you have cast off worldly concerns from your body for the love of God, you will then rise like a most beautiful flower that blooms in the heavenly Jerusalem without dryness with the Son of God, in whom all the ornaments of souls appear; for the old self brings forth all the abominations of men, but the new self builds up every sanctification of the virtues. Therefore, when you reach this sanctification, be ashamed to imitate the ancient serpent who cast himself down from the place of blessedness through a desire for empty glory. What does this mean? If you see someone more adorned than you, beware of climbing above them through the desire of your own mind, saying, 'I want to be above them, or to be just as they are.' If you exalt yourself in this way, are you really a faithful servant when you provoke the Lord to anger by setting yourself against Him? But if you see that someone else has a greater gift of nature, grace, or fortune than you do, and you then tear them down out of envy, you aren't walking the straight path; you're wandering off into side roads. Therefore, strive to serve God in humility, rather than running wild in pride. Don't use the vanity of pretense to lift yourself above someone who, upon just examination, shines with a greater longing for eternal life than you have, and who has been invited to the heights of that same blessedness by a heavenly fire—invited by Him who reveals Himself as a loving Father to all who seek the truth. Otherwise, He who sees all things will come, and He who called you through the service of humility and called that other person through the gift of charity by the inspiration of a holy warning, will judge you with His righteous judgment, saying: 'You who, through burning pride, have raised yourself to a place you don't belong, leave behind your vain glory and give the honor you rashly snatched to this person, my beloved.' And what then of you? For if you are brought low in this way, you'll begin to feel the extreme misery of rejection through the anguish of sorrow and sadness, and you'll loathe yourself as an outcast. This is because the Guardian of souls will take away from you the honor that isn't yours, which you fraudulently seized when you set yourself against that person and tried to snatch what you had no right to have; and so, what you wanted to have will be taken from you, and you will be given what you did not want. Likewise, when a lesser order exalts itself above a greater one, it is cast down and suppressed by My just judgment, because I do not want pride to appear before My eyes in any form other than in the shame of being cast down. For if a servant girl exalts herself above her mistress, she will be all the more despised by everyone who sees her, because she tried to do something she had no right to desire. Therefore, those who make laws for themselves according to their own hearts and don't seek my will in this end up in decline rather than progress, just as my Son testifies in the Gospel: "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up."✦ What does this mean? Every sprout of knowledge of the heart, mind, and character that rises from that fertility of nature by which a person lives—when a person sows it in themselves in such a way that it later burns with heat and becomes attached to them according to how they want to carry it out—that is, when it is shifted into pride of mind, or the indulgence of the flesh, or superfluous impurity, or an excuse for sin, or a restless change of activity, moving recklessly up and down without discerning what the foundation is, and scorning to know whether it is useful or useless: truly, this will be destroyed by a just judgment, because that Father who is the inhabitant of the heavens and of all justice did not plant such a thing in them, and therefore it will be cast out and wither, because it did not ascend from the dew of heaven, but came from the sap of the flesh. How so? Because a person, doing this work through their own foolish knowledge, did not want to look at the justice or the will of their Creator, but instead looked toward the one who tirelessly stirs up the wheel of their flesh. For what seems good to people because they refuse to fix their eyes sharply on God, due to the deception of their own minds—if the inspiration of the Holy Spirit does not warm it, it will go to ruin, because this vain glory passes away. For when vain people are affected by boredom in one thing, they are renewed in another by vain glory, frequently exalting themselves in pride, in agitation, and in a spirit of jealousy; and they also frequently argue in annoyance, indignation, and contradiction against other institutions that have flowed from me, and furthermore, they suppress one another in other good things that are not meant for the numbness of boredom, but for the ardor of the desire to progress from day to day. For what has flowed from me offers a sweet and pleasant taste to the soul, always progressing in those who persevere, and not looking back in instability. Blessed, then, is the person who trusts in me and places their hope, along with the beginning and end of all their work, not in themselves, but in me. Whoever does this won't fall, but whoever chooses to stand without me will go to ruin. And who are those who make themselves new through vanity, and who trust in themselves because they suffer boredom with my commandments? I am not to be despised in my gifts as if I were some old garment in the minds of men; rather, those gifts are always new in their simplicity, and the older they get, the more precious they become. Therefore, whatever people devise on their own without my inspiration, in the vanity of their ways, will dissolve through their empty pursuits. Although they may sometimes appear to stand in the sight of others, they are cast out from my eyes, and I count them as nothing, as it is written in the Gospel: 'Leave them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.' If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. What does this mean? Leave those who are perverse in their deeds to dissolve in their own perversity, because they refuse to correct themselves through the uprightness of good works. And because they call themselves righteous in their own estimation while they are vain in their actions, they are made blind by their own ease; for they refuse to walk in the way of justice, and because they propose the way of iniquity rather than the way of truth to those people who are eager to follow them in their evil works. Therefore, those who lack this vision of righteousness—thinking themselves righteous when they are actually unjust—while they show the way of false justice to those who are ignorant of the way of true doctrine, fall together into the pit of despair, because neither the one nor the other knows where they are going. But in these matters, I sometimes cast some down before men in my indignation, while others I tolerate for a time in silence through the moderation of clear vision; yet I will punish them in the future through the weighing of my just judgment. For this reason, anyone who is faithful should strive to ascend to the height of virtues, and not descend to the depths of worldly things. How so? Someone in a lower rank can rise to a higher one, but someone in a higher rank shouldn't lower themselves to a lesser one. Why is this? While subordinates can reach the level of leaders, and leaders can rise to the level of kings, it isn't fitting for kings to descend to leaders, nor for leaders to lower themselves to subordinates. If kings were to subject themselves to leaders, or leaders to subordinates, everyone would cry out in indignation and mock them. Therefore, those in secular life can follow the path of these spiritual guides, and those on the path of these guides—as they are a living fragrance, vowing the journey of secret regeneration—can rightly move toward the guides, but the guides themselves must not collapse into secular life. But if those who are a living fragrance, vowing the journey of secret regeneration, look back toward the worldly, or if the spiritual guides cross over to the secular—alas! Alas! Alas! It will be said of them by the souls of the just, and they will be held in contempt before me, unless they return through worthy penance; for if a higher rank falls upon a lower one, both will be destroyed. It will be the same for those who abandon their right path and walk backward. For if someone has put on my Son, who could they possibly put on as a greater son? None, truly none. Rejoice, however, in your Father; for I often see the greater among the lesser, and I find the lesser among the greater, because pride falls and humility rises. Therefore, keep peace, love, and humility among yourselves, just as the souls of the just do with the angels, and the angels with the archangels. For the souls of the just don't envy the office of the angels, nor do the angels disdain the glory of the archangels. What does this mean? Archangels demonstrate greater things in times of greater necessity; angels, however, announce lesser things in the frequent turn of events; and the faithful people humbly obey. Therefore, let everyone faithfully carry out their own duty. How? Those who are a living fragrance, vowing the path of secret regeneration, should—when a greater occasion of ecclesiastical necessity arises—reflect upon the unavoidable causes of their own support just as archangels do; and those who occupy themselves in the work of the spice-merchants, with constant determination in the frequent matters concerning the business of their institution, should act as angels, and the people who desire to reach the highest blessedness should faithfully accept their words. How?
The Sanctity of Life and the Finality of Repentance
The final section discusses the sanctity of the human person, the prohibition against self-destruction, and the hope of repentance even at the end of life.
For those who exist as a living fragrance, vowing the path of secret regeneration, are like grain—which is a dry and strong food for people; and so, too, is that people of mine, rough and hard to the taste of the vanity of worldly things. But those spice-merchants I mentioned are like apples that offer a sweet flavor to those who taste them; just like them, they prove themselves pleasant to people through the usefulness of their office. The common secular life, however, is valued like flesh; in it, chaste birds are also found, since those who live in the world, living carnally, beget children, among whom, however, imitators of chastity are found—namely, widows and the continent, who fly toward heavenly desires through an appetite for good virtues. But these same orders of ecclesiastical institution also move along two paths. How? The spiritual and the secular. How? As day and night. What does this mean? Daylight has the brightness of the sun and the serenity of a clear sky, which is a sign: it means that spiritual people keep within themselves both the order of a living fragrance—which vows the journey of secret regeneration—and the order of those spice-merchants mentioned earlier. Night, however, holds the light of the moon and stars, along with the darkness of shadowy gloom; this shows that it holds within itself both secular people—the just, who shine in their works—and sinners, who are weighed down by the darkness of their offenses. But anyone who has left behind the night of secular life and turned toward the day of spiritual life for the love of true life must remain firm in this decision, so that if they turn back, they aren't made like the old Adam, who broke the commandment of life and was cast out into the hardships of the world. Therefore, no one should be hasty in leaving the world and boldly entering my covenant on their own initiative, unless they have first been tested through a long period of probation; for I don't want anyone who has taken hold of my Son by his garment to let him go. For if someone has clothed themselves in his incarnation and taken his cross into their own hands, is it fitting that they should cast off their Lord? In no way. Therefore, pay attention to these things. If someone has confessed with a sincere heart and, in the devotion of their soul, has vowed to carry my yoke by rejecting worldly things—and if they have also taken up the sign of religious life with a fervent heart and right intention—they must remain in it. They shouldn't later cast it aside out of contempt for persistent evil and face the judgment of a strict examination. What is this? It is because they have scorned the One whose sign they took upon themselves and trampled it underfoot, just as the Jews scorned Him when, in the madness of their unbelief, they nailed Him to the cross. Just as the Jews didn't fear that wickedness, this person doesn't fear that they are casting aside the same passion in their own vow. For what a person promises me, they must fulfill, as David testifies: 'I will enter your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows, which my lips have uttered.' What is this? Through the intention of good and just action, I will enter, O my God, into the constitution of your most holy gift—that is, leaving behind the bed of my pleasure in burning desire—so that nothing is sweeter to me than to pant for you, the Creator of all. And for this reason, I will pay you my vows, which my mouth uttered with my soul; for I want to complete what I had previously promised you, the just Judge, in my burning desire: namely, that I would direct my actions toward you, which I foolishly transgressed. But now, desiring to return to you, I want to avoid evil and do good, since the rationality and intellect that burn within me, through the discernment of true discipline, seek more to pant for you, the living God, than to imitate the devil through the foolishness of false opposition. Therefore, O human, when you have offered your heart to me in this way, consider how you may prudently fulfill it. My eye sees with the sharpest clarity what the human will is saying to me. Where something is mine, I demand it with the utmost strictness. Why, then, you fools—and more than fools—why do you lay such heavy burdens on yourselves, thinking it's so easy to abandon your carnal will? The law given to you through my commandments doesn't force you to leave the world until you've first been trained through many labors, so that you can put a bridle on the carnal desires within you. But you are like a lukewarm wind; when vanity blows through your mind, you speak with a certain bitterness, saying, "I don't want to labor in the world anymore, and I'm determined to flee from it quickly." And why should I wear myself out in such useless labor? But when you say these things to yourselves, you think they are finished just as you imagine. For many seek me with a wavering soul, so that they are marked only by the outward sign of religious life, not seeking me with pure eyes, nor simply looking around themselves in true doctrine to see how they might escape the devil who desires to devour them—just as a dove, seeing in the clarity of the water the hawk that tries to snatch it, escapes. But they do not escape the devil in this way when they see him coming in the scripture of doctrines; instead, in the sudden sleep that is in them through the blindness of their own mind, they run to me like a lukewarm wind. For some, casting off not their own will but only the worldly habit, take up the religious life; because they are enduring many miseries and poverty in the world and cannot have riches, they leave the world, since they cannot have it as they would like. Others, however, are foolish and simple-minded regarding the world, so that they are contemptible to people and unwilling to govern themselves, and for that reason they flee the world because they are a laughingstock. But some, having weakness and infirmity of their own body and laboring much in these calamities, leave the world not for my sake, but so that they may find relief from these pains more easily. Others, however, suffer such anguish and oppression from their carnal masters to whom they are subject that they withdraw from the world because of fear of them—not to obey my commands, but so that their carnal masters may no longer exercise their power over them. These people come to the religious life not out of a love for heaven, but because of the earthly troubles they're enduring, never considering whether I dwell in heaven or on earth, or whether I am salty or bland, sweet or bitter. What does this mean? They pay no attention to the seasoning or the sweetness of the Scriptures, nor do they consider how those who seek heavenly things actually live within their own hearts. And because they refuse to examine these things, they cast aside my fear and follow their own desires; that is why they are called strangers and fugitives. Therefore, I don't say that they have left the world and come to me; rather, they are guilty of fearing the servant while despising the Lord, because they pursue earthly causes and do not revere me. That is why they are called cowardly in small things and bold in great ones. They are like Balaam, who, seeing the beauty of the people of Israel in their tents, falsely desired to have a dwelling place with them, saying: 'Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my end be like theirs.' What does this mean? When a person is sometimes shaken by the sighs of their soul to begin works of justice, then, with desire rising up, they groan and yearn for them, saying to themselves: 'I am a wretch, burdened by many sins and obligations, and I earnestly desire that my soul might abandon all the malice of iniquity in the rejection of carnal desires, and that through that compunction by which the just despise themselves, they might remain in the dwelling place of good works.' How is that? So that my end may be found in upright actions, similar to those people who perform the justice of God: in such a way that the conclusion of my good works is made equal to the beginning of their righteous intention. But the person who says these things within himself, if later, once the time of those sighs has passed, he is stirred by the temptations of evil spirits and, overcome by carnal desire, returns to iniquity, he does what Balaam himself did, deceived by the wickedness of greed. How is that? Because he was later touched by that schism through which he previously wanted to curse my people—where I resisted him through my angel and his donkey, yet led him to this in my zeal, because he blessed my people with the blessing of those words I placed in his mouth: after that desire by which he wished to be made like that same people of Israel in his death, he returned to the first schism and, by his counsel, scattered my people through fornication for the sake of the wages of death, just as he promised, saying: 'Nevertheless, going to my people, I will give counsel as to what your people here should do at the end of time.' What does this mean? It means that when I have turned myself back to the path of my desires that pertain to the beauty of the flesh, then I will enter into those lusts that I had known before. How is that? I know what is in my flesh, which I serve honestly, just as I, who am imbued with these causes that are always present to it, also show the sting of desire to you, O human, who are also burning in these same delightful things, in the hidden place of my mind; for when I so kindle your smoldering heat through the suggestion of my own pleasure, that through the recognition of the cheap, earthly things that flourish in your heart, you extinguish that burning longing with which you previously panted for those works that are called holy, you are in this way putting an end to them and leaving them at the opportune time, as if you had never known them. Therefore, O human, just as that Balaam, after that righteous desire with which he previously looked upward, inclined himself downward toward deceptive desires, so too do those who seek me falsely; for when they see those who have truly renounced the world walking simply and persevering laudably and truthfully in a narrow and blessed way of life, they say they are beautiful and pleasant, and immediately, with a sudden impulse, they set out to live their life, desiring to live as they do. But after they have joined them, just as Balaam looked upon the people of Israel, they are frequently called back to carnal desires through the various wickednesses they held in their hearts while they were still in the world, since those things dominated them before. Therefore, when they are hindered in this way, they contaminate my chosen flock with their poison and adversity, shaking it with many storms and scattering it by the counsel of their own wickedness. For when they were deceitfully withdrawing from the world, they did not call upon me in their prayers for help, nor did they seek me when testing their own bodies to see if they could persevere in this purpose or not. Therefore, I also allow them to consider what their own will can do to help them when they trust in themselves. O, they are foolish and fruitless; for they are useless without the cultivation of God's law and without the fruitfulness of His word, because they did not seek what they ought to do when they entered the narrow way, just as good land is examined for the useful fruit it produces. Therefore, let them listen: O human, if today, while you are burning strongly in the desires of your flesh, you are a fiery furnace, who gave you such relief that you could escape such a great fire in your own pleasure? Truly, anyone who wants to take this on must look inward and see how they are beginning it through me, and how they are finishing it with my help, so they don't start foolishly and finish badly, ending in ruin like that ancient enemy who, trusting in himself, was cast down by the fire of my zeal; in the same way, those who don't look at themselves and, in a rush of great pride, put on the passion of my Son, but later throw it aside in disgust, will be cast away. Therefore, those who have taken this upon themselves should pay attention to how they love it, according to what the prophet Jeremiah urges in the Holy Spirit, saying: 'Look, all you who pass by the way, look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, for the Lord has harvested me, as he spoke in the day of the heat of his anger.' What does this mean? O all you who describe vices—that is, in the rejection of worldly things and the imitation of spiritual things—as you pass along that way which is the life and truth that I, the Son of God, am: pay attention at the beginning of your good works so you don't forget my sorrow when you begin to imitate me in my passion, and see to it in the perfection of justice that the sorrow you take upon yourselves for love of me is like my own. How? So that you may persevere without failing in the same miseries you endure for my sake until the good end, just as I persevered in my sorrow to die for you, because I was crushed and trampled in the passion of the cross; just as a grape is pressed in the winepress so that you may eat my body and drink my blood, as the ruler of heaven and earth spoke in the judgment in which Adam abandoned life and accepted death, when in the foreknowledge of his piercing eye he saw that in the end of times, through me, his Son incarnate from the Virgin—who opposed the devil with the full strength of justice—he would overcome that same ancient seducer and liberate the human race in the defense of heavenly aid. Therefore, let any person, of whatever sex or age, who puts on my passion, take care to hold onto it firmly, so that if they throw it away through the error of their own neglect, they won't find themselves unable to recover it later when they want to. Therefore, those who want to commit their children to my passion through a life of humility shouldn't do so rashly out of impulsive presumption, but wisely and with careful discernment, not forcing them into a path without their consent that they cannot bear. How so? If you offer me your child while they still lack the intellect to discern, while they are still in the foolishness of their own undeveloped senses, and you offer them without their own will, failing to consider their consent, you haven't acted rightly in offering them like a ram for sacrifice. How so? If a man offers a ram at my altar but hasn't firmly tied it by its horns with ropes, doesn't the ram run away? So too, if a father or mother offers their child—who is the ram—to my service, but they fail to attend to the child's will (which are its horns) through diligent care, prayer, entreaty, and the exhortation of a wholehearted effort (which are the ropes of its binding), then because the child must be drawn to the consent of a good will through all these things, if they haven't been tested by these examinations, they will certainly run away in body or mind, unless God keeps them in his own wonders. But if you, human, lock that child away in such strict bodily confinement that they cannot free themselves from the pressure of a will that resists, then they appear dry to me in all the fruits of both body and soul, because of that capture which was unjustly inflicted upon them without their consent. Then I also say to you, human, who are the author of this binding: I held that green field in my own power; did I, human, give it to you so that you could make it bear whatever fruit you wanted? And if you sow seed in it, can you make it produce fruit? No. For you don't provide the dew, nor do you produce the rain; you don't grant the moisture for greenery, nor do you draw out the heat in the sun's warmth—all things through which the proper fruit must be produced. In the same way, you can sow a word in a person's hearing, but into their heart—which is my field—you cannot pour the dew of compunction, the rain of tears, the moisture of devotion, or the heat of the Holy Spirit, in all of which the fruit of holiness must germinate. And how could you dare to touch so rashly what was made delicate and sanctified to me in baptism, so that you would hand them over, without their own will, into the tightest trap of a binding to bear my yoke? Consequently, they are rendered neither dry nor green, because they are neither dead to the world nor living for it. And why have you oppressed them so that they are useless for both? Nor should my miracle be expected from humans to strengthen them so they remain in the spiritual life, since I do not want their parents to sin in their offering by presenting them to me without their own will. If anyone—whether father or mother—wants to offer their child to my service, they should say this before presenting them: "I promise God that I will watch over my child with careful attention until they reach an age of understanding, by praying, pleading, and encouraging them to remain devoted in the service of God." And if they agree to this, I offer them to the service of God immediately; or if they do not give me their consent, I will be found innocent before the eyes of His majesty. But if parents have followed these methods with their child until they reach an age of understanding, and the child then turns away and refuses to agree, the parents—having shown their devotion as much as they were able—shouldn't offer them against their will, nor should they force them into a service they're unwilling to bear or fulfill. But anyone who wants to submit themselves to me with a devout heart should be strongly encouraged to reach that goal, and must not be pulled away from their good intention by the spite of any malicious soul. For if anyone pulls one of those who desire to follow me away from their purpose, they commit sacrilege, because they have broken my covenant in that person's mind; and for this reason, they will have to give an account in a just judgment. If they remain stubborn in this wickedness—because they turned away someone who wanted to serve me, which they ought not to have done—then, as it is written: 'Anything consecrated to the Lord, whether human, animal, or field, shall not be sold or redeemed.' What does this mean? When any soul that longs for God touches upon a good sense within a person with the full weight of knowledge, so that they accomplish some work, then their will confirms that work, saying: 'This is fitting for the honor of God.' And so, with good devotion and just reverence, that person makes a promise to God, offering it to Him through the kiss of the heart, which is through the will of their own desires. And then that thing is offered to God in this way as a dowry of sanctification. How so? Because God, seeing the will building up within that person, receives them through the ring of sanctification, just as a husband is accustomed to adorn his bride with the ring of betrothal, binding her to himself in a covenant of union so that he may never let her go. So, when God has accepted that will through the strength of a person's soul—someone who binds themselves so completely that they leave behind what they have, and who distributes what they possess more to God than to themselves—then the bond of such a consecration will remain, and they will not abandon their devotion. Why is that? Because the person's knowledge has recognized it, their good sense has understood it, and their will has built it up for the honor of God. Therefore, whether it is a person who has offered themselves to God in this way, or an animal subject to a person that has been offered to the honor of God in the same way, or a field bearing fruit that has also been consecrated to God in this way, it must not be given for a higher price nor held back for a lower compensation, lest the honor of God be treated as something contemptible. But just as no one should be forced against their will to turn from a worldly path to a spiritual one, so too, anyone who has begun my service with the devotion of their own will, and later, despising it, has neglected it, must be called back by a just judgment so that they may take it up again. How? If they have fair leaders and spiritual masters who possess my zeal, these should call them back to my service. They will do this first by supplication, exhortation, and gentle speech, soothing them; and then by correcting them with lashes, the constriction of cold and hunger, and other similar punishments, so that, warned by these miseries, they may call to mind the punishments of hell. Fearing those, they may remove the rot from their soul, and, having been called back, return to the path they had deserted, so that it is written of them in the Gospel: 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.' What does this mean? You who are a spiritual pastor, a just leader, and an upright master: leave behind your old ways that cling to you from your first parent, and go into the narrow and straight path, and into the structure of the inflexible precepts that the most just men composed in the texture of the Holy Spirit. And with the sharpest zeal for me, consider those who, living under your precept and leadership, have either undertaken or vowed of their own will—and not by the unjust coercion of another person—to observe the holy purpose of my covenant, and when they later, despising it, desire to return to their old vices: compel these, with sweet and bitter corrections, to enter into ecclesiastical discipline, so that the house of my endowment may be filled both by those who are strenuously corrected and by those who are gently admonished, since some are to be called to life by various punishments and others by various gentle admonitions. How? Just as a diligent shepherd carefully seeks out his lost sheep, spiritual leaders must also seek out their subjects who have wandered into various vices with great diligence. They must use their own skill to compel them to return to the house of justice they left or intended to leave, so that the Church may be filled with sheep—some corrected through love, others gently encouraged—and thus be led to the pastures above.✦ But those who are so hardened that they refuse to correct themselves—neither because of the physical discipline imposed on them in my zeal by their superiors, nor because of the fear of me, since I am a God who hates wickedness, nor because of the love of the blood poured out by my Son who suffered for them, but instead work to pollute my most faithful friends who are running swiftly along my ways with their own rot—must then be expelled by my friends from their company, so they don't contaminate my flock, just as my friend Paul urges when he says: "Purge the evil person from among you" (1 Cor. 5). 5). What does this mean? You who are in positions of leadership, and you who remain in the humility of subjection, expel that evil from among you—the evil that scorns my fear and contradicts me, the Creator of heaven and earth. Expel it from yourselves with such firm examination that it takes no root in your conscience and sets no foot in your fellowship, lest the sweet fragrance of good works grow stale within you. But whoever among them wishes to return in repentance and seeks me, their Creator, with all their heart—even if they come at the very end of their life's journey—I will still receive them, because I judge all things justly. But the person who keeps the treasure of their heart hidden away, saying, "Unless I feel I'm about to die, I won't turn away from worldly concerns," and so puts off their conversion until the very moment their soul is departing—and when they can no longer breathe, and despairing of being able to keep this present life any longer, tries to renounce the world—this person deceives their own soul, because their conversion is deceptive; they have done this as a mockery, so that it is taken as a mockery. However, the person who, near death, renounces the world with their whole heart because of their sins and their love for me—desiring to serve me with fervor for as long as they live—I truly accept their devotion alongside all the choirs of angels, and I grant them the glory of life. For even if a person is caught up in much crime, when they touch upon their sins in such a way that they weep for having loved their offenses, and do this with a simple eye because they have provoked me to anger, I raise them from death to salvation, and I do not deny them the heavenly inheritance, according to what the psalmist David testifies in my Spirit, saying: "In whatever day I call upon you, behold, I have known that you are my God." What is this? In whatever light of my life any brightness of heavenly illumination shows itself in my mind—I who lie in darkness—through divine grace, so that in the bitterness of repentance for my sins and in the wounds of my burdened heart I call upon you, who grant the remedy of your mercy to all who call upon you with a pure heart; then in that same visitation have I known that you, who work these things mercifully, are my God? What is this? When through your grace you have led me to this—that I have known you as my God in works of justice, so that I condemn and restrain myself in works of iniquity—you accept me as I simply seek you, weeping and crying out after you, and knowing you in the greenness of my soul, because you are the one who can do these things. For then I crush my body in true repentance and hold it as nothing. And when a person has performed their repentance in this way, they will find the remedy for their sins. How? Because they have recognized me as their God. How? Because they have abandoned their sins, and so, through the eye of compunction, they will see that the things they once pursued so ardently in evil desire were vanity.2 Therefore, no one should neglect to seek the remedy of repentance. Even if someone neglects it while healthy, they should still strive to find it at the end of their life, and I will accept them for salvation. Although their sins may be great, they are washed away through pure repentance for the sake of my Son, except for the person who has impenitently spoken blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and the person who has stubbornly thrown themselves into the death of their own body, because these two are as one. I do not know these people in the glory of the life above, as it is written in the Gospel: Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. . What is this? Every sin committed in the excess of the flesh, or with lust, or with bitterness, or in other similar vices—or the blasphemy that exists in the worship of idols where the true God is ignored and a false image is adored, or the invocation of demons where the true God is known and yet the devil is invoked in the perversity of men—all these things will be forgiven to people in pure repentance, when through the compunction of tears from the innermost heart they faithfully seek the true God, who mercifully grants his mercy to all who call upon him. For although such people may sin gravely by wandering in their sins, yet if they do not completely reject God, who reigns in power and authority in the heavens, they will find his helping hand when they seek it. But if they persevere in their infidelity, so that they never repent of this perversity, but with a fixed heart and consenting soul completely deny God, saying within themselves: What is this that is called God? For God has no mercy or truth such that he would or could help me—and so the impenitent despair that they can be cleansed of their sins or saved in any way—these people blaspheme God. Because of the wickedness of their own hardness, if they persevere in this way, they will not receive the forgiveness of their blasphemy, because they so stifle the understanding of their heart that they are unable to sigh upward. They treat as nothing the One through whose mercy they ought to be saved, as David also testifies, saying: The fool has said in his heart: There is no God. What is this? Through foolish speech, the one who was empty of wisdom and understanding denied God in his heart, and he was foolish even in his attempt to know Him. How so? Because he refused to know or understand the true God, when in his hardened sense he said: "What is God?"✦ "God is not." And what, then, am I? I don't know what I am. Whoever says these things is a fool, because he doesn't possess the true wisdom by which God is known. But anyone who has sincerely acknowledged God reigning in his own power is wise, even if he is a sinner. So, whoever holds this fixed in his heart despairs of God's mercy, saying: 'God is nothing, I don't know him, he has already stopped knowing me, and I deny him because he has denied me.' That is why he won't rise to life, nor can he have any joy, because all creatures abandon him, since he held their Creator for nothing. But the person who despairs of his sins—because he doesn't believe he can be saved on account of the sheer weight of them—is faithless, and therefore he won't reach life, because he contradicts the One who gives life to everyone. But if anyone among all these, led by repentance, truly seeks me, he will find me, because I cast out no one who returns to me with a pure heart. If, however, the darkest storms of this blasphemy and despair fall upon any person, and they do not consent to them in their heart, their will, or through the taste of a perverse appetite, but are deeply tormented in this struggle, then if they persevere in that same battle by fighting back bravely, I will help them all the sooner. And because of these burdens, let them not doubt; I call them a most valiant fighter against the greatest storms, and I will help them more quickly and hold them as a friend, because they have nobly overcome such adversities by patiently enduring them for the sake of my love. But just as the person who refuses to acknowledge me as the true God in their heart, in any way, through any faith or hope, does not rise to life, as has been said, so too does the person who casts themselves into the death of their own body, because they don't wait for the separation that I have established for humans; instead, they tear themselves apart without any hope of mercy. Hence, they fall into ruin, because they kill that with which they ought to have repented. For whoever separates from a human being what I have placed within them subjects themselves to great guilt, just as my Son showed in the Gospel, saying: 'You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not kill?'✦ 'But whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.'✦ . What does this mean? You who want to set your feet upon the foundation of the rock, take note: through that sound which emerges from the root of rationality, you have perceived that it was demonstrated in the words of Scripture—which holds the meaning that the finger of God gave—to those who preceded you in antiquity, that they should not divide in a human being what has been joined together in him by divine disposition. What is this? Because He who forbade Adam the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying: 'In the day that you eat of it, you shall die the death.' He also spoke through Moses to his descendants: "You shall not kill, nor shall you destroy what has been made in the image of God." But just as Adam, by breaking the commandment, deprived himself and his descendants of the life of salvation, so too does the person who destroys God's handiwork in a human being cut off the faithful generations of saving works from his own soul and body. By doing this, he also makes himself guilty of judgment and enters into an exile of misery. Therefore, anyone who commits such a cruel separation in a human being casts himself into many calamities, specifically by separating what is Mine, because I have joined body and soul together in a human being. And who would dare to separate these? If someone who kills another is already in the heavy grip of sin, what then must we say of someone who hands himself over to death? They throw into the dust the very thing they should have used to wash away their sins. For anyone who kills himself is imitating that lost angel who, being the first to discover wickedness, handed himself over to ruin and killed himself in death. How so? Because he envied God—who had no beginning and will have no end, and who rules all things that are in heaven and on earth. And just as that proud devil refused to look to me when he cast himself into ruin, so too does the person who violently tears himself apart refuse to acknowledge me; he falls into death, just as that other did when he plunged himself into ruin. For before he fell, he wanted to lift his wickedness up on the wings of the winds, and like a bird flying in the air, he tried to fly in the heavens. And so, in this presumption, he cast himself down from blessedness into misery. I formed man from the earth so he could climb from lower things to higher, and by beginning and completing good works, build up brilliant virtues toward the heights. Therefore, anyone who has both body and soul shouldn't destroy themselves while they are still able to do good and capable of repentance, lest they later find themselves in a place where they can have neither work nor repentance, just like the devil who, when he destroyed himself, was cast down into the depths. But whoever sees with watchful eyes and hears with attentive ears, let them offer the kiss of an embrace to these mystical words of mine that flow from me, the Living One.
Read the original Latin
Post haec vidi quod praedictam muliebrem imaginem quidam splendor albus ut nix, et tanquam crystallus perlucidus, a vertice usque ad guttur ejus circumfulserat. Sed a gutture usque ad umbilicum ejus quidam alius splendor rubei coloris eam circumdederat; qui de gutture usque ad ubera ejus velut aurora rutilabat; sed ab uberibus usque ad umbilicum illius quasi purpura hyacintho intermista fulgebat. Et ubi ipse velut aurora rutilabat, claritatem suam sursum ad secreta coeli extendit, in qua pulcherrima et puellaris imago nudo capite et subnigris capillis et rubea tunica quae circa pedes ejus diffluebat, induta apparuit. Et audivi vocem de coelo dicentem: Haec est floriditas in superna Sion, mater et flos rosarum et lilium convallium. O floriditas, filio potentissimi regis desponsaberis; sui et nominatissimam prolem gignes, cum in tempore tuo confortaberis. Et circa eamdem puellam vidi maximam turbam hominum lucidiorem sole stantem, qui omnes miro modo auro et gemmis ornati erant; et quidam illorum in capitibus suis velati candidis velaminibus aurea zona circumornati fuerunt; supra quorum vertices similitudo ineffabilis Trinitatis quemadmodum mihi superius typice demonstrata est, quasi in sphaera in ipsis velaminibus velut sculpta apparuit, et in frontibus ipsorum Agnus Dei; ac in collo eorum species hominis, et in dextra aure cherubin et in sinistra alia species angelica: ita quod et de ipsa similitudine gloriae supernae Trinitatis ad has species quasi aureus radius se extenderet. Sed inter hos quidam alii apparuerunt qui insulas in capitibus suis et pallia episcopalis officii circa humeros habebant. Et iterum audivi vocem ex alto dicentem: Istae sunt filiae Sion, et cum eis sunt citharae citharoedorum, et omne genus musicorum, ac vox totius laetitiae et gaudium gaudiorum.
Sed sub eodem splendore ubi ipse velut aurora rutilabat: vidi inter coelum et terram densissimas tenebras apparere, quae tanti horroris erant ut humana lingua effari non possit. Et rursum audivi vocem de coelo dicentem: Si Filius Dei in cruce passus non esset, istae tenebrae nullo modo permitterent hominem ad supernam claritatem pervenire. Ubi autem idem splendor quasi purpura hyacintho intermista fulgebat, fortiter praedictam muliebrem imaginem constringens ardebat. Sed alius splendor ut candida nubes eamdem imaginem ab umbilico deorsum, ultra tamen nondum excrescens honeste circumdederat. Et hi tres splendores circa ipsam imaginem se late diffundentes, plurimos gradus et scalas in ea bene et decenter ordinatas ostendebant. Sed cum haec viderem, ex nimio tremore qui me apprehenderat in terram dissolutis viribus corrui, nec alicui responsum dare valui. Et ecce maximus splendor velut manus tetigit me unde vires et vocem recepi. Et iterum audivi vocem ex illo mihi dicentem: Magna mysteria sunt haec: Considera enim solem et lunam et stellas.
Ego formavi solem ut luceat in die, et lunam et stellas ut luceant in nocte. Sol autem significat Filium meum, qui de corde meo exivit et mundum illuminavit cum natus est ex virgine in fine temporum, sicut et sol egrediens mundum illustrat; cum oritur circa finem noctis. Sed luna Ecclesiam eidem Filio meo in vera et superna desponsatione desponsatam designat. Et ut luna semper incrementum et defectum in sua constitutione habet, sed a se ipsa non ardet nisi quod a lumine solis incenditur, sic et Ecclesia in circuitione motionis est, ita quod filii ejus saepe proficiunt in incremento virtutum, et quod saepe deficiunt in diversitate morum, atque in dispersione adversitatum; ita quod saepenumero in mysteriis suis per rapacissimos lupos impugnatur fidelis per malignos homines tam Christianos quam Judaeos et alios infideles, et in hoc per semetipsum ad tolerantiam non accenditur; sed in me per Filium meum ut in bono perseveret illuminatur. Stellae autem a se differentes in claritate fulgoris sui, significant populos diversi ordinis ecclesiasticae religionis.
Unde etiam vides quod praevisam muliebrem imaginem quidam splendor albus ut nix, et tanquam crystallus perlucidus, a vertice usque ad guttur ejus circumfulget; quia ecclesiam fidelium incorruptam sponsam Filii Dei circumdat apostolica doctrina, quae candidissimam incarnationem illius annuntiavit, qui de coelo in uterum virginis descendit, et qui fortissimum ac lucidissimum speculum omnium credentium est: ita quod eamdem Ecclesiam ipsa doctrina ab hoc initio cum primum aedificari coepit, usque ad tempus cum cibum vitae fortiter deglutire valuit, splendidissime eam circumfulgens fideliter circumdedit. Quomodo? Apostolica doctrina circumfulsit Ecclesiam in capite, cum apostoli primum illam sua praedicatione coeperunt aedificare, scilicet cum per diversa loca discurrentes colligerent operarios qui illam in catholica fide roborarent, et qui ipsi presbyteros et episcopos ac omnem ecclesiasticum ordinem providerent, atque jura virorum ac mulierum qui sub conjugio sunt, et reliqua talia fideliter constitueret. Quapropter eamdem doctrinam subsequuntur pigmentarii habentes similitudinem sacerdotum legalis testimonii, qui sub lege circumcisionis positi erant interiori cibo enutrire populos, unde etiam apostoli ordines illos eligebant cum quibus ecclesiam superna inspiratione exornabant. Quid hoc? Nam sequaces eorum in vice ipsorum saluberrima pigmenta gestantes: fideliter plateas et villas et civitates atque alia loca regionum et terrarum pertranseunt, et populo divinam legem annuntiant. Ipsi enim sunt exquisiti patres et dispensatores ad ecclesiasticam disciplinam omni populo in doctrina sua proferendam, et ad cibum vitae ei dispensandum, itaque etiam se tales in vita sua exhibeant, ne oves meae in operibus eorum offendantur, sed ut recte post ipsos gradiantur, quia ipsi hoc officium habent ut aperte cibum vitae populo subministrent, et ut unicuique fidelia officia discrete ordinent, semetipsos etiam ita constringentes, ne carnalem copulam appetant, quoniam spiritualem escam credentibus praebere et immaculatum sacrificium Deo offerre debent ut in innocente Abel praefigurabatur, quemadmodum de ipso scriptum est: Abel quoque obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui, et de aliquibus eorum . Quid hoc?
In ortu surgentis saeculi sanctificatio regalis ostensionis in illo qui innocens in vita sua erat effulsit; quod domum omnipotentis Dei, non terram sed coelum fortiter tetigit. Quomodo? Quia Abel in sua integritate obtulit Deo intentionem voluntatis suae et plenum officium ejusdem voluntatis: cum cogitavit in corde suo illi offerre primum germen quod in substantia sua habuit, et cum illud etiam perfecto opere complevit, ita et fidelis summum patrem honorans eique debitam reverentiam exhibens. Unde etiam sicut Abel gregi suo praefuit, et ut eum pasceret custodivit et ut etiam simplici devotione Deo obtulit de primis emissionibus ejus, ac de pinguibus nutrimentis earumdem emissionum: ita etiam praedicti pigmentarii qui filiis Ecclesiae, id est ovibus Christi ipsius dispensatione ad pascendum eos praelati sunt, ipsos in verbis doctrinae ecclesiasticae disciplinae fideliter nutriant, et eos ab insidiis antiqui insidiatoris fortiter muniant, ac etiam sincera consideratione inspectori omnium aliquas donationes ex eis offerant. Quomodo? Quoniam si illos per omnia perfectos facere non possunt, talem aliquem fructum ex ipsis egredientem Deo offerant, primum scilicet rectam intentionem bonae voluntatis eorum quasi simplex germen de primogenitis gregis ipsorum, ac deinde perfectum opus operationis in eadem voluntate illorum velut suavem fructum de adipibus eorum. Sed unde hoc fuit, quae Abel Deum tam devote coluit? Fidelis castitas integritatis, eum ad tantam devotionem impulerat.
Quapropter qui in consecratione constituti, Deo sacrosanctum sacrificium offerre debent, in suavitate castitatis ad altare ipsius accedant, quia si ipsi auctores corruptionis sunt: quomodo in corruptione vulneratis manum salutaris medicamenti porrigere possunt? Et ideo ut aliis tanto fiducialius salutare remedium conferre valeant, volo ut Filium meum in amore castitatis viriliter imitentur. Quod si ceciderint, festinent ut citius per poenitentiam surgant, et in hoc ignominiam peccati velut nudi fugiant, salubrem medicinam requirentes, et Abel cujus sacrificium Deo acceptum erat, fideliter sequentes. Sed qui ex iis in clausura subjectionis in amore Filii mei se continent, et in moribus suis institutionem pravorum quam me inspirante proferunt, observant, sollicitudinem curationis pigmentariorum non habentes; tamen quamvis onera anxietatis eorum non gerant, quoniam propter aeterna praemia majoribus suis subjecti sunt, cum eisdem pigmentariis supernam mercedem in electa civitate sibimet acquirunt.
Quod autem vides quoniam a gutture usque ad umbilicum ipsius imaginis quidam alius splendor rubei coloris eum circumdat: hoc est quia post doctrinam apostolorum cum Ecclesia ita roborata est, quod salutarem cibum veraciter valuit discernere, et eum ad interiora fortitudinis suae transmittere, surrexit nobilissima perfectio ecclesiasticae religionis, quae supernam dulcedinem flagranti ardore degustavit, et se asperrime constringens ad coctionem secretioris fortitudinis se tetendit, non tamen ad divisionem carnalis amaritudinis perveniens, quoniam copulam humanae conjunctionis abjecit. Quomodo? Nam idem splendor de gutture usque ad ubera illius velut aurora rutilat, quoniam illa perfectio a gustu mirabilis vegetationis, ad dulcissima nutrimenta ecclesiasticae religionis in virginea jucunditate se dilatavit, ita quod etiam ab uberibus usque ad umbilicum illius quasi purpura hyacintho intermista fulget, quia a nobilissimis educationibus ad constrictionem intimae castitatis se muniunt, passione videlicet Filii mei propter supernam dilectionem quam in corde suo fideliter habuit, imitando. Quapropter et ubi ipse velut aurora rutilat, claritatem suam sursum ad secreta coeli extendit, quoniam illa perfectio quae in virginitatis honore floret, virtutem suam non deorsum ad terrena, sed sursum ad illa quae sunt in coelestibus mirabiliter dirigit.
In qua pulcherrima et puellaris imago nudo capite et subnigris capillis apparet, quae est serenissima et ab omni foeditate humanae concupiscentiae innocens virginitas, nudam mentem ab omni vinculo corruptionis habens, sed tamen nondum perfecte fatigationem tenebrescentium cogitationum in filiis suis quandiu in hoc mundo sunt deserere valens, cui tamen ut resistat, fortiter se opponit. Unde et rubra tunica quae circa pedes ejus diffluit induitur; quia per sudorem laboris in virtuosis operibus usque ad finem latae et beatae perfectionis perseverat, scilicet circumdata varietate virtutum, illum imitans qui plenitudo sanctitatis est. Quae etiam ut tibi in secreto superni luminis ostenditur, est nobilissimum germen in coelesti Jerusalem, videlicet gloria et decus illorum qui ob amorem virginitatis sanguinem suum fuderunt, et qui etiam in candore humilitatis virginitatem suam pro Christo observantes, in suavitate pacis quieverunt, quoniam ipsa Filio omnipotentis Dei qui rex cunctorum est desponsata, nobilissimam prolem, id est elegantissimum chorum virginum ei protulit, cum in pace Ecclesiae proficiens confortata est.
Quod autem circa eamdem puellam vides maximam turbam hominum lucidiorem sole stantem, qui omnes mire modo auro et gemmis ornati sunt: hoc est quoad ardentissimis amplexibus nobilissimam virginitatem praecipuus chorus virginum complectitur, qui omnes ardentiori claritate coram Deo fulgent quam sol in terra appareat, quia se ipsos conculcantes, mortem viriliter devicerunt, unde etiam mirabiliter in summa sapientia propter clarissima opera quae pro Christo humiliter gesserunt, decentissime exornantur. Quapropter et quidam illorum in capitibus suis velati candidis velaminibus aurea zona circumornati sunt, quia ipsi in gloria virginitatis fulgentes, demonstrant quod ii qui decus virginitatis appetunt, mentes suas ab omni noxio calore circumtegant, et candorem innocentiae pulcherrimo fulgore castitatis decorati fideliter apprehendant. Supra quorum virtutes similitudo ineffabilis Trinitatis, veluti tibi superius typice demonstrata est, quasi in sphoera in ipsis velaminibus sculpta apparet, quoniam ostendunt quod intentiones hominum honorem supernae et gloriosae Trinitatis (ut tibi ostensione mysterii verissime praesignatum est) in comprehensione amoris et stabilitate castitatis firmiter et strenue teneant. Quod et in frontibus ipsorum Agnus Dei ac in collo eorum species hominis, et in dextera aure cherubin, et in sinistra alia species angelica: declarat, quia in reverentia castitatis suae mansuetudinem filii Dei imitabuntur, petulantiam superbi colli deponentes, et seipsos fragiles homines considerantes, in prosperitate etiam auditionis suae veram et indeficientem scientiam amplectentes, ac in occursante adversitate ejusdem auscultationis suae angelica praesidia appetentes, ita quod et de ipsa similitudine gloriae supernae Trinitatis ad has species quasi aureus radius se extendit, quoniam ineffabilis Trinitas infidelibus hominibus qui virtutes quaerunt et diabolicas seductiones fugiunt, mirabilia miraculorum profundae sapientiae suae operari non desinit. Sed inter hos quidam alii apparent, qui insulas in capitibus suis et pallia episcopalis officii circa humeros habent, quoniam inter illos qui in virginitatis honore florent, etiam quidam in superna civitate consistunt, qui dignitatem antiquorum patrum et gloriam superioris magisterii in saeculo strenue gerentes decorem tamen virginitatis non perdiderunt. Unde etiam ut audis omnes isti qui cum suspiriis suis pro coelesti amore integritatem suam conservaverunt, in coelesti habitatione filiae Sion dicuntur, qua filium meum virginitatis amore imitati sunt. Ideoque et cum eis sunt, resonantiae sonorum spiritualium et invocationes omnigenarum melodiarum et agilitatis ornamenta prosperarum mentium et aurea visio fulgentium lapidum ac gemmarum. Quomodo?
Quia hoc habent de Filio Dei quod de throno sonus exit, cui omnis chorus virginum in maximo desiderio concinit, videlicet novum cantum symphonizando, ut Joannes dilectus virgo testatur dicens: Et cantabat quasi canticum novum ante sedem et ante quatuor animalia et seniores . Quid hoc? In illis fidelibus qui bona intentione castitatem amplectentes, virginitatem suam pro Dei amore illibatam conservant, bona voluntas ipsorum in laudem Creatoris sui mirabiliter erumpit. Quomodo? Quia in aurora virginitatis quae Filio Dei semper adhaeret, fortissima laus abscondita est, cui nullum terrenum officium, nec ulla ligatura legis resistere valent quin in voce exsultationis ad gloriam Dei coeleste carmen decantet. Quomodo? Videlicet quoniam velox iter habens, canticum illud in novitate libertatis mirabiliter promit, quod antequam unigenitus Dei (qui verus flos virginitatis est) incarnatus de mundo ad coelos rediens, ad dextram Patris resedit: auditum non est, sed tunc quasi novi mores qui prius visi non sunt, cum videntur, in stupore habentur, ita hoc novum mysterium quod prius auditum non est, tunc in coelestibus resonans in honore virginitatis cognitum est ante scilicet majestatem Dei, quia Deus hoc facere potuit, et ante quatuor rotas quae quatuor partes mundi percurrentes veritatem omnis justitiae et humanitatis Salvatoris velut animalia in nova lege ferebant, et ante illos antiquos quae Spiritu sancto imbuti viam rectitudinis in vetere lege hominibus, suo itinere demonstrabant. Quid hoc?
Quia Deus in nova gratia austeritatem antiquae institutionis delinivit.
Sed quia virginitas tam gloriosa ante Deum est, ideo quia eam ex voluntate sua Deo obtulerunt, eam prudenter conservent, quoniam hoc sanctum propositum cum summa devotione virginitatis susceptum, fideliter custodiendum est. Unde etiam qui idem sacramentum adierunt, caveant ne retrorsum incedant. Nam ipsi charissimi imitatores filii mei sunt, cum se ita Deo offerunt ut non sint ligati in opinione conjugii, nec onerati saeculari causa carnalem copulam respuentes, ne illi cum omni sollicitudine carnis suae subjecti sint; sed hoc cupientes ut gloriosae innocentiae innocentis Agni adhaereant. Quapropter vir ille qui in animo suo deliberat ut nullam costam sibi copulet, sed hoc desiderat ut in pudore virginitatis propter amorem Filii mei perseveret, sodalitatem ejus accipiet, si tamen in operibus ipsius castitatis perseveraverit, quia haec sancta munera, in voto sacratissimi pacti ecclesiasticae religionis ob gloriam supernae remunerationis eidem Filio meo obtulit. Sed si ille postea idem pactum relinquens propter turpem stimulum carnis suae adulterium perpetraverat, libertatem suam in servitutem redegit, quoniam honorem colli sui ubi Filium meum pudice imitari debuit, per turpitudinem delectationis suae nequiter corrupit; et quia mendacium protulit, vovens se caste vivere quod non implevit. Unde etiam si in culpa temeritatis suae perseveraverit, districtum judicium justissimi judicis inde sustinebit, quoniam nec turpitudo nec mendacium in coelesti gloria apparebit.
Quod si amaro fletu ante finem suum de hoc reatu suo poenitentiam fecerit, tunc unda sanguinis Filii mei illum suscipit quia culpam suam exhorruit; non autem ipsum inter sodales suos qui gloria integritatis florent reponit, quoniam societatem illorum deserens libertatem pacti sui abjecit, et eam in servitutem peccati redegit. Sed et puella quae ex voluntate sua in sanctissima desponsatione filio meo offertur; ab eodem decentissime suscipitur, qui eam hoc modo sibi conjunctam vult habere in consortio suo. Quomodo? Ut illum casta dilectione amplectatur, sicut et ipse eam in secreto suo diligit, quoniam illi semper amabilis est, quia magis eum quam terrenum sponsum quaerit. Quod si pactum ejus postea transgressa fuerit, tunc coram iis qui in coelesti gaudio sunt, polluta erit. Unde etiam si in eadem temeritate perseveraverit, superna gloria justo judicio carebit. Sed si poenituerit, suscipitur sicut ancilla et non sicut domina, quoniam regalem desponsationem deseruit, et quia magis alium amavit quam illum quem amare debuit. Ille quoque qui eam seducendo violavit, si culpam suam emendare voluerit, ita poeniteat quasi coelum rupisset, ne in perditionem mortis corruat, quia supernam desponsationem temere corrupit.
Quod est hoc? Nam, si aliquis magnus princeps sponsam sibi valde charam habet, quam servus servorum suorum adulterando corrumpit, quid dominus ille tacit? Vere in maxima ira lictores suos mittit ut illum perdant, quoniam eum in propriis visceribus confudit. Quod si tunc servus ille timens, omnes missos illos orat, ut pro ipso intercedant, et insuper ad pedes domini sui flebiliter procumbit ut sibi parcat, tunc rex ille propter bonitatem suam, et propter petitionem illorum eum vivere sinens, societatem conservorum suorum illi reddit, sed tamen eum ita ut caeteros inferiores et familiares amicos suos non remunerat, quamvis et inter alios illi consimiles conservos ipsius debitam gratiam exhibeat. Ita et huic erit, qui aeterni regis sponsam seducendo violaverit. Summus enim rex in rectissimo zelo judicia sua exercens illum ad perditionem transmittit, qui eum in hoc facto quasi illusor in oblivione mentis suae habuit. Sed si miser ille diem hujus indignationis anticipans electos Dei suppliciter oraverit, ut veniam sibi a domino suo obtineant, et insuper humanitatem Salvatoris sui flebiliter inspexerit, quatenus per gratiam ipsius a peccato suo absolvatur: tunc rex sanguinem hunc qui pro redemptione humani generis effusus est, et dilectionem supernorum civium attendens, illum a reatu suo et a diabolica potestate ne in perditionem eat eripit, ac eum in salvationem beatarum animarum reponit; sed tamen tripudium regalis desponsationis quo caeteri amici Dei his sacris virginibus quae Filio meo superna dispensatione dicatae sunt congaudent, non decorabit; et tanquam illum qui pudorem virginitatis amisit, decore virginitatis non coronabit, quamvis ei inter alios electos suos gaudium in superna civitate cum inaestimabili remuneratione tribuatur.
Sed quod sub eodem splendore ubi ipse velut aurora rutilat, vides inter coelum et terram densissimas tenebras apparere, quae tanti horroris sunt ultra quam etiam humana lingua effari possit: hoc est quod sub virginali gloria inter spiritualem et carnalem intellectum, casus primi parentis qui densissimus in offuscatione infidelitatis erat, ita ut terrorem illius nullus hominum explicare valeret, aperte cognitus est. Quomodo? Quia in incarnatione Filii Dei qui ex virgine natus est coeleste desiderium ascendit, et terrena concupiscentia exclusa est, quoniam praevaricatio Adae per sanguinem ejusdem Filii Dei mirabiliter in salvatione restaurata est, cum prius illam nullus nisi Unigenitus Dei a Patre missus in mundum dissolvere ad supernum ingressum posset. Unde ut audis in typica manifestatione, nisi idem Filius Dei sanguinem suum pro salute hominum fudisset, illa transgressio ita comprimeret hominem, ut ad gaudium supernorum civium pertingere non posset.
Quod autem ubi splendor quasi purpura hyacintho intermista fulget, fortiter praedictam muliebrem imaginem constringens ardet: hoc designat perfectionem illorum qui passionem Filii mei in charitatis ardore imitantes, strenue Ecclesiam in constrictione sua exornant. Quomodo? Quoniam ipsi sunt alta aedificatio surgentis thesauri in divino consilio, quia cum Ecclesia jam roborata convaluit, egressus est ad decorem illius vivens odor, vovens iter secretae regenerationis. Quid est hoc? Quia tunc surrexit, mirabilis ordo qui Filium meum in specie exempli ejus tetigit, quoniam ut Filius meus venit in mundum de communi populo abscisus; ita et haec acies conversatur in saeculo de reliquo populo separata, fragrans ut balsamum de arbore suaviter sudat; sic et populus iste primum in eremo et in abscondito singulariter exortus est; et deinde veluti arbor, ramos suos expandit paulatim in multitudine plenitudinis proficiens. Et populum istum benedixi et sanctificavi; quoniam ipsi mihi sunt amantissimi flores rosarum, et liliorum, qui sine humano opere in agro germinant, sic et populum hunc nulla lex ad hoc constringit ut eam arctam viam appetat; sed ipse illam me suaviter inspirante sine praecepto legis sua voluntate aggreditur, plus quam sibi jussum sit efficiens. Unde et plurimum mercedis inde acquirit, sicut et in Evangelio ubi Samaritanus illum vulneratum hominem in stabulum induxit quemadmodum scriptum est: Altera die protulit duos denarios, et dedit stabulario et ait: Curam illius habe, et quodcunque supererogaveris, ego cum rediero reddam tibi . Quid hoc?
In prima die salutis, videlicet cum Filius Dei mirabiliter incarnatus corporaliter in mundo manebat, multa et admiranda opera in humanitate sua usque ad resurrectionem suam perfecit; per quae vulneratum hominem ad vera remedia salubriter reduxit. Sed altera die idem cum omnia mysteria veritatis post resurrectionem suam in Ecclesia aperte posita sunt, protulit in typica manifestatione Novum et Vetus Testamentum aeternae vitae certissimam demonstrationem, et credenti populo dulcissimum cibum. Et haec scripta dedit per gratiam suam pastoribus Ecclesiae qui gregem ejus custodiunt, et ait illis in verbis blandae admonitionis suae. In ecclesiasticis constitutionibus procurate Christianam cohortem, quam in sanguine meo redemptam vobis commisi: hoc habentes in sollicitudine vestra, ne in aliquibus quae pertinent ad vitam deficiens erret. Quodcunque autem quae vobis servanda tradidi, in bona voluntate vestra superaddideritis plus scilicet facientes quam vobis praeceptum sit: ego qui ductor et salvator vester sum, nunc mundum relinquens, et ad Patrem ascendens, cum iterum rediero mundum judicare, eumque in indeficientem stabilitatem ponere, ita quod amplius per labentia tempora non debilitetur; tunc mercedem laborum vestrorum, et bonae voluntatis vestrae, cum augmentato fructu reddam vobis. Et dicam, o fidelis et probe serve, qui fideliter ministras. Quisquis plus voti sui addit quam sibi in lege praeceptum sit, duplicem mercedem accipiet, quia illum in nomine meo gloriosum habeo, quoniam me multum dilexit. Et ego dico: Nec virgineum genus, nec hic ordo singularis devotionis, nec qui eos imitantur ut ii qui in eremo jacent, sunt in praecepto legis, sicut et prophetae, ab hominibus sub carnali lege constituti non sunt; quia tantum mea inspiratione incedentes vivent et hi plus addunt quam eis praeceptum sit, quod sacerdotalis ordo et reliqua institutio sacerdotalis officii non facit, quia haec in Abraham et in Mose in Veteri Testamento jussa sunt, sicut etiam et apostoli illa ex eadem lege tollentes, et in Spiritu sancto ea secundum voluntatem meam bene ordinantes, Ecclesiae conservanda tradiderunt.
Sed et ipsa apostolica doctrina in Evangelio per Filium meum disposita est, ubi discipuli ejus in universum mundum verba veritatis effundere missi sunt. Quid tunc? Nam cum apostoli viam salutis populo annuntiarent, lucidissima aurora filiarum Sion in amore Filii mei exorta est, illorum scilicet qui carnem suam fortiter constrinxerunt, et malam concupiscentiam in semetipsis duriter mortificaverunt. Et sicut tunc haec casta virginitas in ardente amore Filium meum subsecuta est, ita etiam hic mihi valde amabilis ordo singularis devotionis, incarnationem illius imitatus est, qui sunt recta templa mea, videlicet ut chori angelorum me colentes, et ejusdem unigeniti mei passionem et mortem ac sepulturam in corpore suo portantes; non tamen ita ut gladio aut aliis terroribus ex quibus homines deficiunt moriantur, sed Filium meum sic imitantes, ut voluntatem carnis suae abjiciant, cum se ab omnibus saecularibus rebus et ornamentis in quibus mundus laetatur abdicant, ut in Evangelio de Joanne lucerna mundi scriptum est: Ipse autem Joannes habebat vestimentum de pilis camelorum, et zonam pelliceam circa lumbos suos . Quid est hoc? Ille in quo divina gratia mirabilem abstinentiam suscitaverat, per eamdem gratiam habebat, defensionem virtutis hujus, quod in mente sua honorem et divitias saeculares contempserat, et quod etiam per constrictionem quam in mortificatione vitiorum circa voluptatem carnis suae posuerat, petulantes motus corporis sui fortiter domuerat, cum majores aedificationes quam praedecessores sui institueret, videlicet cum per duras et asperas vias incedens terrenas concupiscentias conculcaret. Quomodo? Quia plurima opera virtutum strenue faciens, castitatem ardenter amavit, praebens etiam iis viam medicamenti qui illud devote exquirebant.
Unde etiam illi qui sunt vivens odor, vovens iter secretae regenerationis, eumdem Joannem in maximis tenebris saeculi lucentem, per acutissimas operationes beatarum virtutum in vita sua subsequentes, ineptam altitudinem et latitudinem mundialium rerum fugiant, et in constrictione diffusi animi sui corpus suum coercentes malam concupiscentiam abjiciant, ita excellentioribus instrumentis quam qui ante ipsos simpliciter in via Domini gradientes, simplicia habitacula faciebant, serenissime fulgentes, acutam et angustam semitam arripiant ea scilicet quae in voluptatibus saeculi sunt fortiter sub pedibus suis conculcantes. Quomodo? Quoniam seipsos despicientes, et corpus suum servituti Christi in operatione virtutum subjicientes, petulantiam in austeritate morum suorum declinent, sic per bona exempla sua caeteris hominibus lucidissime fulgentes. Nam etiam angelicum chorum fideliter imitantur. Quomodo? In abjectione saecularium, quoniam, ut angeli nec terrena quaerunt nec concupiscunt, ita et isti eos hoc modo mirabiliter subsequuntur, ita quod omnia caduca contemnunt.
Unde etiam sicut Filius meus est nuntius salutiferorum sacramentorum, et sacerdos sacerdotum, ac propheta prophetarum, et aedificator felicium turrium; ita etiam si necessitas ingruerit, qui inter hujusmodi homines radicem odoris cum utilitate habet, sit nuntius et sacerdos, sit propheta et consiliator ecclesiasticae aedificationis; nec omnino ab his separandus est: si tantum oculus claritatis in eo lucet, nec ad usum ecclesiasticum dormiat, sed ad instructionem ejus vigilet, occupationem tantum saecularis causae, et contagia saecularium rerum abjiciens, quia nec angeli, nec sacerdotes, nec prophetae justitiam Dei occultabunt; sed eam ex praecepto illius in veritate proferent, quemadmodum de Joanne qui arundo vento agitata non fuit, cujus austeritatem isti subsequuntur; in quorum similitudine in Evangelio iterum scriptum est: Et egrediebatur ad illum omnis Judaeae regio, et Hierosolymitae universi, et baptizabantur ab illo in Jordane flumine, confitentes peccata sua . Quid est hoc? In suspiriis et gemitibus a delectatione vitiorum egrediebantur ad illum, in quo divina gratia operabatur tota simplicis confessionis devota voluntas et visionis pacis unanimiter omnis effectus illorum scilicet hominum quorum corda per timorem mortis ad amorem vitae concussa fuerant. Quomodo? Quoniam idem Joannes praecursor veritatis, et amaritudinem et dulcedinem eis intimaverat. Unde et ipsi perfusionem poenitudinis a rectitudine ejus flagitabant; quatenus per declinationem malorum, et per erectionem bonorum, confessionem scelerum suorum facientes, illum mererentur adipisci qui ipsis non in umbra antiquitatis remedium denuntiaret, sed qui eis in luce novitatis veram salutem conferret. Sed ut idem Joannes homines ad se venientes docens, et flumine irrigationis perfundens: verba poenitudinis eorum ad honorem venturi Salvatoris suscipiebat; ita etiam nunc in nomine ejusdem Salvatoris qui veniens salutem fidelibus contulit; et illi facere non negligant, qui testimonio sanctificationis fulminantis, operi plus addunt per inspirationem, videlicet Spiritus sancti, in abrenuntiatione saecularium rerum, novam austeritatem secundum similitudinem illam aggredientes, quam ex praecepto ejusdem testimonii sanctificationis per regenerationem spiritus et aquae in abjectione diabolicae servitutis, novum hominem induentes adierunt; sed ubi stimuli impellentis necessitatis se obtulerint, admonendo et erigendo ac sanando manum devoti juvaminis petentibus porrigant, si tamen ad illam dignitatem ecclesiastica promotione digne pervenerunt, at in hoc praedecessorem suum fideliter imitentur, ut quod ille velut in umbra ostendit, ipsi in novitate lucis veraciter compleant. Ipsi enim sunt zona Ecclesiae eam valde constringentes; quoniam in incarnatione Filii mei occupati sunt, et quia etiam angelicum ordinem exercent, scilicet non cessantes ullis horis cantando cum sonitu, aut orando in compunctione, non autem excussis clamoribus ut inutilis pulvis aut aridus absque vigore compunctionis; et quia etiam non recusant operari pro necessitate sua; non tamen in manibus suis saecularia quaerentes, sed cum charitate et humilitate se ipsos districte circumspicientes.
O ipse fortissimus atque amantissimus populus meus, cum in eis afflictionem illam attendo quam Filius meus in carne sua passus est, quoniam et ipsi secundum mortem illius moriuntur, cum voluntatem suam deserentes, et propter vitam aeternam magisterio se subjicientes, secundum imperium praelatorum suorum gradiuntur.
Quapropter et vestitus eorum vestitui aliorum populorum non assimilatur, quia et ipse integer incorruptam incarnationem Filii mei quae plurimum distat a procreatione aliorum hominum ostendit. Nam illam incarnationem legale imperium viri ac mulieris non tetigit, sicut nec iste populus ulla conscripta lege ad hanc constrictionem cogendus est; sed qui eam pro dilectione Dei sua voluntate vovendo aggreditur, hic in ipsa perseveret, ne retrocedens corruat, sicut Lucifer, qui lucem deseruit et tenebras recepit. Hujusmodi enim vestitus secundum coruscationem supernorum spirituum cum alis subtilitatis suae circumvolat, et incarnationem ac sepulturam Filii mei designat, quia signum incarnationis in suo vestitu habet, qui se ad fortissimam obedientiam exhibet, et signum sepulturae ejus in ipso vestitu portat; qui in operibus justitiae, saecularibus causis abrenuntiat. Unde qui pura voluntate eodem vestitu induitur, salubri remedio alleviatur. Et ideo qui illum per invocationem Spiritus sancti in benedictionibus suscipit, non illum abjiciat, quoniam qui eum per abjectionem perseverantis mali contempserit, cum illo erit qui angelicum ordinem sprevit et in mortem sepeliendus corruit. Quid est hoc? quoniam hic populus ex praecepto legis ad hanc constrictionem stimulatus non est, sed voluntate sua aggressus est pactum meum observare, et ita Ecclesiam meam sua sancta conversatione illustrare. Quomodo?
Ut post primam lucem diei aurora solis aspicitur, ita ordo iste post voces apostolorum exortus est. Quid est hoc?
Prima lux diei fidelia verba apostolicae doctrinae designat, aurora initium hujus conversationis quae primum in solitudine et in speluncis post illam beatam doctrinam germinavit demonstrat, sol autem discretam et bene dispositam viam in servo meo Benedicto declarat; quem ego per ardentem ignem traduxi, docens eum in vestitu conversationis suae incarnationem Filii mei colere, et in abnegatione voluntatis suae passionem illius imitari, quia ipse Benedictus est quasi alter Moses in lapideo foramine jacens, et corpus suum, in multa asperitate ob amorem vitae crucians et constringens quemadmodum etiam primus Moses in lapideis tabulis ex praecepto meo asperam et duram legem scribens Judaeis dedit. Sed ut filius meus eamdem legem per dulcedinem Evangelii perforavit, sic etiam Benedictus famulus meus propositum hujus ordinis quod ante ipsum diversissima conversatio fuit, per dulcedinem inspirationis Spiritus sancti discretam et planam viam fecit, ac per hoc plurimam cohortem suae religionis collegit; ut etiam Filius meus per suavitatem odoris sui Christianum populum sibi coadunavit. Et deinde Spiritus sanctus cordibus electorum suorum suspiria vitae habentium inspiravit, ut sicut in lavacro baptismi crimina populorum abluuntur, ita et ipsi in significatione passionis ejusdem Filii mei saeculares pompas abjicerent. Quomodo? Nam ut homo a diabolica potestate in sancto baptismo convertitur, crimina veteris maculae abjiciens; sic et isti terrenas causas in signo vestitus sui abnegant, in quo etiam et angelicum signum habent. Quomodo? Ipsi enim in voluntate mea; protectores populi mei positi sunt.
Unde qui ex ipsis in sancta conversatione probati inveniuntur, pastores Ecclesiae meae constituantur, quia et angeli qui nulla macula terrenae causae tanguntur, custodes populi mei sunt. Nam sicut angeli coram Deo in duplici honore sunt, sic et homines hujus religionis sunt in duplici vita. Quomodo? Angeli in coelestibus Deo sine intermissione serviunt, et etiam in terris homines a diabolicis insidiis semper protegunt; sic et populus iste angelicum ordinem imitatur, cum terrena despiciens Deo quotidie famulatur, et cum etiam reliquos homines suis orationibus a malignis spiritibus die ac nocte tutatur. Unde si ecclesia mea rectum pastorem non habet, tunc hujusmodi religionis caetus clamando et flendo ipsi subveniat; et qui in eo probatus invenitur si necesse fuerit, superintendentiae sacerdotium suscipiens, ipsam in zelo meo strenue defendat. Nullus autem religionem horum repente et velut ex somno evigilans aggrediatur, nisi prius in constrictione animi sui si in hoc proposito perseverare valeat ex intima probatione examinetur, ne si illud voluntate sua in foedere benedictionis susceperit, et postmodum in perversitate erroris sui abjiciens mihi sine poenitentia illuserit, in damnatione mortis miserabiliter pereat. Quapropter, o charissimi filii mei, qui valde in contrarietate dissipati estis, surgite citius in humilitate et in charitate, et sancto proposito vestro viriliter et unanimiter consentite.
Sed, ut vides, alius splendor ut candida nubes praedictam muliebrem imaginem ab umbilico et deorsum ultra tamen nondum excrescens, honeste circumdat: qui est saecularis vita quae in candore serenae intentionis Ecclesiam a plenitudine germinantis fortitudinis usque ad extremitatem illam ubi ultra jam nondum in filiis suis processit, in reverentia justae subventionis circumplectitur. Quomodo? Quia circa umbilicum est germen membrorum de quo omne genus humanum procreatur, unde et ibi in ecclesia saecularis populus per quem ipsa ad plenum numerum in ordinibus suis provehenda est demonstratur, cum ibi reges et duces, principes ac praesides cum subjectis suis, ac etiam caeteri divites ac pauperes et egeni cum reliquo populo conversantes denuntiantur. Et per hos omnis Ecclesia valde ornatur, quia cum saeculares homines legem Dei quae ipsis posita est fideliter conservant, Ecclesiam plurimum exornant, et multis amplexibus Deum amplectuntur cum sincera humilitate et devotione magistris suis obediunt, et cum eleemosynis et vigiliis ac continentia, et etiam viduitate ac caeteris bonis operibus quae Dei sunt corpus suum pro Dei amore castigant. Unde illi qui constitutam sibi legem secundum voluntatem meam custodiunt, valde amabiles mihi sunt. Sed si quis ex illis jugum libertatis meae in abjectione saecularium ferre desiderat, ad me citius veniat nisi in junctura carnalis copulae sit, quam ligaturam temere non solvat nisi per voluntatem illius cujus consortium habet. Quomodo? Nec maritus uxorem, nec uxor maritum in hoc proposito deserat, nisi voluntas amborum sit; et tunc si ita deliberaverint, aut ambo remaneant in saeculo, aut ambo a saeculo separentur; quoniam esse non potest ut pes unus permaneat in corpore et alter a corpore abscindatur salvo homine.
Sic etiam non congruit ut maritus saeculum colat, uxor saeculum deserat; aut ut uxor in saeculo resideat, et maritus saeculum fugiat, si in superna vita decorem suum invenire volunt; quia si hoc indiscrete et insipienter agitur, non hostia sed rapina appellabitur. Quapropter qui in carnali copula legali jure sibi conjuncti sunt, unanimiter simul vivant, nec alterum ab altero sine consensu alterius, nec sine dispositione aut demonstratione ecclesiastici vigoris insipienter se discindat, quemadmodum in Evangelio iterum scriptum est: Quod ergo Deus conjunxit homo non separet . Quid est hoc? Deus in creatione humani generis carnem de carne tulit et in unam copulationem conjunxit, ita constituens ne haec conjunctio praecipitanter ab invicem separaretur. Quomodo? Quia ita in conjunctione viri ac mulieris erit ubi caro carni et sanguis sanguini legali sanctione copulatur ne ab invicem sua stulta praecipitatione disjungantur, nisi hoc ex justa causa, aut ex rationabili devotione utriusque ligaturae evenire contingat, quoniam Deus in secreto sapientiae suae hanc conjunctionem maris et feminae ad propagationem hominum benigne disposuit. Et quia haec conjunctio ab ipso ita decenter instituta est, idcirco stulta cupiditas hominis abscisionem in his duabus partibus non faciat, nec pars haec nec illa dotem sanguinis sui in alienum locum ducat; quoniam, sicut Deus praecepit ne homo occidat hominem, ita etiam jussit ne homo per crudelitatem fornicationis, sanguinem snum a recto loco suo abscindat. Unde etiam homo ardorem cupiditatis suae deprimat, nec incendium suum ad alienum ignem transmittat; quia si haec ardens voluntas calorem alterius voluntatis cum fervente concupiscentia fortioris vel mollioris causae conceperit: vere tunc cum desiderio animi sui et cum colligatione amplexionis illius mentis in unum coagulantur.
Nam exterior videns oculus interiorem calorem in adustionem excitat. Et quamvis corpus hoc peccatum cum corpore illo non operetur, tamen vivens voluntas facit opus ardoris in illis, ita quod omnia viscera eorum propter conscientiam suam concutiuntur. Quapropter claustra exterioris hominis tam cauta custodia observentur, ne interior homo per insipidam negligentiam saucietur.
Et ut vides quod hi tres splendores circa ipsam imaginem se late diffundunt: hoc est quod in honore supernae Trinitatis praedictae tres ecclesiasticae institutiones ubique felicem Ecclesiam in dilatatione erumpentium germinum et in diffusione beatarum virtutum miro modo circumplectentes consolidant; unde etiam plurimos gradus et scalas in ea bene et decenter ostendunt, qui sunt diversi ordines tam in saecularibus quam in spiritualibus hominibus per quos eadem Ecclesia in bonitate morum et in disciplina virtutum, filios suos cum suavissima reverentia educatos ad superna perducit. Quomodo? Cum terrena spernunt, et cum coelestia diligunt. Quid est hoc? Quia legalia praecepta quae ipsis instituta sunt, in divino amore fideliter complent. Sed, sicut in tribus personis unus Deus est; ita etiam in his tribus praedictis ordinibus una Ecclesia est, cujus fundator ille est qui plantator omnium bonorum est. Quodcunque enim ille non plantavit, hoc stare non poterit. Unde illa institutio quam ipse non instituit, haec in magnis illusionibus decidet.
Quomodo? Quia Deus illa non plantavit; quae ad superiora cum flatu superbiae ascendere tentant, nec superioribus suis subjici volunt. Hoc ibi est ubi minor ordo supra majorem ordinem qui de antiquo consilio principalium magistrorum in voluntate mea constitutus est, se elevare contendit; et ubi quidam in diversis signis vestitus sui se volunt dilatare secundum mores suos quemadmodum in insania sua cogitant, veluti si ordo angelorum se erigere vellet super ordinem archangelorum. Et quid hoc esset? Quasi nihilum et inane essent, qui sic recte constitutos Dei ordines in vanitatibus suis dividere vellent. Sed hoc esse non debet, ut ab his in insania diversitatis suae invocet, qui in proposito suo semper novi esse volunt, et rudes in scientia sua ad dicendum ea quae in mentibus suis sunt, deserentes bene tritam viam, et bene complanatam arcam antiquorum Patrum, quam illis Spiritus sanctus inspiravit. Unde multi ex his constitutas ordinationes quas Ecclesia in antiquis Patribus habet, in magna superbia destituunt, et hoc in plurimis schismatibus diversarum institutionum suarum faciunt. Ipsi enim in diversis circuitionibus suis fructiferae arbores dici volunt; sed nec vacuae arundines appellari possunt, quemadmodum dilecto Joanni de illo ostenditur qui in tempore marcens abjicitur, ut scriptum est: Scio opera tua, quia neque frigidus es, neque calidus.
Utinam frigidus esses aut calidus! Sed quia tepidus es, incipiam te evomere ex cre meo . Quid est hoc? O stulte, qui in temetipso turpiter marces, ego qui cognitor secretorum sum, in omnia sciente oculo video opera desideriorum tuorum, quoniam opera quae ad ignem ignei illuminatoris pertinent omnino non effugisti, nec etiam opera quae glaciem frigidi rigoris inducunt omnino abjecisti. Quomodo? Tu nec es in malis operibus ex toto frigidus, nec in bonis actibus ex toto fervidus; sed in utroque per instabilitatem mentis tuae ut tepidus ventus pendens, videlicet in neutro sciens quis sis, quia nec in malo emeritas poenas, nec in bono digna praemia consideras. Quomodo? Quia in tam magnam profunditatem respicis quod fundum ejus invenire non vales; et quia etiam tam altum montem ascendis quod cacumen ejus ascendere non potes.
O melius tibi esset ut inutilem servum et peccatorem te scires, quam sic in tempore esses ut vix ad justitiam respicias. Nam si a bonis actibus separatus esses, peccatorem te intelligeres; vel si a malis operibus te abstraheres, aliquam spem vitae haberes. Nunc autem ut tepidus ventus es; qui nec humiditatem fructibus affert, nec eis calorem inducit. Tu enim es velut incipiens et non quasi perficiens; quia bonum tangis in inceptione, sed illo te nunquam pascis in perfectione, ut ventus qui os hominis percutit, et non sicut esca quae in ventrem ejus labitur. Utrum etiam charior est inanis sonitus, an perfectum opus? Sed acceptius est perfectum opus quam inanis sonitus. Et ideo cum silentio humilitatis operare et non cum superbia extollere, quoniam illi pro nihilo computabuntur; qui societatem sanctificationis illorum qui me in lenitatis obsequio amant, abjiciunt; hoc enim per stolidam superbiam insectantur, quod per suavem mansuetudinem adimplere dedignantur. Quod si per inchoationem rectitudinis vim verborum meorum quae cibum fidelibus praebent intrare tentaveris, et si tunc in ea torpens ac nullam dulcedinem justitiae te tangentibus ostendens ad deteriora cadis, tunc et ego propter teporem negligentiae tuae incipiam te ejicere, ex eadem vi verborum meorum te expellens, quoniam nullum saporem suavitatis per efficaciam operationis tuae exhibens, ad interiora beatae receptionis non anhelas.
Unde et ita abjectus conculcaberis, sicut et cibus ille qui propter insipiditatem gustus ex ore hominis projicitur, antequam in ventre ejus recipiatur. Sed quid nunc? Venti enim volant, et ventorum strepitus resonant; sed radices non florent nec germen proferunt. Nam qui sub jugo meo esse deberent, lascivi sunt, nec secundum disciplinam incedunt. Quid est hoc? Ipsi rectam viam transiliunt, et multa inutilia tabernacula sibi faciunt. Hujusmodi enim homines nullum fervorem justitiae habentes, sed in semetipsis torpentes; nec in constituta sibi lege ardent, nec secundum conversationem praecedentium patrum suorum faciunt; sed quisque eorum quamdam singularitatem in semetipso sibi plantat, et secundam voluntatem suam legem sibi ponit, sic in propriis cogitationibus suis et in magna instabilitate per inflatam superbiam se ad volandum elevans. Et quoniam isti recto foedere patrum suorum non adhaerent, idcirco semper novi et rudes in magna instabilitate hac et illac secundum voluntatem suam vagantur.
Quapropter et ego comparo illos stultis artificibus: qui magnum aedificium in altum erigentes, non imitantur prudentiam illorum artificum, qui in multis instrumentis optime edocti et diversis probationibus aedificationum examinati omnia ad aedificationem pertinentia bene noverunt, et omnia instrumenta sua recte disponunt; sed ipsi vacui et insipientes, in semetipsis confidunt, quia prae aliis sapientes esse volunt, et aedificia sua ita disponunt: quod ad tempestates mobilia sunt, unde etiam a ventis dejiciuntur; quoniam non supra petram, sed supra arenam posita sunt. Ita et illi faciunt qui in superbia sua in semetipsis confidentes prae antiquis patribus suis prudentes videri cupiunt, nec secundum foedus eorum ambulare volunt, sed sibimetipsis leges secundum voluntatem suam in magna instabilitate statuunt, et ideo perfrequenter per diabolicas tentationes ad peccata quatiuntur; quia non super Christum, sed super instabilitatem morum suorum innituntur.
Unde ne inspiratio Spiritus sancti quae in antiquis patribus operabatur per superbam inflationem evacuetur, volo ut fideli homini cum humilitate sufficiat quod ei a praedecessoribus suis institutum est, ne si plus inaniter voluerit quam humiliter quaerere debuerat, ne postea tepefactus inde recedens, ex hoc ruborem confusionis accipiat, ut in Evangelio scriptum est: Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias, non discumbas in primo loco, ne forte honoratior te sit invitatus ab illo, et veniens is qui te et illum vocavit, dicat tibi: Da huic locum, et tunc incipias cum rubore novissimum locum tenere . Quid hoc? Quando per supernam inspirationem admonitus fueris ut per fideles labores tuos ad tabernaculum illud venias quod semper in nuptiali vita abundat, ita quod assidue in sinceritate et honore ac sanctificatione in virginea virga et in beata matre, scilicet Ecclesia laetatur et non in corruptione et confusione ac dejectione germinis et floris sui tristatur; tunc comprime mentem tuam in humilitate, non elevans eam in elatione. Quomodo? Cum saeculares causas in amore Dei a corpore tuo abjeceris, tunc quasi pulcherrimus flos ascendes qui in coelesti Hierusalem sine ariditate cum Filio Dei floret, in quo omnia ornamenta animarum apparent; quia vetus homo omnes abominationes hominum profert, novus autem omnem sanctificationem virtutum aedificat. Et ideo cum ad hanc sanctificationem veneris, erubesce antiquum serpentem qui semetipsum a beatitudinis loco dejecit, per appetitum inanis gloriae imitari. Quid hoc? Si videris aliquem te ornatiorem, cave ne per cupiditatem mentis tuae super cum ascendas, dicens: Volo super illum, aut sicut ille est esse.
Quod si hoc modo te exaltaveris, nunquid tunc fidelis servus es, cum Dominum ad iracundiam provocas, ita quod te illi opponis? Sed si intellexeris aliquem valentius naturae, gratiae aut fortunae donum habere quam tu habeas, si tunc illi per invidiam detraxeris, planam viam non ambulas, sed per devia incedis. Quapropter stude in humilitate Deo servire, et non in superbia bacchari, nec te per vanitatem simulationis super illum extolle; qui justa examinatione majori desiderio aeternae vitae lucet quam tu ardeas, ad ejusdem beatitudinis culmen per supernum ardorem ita invitatus ab illo qui omnibus veritatem diligentibus pium se manifestat, ne in omnia sciente oculo veniens ille qui te humilitatis obsequio, et illum in charitatis dono per inspirationem beatae admonitionis vocavit, recto judicio suo dijudicet te, dicens: Tu qui te per flagrantem superbiam in locum illum erexisti cujus socius non es, relinque vanam gloriam tuam, et da subjectionis officio huic dilecto meo culmen honoris, quod temere rapuisti. Et quid tunc de te? Quoniam si hoc modo dejectus fueris, incipies per angustiam moeroris et tristitiae extremitatem abjectionis sentire, et ita te projectum abhorrere, quia custos animarum auferet tibi alienum honorem quem fraudulenter invasisti: cum te illi opponens, hoc temere rapere tentabas quod habere non debuisti, unde et tibi auferetur quod habere volebas, et tibi dabitur quod habere noluisti. Ita etiam cum minor ordo supra majorem se exaltat, per justum judicium meum dejectus supprimitur, quoniam nolo ut aliter ante oculos meos superbia sit quam in dejectione confusionis. Nam si ancilla supra dominam suam se exaltaverit, tanto despectior omnibus eam inspicientibus erit, quia hoc fieri tentaverit; quod desiderare non debuit.
Quapropter qui sibi secundum cor suum leges faciunt, et in hoc voluntatem meam non quaerunt, magis ex hoc in dejectionem quam ad profectum veniunt, ut iterum Filius meus in Evangelio testatur, dicens: Omnis plantatio quam non plantavit Pater meus coelestis eradicabitur . Quid hoc? Omne germen scientiae cordis et mentis ac morum surgens in fertilitate illa naturae qua homo vivit, cum homo illud ita in semetipso seminat, quod postea in calore fervens ita ei copuletur secundum quod hoc perficere vult; illud videlicet transpositum aut in exaltatione mentis, aut in petulantia carnis, aut in superflua pollutione, aut in occasione excusationis, aut in vicissitudine operationis, sursum aut deorsum imprudenter vadens, nec quale fundamentum sit discernens, et an utile aut inutile sit, scire contemnens: vere hoc justo judicio destruetur, quoniam plantationem illam in tali non plantavit Pater ille; qui coelorum et omnis justitiae habitator est, et ideo ejecta arescet, quia de rore coeli non ascendit, sed de succo carnis venit. Quomodo? Quia homo per stultam scientiam suam hoc opus faciens, nec justitiam nec voluntatem Creatoris sui inspicere voluit; sed ad illum qui semper rotam carnis ipsius infatigabiliter exagitat, respexit. Nam quod hominibus cum oculum suum acute in Deum figere nolunt, per deceptionem mentis suae aliquando bonum videtur; si hoc inspiratio Spiritus sancti non calefacit, in interitum ibit, quia haec vana gloria pertransit. Cum enim vani homines in uno per taedium afficiuntur; in altero per vanam gloriam innovantur, frequenter in superbia et in stimulatione ac in spiritu zelotypiae se extollentes, et etiam frequenter in molestia et in indignatione ac in contradictione aliarum institutionum quae de me fluxerunt altercantes, necnon in caeteris bonis quae non sunt ad torporem taedii, sed in ardore desiderii de die in diem proficiendi, se invicem comprimentes. Nam quod de me fluxerit dulcem et suavem gustum animae praebet semper in perseverantes proficiens, et non in instabilitate retro aspiciens.
Unde ille beatus est, qui in me fidens, spem suam et initium ac finem operum suorum non in se sed in me reponit. Qui facit haec, non cadet; qui vero sine me stare voluerit, in ruina ibit. Et qui sunt illi qui semetipsos per vanam gloriam novos faciunt, et propter taedium quod in praeceptis meis patiuntur, in semetipsis confidunt. Non enim ut vetus vestimentum in cogitationibus hominum molestum est, sic ego in donis meis spernendus sum, quoniam illa in simplicitate semper nova sunt, et quanto vetustiora tanto chariora sunt. Quapropter quae homines in semetipsis absque inspiratione mea excogitant in vanitate morum: per inania studia eorum diffluet, et quamvis aliquando in conspectu hominum stare videantur, tamen ab oculis meis projecti, pro nihilo eos habeo, ut in Evangelio scriptum est: Sinite illos, caeci sunt, duces caecorum. Caecus autem si caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadunt . Quid est hoc? Dimittite illos qui in factis suis perversi sunt in perversitate sua diffluere; quia in rectitudine bonorum operum se corrigere nolunt.
Et quoniam in aestimatione sua se justos nominant cum in actibus suis vani sint, ex ipsa facilitate sua caeci efficiuntur, quia per viam justitiae ambulare contemnunt, et quoniam magis viam iniquitatis quam veritatis illis hominibus proponunt qui eos in malis operibus sequi festinant. Unde qui hoc modo visum rectitudinis non habent aestimantes se justos esse et injusti sunt, cum viam verae doctrinae ignorantibus viam falsae justitiae demonstrant, pariter in foveam desperationis cadunt, quoniam nec isti nec illi quo eant sciunt. Sed in his quaedam in indignatione mea coram hominibus aliquando dejicio, quaedam autem per moderationem perspicuae visionis tacite coram hominibus interdum tolero; sed tamen ea per ponderationem justi judicii mei in futuro ulciscor. Et ob hoc qui fidelis est, studeat ascendere ad altitudinem virtutum, et non ad ima saecularium descendere. Quomodo?
Qui in minori gradu est ad majorem ascendere potest, non autem qui in majore est ad minorem se declinare debet. Quid hoc? Nam praetores possunt ad duces pervenire, duces vero ad reges ascendere; non autem decet reges ad duces descendere, nec duces ad praetores se declinare. Si enim reges ducibus se subjugarent, vel si duces praetoribus se subderent, indignanter omnis populus vociferaretur, et eos derisui haberet, Ita qui sunt in saecularibus possunt viam praedictorum pigmentariorum subire; et qui sunt in via eorumdem pigmentariorum possunt praefatos qui sunt vivens odor vovens iter secretae regenerationis decet ad pigmentarios transire, nec ipsos pigmentarios ad saeculares corruere. Quod si isti qui sunt vivens odor vovens iter secretae regenerationis ad pigmentarios respiciunt, vel si pigmentarii ad saeculares transeunt: heu! heu! heu! ab animabus justorum super eos dicetur, et coram me in abjectione habebuntur, nisi digna poenitentia revertantur, quia si altior gradus super inferiorem ceciderit, ambo destruentur.
Sic et illis erit qui rectum iter suum deserunt, et retrorsum incedunt. Nam qui Filium meum induerit, quem talem filium induere posset? Nullum, et vere nullum. Gaudete autem in Patre vestro; quoniam saepius in minoribus majores video, et in majoribus minores invenio, quia superbia cadit et humilitas ascendit.
Unde pacem et charitatem ac humilitatem habete inter vos, sicut et animae justorum cum angelis et angeli cum archangelis habent. Animae enim justorum officio angelorum non invident, nec angeli gloriam archangelorum dedignantur. Quid hoc? Archangeli in majori necessitate majora demonstrant; angeli vero in frequenti vicissitudine minora denuntiant; fidelis autem populus humiliter obtemperat. Unde unusquisque officium suum fideliter exerceat. Quomodo? Qui sunt vivens odor vovens iter secretae regenerationis, cum major occasio ecclesiasticae necessitatis ingruerit, inevitabiles causas subventionis suae velut archangeli recolant; et qui sibi in opere pigmentariorum, assidua determinatione in frequentibus causis circa negotia institutionis suae quasi angeli exerceant, et homines qui ad summam beatitudinem desiderant pervenire, verba eorum fideliter suscipiant. Quomodo?
Nam qui vivens odor vovens iter secretae regenerationis existunt, velut granum sunt, qui siccus et fortis cibus hominum est; sic et ille populus meus asper et durus ad gustum fuci saecularium rerum est. Sed praedicti pigmentarii quasi poma quae dulcem saporem se gustantibus praebent; qui ut et illi, per utilitatem officii sui se suaves hominibus exhibent. Communis autem saecularis velut caro aestimatur; in qua et casta volatilia inveniuntur, quoniam qui in saeculo degunt, carnaliter viventes filios procreant, inter quos tamen castitatis imitatores reperiuntur, scilicet viduae et continentes, qui ad superna desideria per appetitum bonarum virtutum volant. Sed et iidem ordines ecclesiasticae institutionis, in duabus viis versantur. Quomodo? Spiritualium et saecularium. Quomodo? Ut dies et nox.
Quid est hoc? Dies claritatem solis, et serenitatem lucentis aeris habet, quod praesignat; quia spirituales homines et ordinem viventis odoris voventis iter secretae regenerationis, et ordinem praedictorum pigmentariorum in se servant. Nox vero lucem lunae cum stellis et obscuritatem umbrosae tenebrositatis tenet, quod demonstrat: quod saeculares homines et justos in operibus suis lucentes, et peccatores obscuritate delictorum gravatos in se tenent. Sed qui noctem saecularium deseruerit et ad diem spiritualium propter amorem vitae se convertit: stabilis in hoc facto sit, ne si retrorsum incesserit, veteri Adae assimiletur qui praeceptum vitae transgrediens in saeculares aerumnas expulsus est. Unde nemo praeceps sit mundum relinquere et foedus meum sua voluntate audacter intrare, nisi prius in magna probatione examinatus sit; quia qui Filium meum per tunicam ceperit, nolo ut eum relinquat. Nam qui ejus incarnatione se induerit, et crucem ejus in manus suas susceperit, nunquid conveniens est ut abjiciat Dominum suum? Nullomodo. Ergo his attende.
Homo qui in voluntate cordis sui confessus fuerit et in devotione animae suae voverit jugum meum in abjectione saecularium rerum portare; si tunc etiam in ipso ardore cordis sui per voluntatem desiderantis animae suae signum religionis in condimento justae intentionis susceperit, in illo permaneat, ne si illud postea in contemptu perseverantis mali abjecerit; judicium districti examinis accipiat. Quid hoc? Quia illum sprevit cujus signum in semetipso suscipiens conculcavit; sicut et Judaei eum contempserunt, cum illum in insania incredulitatis in cruce affixerunt. Nam ut Judaei nefas illud non timuerunt, ita et iste non veretur quod eamdem passionem in voto suo abjicit: Quod enim homo mihi promittit; hoc etiam reddere debet secundum quod David testatur, dicens: Introibo in domum tuam in holocaustis, reddam tibi vota mea quae distinxerunt labia mea . Quid hoc? Per intentionem bonae et justae operationis introibo, o Deus meus, in constitutionem sanctissimi doni tui, scilicet in ardente desiderio stratum voluptatis meae relinquens, ita quod nihil mihi dulcius est quam anhelare ad te Creatorem omnium. Et ob hoc reddam tibi vota mea quae protulit os meum cum anima mea; quia perficere volo quod tibi justo judici in ardenti desiderio meo prius promiseram: videlicet ut actus meos ad te dirigerem, quod insipienter trangressus sum; sed nunc ad te recurrere desiderans, volo mala devitare, et bona facere, quoniam rationalitas et intellectus qui in me fervent, per discretionem verae castigationis magis quaerunt ad te vivum Deum anhelare, quam per stultitiam falsae contrarietatis diabolum imitari. Unde, o homo, cum cor tuum hoc modo mihi obtuleris, considera quomodo illud prudenter perficias.
Oculus enim meus acutissime videt quid voluntas hominis mihi loquatur. Ubi quod meum est, hoc districtissime requiro. Quapropter, o stulti et plusquam stulti, utquid vobis tam magna onera imponitis quod putatis vobis tam facile esse quod carnalem voluntatem vestram deseratis? Nam per legem quae vobis ex praeceptis meis data est, ad hoc non cogemini ut saeculum relinquatis, nisi prius per multos labores ita exerceamini, ut carnalibus desideriis quae in vobis sunt frenum imponere possitis.
Sed tepido vento assimilamini, quoniam cum vana gloria mentem vestram afflaverit, tunc ex aliqua asperitate loquimini sic dicentes: Amplius cum saeculo laborare nolo, sed illud festinanter fugere delibero. Et cur ita me frangam in casso labore? Sed cum haec intra vos dicitis, putatis ea ita terminari ut excogitatis. Nam multi vacillanti animo me quaerunt, ita quod tantum signo religionis exterius notantur, puris oculis me non quaerentes, nec semetipsos in vera doctrina simpliciter circumspicientes quomodo diabolum qui eos devorare cupit effugiant, quemadmodum columba in puritate aquae considerans accipitrem qui eam rapere tentat, effugit; non autem sic illi diabolum effugiunt cum eum in scriptura doctrinarum venientem vident, sed in repentino sopore qui ei per caecitatem mentis suae inest, ut tepidus ventus ad me currunt. Quidam enim non voluntatem suam, sed tantum saecularem habitum abjicientes, spiritualem religionem aggrediuntur; quia multas miserias et paupertates in saeculo sustinentes divitias habere non possunt, et ideo mundum relinquunt, quoniam eum ita ut vellent habere non possunt. Alii autem ad saeculum stulti et fatui sunt, ita quod hominibus contemptibiles et seipsos regere non volentes, et propterea saeculum fugiunt, quia illi ludibrio sunt. Sed et quidam debilitatem ac infirmitatem corporis sui habentes et in his calamitatibus multum laborantes, non propter me, sed ut his doloribus tanto suavius subveniant, saeculum derelinquunt. Alii vero tantas augustias et oppressiones a carnalibus dominis suis quibus subjecti sunt patiuntur, ut propter timorem eorum a saeculo recedant, non ut praeceptis meis obediant, sed ne carnales eorum Domini amplius super eos potestatem suam exerceant.
Et hi omnes non propter coelestem amorem sed propter has terrenas molestias quas sustinent ad spiritualem religionem veniunt, non considerantes utrum salsus an insulsus, an dulcis an amarus, an coeli an terrae habitator sim. Quid hoc? Ipsi nec condimentum, nec dulcedinem Scripturarum attendunt; nec quomodo in cordibus illorum homines habitent qui superna quaerunt, considerant. Et quoniam haec scrutari nolunt, ideo timorem meum abjicientes secundum voluntates suas incedunt, unde et inde alieni sunt et fugitivi vocantur. Quapropter nec ego dico eos saeculum dimisisse et ad me venisse, sed in hoc rei sunt quod servum timent, et Dominum contemnunt, quia terrenas causas sequuntur; et me non verentur, et ideo pavidi in minimo, et audaces in maximo dicuntur. Ergo et Balaam assimilantur, qui Israeliticum populum in tabernaculis suis pulchrum videns, mansionem cum illis ficto animo se habere concupivit, dicens: Moriatur anima mea morte justorum, et fiant novissima mea horum similia . Quid hoc? Cum homo aliquando in suspiriis animae ad hoc concutitur ut opera justitiae incipiat, tunc insurgente desiderio ea gemebunde exoptat, sic dicens in semetipso: Ego miser qui multis peccatis et obligationibus praepeditus sum, studiose desidero ut in abjectione carnalium concupiscentiarum anima mea omnem malitiam iniquitatis relinquat, et ut per contritionem illam qua justi semetipsos despiciunt in habitaculo bonorum operum maneant.
Quomodo? Ut in rectis actibus inveniatur finis meus, illis hominibus qui justitiam Dei operantur similis: ita ut terminus bonorum operum meorum initio justae intentionis eorum adaequatur. Sed homo qui intra semetipsum ista loquitur, si postea transacto tempore illorum suspiriorum cum tentationibus malignorum spirituum afflatur, et carnali concupiscentia devictus ad iniquitatem revertitur, facit ut ipse Balaam per nequitiam cupiditatis deceptus fecit. Quomodo? Quia ipse postea per illud schisma tactus per quod prius populo meo maledicere volebat, ubi ei per angelum meum et per asinam ipsius restiti, ad hoc eum tamen in zelo meo perducens, quia benedictione verborum illorum quae in os ipsius posui eidem populo meo benedicebat: post desiderium illud quo eidem populo Israeli in morte sua assimilari desideravit, ad primum schisma reversus est, et populum meum in pecunia mortis suo consilio per fornicationem dispersit, ut pollicitus est dicens: Verumtamen pergens ad populum meum dabo consilium quid populus tuus hic faciat extremo tempore. Quid hoc? Videlicet cum me retorsero ad iter desideriorum meorum quae ad decorem carnis pertinent; tunc concupiscentias illas ingrediar quas prius cognoveram. Quomodo?
Quia scio quid in carne mea cui honeste deservio, ita ut et ego qui his causis quae ipsi semper adsunt imbutus sum; tibi, o homo, qui etiam in eisdem delectabilibus rebus ardens, in abscondito mentis meae stimulum concupiscentiis tuis ostendo; cum per suggestionem voluptatis meae fumigantem ardorem tuum ita succendo, ut per agnitiones venalium terrenarum rerum quae in corde tuo florent, illud ardens desiderium quo prius ad opera illa quae sancta dicuntur anhelasti exstinguas: hoc modo finem eis imponens, et eas opportuno tempore ita relinquens, quasi nunquam ea cognoveris. Unde, o homo, sicut iste Balaam post illud rectum desiderium quo prius sursum aspiciebat, ad fallaces concupiscentias se deorsum inclinabat; ita et ii faciunt qui me ficte quaerunt, quia cum viderint illos qui saeculum veraciter abjecerunt simpliciter incedere, et in arcta ac beata conversatione laudabiliter ac veraciter perdurare; dicunt eos pulchros et suaves esse, ac protinus repentino impetu vitam eorum aggrediuntur, secundum ipsos vivere desiderantes. Sed postquam se illis ita conjunxerint quemadmodum et Balaam Israeliticum populum inspexit, tunc frequenter per diversas nequitias quas prius in cordibus suis habebant cum in saeculo essent, ad carnalia desideria revocantur, quoniam et illis prius dominabantur. Quapropter cum sic impediuntur, veneno et adversitate sua contaminant electum gregem meum, multis tempestatibus eum quatientes, et consilio suae nequitiae eum dispergentes. Nam cum ipsi a saeculo deceptuose recederent, me in orationibus suis in adjutorium sibi non invocabant, nec in probatione corporis sui si in hoc proposito perseverare possent an non, me quaerebant: unde et ego permitto eos considerare: quid voluntas ipsorum cum in semetipsis confidunt eos possit adjuvare. O, ipsi insipientes et infructuosi existunt; quia sunt inutiles absque aratione legis Dei, et sine fructificatione verbi ipsius; quia non exquisierunt quid facere deberent cum arctam viam adirent, ut bona terra circumspicitur quem utilem fructum profert. Unde audiant; O homo, si hodie cum in carne tua fortiter in concupiscentiis ardeas, igneam fornacem existi, quis tibi tantum refrigerium dedit, quod tam magnum incendium posses evadere in voluptate tua?
Vere qui haec aggredi voluerit, interioribus oculis suis incedere debet qualiter ea per me incipiat, et qualiter ea meo adjutorio perficiat, ne si illa insipienter inceperit et male consummaverit, in ruinam vadat, sicut et ille antiquus hostis qui in semetipso confisus, in ira zeli mei dejectus est; sic et isti abjicientur, qui nec semetipsos considerantes, in praecipitatione magnae superbiae passione Filii mei se induunt, sed eam postmodum in fastidio superflue rejiciunt. Quapropter qui eam super se posuerint, attendant quomodo eam diligant, secundum quod Jeremias propheta in Spiritu sancto hortatur dicens: O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus, quoniam vindemiavit me ut locutus est Dominus, in die irae furoris sui . Quid hoc? O vos omnes qui vitia descritis, videlicet in abjectione saecularium, et in imitatione spiritualium, transeuntes per viam illam quae vita et veritas est quae ego Filius Dei sum; attendite in inceptione bonorum operum ne doloris mei obliviscamini, cum me in passione mea coeperitis imitari, et videte in perfectione justitiae, ut dolor ille quem pro amore meo vobis imponitis: dolori meo similis sit. Quomodo? ut in eisdem miseriis quas propter me sustinetis usque ad bonum finem indeficienter perseveretis; sicut et ego perseveravi in dolore meo mori pro vobis, quoniam ego compressus et conculcatus in passione crucis sum; sicut uva in torculari exprimitur ut corpus meum manducetis, et sanguinem meum bibatis, ut in praescientia perspicacis oculi sui locutus est dominator coeli et terrae in judicio eum Adam vitam deseruit et mortem accepit; ubi tamen idem Pater meus coelestis hoc praevidit, quod in fine temporum per me Filium suum ex Virgine incarnatum qui me in fortissimis viribus justitiae diabolo opponebam, eumdem antiquum seductorem superaret et humanum genus in defensione superni auxilii liberaret. Ergo homo cujuscunque sexus aut aetatis sit, qui passionem meam induit, attendat ut eam fortiter retineat, ne si eam per errorem neglectus sui abjecerit, postea cum ipsam voluerit retinere, eam invenire non possit.
Unde et illi qui infantes suos meae passioni in humilitatis conversatione subjicere voluerint, hoc non in praesumptione praecipitationis impudenter faciant, sed sapienter in examinatione discretionis, non cogentes illos absque consensu voluntatis suae hoc adire, quod nec ipsi possunt perferre. Quomodo? Si infantem tuum mihi offers cum ei nondum inest scientia discernentis intellectus, sed cum in stultitia omnis sensus sui jacet, et tamen ita sine voluntate ipsius eum offers, consensum ejus in hoc non considerans, non recte fecisti ita offerens arietem. Quomodo? Si homo arietem ad altare meum offert; si eum cornibus suis fortiter funibus non alligavit, nonne aries aufugit? Sic etiam si pater aut mater puerum suum qui aries est, ad servitutem meam offerunt, si in hoc voluntatem illius quae cornua ejus sunt, nec diligenti custodia, nec supplicatione, nec deprecatione, nec exhortatione totius diligentiae quae funes colligationis ejus intelligantur, attendunt, quoniam his omnibus puer ad consensum bonae voluntatis provocandus est; tunc si istis examinationibus non fuerit probatus, certe aut corpore aut mente aufugit, nisi Deus eum in mirabilibus suis custodiat. Si autem tu, o homo, in tam magna custodia corporalis districtionis puerum illum concludis quod se a pressura repugnantis voluntatis suae absolvere non possit, tunc in omnibus fructibus tam corporis quam animae propter capturam illam quae sine consensu ejus ipsi injuste illata est, aridus mihi apparet. Tunc et ego tibi, o homo, qui auctor hujus ligaturae es, dico: Viridem agrum in potestate mea habui; nunquid, o homo, dedi tibi illum, ut eum germinare faceres quemcunque fructum tu ipse velles.
Et si in illum semen seminas, an potes illum in fructum producere? Non. Nam tu nec rorem das, nec pluviam producis, nec humiditatem in viriditate tribuis, nec calorem in ardore solis educis; per quae omnia competens fructus producendus est. Ita etiam in auditum hominis verbum seminare potes; sed in cor illius quod ager meus est, nec rorem compunctionum, nec pluviam lacrymarum, nec humorem devotionum, nec calorem Spiritus sancti infundere vales, in quibus universis fructus sanctitatis germinare debet. Et quomodo audebas delicatum et sanctificatum mihi in baptismo tam temere tangere; ut eum absque voluntate sua in arctissimam captionem ligaturae ad ferendum jugum meum traderes. Unde nec aridus, nec viridis effectus est; quia nec saeculo mortuus est, nec saeculo vivit. Et cur eum ita oppressisti, quod ad utrumque inutilis est? Nec miraculum meum ad confortandum eum ut in spirituali vita permaneat, ab hominibus exspectandum non est, quoniam nolo ut parentes ejus in oblatione ejus peccent, absque voluntate illius eum mihi offerentes.
Quod si aliquis sive pater sive mater puerum suum ad servitium meum offerre voluerit, antequam eum praesentet, dicat: Promitto Deo quod puerum meum solerti custodia usque ad intelligibilem aetatem ejus custodiam supplicando, deprecando, exhortando eum ut in servitio Dei devote permaneat. Et si mihi consenserit, festinanter eum ad servitutem Dei offero; vel si mihi assensum non praebuerit, insons coram oculis majestatis ejus inveniar. Si autem parentes pueri eum his modis usque ad intelligibilem aetatem ejus prosecuti fuerint; si tunc puer se avertens illis consentire noluerit; tunc et ipsi, quia devotionem suam in illo quantum valebant ostenderunt, eum sine voluntate illius non offerant, nec eum ad servitutem illam pervenire cogant, quam nec ipsi ferre nec adimplere volunt.
Qui autem devoto animo se mihi libenter subjicere voluerit, ad hoc strenue exhortandus est ut perveniat, nec per livorem alicujus malevolae animae a bona intentione sua retrahendus. Nam si quis aliquem illorum qui me sequi desiderant a proposito suo retraxerit, sacrilegium facit, quoniam foedus meum in mente illius dirupit, quapropter et in recto judicio rationem inde redditurus est; si in hac nequitia inflexibilis perduraverit, quia mihi servire volentem avertit: quod facere non debuit, ut scriptum est: Omne quod Domino consecratur, sive homo fuerit sive animal, sive ager, non veniet, nec redimi poterit . Quid hoc? Cum quaelibet anhelans anima, pleno officio scientiae ita bonum sensum in homine tangit, ut ille aliquam rem perficiat; tunc rem illam voluntas ejus confirmat dicens: Hoc decet ad honorem Dei. Et ita cum bona devotione et cum justa reverentia homo ille promittit Deo, illud ei offerens per osculum cordis, quod est per voluntatem desideriorum suorum. Et tunc illud hoc modo in dotem sanctificationis Deo oblatum est. Quomodo? Quia Deus in illo homine aedificantem voluntatem videns, ita eum per annulum sanctificationis suscipit, ut vir sponsam suam per annulum desponsationis sibi in foedus colligationis ne ipsam amodo dimittat munire solet.
Unde cum Deus voluntatem illam virilitate animi hominis susceperit, qui semetipsum ita constringit quod reliquit quod habet, et qui magis Deo dividit quam sibi quod possidet, tunc colligatio hujusmodi consecrationis ita permanebit, nec devotionem suam relinquet. Quare? Quia illam scientia hominis cognovit, quoniam bonus sensus ejus illam intellexit, et quia illam voluntas ipsius ad honorem Dei aedificavit; et ideo sive homo fuerit qui semetipsum ita Deo obtulit, sive animal homini subjectum quod eodem modo ad honorem Dei oblatum est, seu ager fructum proferens qui etiam ita Deo est consecratus, nec pro cariore pretio dari, nec sub viliore recompensatione retineri debet, ne honor Dei quasi in contemptibilem aestimationem deputetur. Sed sicut nullus contra voluntatem suam a saeculari via ad spiritualem tramitem converti cogendus est; ita etiam qui cum devotione voluntatis suae servitium meum aggressus est, et postea illud contemnens neglexerit, justo judicio ut illud recipiat revocandus est. Quomodo? Si habet aequos rectores et spirituales magistros zelum meum habentes, ii debent eum ad servitutem meam revocare, et hoc primum facient supplicatione, exhortatione, et blando sermone eum linientes, et deinde verberibus et constrictione frigoris et famis et aliis his similibus castigationibus eum corripientes, quatenus his miseriis admonitus, infernales poenas ad mentem suam revocet, et eas timens a se putredinem animae suae auferat, et ad semitam illam quam deseruerat ita revocatus redeat, ut etiam de his Evangelio scriptum est: Exi in vias et sepes et compelle intrare, ut impleatur domus mea . Quid hoc? Tu qui spiritualis pastor et justus rector et rectus magister es, exi de pristinis moribus tuis qui tibi de primo parente tuo adhaerent, et vade in viam arctam et angustam, et in compositionem inflexorum praeceptorum quae justissimi viri in textura Spiritus sancti composuerunt; et acutissime in zelo meo considera eos qui sub praecepto et magistratione tua degentes aut susceperunt aut voverunt sua voluntate et non ex alterius hominis injusta coactione sanctum propositum pacti mei observare, et cum postea illud contemnentes ad vetera vitia cupiunt redire: hos dulcibus et amaris correptionibus compelle ecclesiasticam disciplinam intrare, ut domus dotationis meae tam ex strenue correptis quam ex suaviter admonitis impleatur, quoniam alii ad vitam diversis castigationibus et alii variis blandis admonitionibus vocandi sunt.
Quomodo? Ut diligens pastor perditam ovem suam sollicite requirit, ita et spirituales magistri subjectos suos per diversa vitia errantes multa diligentia requirere debent, sua scilicet solertia cogentes eos, ut in domum justitiae de qua exierunt vel exire volebant revertantur, ut Ecclesia in una parte ex amore correptis et in altera ex blande adhortatis ovibus impleatur, et ita ad superna pascua perducatur.
Qui autem tunc ita obturati sunt, quod nec propter corporalem castigationem quae eis a praepositis magistris suis in zelo meo infertur, nec propter timorem meum quoniam ego sum Deus nolens iniquitatem, nec propter amorem effusi sanguinis Filii mei qui pro ipsis passus est se corrigere volunt, sed fidelissimos amicos meos qui vias meas velociter currunt polluere sua putredine laborant; tunc ab amicis meis ne gregem meum contaminent ut lupi expellendi sunt, quemadmodum Paulus amicus meus hortatur dicens: Auferte malum ex vobis (I Cor. V). Quid hoc? Vos qui in culmine regiminis estis, et qui in humilitate subjectionis manetis, expellite malum illud a vobis quod timorem meum contemnens mihi Creatori coeli et terrae contradicit, illud tam forti examinatione a vobis expellentes, ut in conscientia vestra radicem non figat, nec in consortio vestro pedem suum ponat, ne dulcia pigmenta bonorum operum in vobis vilescant. Sed qui ex his in poenitentia reverti voluerit, et me Creatorem suum pro corde quaesierit; etiamsi in extremitate cursus sui venerit ego tamen suscipiam eum quia cuncta juste judico.
Qui autem thesaurum cordis sui subtrahendo abscondit, dicens: Nisi sentiam me moriturum, a saecularibus causis me non convertam et ita conversionem suam usque ad expirationem animae suae differt, et cum jam amplius spirare non valet, diutius praesentem vitam se posse habere desperans saeculo renuntiare tentat: hic animam suam decipit, quoniam conversio ejus deceptibilis est, hoc ludificando fecit, ut ludificatio etiam accipitur. Ille vero qui jam morti proximus, toto corde propter peccata sua et propter amorem meum saeculo renuntiaverit, scilicet quandiu vivat mihi ardenter servire desiderans; vere devotionem ejus cum omnibus choris angelorum suscipio, et ei gloriam vitae tribuo. Nam quamvis homo in multo crimine occupatus sit, cum tangit peccata sua ita quod amare delicta sua deflet, et hoc simplici oculo facit quia me ad iracundiam provocavit, ego eum a morte ad salutationem erigo, nec ei supernam haereditatem denego, secundum quod psalmista David in Spiritu meo testatur, dicens: In quacunque die invocavero te, ecce cognovi quoniam Deus meus es . Quid hoc? In quacunque luce vitae meae ulla claritas supernae illustrationis in mente mea qui in tenebris jaceo, per divinam gratiam se ostenderit, ita quod in amaritudine poenitentiae peccatorum meorum et in vulneribus gravati cordis mei invocavero te qui omnibus te puro corde invocantibus remedium tuae pietatis concedis; tunc in eadem visitatione cognovi, quia tu qui haec misericorditer operaris Deus meus es? Quid est hoc? Cum per gratiam tuam me ad hoc perduxeris, quod te Deum meum in operibus justitiae cognovero, ita quod in operibus iniquitatis meipsum damno et reprimo: tunc suscipis me simpliciter te quaerentem, et lacrymose post te clamantem atque in viriditate animae meae te cognoscentem, quia tu es ille qui haec facere potes; tunc enim corpus meum in vera poenitentia contero, et illud quasi pro nihil habeo. Et cum tali modo poenitentiam suam homo fecerit, remedium peccatorum suorum inveniet.
Quomodo? Quia me Deum suum cognovit. Quomodo? Quoniam peccata sua deseruit, et ideo per oculum poenitentiae videbit quod illa vana fuerunt quae prius ardenter in mala concupiscentia perpetravit
Quapropter nemo negligat remedium poenitentiae quaerere, quia si illam sanus in corpore neglexerit, studeat tamen ut eam vel in extremo tempore suo inveniat, et ad salvationem eum suscipiam quoniam quamvis sordes magnae sint in peccatis, tamen propter Filium meum in pura poenitentia abluuntur, praeter hunc qui blasphemiam contra Spiritum sanctum impoenitens dixerit, et qui se ipsum in mortem corporis sui obduratus praecipitaverit, quia haec duo velut unum sunt. Istos in gloria supernae vitae nescio, ut in Evangelio scriptum est: Omne peccatum et blasphemia remittetur hominibus, spiritus autem blasphemiae non remittetur. . Quid hoc? Omne peccatum quod in superfluitate carnis, aut cum libidine, aut cum amaritudine, aut aliis his similibus vitiis peractum fuerit, seu blasphemia quae est in cultu idolorum ubi verus Deus ignoratur et falsum figmentum adoratur, aut invocatio daemoniorum ubi verus Deus scitur, et tamen in perversitate hominum diabolus invocatur: haec omnia in pura poenitentia remittentur hominibus, cum per compunctionem lacrymarum ex intimo corde verum Deum omnibus se invocantibus misericordiam suam misericorditer praestantem fideliter quaesierint. Quoniam, quamvis hujusmodi homines graviter in peccatis errando delinquant, tamen si Deum imperio et potestate in coelis regnantem omnino non abjiciunt, manum auxilii ejus quaerentes invenient. Sed si in infidelitate sua perseveraverint, ita quod ab hac perversitate nunquam resipiscant, sed fixo corde et anima consentiente Deum omnino abnegent, sic intra semetipsos dicentes: Quid est hoc quod dicitur Deus? Nam Dei non est misericordia aut veritas, ut velit aut possit me adjuvare: et ita impoenitentes diffidant a peccatis suis se posse mundari, aut ullo modo salvari: hi Deum blasphemant, et ob hoc propter nequitiam obdurationis suae si ita perseveraverint, remissionem blasphemiae non percipient, quia intellectum cordis sui ita suffocant, quod sursum suspirare non valent, quoniam illum per cujus misericordiam salvari debent, quasi nihilum habent, ut etiam David testatur, dicens: Dixit insipiens in corde suo: Non est Deus .
Quid est hoc? Per stultam locutionem qui sapientia et intellectu vacuus erat, Deum in corde suo abnegavit, etiam ad cognoscendum eum insipiens fuit. Quomodo? Quia verum Deum nec scire nec intelligere voluit, cum in obdurato sensu dicebat: Quid est Deus? Deus non est. Et quid vel ego sum? Nescio quid sum. Qui haec dicit insipiens est, quoniam veram sapientiam qua Deus cognoscitur non habet.
Sed quisquis Deum in potestate sua regnantem non ficte cognovit, hic sapiens est, quamvis peccator sit. Unde quisquis hoc fixum in corde suo habet, de Dei misericordia desperat, dicens: Deus nihil est, hunc nescio, jam me nescivit, et hunc nego, quoniam me negavit. Et ideo ille ad vitam non resurget, nec ullum gaudium habere potest, quia omnes creaturae eum destituunt, quoniam Creatorem earum pro nihilo habuit. Sed et ille qui de peccatis suis desperat, ita quia prae magnitudine ponderis eorum se posse salvari non credit, infidelis est, et ideo ad vitam non perveniet, quia illi qui vitam omnibus dat contradicit. Quod si quis ex his omnibus poenitentia ductus, me veraciter quaesierit, me inveniet, quoniam neminem abjicio qui puro corde recurrit ad me.
Si autem nigerrimae tempestates hujus blasphemiae et desperationis super quempiam hominem ceciderint, et ipse nec in corde suo nec in voluntate sua, nec in sapore perversi gustus eis consenserit, sed in hoc certamine valde cruciatur, tunc si in eodem agone fortiter repugnans perseveraverit, citius ei subvenio. Et propter has gravedines non dubitet, quia contra maximas procellas eum fortissimum pugnatorem dico, et eum velocius juvabo atque eum in amicum habebo, quoniam propter amorem meum tantas adversitates patienter sustinens nobiliter superavit. Sed et sicut ille qui me verum Deum nullo modo, ulla fide aut spe in corde suo vult scire, ad vitam non resurgit, ut dictum est, ita nec ille qui se ipsum in mortem corporis sui praecipitaverit, quia separationem illam quam hominibus constitui non exspectat; sed se ipsum sine ulla spe misericordiae discindit. Unde et in perditionem cadit, quoniam hoc occidit cum quo poenitere debuit. Nam qui illud ab homine separat quod in homine posui, magno reatui se subdit, quemadmodum in Evangelio Filius meus ostendit, dicens: Audistis quia dictum est antiquis: Non occides? Qui autem occiderit reus erit judicio. . Quid est hoc?
Vos qui pedem vestrum super fundamentum petrae ponere vultis, notate quoniam per sonum illum qui de radice rationalitatis exit percepistis, quia in verbis Scripturae quae sensum illum habet quem digitus Dei dedit demonstratum est iis qui vos in antiquitate praecesserunt, ne dividerent in homine quod divina dispositione in illo conjunctum est. Quid hoc? Quia qui Adae lignum scientiae boni et mali interdixit, dicens: In quocumque die comederis ex eo, morte morieris . Hic etiam per Moysen generi ejus locutus est: Non occides, nec dissipabis quod ad imaginem Dei factum est. Sed sicut Adam praeceptum transgressus vita salutis semetipsum et genus suum privavit, ita etiam homo qui facturam Dei in homine destruit, fideles generationes salutarium operum ab anima et a corpore suo abscindit. Ex hoc etiam reum judicialis sententiae se faciens, in exsilium miseriae vadit. Quapropter ille qui tam crudelem separationem in homine fecerit, in multas calamitates se mittit, videlicet hoc separans quod meum est, quia corpus et animam simul in homine conjunxi. Et quis est ille qui haec audeat separare?
Et cum ille in multa gravedine peccati sit qui alium occidit, quid tunc iste erit qui seipsum in mortem tradit? et hoc in pulverem mittit cum quo debuit crimina sua diluere. Nam qui se ipsum occiderit perditum angelum imitatur, qui primus iniquitatem inveniens se ipsum in perditionem tradidit et se ipsum in morte occidit. Quomodo? Quoniam Deo invidit; qui nec ortum habuit, nec finem accipiet, et qui omnia regit quae in coelo et in terra sunt. Et sicut superbus ille diabolus noluit aspicere in me cum se ipsum in perditionem dejecit, sic nec is homo me scire dignatur qui se ipsum violenter discindit; unde et in mortem cadit, sicut et ille cum semetipsum in perditionem praecipitavit. Nam antequam corrueret, iniquitatem suam super pennas ventorum elevare voluit, et quasi volatile quod in aere volat, sic in coelestibus volare tentavit. Unde et in hac praesumptione, semetipsum a beatitudine in infelicitatem dejecit.
Sed ego de terra formavi hominem, ut ab inferioribus ad superiora conscenderet, et ut incipiendo et perficiendo bona opera, sursum praeclaras virtutes ad ardua aedificaret. Quapropter et homo qui et corpus et animam habet, cum bona operari potest, et cum poenitere valet, semetipsum non occidat, ne postea locum illum recipiat, ubi nec opus nec poenitentiam habere potest, sicut et diabolus qui dum semetipsum occideret, in tartara dejectus est. Sed qui vigilantibus oculis videt et attentis auribus audit, hic mysticis verbis meis osculum amplexionis praebeat quae de me vivente emanant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.4.4 — And Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering.
- ↩Matt.15.13 — But he answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted."
- ↩Luke.15.4 — Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it?
- ↩Ps.13.1 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
- ↩Matt.5.21 — You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'
- ↩Matt.5.21 — You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'antiquae institutionis' refers to the strictness of the Old Covenant/Law, which is here contrasted with the 'new grace' of the Gospel.
- 2 ↩The term 'compunction' is used here to reflect the Latin 'poenitentia' in the context of a piercing, grace-filled sorrow for sin, as per the lexeme policy.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
Keep Hildegard in your mornings
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