Quid in singulis his visitationibus Deus operetur.

The Threefold Work of Mercy

Mercy rouses, compassion helps, and justice crowns the soul through each stage of its spiritual journey.

In the first state, therefore, the soul is roused to life; in the second, it is purified; in the third, it rests in the tranquility of the sabbath. In the first state, mercy is at work; in the second, compassion; in the third, justice. For mercy seeks the lost one; compassion reshapes the one who has been found; justice rewards the one now brought to perfection. Mercy lifts up the one who lies fallen; compassion helps the one who is fighting; justice crowns the victor.

The Sweetness That Breaks Through

God's penetrating sweetness overwhelms every barrier of vice to kiss the still-stained soul with ineffable tenderness.

And truly, what greater sign of divine compassion can there be than this: that sweetness, that delight, that wonderful serenity into which nothing defiled enters — that to a soul still stained, God imparts the grace of his visitation; and not only does he shake her with fear, but cutting through every barrier of the mind bolted shut with the bars of vice by his own penetrating power, he presses upon her lips, still foul, a kiss of his own sweetness, and with ineffable tenderness woos the one who turns away, allures the one who hesitates, and encourages the one who despairs.¹²

A Prayer of Amazement at God's Sweetness

The soul marvels at God's rescuing mercy and the sweetness of his Spirit, recalling deliverance from the depths.

O sweet Lord, what can I repay you for all that you have repaid me? O how sweet your Spirit is in all things! Truly, Lord, your mercy is great over me — you who sent forth your hand from on high, snatching me away and setting me free from many waters, and from the hand of strangers; you who rescued my soul from the lower depths, where I had tasted a drop of your sweetness and heard your voice as if from far away.³⁴

The Accusing Voice and the Embracing Lord

The soul's self-accusation before God's sweetness is met by the Lord's relentless pursuit and sheltering mercy.

What are you doing, you unworthy and foul creature? Why do you wallow in this filth? Why do you take delight in these shameful things?⁵ Look — what sweetness is with me, what gentleness, what delightfulness! Or do you despair because of the enormity of your crimes? But I, who pursue the one who flees — would I cast away the one who comes?⁶ I, who embrace you and draw you to myself when you turn your face away from me — would I drive you off under the wings of my mercy when you are the one fleeing?^✦⁷

The Voice That Heals and Restores

The Lord's voice is his own inspiration, granting hope to the despairing and wondrously healing what is deformed.

And your voice, Lord, is your own inspiration. For whence would a despairing soul have so great a hope, unless you, Lord, granted it — you who in wondrous ways heal our weaknesses and reshape what is deformed in us?⁸

Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

Divine mercy so consoles the soul in temptation that it advances through trials and even eagerly seeks them.

But now, what must be said about that second condition, in which divine mercy works so marvelously in a person that they advance through temptation and grow stronger through weakness? And since every soul naturally shrinks from the labor, the temptations, and the sorrows of trial, it is encouraged by so many consolations amid its temptations that it not only endures the attacks rushing in but even, in a way, challenges and actively seeks out the very things that hold it back.

The Prayer of the Proven Soul

The advanced soul prays with the Psalmist to be tested and known by the Lord.

The holy one who had advanced to that condition says: Test me, Lord, and try me (Ps.^✦ xxv.) And again: Test me, Lord, and know my heart (Ps.^✦ cxxxviii).

Drunk on Heavenly Secrets

The soul, advancing into mystical contemplation, tastes the first fruits of its future rest and cries out with the Prophet.

In this condition, the mind — now accustomed to countless incentives of heavenly affection — is gradually advanced toward that most sublime and rarely experienced kind of divine visitation, where it begins to taste in advance certain first fruits of its future reward. Passing into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, and pouring out its soul upon itself, it is made drunk with the nectar of heavenly secrets. And contemplating with the purest gaze the place of its future rest, it cries out with the Prophet: This is my rest forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have chosen it (Ps.^✦ cxxxi).

Justice Crowning What Mercy Gave

In the final state, God's justice crowns the gifts he himself bestowed, working together with mercy.

So just as mercy alone is at work in that state where no merits precede, so too in this other state — where God crowns the gifts that are his own (gifts he has nevertheless willed to be our merits) — justice works together with mercy.⁹¹⁰

Read the original Latin

In primo igitur statu anima suscitatur, in secundo purgatur, in tertio sabbati tranquillitate perfruitur. In primo statu operatur misericordia, in secundo pietas, in tertio justitia. Misericordia enim quaerit perditum, pietas reformat inventum, justitia munerat jam perfectum. Misericordia erigit jacentem, pietas adjuvat pugnantem, justitia coronat victorem. Et revera quod potest esse majus divinae miserationis indicium, quam ut illa suavitas, illa jucunditas, illa mira serenitas, in qua nihil inquinatum incurrit, animae inquinatae adhuc gratiam suae visitationis impertiat, nec solum terrore concutiat, sed omnia mentis claustra seris vitiorum obserata sua penetrabilitate perscindens, foedis adhuc labiis quoddam suae dulcedinis imprimat osculum, ac ineffabili suavitate sua blandiatur aversanti, cunctantem alliciat, animet desperantem? O dulcis Domine; quid retribuam tibi pro omnibus quae retribuisti mihi? O quam suavis est in omnibus spiritus tuus! Vere, Domine, misericordia tua magna est super me, qui emisisti manum tuam de alto, eripiens et liberans me de aquis multis, et de manu filiorum alienorum; qui eripuisti animam meam de inferno inferiori, in quo elinxi quamdam dulcedinis tuae stillam; et audivi vocem tuam quasi de longinquo.

Quid agis, indigne et sordide? Ut quid in his sordibus volutaris, in his turpibus delectaris? Ecce quid apud me dulcedinis; quid suavitatis; quid jucunditatis? An scelerum tuorum immanitate desperas? Sed qui persequor fugientem, rejiciam venientem? Qui avertentem te faciem tuam a me amplector et attraho, sub alas misericordiae meae fugientem repellam? Et vox tua, Domine, inspiratio tua. Unde enim animae desperatae tanta spes, nisi te, Domine, donante, qui miris modis curas infirmitates nostras; formas deformia nostra?

Sed jam de secundo illo statu quid dicendum, in quo divina pietas tam mirabiliter operatur in homine, ut ex tentatione proficiat, ex infirmitate amplius convalescat? Et cum omnis anima naturaliter labores, tentationes et dolores refugiat, tot consolationibus in suis tentationibus animatur, ut non solum sustineat irruentes, sed etiam retardantes provocet quodammodo, ac requirat. In quem statum sanctus ille profecerat, qui ait: Proba me, Domine, et tenta me (Psal. xxv.) Et iterum: Proba me, Domine, et scito cor meum (Psal. cxxxviii). In hoc statu innumerabilibus coelestium affectuum incentivis assuefacta mens, paulatim in illud sublimissimum, ac perpaucis expertum visitationis genus provehitur, ubi quasdam futurae suae remunerationis primitias incipiat praegustare, transiens in locum tabernaculi admirabilis usque ad domum Dei, et effundens super se animam suam, coelestium secretorum nectare debrietur; futuraeque quietis suae locum purissimis contemplans obtutibus exclamet cum Propheta: Haec requies mea in saeculum saeculi: hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam (Psal. cxxxi).

Sicut ergo in illo statu ubi nulla praecedunt merita, sola operatur misericordia, ita in isto, in quo coronat munera sua, quae tamen esse voluit merita nostra, cum misericordia operatur justitia.

Scripture echoes

↩Ps.90.4 — For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.
↩Ps.26.2;Ps.26.2 — Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart. Ps.26.2 — Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.
↩Ps.139.23;Ps.139.23 — Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Ps.139.23 — Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
↩Ps.132.14;Ps.132.14 — This is my resting place forever; here I will sit, for I have desired it. Ps.132.14 — This is my resting place forever; here I will sit, for I have desired it.

Notes

1 ↩The Latin osculum (kiss) carries rich bridal-mystical resonance (Song of Songs 1:2); the translation 'kiss' preserves this without elaboration.
2 ↩penetrabilitas is rendered 'penetrating power' to convey God's ability to pass through barriers of vice; the term is rare and the sense is contextual.
3 ↩elinxi (from elingo) is a rare verb; the gloss 'tasted' or 'licked' is uncertain. The sense appears to be that even in the depths the soul had some faint experience of divine sweetness.
4 ↩The verb elinxi is attested as a rare perfect of elingo ('to lick, taste'); the translation follows the most plausible intended sense of tasting a drop of sweetness.
5 ↩Ut quid rendered as 'why' — the Latin ut can introduce a purpose or result clause; here it functions as a rhetorical question meaning 'to what end / why.'
6 ↩qui is a rhetorical interrogative particle, rendered as an emphatic statement: 'I who… would I…?' The deliberative subjunctive rejiciam is rendered as a rhetorical question.
7 ↩Qui is again a rhetorical interrogative, rendered as an emphatic statement. The deliberative subjunctive repellam is rendered as a rhetorical question. The image of sheltering under wings echoes Psalm 91:4 (Vulg. 90:4).
8 ↩formas deformia nostra: the verb formas takes deformia nostra as its object (elliptical). Rendered as 'reshape what is deformed in us' to capture the sense of God reforming the soul's deformities.
9 ↩The connective 'cum' before 'misericordia operatur justitia' is ambiguous (temporal, causal, or concessive); causal reading chosen as best contextual fit: justice operates *through* or *alongside* mercy.
10 ↩The phrase 'quae tamen esse voluit merita nostra' holds together divine initiative and human merit: God crowns his own gifts, yet wills that they count as our merits. The translation preserves this tension without resolving it.

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