REVELATIONS, BOOK I
Chapter 30 The Lord’s words of greatest charity to the bride about the multiplication of false Christians at the crucifixion of Christ and how, if it were possible, he is still ready to accept death again for sinners.
” { I am God, who created all things for the benefit of man, that they might serve man and build him up. But man abuses all that I created for him for his own benefit to his own detriment. Moreover, he cares less about God and loves Him less than he does about creation. 2 The Jews inflicted three kinds of punishments on me in my passion: first, the wood to which I was nailed and scourged and crowned; second, the iron to which they nailed my hands and feet; third, the drink of gall, which they gave me to drink. Then they blasphemed me that I was foolish because of the death that I willingly endured, and they called me a liar because of my doctrine. 3 Such people are now multiplied in the world and few give me consolation. For they nail me to the wood because of the will to sin, they scourge me because of impatience, because no one can bear a single word for me. And they crown me with the thorn of their pride, by which they want to be superior to me. They pierce my hands and feet with the iron of hardening, because they glory in sin and harden themselves so that they may not fear me. 4 Instead of gall they offer “They call me a liar and a fool. For I am able to drown them and the whole world for their sins if I wanted to. And then, if I drowned them, those who remained would serve me out of fear, but this would not be justice, because a man should serve me out of love. 5 But if I came among them personally visible, their eyes would not bear to see me nor their ears to hear me. For how could a mortal man see an immortal? For I would gladly die again out of love for man, if it were possible.” 6 Then the blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her, to whom her son said: “What do you want, my mother, my chosen one?” And she said: “Have mercy on your creatures, my son, because of your love!” And he answered: “I will have mercy on you once more for your sake.” 7 Then the Lord spoke to his bride, saying: “I am your God and the Lord of angels. I am Lord over death and life. I myself want to dwell in your heart. Behold, how much love I have for you! 8 The heavens and the earth and all that is in them cannot contain me, and yet in your heart, which is but a little piece of flesh, I want to dwell. Whom then can you fear or need, when you have within you the most powerful God, in whom is all good? 9Therefore, in the heart, which is my dwelling place, there should be three things: a bed on which we rest, a seat on which we sit, a light by which we are enlightened. Therefore, in your heart there should be a bed of rest or quietness, so that you may rest from the evil thoughts and desires of the world. And always consider eternal joy! 10 The seat should be the will to remain with me, even if it happens at some point to leave. For it is against nature to always stand. For he always stands who always has the will to be with the world and never sit with me. The light, or illumination, should be faith, by which you believe that I can do all things and am omnipotent over all things.”
Chapter 37 The words of the Mother to her bride, the excellence of her son, and how Christ is now crucified more bitterly by his enemies, the evil Christians, than he was crucified by the Jews, and consequently, that such people will be punished more bitterly and bitterly.
{ The mother spoke: “My son had three good things. First, because no one had such a delicate body as he did, because he was of the two best natures, namely divinity and humanity, and so pure that, just as no blemish is found in the clearest eye, so no deformity could be found in his body. 2 The second good was that he never sinned. For other sons sometimes bear the sins of their parents and their own; for this one never sinned and yet bore the sins of all. 3 The third was that some die for God and for a greater reward. But he died for his enemies as much as for me and his friends. 4 But when his enemies crucified him, they did four things to him: first, they crowned him with thorns, second, they pierced his hands and feet, third, they gave him gall to drink, fourth, they pierced his side. 5 But now I complain that my son is crucified more bitterly by his enemies, who are now in the world, than the Jews crucified him then. For although you may say that he is impassible and cannot die, yet with his own vices They crucify him. 6 For just as a man would insult and injure the image of one of his enemies, even though the image did not feel that it was inflicted, yet because of the evil intention of injuring the offender would be rebuked and judged as if for the deed, so the vices of those with whom they spiritually crucify my son are more abominable and grievous to him than those of those who crucified him in the body. 7 But perhaps you may ask: ‘How do they crucify him?’ Of course, first they put him on the cross which they had prepared for themselves, when they do not care about the precepts of their Creator and Lord, and they dishonor him when he warns them through his servants to serve him, and they themselves do this contemptuously, which pleases them. 8 Then they crucify the right hand, when they hold justice for injustice, saying: ‘Sin is not so grievous and hateful to God, as is said, nor does God afflict anyone forever, but has threatened because of fear. For why would he redeem man if he wished him to perish?’, not considering that the least sin, if a man delights in it, is enough for him to eternal punishment. 9And because God does not leave the least sin unpunished, just as He does not leave the least good unrewarded, therefore their punishment will be eternal, because they have an eternal will to sin, which My Son, who sees the heart, considers as a deed. For, as they have the will, so they would also fulfill it in deed, if My Son would permit. 10 Then they crucify His left hand, when they turn virtue into vice, wanting to sin to the end, saying: ‘If in the end we say once, “Have mercy on me, O God!”, so great is the mercy of God that we will have pardon.’ 11 This is not virtue, to want to sin and not to amend, to want to have the reward without labor, unless there was contrition in the heart, which one would willingly wish to amend, if he could because of weakness or some other impediment. 12 Afterwards they crucify His feet, when they delight in committing sin and not once think of the bitter punishment of My Son, nor do they thank Him once from their inmost heart, saying: ‘Oh, how bitter was Your passion, O God! Praise be to You for Your death!’ This never comes out of their mouths. 13 Then they crown him with a crown of mockery, when his servants mock him and consider it vanity to serve him. They give him gall to drink, when they rejoice and exult in sin. And not once does it enter their hearts how heavy and how complex it is. They pierce his side, when they have the will to persevere in sin. 14 Truly I say to you, and you will be able to tell this to my friends, that such are before my Son more unjust than those who judge him, more merciless than those who crucify him, more shameless than those who sell him, and a greater punishment is due to these than to them. 15 For Pilate knew very well that my Son had not sinned, nor was he worthy of any death. Nevertheless, because he feared the loss of temporal power and the sedition of the Jews, he condemned my Son to death, as it were, unwillingly. 16 But what would these have to fear if they served him? Or what would they lose of their honor and dignity if they honored him? 17 Therefore these will be judged more severely and are worse than Pilate in the sight of my son, because Pilate judged him because of the petition and will of others with a certain fear. But these judge him because of their own advantage without fear, when they dishonor him because of a sin from which, if they wished, they could abstain. 18But they neither abstain from sin nor are they ashamed of the sin they have committed, because they do not consider that they are unworthy of the benefits of Him whom they do not serve. 19 They are worse than Judas, because Judas, having betrayed the Lord, knew well that He is God and had sinned grievously against Him, but despaired of himself and hastened his days to hell, believing that he lived unworthy. 20 But these know well their sin and yet persist in it, having no compunction for it in their hearts, but they wish to take the kingdom of heaven with a certain violence and power, when they think that they have this not by works but because of a vain hope, which will be given to no one except one who works and is patient for God. 21 They are also worse than the crucifiers, because when they saw the good works of my Son, namely that He raised the dead and cleansed lepers, they thought to themselves: 22 ‘This man does unheard-of and unusual wonders, for He casts down whom He wills, in a word, He knows our thoughts, He does whatever He wills. If he has his own way, we will all be subject to his power and we will be his subjects.’ Therefore, lest they should be subject to him, they crucified him out of envy. For if they had known that he was the King of glory, they would never have crucified him. 23 But these see his works every day and his great wonders, they use his benefits and hear how they should serve him and come to him, but they think to themselves: 24 ‘If all temporal things are to be left behind, if his will and not ours is to be done, this is heavy and intolerable.’ 25 Therefore, despising his will, lest it be above their will, they crucify my son through hardness, adding sin upon sin against their conscience. 26 But these are worse than the crucifiers, because the Jews did it out of envy and because they did not know that he was God. But these know that he is God and out of their malice and presumption, for the sake of their own lust, crucify him more bitterly spiritually than they carnally, because the latter were redeemed, the former were not yet redeemed. 27 Therefore, bride, obey my son and fear him, for he, as he is merciful, is also just!”
Chapter 41 The words of the creator, in the presence of the heavenly army and the bride, how the same creator complains about five men, namely, about the pope with his clergy and about the wicked laity and about the Jews and the pagans and about the help sent to his friends, by whom all men are understood, and about the most cruel sentence inflicted against his enemies.
” { I am the creator of all things, I was begotten of the Father before Lucifer and inseparably in the Father and the Father in me and one Spirit in both. Therefore there is one God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and not three gods. 2 I am the one who promised Abraham an eternal inheritance and through Moses I led my people out of Egypt. I am the same one who spoke in the prophets. 3 The Father sent me in the womb of a virgin, not separating himself from me but remaining inseparably with me, so that man, departing from God, might return to God through my love. 4 But now, with my army present, who see and know everything in me, yet because of the knowledge and instruction of this bride standing by, who cannot perceive spiritual things except through corporeal things, I complain before you about these five men standing here, because they offend me in many ways. 5 For just as by the name Israel in the law I once understood the entire Israelitish people, so now by these five men I understand all men in the world. 6 The first is the ruler of the Church and his clerics, the second is the wicked laity, the third is the Jews, the fourth is the pagans, the fifth is my friends. 7 But from you, Jew, I exclude all Jews who are secretly Christians and serve me with sincere love and right faith and perfect work in secret. 8 But from you, pagan, I exclude all who would willingly walk in the way of my commandments, if they knew how and if they were instructed, who also do it in work, as much as they know and can. These will not be judged with you in any way. 9 Now therefore I complain against you, the head of my Church, who sits in my seat, which I gave to Peter and his successors to sit in that threefold dignity and authority: first, that they might have the power to bind souls and loose them from sin, second, that they might open heaven to the penitent, third, that they might close heaven to the cursed and contemptuous. 10 But you, who should loose souls and present them to me, are truly a murderer of souls. For I have appointed Peter to be the shepherd and savior of my sheep. 11 But you are their destroyer and their destroyer, and you are worse than Lucifer. For he had envy of me and desired to kill no one but me, that he might rule in my stead. 12But you are so much worse, because you not only kill me by removing me from you by your evil works, but you also kill souls by your evil example. 13 I redeemed souls with my blood and entrusted them to you as a faithful friend. But you hand them over to the enemy from whom I redeemed them. 14 You are more unjust than Pilate, who condemned no one to death but me. But you not only judge me as a ruler of no one and worthy of no good, but you also condemn innocent souls and release guilty ones. 15 You are more ruthless than Judas, who sold me alone. But you sell not only me but also the souls of my chosen ones for your shameful gain and vain name. 16 You are more abominable than the Jews. They crucified my body alone. But you crucify and punish the souls of my chosen ones, to whom your malice and transgression are more bitter than any sword. 17 And therefore, because you are like Lucifer, more unjust than Pilate, more merciless than Judas, more abominable than the Jews, therefore I rightly complain against you.” 18 But to the second, that is, to the laity, the Lord says: “I created all things for your benefit. You have agreed in me and I in you. You have given me your faith and promised with your oath that you would serve me. 19 But now you have departed from me like a man, not knowing your God. You consider my words to be a lie, my works to be vanity. You call my will and my commandments too heavy. 20 You have become a violator of the faith you promised. You have broken your oath and forsaken my name. You have separated yourself from the number of my saints and have come to the number of demons and have become their companion. 21 You think that no one is worthy of praise and honor except yourself. All that is mine and that you are bound to do for me is difficult for you, but what pleases you is easy. 22 Therefore I rightly complain against you, because you have broken your faith, which you gave me in baptism and afterwards. Moreover, because of my love, which I have shown you in word and deed, you accuse me of being a liar. Because of my passion you call me a fool.” 23 But to the third, that is, to the Jews, he says: “I began my love with you, I chose you to be my people, I brought you out of slavery, I gave you my law and brought you into the land which I promised to your fathers, I sent you prophets to comfort you. 24Then I chose a virgin for myself from among you, from whom I took on humanity. But now I complain about you, because you still do not want to believe, saying: ‘Christ has not yet come, but he will still come.'” 25 To the fourth, that is, to the Gentile, the Lord said: “I created you and redeemed you as a Christian and I did all good things for you. But you are like a mad man, because you do not know what you are doing, like a blind man, because you do not know where you are going. 26 For you worship the creature instead of the Creator, the false instead of the true, and you bow your knee before your inferior. Therefore I complain about you.” 27 To the fifth, he said: “Come closer, friend!” And immediately he said to the heavenly army: “Beloved friends, I have one friend, by whom I understand many. 28 He is like a man locked up among the wicked and held captive hard. If he speaks the truth, they stone his mouth. If he does good, they thrust a spear into his chest. 29 Behold, my friends and all the saints, how long shall I put up with these and how long shall I endure such contempt?” 30 Saint John the Baptist answered: “You are like a most pure mirror. For in you as in a mirror we see everything without a word and know it. You are an incomparable sweetness, in which all good tastes to us. You are like a very sharp sword, who judges in equity.” 31 Then the Lord answered him: “Truly, my friend, you speak the truth. For in me my chosen ones see all good and all justice, and also the evil spirits, although not in the light but in their conscience. 32 For just as a man, placed in prison, who had previously learned the letters, who, although he is in darkness, nevertheless knows what he has learned, although he does not see it, so the demons, although they do not see my justice in the light of my glory, nevertheless know and see it in their conscience. 33 I am also like a sword that divides two. Thus I give to each one as he deserves.” 34 Then the Lord added, saying to blessed Peter: “You are the founder of my faith and of my Church. Tell, in the hearing of my army, justice concerning these five men!” 35 Peter answered: “Praise and honor be to you, Lord, for your love, which you do with your country! Blessed be you from all your army, because you make us see and know in you all things that have been done and will be done! 36For in You we see and know all things. But this is true justice, that the first, who sits in Your seat and has the works of Lucifer, may lose with contempt the seat in which he presumed to sit, and may almost be a partaker of Lucifer. 37 Of the second is justice, that he who has departed from Your faith may descend into hell with his head down and his feet up, because he has despised You, who should have been his head, and has loved himself. 38 Of the third is justice, that he may not see Your face and be punished according to his malice and greed, because the treacherous do not deserve to see Your vision. 39 Of the fourth is justice, that he may be shut up like a madman and be placed in dark places. 40 Of the fifth is justice, that help may be sent to him.” 41 Hearing these, the Lord answered: “I swear by God the Father, whose voice John the Baptist heard in the Jordan, I swear by the body that John baptized in the Jordan, saw and touched, I swear by the Spirit who appeared in the form of a dove in the Jordan, that I will do justice to these five.” 42 Then the Lord added to the first man about the above-mentioned five: “The sword of my severity will enter your body, which will enter from the upper part of your head and will be so deeply and powerfully driven that it will never be pulled out. 43 Your seat will sink like a heavy stone, which will not stand up until it reaches the lowest depths. 44 Your fingers, that is, your assessors, will burn with sulfurous and unquenchable fire. Your arms, that is, your vicars, which should be extended for the benefit of souls but are extended for the benefit of the world and honor, will be judged by the penalty of which David says: ‘Let his children be orphans and his wife a widow, and strangers will receive his substance.’ 45 What is ‘his wife’ but the soul, which is abandoned from the glory of heaven and will be a widow from God? 46 ‘His children’, that is, the virtues which they seemed to have, and my simple ones, who were under them, will be separated from them and their dignity and goods will be turned over to others. And they themselves will inherit eternal confusion for their dignity. 47 Then the adornment of their heads will be submerged in the mud of hell, from which they will never rise, so that, just as here through honor and pride they have risen above others, so in hell they will sink so deeply above others that it will be impossible for them to rise. 48Their members, that is, all their followers and clerical supporters, will be cut off from them and disjointed like a wall to be demolished, where not a stone will be left upon a stone, nor will mortar adhere to the stones, nor will mercy come upon them, because my love will never warm them nor build them up into an eternal dwelling in heaven, but they will be tormented endlessly with their heads dissolute from all good. 49 But to the second I say: Because you do not want to keep the faith you promised me nor have love for me, I will send to you an animal that proceeds from a raging torrent, and it will swallow you up. 50 And just as a torrent always flows downwards, so that animal will lead you to the lower parts of hell. And just as it is impossible for you to ascend against a raging torrent, so it is difficult for you to ever rise from hell. 51 To the third I say: Because you, Jew, no longer want to believe that I have come, therefore, when I come to the second judgment, you will see me not in my glory but in your conscience, and you will prove that all that I said was true. 52 Then the punishment remains for you according to your merits. 53 To the fourth I say: Because you no longer care to believe nor do you want to know, your darkness will shine upon you and your heart will be enlightened, so that you may know that my judgments are true, and yet you will not come to the light. 54 To the fifth I say: I will do three things to you. First, I will fill you within with my heat, and second, I will make your mouth harder than any stone and more stable, so that stones thrown at you will return. Third, I will arm you with my weapons so that no spear will harm you, but everything will soften before you like wax before the fire. 55 Therefore, be strong and stand manfully! For as a soldier who hopes for the help of his master in battle fights as long as he has any liquid in him, so stand firm and fight, because the Lord your God will give you help that no one can resist. 56 And because you are few in number, I will honor you and multiply you. 57 Behold, my friends, you see this in me and know, and so they stand before me. My words, which have now been spoken, will be fulfilled. But they will never enter my kingdom as long as I am king unless they amend themselves. For heaven will be given to none but those who humble themselves and repent.” 58 Then all the army answered: “Praise be to you, Lord God, who are without beginning and without end!”
Chapter 47 The words of the Lord to the bride concerning the new addition of the law and how the law itself is now rejected and despised by the world and how evil priests are not priests of God but traitors of God and concerning the curse and damnation of such.
” { I am that God who was once called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. I am the God who gave the law to Moses. This was like a garment. For just as a mother who has a baby in her womb prepares clothes for her child, so God prepared the law, which was nothing but a garment and a shadow and a sign of things to come. 2 But I clothed myself and wrapped myself in these garments of the law. Then, just as a child grows, the old habit changes and a new one is assumed, so I, having completed and laid aside the ancient garment of the law, assumed a new garment, that is, the new law, and gave it to all who wanted to have garments with me. 3 But this garment is not strict or difficult, but everywhere moderate. For it does not rush to fast too much or to work too hard or to kill oneself or to do anything beyond one’s ability, but it is profitable and suitable for moderating and chastising the soul and body. 4 For when the body clings to sin too much, sin itself consumes the body. 5 Therefore, two things are found in the new law: first, discreet temperance and the right use of all things of the soul and body; secondly, the ease of keeping the law, because he who cannot stand in one can stand in another. 6 There it is found that he who cannot be a virgin can lawfully be in marriage. He who falls can rise again. But this law is now rejected and despised by the world. 7 For they say that the law itself is strict, heavy and ugly. They say it is strict because the law urges us to be content with what is necessary and to avoid what is superfluous. But they wish to have everything beyond reason, like beasts above the strength of the body. Therefore it is strict to them. 8 Secondly, they say that it is heavy because the law says to have pleasure with reason and at appointed times. But they wish to perfect their pleasure more than is expedient and more than is appointed. 9 Thirdly, they say that it is ugly because the law commands us to love humility and to ascribe all good to God. But they wish to be proud of the good things given by God and to exalt themselves. Therefore it is ugly to them. Behold, thus my garment is despised. 10 I have completed all the former things and begun new ones, because the old ones were too difficult to last until I came to judgment. But they have worthlessly thrown away the garment by which the soul is covered, that is, the right faith. 11 Moreover, they add sin to sin, because they also want to betray me. Does David say in the Psalm: ‘He who ate my bread, thought against me to betray me.’? 12 In those words I want you to note two things. First, that it does not say ‘thinks’ but ‘thought’, as if it were already past tense. Second, that it notes there only one man who betrayed. 13 But I say that they are my betrayers, who are in the present, not those who have been or who will be, but those who are already living. I also say that it is not only one man but because they are many. 14 But you may perhaps ask me: ‘Are there not two loaves, one invisible and spiritual, by which angels and saints live, the second earthly, by which men eat? But angels and saints will nothing else except according to your will, and men can do nothing else except as you please. How then can they betray you?’ 15 I answer you, in the hearing of my heavenly army, who know and see everything in me, but for your sake, that you may know: Truly there is two kinds of bread. 16 One of the angels, who eat my bread in my kingdom, that they may be satisfied with my ineffable glory. For they do not betray me, because they want nothing else but to be like me. 17 But they betray me, by which they eat my bread on the altar. I am truly that bread. In that bread three things are seen: shape, taste and roundness. 18 I am truly bread. For I, like bread, have three things in me, taste, shape and roundness. Taste, because, just as without bread all food is as if tasteless and as if of no strength, so without me everything, whatever it is, is as if tasteless and all weak and vain. 19 I also have the shape of bread, because I am of the earth. For I am of a virgin mother, mother of Adam, Adam of the earth. 20 I also have a roundness, where neither end nor beginning is found, because I am without beginning and without end. No one can consider or find an end or beginning in my wisdom, power or charity. I am within all and above all and outside of all. 21 Also if someone were to fly like an arrow without ceasing forever, he would never find an end or depth in my power and virtue. 22 Therefore, because of these three, namely, taste, shape and roundness, I am that bread, which is seen and felt on the altar of bread but is converted into my body, which was crucified. 23 For just as something dry and quickly burning, if placed in fire, is quickly consumed and nothing remains of the shape of the wood but is all fire, so, when those words are spoken, namely, ‘This is my body,’ what was previously bread, immediately becomes my body and is not burned like wood by fire but by my divinity. Therefore, those who eat my bread betray me. 24 But what could be a more abominable murder than that where someone kills himself? Or what worse betrayal than when two, united by an indissoluble bond, betray one another, such as husband and wife? 25 But what does a partner do when he wants to betray his partner? He truly says to him under pretense: ‘Let us go to that place, that I may fulfill my will with you!’ But she, in true simplicity, prepared to do all the will of her partner, goes with him. 26 But when he has found the opportune time and place, he produces against her three instruments of betrayal. For either he has something so heavy that it kills her with one blow, or so sharp that it immediately enters the bowels, or something by which the vital breath is immediately suffocated and shuts off. 27 But when she is dead, the traitor thinks to himself: ‘Now I have done wrong. If my crime is open and public, I will be condemned to death.’ Therefore he goes and places the body of his dead partner in a secret place, lest his sin be discovered. 28 Thus do the priests now act towards me, who are my traitors. For they and I are bound together by one bond, when they take bread and by uttering words make of it my true body, which I took from the virgin. This not all angels can do, because I have given that dignity to priests alone and have chosen them to the highest orders. 29 But they act towards me as traitors. For they show me a happy and gentle face and lead me into a secret place, that they may betray me. 30 The priests themselves then show a happy face, when they seem to be good and simple, they lead me into a closed room, when they proceed to the altar. Then I am ready like a bride or a groom to do all their will, but they betray me. 31First, they impose a burden on me, when the divine duty which they say to me is burdensome and heavy for them. For they would rather speak a hundred words for the world than for one for my honor. They would rather give a hundred marks of gold for the world than one penny for me. They would rather work ten times for their own benefit and the world than once for my honor. They depress me with this burden, as if I were dead from their hearts. 32 Secondly, they pierce me as with a sharp iron, which enters the bowels, when the priest approaches the altar and thinks that he has sinned and repents, having a firm will to sin again after the duty is done, thinking to himself: ‘I repent well of sin, but I will not leave her with whom I have sinned, so that I will do it no more.’ These pierce me as with a very sharp iron. 33 Thirdly, the spirit is as if suffocated, when they think to themselves: ‘It is good and delightful to be with the world, it is good to indulge in luxury, and I cannot restrain myself. I will do my will in my youth. But when I am old, then I will abstain and amend myself.’ And from this most evil thought the spirit is suffocated. 34 But he complains, how. Of course, their heart is so cold and lukewarm from me and from all good that it can never be warmed or rise again to my love. 35 For just as from ice, even if fire is applied, the flame does not rise but melts, so these, even if I give them my grace and they hear the words of admonition, do not rise to the way of life but wither and fail from all good. 36 Thus, therefore, they betray me, namely, from the fact that they show themselves simple and are not, and because they are burdened or troubled by my honor, which they should delight in, and also from the fact that they have the will to sin and that they promise that they will sin to the end. 37 Then also they hide me as it were and put me in a hidden place, when they think to themselves thus: ‘I know that I have sinned. If I abstain from sacrifice, I am ashamed and judged by all.’ And they approach the altar shamelessly and place me before them and treat me, true God and man. With whom I am as if in a hidden place, because no one knows or considers how wicked and deformed they are, before whom I lie as if in a hidden place, God, because, even if the worst man were a priest and said those words, namely, ‘This is my body,’ he himself consecrates my true body and I lie before him true God and man. 38But when he has brought me to his mouth, then I am taken away by grace with my divinity and humanity from him – but the form of bread and the taste remain with him – not because I am not truly there with the bad as with the good because of the institution of the sacrament, but because the good and the bad do not have the same effect. 39 Behold, such priests are not my priests but true traitors! For they also sell me like Judas and betray me. I behold pagans and Jews but I see none worse than them, because they themselves are priests in the same sin in which Lucifer fell. 40 Now I also tell you their judgment and what they are like. Their judgment is a curse. As David cursed those who do not obey God – who, being a righteous prophet and king, did not curse from anger or ill will or from impatience but from the justice of God – so I, who am better than David, curse those who are priests, not from anger or ill will but from justice. 41 Cursed, then, is everything that they receive from the earth for their own use, because they do not praise God and their Creator, who gave them these things. Cursed is their food and drink that enters their mouths, which feeds the body as food for worms and the soul to hell. 42 Cursed is their body, which will rise again in hell to burn without end. Cursed are their years, in which they lived in vain. Cursed is the hour that begins for them in hell and will never end. 43 Cursed are their eyes, with which they saw the light of heaven. Cursed are their ears, with which they heard my words and did not care. Cursed is their taste, with which they tasted my gifts. 44 Cursed is their touch, with which they handled me. Cursed is their smell, with which they smelled pleasant things and neglected me, the most pleasant of all. 45 But it is complained how they are cursed. Certainly their sight will be cursed, because they will not see the vision of God within themselves, but the darkness and punishments of hell. Cursed are their ears, for they will not hear my words but the cry of hell and horror. 46“Cursed is their taste, because they will not taste of my eternal goods and joy but eternal bitterness. Cursed is their touch, because they will not touch me but eternal fire. Cursed is their smell, because they will not smell that most sweet smell in my kingdom, surpassing all spices, but they will have a stench in hell more bitter than gall and worse than brimstone. 47 Cursed be they from the earth and the sky and from all senseless creatures, because they themselves obey and praise God and these have despised him. 48 Therefore I swear by my truth, who am the truth, that if they die thus and in such a disposition as they are now constituted, my love nor virtue will never enclose them within themselves, but they will be damned without end.”
Chapter 53 The words of blessing and praise of the Mother and Son are repeated, and how the Virgin is symbolized by the ark, where were the rod, the manna, and the tablets of the law, in which figure many wonderful things are contained.
{ Mary spoke to her son: “Blessed are you, my son, my God and Lord of angels! You are the one whose voice the prophets heard, whose body the apostles saw, whom the Jews and your enemies felt. 2 You are one God with divinity and humanity and the Holy Spirit. For the prophets heard the Spirit, the apostles saw the glory of your divinity, the Jews crucified your humanity. Therefore may you be blessed without beginning and without end!” 3 The son answered: “Blessed are you, for you are a virgin and a mother! You are that ark that was in the law, in which were three things, namely, the rod, the manna, and the table. 4 With the rod were three things. First it was changed into a serpent, which was without poison. Second, the sea was divided by it. Third, water was brought out of the rock. 5 I am that rod in the form, who lay in your womb and received humanity from you. At first, like the serpent of Moses, I am terrible to my enemies. For they flee from me as from the sight of a serpent, they are afraid of me and they abhor me like a serpent, while yet I am without the poison of malice, full of all mercy. 6 I am willing to be held by them if they wish, I return to them if they seek me. I run to them as a mother to a lost and found son if they call on me. I show them my mercy and forgive their sins if they cry out. This I do to them, and they still abhor me. like a serpent. 7 Secondly, by that rod the sea was divided, when the way to heaven, which was closed by sin, was opened by my blood and pain. Then the sea was certainly broken and the way became inhospitable, when the pain of all my members came to my heart and my heart was broken by the violence of the pain. 8 Later, having led the people through the sea, Moses did not immediately lead them into the land of promise, but into the desert, that they might be tested and instructed there. 9 So also now, having received faith and my command, the people are not immediately led into heaven, but it is necessary that in the desert, that is, in the world, men be tested as to how they love God. 10 But the people provoked God in the desert in three ways. First, because they made an idol for themselves and worshipped it. Second, because they coveted the flesh which they had in Egypt. Third, through pride, when without the will of God they wanted to go up and fight with their enemies. 11So now also man sins against me in the world. First, he worships an idol, because he loves the world and what is in it more than me, who am their creator. 12 But the world is their god, not me. For I said in my gospel: ‘Where a man’s treasure is, there his heart is.’ So man’s treasure is the world, because he has his heart for it, not for me. 13 Therefore, just as they fell in the wilderness by the sword in the body, so these will fall by the eternal sword of damnation in the soul, in which they live without end. 14 Secondly, they sinned through the lust of the flesh. For I have given man all things necessary for honesty and moderation, but he wants to have everything immoderately and indiscriminately. 15 For he himself, if nature were sufficient, would want to have intercourse without ceasing, to drink without restraint, to lust without moderation. For as long as he could sin, he would never cease from sin. 16 Therefore it will happen to them, as to them in the wilderness, that they will die a sudden death. For what is the life of this time but as a certain point in eternity? Therefore, they will die as if by a sudden death in the body because of the shortness of this life and will live in punishment for the soul without end. 17 Thirdly, they sinned in the wilderness through pride, because without the will of God they wanted to go up into battle. So men through their pride want to go up to heaven and do not trust in me, but in themselves, doing their own will and abandoning mine. 18 Therefore, as the former by their enemies, so these will be killed by demons in the soul, and their torment will be everlasting. Therefore, they hate me like a serpent, they worship an idol instead of me, they affect their own lust more than me, they love their pride instead of my humility. 19 Nevertheless, I am still so merciful that, if they turn to me with a contrite heart, I turn to them like a merciful father and receive them. 20 Thirdly, by means of a rod, this rock gave water. This rock is the hard heart of man. For if he is struck with fear and love for me, tears of contrition and penitence immediately flow forth. 21 No one is so unworthy, no one so evil, if he turns to me, if he considers my passion intimately, if he pays attention to my power, if he weighs my goodness, as the earth bears fruit and the trees, that his mouth does not flow with tears and all his members are stirred to devotion. 22 Secondly, in the ark of Moses lay manna. So in you, my mother and virgin, lay the bread of angels and holy souls and the just on earth, who please nothing but my sweetness, to whom the whole world is dead, who would gladly, if it were my will, be without bodily food. 23 Thirdly, in that ark were the tablets of the law. Thus in you lay the Lord of all laws. Therefore, blessed are you above all that is created in heaven and on earth!” 24 Afterwards he spoke to the bride, saying: “Tell my friends three things! When I was bodily in the world, I so tempered my words that the good became stronger and more fervent from them. But the bad became better, as was evident in Magdalene, Matthew and many others. 25 I also so tempered my words that my enemies could not weaken them. Therefore let those to whom my words are sent labor fervently, that the good may become more ardent in good by my words, the evil may repent of evil, and beware of my enemies, lest my words be hindered. 26 For I do no greater injury to the devil than to the angels in heaven. For if I wished, I could well speak my words so that the whole world could hear. 27 It would be enough for me to open hell, so that all might see its punishments, but this would not be justice, because then man would serve me out of fear, but man should serve me out of love. For no one except he who has love will enter the kingdom of heaven. 28 Then finally I would be doing an injury to the devil if I were to receive from him what is his rightfully enslaved without good works. I would also be doing an injury to an angel in heaven if the spirit of an unclean man were to be equal to him, who is pure and most fervent in love. 29 Therefore no one will enter heaven except he who has been tried as gold in the fire of purgatory, or has been trained by good works in such a long trial in the world that there is no stain in him that needs to be purified. 30 If you do not know to whom my words should be sent, I will tell you. He is worthy to have my words, who wants to merit by works, so that he may come to the kingdom of heaven, or who has merited by previous good works; to them my words will be opened and will enter. 31 For those to whom my words are wise and who humbly hope for their name to be written in the book of life, these hold my words. But to those who are not wise, they indeed consider the words and immediately throw them away and vomit them up.”
Chapter 57 The words of the Lord to the bride, how He Himself is abominable and despised food in the souls of Christians and, on the contrary, the world is delightful and beloved in them, and concerning the terrible judgment brought against such.
{ The son spoke to the bride: “Thus do the Christians to me now, as the Jews did to me. They cast me out of the temple and had a perfect will to kill me, but because my hour had not yet come, I escaped from their hands. 2 Thus do the Christians to me now. They cast me out of their temple, that is, from their soul, which should be my temple, and would gladly kill me if they could. 3 I am in their mouth like rotten and fetid flesh and I seem to them like a man speaking a lie, and they care nothing for me. They turn their backs to me and I turn my backs to them, because there is nothing in their mouths but greed, in their flesh lust like that of a beast. In their hearing only pride pleases, in their sight the delights of the world. 4 But my passion and my love are abominable to them and my life is burdensome. 5 Therefore I will do as that animal does, which has many hiding places: which when pursued by hunters is in one hiding place, flees to another. So I will do it, because Christians persecute me with their evil works and cast me out of the hiding place of their hearts. 6 Therefore I want to go to the pagans, in whose mouth I am now bitter and tasteless, and in their mouth I will be sweeter than honey. However, I am still so merciful that, whoever asks for forgiveness and says: ‘Lord, I know that I have sinned grievously and I willingly want to amend myself by your grace. Have mercy on me because of your bitter passion!’, I joyfully receive him. 7 But to those who persist in their evil, I will come to them like a giant, who has three, namely, terribleness, strength and harshness. 8 Thus I will come to Christians as terrible, so that they will not dare to move the slightest finger against me. I will come and so strong that they will be like a mosquito before me. Thirdly, I will come to them so harsh that they will feel it now and forever.”
Chapter 59 0 The words of Christ in the present bride, namely how Christ is designated and figured by the peasant, good priests by the good shepherd, bad priests by the bad shepherd, and good Christians by the wife. In which figure are contained many useful things.
” { I am he who has never spoken falsehood. I am considered in the world as a peasant, whose name seems contemptible. My words are considered foolish and my house is considered a mean hut. 2 This peasant had a wife who wanted nothing except according to her will, who owned everything with her husband and considered him as her lord, obeying him in everything as if he were her lord. 3 This peasant also had many sheep, for the care of which he hired a shepherd for five gold pieces and to provide him with the necessities of life. 4 This shepherd, because he was good, used the gold for his own benefit, the provisions for the necessities of life. 5 After this shepherd, after some time had passed, another worse one came, who bought himself a wife with the gold, to whom he brought his provisions, constantly resting with her, not caring about the sheep, which were miserably scattered by cruel beasts. 6 Then the peasant, seeing the scattering of his sheep, cried out, saying: ‘My shepherd is unfaithful to me. My sheep have been scattered and are being torn apart by the most ferocious beasts, and some devoured with the body and the fleece, some are dead, but the bodies are uneaten.’ 7 Then said the wife to her husband, the peasant: ‘My lord, it is certain that we shall not get back the bodies that have been devoured. Therefore let us bring home those bodies that remain intact, although they are without spirit, and use them! For if we were to deprive ourselves of them altogether, it would be intolerable to us.’ 8 The husband answered her: ‘What shall we do then? Because the animals were poisoned with their teeth, the flesh of the sheep was likewise infected with a deadly poison, the skin was spoiled, the wool lumped together.’ 9 The wife answered: ‘If everything is stained and everything is taken away, how then shall we live?’ 10 The husband replied: ‘I see sheep living in three places. Some are like dead sheep, which do not dare to breathe for fear. Secondly, they lie in deep mud and are not able to raise themselves. Thirdly, they stand in hiding places and do not dare to proceed. 11 Therefore, my wife, come and let us raise the sheep, which are trying to rise and are not able to do so without help, and let us use them!’ 12 Behold, I am the Lord, that rustic, because I am considered by men as a donkey fed in its bed according to its manner and habits. My name is the disposition of the holy Church. 13This is considered contemptible, because the sacraments of the Church, namely baptism, chrism, anointing, penance and marriage, are received as if for derision and are given to others for greed. 14 My words are judged foolish, because the words that I spoke with my own mouth with similes are turned from spiritual intelligence to the alleviation of the body. 15 My house seems contemptible, because earthly things are loved instead of heavenly things. 16 By this first shepherd, which I had, I understand my friends, namely the priests, whom I once had in the holy Church, because by the word one I understand many. To these I have entrusted my sheep, that is, my most worthy body to be sanctified and the souls of my elect to be governed and defended. 17 To them I also gave five goods, more precious than all gold, namely, an intelligent conscience above all irrational things, so that they might discern between good and evil, between truth and falsehood. 18 Secondly, I gave them intelligence and wisdom of spiritual things; which is now forgotten and is loved for that human wisdom. 19 Thirdly I gave them chastity, fourthly temperance in all things and abstinence for the control of the body, fifthly stability in good morals, words and works. 20 After this first shepherd, that is, my friends, who were of old in my Church, other wicked shepherds have now entered, who bought themselves a wife for gold, that is, for chastity and those five goods they took for themselves a female body, that is, incontinence, because of which my spirit departed from them. 21 For when they have a complete will to sin and to satisfy their wife, that is, their pleasure at their pleasure, then my spirit is absent from them, because they do not care about the loss of the sheep, if they can fulfill their will. 22 But the sheep that are completely devoured are those whose souls are in hell and whose bodies are laid in tombs awaiting the resurrection of eternal damnation. 23 But the sheep whose flesh remains but whose spirit has been taken away are those who neither love nor fear me, nor are they affected with any devotion or care for me. 24For my spirit is far from them, because their flesh is poisoned by the teeth of poisonous beasts, that is, their soul and thoughts, which are signified in the flesh of sheep and their intestines, are as bitter to me and abominable to delight in them as poisoned flesh. 25 Their skin, that is, their body, is dry from all good and all charity and is fit for no use in my kingdom but will be delivered to the eternal fire in hell after judgment. 26 Their wool, that is, their works, are so utterly useless that nothing is found in them for which they are worthy to have my charity and grace. 27 What then, O my wife, that is, the good Christians whom I understand by wife, shall we do? I see living sheep in three places. Some are like dead sheep, who dare not breathe for fear. 28 These are the Gentiles who would gladly have the right faith, if they knew how. But they do not dare to breathe, that is, they do not dare to let go of the faith they have out of fear, nor do they dare to receive the right one. 29 Secondly, there are the sheep, who stand in hiding and do not dare to come forward. These are the Jews, who stand as if under a veil. Who would gladly come forward if they knew for certain that I was born. 30 But they hide themselves as if under a veil, because in the figures and signs that signified me in the law and were truly fulfilled in me, they hope for salvation and from that vain hope they fear to come forward to the right faith. 31 The third sheep, who stand in the mud, are Christians, established in mortal sins. For they would willingly rise up out of fear of punishment, but they cannot because of grave sins and because they have no charity. 32 Therefore, my wife, that is, good Christians, help me! For just as the wife and the husband are bound to be one flesh and one member, so the Christian is my member and I his, because I am in him and he in me. 33 Therefore, O wife, that is, good Christians, run with me to the sheep that still have spirit, and let us raise them up and feed them! Have pity on me, for I have bought the sheep at great cost! Take them with me and I with you, you on the back and I on the head! 34 I joyfully carry them in my hands. I carried them all once on my back, when they were all wounded and attached to a log. 35O my friends, I love these sheep so dearly that if it were possible for me to die for any one of them by a special death, such as I suffered on the cross once for all, I would rather redeem them than be without them. 36 Therefore I cry out to my friends with all my heart, do not spare labor for me, not for the good, and if I was not spared words of reproach while I was in the world, let them not spare speaking the truth about me. 37 I was not ashamed of that contemptible death for them. I, as I was born, stood naked before the eyes of my enemies. I was struck with a fist in the teeth, I was pulled by the hair with their fingers, I was scourged with their scourges, I was nailed to a tree with their instruments and hung with thieves and robbers on the cross. 38 Therefore, my friends, do not spare labor for me, who have endured such things out of love for you! Work manfully and bring help to the needy sheep! 39 I swear by my humanity, which is in the Father, and the Father in me, and by the divinity, which is in my Spirit, and the Spirit in it, and the same Spirit in me and I in him, and these three are one God in three persons, that whoever has labored and carried my sheep with me, I will meet them in the middle of the road to help them, and I will give them the most precious reward, that is, myself, for everlasting joy.”
Chapter 60 The words of the Son to the bride concerning the three kinds of Christians, figured by the Jews living in Egypt, and how these were revealed to the bride, to be translated and testified to and preached by the friends of God to ignorant persons.
{ The Son spoke to the bride, saying: “I am the God of Israel and the one who spoke with Moses. Moses, when he was sent to my people, asked for some sign, saying: ‘The people will not believe me otherwise.’ 2 If then there were the people of the Lord to whom Moses was sent, why did he distrust them? But you must know that there were three kinds of men among that people. 3 Some believed in God and Moses. There were those who believed in God and distrusted Moses, thinking that perhaps he would presume to speak or do such things from his own divination and presumption. There were those who believed neither in God nor in Moses. 4 Now there are three kinds of men among the Christians who are mentioned in Hebrews. Some are those who believe in God and in my words. Others are those who believe in God but distrust my words, because they do not know how to distinguish between a good spirit and an evil spirit. There are those who neither believe in me nor in you, to whom I spoke my words. 5 But, as I said, although some of the Hebrews distrusted Moses, yet all of them crossed the Red Sea with him into the wilderness, where those who distrusted worshipped idols and provoked God to anger. For this reason they were consumed by a miserable death, but this was not done except by those who had bad faith. 6 Therefore, because the human mind is slow to believe, therefore my friend will transfer my words to those who believe him. They will later spread them to others who do not know how to distinguish between a good spirit and an evil one. 7 But if, hearing the sign, they sin, let them show them a rod, as Moses did, that is, explain my words to them. For just as the rod of Moses was straight and terrible because of its change into a serpent, so my words are straight, so that no falsehood can be found in them. 8 They are terrible because they sound a righteous judgment. Let them present and testify that at the word and sound of one mouth the devil yielded and departed from God’s creation, who, unless restrained by my power, could even move mountains. 9 What power then was his with God’s permission, who was put to flight at the sound of one voice? Therefore, just as those Hebrews, who neither believed in God nor Moses, went out of Egypt into the land of promise, as if by constricting themselves with others, so now many Christians will go out as if unwillingly with my chosen ones, because they do not trust of my power, that I may be able to save them. 10 They do not believe my words at all, they have false hope in my power. However, my words will be fulfilled without their will and, as it were, they strive for perfection, until they come to the place that pleases me.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK II
Chapter 3 Words of admiration of the Mother of God to the bride and how in this world there are five houses, the inhabitants of which are five states of men, namely unbelieving Christians, hardened Jews, pagans per se, Jews and pagans together, and friends of God, and many useful things are noted in this chapter.
{ Mary spoke: “It is a great thing that the Lord of all and the King of glory was despised. He was like a stranger on earth, going from place to place and like a traveler knocking at the doors of many, that he might deserve to be received. 2 For the world was like a certain farm, in which there were about five houses. But when my son came to the first house in the guise of a stranger, he knocked at the door and said: 3 ‘Friend, open to me and introduce me into your rest and cohabitation, lest perhaps they harm me, lest rain or hail come upon me! 4 Give me some of your clothes, with which I may be warmed when cold, and covered when naked! Give me some of your food, with which I may be refreshed when hungry, some of your drink, with which I may be refreshed when thirsty, and receive your reward from your God!’ 5 Then he who was within answered: ‘You are too impatient. That is why you cannot agree and live with us. You are too tall. That is why we are not enough to clothe you. 6 You are too greedy and gluttonous. That is why we are not enough to satisfy you, because your greed has no bottom.’ 7 Again Christ the stranger who was without answered: ‘Friend, bring me in cheerfully and willingly, because I am confined in a small place! 8 Give me some of your clothes, because there is not so little clothing in your house that it is not enough to warm me! Give me some of your food, because even a crumb can satisfy me, and a drop of water will give me refreshment and strength!’ 9 He answered again, who was within: ‘We know you well. You are humble in words and impertinent in asking. You seem modest in contentment, but yet you are insatiable in filling, very cold and most difficult to cover. Go, for I will not gather you!’ 10 Then he came to the second house and said: ‘Friend, open and see me! For I will give you what you need. I will defend you from your enemies.’ 11 He answered, who was within: ‘My eyes are weak. It would hurt them if I saw you. I abound in all things and do not need yours. I am powerful and strong. Who can harm me?’ 12 Then he came to the third house and said: ‘Friend, lift up your ears and hear me! Stretch out your hands and clasp me! Open your mouth and taste me!’ 13 The inhabitant of the house answered: ‘Cry louder, for I will hear you well! If you are gentle, I will draw you in. If you are sweet, I will receive you.’ 14 Then he went to the fourth house, the door of which was about half open, and said: ‘Friend, if you considered your time wasted in vain, you would gather me. 15 If you understood and heard what I have done for you, you would have pity on me. If you remembered how much you have offended me, you would groan and ask for forgiveness.’ 16 He answered: ‘We are as if dead in expectation and desire for you. So have mercy on our misery, and we most willingly give ourselves to you. 17 Look upon our misery and consider the distress of our body, and we will be ready for everything you desire.’ 18 Then he came to the fifth house, which was completely open, and said: ‘Friend, I would gladly enter here, but know that I seek a rest softer than feathers are wont to give, a warmth more fervent than that which is wont to be made of wool, a food fresher than fresh animal flesh can provide.’ 19 Those who were within answered: ‘The hammers lie at our feet. With these we will most gladly break our feet and legs, and we will give you the marrow flowing from it for rest. 20 We will gladly open our bowels and all our innards to you. Also enter into this! 21 For as our marrow is nothing softer for you to rest, so our bowels are nothing better for you to heat. 22 Our heart is fresher than animals. We will gladly split this for your food. Only enter! For you are sweet to taste and desirable to enjoy.’ 23 The inhabitants of these five houses are the five states of men in the world. The first are the unbelieving Christians, who say that the judgments of my Son are unjust, his promises false, and his commandments intolerable. 24 These are the ones who say to the preachers of my Son with thought, they say with understanding, they say with blasphemy: ‘If the Almighty were truly there, he is very long and cannot be reached. 25 He is very wide and very high and cannot be clothed. He is insatiable and cannot be refreshed. He is very impatient and cannot be lived with.’ 26 They say that he is very long because they are weak in work and charity and do not try to rise to his goodness. 27They call Him the broadest, because their greed knows no bounds. They always cause failure, they suspect evil before it comes. 28 They also argue that He is insatiable, because heaven and earth are not sufficient for Him; indeed, He demands greater gifts from man. They consider it most foolish to give everything for the soul according to the precept, and less for the body a grave harm. 29 They also call Him the most impatient, because He hates vices and allows them to do things contrary to their will, considering nothing beautiful and useful except what bodily pleasure suggests to them. 30 But now My Son is truly omnipotent in heaven and on earth, Creator of all things and created by none, existing before all things and after Him there will be none. 31 For He is the longest, the highest, and the broadest among all things and outside and above all things. 32 But although He is thus powerful, yet out of love He desires to be clothed with the ministry of man, who needs no clothing, because He clothes all things, Himself clothed eternally and unchangeably with perpetual honor and glory. 33 He desires to be refreshed by the love of man, who is the bread of angels and men, who refreshes all things and himself needs none. 34 He asked peace from man, who is the reformer and creator of peace. 35 Therefore whoever wishes to gather him with a cheerful mind can satisfy him even with a crumb of bread, if the will is good. It is enough to clothe him with a thread, if charity is ardent. He can give him a drop to drink, if the affection is right. He is able to receive him into the heart and speak with him, if the devotion is fervent and steadfast. 36 For God is a spirit. Therefore he willed that carnal things should be changed into spiritual things and those things which are about to fall into eternal things. 37 He also considers that which is shown to his members is done and shown to himself. He does not consider work and ability alone, but the fervent will and the intention with which the work was done. 38 But these, the more my son cries out to them by hidden inspirations, and the more he warns them through his preachers, the more they affirm their minds against him, and neither hear him, nor open the door to him by their will, nor bring him in by works of charity. 39 Therefore, when their time comes, the falsehood on which they rely will be annihilated, the truth will be exalted, and the glory of God will be manifested. 40The second are the hardened Jews. These seem to themselves to be reasonable in everything, they take their wisdom for legal justice, they preach and hold their works more honorable than others. 41 If these hear the deeds of my Son, they consider them contemptible. If they hear his words and commandments, they are disdainful, nay, they even consider themselves sinners and stained, if they consider and hear, which pertain to my Son, they are more unhappy and miserable if they imitate his works. 42 But as long as the world is favorable to them, they consider themselves most happy. As long as they are healthy in strength, they believe themselves to be the strongest. Therefore their hope will fall to naught and their glory to confusion. 43 The third are the pagans. Some of these mockingly cry out daily: ‘Who is this Christ? If he is sweet in giving presence, we will gladly receive him; if he is gentle in forgiving sins, we will more gladly honor him.’ 44 But these have closed the eyes of their intelligence, lest they understand the justice and mercy of God. They close their ears, so that they may not hear what my Son has done for them and for all. 45 They tighten their mouths and do not inquire what will happen to them and what is expedient. They fold their hands and refuse to work to find the way, how to flee from falsehood and find the truth. 46 Therefore, because they do not want to understand and be careful, when they can and have time, they will fall with their dwelling and be engulfed in the storm. 47 The fourth are those Jews and pagans who would gladly be Christians if they knew how and what would please my Son and if they had a helper. 48 These hear daily from those around them and understand from the inner cry of love and signs how much my Son has done and suffered for all. Therefore, in their conscience, they cry out to my Son, saying: 49 ‘O Lord, we have heard what you promised to give us. Therefore, we await you. Come and fulfill your promise! 50 For we understand and see concerning those who are worshipped as gods, that in them there is no virtue of divinity, no charity of souls, no greatness of chastity to be preached. But we find in them a friendship of bodies, a delight in the honor of the present world. 51We also understand about your law and hear about your great works in all mercy and justice. We hear about the words of your prophets, that they awaited you, whom they prophesied. 52 Therefore, most pious Lord, come! For we will gladly give ourselves to you, because we understand that in you is the love of souls, the discreet use of all things, perfect purity and eternal life. 53 Therefore come quickly, because we have died before waiting for you, and enlighten us!’ 54 Thus, therefore, these cry out to my son. And therefore, as it were, their door is half-open, because they have a complete will for good, but they have not yet reached the effect. These are the ones who deserve to have the grace of my son and consolation. 55 In the fifth house are my friends and my sons, whose door of mind is fully opened to my son. These gladly hear my son calling. They not only open when he knocks, but also cheerfully meet him when he comes. 56 These break with the hammers of divine precepts whatever is distorted in them. And they prepare rest for my son, not in the feathers of birds but in the harmony of virtues and in the restraint of evil affections, which is the marrow of all virtues. 57 These also show my son warmth, not that which is made of wool but in such fervent love that they not only give their own to my son but also themselves. 58 Moreover, they prepare for him a refreshment fresher than any flesh, which is in a most perfect heart, in which they desire nothing, love nothing but their God. 59 In the heart of these is the inhabitant of heaven the lord, and from their love God, refreshing all things, is sweetly refreshed. These always have their eyes at the doors, lest the enemy enter, their ears at the Lord, their hands to fight against the enemy. 60 You, daughter, imitate these as much as you can, because their foundation is on the most solid rock. But other houses have their foundation on mud and therefore will be shaken by the coming wind.”
Chapter 5 The words of God present to the bride about his magnificence and in a wonderful figure, how Christ is designated by David and the Jews and bad Christians and pagans by the three sons of David and how the Church subsists in the seven sacraments.
” { I am God, not of stone or wood, nor created by anyone, but the creator of all things, remaining without beginning and without end. I am the one who came into the virgin and was with the virgin, yet not losing my divinity. 2 But I, who was through humanity in the virgin while my divinity remained, I reigned the same with the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven and on earth through my divinity. 3 I also inflamed the virgin with my Spirit, not that my Spirit, which inflamed, was separated from me, but the same one who inflamed was the same in the Father and in me the Son, and in him the Father and the Son, and these are one God, not three gods. 4 I am like King David, who had three sons. One of them was called Absalom, who sought the life of his father. The second of them sought the kingdom of his father, namely Adonijah. The third obtained the kingdom, namely Solomon. 5 The first notes the Jews. These are the ones who sought my life and my death and despised my counsel. Therefore, now that I know their retribution, I can say, as David said of his son dead: 6 ‘My son Absalom!’, that is: O sons of Judah, where is now your desire and expectation? O my sons, where is now your end? 7 I had compassion on you because you longed for me to come, whom you heard by so many signs had come, when you longed for the fugitives, who have all already fled. 8 But now I have more compassion, like David repeating the first word, because I see your end in the misery of death. Therefore I still speak out of the greatest love, as David said: ‘My son, who would give me that I might die for you?’ 9 For David knew well that he could not by his death call back his dead son, but in order to show the affection of paternal love and the most ready good will, if it had been possible, he would have willingly, although he knew it was impossible, accepted death for his son. 10 So I now say: O sons of the Jews, who although you had an evil will towards me and, as far as you could, you have acted against me, if it were possible and it were pleasing to the Father, I would gladly die once more for you, because I am more compassionate to your misery than you yourselves have done when justice demands it. 11 For I have told you what to do by word and showed you by example. I preceded you like a hen fanning the wings of charity, but you have despised all. 12Therefore, all that you desired has fled. Your end is in misery and all your labor has been wasted. 13 Bad Christians are noted in the second son David. He sinned against his father in his old age. For he thought to himself thus: ‘My father is old and failing in strength. 14 If I speak to him in any evil way, he will not answer. If I do anything contrary, he will not avenge himself. If I attempt anything against him, he patiently suffers. Therefore I will do what I want.’ 15 Here, with some servants of his father David, he went up to a grove where there were few trees, that he might reign. But, when the wisdom and will of his father appeared, his plan was changed and those who were with him were dishonored. 16 Thus do Christians now do to me. They think thus within themselves: ‘The signs and judgments of God are not now as open as before. We can speak what we want, because he is merciful and does not pay attention. Let us do what pleases us, because he readily indulges.’ 17 They distrust my power, as if I were now weaker to do what I want than before. They consider my love less, as if I would no longer have mercy on them as on their fathers. They also consider my judgment a mockery and my justice vanity. 18 Therefore they ascend into the grove with certain servants of David, that they may reign confidently. 19 What is this grove, where few trees are wont to stand, but the holy Church, which subsists from the seven sacraments as from a few trees? 20 They enter this Church, but with certain servants of David, that is, with a few good works, that they may confidently obtain the kingdom of God. For they do moderate good works, from which they trust that, in whatever sin they have been in and whatever sin they have committed, they can nevertheless have the kingdom of heaven as by hereditary right. 21 But just as the son of David, who wanted to obtain the kingdom against David’s will, was rejected with disgrace, because he sought it unjustly and was unjust, and it was given to a wiser and better man, so they will be expelled from my kingdom and it will be given to those who do David’s will, because no one, except one who has charity, will be able to obtain my kingdom. 22 And only the pure and according to my heart will be able to approach me, the most pure. 23The third son of David was Solomon. This signifies the pagans. When Bathsheba heard that someone else had been chosen besides Solomon, whom David had promised would reign after him, she went in to David and said: 24 ‘My lord, you swore to me that Solomon would reign after you. But now another has been chosen. If this happens and if this is how it will be, then I will be judged like an adulteress and my son will be illegitimate.’ 25 When David heard this, he stood up and said: ‘I swear by God that Solomon will sit on my throne and reign after me.’ 26 And he commanded his servants to exalt Solomon on the throne of his kingdom and to proclaim the king whom David had chosen. And they fulfilled the command of their lord and exalted Solomon with great power, and all the others who agreed with their brother were put to flight and reduced to slavery. 27 Who is this Bersabee who, if another king is chosen, will consider herself an adulteress, except the faith of the pagans? For there is no worse adultery than to fornicate from God and from the right faith and to believe in another God than the Creator of all things. 28 But like Bersabee, some of the pagans come to God with humble and contrite hearts, saying: ‘Lord, you promised that we would be Christians in the future; therefore fulfill your promise! 29 If another king, that is, another faith, rises over us more than yours, if you separate yourself from us, we will be burned with misery and, like the adulteress who took an adulterer as a legitimate wife, we will die. 30 And although you live forever, you will still die from us and we from you, since you by your grace distance yourself from our hearts and we by our distrust oppose ourselves to you. 31 Therefore fulfill your promise and strengthen our weakness and illuminate our darkness! For if you take them away, that is, if you distance yourself from us, we will perish.’ 32 Having heard this, I, like another David, now want to raise myself up by my grace and mercy. I swear, therefore, by my divinity, which is with my humanity, and by the humanity, which is in my Spirit, and by my Spirit, which is in my divinity and humanity, and these three are not three gods but one God, that I will fulfill my promise. 33For I will send my friends, who will introduce my son Solomon, that is, the pagans, into the grove, that is, into the Church, which subsists from seven sacraments as from seven trees, namely baptism, penance, confirmation by chrism, the sacrament of the altar and priesthood, marriage and anointing, and they will rest in my seat, that is, in the right faith of the holy Church. 34 But the bad Christians will become their servants. They will rejoice in the perpetual inheritance and sweetness that I will prepare for them. But these will groan in misery, which will begin for them in the present and will last forever. 35 Therefore, my friends, because it is now time to watch, do not sleep, do not be distracted, for a glorious reward follows their labor.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK III
Chapter 26 The words of Christ to the bride of the ineffable mystery of the Trinity, and how diabolical sinners through contrition and the will to amend obtain the mercy of God, and of Christ’s response, how he has mercy on all, namely both Jews and others, and of the twofold judgment, namely of those to be condemned and those to be saved.
{ The Son speaks: “I am the creator of heaven and earth, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, true God, because God is the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, not three Gods but three persons and one God. 2 But now you may ask, if three persons, why not three Gods? I answer you that there is no other God but power itself, wisdom itself, goodness itself, from which is all power under heaven and above all wisdom and all piety that can be thought. 3 Therefore God is three and one, three in persons, one in nature. For power and wisdom is the Father, from whom are all things, and who is before all things, powerful not from another but from Himself and eternally. 4 Power and wisdom is also the Son equal to the Father, not powerful from Himself but powerfully and ineffably begotten of the Father, the beginning from the beginning, and never separated from the Father. 5 Power and wisdom is also the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, eternal with the Father and the Son, and equal in majesty and power. Therefore one God and three persons, because one nature of three, one operation and will, one glory and power, who is thus one in essence, who are also distinct by the property of the persons. 6 For the whole Father is in the Son and the Spirit, and the Son in the Father and the Spirit and the Spirit in both in one nature of the Godhead, not as before and after, but ineffably. Where nothing is before or after, nothing greater or less than another, or of another, but all ineffable and equal. Therefore it is well written that God is wonderful and much to be praised. 7 But now I can complain that I am little praised and unknown to many, because all seek their own will, but few mine. 8 But you, be steadfast and humble, and do not exalt yourself in thought, when I show you the dangers of others, nor reveal their names unless you are commanded. For their dangers are not shown to you for their confusion, but that they may be converted and know the justice and mercy of God. 9 But you should not shun them as if they were judged, because even if I say today that someone is very wicked, if he calls on me with contrition tomorrow and With the will to redeem, I am ready to indulge him. 10And whom I called the worst yesterday, this I call my dearest friend today because of his contrition, so much so that if the contrition is firm, I forgive him not only the sin but also the penalty of sin, as you will be able to understand by an example, as if there were two pieces of silver alive and both ran together in haste. 11 If in their union there were only as it were one atom left, God would still be able to prevent them from coming together. So if any sinner were so rooted in the works of the devil that he stood at the very point of destruction, he would still obtain pardon and mercy if he were to call upon God with contrition and the will to amend. 12 But now, since I am so merciful, you may ask, why do I not have mercy on the Gentiles and the Jews, some of whom, if they were instructed in the right faith, would gladly die for God? I answer you that I have mercy on all, both on the Gentiles and on the Jews, and no creature is left without my mercy. 13 For whoever hears that their faith is not true and fervently desires the true one, or whoever believes that this is the best that they hold, because nothing else has ever been preached to them and they do it with all the effort they can, their judgment will be in a lighter mercy. 14 For it is twofold, namely, the judgment of those to be damned and those to be saved. For the Christians to be damned will be without mercy, whose punishment will be eternal and darkness and a will firm against God. 15 But those to be saved will have the vision of God and glory in God and will to do good to God. From these are excluded the Gentiles and the Jews and the evil and false Christians. Who, although they did not have the right faith, nevertheless had their conscience as judge, believing that the same God was whom they worshipped and offended. 16 But those whose will and action were and are according to justice and against sin, will have with the less evil Christians a judgment of mercy in punishments because of their love of justice and hatred of sin, but they will not have consolation in the service of the glory and vision of God, 17 whom they will not see because of the lack of baptism, because some temporal or hidden judgment of God has withdrawn them, lest they fruitfully seek and obtain salvation. 18If, however, nothing held them back in seeking the true God and in baptizing, neither fear nor labor nor loss of goods or honors, but only an obstacle overcoming human frailty, I, who saw Cornelius and the Centurion not yet baptized, know how to reward them more deeply and perfectly, as their faith demands. 19 For there is one ignorance of malice, another of piety and difficulty, similarly there is another baptism of water, another of blood, another of perfect will. All of which God knows how to weigh, who knows the hearts of all. Therefore I, who was born without a beginning eternally from the beginning, who was born again at the end of time temporally from the beginning, know how to reward the merits of each one and give to each according to his merits. 20 Nor will the least good that is done to the honor of God pass without reward. Therefore you are bound to give much thanks to God, because you were born of Christians and in the time of salvation, because many desired to obtain and see this, which is offered to Christians and did not obtain it.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK IV
Chapter 9 The words of the angel to the bride concerning the judgment of God’s justice against the aforementioned soul, and concerning the satisfaction to be made in this life for it while in purgatory.
{ The angel speaks: “You have heard before that, because of the prayers of God’s friends, he obtained divine contrition out of love for his sins a short time before death, which contrition separated him from hell. 2 Therefore , after death, God’s justice judged that he should burn in purgatory for six ages — which he had from the hour when he first knowingly committed a mortal sin, until he fruitfully repented out of divine love — unless he obtained help from the world and from God’s friends. 3 The first age, therefore, was that he did not love God because of the death of his noble body and because of his manifold tribulations, which Christ himself also endured, for no other reason than for the salvation of souls. 4 The second age was that he did not love his own soul, as a Christian should, nor was he grateful to God for his baptism and because he was not a Jew or a pagan. 5 The third age was that he knew well that God was about to do it, and he had little will to accomplish this. 6 The fourth age was that he knew well that God had forbidden those who wanted to go to heaven, and he boldly acted against them, following not the promptings of his conscience but his carnal affection and will. 7 The fifth age was that he did not use grace and confession, as belonged to him, when he had so long a time. 8 The sixth age was that he cared little for the body of Christ, not wanting to receive it frequently, because he did not want to abstain from sin, nor did he have the charity to receive the body of Christ until at the end of his life. 9 After this there appeared a certain man, very modest in appearance, whose garments were white and shining like the white of a priest, girded with a linen girdle and a red robe around his neck and under his arms. 10 He began his words in this way: “You who see this, pay attention and note and commit to your memory what you see and what is said to you. For you, who are living in the world, are not able in the same way to understand the power of God and his pre-eternal constitution 11 as we who are with him, because those things that are with God in one point, these cannot be comprehended with you except with words and similitudes according to the disposition of the world. 12I am therefore one of those whom this man, having been condemned to purgatory, honored with his gifts during his life. Therefore God has given me by his grace, that if anyone wishes to do what I advise, then that person’s soul could be transferred to a more sublime place, 13 where it will obtain its true form and feel no other punishment, except as he would suffer who had a great illness and all pains were gone and lay as a man without strength, yet rejoiced in this, knowing for certain that he would reach life. 14 Therefore, as you heard that this person’s soul cried out five times, ve, therefore I say five consolatory ones for him. The first ve was that he loved God a little. 15 Therefore, in order that he may be freed from this, thirty chalices should be given for his soul, in which the blood of God is offered and God himself is more honored. 16 The second ve was that he did not fear God. Therefore, for this absolution, let thirty priests be chosen, by the judgment of devout men, each of whom should say thirty masses, when they can: 17 nine of the martyrs, nine of the confessors, nine of all the saints, the twenty-eighth of the angels, the twenty-ninth of Holy Mary, the thirtieth of the Holy Trinity. 18 And let all pray intently for this man’s soul, that the anger of God may be appeased and his justice may be turned to mercy. 19 The third was for his pride and greed. Therefore, for this absolution, let thirty poor men be received, whose feet may be washed with humility and given them food, money, and clothing, with which they may be consoled. 20 Each of whom, both he who washes and those who are washed, should humbly ask God to forgive the greed and pride of this man’s soul, which he has committed, because of his humility and his bitter passion. 21 The fourth was for the lust of his flesh. Therefore, whoever gives one virgin to a monastery and one widow, and likewise one girl to a true marriage, giving with them only from their goods, 22 so that they may subsist sufficiently for food and clothing, then God will forgive the sin of that soul which it had committed in the flesh, because these are the three lives which God commanded to stand in the world and chose. 23 The fifth was that he committed many sins in the tribulation of many, namely, that he used all his strength, 24 so that the two previously named would come together in marriage, who were no less related by blood than if they had both been of the closest kindred. 25 And he procured this union more for his own sake than for the sake of the kingdom and without the Pope’s request, against the praiseworthy disposition of the holy Church. 26 Therefore, many were made martyrs for this deed, lest such things should be tolerated against God and the holy Church or Christian morals. 27 If anyone, therefore, wishing to abolish such a sin were to go to the Pope and say: ‘A certain man committed such a sin,’ without specifying the person, ‘yet in the end he repented and obtained absolution without having amended his sin; 28 then impose on me whatever penance you wish and I can bear, because I am ready to amend that sin for him,’ 29 truly, if no greater penance had been imposed on him than one Our Father, his soul would be almost reduced to a state of purgatory.”
Chapter 61 How the Devil appeared to the bride in the elevation of the body of Christ, speaking and proving to her by reasons that that which was being elevated was not the body of Christ. To whom the angel of the Lord immediately appeared, strengthening her and saying: “Do not believe,” etc.; and how Christ appearing compels the Devil to tell the truth before his daughter, etc.; and how the body of Christ is taken by the evil as well as by the good, and as a timely remedy in temptations concerning the body of Christ.
{ A certain frightened man appeared to the bride as she was lifting up the body of Christ and said: “Do you believe, foolish one, that this loaf of bread is God? It would have been consumed long ago, even if it had been a mountain of mountains. 2 For none of the wise Jews, to whom wisdom was given by God, believes this, but let no one believe that God deigns to be touched and loved by a most unclean priest, who has a dog’s heart. And so that you may prove what I say, this is my priest, whom I will take away to myself when I will — and it is now at hand. ” 3 Then immediately a good angel appeared and said: “Oh, daughter, do not answer the fool according to his folly! For he who has appeared to you is the father of lies. But be ready, for our bridegroom is already near.” 4 And the Bridegroom Jesus, coming, said to the Devil: “Why,” he said, “do you trouble my daughter and my bride? Therefore I say daughter, because I created her; therefore bride, because I redeemed her, and with my love I joined her to me.” The demon answered: “That is why I speak, because I was permitted, and that she might cool down in your service.” 5 And the Lord said: “This,” he said, “was experienced by her last night, when you restrained both her eyes and the rest of her members, and you would have done greater things if you had been admitted, but whenever she resists your admissions, the crown will be doubled for her. 6 But you, Devil, because you said that I had been eaten for a long time, I would also have been a mountain, tell me in the hearing of my daughter, who is corporeal: Scripture says that when the people perished, a fiery serpent was raised up, and everyone who was bitten by snakes was healed when he saw it; 7 was this healing power from the strength of the serpent or the appearance of the serpent, or from the goodness of Moses or a hidden divine power?” 8 The demon answered: “This power of healing was from no one but the proper and sole power of God and the faith of the believing and obedient people, who so firmly believed in God that God, who made all things out of nothing, could also make all things that did not exist before.” 9 Again God said: “I tell you, demon, when the rod became a serpent, was it done at the command of Moses or at the command of God? Or because Moses was holy or because the word of God said so?” 10 To whom the demon said: “What,” he said, “was Moses but a man weak in himself but righteous in God? At whose word, which God commanded and brought forth,The rod became a serpent, God truly commanding it and Moses as his servant obeying. 11For before the command and word of God there was a rod; but when God commanded, the serpent truly became a rod, so that even Moses was afraid.” 12 Then the Lord said to that bride who saw: “So it is also now on the altar. For before the words of the sacrament, bread is placed on the altar; when the true word ‘This is the body of Christ’ is said, 13 the bread becomes the body of Christ, which the good take and handle as well as the bad, so one as a thousand, with the same truth but not the same effect, because good for life, but evil for his own judgment. 14 But what the demon said that God stinks from the uncleanness of the offerer, this is most truly false. For just as if a leper servant were to serve the master with keys, or if a sick man were to offer concoctions of the strongest herbs, none of this would be offensive to the one to whom it was served, since the same power is in them by whomever they are offered. 15 So God neither becomes evil from the malice of an evil minister nor does he become better from good, because He is always unchangeable and always the same. But that which God said that he would soon die, he knew from the subtlety of his nature and from external causes, yet he could not take it away except with my permission. 16 But this priest is his own, unless he corrects himself, and this for three reasons. Therefore the same demon said that he has stinking limbs and a dog’s heart, who is truly stinking and feverish, 17 because he has outward heat but inward coldness, intolerable thirst, languor of the limbs, aversion to bread and an abomination of all sweetness. For he is warm towards the world, cold towards God, thirsting for the pleasures of the flesh, abhorring the beauty of virtues, insipid towards the commandments of God, averse to all things that are of the flesh. 18 Therefore it is not surprising that my body does not taste to itself except as bread baked in an oven, because it does not think; nor does it taste to him spiritual work but carnal. 19 Therefore, when he is called the Lamb of God and my body is taken into his body, the power of the Father departs from him, the most sweet presence of the Son also departs, but when the sacred garments are laid aside, the kindness of the Holy Spirit, who is the bond of union, departs; but only the form and remembrance of the bread remains to him. 20 However, you should not think that he or anyone else, however evil, is without God, but God departs, not infusing greater consolation; but He remains, tolerating him and defending him from the Devil. 21But to the fact that the Devil said that none of the wise Jews would believe this, I answer: The Jews themselves are so disposed as those who have lost their right eyes. Therefore they limp in both their spiritual feet, for which reason they are both foolish and will be until the end. 22 Therefore it is not surprising that the Devil incites and hardens their hearts and suggests to them shameless thoughts and those that are against the faith. Therefore whenever any such thought occurs to your mind about the body of Christ, refer it to your spiritual friends and stand firm in the faith, because you know without a doubt that this body, which I took from the virginal flesh, which was crucified and reigns in heaven, is the same on the altar and this is taken by the good and the bad. 23 For just as I showed myself to the disciples going to Emmaus in a different form, although I was true God and true man, entering to the disciples with the doors closed, so I show myself to the priests under a different form, so that faith may have merit and the ingratitude of men may be made manifest. 24 And no wonder: for I am the same now who showed the power of my divinity by signs and terrible things, and men still said then: ‘Let us make gods to go before us.’ I also showed the Jews my true humanity and they crucified it. 25 I am the same one daily at the altar, and it is said: ‘We are disgusted and tempted by this food.’ What greater ingratitude can there be than to want to comprehend God with reason and to dare to judge his hidden judgments and mysteries, which he possesses in his own hand? 26 Therefore I want to show the unlearned and humble by an invisible effect and a visible form, what is the visible form of bread without bread and without substance; what is the true substance in its form; what is the true division in form without substance; or why I endure so many unworthy and so many deformities in my body, that both the humble are exalted and the proud are confounded.
Chapter 72 The words of Christ to the bride concerning the sisters and the resurrected Lazarus; and how the bride and her daughter, as I believe, are designated by the sisters, and the soul by the brother Lazarus, and the envious by the Jews; and how God showed greater mercy to these than to the sisters of Lazarus; and how, knowing how to speak much and do little, they are indignant against those who do good.
{ The Son speaks: “There were two sisters, Martha and Mary, who had a brother, Lazarus, whom I raised from the dead; who, having been raised, served me more afterwards than before. 2 So also his sisters, who, although they were familiar and diligent in serving me before their brother’s resurrection, were found to be much more solicitous and devout afterwards. 3 In a similar way I have now done with you spiritually. For I have raised for you your brother, that is, your soul, which for four days, having died and estranged itself from me by transgression of my commandments, wicked lust, the sweetness of the world and the delight of sins. 4 But there were four things which moved me to raise Lazarus. First, because he was a friend while he was alive. Second, the love of the sisters. 5 Third, because Mary’s humility merited so much in washing my feet, that, as she cast herself down for me in the sight of her household, so she was rejoiced and honored in the sight of many. Fourth, that the glory of my humanity might be manifested. 6 But these four things were not in you, because you love more than the world to them. Therefore my mercy is greater in you, who have not merited mercy, than in those sisters; 7 and all the more so, inasmuch as spiritual death is more dangerous than bodily death and the resurrection of the soul more glorious than bodily resurrection. 8 Therefore, because my mercy has preceded your works, gather me as those sisters into the house of your mind with the most fervent charity, loving nothing as I do, having complete trust in me, 9 humbling yourselves with Mary and daily weeping over your sins, not being ashamed to live humbly among the proud, being continent with the incontinent, showing to others outwardly how much you love me inwardly. 10 You also ought to be like those sisters of one heart and one soul, strong in contempt of the world and ready to praise God. And if you do so, then I, who raised your brother to you, that is, my soul, will defend it, lest it be killed by the Jews. 11 For what would it have profited Lazarus to have risen from this present death, unless by living more honorably in this present life he had risen more gloriously in the second and permanent life? 12But who are the Jews who want to kill Lazarus, except those who are indignant because you live better than these, who have learned to speak lofty things and do modest things, who, following the favors of men, despise the deeds of their predecessors with all the more contempt, how much less do they disdain to understand truths and great things? 13 Such are many who know how to argue about virtues but do not observe them by living virtuously. Therefore their souls are also in danger, because words are many and deeds are not visible. Did my preachers do so? By no means. 14 They certainly warned sinners not with lofty words but with few and charitable ones, ready to give their lives for their souls. Therefore, because of their charity, others obtained charity, for the ardor of the teacher informed the soul of the listener more than the words. 15 But now many speak harsh things about me, but no one follows the fruit, because the breath alone does not set fire to the wood, unless it is also joined by sparks from small fires. 16 I will guard and protect you from these Jews, lest you depart from me either by their words or their deeds; yet I will not so protect you that you should not endure anything, but that you should not succumb through impatience. For you apply your will, and I will kindle your will with my love.”
Chapter 106 Christ tells the bride not to fear breaking her abstinence through obedience to her spiritual father, because it is not a sin; and he also warns the bride to stand firm, to resist temptations continually, and to have a firm will to persevere in the good example of the Virgin Mary, David, and Abraham.
{ The Son says: “Why are you afraid? For even if you were to eat four times a day, it will not be imputed to you as sin, if you do it with the permission of Him whom you are bound to obey. Stand firm, then. 2 You should be like a soldier who, struck in battle with various wounds, gives his enemies much sharper wounds and is all the more fervent in fighting, the more he is desired by his enemies. 3 So you too should repel your enemy and be steadfast, and you should have a rational will to persevere in good. 4 But then you repel the Devil when you do not consent to temptation but manfully resist it, as by opposing humility to pride, continence to gluttony. 5 Then you are steadfast, when in temptation against God you do not murmur, but by cheerfully enduring everything and imputing everything to your sins, you thank God. 6 Then your will is rational, when you do not desire a reward except according to my will, when you leave yourself entirely in my hands. 7 The first good, therefore, namely Lucifer did not have the ability to repel the enemy, because he immediately agreed to his plan; therefore he fell irretrievably, because just as he had no instigator of his malice, so he will have no one to recover. 8 The second good, namely, Judas did not have stability, but, becoming desperate, he hanged himself. The third good, namely, Pilate did not have a good will, because he had a more fervent will to please the Jews and to honor himself than to free me. 9 But the first good, namely, to repel the enemy, was possessed by my Mother, who returned and opposed as many temptations as she had. The second good was possessed by David, who was patient in adversity and did not despair in his case. 10 The third good, namely, Abraham had a perfect will, who, leaving his homeland, even sacrificed his only son. Therefore, you too should imitate them according to your strength!”
Chapter 116 Christ complains to the Bridegroom about the Gentiles and the Jews and most of all about the bad Christians because they do not receive the holy sacraments devoutly and cleanly as is fitting, and because they neglect creation and redemption and divine consolation.
{ The Son speaks: “I speak to you in a simile, as if there were three men. The first would say: ‘I neither believe that you are God nor man;’ and this is the Gentile. 2 The second, that is, the Jew, believes that I am God but not man. The third, that is, the Christian, believes that I am God and man but does not believe my words. 3 I am the one about whom the voice of the Father was heard: ‘This is my Son,’ and so on. Therefore I complain on the part of my divinity that men do not want to hear me. 4 I cried out and said: ‘I am the beginning: if you believe in me, you will have eternal life;’ but they despised. They saw the power of my divinity when I raised the dead and many other things and yet they did not pay attention. 5 I also conquer on the part of humanity, because no one cares for those things that I instituted in the holy Church. For I have placed in the Church, as it were, seven vessels, by which all may be purified. 6 For baptism was instituted for the purgation of original sins, chrism as a sign of divine reconciliation, holy oil as strength against death, penance for the remission of all sins, holy words by which the sacraments were sanctified and instituted, the priesthood as dignity and recognition and remembrance of divine charity, marriage as the union of hearts. 7 These things should be received with humility, kept with purity, and spent without covetousness; but now they are received with pride, kept in unclean vessels, and spent with covetousness. 8 I also conquer, because I was born and died for the salvation of men, so that, if man would not love me because I created him, at least he might love me because I redeemed him. But now men cast me out of their hearts as if “I am a leper and they abhor me like an unclean rag. 9 I also conquer on the part of the deity, because men do not want the consolation of the same deity and do not pay attention to his charity.”
Chapter 132 Christ speaks of the five good things given to priests and of the five contrary things which bad priests do.
” { I am like a man about to depart from the world, who entrusts the best that he has to his dearest friends. So I entrusted to the priests, whom I chose above all angels and men, that which was dearest to me, namely my body, when I departed from the world, and I gave them five gifts: 2 first, my faith; second, two keys to hell and heaven; third, that they might make an angel out of an enemy; fourth, that they might consecrate my body, which no angel can do; fifth, that they might handle my most pure body with their hands. 3 But now they do to me as the Jews did, who denied that I raised Lazarus and performed other miracles, namely, they slandered that I wanted to become king, that I forbade tribute and that I would rebuild the temple in three days. 4 Thus the priests do not speak of my wonders nor teach my doctrine but of the love of the world. They preach their own pleasure and consider that what I have done for them is nothing. 5 Secondly, they have lost the key by which they should open heaven to the wretched; but that by which hell is opened, they love and have it hidden in a clean shroud. 6 They make a third of a righteous man an unrighteous man, a devil of a simple man, a wounded man of a healthy man, because whoever approaches them with three wounds will receive a fourth from them; 7 if he comes to them with four, he departs from them with five, when, having seen the example of the wicked priests, the sinner takes the confidence to sin and begins to boast about the sin that he previously considered shameful. Therefore, they will have a greater curse than others, because they destroy themselves with their lives and injure others by their example. 8 Fourth, because they should sanctify me, they sell me with their mouths. They are worse than Judas. For Judas knew his sin and repented, although fruitlessly; these call themselves righteous and show themselves to be righteous. Judas returned the price to the buyers; but these observe their own uses. 9 Judas sold me before I redeemed the world; these after I redeemed the world, and they do not repent of my blood, which cries out for vengeance more than the blood of Abel. Judas sold me for mere silver; but these for all merchandise, because they do not They come to me, unless they hope for fruit. 10 Fifthly, they treat me like the Jews. What did they do? They put me on a tree. But these put me in a press and press me hard. 11But you may complain: How, when my divinity and humanity are impassible? I will certainly tell you. My divinity and humanity are impassible, and no contrary or pain can fall into God. 12 Nevertheless, because of the will to remain in sin, which priests have, they make it bitter and contrary to me, as if I were put in a press, if possible. 13 Finally, the priests themselves have two sins, namely, lust and greed. They put me between these. But perhaps having done penance for these, when after the office is done they have a firm will to sin again, they press me strongly, as if in a press. 14 For they feed cursed women and place them in a safe place, that they may perfect their pleasure and repel me. They flatter themselves with these and delight in them; but they do not wish to see me, from whom they are. 15 Behold, my friends, what kind of priests they are! Behold, my angels, whom you serve! If I were to lie before you, as I lie before them on the altar, none of you would dare to touch me, but you would be terrified. 16 But they, like thieves and traitors, betray me; they touch me like harlots; they too, more filthy than pitch, are not ashamed to approach me, who am God and the Lord of glory. 17 Therefore, as it was said to Israel, seven plagues shall come upon you. Truly, those seven plagues shall come upon the priests!”
Chapter 133 Christ compares himself to Moses leading Israel through the Red Sea, where the waters stood on the right and left like a wall; and that Israel, that is, the evil priests, neglect Christ and love the golden calf, that is, the world; and that Christ honored the priests with seven orders, from which they are sevenfold averse.
{ The mother spoke: “My son’s enemies were so eager for his blood that they even wounded him when he was dead. Prepare yourself, then, because my son has come to speak to you with a large army!” 2 Then he came and said: “I was like Moses in the image, who when he led the people out, the water stood like a wall on the right and on the left. 3 I am certainly that Moses in the image, who led the Christian people out, that is, I opened heaven for them and showed them the way they should go, freeing them from Pharaoh, that is, from the Devil, who had oppressed them. 4 But they went as if between two walls of the sea on the right and on the left, one of which would not go further, the other would not go back, but thus both would stand firmly. 5 These two walls were two laws. The first was the old law, which would not go further. The second was the new law, which would not go back. 6 Between these two walls, namely the laws, standing firmly, I went to the cross as if through the red sea, because my whole body was red with my blood, the wood that was once white was red, the spear was red, and I redeemed my people who had been taken captive, so that they would love me. 7 But now he neglects me . Israel, that is, the priests, love another god. For they love, as I said before, the golden calf through the affection of the world; which is sweet through pleasure, and burns in them through affection, standing strong with feet and head and throat of gluttony. 8 Moreover, they hold me as an idol and close over me, that I may not enter; they offer me incense but they do not please me, because they do not do it for me but for themselves; they bow the knee to me out of obedience and their will, but according to their desire, that I should spend something temporal on them; they cry out but my ears do not hear, because it is not from devotion or intention. 9 Hear, O my army and all the angels! I chose the priests above all the angels and the righteous and gave them the power alone to treat my body. For if I had wanted, I could well have chosen some angel for such an office. 10 But I loved the priests so much that I granted them so much honor, and I appointed them to stand before me as in seven ranks. 11 For they should be patient as if they were Sheep, firm as a wall of good foundation, courageous as soldiers, wise as serpents, chaste as a virgin, pure as an angel, burning with love as a bride at her husband’s bed.12 But now they have turned themselves away most wickedly. For they are wild as ravening wolves, who in their hunger and greed yield to no one, give honor to no one, and are ashamed of nothing; 13 secondly, unstable as a stone in a weak wall, who distrust the foundation, that is, God, who cannot give them what they need or does not want to sustain them; 14 thirdly, they are in darkness like thieves walking in the darkness of vices, nor are they bold as soldiers to fight for the honor of God or to attack manly work; fourthly, they stand like an ass that bows its head to the ground: thus they, foolish and unwise, always meditate on earthly things and a presence that will never come; 15 fifthly, they are shameless as harlots, they come to me in harlotry’s attire, they have all their members for lust; sixthly, they are stained with pitch, all who approach them are disfigured; seventhly, they are abominable as vomit and lighter, and it would be better for me to approach vomit than to have pleasure with them. 16 But they are so abominable that all the host of heaven abhors them. And what is more shameful than that someone, naked, should put his mouth on his lower limbs and eat his own excrement and drink his own urine? Such are these shameful in my sight. 17 But when they put on the garments of priests, which are the garments of the soul in figure, because those garments designate that such a soul should be, they put on themselves as true traitors. 18 For as he who has given his faith to the enemy of his master, if he must fight with his master against him, blunts all his weapons, that they may not harm the enemy, so when these put on the garments of priests, which are the garments of the soul in figure, with which they should be protected against the Devil, all are blunted, that they may not harm the Devil and that he may not fear them. 19 But he complains: How? Certainly when they put on the weapons of continence, they are blunted by lust. Therefore they do not sting the Devil. But when they put on the armor of charity, they do no harm, because they are blunted by malice. Therefore these weapons, that is, the garments with which they put on, are not for the defense of the Lord, but for the mere display of appearance, just as traitors are wont to do one thing and show another. 20Thus, my friends, these accursed priests approach me in a pretended manner as traitors. Yet I myself, who am your God and Lord and of all creatures in heaven and on earth, come to them and lie before them on the altar, true God and true man. 21 After they have said those words, “This is my body,” I come to them as a bridegroom, that I may have the pleasure of divinity with them, but I find the Devil in them. Therefore, when they apply me to their mouth, I withdraw from them with my divinity and humanity, and the Devil, who flees terrified at the presence of the Lord, returns joyfully. 22 Hear moreover, my friends, what dignity I have conferred on the priests above all angels and men. I have given them five: First, the power to bind and loose in heaven and on earth; second, I have given them that they may make of the worst enemy a friend, of the Devil my angel; 23 third, I have given them the power to preach my words; fourth, the power to consecrate and sanctify my body, which no angel can do; fifth, to treat my body, which none of you, if it were lying before you, would dare to touch. 24 Now I complain about them in five ways: First, that they open hell and close heaven by entering; second, because they make a friend an enemy and wound him who approaches them with one wound with two, because seeing the confused life of the priests, they think to themselves: ‘If he does it, I will do it more;’ 25 third, they annihilate my words and affirm their lie, deny my truth; fourth, they sell me with their mouths, whom they should sanctify; fifth, they crucify my body more bitterly than the Jews. 26 Behold my friends, whom I have chosen and so loved, how they repay me. I have joined them to me with my body, and they themselves dissolve our bond. Therefore they will be judged as traitors, not as priests, if they do not amend themselves.”
Chapter 134 Christ says that he honored priests before all angels and men, but they provoke him before others; whose damnation is manifested in the eternally damned soul of one priest.
{ Mary said: “Remember the passion of my Son! He is already coming.” And behold, Saint John the Baptist appeared and said to the blessed Virgin Mary: “In a thousand years there has never been such great wrath of God upon the world.” 2 And when the Son had come, he said to the bride: “One hour has been with me from the beginning, and how many times have you been with me? This is not with me but as it were one hour. I told you before about the priests, that I chose them among all angels and men; now they are more troublesome to me than the rest.” 3 And behold, demons appeared, having one soul in their hands, saying to the judge: “Behold a boxer.” The judge answered: “Because corporeal things do not hear those things which are spirits, nor can the corporeal eye see spiritual things; nevertheless, for the sake of this one who is standing, whose eyes I open to understanding, tell me, by what justice do you have that soul!” 4 They answered: “We possess it by nine rights or transgressions. First, he was below us for three, equal to us for three, above us for three. The first right is that he was good on the outside and evil on the inside. Second, because sometimes he was full of his own greed and gluttony, sometimes he abstained for the benefit of the body or for weakness. 5 Third, he was sometimes severe in words and deeds, but sometimes his severity and malice were repressed for some reason that was beneficial to himself. But we do not have these, because we are such on the outside as we are on the inside, always severe in malice, always eager for evil. 6 Three were equal to us, because we fell into three, namely, pride, greed, and envy. He had these three. Three were above us and greater in malice than we, because he was a priest and handled your body. 7 First, because he did not guard his mouth with which to utter your words; but as a dog barks, so he uttered your words like a dog. And when he uttered your words, we were afraid, like one who hears someone terrible. A sound at which we were immediately frightened and withdrew from him. But he stood still without shame or fear. 8Secondly, he did not guard his hands with which he handled your most pure body, but defiled it with every delectable thing. And when he handled your body with his hands, which was the same as the one that was in the womb of a virgin and was crucified, we, like a man, were shaken with fear throughout our whole body, although not from any divine love but from fear of your power and the greatness of your virtue. But he stood undaunted and did not care. 9 And when he put you to his mouth, which was like a vessel most unclean with all filth, we were like men dissolute in strength and like one from whom all strength fails, and also like dead men from fear, although we are immortal, and he did not fear or tremble to touch you. 10 But because it was not fitting for the Lord of majesty to enter into such a confused vessel, you withdrew from him with your divinity and humanity, and while he alone remained, who we departed from for an hour from fear, we returned to him with fury. 11 In all these things he surpasses us in malice and therefore we justly possess him. Therefore, since you are a just judge, pass judgment on him for us.” 12 The judge answered: “I hear what you demand, but you, wretched soul, tell me, while I am listening, what kind of will did you have regarding your end, when you still enjoyed reason and the strength of the body?” 13 She answered: “My will was to sin without end and never to desist; but because I knew that I would not always live, I decided to sin until the very end and with such intention I was separated from the body.” 14 Then the judge said: “Your conscience is your judge. Therefore, tell me in your conscience what kind of judgment you deserve!” The soul answered: “My judgment is the most bitter punishment and the worst that will last without end, without any mercy.” Then the demons, after hearing her judgment, departed with her. 15 Then the Lord said to her: “Behold, bride, what priests do to me! I have chosen them above all angels and men and honored them above all. But they provoke me more than all Jews and Gentiles and all demons.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK V
Chapter 110 The tenth revelation in the book of questions, in which Christ, speaking to his bride, warns her not to be troubled if his divine words given to her in the revelations are sometimes found obscure, sometimes doubtful, and sometimes uncertain, because this happens from certain causes assigned here and from the hidden divine justice. He advises, however, that with patience and fear and the perseverance of humility the results and promises of his words should always be awaited, lest the promised grace be revoked because of ingratitude. He also says that many things have been said bodily, which will not be accomplished bodily but spiritually.
{ The Son speaks to the Bride: “Do not be troubled if I speak one word more obscurely, another more expressly, or if I call someone now my servant or son and friend, and again the contrary is found. 2 For my words can be interpreted in many ways, as I told you of one that his hand would become his death, and of another that he would no longer come near my table. 3 These things are said because either I am going to tell you why I said so, or you will see in action the end of the truth, as is clear in these two. 4 Also sometimes I say some things obscurely, so that you may both fear and rejoice; fear lest they happen in another way because of my divine patience, who knows the changes of hearts, and rejoice also because my will is always fulfilled, 5 just as I also said many things in the Old Law, which should be understood more spiritually than corporeally, as about the temple and David and Jerusalem, so that carnal men might learn to desire spiritual things. 6 For in order to prove the constancy of faith and the solicitude of my friends, I said many things and I promised that according to the different effects of my spirit they could be understood in different ways by the good and the bad, and that each one may have them in different states, from which they can be exercised and tested and instructed by me. 7 But that some things have been said obscurely is from my justice, so that my counsel may be hidden and everyone may patiently await my grace, lest perhaps, if my counsel were always insinuated at a certain time, all might grow lukewarm in waiting. 8 I also promised many things which were withdrawn because of the ingratitude of men, and many things were spoken bodily, which will be fulfilled spiritually, as of Jerusalem and of Zion. For the Jews are, as it is written, the blind and deaf people of the Lord.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK VI
Chapter 1 The words of the Mother of God to the Bride, telling of the beauty of Christ and how frequently the Jews, in some agony of heart, went to behold His face and were comforted.
{ THE MOTHER OF GOD spoke to the bride, saying: “I am the Queen of Heaven. My Son loves you with all my heart; therefore I advise you to love nothing but Him. 2 For He is so desirable that, if you have Him, you will be able to desire nothing else, so beautiful that the beauty of the elements or light is like a shadow in comparison with Him. 3 Whence, when I was nursing my Son, He was endowed with such beauty that whoever looked at Him was consoled from the sorrow of His heart which He had. 4 Therefore also many of the Jews said to one another: ‘Let us go and see the son of Mary, that we may be consoled.’ And although they did not know that He was the Son of God, yet they received great consolation from the sight of Him. 5 Thus also His body was clean, that no louse or other worm ever came upon it, because the worm showed reverence to its Maker. Nor was any tangle or impurity found in His hair, nor was it nourished.”
Chapter 10 The Mother of God tells her bride about her dignity and the benefits that all who come to her receive. She also tells of the method and the prayers by which the soul of a certain deceased prince, for whom the bride herself prayed, could be freed from the horrible purgatory; an excellent document.
” { I am the Queen of Heaven, I am the Mother of Mercy, I am the joy of the just and the way of sinners to God. There is also no punishment in the fire of purgatory which, because of me, will not be more forgiving and lighter to bear than it would otherwise be. 2 No one is so cursed who, as long as he lives, lacks my mercy, because for my sake he is tempted by demons less lightly than he would be tempted otherwise. 3 No one is so alienated from God, unless he is completely cursed, who, if he calls on me, will not return to God and have mercy. 4 For I, because I am merciful and have obtained mercy from my Son, want to show you how that deceased friend of yours, for whom you grieve, can be saved from the seven plagues that my Son told you about. 5 First, he will be saved from the fire which he suffers for lust, if someone were to wish, according to the three orders of the Church, namely, married men, widows and virgins, to give one woman in marriage for his soul, another to religion, a third, who could stand in widowhood, because in lust he sinned gravely, also in marriage, by leaving his own bed. 6 Secondly, because he sinned in gluttony in three ways, first by eating and drinking lavishly and beyond measure, secondly by preparing many dishes for pride and ostentation, thirdly by sitting at the table too long and neglecting the work of God, 7 and therefore whoever wishes, in honor of God, who is three and one, should gather three poor people for one whole year, because of this threefold gluttony, and serve them such dishes and good things as he himself personally ate, who gathers them, 8 and should not eat himself before he has seen the three of them eat, so that by this little wait that long delay which your friend had in sitting at the table may be erased. Moreover, he should serve the three with sufficient clothes and bedding, as he sees fit and convenient for them. 9 Thirdly, because of the pride which he had in many ways, whoever wishes should gather seven poor people in each week for one year, on whatever day he wishes, and Let him wash their feet humbly, thinking thus in his heart, while he washes them: 10 ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was captured by the Jews, have mercy on him!’; secondly: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was tied to the pillar, have mercy on him!’; thirdly: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was judged innocent by the guilty, have mercy on him!’;11 Fourth: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was stripped of his own clothes and clothed in the garments of mockery, have mercy on him!; Fifth: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was so severely scourged that his ribs were visible and there was no healing in him, have mercy on him!’; 12 Sixth: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was slapped and spat on, have mercy on him!’; Seventh: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, who was stretched out on a stake, whose hands, feet and head were pierced by a thorn, whose eyes were full of tears, whose mouth and ears were full of blood, have mercy on him!’. 13 But after washing the poor, let him refresh them, as best he can and sees fit for them, and humbly ask them to pray for his soul. 14 Fourth, he sinned in sloth in three ways. First, he was slothful in going to church, secondly in asking for indulgences, thirdly in visiting the places of the saints. 15 For the first, therefore, let him who wishes go to church once a month for one year and have a mass said for the deceased for his soul. 16 For the second, let him go, whenever he can and wishes conveniently, especially for his soul to places where indulgences are given and where he hears the more devout who give them. 17 For the third, let him send his offering through some faithful and just person to the chief saints in this kingdom of Sweden, where people’s assemblies are usually held out of devotion and for the sake of indulgences, such as Saint Eric, Blessed Sigfrid and the like. 18 And let him who carries the offering be faithfully rewarded for his labor. 19 Fifth, because he has sinned in vain glory and joy, let him who wishes gather together all the poor who are in his court or neighborhood once a year in each month and set them in one house and have a mass said before them for the deceased. 20 When the priest begins, he should ask and admonish them to pray for his soul. After the mass has been said, all the poor should be fed in such a way that they should depart from the feast of death, so that the deceased may rejoice in their prayers and the poor may rejoice in the repast. 21 Sixthly, because he will pay his debts until the last quarter and will remain in punishment, you should know that towards his end and at the end he had the will (though not so fervent as he should have) to pay his debts. Because of which will he is in a state of salvation. 22 From which a man can judge how great is the mercy of my son, who gives rest for so little. And if he had not had that will, he himself would have been damned without end. 23 Therefore his parents, who have succeeded him in his goods, should have the will to pay and pay his debts, to whomsoever they know they owe. And to whom they pay their debt, let them humbly ask them to indulge his soul, if they have incurred damage through long expectation. Otherwise, the said parents of the deceased will bear his sin if they do not pay. 24 Then let him send to any monastery in the kingdom an offering of such a kind as he wishes, and cause a mass to be said in a public convent, and before the mass begins, let a prayer be made for his soul, that God may be appeased for him. 25 Afterwards let a mass be said for the dead in any parish church in which he had his goods. Which the priest shall sing to all the people present, and before he begins to sing, let him say to the people: 26 ‘This mass is to be celebrated for his soul. I beg you in the name of Christ, that if he has sinned against you in word or deed or command, forgive him.’ And so let him approach the altar. 27 For the seventh, namely, that he was a judge and committed his judgment to unjust vicars, for which reason he is in the hands of demons. However, since it was against his will that they should act unjustly, although he cared and attended less than he should, he can be freed if he has help. 28 But by what help? Certainly by the most holy body of my Son, which is daily immolated on the altar. 29 For that bread which is placed on the altar, before those words ‘This is my body’ is bread, but after the words are spoken it is turned into the body of my Son, which he took from me without spot, which was crucified. 30 Then the Father is honored and adored in the Spirit from the members of the Son, the Son rejoices in the power and majesty of the Father; his mother, who is I, is honored by all the heavenly host, who gave birth to him; All the angels turn to him and adore him, they return the graces to the souls of the just, because they are redeemed through him. 31 Oh how horrible it is for the wretched who treat such a worthy and most worthy Lord with unworthy hands! Therefore this body, which died for love, can free him. 32Therefore, let one mass be said for each solemnity of my son, namely, one for the nativity, one for the circumcision, one for the epiphany, one for the body of Christ, one for the passion, and one for Easter; another for the ascension and one for Pentecost; 33 likewise one mass for each solemnity that is celebrated in my honor; likewise nine masses in honor of the nine orders of angels. 34 When these angelic masses are celebrated, nine poor people are to be gathered together, to whom food and clothing are to be ministered, so that the angels, to whom he was given for his guardianship and whom he has offended in many ways, may be appeased by this modest offering and may be able to offer his soul to their God. 35 Then let one mass be said generally for all the deceased, so that through it they may obtain rest and that she may have a worthy rest with them.” 36 He was noble and merciful. Here he appeared to Lady Bridget, dead, saying: “Nothing so much lifts me from my tribulations as the prayers of the just and the sacrament of the altar. 37 But because I was a judge and committed my judgments to those who loved justice less, therefore I am still detained in exile. But I would be freed sooner if those who should have been mine and were mine were more merciful to my salvation.” Also about the same in this book, chapter XXI.
Chapter 54 Christ says that this world was before his coming as a wilderness, in which was a murky well, that is, the love of the world, to which the ways of seven sins led the Gentiles and the Jews as if blind. But he himself, having assumed humanity, enlightened the world, showing the ways to heaven. And because they have already been scattered, therefore he now sends these words of his of this book into the world, which those who receive and keep by deed, will be saved.
{ Mary speaks to the Son: “Blessed are you, my son! You are the beginning without the beginning of time and the power without which no one is powerful. I beg you, son, powerfully complete what you have wisely begun!” 2 The Son answered: “You are like sweet drink to the thirsty and like a spring watering the dry, because through you grace flows to all. Therefore I will do what you ask.” 3 Again the Son speaks: “This world before my incarnation was like a certain wilderness, in which there was a turbid and unclean well. All who drank from it became more thirsty and those who rubbed their eyes became more seriously ill. 4 Now two men stood by this well, one of whom cried out and said: ‘Drink in safety, for the physician has come who takes away all infirmity.’ But the other said: ‘Drink with joy! It is vain to desire uncertain things.’ Seven paths led to this well, and therefore everyone desired the well. 5 Therefore this world is well likened to a wilderness, where there are beasts and trees without fruit and water without impurity, because man, like a beast, was eager to shed the blood of his neighbor, unfruitful in the works of justice and unclean through incontinence and covetousness. 6 Therefore in this wilderness a troubled well was complained of by men, namely the love of the world and its honor, which is high in pride, troubled in solicitude and care for the flesh. And through the seven mortal sins it was as if approached by seven paths. 7 But the two men standing by the well represent the teachers of the Gentiles and the Jews. For the teachers of the Jews were proud of the law which they had and did not keep. 8 And because they were very covetous, they incited the people by words and examples to complain about temporal things, saying: ‘Live securely, for the Messiah will come and restore all things.’ But the teachers of the Gentiles said: ‘Fear the creatures which you see, for the world was created for us to rejoice.’ 9 And when man stood so blindly, that he neither attended to God nor thought of the future, then I, one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, came into the world, and having assumed humanity, preaching openly, I said: 10 ‘What God promised and Moses wrote has been fulfilled. Love therefore heavenly things, for earthly things are passing away and I will give you eternal ones.’ I also showed a sevenfold path by which man would be turned away from his vanity. 11For I have shown poverty and obedience, I have taught fasting and prayer, I have sometimes fled from men and stood alone praying and accepted reproaches; I have chosen labors and sorrows, I have endured punishments and a contemptible death. 12 For I have shown this way by myself, by which my friends walked for a long time. But now the way is destroyed. The watchmen sleep, the passers-by delight in vain and new things. Therefore I will arise and not be silent. 13 I will take away the voice of joy and let my vineyard to others, who will bear fruit in its season. However, according to the common proverb, friends are found among enemies; therefore I will send my friends words sweeter than dates, sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. 14 And those who receive and hold fast to it will have that treasure, which is happily for ever and does not fail but increases in everlasting life.”
Chapter 108 While his bride was praying in Rome at the tomb of blessed Stephen, he appeared to her, telling her something of his life and virtues and of his passion. And he offered to obtain grace from God for her, telling her that he would yet go to Jerusalem.
{ Oh, the bride went to the tomb of blessed Stephen in Rome outside the walls, saying thus: “Blessed are you, blessed Stephen, who are of the same merit as blessed Lawrence. 2 For as he preached to the infidels, so did you preach to the Jews, and as Lawrence joyfully endured fire, so did you also endure stones. Therefore you are worthily praised first among the martyrs.” 3 Then the blessed Stephen appeared and answered him, saying: “From my youth I have begun to hold God dear, because I had parents who were anxious about the salvation of my soul. 4 But when my Lord Jesus Christ was incarnate and began to preach, then I listened to him with all my heart. And immediately after his ascension I joined the apostles, serving faithfully in the office enjoined upon me with humility. 5 Therefore, when the Jews blasphemed my God Jesus, I rejoiced that I had received an opportunity to speak with them, and I constantly rebuked their hardness, ready to die for the truth and to imitate my Lord. 6 But three things worked for my glory and crown, in which I now rejoice. The first was my good will. The second was the prayer of my lords the apostles. The third was the passion and love of my God. 7 Therefore now I have a threefold good. The first is that I continually see the face and glory of God. The second is that whatever I will, I will be able to do, and I will nothing except that which is God’s. The third is that my joy will be without end. 8 And because you rejoice in my glory, therefore my prayer will benefit you in achieving a greater knowledge of God, and the Spirit of God will continue with you and you will come even further to Jerusalem to the place of my passion.”
Chapter 116 The simplicity of the scarcely knowing Our Father pleases God more than the prudence of the proud, and learned foolishness by love keeps the commandments, counsels, all the evangelical rights and laws.
{ A certain simple man, who did not fully know the Our Father, sought counsel of soul from Lady Bridget. To him Christ said: 2 “The simplicity of the soul of this simple man pleases me more than the prudence of the proud, because in them there is pride that distances God from the heart, in this there is humility that brings God into the heart. 3 Therefore tell him that he should continue his usual work as hitherto, and he will have his reward with those to whom I said: ‘Come, you who labor, and I will feed you with eternal bread.’ 4 For if I say to him, as I did to the Jew who sought my advice deceitfully, ‘Serve,’ saying, ‘the commandments and sell what you have,’ he cannot endure it, because old age does not receive information and poverty has nothing to sell. 5 Nevertheless, the commandments are necessary for a man who is striving for eternal life, because without them a man cannot be saved, provided he has the time and means of one who instructs. 6 But this man’s learned foolishness and good will are as pleasing as that widow’s two denarii, which I bought with the price of kings’ rations. For he has all wisdom in his foolishness. 7 For he loves me with all his heart, but how can he do it except from my Spirit? And this seems foolish to the wise of the world, not to love rations and not to know how to speak great things. 8 Therefore I said ‘learned foolishness,’ because he himself has learned true wisdom from my Spirit, which is to love God. Does he not seem to you to be truly wise? For he knows only one word, namely, ‘to love.’ 9 For by this He keeps all the commandments of the law of Moses, by this he gives to God, which are God’s, by this he preserves all the counsels of my gospel, by this he keeps all the laws and laws. 10 By this he loves his neighbor, not coveting other people’s things, indeed not except what is necessary, nor by robbing or defrauding his neighbor. 11 By this he is constantly mindful of his death and of the judgment by which he must be judged before me. And therefore, whoever wishes to come to me, does not have to be solicited about ignorance of the law, provided he wishes to use his conscience, which says that he wants to suffer what he does to another. 12 For why does a man learn so many and such great things and turn over so many books? Is it to serve me? Is it not rather for curiosity and the pursuit of the times and ostentation and the desire to be called a teacher? 13“However, each one stands in his own conscience and each one is judged by it. Therefore, daughter, whoever reads these three words with perfect faith and will: ‘Jesus, have mercy on me!’ pleases me more than he who reads thousands of verses without paying attention.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK VII
Chapter 8 After the above-mentioned brother had received the above-mentioned revelation from Lady Bridget, he asked her to pray to God on the matter of the proper of Christ and the authority of the Supreme Pontiff and the priests who celebrate. While the lady was praying, the Virgin Mary appeared to her, answering all, as follows.
” { Tell that brother, my friend, that it is not lawful for you to know whether the soul of Pope John XXII. is in hell or in heaven. 2 Nor is it lawful for you to know anything about those sins which the same pope took with him when, after his death, he came before the judgment of God, 3 but tell that brother that those decretals which the same Pope John made or established concerning the property of Christ, contain no error of the Catholic faith nor any heresy. 4 I indeed, who begot the true God himself, bear witness that the same Jesus Christ my son had one property, and that he alone possessed it. For this was that tunic which I made with my own hands. 5 And this the prophet testifies in the person of my son, thus saying: ‘They cast lots upon my garment.’ Behold, note that he did not say ‘our garment’ but ‘my garment’. 6 Know also that whenever I put that tunic on him for the benefit of his most holy body, then my eyes were immediately filled with tears and my whole heart was tormented with tribulation and pain and afflicted with intense bitterness, 7 because I knew well the way in which that tunic would be separated from my same son in the future, namely at the time of his passion, when he himself, naked and innocent, would be crucified by the Jews. 8 And this tunic was that garment over which his crucifiers cast lots, and no one in his life had the same tunic except himself alone. 9 Know also that all those who say that the Pope is not the true Pope, nor that the priests are true and properly ordained priests, nor that the true body of my blessed son is that which is consecrated by the priests in the celebration of masses, are themselves inflated by the spirit of the infernal devil in asserting all such errors. 10 Because truly these same heretics have some They committed such grave malice and horrible sins against God that because of their demerits, filled with the greatest diabolical iniquity, they were damnably excluded and expelled from the number of the flock of all Christianity by their heresy before the judgment of the justice of divine majesty, just as Judas was excluded and excluded from the sacred number of the apostles because of his worst demerits, because he betrayed Christ my son. 11 “Know, however, that all those who wish to amend themselves will obtain mercy from God.”
Chapter 10 The Virgin Mary, speaking to Lady Bridget, says that it is in no way the will of God that clerics should have wives or be contaminated by the vice of the flesh, forbidding that no pope should permit this marriage of clerics to take place or be established in the Church of God.
{ Rejoice eternally, blessed body of God, in perpetual honor and in perpetual victory and in your everlasting omnipotence, one with your Father and the Holy Spirit, and also with your blessed and most worthy mother, and with all your glorious heavenly court. 2 May praise also be to you, eternal God, and an infinite supply of graces for having deigned to become man and to have wished to consecrate your venerable body in material bread to us in the world, and to have given it to us as food for the salvation of our souls in charity! 3 It happened to a person who was engaged in prayer that he then heard a voice saying to him: “O you to whom it has been granted to hear spiritually and see, hear now what I want to make clear to you, 4 namely about that archbishop who said that if he were pope, he would give permission to all clerics and priests to contract marriage carnally, thinking and believing that this would be more acceptable to God than for clerics to live dissolutely, as they now live. 5 Because he himself believed that from this marriage major carnal sins would be avoided, and although he did not understand God’s will in this matter well, nevertheless the same archbishop was a friend of God. 6 But I will now tell you God’s will in this matter, because I have begotten God Himself. And you will make this known to my bishop, saying to him thus, that circumcision was given to Abraham, long before the law of Moses was given, and at that time with Abraham men were governed each according to his own understanding and according to the discretion of their own will, and yet many of them were then friends of God. 7 But after it was given the law of Moses, then it pleased God more that men should live under the law and according to the law than according to their own human will and understanding. In a similar way it was with the blessed body of my son. 8 For after he himself instituted this new sacrament of the Eucharist in the world and ascended into heaven, then that ancient law was still observed, namely that Christian priests lived in carnal marriage. 9 And nevertheless many of them were friends of God, because they believed with simple purity that this was so pleasing to God, namely that Christian priests should have wives and live in marriage, as it had pleased him in ancient times among the Jews in the Jewish priests. And this was thus observed by Christian priests for many years. 10But this ancient observance and custom seemed very abominable and hateful to the entire heavenly court and to me, who bore his body, namely that it should be thus observed by Christian priests touching and handling with their hands this new and immaculate sacrament of my most holy body of my Son. 11 For the Jews had in the ancient law of the Old Testament a shadow, that is, a figure of this sacrament, but Christians now have the very truth, namely the true God and man himself in that blessed consecrated bread. 12 But after some time of those early Christian priests observing this, God Himself, by the infusion of His Holy Spirit, gave into the heart of the Pope who ruled the Church at that time another law more acceptable and pleasing to Him, 13 namely by infusing into his heart that the same Pope should establish in the universal Church that Christian priests, who had so holy and so most worthy an office, namely, consecrating this precious sacrament, should in no way live in contaminating carnal pleasure in marriage. 14 And therefore it has been justly ordained by the preordination and judgment of God that priests who do not live in chastity and continence of the flesh are cursed and excommunicated before God and are worthy of being deprived of the priestly office. 15 However, those who have truly amended themselves with the true purpose of not sinning further will obtain mercy from God. 16 Know also this, that if any pope grants priests license to contract carnal marriage, he will be spiritually condemned by God with such a sentence as that man who had so gravely sinned, that according to the justice of the law his eyes should be physically gouged out and his tongue with lips and nose with ears cut off, his hands and feet also amputated, 17 and also that all the blood of his body should be poured out and completely frozen, and moreover that his whole bloodless body should be thrown to dogs and other wild beasts to be devoured. 18 The same would truly happen spiritually to that pope who would grant such a license to contract marriage to priests against the aforementioned preordination and will of God. 19For the same pope would be completely deprived of spiritual sight and hearing, of spiritual words and works, by God, and all his spiritual wisdom would become completely cold, and moreover, after his death, his soul would be cast into hell to be perpetually tormented, so that there he would become the food of demons eternally without end. 20 Indeed, even if the holy Pope Gregory had decreed this, he would never have obtained mercy from God in the aforementioned sentence, unless he had humbly revoked it before his death.”
Chapter 15 Lady Bridget saw this vision in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the chapel of Mount Calvary on Friday after the octave of the Lord’s Ascension, where, rapt in spirit, she saw the Lord’s entire passion in earnest, which is contained here at greater length.
{ From Mount Calvary, while I was weeping most bitterly, I saw my Lord, naked and scourged, led by the Jews to be crucified. He was carefully guarded by them. 2 I also saw then a certain hole cut out in the mountain and the crucifiers around it, ready to work cruelty. 3 But the Lord, turning to me, said to me: “Look, for in this hole the foot of my cross was driven into the rock at the time of his passion.” 4 And immediately I saw how the Jews were fixing and strengthening his cross there in the hole in the rock of the mountain with wood driven in with great force with a hammer all around, so that the cross would stand more solidly, lest it fall. 5 Therefore, when the cross was so firmly strengthened there, wooden boards were immediately fitted around the crossbar in the manner of steps up to the place where his feet were to be crucified, so that both he and the crucifiers could ascend through those steps of boards and stand on those boards in a more convenient way to crucify him. 6 After this they themselves ascended those steps, leading him with great mockery and reproach. 7 Who, going up gratefully like a meek lamb led to be sacrificed, when he was already on those boards, not forced but immediately voluntarily stretched out his arm and with his open right hand placed it on the cross, which his torturers cruelly crucified, and pierced it with a nail through that part where the bone was stronger. 8 Then also, pulling his left hand with a rope, they fastened it to the cross in a similar manner. 9 Then, with his body stretched beyond measure on the cross, one leg was placed on the other, and thus they fastened his joined feet to the cross with two nails, and so stretched those glorious limbs on the cross so violently that it seemed as if all his veins and sinews were bursting. 10 When this was done, they put the crown of thorns, which they had taken off his head when he was crucified, on again and fitted it to their most holy head. 11 Which pierced his venerable head so violently that his eyes were immediately filled with flowing blood, his ears were also blocked and his face and beard were as if covered and were dipped in that pink blood. 12And immediately those crucifiers and soldiers quickly removed all those boards that adhered to the cross, and then only the high cross remained, and my Lord crucified on it. 13 And when I, filled with sorrow, looked upon their cruelty, I then saw his most pitiful mother lying on the ground, as if trembling and half dead. 14 She was being consoled by John and her other sisters, who were then standing not far from the cross on her right side. 15 Therefore the new pain of the compassion of that most holy mother pierced me to such an extent that I felt as if a sharp sword of unbearable bitterness was passing through my heart. 16 Then at last that sorrowful mother, as if emptied of her body, looked at her son, and thus stood supported by her sisters, suspended in complete stupor and as if dead while alive, pierced by the sword of pain. 17 When the Son had looked upon her and her other weeping friends, he commended her to John in a tearful voice, and it was clearly seen in his gesture and voice that his heart was pierced by the sharpest arrow of immense pain from the compassion of his mother. 18 But then his lovely and beautiful eyes appeared half-dead, his mouth was open and bloody, his face was pale and sunken, and his whole body was livid and pale and very languid from the continuous flow of flowing blood. 19 The skin and that virginal flesh of his most holy body were so delicate and tender that even a slight blow would make a livid mark appear on the outside. 20 Sometimes, indeed, he himself tried to stretch himself on the cross because of the great bitterness he felt, because of the intense and sharp pain he felt. 21 For sometimes the pain from his limbs and pierced veins rose to his heart and tormented him with cruel and intense martyrdom, and thus his death was prolonged and extended with great torment and immense bitterness. 22 Then therefore, anxious because of the great anguish of pain and already near death, he cried out to the Father with a loud and tearful voice, saying: “O Father, why have you forsaken me?” 23 And he then had pale lips and a bloody tongue, his belly hanging down, as if it had no viscera within. 24 And the second time he cried out again with great anguish and pain: “O Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And then raising his head a little, he immediately bowed down and gave up his spirit. 25 And then his mother, seeing this, trembled with immense bitterness, wanting to fall to the ground, except that the other women supported him. 26 At that hour, therefore, his hands withdrew a little from the place of the nail holes because of the great weight of his body, and thus his body was as if supported by the nails with which his feet had been crucified. 27 Now his fingers and hands and arms were now more extended than before, but his back and his back were as if fastened to the cross. 28 Then the Jews who stood around mocked him and cried out many things against his mother. For some said, “Mary, your son is dead,” while others said other mocking words. 29 And thus, while the crowds stood around, one came running with the greatest fury and thrust a spear into his right side so violently and powerfully that it seemed as if the spear wanted to pass through another part of the body. 30 And when the spear was pulled out of the body, immediately there came out of that wound abundantly with a rush like a certain river of blood, but the blade of the spear and some part of the red spear came out of the body and were soaked in blood. 31 And seeing this, the mother trembled so violently with a bitter groan, that it was clearly seen in her face and gesture that her soul was then pierced by a sharp sword of pain. 32 But when these things were done, and the crowd was greatly departing, some of his friends laid down the Lord. Then the mother piously received him between her most holy arms and reclined him, sitting on her knee, all torn, wounded and livid. 33 She and John and the other weeping women washed him with tears. 34 And then his most sorrowful mother wiped his whole body and wounds with her linen cloth, closed his eyes by kissing them, and wrapped him in a clean linen cloth. 35 And so they led him away with great mourning and sorrow, and laid him in the tomb.
REVELATIONS, BOOK VIII
Chapter 47 The Mother of God tells how she is a vessel filled and overflowing with grace and rebukes a certain ungrateful king of Sweden, who, unwilling in his war to obey the counsels of God and spiritual men, retreated from the war against the will of God, following the counsel of unbelievers and worldly men, with his own confusion and the loss of his kingdom.
{ The Queen of Heaven appeared to the bride, saying to her: Hear, you who see spiritual things, and come with me into the conversation of the Holy Spirit. I am a vessel filled and full of fills. 2 For just as a vessel standing under a torrent is filled with water and as water flows out, yet the vessel is always filled from the flow of the torrent, so my soul, when it was created and united to the body, was filled from the flow of the torrent, namely the Holy Spirit, by which it was never emptied afterwards . 3 Therefore whoever comes to me with humility and a pure heart will have help from the Holy Spirit. Therefore I can well be called a filled vessel. 4 For while I was in the world in the flow of its torrent, the Son of God came into my body and, taken from me in flesh and blood, he dwelt in me until he was born of me with that birth by which it was fitting for the Son of God to be born. 5 Therefore, being born and coming into my hands, the angels rejoiced and announced peace on earth. After this, my son fell gravely into the penalty of death, when his skin was torn by the scourges, his bones were fastened by the nails, and when his heart cracked with all his dead limbs. 6 Therefore, this accident of death was so great that from it the power of the devil was diminished and the gates of heaven were opened. Therefore, I compare the passion of my son to thunder, the coming of which is heard before and long after the sound comes. 7 Thus the passion of my son was announced long before by the mouths of the prophets, before it came. But after my son died, then the greatest crash and sound was made, which was heard and preached long after his passion, and for it many joyfully gave their lives. 8 But now my son is so forgotten and neglected, that some consider his death as nothing, others say they do not know whether it happened or not, others know but do not care; but there are few who remember his death with love. 9 Therefore, so that the passion of my son might be brought back to memory, therefore the words of God divinely given to you came into the world. 10 Therefore you were sent to this king of Sweden, who, entangled in many snares of sin, after he was separated from the devil, I took him in as my son, desiring to make him an excellent fighter for the honor of God. 11 Seeing which the devil envied him as Moses once was when he was thrown into the water, whose string God directed to the earth. 12Who afterwards, although his tongue was sore, yet spake as God would, and fleeing out of fear out of Egypt, returned by divine providence to Pharaoh. In like manner did the devil to the king. 13 For he cast a certain tempest into his heart, that having gathered a multitude of men, he might retreat from the war, because of poverty and famine. And therefore a certain number of persons was appointed to him. 14 Likewise, the king, at the devil’s suggestion, thought thus: Friends of the gods, he said, have no knowledge of fighting. Therefore I will seek out men learned to fight. To whom afterwards the devil sent many of his own, whose counsel he should be governed. Therefore it had been shown to the king, whose counsels he should obey. 15 It was also consulted with the king, that clerics and religious men should follow him with approved lives. And this was done by the providence of the Holy Spirit against the cunning of the devil. 16 For he himself well knows that it is not long before God will show how his battle is to be waged. The devil also knows that there are many in paganism who consider themselves great in their sect, and he is not ignorant that there are many who desire to know the holy Catholic faith. 17 Therefore the devil desires that when the time of grace comes, those who are greedy and full of avarice should be sent to the pagans. Therefore, the friends of God, clerics and religious, should be prepared with spiritual wisdom to respond to the pagans who come with their sect. 18 Many other things have also been said to you, which will not be fulfilled immediately. But the words should be kept for a predetermined time. For God showed many things to Moses, which are not completed in one hour. 19 So also David was shown king for a long time before he came to power. And therefore let the friends of God wait patiently and not be distracted in working. 20 We also said that the brothers of the Dominican, Franciscan and Bernardine orders should go out with the king to the pagans, because those three orders should be called to paganism first, because monasteries should be started by those who truly despise the world and who have no other will than to honor God and find his friendship. 21 But some think thus about the said brothers: Where, they say, are the people to whom we must preach? Where are the places to be built? 22Similarly, Israel said to Moses: Where, he said, is the promised land? For it would have been better to have sat in Egypt over pots of meat than to be in danger of famine and tribulation in the wilderness. 23 Nevertheless, Israel arrived at the promised land in due time, although some murmured. Therefore, let the king always have with him devout clergy and such as follow him voluntarily out of divine charity, and let him beware of having clergy who are greedy like birds of prey. 24 But hear now what I, the mother of mercy, am going to say. That king, whom I first called my son, has now become a son of disobedience. While he was a boy, two kingdoms were guarded. 25 Who, when he had come to the years of discretion, ruled unjustly and did everything without discretion. Nevertheless, God, always dealing patiently with him, also did spiritual good with him, when he turned the charity of his heart to God. 26 Moreover, I bring to his remembrance three things which God did for him. For it often happens that the infant in the mother’s womb is so strongly bound to its mother that it cannot in any way separate itself from it. Which the prudent midwife, weighing, thinks to herself, saying: 27 If the infant remains in the mother’s womb any longer, both will die. But if they are separated from each other, the infant can indeed live after the mother is dead. And thus the midwife proceeds and separates the infant from its mother. 28 In a similar way this king was bound to his mother, namely, the world, which if he had remained in it any longer, would certainly have died under the penalty of hell. But I, the queen of heaven, went to the king, separating him from the love of the world. 29 But by the step by which I went to the king, I understand the entrance of the Holy Spirit into his heart. 30 For wherever the Spirit of God enters, there the Father enters with the Holy Spirit, and the Son with the Father and the Spirit, and the Mother with the Son, because every man who has God in his heart has me also. 31 For just as it is impossible that the three persons in the Trinity can be separated, so it is impossible, under the current law, that I, who am the mother of God, can be separated from God. 32 For I had the Son of God in me with divinity and humanity, therefore God the Father has me in his divinity and the bond of our love is that Holy Spirit, who is in the Father and the Son, and he is in me, and we can never be separated. 33 In this way, then, when I went to the king, God gave his heart contrition and his eyes spiritual tears, which no one can obtain except by his divine grace. 34 Secondly, I remind the king of what grace has been made in his kingdom. For my son, who sits on the highest throne of majesty, speaks frequently to you, who are born of his kingdom, and I have merited this grace for the king, that he might do honor to God and the fruit of his soul. 35 To whom I also showed through you how he should rule his kingdom wisely and love the people of his kingdom with charity and how he should govern his life bodily and spiritually to the honor of God. 36 Thirdly, I remind him of how he was chosen to bring the holy Catholic faith, if he wished, to paganism. But hear now what this king did. 37 For I, the mother of mercy, called this king my new son, and therefore new, because he had newly come to holy obedience. 38 To whom I promised through you that I would be the mistress and defender of his army and his kingdom and that I would stand before him in the land of his enemies. And so it was done. 39 For there was peace in his land by divine providence because of my prayers, and I was before him in the land of his enemies, when I gathered his greatest enemies into one place of the earth, whom I was about to deliver up to him. 40 Therefore, after a short time had passed, the instruments of the devil, full of an evil heart and a malignant spirit, approached that king. 41 Who trusted in the hands of men more than in the help of the Creator, whose desire was greater for earthly possessions than for helping souls. 42 Whose tongues he stirred up to speak, who moved the tongue of a Jew to sell his Creator. Whose teeth were lifted up by the fingers of the devil; whose cold lips were smeared with the poison of the devil. 43 Therefore divine charity did not taste good to them, but spitting out words of truth, they had falsehood in their mouths. 44 Obeying their evil counsels, the king ran and tore my enemies who had gathered together and were resisting the holy faith from my hands. And then I was left alone, empty-handed. 45 The king himself also caused the wolves to scatter, assigning the lambs to the hands of serpents, who were ready to plunder the sheep and were now filled with greater poison of malice. 46For such things proceeded from the deceitful suggestions of the devil, because the king, having despised the counsels of the friends of God, obeyed the counsels of carnal men, and not heeding the strength of God nor considering my counsel, returned without any fruit and burdened the community and the people of his kingdom, becoming disobedient to God and men and a violator of the promise of his malice. 47 But as a mother is wont to be easily appeased when her son begs for mercy, so I say to him now: Son, turn to me, and I will return to you. Rise from your fall according to the counsels of the friends of God. This, therefore, is the last letter that I will send to him.
REVELATIONS, BOOK IX
Chapter 14 Christ, distinguishing three degrees of sins, says that in the new rule which he himself dictated, namely of the Order of the Holy Savior, all charity, humility and discretion must be observed.
{ The Son of God speaks: “Every divine law is ordained either for the purpose of suppressing the boldness of transgressors, or for the purpose of restraining the petulance of lewdness, or for the purpose of knowing what to do and what to omit. 2 Therefore, in every law, if someone sins out of weakness and unbearable necessity, he receives a dispensation. But he who sins unwillingly and without deliberation is judged less severely. But he who sins with industry or assiduity receives no excuse. 3 It is similar with my disciples, because when I was in the flesh, they were judged by the hypocrites of the Jews for grinding grain on the Sabbath day and eating, whom I, knowing their simplicity and weakness, excused by alleging the example of David, who in the necessity of life ate the bread of the priests, which was forbidden to the laity in the law. 4 But now I myself, God, have sent to my friends a new rule formed by me, in which all charity and humility and discretion are to be observed, and compassion for the sick and the healthy is to be had, because every law, which is in charity and it is not perfected by humility and discretion, it does not deserve praise. 5 Therefore, although I said in the rule that all healthy people should fast at the appointed times, nevertheless even they should not be denied a dispensation if a sudden change has occurred in them or if their infirmity or time of labor requires compassion. 6 This is indeed in the hands of the abbot and confessor and the moderation of him who is commanded to order how often it is expedient for healthy people to break their fasts or to receive refreshment. 7 Therefore, a dispensation should be made with those who are small, defective, seized with sudden infirmity and exhausted by excessive labor.”
Chapter 39 About the 26th chapter of the Rule of the Holy Savior. The Virgin Mary insinuates three qualities of the persons who enter this order. The first are those who, inflamed with charity, contemplate the benefits of God. The second, those who do penance for their sins. The third, those who love the works of the flesh more than the spirit, the world more than God. She also implores various blessings of God for this order and its devoted persons, adding a reason why the temple of the Jews will not be rebuilt, of which this monastery bears a type.
{ The mother says: “Everyone who sits in the upper seat will see the light at noon. But he who is on the right will wake up from his sleep in the morning. But he who is on the left will be cold from the dew of the night. But he who is in the lowest place has died from the darkness of the night. 2 Therefore, let everyone who enters this house be careful not to love death instead of life, cold instead of heat. Let him also beware of the enemy who is at the doors when entering my house. Therefore, let him have reason as his guide and God as his director. 3 Let this house, of which I told you before, be like a fire, which first spreads itself in the straw and the floor, then ignites the roof and the whole house to such an extent that those who are outside do not know until the whole house is on fire. 4 May this house be strengthened in the Holy Spirit, like Elijah, who, eating bread and drinking water, walked in the strength of that food for forty days. Thus may all who enter this house be strengthened and prosper in every diet, and may spiritual strength and fervor of faith and charity. 5 May God also abide with those entering this house, as He did with Jacob, who, leaving his father’s house alone, returned with a large crowd and begot Joseph, who is called the salvation of the people, because he saved his people. 6 May He also guard this house and those entering it, as He guarded His apostle, lest it be burned with the fat of oil, and may He give it to those who love it, so that they may not be burned with the fat of the love of the world, nor fail or succumb from its adversity. 7 May all who enter this house also be fruitful like the grain that yields a hundredfold, and like the widow’s bed of oil, so that they may advance from strength to strength, until they see God in their blessedness. 8 May this house also be fortified with a spiritual wall of protection so strong and great that the enemy, wanting to penetrate it, will say that he does not have enough time to dig it up, nor do he have the tools with which to reach the foundations, much less the wall itself. 9 May God also look upon this house, as He looked upon His people, when He would lead them out of Egypt, showing them the way by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in fire. 10 Moreover, let him bless those entering this house, as he blessed his apostles and me, his mother, giving us the Holy Spirit and promising that he will remain with us until the consummation. 11 Let there also be one gate in this house, through which all may enter, and let those entering be of my Son’s sheep, hearing the voice of him who gave his life for them, whom the Father may guard with his power, the Son may direct with his wisdom, the Holy Spirit may inflame with his charity, so that, if a wolf has entered the fleece of the sheep, he may profit the sheep to greater merit and himself may descend to the place prepared for himself.” 12 Likewise, Mother of God: “I know also that the prophet was commanded to show the ungrateful people the descriptions of the destroyed temple, which he saw in a spiritual vision, not because they were in heaven bodily, but because by bodily things spiritual things are understood, so that the disobedient people might recognize their ingratitude and, repenting of their evils, prepare themselves to receive the promise of God. 13 He was therefore deprived and will be deprived of the promises of God, because, persisting in his malice, he did not want to change his will to good. Therefore also the temple was not rebuilt and will not be forever. 14 But in my house not only material walls will be erected, but also the souls of the righteous will please my son in it and will spiritually fulfill in themselves the descriptions of the temple, which the prophet of God saw in the spirit.”
REVELATIONS, BOOK XI
Chapter 18 The Passion of the Virgin Son commends us to the hands of the Most High Father. Amen.
{ And finally, at the time when the Son of the Virgin predicted: “You will seek me, and will not find me,” the painful point of the sword sharply pierced the heart of the Virgin. 2 Then, too, betrayed by his own disciple and taken captive, as he pleased, by the enemies of truth and justice, the sword of pain pierced the heart and heart of the Virgin, and, piercing her soul hard, inflicted the most grievous pains on every member of her body. 3 For that sword was constantly turning in the soul of the Virgin with all bitterness, whenever sufferings and reproaches were heaped upon her most beloved Son. 4 Indeed, she saw her Son cruelly and wickedly beaten with the palms of the wicked, scourged, most shamefully condemned to death by the Jewish leaders, and herself, with the whole people shouting: “Crucify the traitor!” He was led out to the place of suffering with his hands tied, 5 while others were already carrying the cross on his shoulders in great fatigue, while others were leading him and dragging him tied behind him, and others accompanying him and pushing him with their fists and shaking that meek lamb like a most cruel wild beast, 6 who, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, was so patient in all his afflictions that, like a sheep led to the slaughter without a voice, and like a lamb that is silent before its shearer, he did not open his mouth. 7 Just as he showed all patience through himself, so his blessed mother bore all his tribulations most patiently. 8 And just as a lamb accompanies its mother wherever she is led, so the virgin mother followed her Son when he was led to the places of torment. 9 Also, seeing the Son mocked with a crown of thorns and his face reddened with blood and his cheeks red from the great slaps, she groaned in the greatest pain, and then her cheeks began to turn pale from the greatness of the pain. 10 For the blood of the Son, flowing throughout his whole body during his scourging, flowed from the eyes of the Virgin with innumerable tears. 11 Then the mother, seeing her Son cruelly stretched out on the cross, began to waste away in all the strength of her body. 12 But hearing the sound of the hammers, when the Son’s hands and feet were pierced with iron nails, then all the senses of the Virgin, failing, fell to the ground as if dead, the greatness of the pain. 13And so, while the Jews were giving him gall and vinegar to drink, the anxiety of the heart so dried up the tongue and palate of the virgin, that she was then unable to move her blessed lips to speak. 14 Hearing also afterwards that tearful voice of her Son in the agony of death, saying: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and then seeing that all his limbs became stiff and with his head bowed he gave up his spirit, then the bitterness of pain so suffocated the heart of the virgin, that not a joint of her body seemed to move. 15 Hence it is known that God then performed no small miracle in this, when the virgin mother, wounded inwardly by so many and great pains, did not give up her spirit, 16 when she saw her beloved Son naked and bleeding, alive and dead, and pierced with a spear, hanging among thieves, with all mocking him, while almost all those to whom he had been known fled from him and many of them enormously deviated from the rectitude of the faith. 17 Therefore, just as her Son endured a most bitter death above all living in this world, so his mother bore the most bitter pains in her blessed soul by suffering. 18 The sacred page also records that the wife of Phinehas, perceiving that the ark of God had been captured by its enemies, immediately expired from the vehemence of her pains; the pains of which woman could not be compared to the pains of the Virgin Mary, who saw the body of her blessed Son (which the ark symbolized) held captive between nails and wood. 19 For the Virgin loved her Son, true God and man, with a greater love than anyone born of man and woman could love himself or another. 20 Therefore, since it is seen as a wonder that the wife of Phinehas died of pain, who was tormented by lesser pains, and Mary came back to life, who was tormented by greater sorrows, who can think of anything else in this, except that it was by a special gift of Almighty God that she retained her life against all her bodily strength? 21 Finally, dying, the Son of God opened heaven and powerfully rescued his friends who were held in hell. But the virgin, coming back to life, alone preserved the right faith completely until the resurrection of her Son, and corrected many who had miserably strayed from the faith by bringing them back to faith. 22For her Son was taken down from the cross dead, and wrapped in swaddling clothes, like other burials, was delivered to the grave. And then all departed from him, and few believed that he would rise again. 23 Then also the stings of sorrow fled from the heart of the mother, and the delight of consolations began to be sweetly renewed in her, because she knew that the tribulations of her Son were now entirely ended, and that he, with his divinity and humanity, should rise again on the third day to eternal glory, and that henceforth he should not and could not suffer any trouble.
REVELATIONS, BOOK XII
6 In this prayer, revealed by God to Blessed Bridget, the glorious Virgin Mary is devoutly and beautifully praised for her holy conception and childhood, for all the virtuous acts and labors and great sorrows of her entire life, and for her most holy death and assumption.
7 Blessed and venerable are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, most holy Mother of God, whose best creature you truly are, and no one has ever loved Him so intimately as you, glorious Lady. 8 Glory be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, Mother of God, who was announced to your father and mother by that angel by whom Christ was announced to you, and was conceived and born of their most honorable marriage. 9 Blessed are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who in your most holy infancy, immediately after your weaning, was carried by your parents into the temple of God and was entrusted to the care of the devout priest with other virgins. 10 Praise be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who, when you reached that age, that you understood God to be your Creator, immediately began to love Him intimately above all things, and then you most discreetly ordered your daytime and nighttime times to the honor of God through various offices and exercises, and you so moderated the sleep and food of your glorious body that you were always fit to serve God. 11 Infinite glory be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who humbly vowed your virginity to God Himself and therefore did not care who would espouse you, because you knew that He to whom you had first given your faith was mightier and better than all. 12 Blessed be you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who stood alone, inflamed with the ardor of divine love, lifted up with all your mind and all the power of your strength, ardently devoutly contemplating the most high God, to whom you had offered your virginity, when an angel was sent from God to you and, greeting you, announced to you the will of God. To which you, responding, most humbly professed yourself to be the handmaid of God, and immediately the Holy Spirit filled you wonderfully with all power, and God the Father sent his Son, co-eternal and co-equal with you. Who, coming into you, then assumed a human body from your flesh and blood, and so in that blessed hour the Son of God became your living son in you with all his members, yet not losing his divine majesty. 13Blessed be you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who felt the body of Christ created by your blessed body in your womb always grow and move gloriously until the time of his birth. Whom you touched before all with your holy hands, wrapped in swaddling clothes and, according to the prophet’s prophecy, laid in a manger and raised him with the most sacred milk of your breasts with the joy of exultation in a motherly way. 14 Glory be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who saw powerful kings coming from afar to your son, dwelling in a contemptible house, that is, a stable, humbly offering royal gifts with the greatest reverence to your son. Whom you afterwards presented in the temple with your precious hands and diligently preserved in your blessed heart everything heard and seen by him in his infancy. 15 Blessed be you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who fled with that most holy offspring into Egypt, whom you afterwards brought with joy to Nazareth, and saw your son himself humble and obedient to you and Joseph in the growth of his body. 16 Blessed are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who saw your Son preaching, performing miracles and choosing apostles, who, enlightened by his examples, miracles and teachings, became witnesses of the truth, proclaiming to all nations that your Jesus and the Son of God truly exists, which he was, who fulfilled the scriptures of the prophets by himself, when he patiently endured a most difficult death for the human race. 17 Blessed are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who foresaw beforehand that your Son would be captured and saw him afterwards bound and scourged, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross naked and naked, and many scorning him and calling him a traitor with your blessed eyes. 18 Honor be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who saw your Son speaking to you with sorrow from the cross and heard him in the agony of death crying out to the Father and commending his soul into his hands with your blessed ears. 19 Praise be to you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who saw your Son hanging on the cross, livid from the top of his head to the soles of his feet and reddened with his own blood, and thus cruelly dying with bitter pain. You also saw his feet and hands, one of them pierced with his glorious side, and his entire skin torn apart without any mercy, most bitterly. 20 Blessed are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who saw with your tearful eyes your son taken down from the cross, wrapped in cloths, buried in a tomb and guarded there by soldiers. 21 Blessed are you, my Lady Virgin Mary, who, deeply moved by the inner sorrow of your heart, were separated from your son’s tomb and were carried by his friends to the house of John, completely filled with grief, and there you immediately felt relief from your great sorrow, because you foresaw with certainty that your son would soon rise again. 22 Rejoice, my most worthy Lady Virgin Mary, because at the same moment that your son rose from the dead, he wanted to make this known to you, his most blessed mother, because he immediately appeared to you by himself, and then showed other people that he was the one who had most bitterly endured death in his living body. 23 Rejoice, therefore, my most worthy Lady, Virgin Mary, who, having conquered death and supplanted the agent of death and opened the entrance to heaven through your Son, you saw Him rise again triumphantly crowned with victory, and on the fortieth day after His resurrection you saw Him ascend honorably as a king, accompanied by angels, to His heavenly kingdom in the sight of many. 24 Rejoice, my most worthy Lady, Virgin Mary, because you deserved to see how, after His ascension, your Son suddenly sent to His apostles and disciples the Holy Spirit, with which He had previously filled you entirely, and by increasing in them the fervor of charity and the rectitude of the catholic faith, He wonderfully enlightened their hearts. 25 Rejoice moreover, my Lady Virgin Mary, and let the whole world rejoice in your joy, because after his ascension, your Son permitted you to remain in this world for many years for the consolation of his friends and the strengthening of faith, the help of the needy and the sound counsel of the apostles. Then, by your most prudent words, most honorable gestures and virtuous works, you converted countless Jews and pagan infidels to the Catholic faith, and you wonderfully enlightened them by confessing that you are a virgin mother and that you are your Son and God with true humanity. 26Blessed art thou, my Lady Virgin Mary, who, out of ardent charity and motherly love, didst desire to come to thy beloved Son, now seated in heaven, every hour. And while thou dwelt in this world, sighing for the heavenly things, didst humbly conform thyself to the divine will, for which reason, divine justice having dictated it to thee, thou didst increase eternal glory in an ineffable manner. 27 May thou, my Lady Virgin Mary, be eternal honor and glory, because when it pleased God to rescue thee from the exile of this world and to honor thy soul eternally in his kingdom, then he deigned to announce this to thee by his angel, and he willed to bury thy venerable body, now dead, in the sepulchre with all reverence, by his apostles. 28 Rejoice, my Lady Virgin Mary, because in that most light of thy death thy soul was embraced by the power of God, and he himself protected it from all adversity by his paternal care. And then God the Father himself subjected all that was created to your power, and the Son of God placed you, his most worthy mother, in a most sublime seat with himself with honor, and the Holy Spirit also wonderfully exalted you, the Virgin espoused to himself, by bringing you to his glorious kingdom. 29 Rejoice eternally, my Lady Virgin Mary, because after your death your body lay buried in the tomb for some days, until by the power of God it once again existed united with your soul with honor. 30 Rejoice sufficiently, O Mother of God, glorify, Lady Virgin Mary, because after your death you deserved to see your body, together with your soul, made alive, taken up into heaven with the honor of the angels, and you acknowledged your glorious Son to exist as God with humanity, and you saw him to be the most just judge of all and the rewarder of good works with the joy of exultation. 31Rejoice also, my Lady Virgin Mary, because the most holy flesh of your body now knew itself to exist in heaven, virgin and mother, and saw itself to be in no way stained by any mortal or venial crime, indeed it knew itself to have performed all virtuous works so charitablely that it was right for God to venerate you with the greatest honor out of justice. You also understood then that whoever loved God more ardently in this world would place him nearer to himself in heaven. And since it was evident to the entire heavenly court that no angel or man loved God Himself with such love as you did, it was therefore worthy and just that God Himself honorably placed you with soul and body in the highest seat of glory. 32 Blessed are you, O my Lady Virgin Mary, because every faithful creature praises the Holy Trinity for you, because you are His most worthy creature, who is most ready to obtain pardon for wretched souls and has been the most faithful advocate and procurator for all sinners. Therefore, may God, the supreme emperor and lord, be praised, who created you for such honor that you would become empress and mistress forever in the kingdom of heaven, reigning with him eternally for ever and ever. Amen.
33 This prayer was revealed by God to Blessed Bridget, in which Christ is beautifully and devoutly praised with a serious narrative of his glorious incarnation and of all the acts, labors and sorrows of his life and most holy death and of his ascension into heaven and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.
34 Blessed be you, my Lord, my God and my love, the most beloved of my soul, who are one God in three persons. 35 Glory and praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who were sent by the Father into the body of a virgin, yet remaining with the Father always in heaven, and the Father with his divinity remaining in your humanity inseparably with you in the world. 36 Honor and glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who, conceived in the womb of a Virgin by the Holy Spirit, grew bodily and lived in it humbly until the time of your birth, and after your joyful birth you deigned to be handled by the most pure hands of your own mother, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. 37 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who willed that your immaculate flesh be circumcised, that you also be called Jesus and that your mother offer you in the temple. 38 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who caused you to be baptized in the Jordan by your servant John. 39 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who with your blessed mouth you personally preached the words of life to men and in their presence you personally worked many miracles. 40 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who by fulfilling the scriptures of the prophets you rationally demonstrated to the world that you are the true God. 41 Blessing and glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who miraculously fasted for forty days in the desert and allowed yourself to be tempted by the devil, your enemy, whom you expelled from you with a single word, as it pleased you. 42 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who foretold your death before time and at the last supper you miraculously consecrated your precious body from material bread and also gave it to your apostles in charity in memory of your most worthy passion and by washing their feet with your precious holy hands you humbly showed your greatest humility. 43 Honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who, through fear of suffering and death, shed blood from your innocent body in sweat, and nevertheless accomplished our redemption, which you wished to do, and in this way most clearly showed your love for the human race. 44 Glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who were sold by your disciple and bought and taken captive by the Jews for us, and with your single word you cast down your enemies to the ground, into whose filthy rapacious hands you later voluntarily handed yourself over as a prisoner. 45 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who were led to Caiaphas; and you, who are the judge of all, humbly allowed yourself to be handed over to the judgment of Pilate. 46 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who were sent by Pilate the judge to Herod and allowed yourself to be mocked and despised by him and consented to be sent back to the same judge Pilate. 47 Glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for the mockery you endured, while you stood dressed in purple and crowned with the sharpest thorns, and because I spat on your glorious face, you endured having your eyes covered and having your jaw and neck most severely crushed by the deadly hands of the wicked. 48 Praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who most patiently allowed yourself to be tied to a pillar, brutally scourged, and led before the judgment of Pilate, bleeding, and seen as an innocent lamb. 49 Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who most patiently desired to hear before Pilate the reproaches and lies leveled against you, and the voices of the people demanding that the guilty thief be acquitted and that you, the innocent one, be condemned with your blessed ears. 50 Honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who with your entire glorious body covered in blood, you were condemned to death on the cross, and you bore the cross with pain on your sacred shoulders, and you were led furiously to the place of your passion, stripped of your garments, and so desired to be nailed to the tree of the cross. 51 Immense glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, because you humbly endured for us, that the Jews should stretch out your venerable hands and feet with ropes and cruelly fasten them to the wood of the cross with iron nails, and also call you a traitor and, having written a title of shame upon you, mock you in many ways with their wicked words. 52Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to You, my Lord Jesus Christ, who with such meekness suffered such cruel pains for us. For when Your blessed body emptied itself of all its strength on the cross, Your kind eyes grew dim, Your beautiful face was covered with pallor from the loss of blood, Your blessed tongue was parched and dried up, and Your mouth was moistened with the most bitter cup, Your hair and beard were filled with blood from the wounds of Your most holy head, The bones of the hands and feet of Your entire precious body were separated from their places, not without Your great and intense pain, The veins and all the nerves of Your blessed body were cruelly torn, and thus You were cruelly scourged and wounded with painful wounds, because Your most innocent flesh and skin were all intolerably torn, and thus afflicted and in pain, You, my sweetest Lord, stood on the cross and patiently and humbly awaited the hour of death with great pain. 53 Eternal honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who, placed in such distress, humbly looked upon your most worthy mother, who never sinned nor ever consented to even the slightest sin, with your kind eyes of charity and, comforting her, faithfully entrusted her to your beloved disciple to be kept. 54 Eternal blessing be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who, existing in the agony of death, gave all sinners hope of forgiveness, when you mercifully promised the glory of paradise to the thief who turned to you. 55 Eternal praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for every hour in which you endured the greatest bitterness and anguish for us sinners on the cross. For the most acute pains proceeding from your wounds penetrated your blessed soul and cruelly pierced your most sacred heart, until with a trembling heart you happily breathed your last and, bowing your head into the hands of God, your Father, you humbly commended him and then, dead and completely cold in body, you remained. 56 Blessed are you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who by your precious blood and most sacred death you redeemed souls and mercifully brought them back from exile to eternal life. 57 Blessed are you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who hung dead on the tree of the cross and immediately powerfully freed your friends from the prison of hell. 58Blessed be you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who for our salvation you allowed your side and heart to be pierced with a spear and you poured out your precious blood and water from the same side to redeem us and, before permission was granted by the judge, you did not want your most sacred body to be taken down from the cross. 59 Glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for the fact that you wanted your blessed body to be taken down from the cross by your friends and laid in the hands of your most sorrowful mother and you allowed it to be wrapped in cloths by her and buried in a tomb, and to be guarded there by soldiers as well. 60 Eternal honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who on the third day you rose from the dead and, to those to whom it pleased you, you manifested yourself alive, and after forty days you ascended to heaven in the sight of many and there you honorably placed your friends, whom you had freed from Tartarus. 61 Eternal joy and praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of your disciples and increased the immense divine love in their spirits. 62 Blessed and praiseworthy and glorious be you forever, my Lord Jesus Christ, who sits on the throne in your kingdom of heaven in the glory of your divinity, living bodily with all your most holy members, which you assumed from the flesh of the Virgin, and so you will come on the day of judgment to judge the souls of all the living and the dead, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Source. UMILTA – BIRGITTA OF SWEDEN, REVELACIONES. EDITED: CARL-GUSTAV UNDHAGEN (I); BIRGER BERGH (II, V, VI, VII); ANN-MARI JÖNSSON (III); HANS AILI (IV, VIII); LENNART HOLLMAN (IX), STEN EKLUND (X-XII); ARNE JÖNSSON (XIII).