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Revelation 1

The Mother speaks: ”Daughter, you should have five attributes within you and five without. First without: a mouth pure from backbiting, ears closed to vain speech, chaste eyes, hands busy with good works, and the avoidance of dealings with the world. Within you should have these five: loving God fervently, desiring him wisely, distributing temporal goods reasonably with a just and upright intention, fleeing from the world humbly, and awaiting my promises steadfastly and patiently.”

274. Interrogation 4

First question. Again the monk appeared on his ladder as before saying: ”O Judge, why should I seek the wisdom of God when I have the wisdom of the world?”

Second question. ”Why should I mourn and weep when I have worldly joy and honor in plenty?”
Third question. ”Tell me: why or in what way should I rejoice in the affliction of the flesh?”
Fourth question. ”Why should I be afraid, when I have the strength of my own power?”
Fifth question. ”Why should I obey others, if I have control over my own will?”
Answer to the first question. The Judge answered: ”Friend, whoever is wise concerning the world is blind concerning me, his God. Therefore, in order to obtain my divine wisdom, one must seek it diligently and humbly.”
Answer to the second question. ”Whoever has worldly honors and joy is troubled by various cares and gets entangled in bitter situations that lead to hell. In order not to be turned aside from heaven's way, one must be piously solicitous and pray and weep.”
Answer to the third question. ”It is also very profitable to rejoice in the affliction and infirmity of the body, because my mercy comes to those who are afflicted in body, and by my mercy they approach eternal life more easily.”
Answer to the fourth question. ”Furthermore, whosoever is strong is strong because of me, and I am stronger than he. Therefore one must be ever fearful lest strength be taken away.”
Answer to the fifth question. ”Whosoever holds his free choice in his hands should be fearful and should realize in truth that nothing so easily leads to eternal punishment as self-will without a leader. Accordingly, anyone who relinquishes his or her own will to me, his God, in obedience to me, shall have heaven without punishment.”

275. Interrogation 5

First question. Again the monk appeared on his ladder as before saying: ”O Judge, why did you create worms that are harmful and useless?”

Second question. ”Why did you create wild beasts that are also harmful to humankind?”
Third question. ”Why do you let sickness and pain into bodies?”
Fourth question. ”Why do you endure the wickedness of wicked judges who scourge and harass their underlings like purchased slaves?”
Fifth question. ”Why is the human body afflicted even at the point of death?”
Answer to the first question. The Judge answered: ”Friend, as God and Judge I have created heaven and earth and all that are in them, and yet nothing without cause nor without some likeness to spiritual things. Just as the souls of holy people resemble the holy angels who live and are happy, so too the souls of the unrighteous become like the demons who are eternally dying. Therefore, since you asked why I created worms, I answer you that I created them in order to show forth the manifold power of my wisdom and goodness. For, although they can be harmful, nevertheless they do no harm without my permission and only when sin demands it, so that man, who scorns to submit to his superior, may bemoan his capacity to be afflicted by lesser creatures, and also in order that he may know himself to be nothing without me - whom even the irrational creatures serve and they all stand at my beck and call.”
Answer to the second question. ”As to why I created wild beasts, I answer: All things that I have created are not only good but very good and have been created either for the use or trial of humankind or for the use of other creatures and in order that humans might so much the more humbly serve their God inasmuch as they are more blessed than all the rest. However, beasts do harm in the temporal world for a twofold reason. First, so that the wicked may be corrected and beware, and so that wicked people might come to understand through their torments that they must obey me, their superior. Second, they also do harm to good people with a view to their advancement in virtue and for their purification. And because the human race rebelled against me, their God, through sin, all those creatures that had been subject to humans have consequently rebelled against them.”
Answer to the third question. ”As to why sickness comes upon the body, I answer that this happens both as a strong warning and because of the vice of incontinence and excess, in order that people may learn spiritual moderation and patience by restraining the flesh.”
Answer to the fourth question. ”As to why wicked judges are tolerated, this is for the purification of others and also because of my patience, in order that, just as gold is purified by fire, so too, by the evil of scoundrels, souls may be purified and instructed and held back from doing what they should not do. Furthermore, I patiently tolerate the wicked so as to separate the devil's chaff from the wheat of the good, and in order to fulfill their wishes according to my hidden, divine justice.”
Answer to the fifth question. ”As to why the body suffers pain in death, it is just that a person should be punished by means of that in which she or he has sinned. If she sins through inordinate lust, it is right for her to be punished with proportionate bitterness and pain. For that reason, death begins for some people on earth and will last without end in hell, while death ends for others in purgatory and everlasting joy commences.”

The second revelation in the Book of Questions, in which the Virgin Mary speaks to blessed Bridget and tells her that a person who wishes to taste divine sweetness must first endure bitterness.

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