Prophetic warning of St. Ambrose against the evil bishops : ~ Revelations to Saint Bridget

AMBROSE; 

Now mystically, the abomination of desolation is the coming of Antichrist, for with ill-omened sacrilege he pollutes the innermost recesses of the heart, sitting as it is literally in the temple, that he may claim to himself the throne of divine power. But according to the spiritual meaning, he is well brought in, because he desires to impress firmly on the affections the footstep of his unbelief, disputing from the Scriptures that he is Christ. Then shall come desolation, for very many falling away shall depart from the true religion. Then shall be the day of the Lord, since as His first coming was to redeem sin, so also His second shall be to subdue iniquity, lest more should be carried away by the error of unbelief. There is also another Antichrist, that is, the Devil, who is trying to besiege Jerusalem, i.e. the peaceful soul, with the hosts of his law. When then the Devil is in the midst of the temple, there is the desolation of abomination. But when upon any one in trouble the spiritual presence of Christ has shone, the unjust one is cast out, and righteousness begins her reign. There is also a third Antichrist, as Arius and Sabellius and all who with evil purpose lead us astray. But these are they who are with child, to whom woe is denounced, who enlarge the size of their flesh, and the step of whose inmost soul waxes slow, as those who are worn out in virtue, pregnant with vice. But neither do those with child escape condemnation, who though firm in the resolution of good acts, have not yet yielded any fruits of the work undertaken. These are those which conceive from fear of God, but do not all bring forth. For there are some which thrust forth the word abortive before their delivery. There are others too which have Christ in the womb, but have not yet formed Him. Therefore she who brings forth righteousness, brings forth Christ. Let us also hasten to nourish our children, lest the day of judgment or death find us as it were the parents of an imperfect offspring. And this you will do if you keep all the words of righteousness in your heart, and wait not the time of old age, but in your earliest years, without corruption of your body, quickly conceive wisdom, quickly nourish it. But at the end shall all Judea be made subject to the nations which shall believe, by the mouth of the spiritual sword, which is the two-edged word. (The Catena Aurea Gospel of Saint Luke - Saint Thomas Aquinas)

The Prophecies & Revelations of St. Bridget

BOOK 3 PART I Chapter 6

"I am Bishop Ambrose. I am appearing to you and speaking with you in allegory because your heart is unable to receive a spiritual message without some physical comparison. Once there was a man whose lawfully wedded wife was charming and prudent. However, he liked the housemaid better than his wife. This had three consequences. 

    The first is that the words and gestures of the housemaid delighted him more than those of his wife. 

    The second is that he dressed the housemaid up in fine clothes without caring that his wife was dressed in common rags. 

    The third is that he was accustomed to spending nine hours with the housemaid and only the tenth hour with his wife. 

• He spent the first hour at the housemaid's side, enjoying himself in gazing on her beauty.
• He spent the second hour sleeping in her arms.
• He spent the third hour cheerfully doing manual labor for the sake of the housemaid's comfort.
• He spent the fourth hour taking physical rest with her after his physical toil.
• He spent the fifth hour restless in his mind and worrying about how to provide for her.
• He spent the sixth hour at rest with her, seeing now that she fully approved of what he had done for her.
• At the seventh hour the fire of carnal lust entered into him.
• He spent the eighth hour satisfying his willful lust with her.
• In the ninth hour he neglected certain tasks that he nevertheless would have liked to carry out.
• He spent the tenth hour doing some tasks that he did not feel like doing. And only during this hour did he stay with his wife.

    One of his wife's relatives came to the adulterer and reproached him strongly, saying: 'Turn the affection of your mind toward your lawfully wedded wife. Love her and clothe her as is fitting, and spend nine hours with her and only the tenth hour with the housemaid. If not, beware, because you will die a horrible and sudden death.'

    By this adulterer I refer to someone who holds the office of bishop for the sake of providing for the Church but, in spite of that, leads an adulterous life. 

    He is joined to the holy Church in spiritual union so that she should be his dearest bride, but he withdraws his affections from her and loves the servile world much more than his noble lady and bride. Thus, he does three things. 

    First, he rejoices more in the fraudulent adulation of the world than in an obedient disposition toward the holy Church. 

    Second, he loves worldly decorations, but cares little about the lack of material or spiritual decoration of the Church. 

      Third, he spends nine hours on the world and only one of ten on the holy church. Accordingly, 

• He spends the first hour in good cheer, gazing on the beauty of the world with delight.
• He spends the second hour sleeping sweetly in the arms of the world, that is, amid its high fortifications and the vigilance of its armies, happily confident in possessing physical security because of these things.
• He spends the third hour cheerfully doing manual labor for the sake of worldly advantage in order that he might obtain the physical enjoyment of the world.
• He spends the fourth hour gladly taking physical rest after his physical toil, now that he has sufficient means.
• He spends the fifth hour restless in his mind in different ways, worrying about how he can appear to be wise in worldly matters.
• During the sixth hour he experiences an agreeable restfulness of mind, seeing that worldly people everywhere approve of what he has done.
• In the seventh hour he hears and sees worldly pleasures and readily opens his lust for them. This causes a fire to burn impatiently and intolerably in his heart.
• In the eighth hour he carries out in act what before had merely been his burning desire.
• During the ninth hour he negligently omits certain tasks he had wanted to do for worldly motives, so as not to offend those for whom he has a mere natural affection.
• In the tenth hour he cheerlessly performs a few good deeds, afraid that he might be held in scorn and gain a bad reputation or receive a harsh sentence if for some reason he wholly neglected to do them.

    He is accustomed to spending only this tenth hour with the holy Church, doing what good he does not out of love but out of fear. He is, of course, afraid of the punishment of the fires of hell. If he could live forever in physical comfort and with plenty of worldly possessions, he would not care about losing the happiness of heaven. 

    Therefore, I swear by that God Who has no beginning and Who lives without end, and affirm with certainty that, unless he returns to the holy Church soon and spends nine hours with her and only the tenth with the housemaid, that is, with the world - not by loving it but by possessing the wealth and honor of his episcopal office with reluctance, and arranging everything in humility and reasonably for the glory of God - then the spiritual wound in his soul will be as grave as - to make a physical comparison - the wound of a man struck so horribly on his head that his whole body is destroyed down to the soles of his feet, with his veins and muscles bursting, and his bones getting shattered and the marrow flowing out terribly in all directions. 

    As harshly tormented as seems the heart in a body struck so violently in its head and the parts of the body closest to the head that the very soles of its feet are in pain, although they are at the farthest remove, equally harshly tortured will that miserable soul closest to the blast of divine justice appear when in its conscience it sees itself being unbearably wounded on every side."