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Chapter 114

The Son speaks: ”Watch out for the devil's roast, the one he cooks on the fires of lust and desire. When fat is put on a fire, something necessarily starts dripping from it. Sins proceed in this way from worldly dealings and worldly company. Though you do not know what is in a person's conscience, external signs bring out what is hidden in the mind.”

The Mother speaks: ”Your every action should be rational and your intention upright. This means that you should do whatever you do with the intention of giving glory to God and preferring spiritual gains to bodily enjoyment. Many people, indeed, serve God in their activity, but their wrongful intention casts shadows on all the good they do. A comparison will help you to understand this. Take the animal called a bear. When it is starving and catches sight of its desired prey, it brings one foot down on its prey and looks for somewhere to plant its other foot firmly so the prey cannot get or be taken away, until the bear has eaten it up and turned it to its desire. The bear keeps continual watch on its prey and does not look around for gold or fragrant herbs or trees, but only looks for some hidden and secure footing or something to grasp so that it can safely and securely hold on to the prey it has caught.
Many people serve me with prayers and fasting out of a kind of fear, for they have in mind the terrible punishment and also my great mercy. They seek me through certain exterior actions, but they go against the commandments of my Son in their intention. Like the bear, these people set their whole intention on the lust of the flesh and worldly desire, but, because they are afraid of losing their life as well as of future suffering, they serve me with the intention of not losing grace or incurring punishment. This is quite clear, for they never contemplate my Son's passion, which is like the most precious gold, or imitate the lives of the saints, who are like precious gems, nor pay any regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are like fragrant herbs. They do not give up their own will and perform the will of my Son, but they only want something on which to lean in order to sin more securely and gain success in the world.
Their reward will be slight, for their actions proceed from their cold hearts. Just as the bear, once it has consumed its prey, does not care anymore about a secure footing, so when the final hour comes for them, and their sensual lusts are over and done with, their secure footing in me will be of little value to them, because they did not give up their own will to carry out my will, nor did they seek me out of love but out of fear. However, if their intention is perfectly corrected, their deeds will soon be revived and, if any deed is lacking, their good intention will be counted as a deed.”
ADDITION
This was a provost who lived according to his pleasure. When he came to Rome, he reformed his life in a very praiseworthy manner. When he had visited Monte Gargano and the shrine of St. Nicholas and had returned to Lady Bridget, whose advice he followed completely, he said that he wondered why the great and famous city of Siponte, where the bodies of so many saints rested, had been destroyed.
On the following day, the Son of God appeared and said to the lady: ”Your friend is wondering about the city that is destroyed. Truly, daughter, the sins of the inhabitants merited this. Even other cities have merited similar things, but a friend of mine lived there. He had perfect love for me and rebuked and protested against their morals continuously. When he saw their obstinacy, he tearfully begged me to let the place become desolate rather than let so many souls be in daily peril. I saw his tears, and since no one tried to placate me fully, I allowed those things to happen that we are now speaking about.”
She said to him: ”O Lord, it is sad that the relics and bodies of many good persons lie there as though they were unclean and unprotected.” Christ answered: ”Just as I have the souls of my chosen ones within me, so too I take care of the relics of my friends - who are my treasure - until they receive the twofold reward promised to them.”
The lady spoke again. ”My dear Lord, I do believe that many graces and indulgences were granted in Siponte by the popes. Now that the walls have been destroyed, have the graces also been abolished?” Christ answered: ”What place is holier than Jerusalem where I, God himself, left my footprints? What place is now held in greater contempt than Jerusalem, inhabited and oppressed by infidels? Yet whoever goes to Jerusalem will meet with the same graces and indulgences as before. It is likewise with Siponte: Whoever goes there out of love and with a perfect intention will share in the same grace and blessing that the city had in the time of its glory, because of the faith of the pilgrims and their labor of love.”

Christ speaks to the bride about how to free a certain person possessed by the devil. He tells her that the soul has inner, spiritual limbs just as the body has outer, bodily limbs. The Lord gives a beautiful explanation of all this.

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