. . . [F]aith is not a knowledge derived from the senses, but an assent of
the soul to what enters through hearing. . . .
. . . Like a blind man [the man of faith] must lean on dark faith, accept
it for his guide and light, and rest on nothing of what he understands, tastes,
feels, or imagines. All these perceptions are a darkness that will lead him
astray. Faith lies beyond all this understanding, taste, feeling, and imagining.
. . .
[Spiritual persons] are wont to have visions of images and persons from the
other life: of saints, of the good and bad angels, and of unusual lights
and splendors.
Through hearing they apprehend certain extraordinary words, sometimes from
the envisioned persons, and at other times without seeing the one who speaks.
. . .
It must be known that even though these apprehensions come to the bodily
senses from God, one must never rely on them or accept them. A man should
rather flee from them completely, and have no desire to determine whether
they be good or bad. The more exterior and corporal they are, the less certain
is their divine origin. . . .
He who esteems these apprehensions is in serious error and extreme danger
of being deceived. Or at least he will hinder his spiritual growth. . . .
These manifestations ought always to be considered diabolical more certainly
than divine. . . . Even though some spiritual nourishment results from these
corporal communications . . . they are a ready occasion for the breeding
of error, presumption, and vanity. Palpable, tangible, and material as they
are, they strongly affect the senses so that in one's judgment they seem
more worthwhile. A man, then, forsaking faith, will follow after these
communications believing that their light is the guide and means to his goal,
which is union with God. But the more importance he gives to these communications
the further he strays from faith, the way and means.
Furthermore, a person receiving these apprehensions often develops secretly
a rather fine opinion of himself--that now he is someone in God's eyes. Such
a view is contrary to humility. . . .
Regardless of the cause of these apprehensions, it is always good for a man
to reject them with closed eyes. . . .
. . . [Some] consider it beneficial to admit some visions as true and reject
others as false. In this way they subject themselves and other souls to the
considerable labor and danger of discerning the truth or falsity of these
visions. God does not impose this task upon them, nor does He desire the
exposure of simple and unlearned people to this dangerous endeavor, for these
persons have faith, the sound and save doctrine by which they can advance.
. . .
[By rejecting all visions] a person frees himself from the task and danger
of discerning the true visions from the false ones and deciding whether his
visions come from an angel of light or of darkness. Such an effort is profitless,
a waste of time, a hindrance to the soul, an occasion of many imperfections
as well as of spiritual stagnancy, since the individual is not then employed
with the more important things and disencumbered of the trifles of particular
apprehensions and knowledge. . . .
. . . I fail to see how a person who tries to get knowledge in this supernatural
way--as well as the one who commands this or gives consent--can help but
sin, at least venially, no matter how excellent his motives or advanced in
perfection he may be. There is no necessity for any of this kind of knowledge,
since a person can get sufficient guidance from natural reason, and the law
and doctrine of the Gospel. There is no difficulty or necessity unsolvable
or irremediable by these means, which are very pleasing to God and profitable
to souls.
. . . [S]upernatural communications of visions and locutions . . . were lawful
and made use of in the Old Law. Not only was this licit, but God commanded
it. . . . But now that the faith is established through Christ, and the Gospel
law made manifest in this era of grace, there is no reason for inquiring
of Him in this way, or expecting Him to answer as before. In giving us
His Son, His only Word (for He possesses no other), He spoke everything to
us at once in this sole Word--and He has no more to say.
That is the meaning of that passage where St. Paul tries to persuade the
Hebrews to turn from communion with God through the old ways of the Mosaic
law and instead fix their eyes on Christ: . . . That which God formerly spoke
to our fathers through the prophets in many ways and manners, now, finally,
in these days He has spoken to us all at once in His Son. [Heb. 1:1-2] The
Apostle indicates that God was as it were mute, with no more to say, because
what He spoke before to the prophets in parts, He has now spoken all at once
by giving us the All Who is His Son.
Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would
be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending Him, by not
fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some
other novelty.
God could respond as follows: If I have already told you all things in My
Word, My Son, and if I have no other word, what answer or revelation can
I now make that would surpass this? Fasten your eyes on Him alone, because
in Him I have spoken and revealed all, and in Him you shall discover even
more than you ask for and desire. . . .
One should not, then, inquire of God in this manner, nor is it necessary
for God to speak any more. For, since He has finished revealing the faith
through Christ, there is no more faith to reveal, nor will there ever be.
Anyone wanting to get something in a supernatural way, as we stated, would
as it were be accusing God of not having given us in His Son all that is
required.
