Free dvds and Books

Chapter 16

After this, in that same hour, Christ spoke to his same bride, Lady Bridget, saying: ”To these things that you have now seen and to the other things that I endured, the world's princes are not attentive; nor do they consider the places in which I was born and I suffered. For they are like a man who has a place designated for wild and untamed beasts and where he sets loose his hunting dogs and takes delight in gazing at the dogs and the wild things as they run.

It is a similar case with the princes of the earth and the prelates of the churches and all states of the world. They gaze at earthly delights with greater eagerness and pleasure than at my death and my passion and my wounds. Therefore, I shall now send them my words through you; and, if they do not change their hearts and turn them toward me, they will be condemned along with those who divided my clothing and, over my garment, cast lots.”
ADDITION
Here follows a revelation made to blessed Bridget in Famagusta. The Son speaks: ”This city is Gomorrah, burning with the fire of lust and of superfluity and of ambition. Therefore its structures shall fall, and it shall be desolated and diminished, and its inhabitants shall depart, and they shall groan in sorrow and tribulation, and they shall die out, and their shame shall be mentioned in many lands because I am angered at them.”
Concerning the duke, who was privy to his brother's death. Christ speaks: ”This man boldly expands his pride. He boasts of his incontinence and is not attentive to the things that he has done to his neighbor. Therefore, if he does not humble himself, I will act in accord with the common proverb: 'No lighter wails he who afterward weeps than he who wailed afore.' For he shall have a death no lighter than his brother's - no, a death more bitter - unless he quickly amends himself.”
Concerning the duke's confessor. Christ speaks: ”What did that friar say to you? Did he not say that the duke is good and cannot live in a better way? Did he not excuse the duke's incontinence? Such men are not confessors but deceivers. They go about like simple sheep, but they are more truly foxes and flatterers. Such are those friends who see and propose 'assumptions and dejections' to human beings for the sake of some temporal trifle. Therefore if that friar had sat in his convent, he would have obtained less punishment and a greater crown. Now, however, he will not escape the hand of one who rebukes and afflicts.”
Certain people advised the lady to change clothes and blacken faces because of the Saracens. Christ speaks: ”What advice are they giving you? Is it not to disguise your clothes and blacken your faces? Would I, God, who instruct you, truly be like someone who does no know the future or like someone powerless who fears all things? Not in the least! But I am wisdom itself and power itself, and I foreknow all and can do all. Therefore retain your accustomed manner of clothing and faces, and entrust your wills to me. For I, who saved Sarah from the hands of her captors, will also save all of you on land and sea and will provide for you in a way that is to your advantage.”
Concerning a bishop. The Mother speaks: ”My friend ought to love you as a mother, as a lady, as a daughter, and as a sister. As a mother, because of your age and because of the advice that he must seek. Second, as a lady, because of the grace given to you by God, who through you has shown the secrets of his wisdom. Third, as a daughter, by teaching and by consoling and by providing you with more useful things. Fourth, as a sister, by reproving - when this would be opportune - and by admonishing and by inciting to more perfect things through words and examples. Also, tell him that he ought to be like one who carries the best of flowers.
These flowers are my words, which are sweeter than honey to those who savor them, sharper and more penetrating than arrows, and more effective in remuneration. It is therefore the duty of the bearer to protect the flowers from the wind, the rain, and the heat: namely, from the wind of worldly talk; from the rain of carnal delights; from the heat of worldly favor. For one who glories in such things causes the flowers to become worthless and shows himself unsuitable to carry them.”
Concerning the queen of Cyprus. The Son speaks: ”Advise the queen not to return to her native land for this is not to her advantage. But let her stay in the place in which she has been set, serving God with all her heart. Second, she is not to marry, taking a second husband, for it is more acceptable to God to weep for the things that have been done and, by penance, to make up for time that has been uselessly spent. Third, she should guide the people of her kingdom toward mutual concord and charity; and she should labor that justice and good morals be laudably maintained and that the community not be weighed down with unusual burdens. Fourth, for God's sake, she should forget the evils that were committed against her husband and not burn for revenge.
For I am the Judge, and I shall judge for her. Fifth, she should nurture her son with divine charity and appoint as his councilors men who are just and not covetous, and as members of his household, men who are modest, composed, and wise, from whom he may learn to fear God, to rule justly, to sympathize with the unfortunate, to flee from flatterers and sycophants like poison, and to seek the advice of just men, even if they are poor, lowly, or despised. Sixth, she is to put down the shameful custom of women involving tight clothing, display of the breasts, unguents, and many other vanities; for these are things entirely hateful to God.
Seventh, she should have a confessor who, having left the world, loves souls more than gifts and who neither glosses over sins nor fears to reprove them. And, in those things that pertain to the salvation of the soul, she is to obey him just as she obeys God. Eighth, she should seek out and be attentive to the lives of holy queens and saintly women; and she is to labor for the increase of God's honor. Ninth, she should be reasonable in her gifts, avoiding both debts and the praises of men, for it is more acceptable to God to give little or even nothing than to contract debts and to defraud one's neighbor.”
On the crowning of the new king. The Son speaks: ”It is a great burden to be a king, but also a great honor and a very great enjoyment. It is fitting, therefore, that a king be mature, experienced, prudent, just, and a hard worker who loves his neighbors' welfare more than his own will. Therefore, in ancient times, kingdoms were well ruled when such a man was elected as king - one who had the will and the knowledge and the ability to rule with justice. Now kingdoms are not kingdoms but scenes of childishness, folly, and brigandage. For just as the brigand searches for ways and times to lay his ambush in order to acquire lucre without being marked, so kings now search for inventions by which to elevate their offspring, fill their purses with money, and discreetly burden their subjects. And they all the more gladly do justice in order to obtain temporal good, but they do not love justice in order to obtain everlasting reward.
Therefore, a wise man wisely said: 'Woe to that kingdom whose king is a child who lives daintily and has dainty flatterers but feels no anguish at all about the advancement of the community.' But because this boy will not bear his father's iniquity, therefore, if he wishes to make progress and to fulfill the dignity of his kingly name, let him obey my words that I have already spoken concerning Cyprus.
And let him not imitate the behavior of his predecessors, but let him lay aside childish levity and lead a kingly life, having assistants of the sort who fear and who do not love his gifts more than his soul and his honor, who hate flatteries, and who are not afraid to speak the truth and to follow it and to assert it. Otherwise, the boy will have no joy in his people, and his people no joy in the one elected.”

When Lady Bridget was in Jerusalem, she was doubtful as to whether it were better for her to lodge in the monastery of the Friars Minor on Mount Zion or in the pilgrims' hostel in Jerusalem; and then the Virgin Mary appeared to her at prayer and told her that she should lodge in the hostel as a good example to others.

319.