BOOK SEVEN
1. The Crown and the Dignity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Which He Shall Receive After the Last Day
Our Lord, the heavenly Father, in his divine wisdom has stored away many ineffable gifts with which he intends to adorn his chosen children after the last day. Especially for his only begotten Son, Jesus, our Redeemer, has the heavenly Father prepared and fashioned a crown with such rich and exquisite workmanship that all the craftsmen who ever existed, are now, and ever shall be could not fully capture the splendor and rich delights of this crown. The spiritual eyes of the loving soul beheld this crown in limitless eternity and its nature was made known to her. What is this thing called eternity? It is the uncreated wisdom of the infinite Godhead that has neither beginning nor end.
The crown has three arches. The first arch is that of the patriarchs, the second that of the prophets, the third that of Holy Christianity. The crown is formed by the images and decorated with the presence of all the blessed who are destined to possess God's kingdom on the last day. They shall have honor that is portioned out to them according to their works.
The first arch of the crown is fashioned and illumined with the precious stones of the holy interior life and good works the patriarchs ever performed. The arch is also formed by human likeness, body and soul. The first likeness on the arch of the crown is that of St. Stephen, and all the martyrs who ever shed their blood in Christian faith are depicted together with him. Next to this, St. Peter and all God's apostles with him are also depicted; then come all the blessed who followed the teachings of the apostles. Those married people shall also be depicted on this arch, together with their children, who have followed God through good works.
The second arch of the crown is covered with the likenesses of the popes together with all the spiritual fathers to whom God entrusted his sheep. This arch is fashioned with all spiritual authority and decorated with the flowers of Christian teaching.
The third arch of the crown is formed most beautifully of all, with the noble human form of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with him his glorious mother Mary with all her virgins who shall follow the Lamb. St. John the Baptist is represented there very close to the Lamb, and all those who became Christians under his hands are splendidly represented with him. This arch of the crown is adorned with the natures of all creatures in accordance with the love and affection that the creator had for them when he created all things according to his will.
The crown is garlanded with many knightly shields of mighty Christian faith. The empire shall also be represented on the crown, fashioned and decorated down to the very last peasant, their honor always depending on how well they served God.
At the time of the Antichrist the crown shall be crenelated with many a glorious image, such as that of Elias and Enoch, and many holy martyrs shall be there before them wearing the flowers of the holiness of their life and enhanced by their precious blood.
The crown shall also be dyed in the blood of the Lamb, and shall shine forth and be gilded with the powerful love that broke the sweet heart of Jesus in two. Our heavenly Father created this crown; Jesus Christ earned it; the Holy Spirit fashioned it and hammered it out in fiery love, making it so pliable with the refined skills of the Holy Trinity that it fits our Redeemer Jesus Christ so well and looks so glorious on him that the heavenly Father receives more joy still from his only begotten Son. This has to be, even though the eternal Godhead without a beginning always contained all bliss and joy within itself, does now, and ever shall. And yet it causes him special eternal joy, that he shall gaze with such happiness upon his eternal Son, together with all his followers.
When Jesus Christ has held his last judgment and has served and celebrated his last supper, he shall receive this crown from his Father in great honor and with him all those who in body and soul with great effort have come to the eternal feast. Each soul and body shall see its honor on the crown.
The crown was produced on earth at a great cost—not with gold, nor with silver, nor with jewels; rather, with human toil, with human tears, sweat, and blood, with all the virtues and, finally, with painful death. Angels will not be seen on the crown because they are not human beings. But they shall praise God for the crown with delightful song.
The first choir sings: "We praise you, Lord, because of your gloriouslaw from which have come forth all here present whose likenessesappear on your crown."
The second choir: "We praise you, Lord, with the faith of Abraham andwith the fervent longing and prophecies of all the prophets."
The third choir: "We praise you, Lord, with all the wisdom and piety ofall your apostles."
The fourth choir: "We praise you, Lord, with the blood and the con-stancy of all your martyrs."
The fifth choir: "We praise you, Lord, for the holy prayer and Christianteaching of all the baptists and confessors."
The sixth choir: "We praise you, Lord, with the steadfastness of the penitence of your widows."
The seventh choir: "We praise you, Lord, with the chastity of all virgins."
The eighth choir: "We praise you, Lord, with the fruit of your motherand virgin."
The ninth choir: "We praise you, Lord, for your holy death and yourglorious life after your death, and for your great outpouring of everygift and every goodness with which, Lord, you have raised us up andadmirably ranked us. We praise you, Lord, with your fiery love inwhich you have made us one."
Above the crown flies the loveliest banner ever seen in this empire. This shall be the holy cross on which Christ suffered his death. The cross has four ends. The bottom end is decorated with bliss brighter than the sun. On the right side beneath the cross the pillar is suspended upright, stained with the blood of the Lamb, festooned and decorated with the nails with which our Lord was wounded. At the top of the tree of the cross hangs suspended the fairest imperial thorn-crown of the realm.
The thorns have blossomsLily white, rosy pink,Delightful, bright as heaven.
That is the banner of the crown with which Jesus won the victory and returned alive to his Father.
Right after the last day, at the eternal celebration, when God has made all things new, this crown will be revealed and will sit lightly upon the humanity of our Lord to the glory and praise of the Holy Trinity and the joy of all the blessed evermore.
The humanity of our Lord is an intelligible image of his eternal Godhead, so that we can grasp the Godhead with the humanity and, like the Holy Trinity, enjoy, hug, kiss, and embrace God in an incomprehensible manner, whom neither heaven nor hell nor purgatory can ever grasp or resist. The eternal Godhead shines forth, lighting up all the blessed who are in its presence and making them ready for love, so that they freely rejoice and live ever free of interior suffering. The humanity of our Lord greets, rejoices, and loves his flesh and his blood without ceasing. Though there is no longer flesh and blood there, still the brotherly kinship is so great that he has to love his human nature in a special way.
The Holy Spirit, too, shares its heavenly outpouring of love, enriching the blessed and so utterly satisfying them that they sing with joy, charmingly laugh and leap with measured step, flow and float along. They soar and climb from choir to choir to the heights of the realm where they gaze into the mirror of eternity and understand the will and all the works of the Holy Trinity and how they themselves have been formed in body and soul, as they shall remain forever. The soul is formed in the body with human qualities but has a divine shimmer about it and shines through the body as radiant gold shines through pure crystal.
Thus do they' become utterly free and happy,
Agile, strong, and filled with love,
Radiant and as godlike as one can be.
They travel about wherever they want
As swiftly over a thousand leagues
As one here forms a thought.
As one here forms a thought.
Just think what such movement is like!
And yet never can they touch or grasp an end of this kingdom.
The expanse of space and streets of gold are overly large,
And yet are the right size and not really golden.
They are infinitely better than gold and precious stones.
These things are completely of the earth and shall be annihilated.
And now comes the end of the crown: The Holy Spirit will be fashioning the crown until the last day. Then the Father and the Son shall reward him for his work. As recompense he shall give him all the souls and bodies that are assembled in the kingdom of God. There within them the Holy Spirit shall rest eternally, and he shall constantly hail them and fill them with joy.
Everything that was ever done or will ever be done for the love of God, everything that was ever endured or forsaken for God's sake shall all blossom forth on the crown. Ah, what a crown! Ah, who can help me become a tiny flower on the crown like the newly baptized infants who are the tiniest flowers on the crown?
If this description is too long, it is because I take such rich delight in the crown. Actually, I have set down many a long description with few words. I say this to myself: "How much longer, helpless puppy, will you go on yapping? You have to quiet down because I have to keep silent about what is finest."
2. How a Person Prayed for All the Souls on All Souls' Day
On All Souls' Day I prayed together with Holy Christianity for all the souls that are doing penance in purgatory. Then I saw a purgatory that was like a stove. On the outside it was black; inside it was full of fiery flames. Looking inside I saw how they stood in the flames and burned like a bundle of straw. Then someone was standing next to me who looked like a large angel. I asked him how it was that the souls squeezed themselves outside when the prayers of good people reached them. Some squeezed themselves outside and some were unable to do so. Then he whom I asked answered me: "When they were on earth, they did not want to come to the aid of those who were begging them for help in their distress."
Then my soul was moved to pity because of their power and dignity, and cried to heaven: "Lord God, could I go inside to them and suffer with them so that they might come to you sooner?" Then our Lord revealed that he was the angel standing next to me, and he said: "If you are willing to go in, I shall go in with you." Then our Lord clasped the spirit of this person to himself and brought her inside. When the soul came inside with our Lord, she felt no pain. Then she asked how many of them there were. Our Lord said: "You can't finish counting them, and these arc the ones for whom you prayed while they were on earth."
Then I found a person for whom I used to pray thirty years ago. And I was saddened because I had nothing to give him and, because of my wretchedness, I did not dare ask for great things from such a great Lord. Then I said the following words: "O dear Lord, would you release them?" Then all at once they rose up in great numbers wonderfully whiter than snow, and they floated off toward paradise in pure sweet bliss. There they rested in joy. When they rose out of the fire, they all sang the following psalm: "Praise the Lord, ye children." After that they sang: "We praise you, Lord, for the greatness of your goodness, for the generousness of your gift and for the faithfulness of your help."
Our Lord was still standing next to the place of fire and held the spirit of the person in his embrace. The soul of the person said: "O Lord, you well know what I desire." This was that she might be at the feet of our Lord in order to thank him.
Our Lord then let her down,And she thanked him againThat she was able to witness the great honorThat the poor souls had received from God.Then she found on his feetThe rose-colored woundsOf our true redemption.
Then she prayed: "Lord, give me your blessing."And our Lord said: "I bless you with my wounds."
May this happen to me and to all God's friends and mine. This, alas, did not come about through my efforts, for I consider the entreaties of Holy Christianity to be worth much more than mine.
3. How Beneficial It Is for a Person to Examine His Heart Constantly with Humble Fear
I know of no one so good that it is unnecessary for him to examine his heart constantly, to recognize what dwells within it, and also to criticize with great frequency all his deeds. One should do this with humble fear. God's voice taught me this, for I have never performed any deed so well that I could not have done it better. This is what I criticize myself for.
This is how we should chide our frailty: "Well now, you most wretched of all creatures, how long do you intend to harbor useless habits in your five senses? Our childhood was foolish, our youth became troubled. How we then conquered is clear to God. Alas, in my old age there is, unfortunately, much that I must criticize, for it is unproductive in resplendent deeds and cold as to graces. It is powerless as well, since it does not have youth with which to sustain fiery love of God. It also has no tolerance for pain, so that a small twinge that youth would ignore is quite painful. But proper old age is joyfully patient and trusts in God alone.
Seven years ago a discouraged old person complained to God about this sorry state of things. God gave this reply:
"Your childhood was a playmate of my Holy Spirit.Your youth was a bride of my humanity.Your old age is now a housewife of my Godhead."
Alas, dear Lord, what good is it that a dog barks if the owner of the house keeps on sleeping? The thief breaks into his house anyway.
And yet the prayer of a pure heart sometimes awakens the dead sinner. Woe, sinner! How bitterly can one weep for you, for you are your own murderer and you are harmful to all goodness and yet a benefit to it. A good person receives great profit when he sees someone weaken or fall into sin. He then looks very carefully around him so that he might not get into that trouble at all. Thus does a good person better himself through evil things. Freely performed good deeds then follow. But a wicked person gets worse when he sees bad examples. He becomes so evil that he looks with contempt upon good deeds and good people. And he is most comfortable with his own perverse wisdom.
My dear Schoolmaster, who taught me this book, silly stupid person though I be, also taught me the following saying: You should not trust someone who is not sincere in what he does. I know an enemy who is a destroyer of divine truth in the human heart. If one gives him room, he writes, with the approval of the person, false wisdom into the person's heart and says: "I am quick to anger and weak by nature." This is not an honorable excuse before God. With the help of grace you should become meek and strong.
"I have no grace." Then in your lack of grace you should call out to the God of grace with humble tears and with constant prayers in holy desire. Then the worm of anger will die. You must do violence to yourself. Then there will be no need for any hurtful force from God or anyone else to come upon you. Then the worm of anger shall be annihilated. If, with God, we want to overcome and drive out our anger and all our imperfections, we simply have to ignore our sinful temptations in secret and outwardly put on a holy, cheerful demeanor.
Alas, wretched brood, as long as we storm around in anger, even if there is anything good about us, we still have to come back to our heart. Then we must rightly be ashamed. The anger consumed our strength and dried out our flesh, and so we wasted our valuable time when we should have been serving God. Alas, this is an eternal loss! Again, alas! I regret the sinful tears that were shed in haughty anger. The soul becomes so darkened thereby that a person is incapable the whole time of rightly enjoying any good things. But tears of sorrow are so holy. If a great sinner could shed one tear of sorrow for all his sins, he would never go to everlasting hell
if he remained in this disposition.
No matter how small the sins are that a good person commits regularly, which he just won't give up the while he lives—if he dies thus without confession and penance, no matter how holy he is, he will end up in bitter purgatory. For as merciful as God is, he is also at the same time just and angered by all sins. I tell myself that love must dwell in us. Never should we be self-righteous. Then humility will dwell within.
4. Our Lord's Switch
Not long after I arrived at the convent, I was so terribly afflicted with sickness that my Lady felt pity. So I said to our Lord: "Dear Lord, what is your purpose with this suffering?" And our Lord said this:
"All your paths have been measured out;All your footsteps have been counted.Your life has been sanctified.Your end shall be happy,And my kingdom is very close to you."
"Lord, why is my life sanctified, since I can do so little that is good?"
Then our Lord said: "Your life has become sanctified because my switch never leaves your back."
5. Why the Convent Was Once Undergoing Trials
One should do good to those who one knows are in need of it. For I do not want to have from the convent the good that one withholds from them. This is the explanation: Each one according to his office should in mercy do good to those he knows to be in need.
6. The Chapter Room and How a Person Should Examine His Infractions and Weep for Them; Two Golden Pennies and GoodWill and Desire
Whoever has this knowledge, let him lament and weep with me. For the chosen children of God frequently take God's body, receiving it in a holy manner. But I have to go to my chapter room accompanied by my burning conscience.
Then my unworthiness comes and chides me.Then my indolence comes and accuses me.Then the frivolousness of my personality comes and points out mycapriciousness to me.Then the wretchedness of my useless life comes and saddens me.Then fear of God comes and scourges me.
Then I crawl forward like a tiny worm on the ground and hide myself under the grass of my many various omissions all my days. There I sit and cry to heaven: "O merciful God, grant me that I might today share in the grace that your chosen ones have now received."
Thereupon our Lord replied: "Take two golden pennies that weigh the same and go shopping with them. If they are of equal value, they are equally good."
"Alas, dear Lord, how can my wretchedness be equal to your goodness? For I am not the person who could well offer you honor. I have nothing that is suitable for you, and for consolation my soul clings to worthless nothings in the world. And so I am rejected and, alas, corrupt. I am not at all what I have long desired to be."
Our Lord said: "With good will and with holy desire you can make good whatever you want."
7. How a Person May Always Be United with God
For a person to be constantly united with God is heavenly bliss beyond all earthly pleasure. How is this supposed to happen to us? Our longing should constantly accompany all our actions, and we should constantly examine all our actions in Christian faith and from God's point of view, and never be useless. Thus we praise God with all our works for all the works he ever performed on earth for love of us. Then we are united with him in his works on earth with celestial love. After this we shall be spiritually illumined. Then we praise our Lord God with all the gifts that he ever gave us: our body and possessions, friends and relatives, and all the earthly joy that we could desire. In so doing we thank God for all his generous gifts that he ever gave us on earth for body and soul. Then we are united with God in the love of receiving and in humble gratitude. We should thereby press all God's gifts to our heart. Then our heart becomes full of love, our senses are opened, and our soul so resplendent that we look into divine knowledge like someone who sees his own countenance in a bright mirror. Thus can we know God's will in all our actions, so that we glorify God's will and love it whether it brings suffering or comfort; and we are happy about what happens to us, except for sin. This we should weep over and hate, for it is always cursed. Thereby we on earth become united with the saints in heaven because they are the happiest of all about the will of God in heaven.
I do not know how the enemy found out when God gave me this knowledge at night and I was united in it with great joy. He came to me and spoke to me in confidence because he wanted to trick me. I heard his voice with my fleshly ears, and I saw his form with spiritual eyes—black, filthy, and like a frightening human. But I was not afraid of him. This is why: Whenever God's grace is present in the soul and occupies the senses, the body cannot be afraid in his presence. But when the body is still occupied with useless activity—if he comes then, the body suffers such pain in his presence that I have never suffered that amount of pain in my life.
Then he said to me: "I dreamed at night that I was rich and had a lot of possessions."
He wanted me to think that this holy union of God with the soul was just a dream. The housewife of the body, the soul, said inwardly: "You are not truthful."
And he said: "Yes, and I shall exist as long as God lives."
And the soul said: "You certainly are smart. Tell me, what should I do?"
The devil went too far: "You should be happy and should make a show of this great event in your demeanor."
The soul: "Unfortunately, I am not so small that I can grasp through the eye of the needle all my enemies to the heavenly gates of my everlasting land."
The devil: "You are shielded all too well."
The soul: "In your words I recognize your falseness, doubt, empty glory, and arrogance. Even if a steel wall up to the clouds were around me, my heart would still never be free and safe from my enemies."
Then he stood there and trembled before me. Oh, how full of falseness that seemed to me to be! Then he tore out his hair and sprang away angrily.
8. How a Person Seeks God
When God chooses to withdraw from someone, that person seeks our Lord God and says:
"Lord, my suffering is deeper than the abyss.My heart's anguish extends outward wider than the world.My fear is larger than the mountains.My longing is higher than the stars.Nowhere in these things can I find you."
In this distress the soul noticed her Lover near her, resembling a fair young lad, so fair that it cannot be described. And yet she would have hidden herself. Then she falls at his feet and greets his wounds. So sweet are they that she can no longer feel any of her pain or anything of her age. And she thought: "Alas, how much you would like to look upon his countenance, but then you would have to abandon his wounds. And how much you would like to hear his words and wishes." Then she arises clothed and adorned in spotless propriety.
Then he says: "Welcome, my dearest love." In the sound of the words she knew that every soul that serves God in his favor is his dearest love.
Then he said: "I must temper you as to pleasure, both yours and mine." The pleasure is beyond describing.
He said: "Receive this crown of virgins." Then the crown went from him and came onto her head. It shone as though it were of pure gold. The crown was double and was also the crown of love.
Then our Lord said: "This crown shall be displayed before the whole army of heaven."
Then she asked: "Lord, are you going to receive my soul tomorrow after I have received your holy body?"
"No," he said, "you are to become richer still in suffering."
"Lord, what should I be doing here in this convent?"
"You should illumine and teach them and should remain with them in great honor."
Then she thought: "Ah, now you are here alone with our Lord."
As she thought this, she saw two angels standing next to her. They were as worthy of respect as secular princes are in comparison to poor people. Then she said: "How can I now hide?"
They said: "We shall bring you from suffering to suffering, from virtue to virtue, from knowledge to knowledge, from love to love."
That a sinful mouth should and must say all this is difficult for me; and yet, before God and because of obedience, I dare not omit it. May I keep a human sense of shame and fear of God all my days!
9. How the Loving Soul Praises Our Lord with All Creatures
The loving soul never has enough of praising. That is why she gathers within herself in her longing everything that God ever created and then calls out to heaven: "Lord, if it were possible that all these people were as perfect and as holy as your blessed mother, Mary, that still would not be enough for wretched me for praising you fully with your only begotten Son. Lord, can one ever praise you enough? No, and that makes me happy."
To this our Lord replied: "Those virgins who have long served me shall praise me."
10. This Happened at a Time When There Was Great Turmoil
I prayed to our Lord for distress caused by war and for the many sins of the world. And our Lord answered and said: "The stink of sins nauseates me from the abyss of earth to the heavens. If it were possible, they would drive me out. Sins once did drive me out; then I came in humility and served the world until my death. Now nothing like that can ever happen again. Now because of sin I must sometimes bring my justice into play."
"Dear Lord, what then should we poor wretches do?"
Our Lord said: "You should humble yourselves under the restless hand of God almighty and fear him in all your actions. I shall yet free my people from all distress; they are my friends. Prayer in common appeases my heart. I shall show how I am disposed. I hear with pleasure the prayers of religious people who mean it from the heart : Our help is in the name of the Lord. Praise the Lord all ye nations. And the Son is glorified. The kingdom of the world. My heart leapt up. Whom I saw. Glory be to the Father and the Son."
"Lord heavenly Father, accept your service and your praise from your downcast children and free your people from this present distress and release us all from all our bonds except from the bonds of love. May they never be taken from us!"
11. How Our Lord Was Seen Looking Like a Worker
Our Lord showed me an allegory that he realized in me and still does. I saw a poor man get up from the ground. He was clothed in poor linen cloth like a worker. In his hands he had a carrying frame. On it lay a burden similar to the earth. I said: "My good man, what are you carrying?"
"I am carrying," he said, "your sufferings. Turn your will toward suffering; lift, and carry."
And the person said: "Lord, I am so poor that I do not have anything."
Our Lord said: "This is what I taught my disciples when I said: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' This is the case when a person can do nothing but would like to—that is spiritual poverty."
The person: "Lord, if it is you, turn your face toward me so that I can recognize you."
And our Lord said: "Recognize me within."
The soul: "Lord, if I were to see you in the midst of thousands, I would easily recognize you." My heart turned me within into a guard and I did not dare dispute with him that it was he.
So I said: "Dear Lord, this burden is too heavy."
And our Lord said: "I shall put it so close to me that you can carry it quite well. Follow me and see how I stood on the cross in the sight of my heavenly Father, and remain like that."
She said: "Lord, give me your blessing for it."
"I bless you without ceasing. There will be good help for your sufferings."
"Lord, help in this all those who willingly suffer torment for love of you."
12. How a Person Should Resist Vain Honor and Temptation
Whenever a person thinks well of himself, vain honor immediately leaps forth out of a corner of the human heart along with sinful desire and tries to sprawl out into the five senses. Then one should take oneself in hand and instantly beat one's breast in humble fear and bless oneself with the sign of the holy cross. Then it will immediately disappear, as if it had never existed. I in my wretchedness have often had this experience. One should do this same thing the minute evil thoughts come shooting in. They, too, disappear because of the power of the holy cross—if one is really sorry for them.
13. How Our Lord Was Seen Looking Like a Pilgrim
I, a poor unworthy person, shall disregard myself and tell what I have seen and heard in God. One night I saw our Lord standing there in the likeness of a pilgrim. He acted as if he had been trudging through all of Christendom. I fell at his feet and said: "My dear pilgrim, where are you coming from?"
He said: "I'm coming from Jerusalem." By that he meant Christianity. "And I have been driven from my shelter. The heathens do not acknowledge me, Jews do not want me, Christians attack me."
Then I prayed for Christianity. And our Lord made clear in fine detail his innocence regarding the great shame that he suffers from Christianity and explained how much good he has done for Christianity from the beginning and how he has labored for Christians and day after day still searches for ways to pour his grace into them.
Then our Lord again complained and said: "People drive me from the shelter of their heart with their selfishness, and when I find no room in them, I let them be in their selfishness. And when they die I judge them as I then find them to be."
Then I prayed for the convent: "Dear Lord, do not let them perish."
"I shall let no one perish." I shall put a light in their cemetery. In it they shall know themselves."
14. God's Choosing and Blessing
Another night, while I was at prayer and filled with longing and oblivious of myself, I became aware of our Lord. He was standing in the cemetery and had the whole community before him lined up according to when they had entered the convent. And our Lord said to them: "I have chosen you. If you choose me, I shall give you something."
Then I said: "Lord, what shall you give them?"
And he said: "I shall make of them on earth shining mirrors, so that all who see them shall recognize their life in them. And in heaven I shall make them radiant mirrors, so that all who look upon them will know that I have chosen them." Then our Lord stretched forth his hand and gave them his blessing saying: "I bless you with myself. Choose me in all your thoughts."
The ones who choose our Lord in all their thoughts are those blessed who praise our Lord fittingly.
Then I said: "They are going to ask me in what form and fashion I saw you."
And he said: "There are some among them who know me."
15. How a Person Who Loves Truth Should Pray
The person who loves truth likes to pray thus: "Ah, dear Lord, grant me and help me that I always seek you in a holy manner with all my five senses in all things, for I have chosen you in preference to all lords and all sovereigns as Bridegroom of my soul. Grant me also, Lord, that I might find you with all my longing, burning or spent though it be. I desire also that I may enjoy you with the flowing love of all your gifts. Give me, Lord, abundantly of your outflowing, that it fill my heart and mind so that pain, scorn, and bitterness may ever feel pleasant to me. Grant me that it may ever turn out that way for me through your favor, generous God; now grant me this. Help me also, Lord, to keep you by giving up completely my own will according to your desire. Then I would never, ever lose that love that never ceases to burn. Amen."
16. How a Person Spoke and Prayed
For a long time a person desired more than all gifts and suffering that God release her soul with a holy end. And our Lord said: "Wait for me."
The person said: "Dear Lord, I cannot control my longing; I would so dearly like to be with you."
Our Lord said: "I longed for you before the beginning of the world. I long for you and you long for me. Where two burning desires meet, there love is perfect."
17. How Knowledge Speaks to the Conscience
Knowledge said to the conscience: "No matter how much people despise you and inflict suffering upon you, nevertheless stand pure in God."
Conscience: "Lady Knowledge, you have put it very well. To feel comfortable in all kinds of trouble a person must have a humble heart."
Knowledge: "Lady Conscience, you have such a fine mirror in which you frequently examine yourself very meticulously. This must indeed be the living Son of God with all his works. It cannot be that you are so wise by some other means."
Conscience: "Lady Knowledge, when I examine myself in it, I experience both pleasure and pain. Pleasure, because God comes to me as a flowing goodness; pain, because I am so feeble in good works."
Knowledge: "Lady Conscience, in all things you prefer God's will and God's glory to your own benefit for body or soul. You are hell for the devil and heaven for God. To what can one compare you?"
Conscience: "Lady Knowledge, everything I have from God was given me on loan, so that with it I might gain praise and glory for him and for my own benefit as well. For if I am to pay him back, I shall certainly need his grace."
Knowledge: "Lady Conscience, you are very much fettered by the sins of the world, and the imperfections of religious people cause you much heartache. They have freedom of choice to go to heaven or to hell or to a long stay in purgatory. That is a heavy burden for you."
Conscience: "Lady Knowledge, I do not complain because I am met with dislike or because I have days of suffering. Rather, I feel sorrow for the sins of the world just as I do for my own. Suffering cleanses the body of sin and sanctifies the soul in God. This is why we joyfully stand ready for its command."
Knowledge: "Lady Conscience, the well-intentioned high and mighty in the world offer up to God their possessions and their alms. Religious people offer their flesh and blood in his service,
offering up to God, above all things, their own will in obedience. That weighs more, that has greater value."
Conscience: "Lady Knowledge, that is not enough. If we want to enjoy God in the heights, we must have the crown of humility and pure chastity, from birth or chosen later, and the pinnacle of love before all else."
This same delightful garment is worn by the Holy Trinity: the Father—the pinnacle of love; the Son—pure, humble chastity that he imparted to all his chosen ones; the Holy Spirit—on fire with love for us in all our good actions in true humility.
Knowledge: "Lady Conscience, steadfastness in good things: that is a love that toils. One cannot do without it if one wants to possess with God the highest honor, both here and in his eternal realm. Happy the person who here strives for it."
18. Suggestions for the Seven Hours for Honoring the Passion of Our Lord
At matins:
O great dew of the noble Godhead,
O tender blossom of the sweet maiden,
O beneficial fruit of the beautiful flowers,
O holy sacrifice of the heavenly Father,
O faithful pledge of redemption for the whole world, Lord Jesus Christ!
Receive your holy morning service as praise and honor
For your birth in exile, your lonely distress,
Your extreme suffering, your holy death,
Your glorious resurrection, your splendid ascension,
Your almighty glory as praise and honor.
Remember, dear Lord, that I must carry out your holy will to a good end in all I do and leave undone in my whole life to honor your Holy Trinity and for all those who are with me and in your name are your friends and mine.
At prime:
O wretched shame, O dreadful pain that killed your glorious body and sweet heart. Help me, dear Lord, that I can and shall make the best of being despised and of all my interior suffering in your love, as it may please you in your eternal glory.
At terce:
O heavy burden,
O wretched weight that you carried for us, Lord, under your cross! Carry us, Lord, through all our distress into eternal life.
At sext:
O bloody agony, O wounds so deep,
O pain so great.Let me, Lord, not perish
In all my painful anguish. Amen.
At none:
O most blessed anguish,
O most holy death,
O most delightful mirror of the heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ, fastened high on the cross by hand and foot!
I commend to you, Lord, my soul at my final end, that I may unceasingly and forever more be united with you just as your heavenly Father was and is. Grant this to me and to all who love you faithfully.
At vespers:
O bound flowing of love,
O faithful outpouring of the heart,
O glorious body that was killed there for my sake,
Dearest Lord Jesus Christ!
I beseech you that my five senses may and shall constantly rejoice in the bloody lance and in the wound of your heart, and that my lonely soul shall eternally rejoice therein, along with those for whom I shall and want to pray according to Christian practice. Amen.
At compline:
O holy depths of all humility,
O generous breadth of all gifts,
O glorious heights of all love,
In which you, Jesus Christ, pray to your heavenly Father!
Fulfill now, Lord, your prayers in us and sanctify us in truth, and give us the depths of all humility in which we may bow low beneath all creatures, since creatures resist someone who does not do as we do. Grant us, Lord, the breadth of all generosity, and that we, for love of you, fulfill willingly the rule of our order; and give us, Lord, the heights of your love that it may preserve us pure in you and uncorrupted by all earthly things. Amen.
Fulfill now, Lord, your prayers in us and sanctify us in truth, and give us the depths of all humility in which we may bow low beneath all creatures, since creatures resist someone who does not do as we do. Grant us, Lord, the breadth of all generosity, and that we, for love of you, fulfill willingly the rule of our order; and give us, Lord, the heights of your love that it may preserve us pure in you and uncorrupted by all earthly things. Amen.
19. The Greeting of Our Lady
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the everlasting joy of the Holy Trinity.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the beginning of all our happiness.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the companion of the holy angels hereand in God's kingdom.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the flower of the patriarchs.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the hope of the prophets.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the white lily of humble virgins.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, remember how the greeting came to you from
Gabriel's mouth and welcome my soul in my final hour, and bring
me with joy unspoiled out of this land of exile into the richly joyous
land of your dear Child where I may find rest.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the wisdom that taught the apostles.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the rose of the martyrs.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the protection of the confessors.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the helper of all widows.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the glory of all the saints of your dear
Child. Pray for me, that I might be sanctified with them with all my
works as far as it is possible for a lowly person like me, Mary, dear
Empress.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the refuge of sinners.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the mighty helper of those in despair.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the consoler of all Holy Christianity.
Hail, dear Lady Mary, you are the terror of all evil spirits, for they took
flight from you. Drive them from me, dear Lady, that they never,
ever find joy because of me, and may I ever be constant in yourservice.
20. How One Should Pray the Ave Maria to Our Lady
Hail, celestial Empress, Mother of God and the dear love of my heart. Receive, lady, your Ave Maria today as praise and honor for the blissful sight of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is wonderfully unconcealed and opened to the virginal maternal countenance, filled with all happiness. Ah, lady, remember all my longings and all my prayers, all my torments and all my distress and all my interior suffering, my honor, my soul, and my final end, when I leave this deplorable exile. I commend all of this ever and again to your motherly faithfulness and your maidenly honor and your womanly goodness and, in addition, I commend all those with me who are my friends and yours in the name of God almighty, my dearest Lady, Mary, noble Empress!
21. How One Should Examine One's Heart Before Going to God's Table
You want to have instruction from me, but I myself am uneducated. What you are searching for you can find a thousand times better in your books.
Whenever I, in my unworthiness, am about to go up and receive the body of our Lord, I examine the countenance of my soul in the mirror of my sins. There I see myself as I lived, as I am now living, and as I shall live in the future. In this mirror of my sins I see nothing but alas and woe.
Then I cast my face to the ground and weep plaintively, if I can, because eternal incomprehensible God is so kind that he wants to bow down to the filthy puddle of my heart. Then I call to mind that in justice it would be fairer if one were to drag my body to the gallows, like a thief who had stolen from his rightful lord the precious treasure of purity, which God gave me in holy baptism.
As long as we live,We shall ruefully lamentThat we have darkened ourselves.
For this, Lord, may you forgive us like a father.
If a person did not confess a sin and has no intention of confessing it, he should not receive God's body.
Now I shall approach true hope
And shall thank God
That I was ever noticed,
That it can actually happen to a wretched person like me
That I may receive the body of God.
Now I shall joyfully go to God's table
And I shall receive that same bloody Lamb
That willed to be on the cross,
Bloody, with his holy five wounds untended.
Fortunate for us that this ever happened.
In his holy passion I shall endure all my troubles.
We go joyfully, then, and with hearts filled with love
And with our souls open, and receive our Beloved,
The most Beloved of our hearts,
And lay him down in our soul
And sing his praise and honor
For that first hardship that he wished to endure
Then we bow down with our soul and our five senses
And thank our dear One and speak thus:
"Lord, I thank you for you.
I ask you now whether you might give me your jewels,
That I might live pure,
Free from all sin.
Lord, where shall I then put you?
I shall give you what I have.
I shall put you in my little bed.
This little bed is made completely of suffering.
When I ponder your suffering,
I forget about mine.
Lord, you shall lay my cheek down for me.
The pillow for my cheek is the pain I feel within
That I am not always ready
To receive your gifts of suffering.
That, Lord, is my whole lament.
The bed's blanket is my longing
That binds me.
That binds me.
Now if, Lord, you wish to soothe me,
Then do my will
And give me those sinners
Who are in the state of mortal sin.
Then you will bring joy to my soul.
Lord, what then do we want to say about love
As we are lying here so close together
In the bed of my suffering?
I have received you, Lord,
As you were when you arose from the dead.
Dear One to my heart, now console me
That I might remain pure with you always.
Great happiness shall follow.
Give me, Lord, the guilty souls from purgatory,
Though I do not have enough to pay the ransom.
I have just received you, Lord,
As you were when you ascended to heaven.
Now, Dearest, you should not be too easy on me.
I would like one day to die of love.
Lord, you can satisfy me no other way.
Give me, Lord, and take from me, Lord,
Everything you want,
And leave me just this wish
That I might die of love in love. Amen."
22. Praise of the Heavenly Father
It is well for me that I praise you, God, all ways for your noble goodness, that you have chosen me for your holy service. Sanctify my heart and mind, that I might receive all your gifts with holy inwardness and might remain with you in joy.
23. How One Should Thank the Son
It is well for me to thank you, imperial Son of God. I shall thank you always that you took me, in the world, out of the world. Your holy pain that you suffered for my sake is mine. All that I ever suffer I want to give to you in return. Even though this is an unequal bargain, it nevertheless makes my soul free. Keep me always in your favor, so that you may be praised forever. Jesus, my dearly Beloved, loosen my bonds; let me remain with you.
24. The Flood of Love
It is well for me to thank you, Holy Spirit. It is my belief that you are one Person of the Holy Trinity. Your sweet loving spring waters erase all the suffering of my heart, for they come forth softly out of the Holy Trinity. I beg you, Lord Holy Spirit, to protect me from all malice of the evil spirits with your divine love, so that they not find in me what they are seeking.
25. The Greeting for the Holy Trinity
I, lacking all virtues; I, fragile in my being; if I dare or can, then I shall greet the sublimity, the splendor, the bliss, the wisdom, the nobility, and the wondrous oneness of the Holy Trinity. Out of it has flowed forth immaculate all that was, that is, that ever shall be.
There I must one day enter again. How shall that happen?
I must crawl back, for I am sinful.
I must make amends with good works.
I must hurry with faithful diligence.
I must fly with the feathers of doves
these are virtues and goodness and a holy frame of mind.
I must soar in all things above myself.
When I am utterly spent, then I shall enter.
How I shall then be received
never has a human eye beheld such a sight;
never has a human ear heard it;
never could a human tongue describe it. Glory to you, Trinity!
26. How One Should Entreat God in Temptation
Lord Jesus Christ, I, a poor human being, implore you and desire your help, for my enemies are hunting me down. Lord God, I appeal to you, for they want to drive me from you. Lord, almighty Son of God, drive them away from me. Do not deliver me into their power, and keep me pure in you, for you have redeemed me with your suffering. Be now my help and my consolation. Lord, let me not perish, for you willingly died for my sake. Lord Jesus Christ, I seek your help. Awaken my soul from the sleep of my lethargy and illumine my senses from the darkness of my flesh.
Accompany me as I travel all my paths to you, as far as is humanly possible, without sin; for your eyes see my failings.
Mary, Mother of God, heavenly Empress!
May you be my helper in this,
For I am, alas, a sinner.
May I find favor
With your dear Child.
Mother of all chastity.
I lament all my interior suffering to you.
Hail Queen!
27. How a Religious Person Should Turn His Heart Away from the World
When a person in religious life sees his relatives and dearest friends fashionably dressed and decked out, he indeed needs to be armed with the Holy Spirit so that he not entertain the thought: you could have had such a life. From such a thought his heart becomes so dark and his mind so unreceptive to God and his mouth so sluggish for holy prayer and his soul so completely alienated from God that inwardly he resembles his relatives much more than he does a person in religious life.
If he wants to stand pure with God,
He must take up the struggle.
For his conscience is then clouded,
This beacon of the Holy Spirit.
For the conscience does not shine
Without the light of the Holy Spirit.
But when the beacon has been brightly lit,
Then is its splendor well recognized.
So it is, too, with a religious person
For whose heart the baubles of the world are a terror.
He preserves well his beacon unextinguished.
But if his heart is open to the world,
His beacon shatters
And the bitter north wind of craving the life of our kinfolk comes,
And they claim they are unaffected by the swamp
In which, alas, they are indeed sinking
And drowning in sin.
Thus is our beacon extinguished,
And yet we have nothing from worldly things.
After this comes the south wind,
The fraudulent allurements of the world,
That appear so beautiful
Yet contain much bitter suffering.
If this is what pleases us,
Eternal loss is ours.
We must indeed preserve ourselves,
For there is no sin so small
That it does not leave its eternal mark on the soul.
Why is this so?
Never was a sin repented so completely
That it would not have been better left undone.
And so we should be in constant fearIf we want to stand pure with God.
What we have given to God,
We can never take back without serious harm to ourselves;
For we were given to him in a fair deal.
The fish in water sees with great appetite the dead red bait
With which one wants to catch it.
But it does not see the hook.
So it is with the poison of the world.
She does not reveal its danger.
If you really want to reform,
Then look to your Bridegroom,
Lord of the whole world.
How fair he stood there
Richly clothed in bloody red,
Blackened, battered with scourges,
Bound to the pillar.
Receive this to heart
And you will be able to escape the deceits of the world.
If you would follow further with your holy thoughts,
Then look up and behold
How he stood there on the cross
Raised up on high before the eyes of the world,
Blood running down over him.
These garments shall be the darlings of your heart,
His kingly eyes brimming over with tears,
His sweet heart flooded with love.
Now harken to the voice
That teaches you of God's love
How the henchmen's hammers pounded
And pierced through his hands and feet on the cross.
Remember, too, the wound of the lance
That went through his side to the center of his heart,
And lament to him all your sins.
Thus shall you gain knowledge of God.
Look at the piercing crown
That he wore upon his head.
Kiss him before all else.
He gives you richly all delights.
Thank him for wishing to die out of his great love for you,
And let no one deceive you.
Then you can be a queen of his realm forever.
If this is what you choose,
You shall in joy overcome the sufferings of the whole world.
28. The Misfortunes of War
I was commanded with a holy seriousness to pray for the troubles now going on in Saxony and Thuringia. When I set about doing this with prayers of praise and petition, our dear Lord did not receive me and remained gravely silent. I had to endure this in loving patience for seventeen days. Then I said to our dear Lord: "O dear Lord, when is the fortunate hour to come that you want and that I must pray for because of this distress?"
Our Lord then revealed himself to me and said:
Here he received many piercing wounds for love of you.
"The bliss-filled dawn,
Rich in hues,Is the poor people
Who are now enduring many kinds of misfortune.
After this the eternal sun of everlasting light
Shall rise for them,
Which after this trial shall shine upon them in eternal joy.They shall be made holy thereby and as bright as the dazzling sun
As it rises in mid-morning and reaches its zenith.
Some are in the army out of need and fear. These I shall let be taken prisoner and die, so that they can come to me. Those who are the causes of the war are more horrible in themselves and more fierce in their deeds than if they dared to attack the images in my churches."
Some are in the army out of need and fear. These I shall let be taken prisoner and die, so that they can come to me. Those who are the causes of the war are more horrible in themselves and more fierce in their deeds than if they dared to attack the images in my churches."
Then I saw that eternal death followed those common foot soldiers who robbed and pillaged on the streets. If there were no war, they would be thieves and charlatans. But, as always, the bad people are making the blessed good. Thus must God show his love through suffering. He can win them no other way. Thus did God explain to me the advantages, and I know not when or where it shall finally end.
I know this for certain: that I shall gladden the hearts of God's friends. I know this for certain: that no matter what the friends of God suffer, God never forgets them, for he is their help and their consolation in all their troubles. We should fight on accordingly, and suffer willingly in joy. Then we shall sparkle and shine in the sight of God.
29. A Teaching
If you want to turn your heart completely to God,
You should hold onto three things as a teaching:
Fearful in the face of sin,
Well-intentioned as to all virtues,
Constant in all good things.
Then shall you bring your life to a good end.
If you make yourself act thus,
You can indeed accomplish it with God's help.
You can indeed accomplish it with God's help.
Pray to God for this constantly
And you shall bear all your troubles lightly.
Confess purely and serve God diligently
And you shall be rich in joy.
30. A Prayer When Virgins Receive Their Crown
Receive, Lord, your brides, and approach them with the lilies of purechastity all their days.
Receive, Lord, your brides, and approach them with the roses of dili-gent work for a good end.
Receive, Lord, your brides, and approach them with the violets of pro-found humility and lead them to your bridal bed and, united insepa-rably with them, embrace them with all love forever. Amen.
31. A Lament
This is the lament of the loving soul,
The only one she cannot bear.
She must tell it to the friends of God
So that they may find love more enjoyable:
"Lovesick and weak in body,
The trials of suffering and the harshness of force,
This is what makes the way
To my dear Lord too long for me.
Lover, how can I do without you for so long?
Indeed, I am, alas, far too distant from you!
Lord, if you will not receive my complaint,
I must again take up my sorrowing
And wait and suffer both inwardly and outwardly.
You know full well, dear Lord,
How much I want to be with you."
Our Lord:
"When I come, I come in magnificence.
Never was there anguish so great
That I could not heal it completely.
You must continue to wait.
You must continue to wait.
I want to prepare you better
Before I bring you to my Father,
So that you please us all the more.
I still hear your plaint of love with pleasure."
Whenever our human understanding grows dark,
With the lament in our heart we awaken divine love.
32. How the Works of a Good Person Shine Forth in Relation to the Works of Our Lord
How the works of a good person shall light up and shine in heavenly honor these words make evident:
To the degree that we have been innocent here, God's holy innocenceshall light up and shine into our holy innocence.
To the degree that we perform good works here, God's holy toil shalllight up and shine into our holy toil.
To the degree that we possess inwardness here in intimacy with God,God's holy intimacy shall richly light up and send sparks into ourholy inwardness.
To the degree that we accept our suffering with gratitude here andbear it with patience, God's holy suffering shall light up and shineinto our suffering.
To the degree that we have diligently practiced all virtues here, God'sholy virtue shall light up and shine into our virtue with much glory.May this last forevermore.
To the degree that we here burn in love and shine in a holy life, God'slove shall burn in our soul and our body unceasingly forever, andnever be extinguished.
These counter-illuminations light up and shine forth from the eternal Godhead. We receive these good works from God's holy humanity and perform them through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus do our works and our life return to the Holy Trinity. Then it becomes manifest how we are doing here. To the degree that we lead a holy life in divine love here, we shall blissfully soar there in the heights, and to that degree shall the power of love be given us there as a reward, that we receive the power to carry out our whole will, that we are known by the saints as we have been.
Thereby shall we be their companions! Amen.
33. A Spiritual Potion
I am sick: I thirst longingly for the health potion that Jesus Christ himself drank. When he, God and man, came into the crib, the potion was ready at hand. He drank so much of it that he became so drunk with the fire of love that with all virtues he endured for us all his intense sufferings. He always bestowed virtue; his goodness never faltered. I long for a health potion.
This potion is suffering for love of God.
Suffering is bitter. And so we grind up a spice called "willingly suffer." A second spice is called "patience in suffering." It is also bitter. And so to counter it we grind up another spice called "holy intimacy," which turns patience sweet, as well as all our hard work. A third spice is "to persevere long in suffering," waiting for our eternal life and salvation. This is also very bitter. And so to counter this we grind up a spice called "with joy unflagging."
Ah, dear Lord, if you would give me this potion, I could live unflagging in suffering with joy. Then I would for a time forgo heaven. So intense is my longing for it. Lord, may you give this potion according to your very dear will, to me and to all those who desire it for love of you.
34. Spiritual Food
After a bitter potion one is certainly in need of tasty food. Rising desire and sinking humility and flowing love—these three maidens bring the soul up to heaven before God. And then she becomes aware of her Lover. She says: "Lord, I make my complaint to you that you are under attack by what is dearest to you on earth; namely, by Christians. Lord, I make my complaint to you that your friends are so seriously hampered by your enemies."
Our Lord: "If they have true goodness, they can transform all that they encounter, except for sin, in a marvelous manner into a valuable dissemination of the word of God." That is why suffering shouts the loudest of all ways of serving God: "Depart from me, for it is better for a person to be unconsoled in accordance with God's will than to be consoled in accordance with his own will." God's will is pure; our will is very much contaminated by the flesh. All who inwardly love intensely become outwardly calm, for all outward effort hampers the inward spirit. What the spirit then sings inwardly transcends every earthly voice.
Patience sings most sweetly of all above the angelic choirs, for angels have no patience since they experience no pain. We have this from the humanity of our Lord, but all honor as well by which we are honored by God on earth and shall also be elevated in heaven. Through the noble struggle of our Lord and through his holy suffering our Christian struggle and our suffering, accepted in good spirit, are ennobled and made holy in the same way that all waters have been made holy from the River Jordan, in which our dear Lord was baptized.
Ah, dear Lord, help us that our holy desire may never rest and our sinking humility may never rear up in arrogance. May the flowing fire of the holy love of God be here our purgatory, where all our sins shall be devoured.
35. The Seven Psalms
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I recite these holy seven psalms in praise and honor of all your holy suffering in which you wanted to die on the holy cross for my sake. Dearly Beloved, I ask you, when the time comes for you to carry out your command regarding me—that I am to die—may you then come to me as a trustworthy physician to his child; and give me then, Lord, a holy sickness in which I may prepare myself with the proper attitude and with true Christian faith.
"Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger."
I ask, dearest Lord, that you come to me as my very dearest friend in my distress, and bring me then, Lord, such sincere sorrow that all my sins shall be blotted out, so that they shall not sadden me after this life. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven."
I ask, dearest Lord, that you come as a trustworthy father confessor to his dear friend, and bring me then the true light, the gift of your Holy Spirit, that I might see and know myself in it, and lament all my sins from the heart with such holy hope that my mouth not become bound by all my sins and that I be found pure. And give me then, Lord, your very own body, that I may receive you, Dearest One, with as much love as ever a human heart can. May you remain sustenance for the journey of my lonely soul, so that I, Dearest One, remain your beloved companion with you for life eternal. Amen. "Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger."
I ask you, dear Lord, to come to me as a faithful brother to his dear sister, and bring me holy armor with which my soul may prepare herself, so that my enemies cannot harm me when they shall accuse me. May they feel shame for all their efforts directed against me. "Have mercy on me, O God."
I ask you, Lord, to come to me as a trusted father to his dear child, and watch over my end. When my sinful mouth can no longer speak, then speak to my soul inwardly that you might console her and protect her forever, so that I might feel joy and not sadness. For this I beg you, Lord, through your abundant goodness. Amen. "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you!"
I ask you, Lord, to send me your virgin mother. I cannot do without her. May she then fulfill what I have long desired and defend my poor soul from all her enemies. "Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord!"
I ask you, dear youthful Jesus, Child of the pure maiden, to come as my dearest bridegroom and make me rich, as is the custom for noble bridegrooms when they give their brides a handsome morning gift, and receive me on the arm of your love and cover me with the mantle of your long-cherished desire. Blessed am I forevermore when I am then released! If we were to think of this hour often, all our pride would sink to the ground, as he shall then reveal his glorious countenance to us. Then my soul shall have its favorite pastime. What I now painfully long for can never happen on earth as I wish it. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications."
36. A Spiritual Convent
I begged God to let me know, if it were his will, that I might stop writing. Why? Because I know that I am just as weak and unworthy, and more so, than I was thirty years ago when I was required to begin. Then our Lord showed me a little sack in his hand and said: "I still have healing herbs."
And I said: "Lord, I don't know these herbs at all."
He said: "You shall well recognize them when you see them. With them one shall refresh the sick, strengthen the healthy, awaken the dead, and sanctify the good."
After this I saw a spiritual convent that was constructed of virtues.
The abbess is sincere loveWho has much holy understanding
With which she diligently preserves the community in body and soul,
All for the glory of God.
She gives them many a holy teaching
Whatever God's will is.
Thereby she frees her own soul.
The lady chaplain of love is divine humility.
The lady chaplain of love is divine humility.
She is always subordinate to love.
Then pride must depart.
The prioress is the holy peace of God.
The prioress is the holy peace of God.
To her good will is given patience
To instruct the community in divine wisdom.
To whatever things she gives her attention
It is always done for God's glory.
The subprioress is amiability.
The subprioress is amiability.
She it is who gathers up faults and disposes of them with kindness.
Whenever one does something wrong,
One should not carry it around inside for a long time.
One should not carry it around inside for a long time.
Thus does God increase a person's goodness.
The chapter should have four things about it:
Manifestation of holiness that is rooted in God's service.
Its calming efforts hurt the enemy and honor God.
This is cause for it to rejoice much.
It should guard against empty honor
And should be a help to honor for others.
If they serve diligently,
God shall reward them accordingly.
The choir mistress is hope.
The choir mistress is hope.
She fills one with holy humble devotion
So that the impotence of the heart rings in song so beautifully beforeGod
That God loves the notes
That sing in the heart.
Whoever sings along with her
Shall share her success
In celestial love.
The schoolmistress is wisdom
Who sedulously teaches the unlearned with even temper.
For this she shall be honored before good people.
That someone enjoys zealously teaching the helpless poor
Brings the convent holiness and honor.
The mistress of the cellar is an outflowing of helpful gifts.
Because she does this in divine joy
She gains from divine grace a holy heart and mind.
All who ask anything of her
Should be ever disciplined, frugal, and uncomplaining.
Then God's sweet gift shall flow into their hearts.
Those who are her helpers
Shall gain God's sweet gifts, just as she.
The mistress of the chamber is generosity
Who always enjoys doing good in measured amounts.
She gives what she has kindly.
For this she shall receive from God a special gift.
Those to whom she gives something thank God with holy fervor.
Those to whom she gives something thank God with holy fervor.
He finds his dwelling place in her heart,
As does a noble drink in a spotless cask.
The mistress of the sick is toiling mercy
Which ever hungers to be untiringly at the service of the sick
With help and with cleanliness,
With balm and with good cheer,
With solace and with friendliness.
God gives her recompense,
That she might ever serve gladly.
Whoever sends her help
Shall be treated the same way by God.
The portress is watchfulness
That always accomplishes with a holy will
Whatever is demanded of her.
Thus her efforts are not lost,
And she comes to God well prepared.
Whenever she wishes to pray,
God is with her in holy peace
To soothe the sufferings of her heart.
When she sometimes falls into difficulty,
Holy obedience, whom she joyfully serves,
Smooths it all over.
The mistress of discipline is holy custom.
It shall always burn like a candle
Inextinguishable in heavenly freedom.
Thus we easily endure all our interior sufferings
Until we achieve a holy end.
The provost is divine obedience, not sinful obedience.
The provost is divine obedience, not sinful obedience.
To him all virtues are subordinate.
Thus can the convent thrive in God.
Thus can the convent thrive in God.
Whoever enters this convent
Shall ever live in divine joy
Here and eternally.
Blessed are they who persevere in it!
37. The Eternal Feast of the Holy Trinity
Whoever in sincere love wishes to prepare himself for the eternal feast of the Holy Trinity has to begin it here. He should obey and serve the heavenly Father constantly in all things with holy fear and humble humility. He should obey and serve his Son in suffering and in patience, with voluntary poverty in holy toil. He should obey and serve the Holy Spirit in holy hope beyond all fear with a joyful heart and an ever-gentle disposition. Then one shall taste his goodness.
Pure loving virgins shall, moreover, follow the noble Youth, Jesus Christ, Child of the pure maiden, who is utterly filled with love, as he was at age eighteen. His Person is the most beloved of the virgins, and he is the most handsome of all. They follow him with bliss-filled tenderness into the blossoming meadow of their pure conscience. There the Youth breaks for them the flower of all virtues from which they fashion garlands that they shall wear to the eternal celebration.
When the fine meal has been enjoyed, which Jesus Christ himself shall serve, one shall look on at the most sublime dance of praise. There soul and body shall wear the garland of their virtues which they have practiced here with great holy devotion. And they shall follow the Lamb in untold bliss; from bliss to love, from love to joy, from joy to splendor, from splendor to power, from power to the highest heights before the eyes of the heavenly Father.
This is how he greets his only begotten Son and also his many pure brides who have accompanied him: "Ah, dear Son. What you are, I am. What they are fills me with joy. My dear brides, be joyful forever, rejoice in my eternal purity; let all pain and all suffering softly disappear. My holy angels shall serve you; my saints shall honor you; the mother of my Son's humanity shall be ready with praise for you because you are like her. Rejoice, dear brides, my Son shall embrace you warmly; my Godhead shall permeate you totally; my Holy Spirit shall lead you evermore, all according to your wish, to a delightful feast for your eyes. Could your success ever be greater? I myself shall love you. Those who are not pure virgins shall share and observe and enjoy this feast as far as possible."
After hearing and seeing this with the eyes of my soul in a short time, I was human dust and ashes as I had been before.
38. How a Person in Religious Life Should Daily Lament and Confess His Sins to God
I, a sinful human being, lament and confess to God all the sins of which I am guilty in God's eyes. I confess and lament all the good works that I did not perform. I confess and lament those sins I committed when I did not know what sin was. I confess and lament those much worse sins I committed knowingly and maliciously and actively and out of vanity.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am truly sorry for them; and give me, Lord, complete certainty that you have forgiven me for all of them. Otherwise, I can find no joy in living. Jesus, dearest Lover of mine, let me approach you in true sorrow and with deep love for you in my heart, and never let me grow cold, so that I constantly feel your intense love in my heart and in my soul and in my five senses and in all my members. Then I can never grow cold.
39. How the Devil Rages and Chases About,
Bites, and Gnaws
When a Loving Soul That Burns with Divine Love Departs This World
Blessed is the good person that he was ever born who follows God with all the virtues he can possibly attain. His soul will be free in love. At the end of life the holy angels come and receive the pure souls with immeasurable love into the bliss of heaven and lead them off from here and bring them with great praise to God.
The enemies from hell who came there will find all their efforts in vain. They had come there filled with hate and rage. When they then realized that they were not going to get their way at all, how they did rage about and chase around! How they did gnash and gnaw! How they did howl and whine! For they feared the horrible torments that they were going to receive from their masters because they had lost the soul.
Thus do they curse at each other:
"You wretch, it was your fault."
"You wretch, it was your fault."
"Shut up, mate. I never caught her in great impatience. When I assailed her with evil thoughts, sorrow was always her companion."
"That whispering to her confessors robs us of all our glory. There were a lot more like us to whom she was dearly entrusted. How can we now show up back at court?"
"Woe, master, what were you trying to prove by assigning this person to us? We couldn't discover any big sin in her."
"I often tempted her severely, and then she would start bawling. Me and my mates, we couldn't bring her down. With her weeping she drove me off. With her sighing she singed my hair and burned my claws. I just could never get near her."
"Her obedience was so great; never was it ever equaled. That is how she escaped us fair and square. This was our greatest disadvantage : All her good works burned inside with divine love, for she performed all her good works with good intentions."
And their master says: "Gentlemen, you have come here to court heavily incriminated. I entrusted her to you. The pain I shall impose upon you shall last forever. You shall not spend time among humans, as I would gladly do if I were granted the honor. But now you shall lie with me here in hell. That shall be your punishment. I shall send forth learned scholars to blind the understanding of good people. If we could destroy the great zeal they have for God, we would recover all our honor, the young would follow them, and our tribe would be increased. If only one soul could belong to me that so brightly burns with love of God, I would wear her as a crown and would reward myself for my tenacious efforts. Thus would I have pleasant recompense for my grief."
"Forget your presumptuous wishes. You desire something that you have never gotten and never will, come evil or torment. All the blessed Christians who love God in their interior suffering are so flooded with and immersed in love that they radiate holy virtues and are aflame with love in all their works. You well know it profits you not one whit that you tempt them so severely.
They simply wait until it turns into an occasion for praising God. No matter how much you plot trickery against them, they are always ready with praise."
The growling and shrieking, the biting and gnashing he did in his bonds are beyond description.
Lord God, we thank you; give us a holy end. This is one of the greatest joys that the blessed soul has, that she sees and knows that the enemies who have caused her so much pain fight among themselves and suffer their punishments in hell. In spite of it all, she has joyfully escaped them and shall wear the eternal crown because of the torment they inflicted on her.
40. Thus Does the Loving Soul Speak to Her Dear Lord
If all the world were mine,
And if it were pure gold,
And if I were to be here eternally, as I wished,
The noblest, fairest, and richest empress,
That would ever be worthless to me,
So great is my joy in seeing Jesus Christ, my dear Lord,
In his glory in heaven!
Consider what they suffer who must wait for him so long.
41. How a Dominican Father Was Seen
Forty years ago I knew a religious man. In those days religious people were without duplicity and aflame with love. He progressed in the spiritual life and in piety and clearly performed much holy work for our Lord. He has now departed from here. I prayed to our Lord for his soul, as Christians do, that God might forgive him if he were guilty of anything. Then I saw, first of all, a radiance. God had p repared it for him. But I did not see him in it and this saddened my soul.
Some time later, when I was again praying for him, I discovered him in a fiery cloud. He was asking that he be forgiven. So I spoke with all my might to our dear Lord: "Ah, dear Lord, grant me this, that I might repay evil with good."
He drew himself up in the cloud and said: "O Lord, how strong is your power, how right is your truth!"
And I said: "Well then, how are you doing now?"
He said: "You can see for yourself how I am doing."
"Why are you suffering these torments?"
The soul: "Those who falsely appeared to be holy made accusations to me against innocent people. I judged them accordingly and had a sinful opinion of them. That is why I suffer these torments. Ah, if I could still sigh!"
I was unable to help him in this matter. He had also harmed me a bit.
A third time I again prayed for him. Then he ascended in bliss. Our dear Lord went to meet him and said to him: "That your path after your death has been so long and so difficult is the result of malicious people. You followed me in a holy manner and served me loyally. You shall wear the crown of virgins, the crown of justice, and the crown of truth."
Then he ascended in radiance above eight choirs and touched the ninth. Then I saw him no longer. Had false liars not influenced him, he would have entered into eternal joy with no suffering. That he trusted them was his undoing.
42. The Drink of Honey
Lord God, bless your precious treasure with a holy end and open it so that it might be a cause for praising you in heaven and on earth.
And a voice said: "You shall keep your drink of honey.It lies hidden in a safe place.I shall open itSo that many might enjoy it."
43. Of Simple Love, How Wisdom Is Seen
Those who wish to know but have little love
Remain forever at the beginning of a good life.
And so we must ever be in constant fear
And so we must ever be in constant fear
How we are pleasing God in it.
Those who simply love and know very little
Are opened to great things.
Holy simplicity is the physician of all wisdom.
It causes the wise man to see himself for the foolish person he is.
When simplicity of heart dwells in the wisdom of the mind,
Much holiness results in a person's soul.
44. Five Sins and Five Virtues
Covetousness in poverty,
Falsity in truth,
Slowness to show mercy,
Sneering ridicule in public,
Neglect of order:
These five failings seriously infect the spiritual life.
Truth free of duplicity,
Manifest mutual love,
Fear in speech,
Hidden love for God in one's heart,
Open zeal for all good things:
These five things keep the spiritual life healthy.
45. Seven Things, Five of Which One Finds in Heaven and Two on Earth
Seven things I must say to God's honor: "Lord God, if it is possible, grant that I never forget them on earth." Five are found in heaven; two must remain here.
The first is: harm that is my fault because I have sinned and neglected to perform good works I could easily have done.
The second is: that I, Lord, wait for you with constancy, no matter when you want to come to me and in whatever manner you ordain a holy end for me.
The third: the fiery longing that I have for you.
The fourth: the burning love unextinguished in me that you cause.
The fifth: the first look of your sublime countenance upon me. Alas, that I was never able to experience this on earth as I desired. This is why my soul often sings, "Woe."
The sixth I scarcely dare to mention.
I might be struck dumb in mentioning it.
I never heard it named on earth.
This is the playful flood of love
That flows mysteriously from God into the soul
And through his power flows back again according to her ability.
What bliss there is then between them!
No one else knows
What activity goes on between them.
For each finds its part.
Whatever one has given out here
Will all be given back there.
This is God's heavenly love
That begins here so delicately
And goes on there boundlessly.
The seventh can hardly be touched with words.
The seventh can hardly be touched with words.
One can sense it through Christian faith
How great it is, how lofty, how vast, how blissful,
How glorious, how joyous,
How full of unending joys. Blessed is he who shall dwell there forever.
The happy sight full of all pleasure
And the holy enjoyment of one's wishes,
They are of many kinds
And go on endlessly without number,
Glorious yet measured.
For they spring forth from the living God.
The deliciously sweet desire,
Blissful, ravenous, full of love,
Flows ever forth lavishly from God.
And yet the soul keeps her sweet hunger
And lives on without care.
46. How the Soul Presents Herself in Spiritual Poverty
Here the soul presented herself in spiritual poverty and in eternal love to God and in restless longing to go to God. Thus does she speak: "The long waiting is coming to an end. In the future God and the soul shall be united, unseparated forever. Whenever I think about it, my heart feels intense joy. Ah, dear Lord, how still you have become. I thank you evermore that you have been avoiding me for so long a time. And so may you be praised eternally that your will is done and not mine. And now today I shall find consolation in your words that I heard in Christian faith, when you say: 'I love those who love me. We want to come to them, my Father and I, and want to make a dwelling place with them.' Blessed am I, dear Lord, because of your generous goodness, which makes you hold back nothing."
Then our Lord said: "When the time of redemption comes, when I shall give you heavenly gifts, then I shall act very quickly because my eternity is contained therein. I shall unfold and raise it high above the bloody earth. I can think of nothing I would like more."
Eternal love of God dwells in the soul. Transitory love of earthly things dwells in the flesh. The five senses have the power to determine which way they turn.
47. One Sin That Is Evil Beyond All Sins
I heard tell of a sin. I thank God that I never had anything to do with it. It seems to me, and is, evil beyond all sins. This is total unbelief. It enrages me in my whole soul and in my whole body and in all my five senses and in my whole heart. I thank Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, that it has never entered my heart. This sin did not arise among Christians. The arrogant fiend has duped simple people with it. They claim to be so holy that they shall enter into the eternal Godhead and rest next to the eternal holy humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though they think they are in a sublime state, they have really delivered themselves over to being eternally cursed; and yet they claim to be the holiest. They scoff at God's words written about the humanity of our Lord.
You, most needy of all humans, if you really had knowledge of the eternal Godhead, it would be impossible for you not to know the eternal humanity as well that hovers in the eternal Godhead. You would have to know the Holy Spirit as well, who illumines the heart of a Christian there and whose fragrance in the soul surpasses all sweetness and who instructs one's mind better than any learned professor, so that one then says in humility that one cannot be perfect in the sight of God.
48. How Love Was Seen with Her Maidens
In the night I spoke thus to our Lord: "Lord, I dwell in a land called exile, which is this world. For nothing in it can console me or cheer me except suffering." In this place I have a house. It is called full of pain. This is the house where my soul lies captive: my body. This house is old, small, and dark. One should take this in a spiritual sense.
In this house I have a bed called restlessness, for everything not connected with God causes me pain. In front of the bed I have a chair called discomfort. It causes me discomfort to see the sins of others of which I was never guilty. In front of the chair I have a table called vexation, because I so seldom find a spiritual way of life among religious people. On the table is a tablecloth that is clean. It is called poverty. It contains much holy goodness. If one were to use it properly, one would cherish it in one's heart. Love of riches is a thief of poverty. On the table a dish is served up to me called bitterness of sin. It should be called well-intentioned effort as well. The beverage is called scant praise, because, alas, the good works I perform are all too few.
This house looked dark inside. Then true love of God revealed itself to me. It was like a noble empress. The outline of her body was refined, white, and rosy in the blossom of youth. She was accompanied by a great number of virtues. They all resembled maidens. She put them at my disposal if I myself wanted them. For her part she would gladly put all of them at my service.
She was more splendidly crowned than with glittering gold. Her clothes were like green, light taffeta. When I gazed upon her properly, my dark house was all lit up so that I saw everything that was in it and that had ever happened there. When I looked at her, I recognized her easily, for I had also seen her when she was my dear companion. But now I shall not talk about this because this has all been put down in the book.
Then I said: "Ah, dearest of all ladies, you are more than a thousandfold above me, and yet you serve me with such great honors, as though I were more than an empress."
She replied: "When I found you with the pure intention of separating yourself from all earthly things, I didn't just want to be your lady. I also had to be your constant lady-in-waiting. Such is the pleasure I take in a pure heart that has freed itself from all earthly things through sincere love of God." By this she meant: No matter how many earthly things a person has, they must not be allowed to stick to a person's heart.
"Dear maiden, since you have served me for so long a time, it is only right that the feeble lady reward the maidservant honorably. As a reward I have given you everything I had and could achieve on earth."
She said: "I have gathered it all up; I shall return it to you with great honor."
"I don't know, lady, what else I can give you, unless you want my soul. That I shall be very happy to give you."
And she said: "That is what I have been longing to have from you for a long time. Now you have finally given her to me. Speak to my maidservants also, that they serve you diligently. Then I can remain with you in God's true love, which I myself am. God is love."
Then the soul speaks to the first maidservant who is sorrow: "Lady True Sorrow, come to me and bring me holy tears. They shall make me free of sin.
"Lady Humility, sit at my side and drive pride and vain honor away from me. When they see you near me, they are forced to flee from me.
"Dear Lady Gentleness, sit by me beneath my habit. Then friendliness will be at my disposal.
"O noble Obedience, I subordinate myself to you in all my actions. May you never leave me. Then in all my actions I shall retain divine truth free of lies, which well befits God's intimate friends.
"Dear Lady Mercy, be at my side when I minister to the sick, that I be hardworking, that I may well bear the cost, that I may serve them with my person and my resources.
"Ah, dear Lady Chastity, I commend my virginal garment to you, that it may ever be pure and clean; for my dear Bridegroom Jesus Christ is always at my side.
"Lady Patience, I have great strength in silence and suffering. You rob all my temptations of their power, so that they are not able to harm me. I want to have you toiling with me.
"Lady Sanctity, come here to me and kiss the mouth of my soul and dwell in the ground of my heart. Then I shall always remain healthy.
"Lady Hope, I ask you to bind all the wounds of my heart that love has inflicted upon me so that I may ever keep God's blessing, no matter what distress I am given.
"Ah, glorious, holy Christian Faith, you have always illumined the eye of my soul so that I well know where to turn in matters of Christian thought. I commend to you my works and my mind.
"O dear Lady Vigilance, do not sit, but rather stand always at my side. Then I shall remain free of evil.
"Lady Temperance, be with me always. Then I shall be ever ready for God's service.
"Lady Frugality, may you be my dear chambermaid. I shall love you so. You make my hard bed soft, my coarse food tasty. You give me power in poverty. This comes from God's goodness.
"Peace and Calm, I cannot do without you. May you walk with me on all my journeys. Those who talk much and whisper much seldom keep their honor. Those who boast—that can never be all to their advantage.
"Wisdom is always together with love and is the mistress of all maidens. She keeps whatever love gives. She makes useful whatever a person learns or reads.
"Chaste Modesty has special qualities about her. She is pleased to remain without praise in the presence of all people.
"Now I am well provided for as to ladies-in-waiting. But there are two more that I do not want to forget: Fear and Constancy. May the two of them be ever with me. Then all my servants shall be attentive to their duties.
"I thank you, dear Love of God, Lady Empress, that you have given them all to me as a help as I travel in exile on the road to heaven."
49. Concerning a Lay Brother
A lay brother of the Order of Preachers was struck dead by thunder. Prayers were said for his soul with the sincere wish that anything for which he had not done penance might be forgiven him. And his soul was shown to that person who was praying for him. He was fair in celestial bliss and in no way suffering. His soul gave the reasons why this was the case: "I was always humble in my heart, cautious in my thinking, and well-intentioned in my actions. That is why I experience no pain."
The soul: "Why then didn't you go immediately to heaven?"
He replied: "I had to receive divine knowledge and heavenly love here first. I didn't have these on earth."
"Why do you have that small blemish on your face?"
He said: "I used to frown at those who didn't do what I wanted. I never did penance for this."
"How can the blemish be removed?"
He said: "If I just had a sigh!"
But he could not get one from that person, for at that instant he was given it.
Then he was happy and said: "Now it is gone."
"Why are you wearing this crown? After all, you are not yet in heaven."
He said: "I had an unusual death. That is why God gave it to me."
50. The Visible Favor of God
O dear Lord Jesus Christ, who are one eternal God with the eternal Father, remember me! I thank you, Lord, for your visible favor with which you constantly touch me, which cuts through all my bones, all my veins, and all my flesh. Whenever I can repay you for it, Lord, with holy thankfulness, I am secure; otherwise, I am not. You can certainly consider your frail creature feeble, Lord, for your intention is good, even better than good. For many things are called good which are not as good as that which you do to me. But when you touch me with your most sublime sweetness that permeates my body and my soul utterly, then I fear that I can draw to myself all too much of your divine pleasure. For I am unworthy of it on earth. And so I pray to you at times more for other people than for myself, so that I might draw away from my pleasure out of love of God and Christian loyalty. Thereafter I fear the rearing up of pride, which cast the most exalted angel out of heaven. I also fear the serpent of vain honor that deceived Eve. I fear the betrayal that thrust Judas from God. If I am faithful to God, I shall persevere in all virtues, in all goodness, and in great vigilance with God along with our dear Lady, his virgin mother.
51. A Prayer Against Sins of Omission
I, the least, the weakest, the most unworthy among the whole human race, it is my desire and I beg you, Lord heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Holy Spirit, Lord Holy Trinity, that you might forgive me today all my sins of omission which I have committed in your holy service, and not just while seeking my advantage or out of necessity, but rather because of my sinful malice, which I could easily stop if I wanted to. Accept now, Lord, this tiny improvement that I now achieve with my will to the honor of your dear mother and of all the saints who are being honored today by Holy Christianity, and to praise and honor the blessedness of all God's saints through which, dear Lord, they have drawn near to you. Now help me, dear Lord, to such a change in my life that I may so become a companion of your saints on earth through a holy life that I might share their company in your kingdom before your glorious countenance along with all those who desire me to pray for them.
52. How the Loving Soul Bows Beneath the Hand of God
I say to my five senses: "Bow beneath the almighty hand of God. Even the fiends of hell, no matter how arrogant they are in their fiery fetters, must bow and cower beneath the hard coercion of almighty God. Those in purgatory must in their guilt bow beneath their punishment until that final hour when they shall be found pure. Sinners on earth must bow under the burden of their guilt and be judged penitent by doing penance or be damned to eternal hell. Good people on earth must bow in sorrow to do penance all their days. The chosen pure who love God in utter faithfulness are much oppressed and suffer much holy distress. They bow and bend down beneath all pain and beneath all creatures with their ever-hovering love. Pride is rare among them.
"This is what I should keep in mind, and I shall and must drink from the same cup out of which my heavenly Father drank if I am to possess his kingdom. The kingdom of heaven bows with all the holy angels in delight-filled holiness. For their existence and life were given them by God as a gift. The saints bow and bend low before God in flowing love and in blissful longing with zealous devotion. Thus do they thank God for putting his gift so lovingly at their disposal in their distress on earth. This enabled them to endure all their anguish of heart. May I also experience this, for I, too, am in much distress for love of him."
53. The Prison of Religious People
I felt sorry in my heart for the distress of the community in which I live. In the night I spoke to our Lord in the solitude of my heart thus: "Lord, how do you like this prison?"
And our Lord said: "I am held captive in it."
In these words I understood the meaning of all the following words:
"I fasted in the desert with them.
I was tempted by the enemy with them.
I toiled all my days tirelessly and productively with them.
I was betrayed in hate with them.
I was sold in unbelief with them when they offered themselves to me inGod's service.
I was treacherously ambushed with them.
I was fiercely attacked with them.
I was taken captive in grasping envy with them.
I was bound in obedience with them.
I was scorned in great contempt with them.
I was beaten in great innocence with them; what they are forced to
hear against their will should not sadden them.
I was dragged before the court with them like a guilty thief; they
should call this to mind during chapter meetings and in confession.
I was scourged with them; when they scourge themselves, they should remember me.
I bore my cross with them; when they are downcast, they should remember me.
I was nailed to the cross with them; for this reason they should suffer
willingly and complain little about their troubles.
I entrusted my spirit with them to my Father at my death;
thus should they entrust themselves to me in all their trials.
I died with them a holy death; thus shall they become free of all their bonds.
I was buried with them in earthly stone; thus shall they be and remain pure of all earthly things.
I arose from the dead; thus shall they always rise out of their failings;
thus may they receive heavenly radiance into their souls.
I ascended into heaven by my divine power;
there they shall follow mein all the power of these words."
I truly hope that you constantly achieve this and know;
whoever has not yet done so, may the true God bring it about in him.
54. Four Qualities of Faith
That one love God in a holy manner and that one truly know Jesus Christ and that one faithfully follow his teaching to one's human end: I believe that in these four things one shall find eternal life. We believe as Christians, that he gave us his only begotten Son. Lord God, this is what we complain about to you. We believe it was the divine will that he sent us his only begotten Son into this world. We believe in the works and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ by which he redeemed us. We believe in the Holy Spirit who brought our happiness to completion in the Father and in the Son, and brings it even now to completion in all our good works.
How should we love God in a holy manner? We should love everything that the Holy Trinity commands us to love. God did not create sin. This is why he hates it in us. God loves goodness in us, which is he himself.
How should we know Jesus Christ? By his works we should know him and should love him more than ourselves.
How should we follow his teaching? Just as he taught us to and as his followers still teach us. As long as we do this, our blessedness shall increase.
55. How a Friend Writes to a Friend
Because you love God beyond your human power,
because you hold God dear with all the strength of your soul,
because you know God with all the wisdom of your soul,
and because you have received God's favor with much holy thankfulness,
I am sending you this letter.
The great outflow of divine love that never ceases flows on and on unceasingly and effortlessly in such a sweet course unfailingly that our tiny vessel becomes full and brims over. If we do not block it with self-will, our small vessel is always overflowing with God's favor.
Lord, you are full and you fill us as well with your favor. You are great and we are small. How are we to become like you? Lord, you have given us much and we should pass it on in turn. Though we are a small vessel, still you have made it full. One can pour a small full container into a larger container so often that the large container becomes full from the small container. The large container is the satisfaction that God receives from our works. We are, alas, so tiny that a single little word from God or from Holy Scripture fills us so completely that for the moment we can take in no more. Then we pour the gift back again into the large container that is God.
How are we to do this? In holy longing we should pour it over sinners that they be cleansed. If it again becomes full, we should then pour it over the imperfection of religious people that they fight on and become perfect and remain so. If it again becomes full, we should pour it over the distress of poor souls who are in torment in purgatory, that God in his goodness might relieve them of their many sufferings. If it again becomes full, we should then in holy mercy pour it over the distress of Holy Christianity that is afflicted with many sins. Our Lord God loved us first of all. He also toiled for us first and foremost. And he also suffered most of all on our behalf. We should give him the same in return if we want to be like him.
Thus did our Lord speak to a person: "Give me everything that is yours, and I shall give you everything that is mine." The recompense of love that we return to God is sweet indeed. The recompense of the toil is very often, alas, burdensome, for a person must sometimes outwardly do without what love has inwardly consumed. Someone asked me how difficult that is. I could not in the least make it clear through merely human concepts. Our Lord suffered much for us, even death. But, alas, a small suffering seems to us great indeed. Because of this I have to feel contempt even for myself and complain to God that I have so little virtue. Love makes suffering sweet, more than one can say. And if we wish to become like God, we have to overcome in many a conflict.
The mind of God and of the loving soul come together in the same manner as the sun and the air join together through the majestic energy of God in a sweet, vibrant mixture in which the sun overcomes the coldness and darkness of the air, so that one notices only that it is all one sun.
That comes from divine bliss.
May God give us all this love and preserve it for us! Amen.
56. How God Touches His Friends with Suffering
When one experiences sadness
That one has not sought
And in no way has been the cause of,
Our Lord says this about it:
"I have set it in motion. That is,
Just as my Father had me set in motion on earth,
So, too, those whom I draw to myself on earth
Suffer much pain because of it.
They should indeed know this:
The harder I draw them toward me,
The nearer they come to me.
When a person so overcomes himself
That he considers suffering and consolation of equal value,
Then I shall raise him up into sweetness,
And thus he shall have a taste of eternal life."
57. A Bit About Paradise
This was revealed and I saw how paradise was constituted. Of its breadth and length I could find no end. I first approached it between this world and the beginning of paradise. There I saw trees, foliage, and a little grass but no weeds. Some trees bore apples but most of them had only leaves with a refined fragrance. Swift waters flow through there and the wind blows from south to north. There in the waters earthly sweetness is found mixed with heavenly bliss. The breeze was sweeter than I can say. Neither beast nor bird was there, for God had entrusted it to man alone, that he might live there in comfort.
I saw there two men, Enoch and Elijah. Enoch was sitting and Elijah was lying on the ground in great fervor. Then I spoke to Enoch. I asked him whether they were living as humans do. He said: "We eat a bit from the apples and drink a little of the water to keep the body alive. But most important is God's power."
I asked him: "How did you get here?"
"I came here in such a manner that I don't know how I got here or what I was doing before sitting down here."
I asked him what his prayer was like.
"Faith and hope are the basis of our prayer."
I asked him how he felt, whether he found it at all irksome to be there.
He replied: "I am perfectly fine and suffer no discomfort."
"Do you have fears about the conflict that is yet to take place in the world?"
"God shall arm me with his strength so that I can hold my own in the struggle."
"Do you pray at all for Christianity?"
"I pray that God free them from sin and bring his kingdom to them."
Elijah sat up and his countenance was fair, fiery, the color of heaven. His hair resembled white wool. They were attired like poor men who seek their bread with a staff in their hand. I asked Elijah how he prayed for Christianity.
"I pray with mercy, humility, faithfulness and obedience."
"Do you pray for souls?"
"Yes, when I entreat, their suffering is decreased. When I ask, the suffering even disappears."
"Are they ever redeemed?"
"Yes, many of them."
"Why did God bring you here?"
"That we might be helpers of Christianity and of God until the last day."
I saw a twofold paradise. I have described the earthly part. The heavenly part is up above and covers the earthly part against all storms. In the highest part are those souls who have no need of purgatory but have not yet come into God's kingdom. They hover in bliss as does the air in the sun. Power and honor, reward and crown are not yet theirs until they enter God's kingdom.
When the whole earth passes away
And the earthly paradise no longer exists;
When God has held his judgment,
The heavenly paradise shall also pass away.
All that come to God
Shall dwell in a common house.
There shall be no more hospitals for the sick.
Whoever enters God's kingdom
Is free of all infirmity.
May Jesus Christ be praised
Who has given us his kingdom.
58. St. Gabriel
Holy Angel Gabriel, remember me.
I entrust the message of my longing to you.
Tell my dear Lord Jesus Christ
How sick with love for him I am.
If I am ever to recover,
He himself must be my physician.
Tell him in confidence
The wounds that he has inflicted upon me
I can no longer endure
Unsalved and unbandaged.
He has wounded me to death.
If he leaves me lying here untended,
I can never recover.
If all mountains were a balm for wounds
And all waters a health potion
And all blossoming trees a bandage to heal wounds,
They could not restore me to health.
He must lay himself onto the wounds of my soul.
Holy Angel Gabriel, remember me.I entrust this message of love to you.Whoever wants to hold God dear,This love letter shall awaken his senses,If he wishes to follow God.
59. How the Message Came Before God
In my spirit I heard the truth clearly;
My message has reached God.
The reply that is to come back to me
Is so great, so powerful, so profound,
So rich, so blissful, and so overwhelmingly radiant
That I am incapable of receiving it
The while I am a creature of the earth,
Unless I depart for a short while from this poor existence
In such a manner that I remain in it not at all.
But for now I must simply keep silent about this message.
I was able to receive no more of it
That one may speak of openly.
To the extent that a poor creature like me could,
I saw St. Gabriel in blissful glory
Standing in the heights of heaven before God.
He was clad in new garments ablaze with love.
They were his reward
For so ably and honorably bearing messages.
I saw the flames of love playing brightly about his face.
He was in the embrace of the Godhead
And permeated by it.
I could neither understand nor hear his words,
For I am still the likes of an earth-bound fool.
60. How the Child Was Seen
In the night when the Son of God was born, the Child was seen wrapped in poor pieces of cloth and tied with string. The Child lay alone on the hard straw in front of two animals. Then I spoke to the mother: "O dear Lady, how long shall your dear Child lie there alone like that? When will you take it on your lap?"
Our Lady replied that she never let the Child out of her sight. She held out her hand to him and said: "It shall lie on this straw for seven hours by day and by night. Its heavenly Father wants it that way."
I then realized that the heavenly Father was especially happy with this. I prayed to the Child for those who had commended themselves to me. Then a voice spoke out of the Child, though its mouth did not move at all: "If they want to keep me in their minds, I shall keep them in my favor. I have nothing to give them but myself and eternal life."
61. How One Should Prepare Oneself for God
If a bird remains on the ground for a long time, its wings deteriorate and its feathers become heavy. Then it raises itself aloft beating its feathers and drawing itself far upward until it catches the air. Then it takes flight yet higher. The longer it flies, the more it soars in exhilaration, scarcely returning to earth to refresh itself. Thus did the wings of love take from it earthly pleasure. In this same way we should prepare ourselves when we are to approach God. We should raise the feathers of our longing to God. We should elevate our virtue and our good works with love. If we do not give up on this, we shall become conscious of God.
Ah, Desiring Love,
You call out many a sweet word
To the ears of your dear Lord.
You rarely rest.
Now be glad and let yourself be heard.
He shall yet turn to you in joy.
Ah, Sinking Love,You suffer much sweet anguish.
Ah, Sinking Love,You suffer much sweet anguish.
Your loneliness is great.
How shall you win Jesus?
He is running much too far ahead of you.
Indeed, you chose him instead of sin
And have lost yourself in him.
And so you must suffer many a torment.
I shall restore myself in him.
Ah, Free Love,
Ah, Free Love,
You so strongly lure my heart and senses
That I would soon bolt from here.
Yet I cannot win you as I would.
And so I must still love you in anguish.
Ah, Powerful Love,
You are well protected.
You have good intentions in all things.
You carry one well past all troubles.
Your hope and your faith are great.
You shall overcome all your troubles.
Ah, Wise Love,You keep holy order
As you praise God and know him therein
And accomplish his will in all things.
If you do this faithfully,
You shall take your rest in God.
This shall be the cause of my rejoicing.
62. How the Maidens Serve Their Lady the Queen
This conversation was revealed to a person in her spirit as follows : I saw a path that went from the east where the sun rises to the west where it sets. All those who have good will toward God traveled this path. They all passed through the valley but traveled at different speeds. They journeyed as pilgrims who had left what was dear to them and wanted to seek what is best of all: God. Some turned back to the sensual pleasure they had left and did not complete the journey. Some rested in the grass of various pleasures and among the flowers of vanity. They remained a very long time on the journey. Thereafter, they shall experience the stern rod of bitter purgatory, even if they live free of mortal sin. Concerning this our Lord said: "Some people journey with good intentions in their holy works yet have about them such bad habits and are so repulsive in their vehemence that one can hardly put up with them. In the case of such people I withhold my judgment. They should seek mercy from me in humble fear. Then they would not lose their good works, and the bitterness in their hearts would disappear. Then they would be able to become themselves again. Whoever seeks my mercy cannot endure the darkness."
One person went alone along the path. This was because earthly pleasure was not able to give his soul consolation. Then the person saw two persons going along before him. One went on the left side of the path, the other on the right. He asked them who they were and what they were doing. The one on the left said: "I am God's justice. God's judgment was entrusted to me and is mine since Adam sinned in paradise. My judgment has long-lasting and serious consequences. Now this maiden has come along and stands beside me. She has become my equal. Her name is mercy. All who seek her and constantly call out to her overcome all their inner anguish. She is utterly perfect. She has taken from me what was rightfully mine. Whatever troubles a person has, if he then flees to me in penitence, she lays her soft hand on what is crooked. Then I stand there like an idiot and can do nothing about it. All of this came about through the true Son of God, who robbed me of my strictest justice with his mercy. She consoles the downcast; she heals wounds; she brings joy to all who come to her. She wrested great power from me. I am dear to her and she to me. We shall always be together until the last day. Then judgment is mine."
God's judgment and God's justice are not completely one and the same. Judgment portions out guilt for what comes before it unrepented. Justice is a holy life God has given to all his dear friends. He practiced it in his own life. For he was just in all he did. Hence he knows when we practice it. Thus can we become pure with him.
This mercy of God and the holy justice of his Son, to which he held during his life on earth, and the favor of the Holy Spirit of them both were followed on the path by a worthy throng. They all resembled virgins. When I saw them, I recognized all of them easily. And yet I made inquiries of them because I was interested in their replies. I asked who they were and what their duties were. They said: "We are noble and well-bred maidens and serve to God's praise his most beloved queen, whom God has chosen above all things; that is the human soul. We serve our lady the queen so that she might accomplish her Lord's will with all zeal and with her full attention in all things, always according to the Christian dispensation. Then she shall never be found guilty."
"Lady Wisdom, what service can you render together with your sister Discernment?"
"We teach my lady the queen to distinguish between evil and good in divine wisdom with the holy power of discernment, so that she can imagine how things are now and might be later. Thus she gains a practical advantage in all things."
"Lady Truth, what service can you render at court with your sister Sanctity?"
"I serve my Lord and my lady the queen in total devotion, that she might always be true to her Lord in all trials. Thus shall she ever remain secure and free and be ever inwardly holy, subject to her Lord in all things. This shall keep her outwardly worthy of praise."
"Lady Humility, what service can you render together with your sister Gentleness?"
"I teach my lady the queen to love from the heart the will of my Lord and all his gifts. Thus can she rest in holy gentleness, driving out with cheerfulness all her interior suffering."
"Lady Generosity, what service can you render together with your sister Obedience?"
"I teach my lady the queen, with her longing love of God, always in her prayers to be generous to the wicked and the good, to the living and the dead. The treasure is manifold and large; it all returns to her lap. If she carries out her Lord's will, she shall practice holy obedience in all her works. Thus shall she remain God's queen."
"Lady Strength, what service can you render together with your sister Constancy?"
"I teach my lady to be strong in all conflict. Thus can she remain in her kingdom being ever constant. Then she shall remain ever free before her Lord."
The number of these maidens is beyond human reckoning. For everything that a good person does in God, inwardly and outwardly, requires virtue.
Together on the path with these maidens there journeyed a great lord who resembled a very holy and mighty bishop. This was our Christian faith. He was fiery within and was completely aflame with divine love. Together with all these virtues he served this queen.
High overhead hovered a maiden resembling a golden eagle. She was surrounded by a heavenly radiance. She illumined and taught and put all these maidens in the proper order for serving their lady the queen. This love dwells in Christian faith; she rests in the palace of her lady the queen. It is her task to force love to love, God to the soul, and the soul to God. That is why she is in the first commandment.
63. God's Will Is a Sovereign Lord in All Being
Constant longing in the soul,
Constant days of pain in the body,
Constant anguish in the senses,
Constant hope in one's heart for no one but Jesus
All who have forsaken themselves in God
Know well what I am saying.
For two days and two nights I was so seriously ill that I had hope that my end had come. I thanked God as best I could for his favors. And I urged God to take me to him if that were his dearest will. "And yet, Lord, if your praise can at all be increased thereby, I shall gladly remain in this miserable body for love of you. Lord, I have so lived for many a day that, Lord, I never offered you such a difficult sacrifice as this. Lord, thy will be done and not mine. I do not have dominion over myself. You do in all things."
Then I saw high up in the distance how the saints were making preparations as though they were about to come to my end. I could not distinguish the individual persons among them. For
such a powerful light was shining in their midst that it seemed to me that I was one with them. This was high in the west where the sun sets. From the north came evil spirits who stood close by. They had to witness my judgment. They were all tangled together and tied up like whipped dogs. Choking at the collar, they tried to get at me. I was not afraid of them. I was glad. I realized that their presence would have to bring honor to God because God has relieved his friends of all harassment from them and they, in their wickedness, return to hell.
In the midst of all this a change took place in my condition, so that I had to remain in this bitter, wretched life. I had been so secure and free, without fear or suffering. Woe, woe, woe! If only I could have remained in this death! If it were not for God's goodness, I would now be utterly disheartened. If I now had normal human strength and divine love, then I would really start serving God. I would try to bring things to a good end, just as I always wanted to and still do.
64. How God Serves Man
Thus does a beggar woman speak to God in her prayer:
"Lord, I thank you because in your love you have stripped me of all earthly riches and now clothe and feed me from the resources belonging to others. For everything that clings to me in possessiveness, causing pleasure in my heart, has to become completely alien to me.
"Lord, I thank you for taking from me my eyesight and for now serving me with the eyes of others.
"Lord, I thank you for taking from me the use of my hands and for now serving me with the hands of others.
"Lord, I thank you for taking from me the strength of my heart and for now serving me with the hearts of others.
"Lord, on their behalf, I beg you to reward them on earth with your divine love, that they might entreat you and serve you with all virtues until they achieve a holy end."
All who for love of God leave all things with a pure heart—they are all archbeggars. On the last day they shall sit in judgment with Jesus our Redeemer.
"Lord, may you change in me and in all sinners everything I complain of to you.
"Lord, for your own honor may you grant me and all imperfect religious people everything I ask for.
"Lord, whatever I do, fail to do, or suffer, may praise of you never grow silent in my heart. Amen."
65. How God Adorns the Soul with Suffering
Whenever virgins in all ages are clothed according to the will of their Bridegroom, they need nothing more than their wedding dress. This means being racked with pain in sickness, in days of suffering, in temptation, and in much anguish of heart. We find much of this among sinful Christians. These are the wedding dresses of loving souls. But the everyday work clothes are fasting, keeping vigils, scourging oneself, going to confession, sighing, weeping, praying, fearing sin, severely curbing the senses and the body in God for love of God, sweet hoping and ceaseless loving desire and a constantly praying heart in all one's works. These are the work clothes of a good person. When we are sick, we wear wedding dresses; and when we are healthy, we wear work clothes.
This is how the tormented body speaks to the lonely soul: "When shall you soar with the feathers of your yearning to the blissful heights to Jesus, your eternal Love? Thank him there for me, lady, that, feeble and unworthy though I am, he nevertheless wanted to be mine when he came into this land of exile and took our humanity upon himself; and ask him to keep me innocent in his favor until I attain a holy end, when you, dearest Soul, turn away from me."
The soul: "Ah, dearest prison in which I have been bound, I thank you especially for being obedient to me. Though I was often unhappy because of you, you nevertheless came to my aid. On the last day all your troubles will be taken from you.
Then we shall no longer complain.
Then everything that God has done with us
Will suit us just fine,
If you will now only stand fastAnd keep hold of sweet hope."
Obedience is a holy bond. It binds the soul to God and the body to Jesus and the five senses to the Holy Spirit. The longer it binds, the more the soul loves. The less the body preserves itself, the fairer its works shine before God and before people of good will.
