Signs of the Times  

      October 8 -- ST. BRIDGET OF SWEDEN
 
     Bridget was bornof the Swedish royal family in 1304.  In obedience to her father, she was married to Prince Ulpho of sweden and became the mother of eight children; one of whom, Catherine, is honored as a saint.  After some years, she and her husband separated by mutual consent.  He entered the Cistercian Order and Bridget founded the Order of St. Saviour in the abbey of Wasteiin Sweden.  In 1344, she became a widow and thenceforth received a series of the most sublime revelations, all of which she scrupulously submitted to the judgment of her confessor.  By the command of Our Lord, Bridget went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and amidst the very scenes of the Passion was further instructed in the sacred mysteries.  She died in 1373.

     Among her many writings, her most famous treatise is the "Life and Revelations of St. Birgitta of Sweden."  Many revelations were given to her by Our Lord and following is an excerpt:

      "....As to why the saints are not seen as they now exist, I answer: If my saints were seen openly and visibly spoke, they would be honored as I Myself; and then too, faith would have no merit.  Nor would the frailty of flesh be strong enough to see them.  Moreover, My Justice does not will that such brightness be seen by such frailty.  Therefore, My saints are not heard or seen, as they now exist, in order that all honor may be shown to Me and that man may know that no one is to be loved above Me.  However, if My saints do sometimes appear, they do so, not in that form of glory in which they truly exist , but in that form in which--by hiding the fullness of their virtue--they can be seen without disturbing a corporeal intelligence......"


     "....As to why the demons do not appear visibly, I answer:  If their horrible deformity were seen as it now exists, a soul seeing this would go out of its mind at the very sight; the whole body would begin to quiver like a trembling man's; drained by fear, the heart would die; and the feet would not be strong enough to support the other limbs.  Therefore, in order that the soul may remain stable in its sense, that the heart may be vigilant in its love for Me, and that the body may be capable of laboring in My service, the demon's deformity is hidden--and so that the demons' evil endeavor may be restrained...."