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The Supreme and Eternal Father, kindly turning the
eye of His mercy and clemency towards her, replied:
"Your holy desire and righteous request, oh! dearest
daughter, have a right to be heard, and inasmuch as I
am the Supreme Truth, I will keep My word, fulfilling
the promise which I made to you, and satisfying your
desire.
"And if you ask Me where obedience is to be found,
and what is the cause of its loss, and the sign of
its possession, I reply that you will find it in its
completeness in the sweet and amorous Word, My
only-begotten Son. So prompt in Him was this virtue,
that, in order to fulfill it, He hastened to the
shameful death of the Cross. What destroys obedience?
"Look at the first man and you will see the cause
which destroyed the obedience imposed on him by Me,
the Eternal Father. It was pride, which was produced
by self-love, and desire to please his companion.
This was the cause that deprived him of the
perfection of obedience, giving him instead
disobedience, depriving him of the life of grace, and
slaying his innocence, wherefore he fell into
impurity and great misery, and not only he, but the
whole human race, as I said to you.
"The sign that you have this virtue is patience,
and impatience the sign that you have it not, and you
will find that this is indeed so, when I speak to you
further concerning this virtue. But observe that
obedience may be kept in two ways, of which one is
more perfect than the other, not that they are on
that account separated, but united as I explained to
you of the precepts and counsels.
"The one way is the most perfect, the other is
also good and perfect; for no one at all can reach
eternal life if he be not obedient, for the door was
unlocked by the key of obedience, which had been
fastened by the disobedience of Adam. I, then, being
constrained by My infinite goodness, since I saw that
man whom I so much loved, did not return to Me, his
End, took the keys of obedience and placed them in
the hands of My sweet and amorous Word -- the Truth
-- and He becoming the porter of that door, opened
it, and no one can enter except by means of that door
and that Porter. Wherefore He said in the Holy Gospel
that 'no one could come to Me, the Father, if not by
Him.' When He returned to Me, rising to Heaven from
the conversation of men at the Ascension, He left you
this sweet key of obedience; for as you know He left
His vicar, the Christ, on earth, whom you are all
obliged to obey until death, and whoever is outside
His obedience is in a state of damnation, as I have
already told you in another place.
"Now I wish you to see and know this most
excellent virtue in that humble and immaculate Lamb,
and the source whence it proceeds. What caused the
great obedience of the Word? The love which He had
for My honor and your salvation. Whence proceeded
this love? From the clear vision with which His soul
saw the divine essence and the eternal Trinity, thus
always looking on Me, the eternal God.
"His fidelity obtained this vision most perfectly
for Him, which vision you imperfectly enjoy by the
light of holy faith. He was faithful to Me, His
eternal Father, and therefore hastened as one
enamored along the road of obedience, lit up with the
light of glory. And inasmuch as love cannot be alone,
but is accompanied by all the true and royal virtues,
because all the virtues draw their life from love, He
possessed them all, but in a different way from that
in which you do.
"Among the others he possessed patience, which is
the marrow of obedience, and a demonstrative sign,
whether a soul be in a state of grace and truly love
or not. Wherefore charity, the mother of patience,
has given her as a sister to obedience, and so
closely united them together that one cannot be lost
without the other. Either you have them both or you
have neither. This virtue has a nurse who feeds her,
that is, true humility; therefore a soul is obedient
in proportion to her humility, and humble in
proportion to her obedience.
"This humility is the foster-mother and nurse of
charity, and with the same milk she feeds the virtue
of obedience. Her raiment given her by this nurse is
self-contempt, and insult, desire to displease
herself, and to please Me. Where does she find this?
In sweet Christ Jesus, My only-begotten Son. For who
abased Himself more than He did! He was sated with
insults, jibes, and mockings. He caused pain to
Himself in His bodily life, in order to please Me.
And who was more patient than He? for His cry was
never heard in murmuring, but He patiently embraced
His injuries like one enamored, fulfilling the
obedience imposed on Him by Me, His Eternal Father.
"Wherefore in Him you will find obedience
perfectly accomplished. He left you this rule and
this doctrine, which gives you life, for it is the
straight way, having first observed them Himself. He
is the way, wherefore He said, 'He was the Way, the
Truth, and the Life.' For he who travels by that way,
travels in the light, and being enlightened cannot
stumble, or be caused to fall, without perceiving it.
For He has cast from Himself the darkness of
self-love, by which he fell into disobedience; for as
I spoke to you of a companion virtue proceeding from
obedience and humility, so I tell you that
disobedience comes from pride, which issues from
self-love depriving the soul of humility. The sister
given by self-love to disobedience is impatience, and
pride, her foster-mother, feeds her with the darkness
of infidelity, so she hastens along the way of
darkness, which leads her to eternal death.
"All this you should read in that glorious book,
where you find described this and every other
virtue." |