When he had been lifted up on high, he was ordered by the angels that conducted him to look back upon the world. Upon which, casting his eyes downward, he saw, as it were, a dark and obscure valley underneath him. He also saw four fires in the air, not far distant from each other. Then asking the angels, what fires those were? he was told, they were the fires which would kindle and consume the world. One of them was of falsehood, when we do not fulfil that which we promised in baptism, to renounce the Devil and all his works. The next of covetousness, when we prefer the riches of the world to the love of heavenly things. The third of discord, when we make no difficulty to offend the minds of out neighbors even in needless things. The fourth of iniquity, when we look upon it as no crime to rob and to defraud the weak.
The Venerable Bede on a vision of Saint Fursey
It is helpful to meet some of the more “obscure” saints through your blog – thank you for introducing them to us! I did a little more reading about the Irish St. Fursey. I guess he had many visions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven – some think that these well-known (at the time) visions may have later influenced Dante. I don’t know if that is true but it’s remarkable.
Visions of saints Cathy make for fascinating reading. They often give us a “shock of recognition” as they are frequently so applicable to our own times. There is little new as to either virtue or sin.