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"I have appointed you all to labor in the vineyard of
obedience in different ways, and every man will
receive a price, according to the measure of his
love, and not according to the work he does, or the
length of time for which he works, that is to say,
that he who comes early will not have more than he
who comes late, as My Truth told you in the holy
gospel by the example of those who were standing idle
and were sent by the lord of the vineyard to labor;
for he gave as much to those who went at dawn, as to
those who went at prime or at tierce, and those who
went at sext, at none, and even at vespers, received
as much as the first: My Truth showing you in this
way that you are rewarded not according to time or
work, but according to the measure of your love.
"Many are placed in their childhood to work in the
vineyard; some enter later in life, and others in old
age; sometimes these latter labor with such fire of
love, seeing the shortness of the time, that they
rejoin those who entered in their childhood, because
they have advanced but slowly.
"By love of obedience, then, does the soul receive
her merit, filling the vessel of her heart in Me, the
Sea Pacific. There are many whose obedience is so
prompt, and has become, as it were, so incarnate in
them, that not only do they wish to see reason in
what is ordered them by their superior, but they
hardly wait until the word is out of his mouth, for
with the light of faith they understand his
intention. Wherefore the truly obedient man obeys
rather the intention than the word, judging that the
will of his superior is fixed in My will, and that
therefore his command comes from My dispensation, and
from My will, wherefore I say to you that he rather
obeys the intention than the word.
"He also obeys the word, having first spiritually
obeyed in affection his superior's will, seeing and
judging it by the light of faith to be Mine. This is
well shown in the lives of the fathers, where you
read of a religious, who at once obeyed in his
affection the command of his superior, commencing to
write the letter o, though he had not space to finish
it; wherefore to show how pleasing his prompt
obedience was to Me, My clemency gave him a proof by
writing the other half of the letter in gold. This
glorious virtue is so pleasing to Me, that to no
other have I given so many miraculous signs and
testimonies, for it proceeds from the height of
faith.
"In order to show how pleasing it is to Me, the
earth obeys this virtue, the animals obey it -- water
grows solid under the feet of the obedient man. And
as for the obedience of the earth, you remember
having read of that disciple who, being given a dry
stick by his abbot, and being ordered by obedience to
plant it in the earth and water it every day, did not
proceed to ask how could it possibly do any good,
but, without inquiring about possibilities, he
fulfilled his obedience in such virtue of faith that
the dry wood brought forth leaves and fruits, as a
sign that that soul had risen from the dryness of
disobedience, and, covered by the green leaves of
virtue, had brought forth the fruit of obedience,
wherefore the fruit of this tree was called by the
holy fathers the fruit of obedience.
"You will also find that animals obey the obedient
man; for a certain disciple, commanded by obedience,
through his purity and virtue caught a dragon and
brought it to his abbot, but the abbot, like a true
physician of the soul, in order that he might not be
tossed about by the wind of vainglory, and to prove
his patience, sent him away with harsh words, saying:
'Beast that you are, you have brought along another
beast with yourself.'
"And as to fire, you have read in the holy
scripture that many were placed in the fire, rather
than transgress My obedience, and, at My command were
not hurt by it. This was the case of the three
children, who remained happily in the furnace -- and
of many others of whom I could tell you. The water
bore up Maurus who had been sent by obedience to save
a drowning disciple; he did not think of himself, but
thought only with the light of faith of how to
fulfill the command of his superior, and so walked
upon the water as if he had been on dry land, and so
saved the disciple.
"In everything, if you open the eye of the
intellect, you will find shown forth the excellence
of this virtue. Everything else should be abandoned
for the sake of obedience. If you were lifted up in
such contemplation and union of mind with Me, that
your body was raised from the earth, and an obedience
were imposed on you (speaking generally, and not in a
particular case, which cannot give a law), you ought,
if possible, to force yourself to arise, to fulfill
the obedience imposed on you, though you should never
leave prayer, except for necessity, charity, or
obedience.
"I say this in order that you may see how prompt I
wish the obedience of My servants to be, and how
pleasing it is to Me. Everything that the obedient
man does is a source of merit to him. If he eats,
obedience is his food; if he sleeps, his dreams are
obedience; if he walks, if he remains still, if he
fasts, if he watches -- everything that he does is
obedience; if he serve his neighbor, it is obedience
that he serves.
"How is he guided in the choir, in the refectory,
or his cell? By obedience, with the light of the most
holy faith, with which light he has slain and cast
from him his humbled self-will, and abandoned himself
with self-hatred to the arms of his order and
superior. Reposing with obedience in the ship,
allowing himself to be guided by his superior, he has
navigated the tempestuous sea of this life, with calm
and serene mind and tranquillity of heart, because
obedience and faith have taken all darkness from him;
he remains strong and firm, having lost all weakness
and fear, having destroyed his own will, from which
comes all feebleness and disordinate fear. And what
is the food of this spouse obedience?
"She eats knowledge of self, and of Me, knowing
her own non-existence and sinfulness, and knowing
that I am He who is, thus eating and knowing My Truth
in the Incarnate Word. What does she drink? The
Blood, in which the Word has shown her, My Truth, and
the ineffable love which I have for her, and the
obedience imposed on Him by Me, His Eternal Father,
so she becomes inebriated with the love and obedience
of the Word, losing herself and her own opinions and
knowledge, and possessing Me by grace, tasting Me by
love, with the light of faith in holy obedience.
"The obedient man speaks words of peace all his
life, and at his death receives that which was
promised him at his death by his superior, that is to
say, eternal life, the vision of peace, and of
supreme and eternal tranquillity and rest, the
inestimable good which no one can value or
understand, for, being the infinite good, it cannot
be understood by anything smaller than itself, like a
vessel, which, dipped into the sea, does not
comprehend the whole sea, but only that quantity
which it contains. The sea alone contains itself.
"So I, the Sea Pacific, am He who alone can
comprehend and value Myself truly. And in My own
estimate and comprehension of Myself I rejoice, and
this joy, the good which I have in Myself, I share
with you, and with all, according to the measure of
each. I do not leave you empty, but fill you, giving
you perfect beatitude; each man comprehends and knows
My goodness in the measure in which it is given to
him.
"Thus, then, the obedient man, with the light of
faith in the truth burning in the furnace of charity,
anointed with humility, inebriated with the Blood, in
company with his sister patience, and with
self-contempt, fortitude, and enduring perseverance,
and all the other virtues (that is, with the fruit of
the virtues), receives his end from Me, his Creator."
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