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"Now that I have shown you where obedience is to be
found, and whence she comes, and who is her
companion, and who her foster-mother, I will continue
to speak of the obedient and of the disobedient
together, and of obedience in general, which is the
obedience of the precepts; and in particular, which
is that of the counsels.
"The whole of your faith is founded upon
obedience, for by it you prove your fidelity. You are
all in general by My truth to obey the commandments
of the law, the chief of which is to love Me above
everything, and your neighbor as yourself, and the
commandments are so bound up together, that you
cannot observe or transgress one without observing or
transgressing all.
"He who observes this principal commandment
observes all the others; he is faithful to Me and his
neighbor, for he loves Me and My creature, and is
therefore obedient, becoming subject to the
commandments of the law, and to creatures for My
sake, and with humble patience he endures every
labor, and even his neighbor's detraction of him.
This obedience is of such excellence that you all
derive grace from it, just as from disobedience you
all derive death.
"Wherefore it is not enough that it should be only
in word, and not practiced by you. I have already
told you that this word is the key which opens
heaven, which key My Son placed in the hands of His
vicar. This vicar placed it in the hands of everyone
who receives holy baptism, promising therein to
renounce the world and all its pomps and delights,
and to obey. So that each man has in his own person
that very same key which the Word had, and if a man
does not unlock in the light of faith, and with the
hand of love the gate of heaven by means of this key,
he never will enter there, in spite of its having
been opened by the Word; for though I created you
without yourselves, I will not save you without
yourselves.
"Wherefore you must take the key in your hand and
walk by the doctrine of My Word, and not remain
seated, that is to say, placing your love in finite
things, as do foolish men who follow the first man,
their first father, following his example, and
casting the key of obedience into the mud of
impurity, breaking it with the hammer of pride,
rusting it with self-love.
"It would have been entirely destroyed had not My
only-begotten Son, the Word, come and taken this key
of obedience in His hands and purified it in the fire
of divine love, having drawn it out of the mud, and
cleansed it with His blood, and straightened it with
the knife of justice, and hammered your iniquities
into shape on the anvil of His own body.
"So perfectly did He repair it that no matter how
much a man may have spoiled his key by his free-will,
by the self-same free-will, assisted by My grace, he
can repair it with the same instruments that were
used by My Word. Oh! blinder than the blind, for,
having spoiled the key of obedience, you do not think
of mending it! Do you think, forsooth, that the
disobedience which closed the door of Heaven will
open it? that the pride which fell can rise? Do you
think to be admitted to the marriage feast in foul
and disordered garments? Do you think that sitting
down and binding yourself with the chain of mortal
sin, you can walk? or that without a key you can open
the door?
"Do not imagine that you can, for it is a
fantastical delusion; you must be firm, you must
leave mortal sin by a holy confession, contrition of
heart, satisfaction, and purpose of amendment. Then
you will throw off that hideous and defiled garment
and, clothed in the shining nuptial robe, will
hasten, the key of obedience in your hand, to open
the door. But bind this key with the cord of
self-contempt, and hatred of yourself and of the
world, and fasten it to the love of pleasing Me, Your
creator, of which you should make a girdle to
yourself to bind your loins with it, for fear you
lose it.
"Know, My daughter, there are many who take up
this key of obedience, having seen by the light of
faith that in no other way can they escape eternal
damnation; but they hold it in their hand without
wearing this girdle, or fastening the key to it with
the cord of self-contempt, that is to say that they
are not perfectly clothed with My pleasure, but still
seek to please themselves; they do not wear the cord
of self-contempt, for they do not desire to be
despised, but rather take delight in the praise of
men.
"Such as these are apt to lose their key; for if
they suffer a little extra fatigue, or mental or
corporal tribulation, and if, as often happens, the
hand of holy desire loosens its grasp, they will lose
it. They can indeed find it again if they wish to
while they live, but if they do not wish they will
never find it, and what will prove to them, that they
have lost it? Impatience, for patience was united to
obedience, and their impatience proves that obedience
does not dwell in their soul.
"Oh! how sweet and glorious is this virtue, which
contains all the rest, for she is conceived and born
of charity, on her is founded the rock of the holy
faith. She is a queen whose consort will feel no
trouble, but only peace and quiet; the waves of the
stormy sea cannot hurt her, nor can any tempest reach
the interior of the soul in whom she dwells. Such a
one feels no hatred when injured, because he wishes
to obey the precept of forgiveness, he suffers not
when his appetites are not satisfied, because
obedience has ordered him to desire Me alone, who can
and will satisfy all his desires, if he strip himself
of worldly riches.
"And so in all things which would be too long to
relate, he who has chosen as spouse Queen Obedience,
the appointed key of heaven, finds peace and quiet.
Oh! blessed obedience! you voyage without fatigue,
and reach without danger the port of salvation, you
are conformed to My only-begotten Son, the Word, you
board the ship of the holy cross, forcing yourself to
endure, so as not to transgress the obedience of the
Word, nor abandon His doctrine, of which you make a
table when you eat the food of souls, dwelling in the
love of your neighbor, being anointed with true
humility, which saves you from coveting, contrary to
My will, his possessions, you walk erect, without
bending, for your heart is sincere and not false,
loving generously and truly My creatures, you are a
sunrise drawing after you the light of divine grace,
you are a sun which makes the earth, that is to say,
the organs of the soul, to germinate with the heat of
charity, all of which as well as those of the body
produce life-giving fruit for yourself and your
neighbor.
"You are even cheerful, for your face is never
wrinkled with impatience, but smooth and pleasant
with the happiness of patience, and even in its
fortitude you are great by your long endurance, so
long that it reaches from earth to heaven and unlocks
the celestial door. You are a hidden pearl, trampled
by the world, abasing yourself, submitting to all
creatures. Yet your kingdom is so great that no one
can rule you, for you have come out of the mortal
servitude of your own sensuality, which destroyed
your dignity, and having slain this enemy with hatred
and dislike of your own pleasure have re-obtained
your liberty." |