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Eternal Wisdom.--Now lift up thy eyes and see where thou dost
belong. Thou dost belong to the Fatherland of the celestial
paradise. Thou art here as a stranger guest, a miserable pilgrim;
therefore, as a pilgrim hastens back to his home where his dear
friends expect him, and wait for him with great longing, so
shouldst thou desire to hasten back to thy fatherland, where all
will be glad to see thee, where all long so ardently for thy
joyous presence, that they may greet thee tenderly, and unite thee
to their blessed society for ever.
And didst thou but know how
they thirst after thee, how they desire that thou shouldst combat
devoutly in suffering, and behave chivalrously in all adversity,
even such as they have overcome, and how they now with great
sweetness remember the cruel years through which they once passed,
truly, all suffering would only be the easier to thee, for, the
more bitterly thou shalt have suffered, the more honourably wilt
thou be received.
Oh, then, how pleasant will honour be, what joy
will then pervade thy heart and mind when thy soul shall be so
honourably praised, commended, and extolled by Me before My Father
and all the heavenly host, because she has suffered so much, and
fought against and overcome so much in this scene of temporal
strife, in whose fullness of reward many a one who has never known
affliction will have no participation.
How brightly will not then
the crown shine that here below is gained with such bitterness!
How exquisitely beautiful will not the wounds and marks glitter,
which here below are received from My love! So welcome wilt thou
be made in thy fatherland, that the greatest stranger to thee of
all its countless hosts will love thee more ardently and faithfully
than any father or mother ever loved the child of their bosom in
this scene of time.
The Servant.--O Lord, through Thy goodness, dare I hope that Thou
wilt tell me yet more about my fatherland, so that I may long for
it all the more, and may suffer every affliction the more
cheerfully? Yes, my Lord, what manner of place is my fatherland?
Or what do people do there? Or are there very many people there?
Or do they really know so well what takes place with us on earth
as Thy words declare?
Eternal Wisdom.--Now, then, ascend thou on high with Me. I will
carry thee thither in spirit, and will give thee, after a rude
similitude, a distant glimpse into the future. Behold, above the
ninth heaven, which is incalculably more than a hundred thousand
times larger than the entire earth, there is another heaven which
is called Coelum Empyreum, the fiery heaven, so called, not from
its being of fire, but from its immeasurably transparent
brightness, which is immovable and unchangeable in its nature; and
this is the glorious court in which the heavenly hosts dwell,
where the morning star with the rest praises Me, and all the
children of God rejoice.
There stand, encompassed with
inconceivable light, the everlasting thrones, from which the evil
spirits were hurled, in which the elect are seated. See how the
delightful city shines with beaten gold, how it glitters with
costly jewels, inlaid with precious stones, transparent as
crystal, reflecting red roses, white lilies, and all living
flowers. Now, look on the beautiful
heavenly fields themselves. Lo! here all delights of summer, here
sunny meads of May, here the very valley of bliss, here the glad
moments are seen flitting from joy to joy; here harps and viols,
here singing, and leaping, and dancing, hand in hand for ever!
here the gratification of every desire, here pleasure without pain
in everlasting security!
Now, look how the countless multitude
drink to their hearts' desire at the living fountains of gushing
water; look how they feast their eyes on the pure, clear mirror of
the revealed Divinity, in which all things are made plain and
evident to them. Steal a little nearer, and mark how the sweet
queen of the celestial kingdom, whom thou lovest with so much
ardour, soars aloft in dignity and joy over the whole celestial
host, reclining tenderly on her beloved, encircled with
rose-flowers and lilies of the valley. See how her ravishing
beauty fills with delight and wonder all the heavenly choirs.
Oh,
now behold what will rejoice thy heart and soul, and see how the
mother of compassion has turned her compassionate eyes towards
thee and all sinners, and how powerfully she appeals to her
beloved Son, and intercedes with Him. Now, turn round with the
eyes of thy pure understanding, and behold also how the high
seraphim and the love-abounding souls of the seraphic choirs blaze
up perpetually in Me; how the bright company of the cherubim have
a bright infusion and effusion of My eternal inconceivable light,
how the high thrones and hosts, the lordships, powers, and
dominations, regularly fulfill My beautiful and eternal order in
the universality of nature.
Mark, too, how the third host of angelic spirits executes My high
messages and decrees in the particular parts of the world; and
see, how lovingly, how joyfully, and variously the multitude is
marshalled, and what a beautiful sight it is! Turn next thy glance
and see how My chosen disciples and best beloved friends sit in
repose and honour upon their awful judgment-seats, how the martyrs
glitter in their rose-coloured garments, the confessors shine in
their vernal beauty, how refulgent the virgins appear in their
angelic purity, how all the heavenly host overflows with divine
sweetness! Oh, what a company! Oh, what a joyous band!
Blessed, thrice blessed is he who was born to dwell where they
dwell! Lo, to this very fatherland I shall carry home from misery
and tribulation, arrayed in all the richness of her rich morning
gift, My beloved bride in My arms. I shall adorn her interiorly
with the beautiful garment of the eternal light of that glory
which will exalt her above all her natural powers. She will be
clothed exteriorly with the glorified body, which is seven times
brighter than the sun's light, swift, subtle, and to suffering,
impassive; then I shall put on her the crown of delight, and on
the crown a golden garland.
The Servant.--Gentle Lord, what is the morning gift, and what the
crown and golden garland?
Eternal Wisdom.--The morning gift is a clear vision of that which
here below thou dost merely believe in, an actual comprehending of
that which now thou hopest for, and a heartfelt pleasant enjoyment
of that which on earth thou lovest. As to the beautiful crown, it
is essential reward, but the blooming garland is accidental
reward.
The Servant.--Lord, what is that?
Eternal Wisdom.--Accidental reward consists in such particular
delight as souls obtain by particular and meritorious works
wherewith they have conquered here below, even as the souls of
great doctors, steadfast martyrs, and pure virgins.
But Essential
reward consists in the contemplative union of the soul with the
pure Divinity, for rest she never can till she be born above all
her powers and capacities, and introduced to the natural entity of
the Persons, and to the clear vision of their real essence. And in
the emanation of the splendour of Their essence she will find full
and perfect satisfaction and everlasting happiness; and the more
disengaged and abstracted the self-expression of such souls is,
the more free will be their soaring exaltation; and the more free
their exaltation, the deeper will be their penetration into the
vast wilderness and unfathomable abyss of the unknown Godhead,
wherein they are immersed, overflowed, and blended up,[5] so that
they desire to have no other will than God's will, and that they
become the very same that God is: in other words, that they be
made blessed by grace as He is by nature.
Raise then thy
countenance joyfully, forget for a while all thy tribulations,
comfort thy heart in this dark silent scene with the secret vision
which thou now enjoyest of the society of the blessed, and behold
how blooming and fair those faces appear which here on earth were
so often red with shame for My sake; lift up thy glad heart and
speak as follows: Where now is that bitter shame which so cruelly
pierced your pure hearts? Where now the bowed heads, the cast down
eyes? where the suppressed sorrow of heart, the deep sighs and
bitter tears? where the pale looks, the dire poverty, and manifold
infirmities?
Where is now the miserable voice thus speaking: "Alas, my Lord and
my God, how sad at heart I am!" Where are all those now who so
greatly oppressed and despised you? No more are heard such words
at these: "Ho, for the combat! ho, for the strife! be ready day
and night like one who fights against the heathen!" Where is now
what you were wont, in the presence of grace, to say a thousand
times interiorly: "Art thou prepared to combat steadily when
forsaken?"
No more is heard the sad and lamentable cry which you so often
uttered: "O God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" Rather do I hear the
sweet words lovingly sounding in your ears: "Come hither to Me, My
blessed ones, possess the everlasting kingdom prepared for you
from the beginning of the world." Where is now all the sorrow and
affliction which ye ever endured on earth?
O God, how swiftly is it all vanished like a dream as though ye
had never known tribulation! Of a truth, gentle Lord, how
inscrutable are Thy judgments to the world! Happy you, ye elect,
it is all over now with dwelling in nooks and corners, with
stealing away and hiding yourselves from the senseless follies of
other men. Oh, if all hearts were but one heart, they could not
sufficiently reflect on the great honour, the immeasurable
deserts, the praise which you will evermore possess.
O ye heavenly princes, O ye noble kings and emperors, O ye eternal
children of God, how full of joy are your countenances, how full
of gladness your hearts! What a loftiness of soul ye have! How
right cheerfully do your voices swell forth in this song: Praise
and thanksgiving, glory and benediction, grace and joy and
everlasting honour to Him, from world to world, from eternity to
eternity, from the very bottom of our hearts, to Him by whose
goodness we possess all these things for ever and ever! Amen! Lo,
here is our fatherland, here is heartfelt jubilation, here is
unfathomable everlasting life!
The Servant.--O wonder above all wonders! Ah, fathomless good,
what art Thou? Yes, my gentle Lord, my chosen One, how good it is
to be here! O my only Love, let us tarry here!
Eternal Wisdom.--It is not yet time to tarry here. Many a
sharp conflict hast thou still to endure. This vision has only
been shown to thee that thou mayest presently revert to it in all
thy sufferings, as thus thou canst never lose courage, and wilt
forget all thy sorrow; and further, as an answer to the complaint
of foolish men who say that I allow My friends to fare so hard.
See then what a difference there is between My friendship and the
friendship of this temporal state; and to speak according to the
truth, how much better than others My friends fare at My hands. I
will say nothing of the great trouble, labour, and many a severe
tribulation in which they swim and wade, night and day; only this,
that they are so blinded they do not understand it. It is indeed
My eternal economy that a mind not regulated should be a sharp
torment and heavy burden to itself.
My friends have bodily distress, but then they have peace of
heart. The friends of the world hunt after bodily comfort and
ease, but in their hearts, their souls and minds, they gain
nothing but trouble and vexation.
The Servant.--Those persons, Lord, are out of their right
senses, and are raving, who would needs compare Thy faithful
friendship and the world's friendship together.
That they should do so because Thou hast few friends who have no
suffering to complain of, is the fault of their great blindness. O
Lord, how very soft and gentle is Thy Fatherly rod! Blessed is he
on whom Thou sparest it not. Lord, I now plainly see that
tribulation does not proceed from Thy harshness, but rather from
Thy tender love. Let no one say for the future that Thou hast
forgotten Thy friends. Those hast Thou forgotten (for Thou hast
despaired of them), on whom Thou dost spare chastisement here
below. Lord, in all fairness those ought not to have joyous days,
nor pleasures, nor comfort here below, whom Thou dost intend to
shield above from eternal misery, and endow with everlasting
delight.
Grant, O Lord, that these two visions may never disappear from the
eyes of my heart, so that I never may lose Thy friendship.
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