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select passages from citations in the reprint of St. Catherine's brief dialogue

Started by Geremia, December 17, 2020, 10:01:49 AM

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Geremia


select passages from citations in the reprint of Sr. Drane, O.P.'s translation of St. Catherine's brief dialogue:
§
 
Italian
 
Thorold
 
Noffke
 
107
 
io non so' spregiatore del desiderio de' servi miei, anco do a chi domanda e invitovi a domandare. [...] alcuna volta per provare e desideri vostri e la vostra perseveranzia, fo vista di non intendarvi, ma Io v'intendo e dovi quello che vi bisogna, perché vi do la fame e la voce con che chiamiate a me, e Io vedendo la costanzia vostra compio i vostri desideri quando sono ordinati e dirizzati in me.I am not a Despiser, but the Fulfiller of holy desire, and therefore I will show and declare to you that which you ask Me. [...] [my transl. of the rest I couldn't find:] sometimes, to test your desires and perseverance, I pretend not to hear you, but I hear you and give you what you need, because I give you hunger and the voice with which you cry out to me, and seeing your constancy, I fulfill your desires when they are ordered and directed toward me.
 
I do not spurn my servants' desires. I give to those who ask, and even invite you to ask. [...] Sometimes, to test your desires and your perseverance, I pretend not to hear you. But I do hear you, and I give you whatever you need, for it is I who gave you the very hunger and voice with which you call to me, and when I see your constancy I fulfill your desires insofar as they are ordered in accord with my will.
 
154
 
Unde venne che tanto fu obbediente questo Verbo? Da l'amore che egli ebbe a l'onore mio, e a la salute vostra. Unde procedette l'amore? Dal lume della chiara visione con la quale vedeva l'anima sua chiaramente la divina Essenzia e la Trinità etterna, e così sempre vedeva me, Dio etterno. Questa visione adoperava perfettissimamente in lui quella fedeltà, la quale imperfettamente adopera in voi il lume della santissima fede. Ché fu fedele a me, suo Padre etterno, e però corse col lume glorioso, come inamorato, per la via de l'obedienzia
 
What caused the great obedience of the Word? The love which He had for My honor and your salvation. Whence proceeded this love? From the clear vision with which His soul saw the divine essence and the eternal Trinity, thus always looking on Me, the eternal God. His fidelity obtained this vision most perfectly for Him, which vision you imperfectly enjoy by the light of holy faith. He was faithful to Me, His eternal Father, and therefore hastened as one enamored along the road of obedience
 
Now I want you to see and know this most excellent virtue and its source in the humble spotless Lamb. What was the source of this Word's obedience? His love for my honor and your salvation. And what was the source of this love? The light of his soul's clear vision of the divine Essence and eternal Trinity, for he always saw me, God eternal. This vision effected most perfectly in him that fidelity which the light of most holy faith effects imperfectly in you. Because he was faithful to me his eternal Father, he ran like one gloriously in love along the way of obedience.
 
43
 
[volontà] è vostra, data da me col libero arbitrio. Voi dunque col libero arbitrio la potete tenere e lassare secondo che vi piace.
 
dearest daughter, [...] [freewill] is yours, given by Me. You therefore, with free arbitration, can hold it or leave it, according as you please.
 
[freewill] is yours, given by me with the power of free choice. You, then, can hold or loose it as you please, by your free choice.
 
100
 
dicendoti la mia Verità: «Vuogli tu venire a perfetta purità ed essere privata degli scandali, e che la mente tua non sarà scandelizzata per veruna cosa? Or fa che tu sempre ti unisca in me per affetto d'amore, però che Io so' somma ed eterna purità e so' quel fuoco che purifico l'anima; e però quanto più s'acosta a me tanto diventa più pura, e quanto più se ne parte tanto più è immonda. E però caggiono in tante nequizie gli uomini del mondo perché sono separati da me, ma l'anima che senza mezzo si unisce in me participa della purità mia.»
 
My Truth said, 'Will you arrive at perfect purity, and be freed from stumbling-blocks, so that your mind may not be scandalized by anything?' Unite yourself always to Me by the affection of love, for I am the Supreme and Eternal Purity. I am that Fire which purifies the soul, and the closer the soul is to Me, the purer she becomes, and the further she is from Me, the more does her purity leave her; which is the reason why men of the world fall into such iniquities, for they are separated from Me, while the soul, who, without any medium, unites herself directly to Me, participates in My Purity.
 
my Truth spoke thus to you: "Do you wish to reach perfect purity and be so freed from scandal that your spirit will not take scandal in anything at all? Then see that you remain united with me in loving affection, for I am supreme and eternal purity.  I am the fire that purifies the soul. So the nearer the soul comes to me the more pure she will become, and the more she de- parts from me the more unclean she is. This is why worldly folk fall into such wickedness, because they have left me. But the soul who unites herself directly with me shares in my own purity.
 
64
 
Bene lo sanno i semplici, che spesse volte amano le creature di spirituale amore. Se l'amore di me ànno ricevuto schiettamente sanza alcuno rispetto, schiettamente beie l'amore del prossimo suo, sì come il vasello che s'empie nella fonte che, se ne'l trae fuore, beiendo il vasello rimane votio, ma se egli il beie in me non rimane votio, ma sempre sta pieno. Così l'amore del prossimo spirituale e temporale vuole essere beuto in me, sanza alcuno rispetto.
 
And simple souls, who often love creatures with spiritual love, know this well, for, if they have received My love sincerely without any self-regarding considerations, they satisfy the thirst of their love for their neighbor equally sincerely. If a man carry away the vessel which he has filled at the fountain and then drink of it, the vessel becomes empty, but if he keep his vessel standing in the fountain, while he drinks, it always remains full. So the love of the neighbor, whether spiritual or temporal, should be drunk in Me, without any self-regarding considerations.
 
Even simple folk know this, for they often love others with a spiritual love. If you have received my love sincerely without self-interest, you will drink your neighbor's love sincerely. It is just like a vessel that you fill at the fountain. If you take it out of the fountain to drink, the vessel is soon empty. But if you hold your vessel in the fountain while you drink, it will not get empty: Indeed, it will always be full. So the love of your neighbor, whether spiritual or temporal, is meant to be drunk in me, without any self-interest.
 
26
 
Il primo scalone sono i piei, i quali significano l'affetto, però che, come i piei portano il corpo, così l'affetto porta l'anima.
 
The feet of the soul, signifying her affection, are the first step, for the feet carry the body as the affection carries the soul.
 
The first stair is the feet, which symbolize the affections. For just as the feet carry the body, the affections carry the soul.
 
7
 
Questo manifesta che voi aviate me per grazia nell'anima vostra, facendo frutto in lui di molte e sante orazioni, con dolce e amoroso desiderio, cercando l'onore di me e la salute dell'anime. Non si ristà mai, l'anima inamorata della mia verità, di fare utilità a tutto il mondo, in comune e in particulare [...] Queste sono le virtù e molte altre le quali non potresti narrare, che si partoriscono nella dilezione del prossimo.
 
This proves that you possess Me by grace in your soul, producing much fruit for your neighbor and making prayers to Me, seeking with sweet and amorous desire My honor and the salvation of souls. The soul, enamored of My truth, never ceases to serve the whole world in general, and more or less in a particular case [...], for in the love of Me is fulfilled and completed the love of the neighbor
 
Thus it will be evident that you have me within your soul by grace, when with tender loving desire you are looking out for my honor and the salvation of your neighbors by bearing fruit for them in many holy prayers. [...] the soul in love with my truth never ceases doing service for all the world, universally and in particular [...] These are the virtues, with innumerable others, that are brought to birth in love of neighbor.
 
112
 
Raguarda, carissima figliuola, in quanta eccellenzia sta l'anima ricevendo come debba ricevere questo pane della vita, cibo degli angeli. Ricevendo questo sacramento sta in me e Io in lei sì come il pescie sta nel mare e 'l mare nel pescie, così Io sto ne l'anima e l'anima in me, mare pacifico.
 
See, dearest daughter, in what an excellent state is the soul who receives, as she should, this Bread of Life, this Food of the Angels. By receiving this Sacrament she dwells in Me and I in her, as the fish in the sea, and the sea in the fish—thus do I dwell in the soul, and the soul in Me—the Sea Pacific.
 
Dearest daughter, contemplate the marvelous state of the soul who receives this bread of life, this food of angels, as she ought. When she receives this sacrament she lives in me and I in her. Just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish, so am I in the soul and the soul in me, the sea of peace.
 
4
 
Tu mi chiedi pene, acciò che si satisfacci alle offese che sono fatte a me dalle mie creature, e dimandi di volere cognoscere e amare me che so' somma Verità. Questa è la via a volere venire a perfetto cognoscimento e gustare me, Vita eterna: che tu non esca mai del cognoscimento di te, e abbassata che tu se' nella valle dell'umilità, e tu cognosce me in te, del quale cognoscimento trarai quello che ti bisogna ed è necessario. Niuna virtù può avere in sé vita se non dalla carità; e l'umilità è baglia e nutrice della carità. Nel cognoscimento di te ti aumiliarai, vedendo te per te non essere, e l'essere tuo cognoscerai da me, che v'ò amati prima che voi fuste.
 
if you will arrive at a perfect knowledge and enjoyment of Me, the Eternal Truth, that you should never go outside the knowledge of yourself, and, by humbling yourself in the valley of humility, you will know Me and yourself, from which knowledge you will draw all that is necessary. No virtue, my daughter, can have life in itself except through charity, and humility, which is the foster-mother and nurse of charity. In self-knowledge, then, you will humble yourself, seeing that, in yourself, you do not even exist; for your very being, as you will learn, is derived from Me, since I have loved both you and others before you were in existence
 
You ask me for suffering to atone for the offenses my creatures commit against me. And you ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth. Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself. Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need. No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility. You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me, for I loved you before you came into being.
 
100
 
Questi che sono in questo dolce lume il fanno, e però stanno sempre in pace e in quiete, e non ànno chi gli scandelizzi, perché ànno tolta via quella cosa che lo' dà scandalo, cioè la propria volontà. [...] E più gode de' diversi modi che vede, che se gli vedesse andare tutti per una via, perché vede più manifestare la grandezza della mia bontà. D'ogni cosa gode e traie l'odore della rosa.
 
Those who are in this sweet light know it, and remain constantly in peace and quiet, and no one scandalizes them, for they have cut away that thing by which stumbling-blocks are caused, namely their own will. [...] And he rejoices more in the different ways of holiness which he sees, than if he were to see all traveling by one road, because, in this way, he perceives the greatness of My Goodness become more manifest, and thus, rejoicing, draws from all the fragrance of the rose.
 
Those who live in this gentle light do just this. Therefore they are always peaceful and calm, and nothing can scandalize them because they have done away with what causes them to take scandal, their self-will. [...] And they are happier to see many different ways than if they were to see everyone walking the same way, because this way they see the greatness of my goodness more fully revealed. In everything they find joy and the fragrance of the rose.