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"This Bridge is built of stones, so that, if the rain
come, it may not impede the traveler. Do you know
what these stones are? They are the stones of true
and sincere virtues.
"These stones were not built into the walls before
the Passion of My Son, and therefore even those who
attempted to walk by the road of virtue were
prevented from arriving at their journey's end,
because Heaven was not yet unlocked with the key of
the Blood, and the rain of Justice did not let them
pass; but, after the stones were made, and built up
on the Body of My sweet Son, My Word, of whom I have
spoken to you, He, who was Himself the Bridge,
moistened the mortar for its building with His Blood.
That is, His Blood was united with the mortar of
divinity, and with the fortitude, and the fire of
love; and, by My power, these stones of the virtues
were built into a wall, upon Him as the foundation,
for there is no virtue which has not been proved in
Him, and from Him all virtues have their life.
"Wherefore no one can have the virtue given by a life
of grace, but from Him, that is, without following
the footsteps of His doctrine. He has built a wall of
the virtues, planting them as living stones, and
cementing them with His Blood, so that every believer
may walk speedily, and without any servile fear of
the rain of Divine justice, for he is sheltered by
the mercy which descended from Heaven in the
Incarnation of this My Son.
"How was Heaven opened? With the key of His Blood; so
you see that the Bridge is walled and roofed with
Mercy. His also is the Hostelry in the Garden of the
Holy Church, which keeps and ministers the Bread of
Life, and gives to drink of the Blood, so that My
creatures, journeying on their pilgrimage, may not,
through weariness, faint by the way; and for this
reason My love has ordained that the Blood and the
Body of My only-begotten Son, wholly God and wholly
man, may be ministered to you.
"The pilgrim, having passed the Bridge, arrives at
the door which is part of the Bridge, at which all
must enter, wherefore He says: 'I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, he who follows Me does not walk
in darkness, but in light.' And in another place My
Truth says, 'That no man can come to Me if not by
Him,' and so indeed it is. Therefore He says of
Himself that He is the Road, and this is the truth,
and I have already shown you that He is a Road in the
form of the Bridge. And He says that He is the Truth,
and so He is, because He is united with Me who am the
Truth, and he who follows Him, walks in the Truth,
and in Life, because he who follows this Truth
receives the life of grace, and cannot faint from
hunger, because the Truth has become your food, nor
fall in the darkness, because He is light without any
falsehood.
"And, with that Truth, He confounded and destroyed
the lie that the Devil told to Eve, with which he
broke up the road to Heaven, and the Truth brought
the pieces together again, and cemented them with His
Blood. Wherefore, those who follow this road are the
sons of the Truth, because they follow the Truth, and
pass through the door of Truth and find themselves
united to Me, who am the Door and the Road and at the
same time Infinite Peace.
"But he, who walks not on this road, goes under the
Bridge, in the river where there are no stones, only
water, and since there are no supports in the water,
no one can travel that way without drowning; thus
have come to pass the sins, and the condition of the
world.
"Wherefore, if the affection is not placed on the
stones, but is placed, with disordinate love, on
creatures, loving them, and being kept by them far
from Me, the soul drowns, for creatures are like
water that continually runs past, and man also passes
continually like the river, although it seems to him
that he stands still and the creatures that he loves
pass by, and yet he is passing himself continually to
the end of his journey -- death! And he would gladly
retain himself (that is his life, and the things that
he loves), but he does not succeed, either, through
death, by which he has to leave them, or through my
disposition, by which these created things are taken
from the sight of My creatures.
"Such as these follow a lie, walking on the road of
falsehood, and are sons of the Devil, who is the
Father of Lies; and, because they pass by the door of
falsehood, they receive eternal damnation. So then
you see, that I have shown you both Truth and
Falsehood, that is, My road which is Truth, and the
Devil's which is Falsehood."
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