The first is: to be just in the present life. This means: if I see my friend treating God's enemy and mine unjustly, then I should in loyalty reprove my friend and in charity help my enemy. The second is: to be merciful in distress. Explanation: if I see my friend and my enemy in equal distress, I should help both equally. The third is: to be faithful in public. Explanation: I should never scold my companion except for his unrepented sins. The fourth is: to be ready to help in secret. Explanation: that one search out and inquire where the lonely, sick, and prisoners are; and that one soothe them with words and bid them tell you their secret distress, so that you might be able to come to their aid. Woe to those who pass by those who are sick and alone without groans, tears, or any sign of compassion. How ill that befits those in religious life and, alas, drives them so far from God that they immediately lose sweet intimacy with God; yet they do not want to believe that God's judgment has struck. The fifth is: to be silent in distress. Explanation: that one not speak those reckless words that arise out of an arrogant and angry heart. If one so refrains, one shall find unfathomable favor with God. The sixth is: to be full of the truth. Explanation: that person is genuinely full of the truth whose heart, to the best of his knowledge, reproaches him with not the slightest wrongdoing and who is glad that God's eye sees into his heart, and who would not need to feel ashamed anywhere, even if everyone looked into his heart. The seventh is: to be the enemy of lies. Explanation: that we reproach lies in everyone and we do not cover them up in our own case.
These seven things we should practice and accomplish against the desires of our miserable flesh and against lust and the weakness of the human senses. We can accomplish them in no other way.
But the nobility of our soul gives us the first counsel for all good things with God's true sweetness; however, our perverted flesh in its baseness neglects many a godlike deed. Whenever we remember the blessed hour when God so skillfully created us out of the infinite depths of his heart, and out of his wisdom and out of his cheerful disposition, which pours out in all its goodness without surcease, and out of his sweet mouth-spiritually into our soul, with wisdom into our mind, with benefit to our body, then we must outwardly be ashamed of our evil habits and inwardly of our fickle heart. We should also, alas, be consciously ashamed that with so little benefit we bear the noble and numerous gifts of God, that they return such puny fruit to the place from which they flowed out.23 Good will brings all virtues to their rightful place, even when the body is incapable of the deeds.
23. St. Mary's Prayer, Gabriel's Light, the Child's Blanket, Where the Milk Came from, the Gifts for the Child, the Devils, and the Hunger Cloth
I saw a maiden at her prayer. Her body was bowed to the earth and her spirit had raised itself toward the eternal Godhead; for before the time when Jesus Christ opened heaven with the key of the holy cross, no human being was so holy that his spirit could or would ascend to the eternal heights by striving and soaring, by longing and embrace with the love of the Holy Trinity. This is why the spirit of the pure virgin was not able to enter heavenbecause Adam had shoved the bolt shut so fast. But God inclined himself at times so close to the earth that he consoled his friends and they perceived his will. And the prophets cried out and entreated our Lord to come down. But it was this virgin who drew our Lord down here with the sweet voice of her soul; and she said in her prayer when she was alone: "Lord God, I am happy that you intend to come in such a noble manner that a maiden shall be your mother. Lord, I want to serve in this with my chasteness and with all that I have from you."
Then the angel Gabriel strode down here in a heavenly light. The light surrounded the virgin all around, and the angel wore garments the likes of which I never discovered anywhere on earth. When she glimpsed the light with the eyes of the flesh, she arose and was frightened. Looking at the angel she discovered in his face the same chasteness that she had. She stood there with great composure, inclined her ear, and raised up her mind. Then the angel greeted her and announced God's will to her. His words were pleasing to her heart; her senses became full and her soul fiery. But still she asked for clarification. Her maidenly modesty and divine love moved her to do so. When she had been instructed, she opened her heart willingly with all her might. She knelt down and said: "I surrender myself to God's service according to your words."24
Then the whole Holy Trinity, with the power of the Godhead, the good will of its humanity, and the noble delicacy of the Holy Spirit, passed through her whole virginal body into the fiery soul of her devout will, placed itself in the open heart of her most pure flesh, and united itself with all that it found in her, so that her flesh became its flesh in such a manner that a perfect child grew in her body and she became a true mother of his flesh, while remaining an unblemished virgin. The longer she carried him, the more radiant, beautiful, and wise she became. Then she arose and said: "Lord Father, I praise you because you have made me great, and my family shall become great in heaven and on earth."25
When the time had come, when other women are sad and move about with difficulty, Mary was agile and cheerful. And yet her body was quite swollen because she had within it the fully developed Son of God. Mary did not know in advance when God wanted to be born of her until she saw him in her lap on the road on that night in Bethlehem-in a strange town where she herself was a poor homeless guest. The almighty Father with his wisdom, the eternal Son with his human truth, the Holy Spirit with his delicate sweetness passed through the intact wall of Mary's body with blissful ease and without any effort. It had happened just as quickly as when the sun in loving calm sends forth its light upon the sweet dew.
When Mary gazed at her fair child, she inclined her head to his face and said: "Welcome, my innocent Child and mighty Lord, all things are yours." At the conception of our Lord, while his mother was expecting, at his birth, and while he was on the lap of his mother before being placed in the crib, the power of the Holy Trinity and the blissful celestial fire in Mary were so intense that the spirit of hell, which travels about the whole world and knows everything that happens to all things, was not able to approach closely enough to the land and place where Mary was to learn of the miraculous way the Child had gotten there.
Mary took a coarse blanket from Joseph's saddle-one that the donkey had on his back under the saddle-and the upper part of her shift under which she had carried our Lord. The other part she tied around her body again. The delicate virgin wrapped the hardy Savior in this blanket and laid him in the crib. Then he immediately began to cry like a newborn child. As long as babies are unable to speak, they never cry except to express a real need. This is just what our Lord did when, despite his noble nature, he was put to bed in a cowshed because of base sin. He wept for all humankind, hiding all his happiness and all his power. The virgin was sad, and the Child was hungry and cold.
Then the mother had to nurse her Son. This was his Father's will and the Holy Spirit's pleasure. In maternal love, with maidenly bearing, the virgin bent down to her afflicted child and offered him her youthful breast. Now hear of the marvel! The bright blossoming of her fair eyes, the spiritual beauty of her maidenly countenance, the sweetness flowing from her pure heart, and the delightful sparkle of her noble soul: these four things drew together according to the will of the Father, the need of the Son, and the delight of the Holy Spirit in her maidenly breast. And sweet milk flowed forth from her pure heart without any pain. The Child suckled like a human child and his mother rejoiced in a holy manner. The angels sang to God a hymn of praise. The shepherds came and found for all to see our true pledge of redemption in a crib belonging to another.
Then I asked Mary where Joseph was. She said: "He has gone into town and is buying us some small fish and plain bread." Water is what they drank. Then I said: "Lady, you should be eating the very best bread and drinking the finest wine." "No," she said, "that is the food of rich people. We don't have any of that in this poor life."
When the strange star appeared, Satan, too, came to Bethlehem and cunnin
gly followed the three kings; and he gazed with much malice at the Child.
As they were offering the Child great honor with expensive gifts, Satan's thoughts became very confused and he said this to himself: "Poor wretch, what is happening to you now? This could well be the same child of whom the prophets have written, whom your master Lucifer so long and so often put in your charge-that you should come to his birth and make it impure. Then the whole world would remain subject to hell. This child was begotten and born without sin. Otherwise, it would not have been hidden from me. Now all my wiles have been lost. Now I will have to return to my master and lament to him my distress, for this child is going to be too much for us. If it is going to climb above us, how are we supposed to put up with that? Never was any child born who was given such honor."
When Lucifer heard this news, the archfiend sat there gnashing his teeth and shrieking, and the fire of his wrath lit up all of hell. He spoke: "If a human being is to be judge over us, we shall have to tremble evermore before all men who live according to his will. Go back again, Satan, and get the help of the princes of the land, the teachers of the Jews, and teach them how to kill him while he is still a child before he goes to school."
When Satan came to Herod, he discovered Lucifer's likeness in this evil man: hate, pride, greed. On these three paths the great devil proceeded into his bulky heart and spread out into all his five senses and made the king so murderous that he carried out the devil's will on innocent children, who are now glorious saints in heaven.
I asked Mary what she had done with the gifts26 since she did not buy a sacrificial lamb.27 She said: "Sacred flowing generosity, mercy to those in distress, and the love of voluntary poverty took this treasure from me. My sacrificial lamb was Jesus Christ, the Son of God almighty, who was born out of my heart and whom, according to the decree of his Father, all immaculate lambs signify who were ever brought for sacrifice in honor according to his Father's intention. He is my true sacrificial lamb; I was to have no other. The offerings that were brought to my Child I used to remember all those whom I found truly to be in need. These were poor orphans, and pure virgins who were thereby able to marry and not be stoned.2S Also, those who were alone and ill, and those far advanced in age: these were supposed to have the advantage of it, and God intended it for them. But thirty marks of gold were left over after I soothed the distress of these poor. These I was supposed to give for a hunger cloth to which the common people went for their prayer; for there were many symbols pictured on it."29
The cloth was half black and half white. On the north side in the temple the cloth was black. This signified the long-lasting darkness during the old law.30 Upon it were embroidered green images; for although the old law was darkened by many serious sins, yet there were some people during that time who did not shrivel up from their sins; rather, they were dark because of the legalistic observances. All the pictures showed the guilt and distress that so greatly moved mighty God to preserve Noah the just man and his household and let the whole world perish. On the south in the prayer house the cloth was splendidly white. This was a sign of the pure radiant chastity of St. Mary, through which we all should still overcome all the sufferings of our hearts. Upon it were embroidered pictures in gold, likenesses of the birds that Noah sent forth from the ark, which were recognized as signifying the faithless greedy ones who seek all their comfort here on earth. Also embroidered there was the pure dove with the green branch who, guiltless of this, came back again, who did not take the carrion flesh into its mouth. This signifies those who day after day approach God with new virtues and keep themselves steadfastly flying on course toward heaven, drawn by the Holy Spirit.
All the way down the middle, where the pieces came together, was a stripe of gold. Through the middle of this went a green border encrusted with precious stones. This signified the most precious wood that bore the body of our Lord when the gates of heaven were pierced through and beat upon with hammers, and the bolt of Adam flew off them. Although few recognized the meaning, the two ornaments were a glorious cross.31 Upon the cross was embroidered a white sacrificial lamb and it was adorned with precious stones and bright gold, as though it were about to catch fire. This was a prophetic symbol-and it then came to passwhen the innocent Lamb of God suffered a great death of love upon the lofty tree. This is why, at the passion of our Lord, the lifeless hunger cloth fell, together with the dead lamb, so that the living Lamb of God should ever be adored on that very spot. Mary sewed for her Child Jesus a coat with an adjustable seam, so that when the coat became too short or tight, she would widen and lengthen it. The coat was brownish and of coarsely fibered thread.
Joseph was a poor people's carpenter and earned many a penny for their needs. Mary sewed and spun to make clothes for the three of them. When they fled into Egypt, God's angel embraced them with a heavenly light, so that the devil did not know where the Child had gone off to until the time when it had grown to a youth thirty years old and was a perfect man. Then the devil became aware of him in the desert and thereafter on many occasions when he manifested his divinity. Then he turned to the Jewish teachers; they were inwardly very wicked but outwardly quite handsome in their bearing. He taught them how they might resistJesus with twisted words and not accept his teaching, but might stand firm in their Jewish law.
Then Satan went again to Lucifer and said: "Alas, Master, our honor shall fall! I have found on the sinful earth a man who is by himself stronger and wiser than were all of us before we fell. Even with all my wits I cannot make him entertain a sinful thought."
And Lucifer again bared his fangs like a dog and snapped with his hellish mouth and said: "You shall stir up all men against him. If he is the most exalted of all men, he will be able to escape all sin."
"Master, we can easily get out of this mess, for I can find a lot of people who would gladly kill the man."
He said: "No, I am afraid it might well turn out bad for us, for with the power of God on high he so easily frees people from infirmities of the flesh and from human death. If his body were taken from him, I fear even more that his soul would come to us and free those who are his. For that goes far beyond our power that he frees people on earth-contrary to nature-from all kinds of suffering and even death. Still, because of original sin he must go down to hell himself. But if he remains pure of all sin and if one takes his life from him though he is innocent, then he does not belong in hell, for never was an angel or a human being damned without being guilty. But if he is noble and free, then whatever he wills shall happen, no matter what we want. But you can see to it with your artful ways that the greatest crowd belongs to us, to hell. And you should constantly strive that people revile him to the limit and that they torture him with the most excruciating pain. If he then turns out to be simply human, he will fall into great despair and thus will remain ours."
Mary, our Lady, spoke to our Lord with her thoughts as often as she wanted, and his Godhead then answered her sometimes. This is why she bore the sufferings in her heart with such control. Mary Magdalene, however, was quite unprepared when she did not see our Lord with the eyes of the flesh.32 She was inconsolable and her heart was the while full of grief and distress. She burned intensely in simple love without lofty knowledge of heavenly things until the hour when the apostles received the Holy Spirit." Only then was her soul wounded by the Godhead. But our Lady was very calm when our Lord arose from death so gloriously. And yet of all humankind her heart was most deeply filled with divine knowledge.
24. The Six Kinds of Children of Our Lord God and the Virtues of St. Dominic and How God Has Honored His Order in Four Ways
An exalted prince has a son who is an advantage for him and brings much consolation to his people. The son is such a cause of praise for his father and such a gloriously dear son that the memory of the son and all his deeds engender the father's glory wherever the son turns. This exalted prince is our dear Lord, the heavenly Father. He has gotten seven capable sons and a very beautiful daughter by our mother, Ho
ly Christianity. His first Son, our dearest Brother-that was our Lord Jesus Christ. What honor the heavenly Father has from this Son and what consolation his people have from him are quite obvious. And how the heavenly Father united himself with this Son and how he has put him at his right hand and how much majesty and honor he has given him-that is boundless and yet fitting. The second son of the heavenly Father were the holy apostles, who preserved for us the precious treasure that was dug out of the lofty mountain34 that a tree bore, and our enemies pierced through it35 at five places and drove out and smashed all our heavenly treasure. The third son were the bold martyrs who drenched the path to heaven with their blood. The fourth son were the steadfast confessors who cleanse us and teach us. The fifth son were the pure virgins who have preserved their chastity out of love for God. They are able to move the heavenly Father on our behalf because they bear his likeness fully in themselves. He wants to have them for himself alone, and they shall wear their garlands in his embrace forever. Indeed, they shall not cover their heads in shame, as is the custom for earthly brides.
When our Lord so gloriously put these worthy children near him in such sublime hospitality that all their earthly suffering and practices had been forgotten, his common folk wandered so far off from the true faith and from sincere confession that the heavenly Father felt compassion and got then two more sons at one birth by our dear mother, Holy Christianity. And she nursed these two sons herself at her two breasts which are so full of sweet milk that never in the least can they be sucked dry. These breasts were and are the old law and the new law with which our mother, Holy Christianity, nurses all God's children.
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