For though my revelation was of goodness, and there was little mention of evil, yet I was not drawn by it from a single detail of the faith which Holy Church teaches us to believe.28 I saw the Passion of Christ in several different showings – in the first, in the second, in the fifth and in the eighth – as I have said before, and although I felt some of the sorrow of our Lady and of the true friends who saw him suffer, yet I did not see the Jews who did him to death specified individually, although I knew by my faith that they were cursed and damned for ever except for those who are converted through grace.29 And I was taught and instructed to observe every detail of the faith with no exceptions, in every respect as I had previously understood it, hoping that I was observing the faith with God’s mercy and grace, and begging and praying inwardly that I might continue in it until the end of my life.
And it is God’s will that we should pay attention to all the deeds he has done, for he wants us to know from them all that he will do, but we must always stop ourselves from considering what the great deed will be. And we must pray to be like our brothers and sisters who are saints in heaven and who only want what God wants, then all our joy will be in God and we shall be content both with what is hidden and with what is shown; for I saw our Lord’s purpose quite clearly: the more anxious we are to discover his secret knowledge about this or anything else, the further we shall be from knowing it.
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God shows the mysteries necessary to those who love him; and how much they please God who diligently receive the preaching of Holy Church.
Our Lord God showed two kinds of mysteries: one of them is this great mystery, with all the secret details which belong to it, and these mysteries he wants us to recognize as hidden until the time when he shows them to us clearly; the other kind are the mysteries which he wants to make open and known to us; for he wants us to recognize that it is his will that we know them. Some mysteries are hidden from us because God wants them to be hidden, but some mysteries are hidden from us because of our blindness and ignorance; and he feels great pity because of this, and therefore he himself wants to make them more open to us so that we may know him and love him and cling to him; for everything that is helpful for us to understand and to know – our Lord will generously show us what these things are, through the preaching and teaching of Holy Church.
God showed the very great pleasure that he takes in men and women who strongly and humbly and eagerly receive the preaching and teaching of Holy Church; for it is his Holy Church; he is the foundation, he is the substance, he is the teaching, he is the teacher, he is the goal, he is the prize which every naturally good soul works hard to win; and this is known and shall be known to every soul to whom the Holy Ghost makes it clear. And I truly expect that he will help all those who are seeking this, for they are seeking God.
All that I have now said, and more that I shall say afterwards, gives strength against sin; for in the third showing, when I saw that God does all that is done, I saw no sin, and then I saw that all is well. But when God gave me a revelation about sin, then he said, ‘All shall be well.’
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How God does all that is good and in his mercy patiently and nobly tolerates everything, and how this shall cease when sin is no longer suffered.
And when almighty God had shown his great goodness so fully and so abundantly, I requested to know whether a certain person whom I loved would continue to lead a good life, as I hoped that she had already begun to do through God’s grace. And in this personal request it seemed that I stood in my own way, for I was not answered immediately. And then I was answered in my reason as though by a friendly intermediary, ‘Take these showings generally, and consider the kindness of the Lord God as he gives them to you; for it honours God more to consider him in all things than in any particular thing.’ I assented, and with this I learned that it honours God more to have knowledge of everything in general than to take pleasure in any one thing in particular. And if I were to follow this teaching faithfully I should neither rejoice over any one special thing, nor be greatly distressed over any thing of any kind, for ‘All shall be well’; the fullness of joy is to see God in everything; for by the same power, wisdom and love with which he made all things, our good Lord is continually leading all things to the same end and he himself shall bring this about; and when the time comes we shall see it. And the foundation of this was shown in the first revelation and it was shown more openly in the third where it says, ‘I saw God in an instant.’
All that our Lord does is right and all that he endures30 is praise-worthy; and in these two are contained good and evil, for our Lord does everything which is good and he endures everything which is evil. I am not saying that any evil is to be praised, but I am saying that our Lord God’s willingness to endure evil is praiseworthy, and through this his goodness will be recognized for ever in his wonderful compassion and kindness, through the operation of mercy and grace. Righteousness is the thing which is so good that it cannot be better than it is; for God himself is true righteousness and all his deeds are rightly done as they have been ordained since before time began by his great power, his great wisdom, his great goodness. And just as he ordained what is for the best, in the same way he continues to work and lead everything to the same end; and he always takes great pleasure in himself and all his works. And the sight of this blessed accord is very sweet to the soul that sees it through grace.
All the souls which shall be saved everlastingly in heaven are made righteous in the sight of God, and through his own goodness; and in this righteousness we are everlastingly and marvellously preserved, above all other creatures. And mercy is a work which comes from the goodness of God, and it will go on operating as long as sin is allowed to pursue righteous souls; and when sin is no longer allowed to pursue, then the operation of mercy will cease; and then all shall be brought to righteousness and so remain for ever. And he allows us to fall; and in his blessed love we are preserved by his strength and wisdom; and through mercy and grace we are raised to a greater abundance of joys. And thus God wants to be known and loved now and for ever in his righteousness and in his mercy. And the soul that truly sees this through grace takes pleasure in both and rejoices without end.31
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Of another excellent deed our Lord will do, which through his gracious kindness may be partly revealed here, and how we should rejoice over it; and how God still performs miracles.
Our good Lord showed that a deed shall be done, and he himself shall do it; and though I do nothing but sin, my sin shall not prevent the working of his goodness. And I saw that to contemplate this is a sublime joy to a reverent soul who naturally by grace longs always for God’s purpose to be fulfilled. This deed shall begin here, and it will be to the glory of God and of immense profit to those on earth who love him; and whenever we come to heaven we shall see it with extraordinary joy, and this is how it will continue to operate until the last day; and the glory and the bliss of that deed will continue in heaven before God and all his holy ones for ever and ever. For this is how the deed was seen and understood according to our Lord’s intention, and he revealed this to make us rejoice in him and in all that he does. When I saw that his showing continued, I understood that it was shown for the sake of a great thing which was to come, a thing which God showed that he would do himself; a deed which had the properties already described; and this was very blessedly shown, with the intention that I should take it truly, faithfully and confidently. But what this deed would be, that remained a mystery to me.
And in this I saw that God does not want us to be afraid of knowing the things that he shows us; he shows them because he wants us to know them, and through this knowledge he wants us to love him and be happy and rejoice in him for ever. And because of his great love for us he shows us everything which it is valuable and useful for us to know in this world; and the things which he wants to remain a mystery for the time being, he nevertheless, because of his great kindness, shows us in a veiled way, and from this show
ing he wants us to believe and understand that we shall really see them in his everlasting bliss. So we ought to rejoice in him for all that he shows and all that he hides; and if we do this willingly and humbly we shall find great pleasure in it and he will look kindly on us for ever because of it.
And this is how that promise is to be understood: what will be done for me – that is, for mankind in general (that is to say, for all who shall be saved) – will be full of glory and wonder and generosity, and God himself will do it. And this will be the greatest of all possible joys, to see the deed that God himself will do even when man does nothing else but sin.
Then what our Lord God means is this: it is as if he said, ‘Behold and see. Here you have cause for patience; here you have cause for love; here you have cause to humble yourself; here you have cause to rejoice in me; and rejoice in me for my love, for of all things that is how you can give me most pleasure.’ And for as long as we live this earthly life, whenever in our folly we turn to consider the reprobate, our God touches us tenderly and blessedly calls us, saying in our soul, ‘Consider me alone my precious child, make me your object, I am enough for you, rejoice in your Saviour and your salvation.’ And I am certain that this is how our Lord works within us; the soul which through grace is made aware of this will see it and feel it. And even though this deed of our Lord’s truly relates to mankind in general, it still does not exclude the individual; as for what our good Lord will do for his poor creatures, it is now unknown to me. But this deed and the one mentioned before are not the same, but two separate ones. But this deed shall be done sooner, done as we come to heaven, and, to those to whom our Lord grants it, may be partly known here on earth; but the great deed mentioned before shall be known neither in heaven nor on earth until it is done.
And moreover, God gave special understanding and instruction about the operation of miracles, as follows: ‘It is known that I have performed miracles before now, many and various, high and marvellous, glorious and great; and as I have done, so I now do continually and shall do in time to come.’ It is known that sorrow and anguish and tribulation come before miracles; and that is so that we may recognize our own feebleness and the wickedness into which we have fallen through sin, making us humble and making us fear God, crying out for help and grace. Miracles come after that, they come from the great power, wisdom and goodness of God, showing his excellence and the joys of heaven as far as is possible in this transitory life, so as to strengthen our faith and increase our hope through love; because of this he chooses to be known and honoured through miracles. This then is what he intends: he does not want us to be brought too low by the storms and sorrows that befall us, for it has always been so before the coming of a miracle.
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God keeps those he has chosen in great safety even though they sin, for in them is a godly will that never assented to sin.
God reminded me that I would sin; and because of my pleasure in contemplating him, I was slow to pay attention to that showing. And our Lord very kindly waited and gave me the grace to pay attention. And I took this showing as applying particularly to myself, but by all the kind help which follows, as you will see, I was taught to apply it to all my fellow Christians in general and not to myself in particular; though our Lord showed me that I would sin, by me alone he meant everyone. And at this I began to feel a quiet fear, and to this our Lord answered, ‘I am keeping you very safe.’ This promise was made with more love and assurance and spiritual sustenance than I can possibly say, for just as it was shown that I would sin, the help was also shown: safety and protection for all my fellow Christians. What could make me love my fellow Christians more than to see in God that he loves all who shall be saved as though they were one soul? For in every soul that shall be saved there is a godly will which never consented to sin and never shall; just as there is an animal will in our lower nature which can have no good impulses, there is a godly will in our higher nature which is so good that it can never will evil but only good; and that is why God loves us and why we do what pleases him for ever. And this is what our Lord showed in the completeness of the love in which he holds us: yes, that he loves us as much now while we are here as he will do when we are there in his blessed presence. Failure of love on our part is the only cause of all our suffering.
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How the sins of the chosen shall be turned into joy and glory, with the examples of David, Peter and Saint John of Beverley.
God also showed that sin shall not be shameful to man, but his glory; for in the same way as God’s justice gives every sin a suitable punishment, so God’s love gives the same soul a joy for every sin. Just as various sins receive various punishments according to how serious they are, in the same way they will be rewarded with various joys in heaven according to how much pain and grief they caused the soul on earth, for the soul that will come to heaven is precious to God, and the place so full of glory that God’s goodness never allows any soul that is to come there to sin unless the sin is rewarded; and the sin is made famous for ever and blissfully restored to grace by surpassing glory; for in this revelation my understanding was lifted up into heaven; and then God brought cheeringly into my mind David and innumerable others of the old Jewish Law, and in the new Christian Law he made me think first of Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, Thomas of India and Saint John of Beverley,32 and also innumerable others: how they are famous in the church on earth with their sins, which are not shameful for them, but are all turned into glory. And therefore our kind Lord gives us a partial vision here on earth of their perfection in heaven; for there the badge of their sin is changed into glory.
And as for Saint John of Beverley, our Lord showed him very clearly to encourage us by his familiarity, and he reminded me that he is a very near neighbour and we know him well; and God referred to him as ‘Saint John of Beverley’ quite straightforwardly as we do, and in a very pleasant, affectionate way, showing that in heaven he is a great and blessed saint in the sight of God; and at the same time he reminded me that as a child and as a young man he was God’s much-loved servant, loving and fearing God greatly, and nevertheless God allowed him to fall, mercifully protecting him so that he did not perish or lose his chance; and afterwards God raised him into a state of infinitely more grace, and he lived in such contrition and humility that in heaven God has given him infinite joys, surpassing those he would have had if he had not fallen. And on earth God shows that this is true by the abundant miracles which are continually performed around his body. And this was all to make us glad and happy in love.
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Of the sharpness of sin and the goodness of contrition, and how our kind Lord does not want frequent falls to make us despair.
Sin is the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul can be struck with; it is a scourge which lashes men and women so hard and damages them so much in their own eyes that sometimes they think they only deserve to sink down into hell, until the touch of the Holy Ghost brings contrition and turns the bitterness into hopes of God’s mercy; and then they begin to heal their wounds and the soul begins to revive into the life of Holy Church. The Holy Ghost leads a man on to confession, and he earnestly shows his sins, nakedly and truly, with great sorrow and great shame that he has befouled the fair image of God. Then, in accordance with the basic teaching which the Church has received from the Holy Ghost, his confessor imposes a penance on him for each sin. And this is one way of humbling oneself which pleases God very much; and so does bodily sickness sent by God, and also sorrow and shame from without, and worldly scorn and censure with all the various injuries and temptations which will be flung at him both physically and spiritually.
Our Lord takes tender care of us when we feel that we are almost forsaken and cast away because of our sin and because we have deserved it. And because of the humility which we gain through this, we are raised by God’s grace right up high in his sight, with great contrition, with compassion and with a true longing for God. Then we are immediately freed from sin and suffering and taken
up into bliss and even made exalted saints. By contrition we are made pure, by compassion we are made ready and by true longing for God we are made worthy. As I understand it, these three are the means by which all souls come to heaven – that is to say, all that have been sinners on earth and are to be saved – for every soul needs to be healed by these medicines. Although a man has the scars of healed wounds, when he appears before God they do not deface but ennoble him.
And as on the one hand we are punished here with sorrow and suffering, on the other we shall be rewarded in heaven by the generous love of our Lord God almighty who does not want the toils and troubles of any that come there to be wasted in the least degree; for he considers sin to be the sorrow and suffering of those who love him and out of love he does not blame them. The reward we are going to receive will not be a small one, but great, splendid and glorious. And so shame will be turned into glory and greater joy; for our generous Lord does not want his servants to despair because they fall into sin often or grievously; our falling does not prevent him from loving us.
Peace and love always live in us, being and working, but we do not always live in peace and love; so God wants us to pay attention to this: he is the foundation of our whole life in love, and moreover he watches over us for ever and is a powerful defence against our enemies, who attack us fiercely and furiously; and our need is the greater because we give them the opportunity when we fall.
Revelations of Divine Love Page 14
