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Interrogation 1

I saw a throne in heaven on which sat the Lord Jesus Christ as Judge. At his feet sat the Virgin Mary. Surrounding the throne was a host of angels and a countless multitude of saints. A certain monk, a great scholar of theology, stood high up on a rung of a ladder that was fixed in the earth and whose top reached up to heaven. With an impatient and agitated bearing, as though full of wickedness and guile, he put questions to the Judge:

First question. ”O Judge, I ask you: You gave me a mouth. May I not say what I please?”
Second question. ”You gave me eyes. May I not look at what I like with them?”
Third question. ”You gave me ears. Why should I not listen to what I please with them?”
Fourth question. ”You gave me hands. Why should I not do what I want with them?”
Fifth question. ”You gave me feet. Why should I not walk where I wish with them?”
Christ's answer to the first question. Seated on the throne, the Judge, whose bearing was meek and gentle, answered him, saying: ”Friend, I gave you a mouth in order rationally to speak words beneficial to your soul and body as well as words for my glory.”
Answer to the second question. ”Second, I gave you eyes that you might see the evils you must flee and the healthful things you must preserve.”
Answer to the third question. ”Third, I gave you ears that you might hear that which pertains to truth and goodness.”
Answer to the fourth question. ”Fourth, I gave you hands that you might use them to do that which is necessary for the body but not harmful for the soul.”
Answer to the fifth question. ”Fifth, I gave you feet that you might leave behind the love of the world and go toward your soul's rest and love and toward me, your Creator and Redeemer.”

271. Interrogation 2

First question. Again the monk appeared on his ladder as before, saying: ”O Christ the Judge, you bore the most painful suffering by your own free will. Why then should I not possess honor and be proud in the world?”

Second question. ”You gave me temporal goods. Why then should I not own what I want?”
Third question. ”Why did you give me the limbs of my body, if I may not move and exercise them at will?”
Fourth question. ”Why did you give law and justice if not for seeking revenge?”
Fifth question. ”You let us have quiet and rest, but why did you arrange for us to experience weariness and tribulation?”
Answer to the first question. The Judge answered: ”Friend, human pride is so long endured as to exalt humility and show forth my goodness. And since pride was not created by me but invented by the devil, it must be shunned, because it leads to hell. But humility must be kept, because it leads to heaven. I, God, taught this by my word and example.”
Answer to the second question. ”I have given and conceded temporal goods to people in order that they might make rational use of them and exchange created goods for something uncreated, that is, for me, their Lord and Creator, by praising and honoring me for my good creation and by not living in accordance with the desires of the flesh.”
Answer to the third question. ”A person is given the limbs of the body in order that the soul might see in them a certain likeness of the virtues and so that they might be the soul's instruments for duty and virtue.”
Answer to the fourth question. ”Justice and law were indeed established by me so that they might be fulfilled with supernatural charity and compassion and so that godly unity and harmony might be cemented among humans.”
Answer to the fifth question. ”I gave people bodily rest and quiet in order to strengthen the weakness of the flesh and to endow the soul with fortitude and virtue. But because the flesh sometimes grows thoughtlessly insolent, one must cheerfully endure tribulations and all other such corrective measures.”

272. Interrogation 3

First question. Again the monk appeared on his ladder as before saying: ”O Judge, I ask you: Why did you give us the bodily senses, if we are not to move and live according to carnal feelings?”

Second question. ”And why did you give us the means of carnal sustenance, such as food and other delectable things, if we are not to live in order to sate the carnal appetite?”
Third question. ”Why did you give us free will, if we are not to follow our own wishes?”
Fourth question. ”Why did you give men and women the seed of intercourse and a sexual nature, if the seed is not to be spilled according to the carnal appetite?”
Fifth question. ”Why did you give us a heart and a will, if not to choose that which tastes sweetest and to love the more enjoyable delights?”
Answer to the first question. The Judge answered: ”Friend, I gave humans sense and understanding in order that they might meditate on and imitate the ways of life and shun the ways of death.”
Answer to the second question. ”I gave food and other carnal necessities for the moderate sustenance of the body and so that people might exercise the virtues of the soul with greater strength without growing weak from excessive consumption.”
Answer to the third question. ”I gave humans free will so that they might give up their own will for me, their God, and thus obtain a greater reward.”
Answer to the fourth question. ”I gave them the seed of intercourse so that it might germinate at the right place and in the right way and bear fruit for a just and rational cause.”
Answer to the fifth question. ”I gave humans a heart so that they might keep within it me, their God, who am everywhere and incomprehensible, and so that the thought of me should be their delight.”

The first revelation in the Book of Questions made to Lady Bridget by the Virgin Mary, in which the Virgin Mary informs her of five virtues that she ought to have within herself and of five others without.

273.