Chapter 36
THE THIRTEENTH SHOWING
I'm not saying that evil is full of honor, but that our Lord God's endurance of evil is full of honor. By it His goodness shall be known without end in His marvelous humility and mildness, by the working of mercy and grace.
Rightfulness is that quality which is so good that nothing can be better than it is, for God Himself is true rightfulness and all His works are done rightfully by His noble might, His high wisdom, and His lofty goodness, as they have been ordained from eternity. And as He has ordained them for the best, just so He works continuously, leading them to the same end. He is always completely pleased with Himself and with all His works.
Looking at this blessed harmony is very sweet to the soul that sees it by grace. All the souls that shall be saved in heaven without end are made rightful in the sight of God and by His own goodness. In this rightfulness we are endlessly and marvelously preserved, above all creatures.
Mercy is a work that comes from the goodness of God. In its working, it shall last as long as sin is allowed to pursue the rightful soul. When sin no longer has permission to pursue, the working of mercy shall cease and all shall be brought to rightfulness and be established in it without end.
By His permission we fall, in His blissful love with His might and His wisdom we are preserved, and by mercy and grace we are raised to many more joys.
Thus in rightfulness and mercy He wills to be known and loved now and forever, and the soul that, in grace, wisely sees this is well pleased with both and endlessly rejoices in them.
Chapter 36 Of another excellent deed that our Lord shall do, which, by grace, may be known in part here; how we shall delight in this same deed; and how God still does miracles.
Our Lord God showed that a deed shall be done and that He Himself shall do it. And the deed shall be glorious, marvelous and generous, and it will be done by Him. That He
THE REVELATION OF DIVINE LOVE
shall do it Himself is the loftiest joy the soul understands. I can do nothing except sin, but my sin will not prevent the working of His goodness.
And I saw that contemplating this truth is an uplifting, heavenly joy in an awe-filled soul that evermore, following its proper nature by grace, desires God's will.
This deed shall be begun here, and it shall be full of honor to God and abundantly profitable to His lovers on earth and forever. As we come to heaven we shall see it [the deed] in marvelous joy, and it shall last thus, in its working, until the last day. The glory and the bliss of it shall last in heaven before God and all His holy ones without end.
Thus was this deed seen and understood as our Lord intended. The reason He showed it is to make us delight in Him and all His works.
When I saw this showing continue, I understood that it was shown as a great thing that would happen in the future. God showed that He Himself would do this deed which would have the properties I mentioned before. He showed this most blissfully, intending that I should receive it wisely, faithfully and trustfully. But what this deed would be was kept secret from me.
In this I saw that He does not will that we dread to know the things He shows. He shows them because He wills that we know them, and by knowing them, that we love Him, delight in Him and endlessly rejoice in Him. Because of the great love He has for us, He shows us everything that is proper and profitable for us to know at the time. Because of His great goodness, even the things He wills to keep secret now He shows us in a hidden way, and He wills that we believe and understand of this showing that we shall see its reality in His endless bliss. Thus we ought to rejoice in Him both for all he shows and for all He keeps hidden. If we do this deliberately and meekly, we shall find great ease in the doing, and we shall have His endless thanks for it.
Here is the understanding of this word: the deed shall be done for me, that is for all men in general who shall be saved; it will be glorious, marvelous and generous, and God Him-
THE THIRTEENTH SHOWING
self shall do it; it will be the soul's loftiest joy to see the deed that God Himself shall do; and men will do absolutely nothing but sin. What our Lord God intends by that is this. It is as if He were saying, "Look and see! You have matter for humility here, and here you have matter for love. You have matter here by which you can know yourself and judge yourself as nothing, and you have matter here for delighting in Me. For My love, rejoice in Me, for of all the things you could do, this would please Me most."
As long as we are in this life, every time we, by our folly, turn ourselves to the contemplation of the damned, our Lord
God touches us tenderly and blissfully calls us, saying in our soul "Let all your love, My precious child, be directed toward
Me. I am enough for you. Delight in your Savior and your salvation." I am sure that the soul that experiences this by grace will see and feel that this is our Lord's working in us.
Though it is true that this deed is to be properly understood as referring to man in general, it does not exclude particular individuals, for what our good Lord wills to do by means of His poor creatures is now unknown to me.
But this deed and that great deed we spoke of before are not the same, but two different deeds. This deed shall be done sooner than the other — when we come to heaven. This deed may be known here, in part, by those to whom our Lord gives this knowledge, but the great deed I spoke of before shall be known neither in heaven nor on earth until it is done.
In addition, He gave me a special understanding of, and teaching about, the working of miracles, as follows: "It is known that I have done miracles here before, many and terrible, lofty and marvelous, glorious and great. Just as I have done, I do now continually, and so shall I do in time come."
It is known that before miracles come sorrow, anguish and tribulation. This is so that we will know our own feebleness and the bad situation we have fallen into by sin; it humbles us and makes us dread God and cry for help and grace.
Great miracles come after that, from the noble power, wisdom and goodness of God. They [miracles] are given in charity, to show us His strength and the joys of heaven (as far as that
THE REVELATION OF DIVINE LOVE
can be done in this transitory life), in order to strengthen our faith and to increase our hope. For this reason, it pleases Him to be known and adored in miracles. Then He indicated that He does not will that we be overly depressed by the sorrows and storms that come our way, because that has always been the condition before miracles come.
Chapter 37 God preserves His chosen ones in complete security; although they sin, there is a godly will in them that never assents to sin.
God brought to my mind that I should sin, but because of the delight I had in looking at Him, I did not readily pay attention to that showing. Most mercifully our Lord waited for me and gave me the grace to pay attention.
I took this showing to refer to me alone, but by all the gracious comfort that followed, as you can see, I was taught that it referred to all my fellow Christians in general, with nothing intended just for me. Even though our Lord showed me I should sin, "all" is to be understood for "me alone."
All this made me somewhat afraid, and our Lord answered my dread this way: "I keep you most securely." This word was said with more love and sureness of spiritual preservation than I can or may tell. For just as it was showed that I should sin, so was the comfort shown: security and preservation for all my fellow Christians.
What can make me love my fellow Christians more than to see in God that He loves all who shall be saved as if they were all one soul? For in every soul that shall be saved, there is a godly will that has never assented to sin and never shall. Just as there is a beastly will in the lower part of a man that cannot will any good, so there is a godly will in the higher part. This will is so good that it can never will evil but only and always good. That is why we are what He loves and endlessly do what delights Him.
Our Lord showed in the wholeness of love in which we stand in His sight that, indeed, He loves us as well now, while
THE THIRTEENTH SHOWING
we are here, as He shall when we are there, before His blessed face. It is the failure of love on our part that causes all our distressful labor.
Chapter 38 The sins of the chosen shall be transformed to joy and glory; examples of David, Peter and John of Beverley.
God also showed that sin will be no shame but an honor to man, for just as for every sin there is an answering pain in reality, so for every sin a bliss is given to the same soul. Just as different sins are punished by different pains according to their seriousness, so shall they be rewarded by different joys in heaven according to the pain and sorrow they have caused the soul on earth. For the soul that shall come to heaven is so precious to God, and the place itself is so glorious, that the goodness of God never allows the soul which will come there to sin without giving it a reward for suffering that sin.
The sin suffered is made known without end, and the soul is blissfully restored by exceeding glories.
In this sight my understanding was lifted up into heaven, and there God suggested to my mind David and others without number in the Old Law. In the New Law He brought to my mind first how Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, Thomas of India, Jude, Saint John of Beverley and others, also without number, are known in the Church on earth with their sins, and how these sins are no shame to them but have all been transformed to their glory. By this honor, our courteous Lord shows for them here, in part, something similar to what is done for them in fulness there, for there the token of sin is transformed into glory.
And for the sake of familiarity, our Lord showed Saint John of Beverley in comfort, most clearly, reminding me that he is a neighbor near to hand, one whom we know. And God called him Saint John of Beverley plainly, just as we do, and did so with a most glad, sweet expression, showing that he is a very high, blissful saint in heaven in God's sight.