those who pass for devoted but place all their devotion in certain exterior ceremonies and persecute the humble and spiritual. But, O dear abandoned ones, O interior souls, O children of Abraham and the faith, do not fear what you are about to suffer. It will be for you an advantage. You will be persecuted like saints, who rendered to God a great service by their suffering with faith the slander against them. They fear nothing because they know that Satan knows well that his empire is never more destroyed than when souls work to let God reign inside them and to assist others to do the same. Satan arouses the strangest persecutions against them and will throw some of the God’s dearest children and most faithful servants into prison. Satan blinds the judges and the ministers of justice. He has the guilty pass as the most innocent. He makes those most attached to the church appear as enemies of the church, but we must fear nothing, but all of this will only be a test.
For ten days you will have affliction. These ten days signify the years in which you endure persecution, which will be designed for different souls. O poor interior souls, what you will suffer! The time will come when it will be a shame and confusion to be with God. Your afflictions are extreme but have courage! Be faithful until death and support your faith unto death for the interests of God for you will suffer. Do not lose your faith and trust. Your death will give you the crown of life.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death. (Rev 2:11)
There are two deaths through which we pass, the mystical death and the natural death. The mystical death gives Jesus Christ a place to conquer in us and through us. Whoever is happy enough to conquer by the first death, will not know the sadness of being harmed by the second death. The second death for them is both a pleasure and refreshment. It does not say that those do not die but only that they will not be harmed by the second death because this death will be for them a passage from death to life. But it takes a particular intelligence to hear this.
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. 15 So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (Rev 2:12–15)
Jesus Christ offers his name according to the state of the people to whom he speaks. To those who are in affliction and in death, he shows them that he has died and he lives, so that they may hope that they will have a most blessed life after they suffer a cruel death. But to this who tolerate heresy, O, he speaks only of his sword because it is the sword of his Word that destroys heresy. I know, he tells us, that you have kept your faith, even in a state of apprehension because one of the faithful was killed among you. However, this cannot please me because you suffer that Satan shares the age of the church, tolerating a mixture that is offensive to me. O God, your rigor is extreme!
Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Rev 2:16–17)
O God, you give some of the hidden manna. What is this hidden manna but you? Your holy communion on the altar is the hidden manna. This secret and intimate manna lives within us. This manna is hidden in the darkness of faith. O all mysterious but very real Word!
You give us a white stone, which is no other than divine immobility where you confirm the soul in a most exquisite grace with purity and an inconceivable candor. There the soul is given a new name which is engraved on the white stone which shows a new life in God. The stone signifies permanence and the whiteness purity. In the Old Testament, new names were given to Abraham, father of all believers and souls of faith, to Sarah, and to Israel. In the New Testament, Peter and Paul received new names. This name only God himself can give because no other can put a person in this state. O grand and wonderful state! Who will understand this unless you experience it?
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze: I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first.” (Rev 2:18–19)
O God, the admirable expressions in this book! The fire coming out of his eyes shows knowledge and love of God the Father. The feet of brass show his humanity united with divinity, making such great fires capable of engulfing a thousand worlds. However, where are those who let themselves be ignited with fire? Alas! We are all ice even with such a great conflagration.
Conformity with the qualities of which Jesus Christ speaks about is admirable. He speaks here with a pastor of high perfection and ardent love, encouraging him to persevere in the imitation of God’s extraordinary love. But for what does Jesus Christ praise this great pastor? For his faith, because the measure of his faith is the measure of all graces, and exterior and interior advancement. As you have believed, so let it be done for you, says Jesus Christ (Matthew 8:13). Next, he praises him for his love. Faith and love are companions. Where there is much faith, there is much love, and where there is a much love, there is a much faith. But also, where there is little faith, there is little love, and where there is little love, there is a little faith. We measure our love by faith.
But how do we know this faith? By a general, continual, and persevering abandonment in both the interior and the exterior, which even the most distressing states do not cause us to turn back. Confident faith and a full trust remain even in its apparent loss. We never change our way, even with the biggest disasters. It is then that we know the solidity of our faith and the truth of our love.
This angel praises his patience in suffering his injuries while in service and his faithfulness to serve as a true pastor. But mainly the angel praises that his last works are much greater than the first, and that his vigilance is much stronger at the end than at the beginning. O, where do we find such pastors? They are very rare!
“Yet I hold this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, who teaches and misleads my servants to play the harlot and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her harlotry. 22 So I will cast her on a sickbed and plunge those who commit adultery with her into intense suffering unless they repent of her works. 23 I will also put her children to death. Thus, shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and mind and that I will give each of you what your works deserve.” (Rev 2:20–23)
But, O Pure Love, O Divine Exactor, from whom nothing may be hidden, what reproaches do you give to your pastor, to which you have given such great praises? O God, with your purity, all other purity is impure! O pastors, governors of the flock of Jesus Christ, your call is strong, and what an accounting you will have to render. It is not enough for you to be holy yourself, but for others to also be holy. And God is not content that you banish these types of sins from your heart, but that you banish them from your church and from the middle of your flock. Sins such as fornication and adultery rob God of the honor we give him.
We must give God honor because otherwise we have a fornication of the heart and an adultery of the spirit. This is a thousand times more dangerous and evil than that of the body because it removes our heart and spirit from God to whom they belong uniquely. Once removed, they prostitute themselves to idols or to infamous creatures.
This miserable Jezebel signifies the corrupt nature taking the spirit away from the attachment to God to
