Visio Nona
The Tower of the Church
The visionary sees a brilliant tower representing the Church being constructed amidst the spiritual movement of humanity.
After this, beyond the column of the Savior’s humanity I mentioned earlier, I saw a tower of brilliant splendor. It was set upon the stone wall in the southern part of the building I had seen before, positioned so it could be seen from both inside and outside. It was five cubits wide all along its inner circumference, but it was so tall I couldn't make out its height. But between that tower and the column of the Savior’s humanity, only the foundation had been laid, with no wall yet built above it, but only an interrupted and empty space appearing; it was one cubit in length, as has also been shown above. This tower wasn't fully built yet, but many workers were constructing it diligently and rapidly. It had seven battlements around its summit, built with marvelous strength. On the inner side of the building, I saw what looked like a ladder reaching to the top of the tower. From bottom to top, a multitude of people stood on its steps; they had fiery faces and white garments, but black shoes. Among them were others of similar appearance but greater stature and splendor, watching the tower itself with great diligence. Then, in the northern region of the same building, I saw the world and the people born from the seed of Adam moving within the bright wall of the building's speculative knowledge, and the circumference of the circle extending from the one sitting on the throne. Many of them were passing through the building between the tower of the movement of God’s will and the column of the divinity of His Word, entering and exiting through that wall of speculative knowledge, just as a cloud drifts here and there. But those who entered the building itself were clothed in a most white garment. Some of them, exulting with great joy at the sweetness and softness of that garment, kept it; others, however, made sad by its weight and difficulty, wanted to take it off. This virtue, which I had previously heard called the knowledge of God, often restrained them kindly, saying to each of them: Consider and guard the garment with which you are clothed. And I saw that some of them, chastised by these words, although that garment seemed difficult to them, nevertheless kept it with much sweat; but some, mocking those words and furiously taking off the garment itself, threw it away, returning to the world from which they had come, and searching through many things, they learned many useless vanities of the world.
The Call to the World
A figure of beauty stands upon marble columns, calling the people of the world to abandon their sluggishness and seek divine help.
Some of them eventually returned to the building, picked up the garment they had cast off, and put it back on; others, however, refused to return and remained in the world, stripped of it and disgraced. I saw that some, utterly filthy and black, were stirred by a kind of madness; they came from the north, rushed into the building, and, bacchic in their frenzy, invaded the aforementioned tower, hissing like snakes. Some of these stopped their foolishness and became worldly, while others persisted in their same wickedness and filth. But inside that same building, I also saw seven white marble columns facing the tower, carved into a wonderful roundness, standing seven cubits high, and bearing on their tops a sort of iron, circular platform, raised slightly and gracefully into the air. On the summit of this platform, I saw a figure of great beauty standing and looking out at the people in the world, whose head shone with such brilliance, like lightning, that I could not look at it fully. The figure had reverently placed its hands against its chest, while its feet were hidden from my view on that same platform. On its head, however, it wore a circle like a crown, shining with great splendor. It was also dressed in a golden tunic, upon which a single sash descended from the chest to the feet, decorated with the ornament of most precious gems—green, white, red, and gold—all shimmering with a purple radiance. And it called out to the people who were in the world, saying: "O you who are slow, why don't you come?" Wouldn't you be helped if you were willing to come? When you begin to run the way of God, gnats and flies are a hindrance to you with their buzzing. But you must take up the fan of the Holy Spirit's inspiration and quickly drive them away. You must run, and you must also hope for God's help. Don't be insincere in your service to God, and you'll be strengthened by His hand. On the floor of that building, I saw three other figures; one was leaning against the columns mentioned earlier, and the other two stood beside it, all of them facing toward the column of the Savior's humanity and the tower mentioned earlier. The one leaning against the columns appeared so wide that it was the width of five people standing together, and it was so tall that I couldn't fully discern its length, though it was clear that it was looking out over the entire building. It also had a large head and bright eyes, and it gazed most keenly into heaven, being entirely white and translucent like a very serene cloud.
The Battle Against Darkness
The virtues are exhorted to rise against the darkness of Lucifer and the Antichrist, armed with the armor of faith.
I didn't see any other human form in it. It called out through the whole building to all the other virtues, saying: “Let’s all rise up energetically, because Lucifer is spreading his darkness throughout the whole world.” Let’s build towers and strengthen them with heavenly defenses, since the devil is the adversary and attacker of God’s chosen ones. Just as he originally wanted and attempted to do much in his brightness, so he still wants and attempts to do much in his darkness. For he spreads his malice and wickedness by breathing them out and scattering them, and he refuses to stop doing this. We heavenly soldiers have been placed against these things to overcome him in his malice and wickedness; otherwise, people won't be able to be saved in the world because of his attacks. And just as he himself attempted to resist the Divinity at his first beginning, so also his imitator, the Antichrist, will attempt to resist the Incarnation of the Lord in the final time. Lucifer fell at the beginning of time, and the Antichrist will collapse at the end of it. Then it will be clear who the true God is, and it will be seen who it is that never fell. Just as Lucifer had demons as followers who followed him from the heights of heaven into the fall of damnation, so he still has people on earth who follow him to the ruin of perdition. But we, the virtues, have been placed against his cunning and his exhalations, which he sends out to swallow up souls, so that all his arts may be brought to nothing by us in the souls of the just, to the extent that he appears confounded on every side. And so, through us, God will be acknowledged, because He must not be hidden but manifested, since He is just in all things. The first of those who stood beside her before this image appeared armed, wearing a helmet, breastplate, greaves, and iron gauntlets, while holding a drawn sword in her right hand and a spear in her left. And trampling a horrible dragon under her feet, she pierced its mouth with the iron of her spear, so that it vomited out the most foul foam. She also brandished the sword she held as if to strike forcefully. And she said: 'Most mighty God, who can resist and oppose You?' The ancient serpent, that dragon the devil, cannot do this. Therefore, with your help, I want to resist him, so that no one—strong or weak, prince or outcast, noble or commoner, rich or poor—can prevail over me or cast me down. I want to be like the strongest steel, making all weapons fit for the wars of God, in which I am the sharpest blade; for no one will be able to break through in you, the most powerful God, through whom I have even risen to cast out the devil. And so, I will always be a most certain refuge for the frailty of men, giving to their weakness an incoming sword to defend themselves. O most merciful and most loving God, help those who are contrite in heart. The other image appeared three-headed, with one head in the natural place and one on each shoulder, though the middle one stood out slightly more than the other two. But the middle head and the one on the right shone with such brilliance that their brightness dazzled my sight. So I couldn't perfectly discern whether they had a masculine or feminine form, though the one that appeared on the left was slightly obscure and veiled in a white garment, like a woman.
The Three-Headed Image of Holiness
A three-headed figure representing Holiness, the Root of Good, and Self-Denial reveals the necessity of humility and perseverance.
That figure was dressed in a tunic of white silk, with very bright shoes. On its chest, it bore the sign of the cross, around which a great splendor shone on its breast like the rising dawn. In its right hand, however, it held a naked sword, which it pressed to its chest and to the cross with great devotion. And I saw written on the forehead of the middle head, 'Holiness'; on the forehead of the right one, 'Root of Good'; and on the forehead of the left one, 'Not sparing itself'. And the middle one, looking toward the other two, said: I was born from holy humility, just as an infant is born from a mother. Through her I was raised and strengthened, just as a child is nourished by a nurse to grow strong. My mother, Humility, conquers and overcomes all obstacles, even those that others find unbearable. And the head that was at her right, looking toward the principal head, said: 'In my first origin, I am rooted in the mountain of the highest peak, which is God.' And therefore, O Holiness, so that you may stand, it is necessary that I cling to your inner depths. But the one that stood at her left, also looking toward the principal head, said: 'Woe, woe, woe: how rigid and inflexible I am, that I find it so difficult to overcome myself—O Holiness, will you help me?' For you won't be able to stand without me, if I should flee. Ah! Ah! Ah! It's good for the negligent, because I still must pull out this most restless thorn that tries to goad me into ruin; if I don't pull it out before it's completely embedded in me, and before it festers in me like a rotting corpse. O holiness, so that I may freely persevere in you, I want to avoid the devil's most rapacious snare and break it apart in the true God.
The Interpretation of the Vision
The Lord provides a detailed explanation of the tower, the columns, the figures, and the spiritual warnings against simony and pride.
And again, the one who sat on the throne as before revealed this to me, saying: 'With the Son of God incarnate, the calling of the new people—raised up through His teaching in the Holy Spirit toward salvation, rising through the strengthening of strong men, and fortified in the exhortation of blessed virtues against the most savage enemy, whom no human can resist unless helped by the grace of God—shows itself to be so impregnable by the help of God that it can never be torn away or destroyed by any art of his snares.' Hence, the tower you see beyond the aforementioned column of the Savior's humanity prefigures the Church; which, completed by the incarnation of my Son, is a new construction risen in every good work, in the strength and height of heavenly acts, as a most fortified tower set against the devil to resist iniquity. Therefore, it is also of the most lucid splendor, placed upon the aforementioned stone wall of the southern side of that building so that it can be seen both inside and outside the building itself; because, illuminated by the most serene light of the humanity of the Son of God, it holds living stones, kindled in this way by the heat of the Holy Spirit in divine work, so that it is openly demonstrated in that building which the supreme Father works through His Only-Begotten, both to the interior knowledge of the heavenly intellect of the Scriptures and to the exterior foolishness of worldly things, and to the faithful and the unfaithful. And its width, indeed, is everywhere five cubits in the interior part of its circuit, because it refers the breadth of all intimate inspection and the intention of all continuous meditation—through the five senses of its adornment in the infusion of the Holy Spirit, along with all those virtues which the true Lamb manifests to it—to the honor of that same Lamb, its Spouse. It appears so high that you cannot discern it, because the height and depth of divine wisdom and knowledge in the work of the Church are greater than the fragile, mortal human heart can search out on its own. The fact that only the foundation has been laid between that tower and the column of the Savior’s humanity, with no wall built above it—just an empty, broken space that appears to be one cubit long, as you were shown earlier—means this: regarding the Church joined to my Son in their betrothal, a great proclamation remains hidden in the knowledge of God, as if in a firm foundation. It doesn't yet shine forth in a completed work of perfection, but lies hidden in human hearts without being revealed, though it is one cubit long, because the minds of men are in the power of the one true and omnipotent God, such that a person, through their own intellect, can grasp in the knowledge of good and evil what is most useful to them, as was also shown to you earlier by a clear demonstration. And the fact that this tower isn't yet fully built, even though it's being constructed diligently and quickly by many workers, means that the Church hasn't yet reached the course and the state it's destined to attain, even though it never ceases to hasten daily toward the effect of its own beauty, with great care and industry, through the swiftness of passing times in its children who come and go, without delay. Yet around its summit, it has seven battlements built with marvelous strength, for it is surrounded in the heights of heavenly works by the seven impregnable gifts of the Holy Spirit; these are of such power that no adversary can destroy them, nor can anyone, through the pride of their own mind, reach up to them. The ladder you see rising from inside the building to the top of the tower means that through the work the Father accomplished in his divine plan through his Son, many people flourish in unity, rising through the steps of the Church’s orderly procession; they reach toward the height of heavenly secrets, where the Church is strengthened and made firm. And from the bottom to the top, a great multitude of people stands on its steps, because from the first days of the Church’s betrothal until that wedding time when she will openly rejoice with her Bridegroom in the full wall of her children, the apostolic lights will shine on the steps of the structure of God’s commandments—the very steps by which she was built—defending her from the darkness of faithlessness with their protection. This is why they have fiery faces and white garments, but black shoes. In their intellectual sense—that is, the clear faith of apostolic leaders—believing in one God through the fire of the Holy Spirit is like a face set ablaze within them. They shine before God and the world with the pure brightness of their good works, yet the blackness of their shoes remains visible, because they have walked through the paths of infidelity and the filth of the many sins of unbelievers, whom they have led to the way of justice by their own example, though with great difficulty. But the fact that some among them appear with a similar design but of greater stature and splendor means that among these same ecclesiastical defenders are the first founders of the Church herself. They built her up first after the Son of God through their preaching, and they hold the same standard as those who follow them and are known to imitate them especially. For just as those went before, so these have followed, yet they excel them in form because they had no other predecessor from whom to draw an example of new grace except the Son of God, from whose mouth they heard the word of life, and they surpass them in brightness because they saw the radiance of his incarnation more directly than the others. They also watch over the tower itself with great diligence, because they never cease to be present to the bride of God in divine love and with the concern of their own devotion, so that she may stand perfectly in her strength, as it is written: 'Your neck is like the tower of David, which is built with battlements.' 'A thousand shields hang from it, all the armor of the valiant.' This is what it means. Just as the incarnation of the Son of the supreme Ruler—the most powerful lion coming from the floral purity of the Virgin—was established as the most powerful instrument of new grace, so the strength of your faith, O new bride, enduring and incorrupt, is established as the most certain protection for the faithful people. How? All the defenses of your children are present and cling to your most powerful strengths; they are to be nourished by the new illumination of streams flowing from wine and the purest fountain, which you possess in this union of strength. Just as the neck is joined to the rest of the body, so you cannot be destroyed or scattered, just as the victorious instruments of the true David cannot be overcome. How so? The power of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is a most strong tower; in it, the most victorious army of the faithful is trained through the most invincible testing, and no adversary will boast of prevailing against them, because they contain within themselves Christ, the true God and man. Through Him, in the second regeneration, the entire structure of your children is most fittingly extended toward salvation. From this comes that pure incarnation, foretold by the prophets and adorned with the precious stones of virtues, along with the battlements of apostolic teaching—that is, the planters of the justice of the true light—which was proclaimed to the whole world for the salvation of believers, just as this parable demonstrates: A certain Lord, possessing a marble city, thundered into it with a great voice and carved its walls on the inside with many engravings, from which He breathed a sharp filing of unpolished stones. When this was done, the same Lord, in His one word, spoke to the waters of the waters, that by their outpouring they might create equality above the mountains. And when this was also finished, He similarly admonished the fire of the fire to prepare small tabernacles. When this was also completed, those same tabernacles grew so high that they surpassed that city in height through their swift progress. This is what it means: This Lord is the One whom no other has ever preceded in dominion. He alone is above all things and in all things, because nothing was found before Him, nor after Him, and therefore He is the Lord of all. He held the noble city—the choir of prophets—firm and constant in His power against the rage of worldly storms. They were filled with the infusion of the Holy Spirit when the same Lord thundered into them with a great voice, stirring up in them the inspiration by which they brought forth His mysteries in obscure words. Thus, the sound is heard first when the word is not yet known, though the sound of their prophecy is followed by the true Word, the Son, namely, the incarnate God. It is the Lord who carved many images into their hearts when He infused their understanding with the manifold spirit of wisdom, so that they prophesied the deep things of God—both of the present and of the future age—in a spiritual sense. Through Him, they brought forth powerful words against the contrary ways of men, by which they provoked the hardened hearts of the Jews toward gentleness and the piety of blessed deeds. But when the Word of God became incarnate, the heavenly Father, pointing to the apostles—who were men set apart from the common people, chosen like the purest streams from among the other waters flowing on the plain—spoke to them, saying that they should flow out into the world with the flood of true faith, crushing and breaking down the great schism of contempt, the prideful puffing up, and the exaltation of idol worship, so that by knowing the true God, men might abandon their infidelity through their preaching. Once this faith was strengthened among the people, the same Provider of all things gently admonished the burning minds of His chosen ones—those kindled by the hearts of the men whom the Holy Spirit touched upon arriving in tongues of fire—also in the Holy Spirit. He did this so that, having become despisers of the world in their contemplation of the heavenly life, they would not refuse to be little ones and poor in spirit, but rather that through these small dwellings of humility, they might store up heavenly riches for themselves. While they imitated these works of humility, always ruminating on the most subtle precepts of God as despisers of fleeting things—like the martyrs, virgins, and the rest who rejected themselves—they ascended in this contrition of theirs to the love of heavenly things. They even surpassed the laborers in the vineyard of the Old Testament in the speed of their good works, while they held themselves as nothing and panted with all their desire for eternal things. Hence, a thousand shields—that is, many perfect defenses of the perfect faith—hang from the Son of God by a new grace; while the first shepherds of the Church, drawing their example from Him and trampling themselves underfoot for the hope of heavenly things, protect the Catholic faith, which was strengthened by the shedding of His blood, from the fiery darts of the devil (which wound the souls of men), and following the manifold virtues of the armor of the heavenly militia in the other chosen ones, they also obey the love of God in this age. How so? Because the ancient serpent breathed the foulest stench of contempt for God into the first man, the devil himself is pierced by the fragrance of all the aromatics of chastity—that is, of continence and the binding precepts of God, and also of the fellowship of Christ. He is unable to bear His yoke and is most harshly pierced by the contempt of the whole world in these heavenly darts that are contrary to him, so that, cast out from the city of God, confused and trampled in the open part of his own damnation, he is abhorred by the faithful. When you see the world and the people born from Adam’s seed in the northern region of that building, moving between the bright wall of speculative knowledge and the circle’s perimeter extending from the One sitting on the throne, it means that the world and worldly people, placed there by our first parent's fault, dwell in carnal desires that lean toward weakness and are caught up in earthly, worldly cravings. On one side, the knowledge of good and evil is set before them so they might approach God’s work by choosing the good and fleeing the evil; on the other, God’s power is shown to them so they might know they are under His majesty and not doubt that all their deeds are examined by Him. And so, many people pass through the building itself—moving in and out between the tower of God’s will and the pillar of the Word’s divinity—by way of that wall of speculative knowledge, scattering like clouds here and there. This is because, once they are warned by the work of God in the Old Testament and the new beginning, they approach it through speculative knowledge, leaving behind their carnal desires; yet many, following their own pleasures, leave it behind in their evil cravings. In this way, they let themselves drift here and there in their own will—whether toward good or toward evil—with the speed of clouds, which is to say, in the motion of their own thoughts. But the fact that those who enter the building are clothed in a most white garment means that those who approach the work of God with a good will are clothed in the purest and brightest garment of true faith, so that they may know God through His mercy. Some of them, exulting with great joy in the sweetness and gentleness of that garment, keep it; for, filled with a contrite and humbled spirit, imbued with the sweetest and gentlest Catholic faith, and steeped in the inner liquor of holiness, they always rejoice in heavenly things with their inner eyes, most devoutly fulfilling and keeping what the Holy Spirit inspires in them. Others, however, feeling saddened by its weight and difficulty, want to cast it off; for, burdened as if by a very heavy load and hindered as if by a very difficult path, they tear and torment themselves inwardly with the restless and bitter habit of illicit pleasure, trying to throw away the faith in their own works and refusing to let themselves be moved by divine precepts. This virtue—which you have heard called the knowledge of God—gently restrains them and says to each of them the truth of its own warning, as has been said before. For the most high God, foreknowing that the hearts of hard stones in men can be softened, turns Himself in His mercy toward them (as has been shown to you), frequently reminding them to pray to Him while groaning and weeping within themselves, so that He may free them from the persistence of their own wickedness by which they have been steeped in diabolical persuasion, so that in this repentance they may be able to return to an understanding of good will, remembering the garment of innocence they received in the regeneration of spirit and water. But as you see, some of them, chastened by these words, keep it with much sweat, even though the garment seems difficult to them. This means that, warned by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they take up the path in the faith they receive, even though it seems heavy and difficult to their minds; yet, not despairing and not sluggish with boredom, they eventually complete it through much labor. Some, however, mock these same words and furiously strip off and throw away the garment itself, returning to the world from which they came and searching out many things, learning many useless worldly vanities. These are the ones who hold the law of God and His justice in derision, stripping themselves of the Catholic faith in the vanities of their own errors, denying it in the evil works that lead to death, and turning themselves toward the vanities of this world—which they had previously feigned to abandon—and, seeking out lustful deeds in perverse acts, they learn the burning taste of the world and pervert it with diabolical mockery according to its deception. Some of them, finally returning to the same building, take up again and put on the garment they had thrown away; for these people come back to the divine work, returning from the path of their own error, and throwing away the schism of the devil which they had accepted according to his will, they take up again with a pure and simple heart the habit of true faith which they had received in baptism and which they had thrown away in their errors while mocking the true God. Others, however, refuse to return; stripped of that garment, they remain in the world in disgrace. Because they scorn returning to God through sincere repentance, they are stripped of the robe of innocence. Consequently, they are left naked of the good works of the faithful, yet filled with the evil of diabolical arts, and they spend their lives in the wickedness of worldly vanities, moving toward death in a state of impenitence and with the greatest confusion, both in this present age and in the one to come. But as for your seeing how certain most sordid and blackened men, stirred up as if by madness, come from the north and rush into the building itself, invading the aforementioned tower with wild abandon and hissing at it like serpents: this means that certain wicked people, happy in the shifting heat of their own stupor and stained by the darkness of a diabolical outlook, look toward God, yet they do not seek the cause they desire through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Instead, inspired and incited by diabolical art and sent from the side of damnation, they enter the divine work with cunning craft. By stealing in secret, seizing openly, and raging in madness, they recklessly devour the offices established by God through the horrific, diabolical darkness of money, and by thus disturbing the Church with their insane fury, they hiss into her the deceptions of the ancient serpent. How is that? With diabolical cunning, they breathe upon unsuspecting people until they overcome them according to their own will through a deadly purchase; with this hiss of arrogance, they contaminate the Church while they steal the powers that were established by my ordination. Because they do these things, they are cast out, unrepentant, from my sight, and I don't acknowledge them in these deeds; for they attained these things by themselves and not through me, as my servant Hosea shows, saying: 'They have reigned, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew not.' They have made their silver and their gold into idols for themselves, so that they might perish. This is what it means: people who follow their own will calculate and establish within themselves whatever their own appetite deliberates. What is that? It is the craving—the very concupiscence within them—that persuades them to dominate others with stolen and snatched honor, not requested, not assumed, and not established by me. Yet I sometimes permit this to happen so that a judicial penalty may come upon them because of their own wills, since they didn't seek me in this. And what good does that do them? Because in this they have no vitality, but only dryness; and because this is not planted, but grows in them like a useless weed without a root. For fruitless weeds grow easily from the earth on their own, but fruitful ones are sown and planted with great labor. In this way, I sometimes allow a person's earthly desire to flourish easily without a root in evil, not seeking the planting of what is good—because it lacks the vitality of summer—while also allowing their right desire, well-rooted in what is good, to bring forth fruit through many miseries, loving the watering of holiness because it lacks the harshness of winter. Consequently, vile people often excel in leadership over the common and useful population, just as useless weeds are sometimes taller than useful plants. I allow this to happen by a just judgment, because they didn't seek it from me, but established it within themselves, and for this they will answer to me in my judgment. They create a contradiction of vanity for themselves, even regarding the happiness of the best teaching—which they ought to examine in their soul, free from all indignity of faithlessness, just as silver is purged of all falsity—and the utility of the deepest wisdom, which they ought to order in their will with the most brilliant faith, always seeing how God is to be worshipped, venerated, and confessed. How? They bend it toward the greatest unhappiness, offering their intellect—which they have from God—to the insatiable desires of their own flesh, as if their own foul and rotting flesh were their god. They are unwilling to lift their eyes to the God who formed them, but instead hold their own will as their god, because they live according to this, as they order and establish it within themselves. They don't do this to possess the field that yields the food of eternal life, but rather to stay away from it and perish forever in their impenitence. The one they worship as God is dead, just as they themselves are dead—both the sellers and the buyers of spiritual things—desiring what they never sought from me. For how could anyone who seizes power through insane desire, making the reasonable gift of the Holy Spirit something to be bought and sold, ever be saved by such a sale? After all, a person who sells his own substance to strangers has no right to use it anymore. And how could that merchant even use the salvation he bought—which he refused to receive from God, but instead rushed to acquire with money—even though God, in His righteous judgment, allowed it to happen so that he might acquire it? For God, in His indignation, allows some to steal it; yet by a hidden judgment, He punishes them for this in the present life, though not in the future. This way, having loved in forgetfulness of the Holy Spirit, they might be confounded within themselves and, through this confusion, be led to return to God in repentance, and having completed this, attain forgiveness in the future. Some, however, He tolerates in this, not punishing them in the present but deferring it for a just cause until the future, because they hold their own will as their god. Therefore, He shows them in the future that their own will is of use to them only in bitter torments. But He also punishes others both in the present and in the future, because their clear intellect makes itself vile and contemptible of its own accord, imitating the devil in its evils. He also allows others to reach this point, so that the evil itself may be confounded in their repentance, when, punishing themselves sharply for the injustice they have committed, they cast it away like a putrid corpse. He mercifully holds some people back from attaining this; if they were to reach it, they wouldn't escape the punishments of hell, but would deserve to be severely tormented there. Whoever prostitutes or usurps for himself a seat of power in the counsel of his father—who is money, since money itself becomes his father in the marketplace—acquires destruction for himself from that dignity. Both the one who gave it and the one who received it must be cast out, because if a man’s livestock were stolen and sold to another, the one from whom it was stolen would reclaim it with full legal right; but the one who sold it and the one who bought it must both give it up without argument. So too, if the dignity of power, which ought to be possessed according to my justice, is snatched away by someone through a bribe and perversely scattered among others, it is demanded back by me with strict judgment. Therefore, both the one who put it on the market and the one who bought it unworthily will be deprived of its benefit by just judgment, because they have made a gift of plunder out of a temple consecrated to my name. How? They have taken the wisdom and counsel they held from me in their hearts and, by their own judgment, put it into the marketplace. From this, they receive for themselves the money of iniquity in the destruction of others. Therefore, they will either cast off that marketplace in bitter repentance, or they will answer to me for it in the fire of terrible heat. Anyone who tries to lead a living dignity—which the Spirit enlivens in spiritual heights—to the stench of oozing rot by buying it with a dead price will, because of that very perversity of presumption (unless he repents quickly), be thrust down into destruction. He will be like Peter, the son of the dove, who was inflamed by the Holy Spirit and, as a deserter of error who had left everything behind, said to the passing whirlwind that wanted to swallow up the light in its darkest blackness: 'May your money perish with you, because you thought the gift of God could be bought with money.' You have no part or share in this matter. For your heart isn't right before God. It is like this: the money of your deceptive confidence, which you hold in a foreign thing as if it were master—while it holds you as a slave, or rather as nothing—will be your ruin in the fire of hell. If you keep this gift, which belongs to the fiery Holy Spirit, having bought it through the wickedness of money, and remain unrepentant, it is because you have falsely thought that the burning of the soul by the most acute Inspector could be possessed by money, when you have lacked the faith that you could have it as a gift from God. But if you repent for this reason, you will let go of what you bought, and you will realize that the money you gave for it is lost, because you wanted to trade for what is eternal with the mud of the one who formed you from dust. As long as you persist in that purchase, you’ll have no share of the light in the company of the angels above, because through your words you’ve revealed the greed of your heart, desiring something other than what the citizens of eternal brightness desire. And so, your heart is unjust before God in this perversity, wanting to obtain through the purchase of money what should be given freely by God. Therefore, those who desert this divine covenant are compared by my just judgment to empty idols, because they ought to seek it as a free gift of the Holy Spirit but do not. Just as those idols, being the work of human hands, are empty of the company of truth yet are worshipped by the faithless as God, so these people, lacking the illumination of the Holy Spirit through the contradiction of earthly gifts, become false teachers. They are not chosen in the sighing of their own souls as if they were unworthy of that office, but they receive it from men in burning pride, not considering my will in this. For this reason, I don't know where they are from, and they are strangers to me, because if they persevere in this injustice, they are cast away by me. But if they repent with their whole heart, I will look upon them and cause there to be joy over them among the angels. Even though those who crave these positions with a twisted passion act unjustly, and even though you shouldn't agree with those who try to seize them through their own wickedness—as has been said—the offices themselves are good, well-ordered by God for the benefit of humanity. You shouldn't resist them with pride and stubbornness, but rather obey them in my love. Therefore, no believer who wants to obey God worthily should set themselves against the authority presiding over them, because that authority mimics the honor of God, guarding and feeding His sheep so that the honor of those sheep isn't scattered to a stranger who is a thief and a robber. Just as no one should resist God, no one should foolishly resist their own authority. Therefore, everyone living in soul and body under authorities higher than themselves—whether they hold temporal or spiritual justice—must obey those they are subject to. This way, the law of humanity established in the fear of their authority may guide them, lest they wander off in the undisciplined freedom of their own will, setting a law for themselves according to their own desires and going astray on the way of the Lord. For this reason, power is from God, so that they do not go astray. How? By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the offices of humanity have been arranged so that through them, people might learn to fear the Lord. If people pervert these offices into something contrary to their purpose according to their own whims, it is not, however, according to the will of God, but by His secret permission, so that in His just judgment their own craving, in its twisted passion, might be fulfilled to their own detriment. Therefore, the dignities of power, inspired by God for the benefit of humanity, were justly ordained by Him because of their great necessity, lest the people of God, living like cattle without a shepherd, wander off into the various devious paths of their own instability. Therefore, whoever resists them, unwilling to obey them in the subjection of humility as is just, because of the impulse of pride, does not contradict humanity, but contradicts Me, the Creator, who justly arranges all things. They stubbornly set themselves against Me according to the transgression of Adam, piling up the darkness of damnation for themselves because of this rebellion, just as that one was cast out from joy into misery. However, it is not the person who, in my zeal, walks in humility and does not consent to the twisted wickedness of others who is at fault—for that person increases justice by the justice of God rather than diminishing it, if they do so appropriately and at the right time—but rather the person who, out of puffed-up pride, wishes to indecorously oppress those very offices, since they were set forth by My arrangement for the benefit of the living, as has been said. Anyone who proudly kicks against these authorities is resisting my inspiration. Even though some people, blinded by the insanity of their own ignorance and failing to see my fear, push themselves into these same positions of authority—violating the divine command in the wickedness of their own will—I allow this to happen by a just judgment. I do it so they may have what they desire, only to answer for it through a most fair examination, either in severe penance or in the fire of hell. But as you see, while some turn away from this foolishness and become worldly, others persist in the same wickedness and filth; this means that some of them, through divine inspiration, repent of their perversity and deserve to be cleansed and saved through pure and true repentance, while others remain hardened and impenitent in their same cunning and impurity until the end of their lives, and so, miserably and cruelly suffocated, they die in the torments of a dire death. As for those seven marble columns of white you see inside the building, standing toward the tower of the Church and turned into a marvelous round shape: this means that for the protection and beauty of the new bride, the Holy Spirit has revealed seven most white supports of His inspiration, which by His strength wipe away every adversity of the storms, and has manifested a supreme power that has neither beginning nor end in the roundness of eternity. They are seven cubits high because those gifts, which exceed the strength and height of the entire human intellect, show that the One who created all things must be worshipped with the purest faith. At their summit, they have a platform that is round and looks like iron, raised up in a fitting way. In the excellence of His brightness, they signify the invincible and incomprehensible power of the Divinity, which covers and sustains in the heavenly realms—with its most elegant uprightness—those who have separated themselves here from carnal desires through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As for the fact that you see what looks like a beautiful figure standing on the top of that same platform: this means that this virtue existed in the most high Father before any creature, ordering in His counsel every instrument of the creatures that were created in heaven and on earth. It is, in fact, the great ornament shining in God, the broadest step of the steps of the other virtues existing in Him, and joined to Him in the sweetest embrace of burning love and dancing joy. It looks toward humanity in the world, because it always rules and guards with its protection those who wish to follow it, loving them deeply because they remain in it. For that figure represents the wisdom of God, because all things were created and are governed by it. Its head shines with such brilliance, like lightning, that you cannot look at it fully; for the divinity is both terrible and gentle to every creature, seeing and considering all things, just as the human eye judges what is placed before it, yet no human can ever reach the end of the depth of its mystery. Hence, it also holds its hands against its chest in a fitting way: this is the power of wisdom, which it wisely binds to itself, so that it directs all its work in such a way that no one can resist it in anything, either by prudence or power. Its feet remain hidden from your sight on that platform, for its depths, hidden in the heart of the Father, are not open to any human, but its secrets are naked and manifest to God alone. The fact that it has a circle on its head like a crown, shining with great splendor, means that the majesty of God, lacking beginning and end, shines with incomparable honor, with the Divinity radiating such brightness that the gaze of mortal minds is turned back by it. The fact that it is clothed in a tunic of golden color means that the work of wisdom is frequently considered as if it were purest gold. Therefore, a single sash descends from the chest to the feet, adorned with the most precious gems and decorated with the shimmering purple brilliance of green, white, red, and sky-blue colors. This is because from the beginning of the world, when wisdom first gave its work to open display, it has stretched itself like a single path to the end of the ages, adorned in holy and just commands—namely, the first planting of the green shoot of the patriarchs and prophets, who in the hardships of their labor's groaning begged with the greatest desire for the Son of God to be incarnate; then adorned with the most white virginity in the Virgin Mary; afterward in the most robust and reddening faith of the martyrs; and finally in the purple and clear charity of contemplation, by which God and neighbor are to be loved through the heat of the Holy Spirit. It will proceed in this way to the end of the world, with its admonition never ceasing, but always flowing forth as long as the world lasts, as this virtue also declares in its exhortation, just as has been said. But as for the fact that you see three other images on the floor of the building itself: this means that these virtues, which trample on earthly things and pursue heavenly things in divine work, signify three instruments through which the Church seeks eternal things for her children—namely, the nourishment of teachers, the battle of the faithful against the devil, and their turning back from the consent to vices. One of these leans against the aforementioned columns because church teachers, imbued by the gift of the Holy Spirit, find rest through its strength; and the other two stand beside it, since the love of God and neighbor is contained in their joint and sociable work through its exhortation. For this reason, they all direct themselves toward the column of the Savior's humanity and toward the aforementioned tower. They show with equal unanimity that the Son of God—true God and true man—is to be most devoutly honored and adored in the Church, lifting up justice through justice, and signifying, in the ancient saints, the most high God who worked the salvation of souls in the incarnation of his Son. But this image, which leans against the columns themselves, prefigures the justice of God; for after wisdom, it works in people through the Holy Spirit with all its righteousness, appearing of such breadth that it can be called the breadth of the five people standing by it—which is the expansion of the five senses of human capacity, with which it dwells in the breadth of God's law, containing and preserving the precepts of life established by God for those who love Him. It is also so tall that you can't perfectly discern its length, just as it looks out over this entire building. In its breadth, it surpasses human intellect and reaches upward toward heavenly things, even looking out from heaven in the incarnation of the Savior, when that same Savior—the Son of God—came forth from the Father, who exists as true justice. It directs its gaze toward all ecclesiastical instruments, for they are fashioned and contained by it, so that the higher ramparts are joined to the most fortified tower through which they can stand. Therefore, having a large head and clear eyes, it looks most sharply into heaven. The greatest and highest goodness of justice declared its most luminous vision to humanity through the incarnate Son of God, when He manifested Himself in a human body to earthly and darkened eyes, looking toward heavenly things through the redemption of souls. It is entirely white and translucent, like a most serene cloud. It dwells in the candor and purity of the minds of just people, who direct all their effort toward being most faithfully subject to the justice of God. It also likens itself to clouds, for it prepares a pleasing dwelling for itself in the hearts of the just. The reason you see no other human form in it is that it remains heavenly and not earthly, just as has been declared to you. It doesn't cling to the human works by which people are burdened, but to those which lead them to the justification of life. God is just, so it also, being opposed to the devil in the work of God, faithfully demonstrates the other virtues mentioned above. The first of the images standing beside the one mentioned earlier represents fortitude; for after the justice of God, fortitude rises like a prince in the sight of the Most High King, resisting all the traps of the enemy through right and holy action in people. It appears armed, namely with the power of the almighty God, because it is strong in faith and resists the devil's subjection with courage. Therefore, it is clothed in a helmet—that is, in the heavenly vigor for the salvation of believers—and a breastplate, which is the law of Christians, through which no arrow of the devil's craft can destroy the justice it contains within itself. It is also equipped with greaves, which are the straight paths frequented in the teaching of the principal masters, and with iron gauntlets, which are the strongest and sharpest works that the faithful perform in Christ. It also holds a drawn sword in its right hand, representing the warning of God, naked and open in the divine Scripture, which the true Son of God revealed in a mystical sense when He showed the inner sweetness of the kernel in the unveiling of the law. But by holding a spear in its left hand, it signifies the confidence that it also has in this action for unfaithful people, where they are attacked by carnal desires through the pleasure of the flesh. The fact that it tramples a horrible dragon under its feet means that it subjects the ancient and horrid serpent to its own power through the way of righteousness. It also pierces the creature's mouth with the iron of the spear so that it vomits up the foulest foam; for it pierces the gaping jaws of the most sordid and diabolical lust with the sharpest boldness of chastity, wringing from it the froth of the burning lust with which it pollutes people. Hence, it also brandishes the sword it holds as if to strike forcefully; for God has manifested His penetrating word in extended fortitude to kill all the infidelity of idols and other schisms that belong to unbelief, just as this virtue also manifests in its own warning. The second image signifies holiness; for when the devil is resisted through strength, holiness arises in good people as an ornament of the heavenly army. It is three-headed because it is led to its state by this threefold dignity, so that the head appears in the natural place of the head and on both its shoulders; for by a just and worthy action, God—the head of all true exultation, who is to be feared and revered in both the prosperity and adversity from which a person can be made happy or sad—is the head; yet the middle head rises slightly above the other two, for He who exists as the judge of the good and the bad surpasses all things by His equity. But the fact that the same middle one and the one at its right shine with such brilliance that their brightness dazzles your sight, so that you cannot perfectly discern whether they have a masculine or feminine form, means this: holiness, bathed in such splendor of divine grace at the height of honor and in the portion of the prosperity of eternal sweetness, consists in a mystery so deep that it exceeds the human intellect, so that because of the heaviness of mortality, one cannot perceive its freedom or its subjection in Christ, except for the fact that it thrives in Him. As for that head which appears on the left, it is somewhat dark and veiled in a white covering of feminine custom; for this perfection, which constrains itself strongly for the love of God in the adversity where it is attacked by diabolical infestation and human work, has a kind of anxiety and concern about how to defend itself with divine help, commending itself to the highest Redeemer with the sighs of faithful hearts in the humblest subjection, in the whiteness and beauty of the Christian struggle. The fact that the same image is clothed in a tunic of white silk means that it appears wrapped in the work of the most lucid and sweetest study, in which perfect holiness imitates my Son, and is also protected by the whitest footwear; for through the death of Christ, it shines in the minds of people in the whiteness of the regeneration of spirit and water, so that they too may imitate His death. And on its chest it has the sign of the cross, around which a great splendor also glows on the same chest like a shining dawn; for it ruminates on the remembrance of the passion of Christ Jesus in the intention of the minds of faithful people who embrace it most diligently. By this serene clarity of faith in those minds, it designates that He who, obedient to the Father, suffered in His holy humanity by the Father's will, had come, born without the stain of sin, in the most beautiful dawn of the sun, which is the Virgin Mary. The fact that it holds a naked sword in its right hand, which it applies to its chest and to that same cross with great devotion, means that by good and holy work it shows how it loves the Scriptures, laid bare by the Holy Spirit in the remembrance of the elect (for they too most sweetly remember the passion of their Redeemer). This is why you see the word "holiness" written on the forehead of the middle head; for holiness is recognized in the inner face—which is the soul—with the joy of life and without any shameful indignation, and on the forehead of the right head is the "root of good," since it is clearly the beginning and foundation in the salvation of holiness, and on the forehead of the left is "not sparing oneself," because by casting off the softness and vanity of carnal pleasures without the body, it always constrains itself in discipline, joining to itself the ornaments of the other virtues as it strives to be perfected and to endure. The middle head looks toward the other two, and they look toward it, contributing their usefulness to one another. They are strong in the unanimity of interior vision and the consistency of love, so that none of them can endure without the help of the others, and they direct their words and admonitions toward the progress of men, as has been said. Whoever has the sharp ears of interior understanding, let him pant for these words in the burning love of my mirror, and let him write them into the conscience of his own soul.
Read the original Latin
Post haec vidi ultra praefatam columnam humanitatis Salvatoris, turrim lucidissimi splendoris praedicto lapideo muro meridianae plagae prius visi aedificii ita impositam ut et intra et extra ipsum aedificium videri posset, latitudinis quidem ubique in interiori parte circuitus sui quinque cubitorum, tantae autem altitudinis ut eam discernere nequirem. Sed et inter turrim illam et columnam humanitatis Salvatoris, fundamentum solummodo erat positum, muro nondum desuper aedificato, sed tantum interruptus et vacuus locus apparens; longitudinis erat cubiti unius ut etiam supra monstratum est. Et turris haec nondum fuerat ad plenum aedificata, multa tamen solertia et velocitate per plurimos operarios assidue construebatur: habens in circuitu summitatis suae septem propugnacula, mira fortitudine constructa, ab interiore autem parte praedicti aedificii vidi quasi scalam usque ad cacumen turris illius erectam, et ab imo usque ad summum in gradibus ejus quamdam multitudinem hominum stantium igneas facies et alba vestimenta sed nigra calceamenta habentium, et inter eos aliquos similis quidem schematis sed majoris staturae et splendoris, ipsam turrim multa diligentia intuentes. Deinde in septentrionali plaga ejusdem aedificii, vidi mundum et homines qui de semine Adae procreantur intra praedictum lucidum murum speculativae scientiae ipsius aedificii, et ambitum circuli qui de sedente in throno protendebatur discurrentes, ex quibus multi idem aedificium inter turrim praecursus voluntatis Dei et columnam divinitatis verbi ejus: per praefatum murum speculativae scientiae intrando et exeundo transibant, ut nubes hac et illac diffunditur. Sed qui ipsum aedificium intrabant, candidissima veste induebantur. Quorum alii de suavitate et lenitate vestis illius gaudio magno exsultantes eam retinebant; alii autem quasi de gravedine et difficultate ejus tristes effecti, illam exuere volebant. Quos benigne virtus haec, quam scientiam Dei pridem nominari audieram, saepius compescens, unicuique eorum dicebat: Considera et custodi vestem, qua indutus es. Vidique quod quidam eorum iris verbis castigati quamvis illud indumentum ipsis difficile videretur, illud tamen cum multo sudore retinebant; quidam vero verba illa subsannantes, vestemque ipsam furiose exuentes abjecerunt; ad mundum redeuntes unde venerant multaque perscrutantes, multa inutilia saecularium vanitatum didicerunt.
Quorum alii in ipsum aedificium tandem reversi, vestem quam abjecerant iterum tollentes sibi induerunt, alii autem reverti nolentes ea denudati in mundo ignominiose remanserunt. Et vidi quod quidam sordidissimi et nigerrimi quasi per insaniam excitati, ab aquilone venientes in ipsum aedificium irruebant, turrimque praefatam bacchando invadentes in eam ut serpentes sibilabant. Ex quibus quidam ab hac stultitia cessantes, mundi effecti sunt; aliis in eadem nequitia et sorde sua perseverantibus. Sed et intra idem aedificium conspexi versus eamdem turrim quasi septem albi coloris marmoreas columnas, in miram rotunditatem tornatas, stantes, altitudinis septem cubitorum, et in summitate sua quasi ferreum et rotundum habentes tabulatum, decenter aliquantulum in altitudinem sursum erectum; in cacumine autem ejusdem tabulati vidi quasi pulcherrimam imaginem stantem, et ad homines in mundum aspicientem, cujus caput veluti fulgur tanto nitore radiabat, ut illud ad plenum non possem considerare. Et manus ad pectus suum reverenter composuerat, pedibus ejus in eodem tabulato mihi ad videndum occultatis. Circulum autem in modum coronae multo fulgentem splendore gerebat in capite. Sed et tunica aurei coloris induebatur; in qua a pectore deorsum usque ad pedes zona una descendens, pretiosissimarum gemmarum ornatu viridis scilicet albi et rubei atque aurei purpureo fulgore interlucente coloris decorabatur. Et clamabat ad homines qui in mundo erant; ita dicens: O tardi, cur non venitis?
Nonne succurreretur vobis, si venire velletis? Cum coeperitis viam Dei currere, culices et muscae strepitu suo vobis impedimento sunt. Sed vos flabellum inspirationis Spiritus sancti accipite, et eas a vobis citius abigite. Vobis currendum est, et a Deo vobis est etiam auxilium sperandum. Ad servitium Dei non ficte vos exhibete, et confortabimini manu ipsius. Sed in pavimento illius aedificii tres alias imagines vidi; quarum una praefatis columnis acclivis erat, et reliquae duae ante ipsam sibi collaterales stabant, se omnes ad columnam humanitatis Salvatoris, et ad praefatam turrim dirigentes. Quae autem ipsis columnis acclivis erat, tantae latitudinis apparuit, ut latitudo quinque hominum sibi astantium notari potest, tantae autem proceritatis ut longitudinem ejus perfecte discernere non valerem, ita etiam quod per omne hoc aedificium prospiceret. Magnum etiam caput et claros oculos habens acutissime in coelum aspiciebat, tota candida et perlucida existens ut serenissima nubes est.
Aliam autem formam hominis in ea nullam conspexi. Et per totum aedificium ad omnes reliquas virtutes clamavit, dicens: Omnes strenue surgamus, quia Lucifer tenebras suas per omnem mundum diffundit. Aedificemus turres et confirmemus eas coelestibus propugnaculis, quoniam diabolus adversarius et impugnator est electorum Dei. Qui ut primitus plurimum voluit et tentavit in sua claritate, sic etiam nunc plurimum vult et tentat in sua tenebrositate. Nam malitiam et nequitiam suam sufflando et spargendo dilatat, nec ab hoc cessare vult. Adversum haec nos coelestes milites sumus positi in malitia et nequitia sua illum superare, alioquin homines prae illius impugnatione non poterunt in mundo salvari. Et ut ipse in primo ortu suo repugnare tentavit divinitati, sic etiam imitator ejus Antichristus in novissimo tempore resistere tentabit incarnationi Domini. Lucifer cecidit in initio temporum, et Antichristus corruet in fine eorum.
Tunc quis Deus verus sit cognoscetur, et quis sit qui nunquam cecidit videbitur. Ut autem Lucifer sectatores habuit daemones, qui eum ab altitudine coeli secuti sunt in casum damnationis, sic et adhuc habet homines in terra qui eum sequuntur ad interitum perditionis. Sed nos virtutes positae sumus contra astutias et exsufflationes ejus quas emittit ad absorbendas animas, ita quod omnes artes ejus ad nihilum per nos in animabus justorum redigantur, quatenus ex omni parte confusus appareat. Unde et per nos Deus agnoscetur, quia non debet occultari, sed manifestari, quoniam justus est in omnibus. Prior autem illarum quae ante hanc imaginem sibi collaterales stabant, armata videbatur, galea scilicet, lorica, ocreis, ac ferreis chirothecis induta, tenens etiam evaginatum gladium dextra, hastam autem sinistra. Et sub pedibus suis horribilem draconem conculcans: os illius ferro hastae transverberabat, ita ut ipse immundissimas spumas evomeret. Sed et gladium quem tenebat quasi ad feriendum fortiter vibrabat. Et dixit: Fortissime Deus, quis potest resistere et tibi repugnare?
Hoc non potest serpens antiquus, draco ille diabolus. Unde et ego tuo auxilio, illi repugnare volo, ita ut nullus mihi praevaleat aut me dejiciat, nec fortis nec debilis, nec princeps nec abjectus, nec nobilis nec ignobilis, nec dives nec pauper. Ego ut fortissima calybs esse volo, omnia arma ad bella Dei apta faciens invictissima, in quibus sum acies acutissima, quoniam nullus perfringere poterit in te fortissimo Deo per quem etiam surrexi ad ejiciendum diabolum. Unde et fragilitati hominum semper certissimum ero refugium, dans mollitiei ipsorum incidentem gladium ad se defendendum. O miserantissime et piissime Deus, adjuva contritos corde. Altera vero imago triceps apparebat, ita ut in naturali loco capitis, et in utroque humero suo caput appareret, medio tamen alia duo aliquantulum supereminente. Sed et ipsum medium et quod a dextris ejus erat, tanto fulgore radiabant, ut claritas ipsorum visum meum reverberaret. Ita quod utrum virilem an muliebrem formam haberent, perfecte considerare non valerem, illo autem quod a sinistris apparebat aliquantulum obscuro, et muliebri consuetudine, candido velamine velato.
Tunica vero ex albo serico illa imago induta fuerat, et candidissimis calceamentis. Et in pectore suo signum crucis gerebat, circa quod etiam splendor magnus in pectore ejus velut aurora fulgens rutilabat. In dextra autem nudum versabat gladium, quem pectori suo et cruci cum multa devotione applicabat. Et vidi in fronte medii capitis scriptum, sanctitas, et in fronte dextri, radix boni, et in fronte sinistri, non parcens sibi. Et medium ad alia duo aspiciens, dicebat:
Prior de sancta humilitate in ipsa nata sum, ut infans nascitur in matre. Per ipsam etiam educata et confortata sum, ut per nutricem puer enutritur ad fortitudinem. Mater mea humilitas vincit et superat omnia contraria, quae aliis etiam intolerabilia sunt. Et caput quod ad dexteram ejus erat respiciens ad caput principale, ait: Ego in primo ortu radico in monte excelsi culminis, qui Deus est. Et ideo, o sanctitas, ut stare possis, oportet ut adhaeream visceribus tuis. Quod autem ad laevam ipsius stabat etiam ad ipsum principale caput suum aspiciens dicebat: O vae, o vae, o vae: quomodo tam rigida et inflexibilis sum, quod me tam difficile superare possum, o sanctitas, ad tuum auxilium? quia sine me stare non poteris, si fugero. Ah!
ah! ah! bonum negligenti, quia me tamen oportet inquietissimam spinam eradicare, quae me pungendo conatur in perditionem impellere, si eam non eruero antequam in me tota defigatur, et antequam velut in putrido cadavere in me confoveatur. O sanctitas, ut libere perseverare possim in te, rapacissimum diaboli laqueum devitare volo, et eum dirumpere in vero Deo. Et iterum qui sedebat in throno ut supra, haec mihi manifestavit, dicens: Incarnato Dei Filio, vocatio novi populi per doctrinam ipsius in Spiritu sancto ad salvationem sublevata surgens confortatione fortium hominum in exhortatione beatarum virtutum munita adversus immanissimum hostem, cui nullus hominum resistere valet, nisi gratia Dei adjutus, ita se inexpugnabilem Dei adjutorio exhibet ut nulla arte insidiarum ejus evelli aut deleri possit a Deo. Unde et turris quam vides ultra praefatam columnam humanitatis Salvatoris praefigurat Ecclesiam; quae Filii mei incarnatione completa, nova constructio in omni bono opere exorta est, in fortitudine et altitudine coelestium actuum, ut munitissima turris ad resistendum iniquitati opposita diabolo. Quapropter et lucidissimi splendoris est praedicto lapideo muro meridianae plagae ipsius aedificii ita imposita ut et intra et extra ipsum aedificium videri possit; quia serenissima luce humanitatis Filii Dei illustrata, viventes lapides per calorem Spiritus sancti hoc modo succensos, in divino opere habet, ut et interiori scientiae Scripturarum coelestis intellectus ac exteriori stultitiae saecularium rerum ac fidelibus et infidelibus in aedificatione illa quam summus Pater per Unigenitum suum operatur aperte demonstretur. Et latitudinis quidem ubique in interiori parte circuitus sui, quinque cubitorum est, quoniam amplitudinem omnis intimae inspectionis et intentionem totius continuae meditationis per quinque sensus sui ornatus in infusione Spiritus sancti, cum omnibus virtutibus illis quas verus agnus ei manifestat, ad honorem ejusdem Agni videlicet sponsi sui remittit.
Tantae autem altitudinis apparet, ut eam discernere nequeas, quia major altitudo et profunditas divinae sapientiae et scientiae in ecclesiastico opere est, quam cor humanum fragile et mortale perscrutari possit sua aestimatione.
Sed quod inter turrim istam et columnam humanitatis Salvatoris fundamentum solummodo est positum muro nondum desuper aedificato, sed tantum interruptus et vacuus locus apparens, longitudinis cubiti unius ut tibi etiam supra praemonstratum est: hoc est quod de Ecclesia in desponsatione filio meo adjuncta, magnum adhuc praeconium in scientia Dei quasi in firmo fundamento occultatum manet, quod nondum in completo opere perfectionis propalatum resplendet, sed sine apertione in humanis cordibus latet, longitudinis tamen unius cubiti, quoniam sensus hominum in potestate unius veri et omnipotentis Dei sunt, ita quod etiam homo in scientia boni et mali per intellectum suum potest capere quod sibi utilius sit, ut et tibi aperta ostensione supra manifestatum est. Et quod turris haec nondum est ad plenum aedificata, multa tamen solertia, et velocitate per plurimos operarios assidue construitur: hoc est quod eadem Ecclesia ad cursum et ad statum illum nondum pervenit, ad quem perventura est, quamvis multa sollicitudine et industria per celeritatem temporum labentium, in transeuntibus et supervenientibus filiis suis quotidie sine dilatione ad effectum decoris sui properare non cesset.
Habet tamen in circuitu summitatis suae septem propugnacula, mira fortitudine constructa, quoniam circumdata est in celsitudine coelestium operum septem inexpugnabilibus donis sancti Spiritus, quae tantae virtutis existunt, ut nullus adversarius ea possit destruere vel per altitudinem mentis suae ad ea superbe valeat pertingere.
Quod autem ab interiore parte praedicti aedificii vides quasi scalam usque ad cacumen turris illius erectam: hoc est quod in opere illo quod supernus pater in divino consilio per Filium suum operatus est, multi in unanimitate gradus florent in simplicitate constitutionis ecclesiasticae processionis, scilicet ad altitudinem coelestium secretorum pertingentes, in quibus Ecclesia confortata et roborata est consistit. Et ab imo usque ad summum in gradibus ejus quaedam multitudo hominum stat, quia a primis temporibus desponsationis ecclesiae usque ad nuptiale tempus illud, cum ipsa aperte cum sponso suo in pleno muro filiorum suorum gaudebit, in gradibus constitutionis praeceptorum Dei, cum quibus ipsa aedificata est lucebunt apostolica luminaria, eam a tenebris infidelitatis sua tuitione defendentia.
Unde etiam igneas facies et alba vestimenta sed nigra calceamenta habent, quoniam in intellectuali sensu eorum, id est apostolicorum rectorum spectabilis fides credere scilicet in unum Deum per ardorem sancti Spiritus in ipsis quasi facies accensa est, ita quod et per purissimam claritatem in veste bonorum operum coram Deo et saeculo resplenduerunt, nigris tamen indumentis pedum apparentibus, quia itinera infidelitatis et sordis multiplicium scelerum incredulorum pertransierunt, quos suo exemplo ad viam justitiae (quamvis multa difficultate) tamen convertentes perduxerunt. Sed quod inter eos aliqui similis quidem schematis, sed majoris staturae et splendoris apparent, hoc est quod inter eosdem ecclesiasticos defensores, primi fundatores ipsius Ecclesiae sunt, qui eam primum post Filium Dei sua praedicatione aedificantes eumdem quidem tenorem habent quem et sequaces eorum qui eos praecipue imitari noscuntur, quoniam secundum hoc ut illi praecesserunt, sic isti subsecuti sunt, eis tamen forma praestantes, quia ipsi alium nullum praedecessorem habebant, a quo exemplum novae gratiae traherent praeter Filium Dei, ab cujus ore verbum vitae audierunt, atque eos claritate praecellentes, quoniam fulgorem incarnationis ejus prae caeteris praesentialiter viderunt. Qui et ipsam turrim multa diligentia intuentur, quia sponsae Dei in amore divino, suae pietatis sollicitudine adesse non cessant, ut in robore suo perfecte consistat, ut scriptum est: Sicut turris David collum tuum quae aedificata est cum propugnaculis. Mille clypei pendent ex ea, omnis armatura fortium. Hoc tale est. Ut incarnatio Filii summi rectoris, fortissimi scilicet leonis ex virginea floriditate venientis fortissimum instrumentum novae gratiae posita est, sic fortitudo fidei tuae, o nova sponsa, incorrupta durans, certissimum munimen fidelis populi constituta est. Quomodo? Fortissimis viribus tuis adsunt et adhaerent omnes munitiones filiorum tuorum; qui nutriendi sunt nova illustratione rivulorum e vino et purissimo fonte stillantium, quos habes in hac fortitudinis conjunctione; ut collum reliquo corpori conjunctum est, ita ut nec destrui nec dissipari possis, sicut nec victoriosa instrumenta veri David poterunt superari.
Quomodo? Virtus Christi Jesu Filii Dei fortissima turris est: in qua victoriosissimae militiae fidelium invictissima probatione exercentur, quibus nullus adversarius se praevalere gloriabitur, quia in se Christum verum Deum et hominem continent; per quem in secunda regeneratione omnis compago filiorum tuorum in salutem decentissime protenditur. Unde est illa purissima incarnatio a prophetis praedicta, et pretiosissimis lapidibus virtutum adornata cum propugnaculis apostolicae doctrinae, id est cum plantatoribus justitiae veri luminis in universum orbem ad salutem credentium propalata est, ut haec parabola demonstrat: Dominus quidam urbem marmoream habens in quam magna voce intonuit, plurimis caelaturis muros ejus interius caelavit, ex quibus acutissimam limationem impolitorum lapidum spiravit. Quo facto, idem dominus in unico verbo suo aquis aquarum dicebat, ut sua effusione aequalitatem facerent supra montes. Et hoc etiam peracto, ignem ignis similiter admonuit, ut parva tabernacula pararet. Quo etiam adimpleto, eadem tabernacula ita in altum profecerunt, ut urbem illam celeri profectu suo excellerent altitudine. Hoc tale est: Dominus iste est quem nunquam praecessit alius dominatione; sed ipse solus super omnia et in omnibus est, quia nihil ante eum, nec post eum inventum est, ac ideo Dominus omnium est. Hic nobilem urbem chorum scilicet prophetarum adversus rabiem saecularium tempestatum fertem et constantem in sua potestate habuit; quoniam infusione Spiritus sancti repleti erant, cum in eos idem Dominus voce magna intonuit ita quod in eis inspirationem illam suscitavit, qua mysteria ejus obscuris verbis protulerunt, ut primum sonus auditur cum nondum verbum cognoscitur, sonum tamen prophetiae eorum, vero verbo Filio, scilicet Dei incarnato subsequente.
Qui Dominus multiplices caelaturas in cordibus eorum fecit: cum intellectum ipsorum multiplici spiritu sapientia infudit, ita quod in spirituali sensu profunda Dei tam praesentis quam futuri videlicet saeculi prophetaverunt, per quem efficacissimos sermones contra contrarios mores hominum protulerunt, quibus durissima corda Judaeorum ad lenitatem et pietatem felicium actuum provocaverunt. Sed incarnato Verbo Dei, coelestis Pater in eosdem Filio suo innuens apostolis (qui homines existentes segregati erant de communi populo ut purissimi rivuli eliguntur de caeteris aquis fluentibus in plano dicebat; ut inundatione verae fidei effluerent in orbem terrarum, deprimentes et conterentes magnum schisma contemptus, sufflatus superbiae et exaltationis culturae idolorum, ut homines verum Deum cognoscendo desererent infidelitatem suam in praedicationne illorum. Qua fide in populis roborata: idem provisor universorum ignitas mentes electorum suorum, qui accensi fuerant de ignitis cordibus illorum quos Spiritus sanctus in igneis linguis adveniens tetigerat, suaviter etiam in Spiritu sancto admonuit, ut contemptores mundi effecti in contemplatione coelestis vitae, parvuli et pauperes spiritu esse non abnuerent; sed ut per haec parva habitacula humilitatis, sibi supernas divitias compararent. Quae humilitatis opera dum contemptores caducorum in excelso studio subtilissima praecepta Dei semper ruminantes imitarentur, ut martyres, virgines et reliqui suimetipsorum abjectores, ita in hac sui contritione ad amorem coelestium ascenderunt; ut etiam agricolas in vinea Veteris Testamenti laborantes in velocitate bonorum studiorum suorum superarent, dum semetipsos quasi pro nihilo habentes toto desiderio ad aeterna anhelarent. Unde et mille clypei, multae perfectae videlicet defensiones perfectae fidei nova gratia, pendent a Filio Dei; dum primi pastores Ecclesiae exemplum ab ipso trahentes et ob spem supernorum semetipsos conculcantes, catholicam fidem sanguinis sui effusione roboratam, ab ignitis jaculis diaboli (quae vulnerant animas hominum) protegunt, quis multiplices virtutes armaturae coelestis militiae in caeteris electis subsequentes; etiam in hoc saeculo amori Dei obsequuntur. Quomodo? Quia antiquus serpens primo homini pessimun fetorem contemptus Dei insufflavit: idcirco et ipse diabolus odore omni aromatum castitatis, scilicet et continentiae ac ligaturae praeceptorum Dei, nec non societatis Christi, jugum ejus sufferre atque contemptus totius mundi durissime in his sibi contrariis coelestibus jaculis transfigitur, ita quod abjectus de civitate Dei, confusus et conculcatus in aperta suae damnationis parte a fidelibus abhorreatur.
Quod autem in septentrionali plaga illius aedificii vides mundum et homines qui de semine Adae procreantur, inter praedictum lucidum murum speculativae scientiae ipsius aedificii et ambitum circuli qui de sedente in throno protenditur discurrentes: hoc est quod in carnalibus desideriis quae respicientia ad imbecillitatem versantur in terrenis saecularium cupiditatum mundus et mundiales homines de culpa primi parentis positi sunt, ex altera parte scientia boni et mali ipsis apposita, ut ad opus Dei per bonum accedant, et malum effugiant, et ex altera potestate Dei illis ostensa, ut et se sub majestate ejus esse sciant, et omnia facta sua ab ipso examinari non dubitent.
Unde et multi aedificium ipsum inter turrim praecursus voluntatis Dei et columnam divinitatis Verbi ipsius per praefatum murum speculativae scientiae intrando et exeundo transeunt, ut nubes hac et illac diffunditur; quia multum divinum opus Veteri Testamento et novo exordio admoniti aggredientes, ipsum per speculativam scientiam relictis carnalibus desideriis intrant, multique voluptates suas sequentes illud in malis concupiscentiis suis ibidem exeunt; ita quod in voluntate sua sive ad bonum sive ad malum, in velocitate nubium, id est in motione cogitationum suarum se hac et illac relaxando deducunt. Sed quod ii qui ipsum aedificium intrant, candidissima veste induuntur: hoc est quod ii qui opus Dei bona voluntate aggrediuntur, purissima et lucidissima veste verae fidei ut Deum cognoscant per misericordiam ipsius vestiuntur. Quorum alii de suavitate et lenitate ejusdem vestis gaudio magno exsultantes, eam retinent; quia contrito et humiliato spiritu, imbuti dulcissima et lenissima catholica fide, ac perfusi interiore liquore sanctitatis, semper interioribus oculis laetantur in coelestibus, ea devotissime adimplentes retinentes quae ipsis Spiritus sanctus inspirat. Alii autem quasi de gravedine et difficultate ejus tristes effecti, illam exuere volunt; quoniam veluti gravissimo onere gravati et quasi difficillima via impediti, inquietissima et amarissima consuetudine illicitae voluptatis se intrinsecus dilaniantes et macerantes, fidem in operibus suis abjicere conantur, nec divinis praeceptis se commoveri patiuntur. Quos benigne virtus haec quam scientiam Dei nominari audisti, saepius compescens, unicuique eorum dicit vera admonitionis suae, ut praedictum est; quia altissimus Deus praesciens molliri corda durorum lapidum in hominibus flectit se in misericordia sua ad eos (ut tibi ostensum est) frequenter commonens illos ut intra se gementes et flentes ipsum orent quatenus eos liberet de importunitate nequitiae suae qua diabolica suasione perfusi sunt, ita ut in hac poenitentia possint reverti ad intellectum bonae voluntatis, recordantes vestis innocentiae quam susceperunt in regeneratione spiritus et aquae. Sed ut vides quod quidam eorum his verbis castigati quamvis idem indumentum ipsis difficile videatur, illud tamen cum multo sudore retinent: hoc est quod ipsi inspiratione Spiritus sancti admoniti in fide quam suscipiunt quasi gravem et difficilem mentibus suis viam arripiunt, sed eam quamvis multo labore tamen non desperantes nec taedio torpentes tandem perficiunt. Quidam vero eadem verba subsannantes, vestemque ipsam furiose exuentes abjiciunt, ad mundum redeuntes unde venerunt, multaque perscrutantes, multa inutilia saecularium vanitatum discunt; isti sunt qui legem Dei et justitiam ejus derisui habentes, fide catholica in vanitatibus errorum suorum se denudant, eam abnegantes in operibus malignis quae pertinent ad mortem, et ad mundi hujus vanitates se declinant, quas prius ficte dimiserant, ac libidinosa facta in actibus perversis sciscitantes ardentem gustum saeculi discunt atque eum diabolicis irrisionibus secundum deceptionem illius pervertunt. Quorum alii in idem aedificium tandem reversi, vestem quam abjecerant iterum tollentes sibi induunt; quia isti ad opus divinum de via erroris sui redeuntes veniunt, et schisma diaboli quod secundum voluntatem illius acceperant abjicientes, habitum verae fidei quem in baptismo susceperant et quem ipsi in erroribus suis verum Deum deridentes abjecerant, iterum puro et simplici corde confitentes resumunt.
Alii autem reverti nolentes, ea denudati in mundo ignominiose remanent, quoniam ipsi ad Deum pura poenitentia redire contemnentes veste inocentiae spoliantur, et idcirco nudi a bono fidelium operum, sed pleni malo vitiorium diabolicarum artium, in nequitiis mundialium vanitatum cum maxima confusione tam praesentis saeculi quam futuri vitam suam usque ad mortem impoenitentes deducunt.
Sed quod vides quomodo quidam sordidissimi et nigerrimi quasi per insaniam excitati ab aquilone venientes in ipsum aedificium irruunt turrimque praefatam bacchando invadentes, in eam ut serpentes sibilant: hoc est quod quidam scelerati homines sub mobili calore laeti stuporis, sordentes per nigredinem diabolicae aspectionis Deum aspiciunt, nec causam illam quam desiderant per donum sancti Spiritus quaerunt sed diabolica arte afflati et incitati atque a parte damnationis missi callida arte divinum opus intrant, ac furtim subtrahendo et palam rapiendo atque in insaniam bacchando temere per nefandissimam pecuniam horribilis diabolicae nigredinis, constituta a Deo officia deglutiunt et Ecclesiam hoc modo per insanum furorem conturbantes, in eam sibilos deceptionis antiqui serpentis dant. Quomodo? Diabolica astutia tandiu incautos homines afflant, donec eos secundum voluntatem suam per mortiferam emptionem exsuperant, hoc sibilo jactantiae Ecclesiam contaminantes dum sic furantur potestates quae mea ordinatione constitutae sunt. Qui quoniam haec faciunt: a conspectu meo impoenitentes projecti sunt, nec in his factis eos scio; quia ea per se et non per me adepti sunt, ut Osee servus meus ostendit, dicens: Ipsi regnaverunt, sed non ex me, principes exstiterunt et non cognovi. Argentum suum et aurum suum fecerunt sibi idola ut interirent . Hoc tale est: Homines voluntatem suam sequentes, computant et constituunt in se ipsis quidquid eorum proprius appetitus deliberat. Quid hoc? Concupiscens videlicet concupiscentia eorum quae in ipsis est; suadet ut dominentur hominibus furtivo et rapto honore, non postulato nec sumpto, nec constituto ex me, quod tamen aliquando ita fieri permitto; ut judicialis poena superveniat eis ob proprias voluntates eorum, quia me in hoc non quaesierunt.
Et quid hoc eis prodest? Quia in hoc non viriditatem sed ariditatem habent; et quoniam hoc non plantatur sed inutilis herba nascitur in eis absque trunco. Infructiferae enim herbae de terra facile nascuntur per se; fructiferae autem seminantur et plantantur magno labore. Sic permitto quod aliquando terrenum desiderium hominis, sine radice in malo facile floreat, plantationem boni non quaerens; quia viriditatem aestatis non habet, permittens etiam quod aliquando rectum desiderium ejus bene radicatum in bono: fructum per multas miserias afferat, rigationem sanctitatis amans, quoniam asperitate hiemis caret. Unde etiam saepe viles homines praecellunt in principatu communem et utilem populum, ut inutiles herbae aliquando excelsiores sunt utilibus; ipsis tantum positis in propriis desideriis suis non mea plantatione, aut tactu cognitionis doni mei, aut ordinationis meae radicatis, sed hoc justo judicio permitto fieri; quia illud a me non quaesierunt, sed intra se ipsos constituerunt, unde et mihi super hoc in judicio meo respondebunt. Nam et felicitatem optimae doctrinae quam in animo suo ab omni indignitate infidelitatis deberent examinare ut argentum purgatur a cuncta falsitate, et utilitatem profundissimae sapientiae quam in voluntate sua deberent ordinare splendidissima fide, semper videntes quomodo Deus colendus, venerandus, et confitendus sit; faciunt sibi in contrarietatem vanitatis. Quomodo? Ipsi incurvant eam ad maximam infelicitatem, intellectum suum quem a Deo habent insatiabilibus concupiscentiis carnis suae offerentes; quasi fetens et putrida ipsa caro eorum deus sit, nolentes oculos suos erigere ad Deum qui formavit illos, sed voluntatem suam pro Deo habentes, quoniam secundum hoc vivunt; ut in se ipsis ordinant et constituunt.
Hoc autem ideo non faciunt; ut agrum illum qui gignit cibum vitae aeternae possideant, sed ut absint ab eo et impoenitentes in perpetuum intereant, quoniam ille quem pro Deo colunt mortuus est: sicut et ipsi mortui sunt, videlicet tam venditores quam emptores spiritualium, hoc esse desiderantes quod a me non quaesierunt. Nam qui potestatem per vesanam concupiscentiam invadit, ita quod rationabile donum Spiritus sancti venale facit; quomodo posset ex tali venditione salvari? quia homo qui substantiam suam alienis vendit, ea non debet amplius uti. Et quomodo deberet etiam mercator ille uti empta salvatione quam a Deo nolebat recipere, sed festinavit eam adipisci pecunia, quam tamen ut adipisceretur recto judicio suo Deus fieri permisit? Nam quibusdam Deus indignatus illud eos furari permittit; pro quo tamen occulto judicio in praesenti eos punit, et non in futuro; ut secundum quod in oblivione Spiritus sancti amaverunt, in se ipsis confundant, ita quod per confusionem hanc ad hoc perducuntur ut ad Deum in poenitentia revertantur; unde et hac peracta remissionem in futuro consequuntur. Quosdam autem in hoc tolerat, non in praesenti eos crucians, sed justa ex causa in futurum differens, quia voluntatem suam pro Deo habent; quapropter et ipse eis in futuro ostendit, quod voluntas eorum ipsis in amaris cruciatibus prosit. Sed et alios tam in praesenti quam in futuro punit, quoniam clarus eorum intellectus in ipsis vilem ac contemptibilem sua sponte se facit, imitans diabolum in malis suis. Alios quoque ad hoc pervenire permittit; ut ipsum malum in poenitentia eorum confundatur, cum se pro perpetrata injustitia acriter punientes, illam quasi putridum cadaver adjiciunt.
Quibusdam vero ne hoc adipiscantur, misericorditer resistit; quia si ad illud pertingerent, poenas gehennales non effugientes in eis fortiter cruciari mererentur. Quicunque autem prostituerit aut sibi usurpaverit cathedram potestatis in consilio patris sui qui pecunia est, quoniam ipsa pater illius efficitur in mercatu, ipsi perditionem acquirens ab illa dignitate; et ille qui dedit et qui accepit abjiciendus est, quia si homini pecus suum furtim ablatum et alii venundatum fuerit; ille cui ablatum est, repertum cum omni jure repetit, qui vero vendidit aut qui emit, absque contradictione uterque dimittet illud. Sic et dignitas potestatis quae secundum justitiam meam debet possideri, si per aliquem furtivo munere diripitur, et in alios perverse dissipatur; a me cum districto judicio requiritur, ac propterea ille qui eam in mercatum posuit, vel qui eam indigne comparavit, utilitate illius justo judicio uterque carebit, quia templum nomini meo consecratum, donum rapinae fecerunt. Quomodo? Sapientiam et consilium quod a me in corde suo habuerunt: sua sententia in forum posuerunt. sibi ex hoc pecuniam iniquitatis in aliorum perditione recipientes. Quapropter mercatum illum in amara poenitentia abjicient; vel mihi inde in igne diri ardoris respondebunt. Nam qui viventem dignitatem quam spiritus in spiritualibus apicibus vivificat, mortuo pretio comparans ad fetorem scaturientis putredinis perducere conatur: ex ipsa praesumptionis perversitate (nisi citius poeniteat) in perditionem detrudetur, ut accensus in Spiritu sancto desertor erroris relinquensque omnia filius columbae Petrus, transeunti turbini qui in teterrima nigredine lucem volebat absorbere dicit: Pecunia tua tecum sit in perditionem; quoniam donum Dei existimasti pecunia possideri.
Non est enim tibi pars neque sors in sermone isto. Cor enim tuum non est rectum coram Deo . Hoc tale est: Pecunia fallacis confidentiae tuae quam habes in aliena re ut dominum, ipsa autem te habens ut mancipium imo ut nihilum, sit tibi in perditione gehennalis ignis; si hoc donum quod ignei Spiritus sancti est, per nefas pecuniae comparatum, impoenitens retinueris, quoniam in transitoria scientia animae tuae accensionem ipsius acutissimi inspectoris, fallaciter existimasti pecunia possideri; quam diffisus es te posse habere dono Dei. Si autem ob causam hanc poenitueris: illud quod emisti dimittes, pecuniamque quam pro ipso dedisti sic perditam senties, quia quod aeternum est, cum luto mercari voluisti ab illo, qui te formavit ex limo. Sed te in illa emptione durante, non habebis partem lucis in consortio supernorum angelorum; quoniam in sermone linguae tuae rapacitatem cordis tui protulisti, aliud concupiscens quam cives aeternae claritatis desiderent. Unde et cor tuum in hac perversitate coram Deo injustum est: hoc volens habere per emptionem pecuniae, quod gratis a Deo donandum est. Itaque desertores hujus divini pacti, quia illud quaerere deberent gratuito dono Spiritus sancti et non faciunt, justo judicio per me vanis simulacris comparantur; quoniam ut illa opus manuum existentia a veritatis consortio sunt vacua, sed tamen ab infidelibus pro Deo coluntur, sic et isti per contrarietatem terrenorum munerum illuminatione Spiritus sancti carentes, fallaces magistri efficiuntur, non electi in suspirio animae suae veluti officio illo sint indigni, sed in flagrante superbia illud ab hominibus accipientes voluntatem meam in hoc non considerantes. Quapropter nescio unde sint illi et quasi alieni sunt a me; quia ob hanc injustitiam suam si sic perseveraverint, a me projecti sunt.
Si autem ex toto corde poenituerint, eos suspiciens, gaudium super ipsos faciam angelorum.
Sed, quamvis injuste agant qui perverso ardore has dignitates desiderant, nec eis consentiendum sit qui eas sua nequitia invadere nituntur, ut dictum est; ipsa tamen regimina bona ad utilitatem hominum a Deo bene disposita sunt, nec eis superbe et pertinaciter resistendum est, sed potius in amore meo obediendum. Unde nullus fidelium qui Deo vult digne obtemperare opponat se magisterio sibi praesidenti: quoniam illud imitatur honorem Dei, custodiens et pascens oves ipsius, ut honor ipsarum ovium non dissipetur in alienum qui fur et latro est; quia ut nullus debet repugnare Deo, sic nemo debet insipienter resistere magisterio suo. Ergo omnis homo vivens in anima et corpore altioribus se dignitatibus, sive corporales sive spirituales justitias retineat: subjectus eis debet obedire ut in timore magisterii earum dirigatur constituta lex hominum, ne ipsi deviantes in indisciplinata libertate voluntatis suae sibi ipsis legem ponant secundum quod voluerint, sic errantes in via Domini, quia ne errent; propter hoc potestas a Deo est. Quomodo? Inspiratione Spiritus sancti regimina hominum disposita sunt; ut per ipsa discant homines timere Dominum. Quae si illi secundum libitum suum in contrarietatem perverterint; non tamen sic in voluntate Dei est, sed in secreta permissione ejus ut justo judicio concupiscentia illorum in perverso ardore ad detrimentum sui compleatur. Ergo dignitates potestatum inspiratae a Deo ad utilitatem hominum ob magnam necessitatem eorum ab ipso juste ordinatae sunt; ne plebs Dei more pecudum sine regimine vivens, per devia quaeque instabilitatis suae incederet. Unde quae ipsis repugnat, nolens per impulsum superbiae eis in humilitatis subjectione, ut justum est, obedire; non hominibus contradicit, sed mihi Creatori qui cuncta juste dispono, se pertinaciter secundum transgressionem Adae opponitur, propter hanc rebellionem tenebras damnationis sibi accumulans, sicut et ille de gaudio in aerumnas expulsus est; non autem ille qui perversae nequitiae hominum in zelo meo in humilitate incedens non consentit, quia is justitiam justitia Dei potius auget quam minuat, si hoc congruenter et opportune fecerit; sed is qui ipsas dignitates per elatam superbiam indecenter opprimere voluerit, quoniam ille mea dispositione ad utilitatem viventium, ut praedictum est, propalatae sunt.
Et qui contra eas superbe calcitrat, inspirationi meae repugnat, quamvis aliqui insania ignorantiae suae timorem meum non inspicientes, eisdem dignitatibus in iniquitate voluntatis suae divinum praeceptum praevaricantes se ingerant, quod justo judicio ita fieri permitto ut desiderant ipsi, per aequissimam examinationem ex hoc in gravi poenitentia aut in igne gehennae responsuri.
Sed ut vides quod ex his quidam ab hac stultitia cessantes mundi effecti sunt, aliis in eadem nequitia et sorde sua perseverantibus: hoc est quod ex eis aliqui per inspirationem divinam a perversitate sua resipiscentes, per puram et veram poenitentiam mundari et salvari merentur, aliis obduratis et impoenitentibus in eadem calliditate sua et immunditia usque ad finem vitae suae permanentibus, atque ita suffocatis miserabiliter et crudeliter in tormentis dirae mortis morientibus.
Quod autem intra praedictum aedificium conspicis versus praefatam turrim Ecclesiae, quasi septem albi coloris marmoreas columnas in miram rotunditatem tornatas, stantes: hoc est quod in opere omnipotentis Patris ad munimentum et ad decorem novae sponsae, Spiritus sanctus inspirationis suae septem candidissima sustentacula omnem adversitatem tempestatum sua fortitudine abstergentia declarans, summam potestatem nec initium nec finem in rotunditate aeternitatis habentem manifestavit. Quae sunt altitudinis septem cubitorum; quia omnem fortitudinem et altitudinem totius humani intellectus illa dona excedentia, eum qui cuncta creavit purissima fide colendum demonstrant. Et in summitate sua quasi ferreum et rotundum habent tabulatum, decenter aliquantulum in altitudinem sursum erectum; quoniam in excellentia suae claritatis invincibilem et incomprehensibilem divinitatis potestatem designant, tegentem et sustentantem illos elegantissima rectitudine sua in coelestibus, qui se hic per dona sancti Spiritus separaverint a carnalibus voluptatibus.
Quod autem in cacumine ejusdem tabulati vides quasi pulcherrimam imaginem stantem: hoc est quod virtus haec in altissimo Patre ante omnem creaturam fuit, ordinans in consilio ejus quaeque instrumenta creaturarum quae in coelo et in terra condita sunt, ipsa scilicet magnus ornatus fulgens in Deo, latissimusque gradus graduum caeterarum virtutum existens in ipso, eique dulcissima amplexione inardentis amoris conjuncta tripudio. Quae ad homines in mundum aspicit; quoniam illos qui eam sequi voluerint sua protectione semper regit et custodit, eos valde diligens; quia constant in ipsa. Nam imago illa sapientiam Dei designat; quia omnia per ipsam a Deo creata sunt et reguntur, cujus caput veluti fulgur tanto nitore radiat, ut illud ad plenum non possis considerare; quoniam divinitas terribilis et blanda omni creaturae est, omnia videns et considerans, ut oculus hominis ea dijudicat quae sibi fuerint apposita, a nullo tamen hominum in profunditate mysterii sui ad finem valens perduci. Unde et manus ad pectus suum decenter componit: quae est potestas sapientiae quam ad se ipsam sapienter constringit, ita quod omne opus suum tali modo dirigit, ut nullus ei in aliquo nec prudentia nec potentia resistere possit, pedibus ejus in ipso tabulato tibi ad videndum occultatis; quia profunda ejus in corde Patris absconsa nulli hominum patent, soli Deo secreta ejus nuda et manifesta. Quod vero circulum in modum coronae multo fulgentem splendore habet in capite: hoc est quod majestas Dei initio et fine carens incomparabili nitet honore, tanto fulgore Divinitate radiante, ut acies mortalium mentium in ipsa reverberentur. Sed quod tunica aurei coloris induitur: hoc est quod opus sapientiae quasi in purissimo auro frequenter consideratur. Quapropter et a pectore deorsum usque ad pedes zona una descendens pretiosissimarum gemmarum ornata, viridis scilicet albi et rubei atque aerei purpureo fulgore interlucente coloris decoratur; quoniam ab exordio mundi cum primum sapientia opus suum in apertam ostensionem dedit, jamque se usque ad finem saeculorum quasi una via tetendit in sanctis et justis mandatis ornata, videlicet prima plantatione viridis germinis patriarcharum et prophetarum, quae in aerumnis gemitus laboris sui maximo desiderio Filium Dei flagitabant incarnari, et deinde decorata candidissima virginitate in virgine Maria, et postea in robustissima et rubente martyrum fide, ac demum in contemplationis purpurea et lucida charitate, qua Deus et proximus per calorem sancti Spiritus diligendus est, quod ita ad terminum mundi procedet admonitione illius non cessante, sed semper quandiu saeculum durat emanante, ut etiam haec virtus in exhortatione sua declarat, ut praedictum est.
Sed quod iterum in pavimento ipsius aedificii tres alias imagines vides: hoc est quod hae virtutes terrena calcantes, et coelestia in divino opere sectantes tria instrumenta per quae Ecclesia in filiis suis aeterna petit designant, nutrimentum scilicet magistrorum et pugnam fidelium adversus diabolum, ac reversionem eorum de consensu vitiorum; quarum una praefatis columnis acclivis est; quia ecclesiastici doctores per donum sancti Spiritus imbuti, requiem capiunt ipsius fortitudine; et reliquae duae ante ipsam sibi collaterales stant, quoniam dilectio Dei et proximi ejus exhortatione in istarum conjuncta et sociabili continetur operatione. Unde et se omnes ad columnam humanitatis Salvatoris et ad praefatam turrim dirigunt; quia pari unanimitate Filium Dei verum Deum et verum hominem in Ecclesia devotissime coli et adorari ostendunt, justitiam per justitiam elevantes, designando videlicet in antiquis sanctis altissimum Deum in incarnatione Filii ejus salvationem operatum animarum.
Sed haec imago quae ipsis columnis acclivis est, praefigurat justitiam Dei; quoniam ipsa post sapientiam per Spiritum sanctum in hominibus cum omnibus justitiis suis operatur, tantae latitudinis apparens ut latitudo quinque hominum sibi astantium nominari potest; quod est expansio quinque sensuum humanae capacitatis, cum quibus ipsa in latitudine legis Dei conversatur, continens et conservans a Deo instituta praecepta vitae, ipsam diligentibus. Quae et tantae proceritatis est, ut longitudinem ejus perfecte discernere non valeas, ita etiam quod per omne hoc aedificium prospiciat; quia ipsa in latitudine sua humanum intellectum excellens, sursum tendit ad coelestia; sic quod etiam in incarnatione Salvatoris de coelo prospexit: cum idem Salvator scilicet Filius Dei a Patre exivit, qui vera justitia existit. Unde et in omnia ecclesiastica instrumenta aspectum suum dirigit; quoniam illa per eam fabricantur et continentur, ut altiora propugnacula ad fortissimam turrim per quam constare possint conjunguntur. Quapropter et magnum caput et claros oculos habens, acutissime in coelum videt; quoniam maxima et summa bonitas justitiae, lucidissimum visum per incarnatum Filium Dei hominibus declaravit, cum ille in humano corpore terrenis ac tenebrosis oculis se manifestavit: coelestia intuens per redemptionem animarum. Et tota candida et perlucida existit ut serenissima nubes est; quia ipsa in candore et puritate mentium justorum hominum habitat, qui omne studium suum ad hoc intendunt, ut justitiae Dei fidelissime subditi sint. Unde et ipsa nubibus se assimilat; quoniam in cordibus justorum gratam sibi habitationem parat. Sed quod aliam formam hominis in ea nullam conspicis: hoc est quod coelestis et non terrestris manet, secundum quod et tibi declaratum est, videlicet humanis operibus quibus gravantur homines illi non adhaerentibus, sed quae ipsos ad justificationem vitae perducunt; quoniam Deus justus est, ut et ipsa diabolo opposita in opere Dei caeteras virtutes exhortans superius fideliter demonstrat.
Imago autem prima illarum quae ante praedictam imaginem sibi collaterales stant; ostendit fortitudinem, quia post justitiam Dei surgit fortitudo quasi princeps in conspectu summi regis, recto et sancto opere repugnans in hominibus cunctis insidiis adversariorum; armata apparens, videlicet virtute omnipotentis Dei; quoniam ipsa fortis in fide fortiter resistit diabolicae subjectioni. Quapropter et galea, id est superno vigore ad salutem credentium induitur, et lorica: quod est Christianorum lege, quae per justitiam quam continet in se nulla sagitta diabolicae artis aboletur; ac ocreis, scilicet rectis itineribus in doctrina principalium magistrorum frequentatis; atque ferreis chirothecis, quae sunt fortissima et acutissima opera quae fideles perficiunt in Christo. Tenet etiam evaginatum gladium dextra, id est in bono opere nudam et apertam in divina Scriptura Dei admonitionem, quam verus Dei Filius in mystica significatione denudavit, cum interiorem dulcedinem nuclei in detectione legis ostendit. Hastam autem habens sinistra, qua fiduciam aeternorum in hac etiam actione designat infidelibus hominibus se habere, ubi carnalibus concupiscentiis per voluptatem carnis impugnantur. Quod autem sub pedibus suis horribilem draconem conculcat: hoc est quod per viam rectitudinis antiquum et horridum serpentem potestati suae subigit; os etiam illius ferro haste transverberans ita ut ipse immundissimas spumas evomat; quoniam rictus sordidissimae et diabolicae libidinis, in acutissima audacia castitatis transfodiens conspumationem ardentis libidinis, qua ille homines polluit ab eo extorquet. Unde et gladium quem tenet quasi ad feriendum fortiter vibrat; quia Deus penetrabile verbum suum ad interficiendum omnem infidelitatem idolorum et aliorum schismatum quae incredulitatis sunt, in extensa fortitudine manifestavit, sicut et virtus haec in admonitione sua manifestat.
Altera vero imago sanctitatem significat; quoniam cum per fortitudinem diabolo repugnatur, sanctitas in hominibus bonis ad ornatum coelestis militiae oritur. Quae triceps est; quoniam hac trina dignitate ad statum suum perducitur, ita ut in naturali loco capitis et in utroque humero suo caput appareat; quia justa et digna actione Deus caput totius verae exsultationis et in prosperis et in adversis ex quibus vel laetificari vel constristari potest homo, metuendus et venerandus est; medio tamen alia duo aliquantulum supereminente; quoniam ille qui judex bonorum et malorum existit, omnia supereminet sua aequitate. Sed quod idem medium et quod a dextris ejus est tanto fulgore radiant, ut claritas ipsorum visum tuum reverberet, ita quod utrum virilem an muliebrem formam habeant perfecte considerare non valeas: hoc est, quod sanctitas in culmine honoris et in parte prosperitatis aeternae dulcedinis, tanto splendore divinae gratiae perfusa consistit, ut profunditas mysterii ejus ita intellectum hominum excedat, ut prae gravedine mortalitatis nec libertatem nec subjectionem ejus in Christo possit intueri, praeterquam quod viget in ipso. Illo autem capite quod a sinistris apparet aliquantulum obscuro et muliebri consuetudine candido velamine velato; quoniam perfectio haec quae se fortiter constringit ob amorem Dei, in adversitate illa qua ipsa diabolica infestatione et humano opere impugnatur, quasi anxietatem et sollicitudinem quomodo se divino auxilio defendat habet, humillima subjectione in albedine et pulchritudine Christiani certaminis se Redemptori summo gemitibus fidelium cordium commendans. Quod vero tunica ex albo serico eadem imago induta est, hoc est quod opere lucidissimi et suavissimi studii, in quo perfecta sanctitas Filium meum imitatur circumamicta apparet, candidissimis etiam calceamentis munita; quia per mortem Christi, in candore regenerationis spiritus et aquae refulget in mentibus hominum, ut et ipsi mortem ejus imitentur. Et in pectore suo signum crucis habet, circa quod etiam splendor magnus in eodem pectore velut aurora fulgens rutilat; quoniam in intentione mentium fidelium illam diligentissime complectentium recordationem passionis Christi Jesu ruminat. Hac etiam ubique serenissima claritate fidei in eisdem mentibus designans; quod ille qui obediens Patri taliter in sancta humanitate sua passus est voluntate Patris, in pulcherrima aurora solis quae virgo Maria est sine macula peccati natus advenerat. Quod autem in dextra nudum gladium tenet, quem pectori suo et eidem cruci cum multa devotione apponit: hoc est quod bono et sancto opere ostendit, quomodo Scripturas per Spiritum sanctum denudatas in recordatione mentis electorum hominum (quia et ipsi passionis Redemptoris sui dulcissime recordantur) diligit.
Unde etiam vides in fronte medii capitis scriptum sanctitas, quia in interiori facie quae est animae absque ulla indignatione pudoris cum gaudio vitae sanctitas cognoscitur, et in fronte dextri, radix boni; quoniam ipsa palam initium et fundamentum in salvatione sanctitatis est, et in fronte sinistri non parcens sibi; quia sine corpore mollitiem et vanitatem carnalium voluptatum abjiciens, semper se in districtione constringit, ornamenta caeterarum virtutum sibi conjungens ut possit perfici et perdurare contendit. Sed et medium ad alia duo aspiciens et illa ad ipsum, utilitatem suam ad invicem conferunt; quoniam ipsa fortiter in unanimitate interioris visionis et dilectionis consistentia, ita ut nullum eorum sine adjutorio alterius durare valeat, verba et admonitiones suas ad profectum hominum dirigunt, ut dictum est. Qui autem acutas aures interioris intellectus habet; hic in ardente amore speculi mei ad verba haec anhelet, et ea in conscientia animi sui conscribat.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
Keep Hildegard in your mornings
Get the free 14-day Scivias reading plan, then continue with daily historic devotionals in the Chosen Portion app.
Hildegard's visions were meant to be read and prayed over daily by her community; Chosen Portion continues that pattern with a curated historic devotional reading each morning.
- Read all three parts of Scivias in curated excerpts — about 15 minutes a day for 14 days
- One reflection question and one short prayer per day, so you never wonder what to do next
- A day-15 handoff into a daily prayer rhythm you can sustain in the free Chosen Portion app