Chapter 21

It is God's will, as to mine understanding, that we have Three¹ Manners of Beholding His blessed Passion. The First is: the hard Pain that He suffered,—[beholding it] with contrition and compassion. And that shewed our Lord in this time, and gave me strength and grace to see it.

As I understand it, God wants us to contemplate his blessed Passion in three¹ ways. The first is to contemplate the intense pain he suffered with sorrow for sin and compassion. Our Lord showed me his suffering at this time and gave me strength and grace to see it.

And I looked for the departing with all my might, and thought to have seen the body all dead; but I saw Him not so. And right in the same time that methought, by the seeming, the life might no longer last and the Shewing of the end behoved needs to be,—suddenly (I beholding in the same Cross), He changed [the look of] His blessed Countenance.² The changing of His blessed Countenance changed mine, and I was as glad and merry as it was possible. Then brought our Lord merrily to my mind: Where is now any point of the pain, or of thy grief? And I was full merry.

I watched with all my might for him to die, expecting to see his body completely dead. But I did not see him that way. At that very moment, it seemed to me that his life could last no longer. The vision of the end had to come. Suddenly, as I looked at him on the same Cross, he changed the expression on his blessed face.² The change in his blessed face changed my own, and I was as glad and joyful as possible. Then our Lord joyfully brought this thought to my mind: Where is any part of the pain or your grief now? And I was very joyful.

I understood that we be now, in our Lord's meaning, in His Cross with Him in His pains and His Passion, dying; and we, willingly abiding in the same Cross with His help and His grace unto the last point, suddenly He shall change His Cheer to us, and we shall be with Him in Heaven. Betwixt that one and that other shall be no time, and then shall all be brought to joy. And thus said He in this Shewing: Where is now any point of thy pain, or thy grief? And we shall be full blessed.

I understood that, in our Lord's sight, we are now on the Cross with him, dying in his pain and suffering. If we willingly remain on that Cross to the very end, with his help and grace, he will suddenly turn a joyful face toward us. Then we shall be with him in Heaven. No time will pass between the one and the other, and then all will be brought to joy. And so he said in this revelation: Where is any trace of your pain or grief now? And we shall be fully blessed.

And here saw I verily that if He shewed now [to] us His Blissful Cheer, there is no pain in earth or in other place that should aggrieve us; but all things should be to us joy and bliss. But because He sheweth to us time of His Passion, as He bare it in this life, and His Cross, therefore we are in distress and travail, with Him, as our frailty asketh. And the cause why He suffereth [it to be so,] is for [that] He will of His goodness make us the higher with Him in His bliss; and for this little pain that we suffer here, we shall have an high endless knowing in God which we could³ never have without that. And the harder our pains have been with Him in His Cross, the more shall our worship⁴ be with Him in His Kingdom.

And here I truly saw that if he showed us his blissful face now, no pain on earth or elsewhere would trouble us. Instead, all things would be joy and bliss to us. But he shows us the time of his Passion, as he endured it in this life, and his Cross. Therefore, we suffer distress and hardship with him, as our weakness requires. He allows this because, in his goodness, he wants to raise us higher with him in his bliss. For the little pain we suffer here, we shall have a deep and endless knowledge of God. We could³ never have this knowledge without that pain. And the harder our pains have been with him on his Cross, the greater our honor⁴ shall be with him in his Kingdom.