I was reading a book about Teutonic Knights where Saint Bridget's Revelations were mentioned and decided to check it out.
This is how I came to this book :
Two excerpts :
Book 1, Chapter 15
The words of Christ to his bride wherein he describes himself as a great king, and about the two treasuries symbolizing the love of God and the love of the world, and a teaching about how to proceed and improve in this life.
“I am like a great and mighty king. Four things belong to a king: First, he mustbe rich; second, generous; third, wise and fourth, charitable. I am in truth the King ofthe angels and of all Humanity. I also have those four qualities that I mentioned:First, I am the richest of all, for I give to everyone according to their needs butpossess after this donation not less than before. Second, I am the most generous,since I am ready to give to anyone who prays with love for my mercy. Third, I am thewisest of all, since I know what is best for each and everyone. And fourth, I amcharitable, since I am more ready to give than anyone is to ask.I have, as it were, two treasuries. The first treasury stores heavy things as lead,and the house where they are stored is surrounded with sharp and stinging spikes.But to the one who first begins to turn and roll these heavy things, and then learnshow to carry them, they seem as light as feathers. And so the things that beforelooked heavy, become very light, and the things that before were thought to bebitter and stinging, become sweet. The second treasury stores things that seem to belike shining gold with precious stones and delicious drinks. But the gold is reallyfilth and the drinks are poison. There are two ways into these treasuries, eventhough there used to be only one way.At the crossroads, that is, at the beginning of these two ways, there stood aman who cried out to three men who were walking on a different way, and he said:‘Hear, hear my words! But if you do not want to hear with your ears, then at leastsee with your eyes that what I say is true. But if you do not want hear or see, then atleast use your hands to touch and prove that my words are true and not false.’ Thenthe first of them said: ‘Let us hear and see if his words are true.’ The second mansaid: ‘All he says is false.’ The third said: ‘I know that everything he says is true, but Ido not care about what he says.’What are these two treasuries if not my love and the love of the world? Thereare two ways into these two treasuries: privation and a complete denial of one’sown will lead to my love, while the fleshly lust and a man’s own will lead to the loveof the world. To some people, my love appears to be a heavy burden of lead, forwhen they should be fasting or keeping vigil in my service or restrain their fleshfrom sinful desires, they feel as if they are carrying heavy lead. And if they have tohear words or insults, they think it is heavy and hard, or if they must spend time inpurity or prayer, it is as if they were sitting between spikes or thorns and theyworry every moment.The one who wants to remain in my love should first begin to lift and turn theburden over, that is, he should attempt to do the good through his good will andconstant desire. Then he should gradually lift the burden a little, that is, do the goodhe can do, thinking thus to himself: ‘This I can do well if God gives me his help andgrace.’ Then he may persevere in the undertaken task and with great joy bear thatwhich before seemed heavy to him so that every trouble in fasts and vigils or anyother trouble will seem to be as light as feathers to him.My friends rest in such a place, which, to the wicked and lazy, seems to besurrounded with things like spikes and thorns, but to my friends it is as the highestpeace and soft as roses. The right way into this treasury is to deny and despise yourown will, which happens when a man contemplates my suffering and my love, anddoes not care about his own will or lust but resists it with all his power and mightand constantly strives for the things that are higher and better. And although thisway is somewhat heavy in the beginning, it pleases so much in the continuation of itthat the things that before seemed impossible to bear later become very light, sothat he can rightfully say to himself: ‘The yoke and work of God is good and sweet.’The second treasury is the world. In it there are gold, precious stones, anddrinks that seem delicious and pleasant-smelling but are bitter as poison when theyare tasted. Each and everyone who carries and owns this gold, must - when his bodyis weakened and his limbs lose their strength, when his marrow is wasted and hisbody falls dead to the ground - leave the gold and the precious stones behind forthey are of no more use to him than filth. And the drinks of the world, that is, herdelights, seem delicious, but once in the stomach, they make the heart heavy and thehead weak and ruin the body, and then man dries and withers away like grass, andwhen the pangs of death approach, all these pleasures become as bitter as poison.The way leading to this treasury is his self-will and lust, whenever a man does notcare about resisting his evil desires and does not contemplate on what I havecommanded or done, but immediately does whatever comes to mind, whether itmay be licit or not.Three men are walking on this way, and by these I mean all evil andunrighteous men who love the world and all their self-will. I cried out to these threemen as I stood at the crossroads or the beginning of the ways, for when I came to theworld in human flesh and body, I showed mankind two ways, as it were, namely, theone to follow and the one to avoid, in other words, the way leading to life and theone to death. For before my coming in the flesh, there was only one way, and on it,all men - good and bad - wandered toward hell.I am the one who cried out, and my cry was this: ‘People, hear my words thatlead to the way of life, for they are true! Use your senses to understand that what Isay is true. If you do not want to hear my words or cannot listen to them, then atleast see them, that is, with faith and reason, see that my words are true. For just assomething visible can be discerned with the eyes of the flesh, so too can invisiblethings be discerned and believed by the eyes of faith. There are many simple men inthe Church and Christendom who do few good deeds but still are saved throughtheir faith wherein they believe me to be the Creator of all things and the Redeemerof souls. There is no one who cannot understand and believe that I am God, if heconsiders how the earth bears fruit and how the heavens give rain, how the treesbloom, how each and every animal exists in its own kind, how the stars serve man,and how troubles and sorrows come and often happen against the will of man. Fromall these things, man can see that he is mortal and that it is God who arranges anddirects all these things. For if God did not exist, everything would be disorganized.Thus, all things are of God, and everything is rationally arranged for the use andknowledge of mankind. And there is not the least little thing that is created or existsin the world without reasonable cause.So, if a man cannot understand or comprehend my virtues and powers as theyare because of his weakness, he can still see them with faith and believe. But if youpeople in the world do not want to use your reason to consider my power, you canstill use your hands to touch and sense the deeds that I and my saints have done.They are namely so obvious that no one can doubt them to be the deeds of God. Whoraised the dead and gave sight to the blind if not God? Who cast out the evil devilsfrom men if not God? What have I taught if not things beneficial for the prosperity ofsoul and body and easy to bear?But what the first man said means that some people say: ‘Let us listen and testif what he says is true!’ They stand a while in my service, not for the sake of love orcharity but as an experiment and to imitate others; and they do not give up theirown will but exercise it along with my will. They are in a dangerous position, forthey want to serve two masters, even though they can serve neither one well. Whenthey are called, they shall be rewarded by the master that they have loved the most.What the second man said means that some people say: ‘All his words are falseand the Scripture is false.’ I am God and the Creator of all things and without menothing has been made. I laid down the New and the Old Laws; they came out of mymouth, and there is no falsehood in them because I am the Truth. Therefore, thosewho say that I have spoken falsely and that the Holy Scripture is false shall never seemy face; for their conscience tells them that I am truly God, since all things happenaccording to my will and ordination. The sky gives them light, nor can they give anylight to themselves. The earth bears fruit, the air makes the earth fertile, all theanimals have a specific ordinance, the devils fear and confess me to be God andrighteous men suffer incredible things for their love of me. All these things they see,and yet they do not see me. They could also see me and understand my justice, ifthey considered and thought on how the earth swallowed the ungodly and how thefire consumed the unrighteous. So could they likewise see me in my mercy when thewater flowed for the righteous out of the rock or the water of the ocean parted forthem, when the fire avoided harming them or when heaven gave them food like theearth. Because they see all these things and still say I am a liar, they shall never seemy face.What the third man said means that some people say: ‘We know full well thathe is the true God, but we do not care about it.’ These people will suffer and betormented for all eternity, because they despise me, who am their God and Lord. Is itnot a great contempt of them to use my good gifts but nonetheless refuse to serveme? For if they had earned these things by their own diligence and not wholly andentirely from me, their contempt would be small.But I will give my grace to those who begin to turn over my burden, that is, tothose who voluntarily and with a passionate desire attempt to do the little good theycan. I will work with the people who lift my weights, that is, those who advance ingood deeds day by day for the sake of my love, and I will be their strength andenlighten them so that they will want to do more good. But those who sit in theplace that seems to sting them, but really is most peaceful, they work patiently dayand night without tiring, increasing more and more in the ardent fire for my honor,thinking that what they do for my sake is very little. These are my most dear friends,and they are very few, since the drinks found in the other treasury are morepleasing to the others.
Book 2, Chapter 15
Christ's words to the bride about how the way to paradise was opened by his coming, and about the ardent love he showed us in bearing so many sufferings for us from his birth to his death, and about how the way to hell has now been made wide and the way to paradise narrow.
“You are wondering why I am telling you such things and why I am revealingsuch marvels to you. Is it for your sake alone? Of course not, it is for the edificationand salvation of others. You see, the world was like a kind of wilderness in whichthere was one road leading down to the great abyss. In the abyss were twochambers. One was so deep that it had no bottom and the people who went downinto it never came up again. The second was not so deep or frightening as the first.Those who went down into it had some hope of help; they experienced longing anddelay but not misery, darkness but not torment. The people who lived in this secondchamber kept sending their cries daily to a magnificent city nearby that was filledwith every good thing and every delight.They cried out hardily, for they knew the way to the city. However, the wildforest was so thick and dense that they were unable to cross it or make any advancebecause of its density, and they had not the strength to forge a path through it. Whatwas their cry? Their cry was this: 'O God, come and give us help, show us the wayand enlighten us, we are waiting for you! We cannot be saved by anyone but you.'This cry came to my hearing in heaven and moved me to mercy. Appeased by theircrying, I came to the wilderness like a pilgrim.But before I began to work and make my way, a voice spoke out ahead of me,saying: 'The ax has been laid to the tree.' This voice was none other than John theBaptist. He was sent before me and cried out in the desert: 'The ax has been laid tothe tree,' which is to say: 'Let the human race be ready, for the ax is now ready, andhe has come to prepare a way to the city and is uprooting every obstacle.' When Icame, I worked from sunrise to sunset, that is, I devoted myself to the salvation ofhumankind from the time of my incarnation until my death on the cross. At the startof my undertaking, I took flight into the wilderness away from my enemies, moreprecisely, from Herod who was pursuing me; I was put to the test by the devil andsuffered persecution from men. Later, while enduring much toil, I ate and drank andsinlessly complied with other natural needs in order to build up the faith and toshow that I had truly taken a human nature.While I prepared the way to the city, that is, to heaven, and uprooted all theobstacles that had sprung up, brambles and thorns scratched my side and harshnails wounded my hands and feet. My teeth and my cheeks were badly mishandled. Ibore it with patience and did not turn back but went ahead all the more zealously,like an animal driven by starvation that, when it sees a man holding a spear againstit, charges into the spear in its desire to get at the man. And the more the manthrusts the spear into the entrails of the animal, the more the animal thrusts itselfagainst the spear in its desire to get at the man, until at last its entrails and entirebody are pierced through and through. In like manner, I burned with such love forthe soul, that, when I beheld and experienced all these harsh torments, the moreeager men were to kill me, the more ardent I became to suffer for the salvation ofsouls.Thus I made my way in the wilderness of this world and prepared a roadthrough my blood and sweat. The world might well be called a wilderness, since itwas lacking in every virtue and remained a wilderness of vice. It had only one roadon which everyone was descending into hell, the damned toward damnation, thegood towards darkness. I heard mercifully their longstanding desire for futuresalvation and came like a pilgrim in order to work. Unknown to them in my divinityand power, I prepared the road that leads to heaven. My friends saw this way andobserved the difficulties of my work and my eagerness of heart, and many of themfollowed me in joy for a long time.But now there has been a change in the voice that used to cry out: 'Be ready!'My road has been altered, and thickets and thorn bushes have grown up, and thosewho were advancing on it have halted. The way to hell has been opened up. It isbroad, and many people travel by it. However, in order not to let my road becomealtogether forgotten and neglected, my few friends still travel it in their longing fortheir heavenly homeland, like birds moving from bush to bush, hidden, as it were,and serving me out of fear, since everyone nowadays thinks that to travel by the wayof the world leads to happiness and joy.For this reason, because my road has become narrow while the road of theworld has been widened, I am now shouting out to my friends in the wilderness, thatis, in the world, that they should remove the thorn bushes and brambles from theroad leading to heaven and recommend my road to those who are making their way.As it is written: 'Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed'.Likewise, happy are they who now believe in my words and put them into practice.As you see, I am like a mother who runs out to meet her roving son. She holds out alight for him on the way so that he can see the road. In her love, she goes to meethim on the way and shortens his journey. She goes up to him and embraces andgreets him. With love like that I shall run out to meet my friends and all the peoplereturning to me, and I shall give their hearts and souls the light of divine wisdom. Iwill embrace them with glory and surround them with the heavenly court wherethere is neither heaven above nor earth below but only the vision of God; wherethere is neither food nor drink, but only the enjoyment of God.The road to hell is open for the wicked. Once they enter into it, they will nevercome up again. They will be without glory or bliss and will be filled with misery andeverlasting reproach. This is why I speak these words and reveal this love of mine,so that those who have turned away may turn back to me and recognize me, theirCreator, whom they have forgotten.”
