Why She Grew Younger

“Listen to me, children. I brought you up in great simplicity and innocence and dignity, because of the mercy of the Lord, who dripped righteousness down on you so that you might be counted righteous and made holy, free of every kind of wickedness and every kind of crookedness. But you do not want to stop your wickedness. [a]

“So listen to me now. Be at peace with one another, look in on one another, take each other’s part, and do not be the only ones to help yourselves to God’s created things, and that in lavish helpings — pass them on to those who go without. Some men draw sickness into their flesh out of too much food, and so ruin their flesh; and the flesh of others, who have no food, is ruined for lack of enough to eat, and their bodies waste away. This failure to share out is bad for you, who have and do not give to those who go without.

“Look at the judgment that is coming. You who are set above the rest, go looking for the hungry while the tower is still unfinished; because once the tower is finished you will want to do good and you will have no room left for it. So watch out, you who preen over your wealth: the ones who go without may groan, and their groaning may go up to the Lord, and you may be shut out with all your goods, outside the tower door.

“So now I say this to you who lead the church and to you who sit in the front seats: do not become like the poison-mixers. The poison-mixers carry their drugs in little boxes; you carry your drug and your venom in your heart. You have grown hard. You will not clean out your hearts and blend your thinking together into one, in a clean heart, so that you may have mercy from the great King. Watch out, children, that these divisions of yours do not rob you of your life. How do you mean to train the Lord’s chosen when you have no training yourselves? So train one another and be at peace among yourselves, and then I too, standing cheerful before the Father, can give an account for all of you to the Lord.”

When she had finished speaking with me, the six young men who were doing the building came and carried her off to the tower, and four others lifted the bench and carried that to the tower as well. I never saw the faces of these four; they were turned away from me. As she was going, I asked her to reveal to me about the three forms she had appeared to me in. She answered: “About that you must ask someone else, so that it may be revealed to you.” [i]

For she had appeared to me, brothers, in the first vision, the one last year, as a very old woman seated on a chair. In the second vision her face was younger, but her flesh and her hair were old, and she stood while she talked to me; and she was more cheerful than the first time. In the third vision she was young all through and strikingly beautiful, and only her hair was old; and she was cheerful right through, and she sat on a bench.

I was badly troubled about all this, wanting to know what the revelation meant, and I see the elderly lady in a vision of the night, saying to me: “Every request needs humility. So fast, and you will get from the Lord what you are asking for.” So I fasted for one day. And that very night a young man appeared to me and said to me: “Why do you keep asking for revelations in your petitions? Be careful: if you ask for too much, you may damage your flesh. These revelations are enough for you. Can you really look at revelations stronger than the ones you have seen?” I answered him: “Sir, I ask only this one thing: that the revelation about the elderly lady’s three forms be made complete.” He answered me: “How long will you people be without sense? It is your double-mindedness that makes you senseless, and the fact that your heart is not turned toward the Lord.” I answered him again: “But from you, sir, we will learn these things more exactly.”

He said: “Listen, then, about the forms you are asking about. In the first vision, why did she appear to you as an old woman, seated on a chair? Because your spirit is old, already withered, with no power left in it, worn down by your weaknesses and your double-mindedness. Old men have no hope left of being made new, and they expect nothing except their falling asleep; and in the same way you have gone soft under the business of daily life and handed yourselves over to a sagging listlessness, and you have not thrown your cares onto the Lord. Instead your mind was crushed, and you grew old in your griefs.” “Then why was she sitting on a chair? I wanted to know that, sir.” “Because anyone who is weak sits on a chair on account of his weakness, so that the weakness of his body may be held up. There — you have the picture of the first vision.” [m]

“Now in the second vision you saw her standing, her face younger and more cheerful than before, but her flesh and her hair old. Listen to this parable as well. A man has grown old; because of his weakness and his poverty he has already given up on himself, and he expects nothing but the last day of his life. Then all at once an inheritance is left to him. When he hears of it he gets up, and in his great joy he puts on strength. He does not lie stretched out any more; he stands. His spirit, already ruined by the way he lived before, is made new, and he no longer sits, but goes at things like a man. That is what happened to you too, when you heard the revelation the Lord revealed to you — that he had pity on you, and made your spirits new, and you laid your weaknesses aside, and strength came to you, and you were made strong in faith. And when the Lord saw how strong you had grown, he was glad. That is why he showed you the building of the tower; and he will show you other things too, if you are at peace with one another out of a whole heart.” [p]

“Now in the third vision you saw her younger, and beautiful, and cheerful, and her form was lovely. It is like this: when good news comes to a person who is grieving, he forgets his old griefs at once and expects nothing but the news he has heard, and from then on he is made strong for what is good, and his spirit is made new because of the joy he has been given. In the same way you too have received a renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things. And as for your seeing her sitting on a bench — that is a strong position, because a bench has four legs and stands firmly; the world, too, is held together by four elements. So those who have repented completely will be young and firmly founded — those who have repented out of a whole heart. You have the revelation in full. Ask for nothing more about revelations. If anything is needed, it will be revealed to you.” [q]