Chapter 73
THE SIXTEENTH SHOWING
we can scarcely believe and trust His great love and the certainty of our preservation. That is why I say we can never stop mourning, nor weeping.
This "weeping" does not have its whole meaning in the pouring out of tears by our bodily eyes, but also leads to a greater spiritual understanding. For the natural desire of the soul is so great and so unmeasurable that if all the nobility that God ever made, in heaven and on earth, were given to us for our joy, solace and comfort and we did not see His fair expression of bliss, we should still never stop mourning, nor spiritually weeping (that is to say, longing painfully), until we should see in truth our Maker's fair expression of bliss.
And if we were experiencing all the pain the heart can think or tongue can tell, and we could at that same time see His blissful look, all this pain would not grieve us.
Thus does that blissful sight end all kinds of pain for loving, longing souls, and fulfill all kinds of joy and bliss. That He showed in the noble, marvelous words where He said: "I am that which is highest; I am that which is lowest. I am that which is all."
It is proper for us to have three kinds of knowing. The first is that we know our Lord God. The second is that we know ourselves — what we are by Him in nature and in grace. The third is that we recognize meekly what our self is, as regards our sin and our feebleness. For these three kinds of knowing, this entire revelation was made, as I understand it.
Chapter 73 These revelations were showed three ways; of two spiritual sicknesses which God wills that we amend, remembering His passion and also knowing that He is All-love; for He wills that we have certainty and delight in love, and not entertain unskillful depression on account of our past sins.
All this blessed teaching of our Lord God was showed in three ways, that is to say by bodily sight, by words formed in my understanding, and by spiritual insight.
THE REVELATION OF DIVINE LOVE
As far as the bodily sight is concerned, I have said what I saw as accurately as I can. As far as the words are concerned,
I have repeated them just as our Lord showed them to me.
And as far as the spiritual insight is concerned, I have said something of it but I can never fully express it. Therefore I am stirred to say more about this spiritual insight, as God will give me grace.
God showed two kinds of sickness we have. The first is impatience or sloth, because of which we bear our hard labor and our pain with depression. The second is despair, or dread full of doubt, which I shall speak of later.
He showed sin in general as including everything, but He showed none but these two in particular, and these two are those which give us the most bitter labor and trouble us most, according to what our Lord showed me. Of these He wills that we be cured. (I speak of such men and women who, for God's love, hate sin and dispose themselves to do God's will.)
Then, by our spiritual blindness and bodily heaviness, we are most inclined to these two. Therefore it is God's will that they be known, and then we should reject them as we do other sins.
For complete help against these two, our Lord most meekly showed the patience that He had in His hard passion, and also the joy and delight that He has, for love, on account of that passion. This He showed by example so that we would gladly, wisely and easily bear our pains, for that is greatly pleasing to Him and of endless profit to us. The reason why they cause us such bitter labor is our ignorance of love.
Though the Three Persons are all equal within the blessed Trinity itself, the soul required the greatest understanding of love. Yes, and He wills that in all things we keep our beholding and our rejoicing in love.
And we are most blind concerning this truth. For some of us believe that God is Almighty and may do everything, and that He is All-wisdom and can do everything. But believing that He is All-love and wills to do everything — there we fail.
And it is this ignorance that most hinders God's lovers, as I see it. For when we begin to hate sin and amend our lives by