Dies Irae
Dies irae, dies illa Day of wrath, that day
Solvet saeclum in favilla, Will dissolve the earth in ashes
Teste David cum Sibylla. As David and the Sibyl bear witness.
Quantus tremor est futurus What dread there will be
Quando judex est venturus When the Judge shall come
Cuncta stricte discussurus. To judge all things strictly.
Tuba mirum spargens sonum A trumpet, spreading a wondrous sound
Per sepulcra regionem Through the graves of all lands,
Coget omnes ante thronum. Will drive mankind before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura Death and Nature shall be astonished
Cum resurget creatura When all creation rises again
Judicanti responsura. To answer to the Judge.
Liber scriptus proferetur A book, written in, will be brought forth
In quo totum continetur, In which is contained everything that is
Unde mundus judicetur. Out of which the world shall be judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit When therefore the Judge takes his seat
Quidquid latet apparebit, Whatever is hidden will reveal itself.
Nil inultum remanebit. Nothing will remain unavenged.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, What then shall I say, wretch that I am,
Quem patronum rogaturus, What advocate entreat to speak for me,
Cum vix Justus sit securus? When even the righteous may hardly be secure?
Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awful majesty,
Qui salvanos salvas gratis, Who freely saves the redeemed,
Salve me, fons pietatis… Save me, O fount of goodness…
The trumpet has sounded and the souls have risen from their graves. God is seated on his throne as judge, and St Michael, as clerk of the court, says “Put up the first defendant.”
God sees the defendant and perceives that he has a difficulty. Addressing St Michael he says “I have to acknowledge a family relationship. This is my son, so I must decline jurisdiction.” St Michael, being of quick intelligence, realizes instantly that this applies to every defendant on the court list. He says to God “We will have to find another judge.” God says to St Michael in a loud voice “Who in heaven or earth is fit to judge my sons and daughters? This court is not sitting, never sat and never will sit. I will not even have them judge themselves, for although they have the status, they often judge themselves very harshly.” Then seeing a care-bent soul creeping by ‘with painful steps and slow’ he says “Hello Adolf, where are you going?” “To hell.” “Why are you going there? It’s much more pleasant up here.” “I thought I was a big shot, now I find I am an insignificant pimple, like a dirty fly. I am not worthy to be here.” “Oh, flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but your Father in heaven, who is me. This is a tremendous insight, very precious. Would that more of your contemporaries had come by it. Perhaps being such a big shot has enabled you to see this truth so completely. You will find it a low door to unimaginable glory.” “I find no savour in this. I am so heavy with the weight of six million Jews that I killed.” “Adolf, you are out in your calculation by six million. I received every single one of those six million, men, women and children. I healed them, restored them, and sent some of them out again on other missions. You never killed anybody, not a single one. I permit all things, but killing souls is impossible. It cannot be done.” “This is too much to digest. I am heavy too with the lives of the soldiers of the Fatherland and those of the other countries that I fought, and the damage I caused, and the economies that I ruined, and the relationships that I cracked through death. My name is a synonym for evil, rightly so.” “I was saying to St Michael here that humans tend to judge themselves too harshly. You mentioned ‘Fatherland.’ You probably told your soldiers that they were fighting for the Fatherland, when really it was to make you a big shot. But the others were no better. They said you were the epitome of evil and that their soldiers had to fight the evil, which meant killing large numbers of your young men who had no more idea what they were fighting for than they did. They were told it was for God, King and Country. For me? Really of course, those who mobilized the soldiers thought they were big shots, having imposed themselves on a large empire, and had no intention of letting you be a big shot too. For it is in the nature of big shots that they cannot stand each other. That shows that being a big shot is a lie. ‘Sword and crown betray his trust.’ The truth is love. So please don’t take on so. You have no idea how many pimples have come and gone in the history of this world. I forgive you." "No, you can't. It's too much." "Adolf, my son, If you won't accept forgiveness from me, perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer can give it." "Adolf, I tried to kill you. Please forgive me." "It's a pity you didn't succeed." "Yes, that's what I thought. But each person has to make their own way. I didn't have the right to make that choice for you." "But I did kill you, and deprived our country of your much needed gifts." "Look Adolf, there is nothing dead about me. I forgive you. There is no trade in forgiveness. I ask you for yours, for I need it."
“Dietrich, you need nothing from me. Look how you shine.” “Adolf, you are as I am. There is only one category of human. It is only your thinking that conceals it from you. Come my brother, let us embrace.”
Here comes the nun who, seeing a child frightened by the gas chamber went in with her. Adolf says to her “I suppose you forgive me too.” “There is no unforgiveness here. It cannot exist. Here is the girl I followed into the gas chamber. She is presenting herself as a fully grown young woman.” Adolf, seeing her splendour says “What have I done? I killed you and I didn’t even know you.” “Yes, your killing machine, so very efficient, took no account of individuality. As you see, I am more myself than ever.”
Then he says to God “I am even less of a pimple than I thought. It seems to me that I was not able to do any real damage however hard I tried.” “Do you take me for a bungler, that I should let any ego loose on my heaven to do with it whatever they chose? Isaiah spoke well for me: ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ I do indeed give a completely free hand on earth, so that people say ‘If there was a God He would not allow all this suffering.’ It is like a play, except that everybody is the leading actor and they are learning their lines and their roles as they go along. Setting it up took some doing but by this means I was able to give them free will, and a means of growing in stature. They are encouraged to take on many different roles, to gain the greatest possible experience of being human. A tyrant in one play may be a saint in another. I am proud of it. It is my greatest work.” “No, this young lady is a greater work.” “She is her own work.”
“So what did you pick up from this life just gone?” “It was a rubbish life. I wanted power over people, that is, I wanted them to fear me for their lives, so I was over them. I wanted power over more and more people. And I saw people collectively, not as individuals. So I learned nothing.” “Nothing? You learned that the dream of ages is utterly vacuous. Because of this, you are now able to be a wise and well loved ruler in one of your plays. Perhaps you would like to be a Jew in another.”
“Well now Adolf, how many people did Macbeth kill?” “Is this true about it being a play?” “Oh you’re so funny. I am the truth.” “Well, I don’t see that I need to go to hell for playing a tyrant.” “My thoughts exactly.”
“Well all right then, I accept your forgiveness and that of all these glorious people. Now I am as bright shining as them, but I don’t deserve it.” The nun says “Oh Adolf, none of us do. That is what forgiveness is. I wonder, would you like a new name, like Abram and Saul? You can be Adelphos, brother.”
Adelphos says, despite the tears standing in his eyes, “I consider that there is something missing, for they, er, we pray ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ This seems to be getting further and further from realization.” “Yes, it happens every time. Myriads of souls have graduated from my theatre-school. Some that are left are the ones who have consistently used their free will to turn away from the light, which they are perfectly entitled to do. This makes it more and more intolerable for students of good will. It becomes a black comedy that isn’t funny. Some of my special friends on Earth have begged me to make a separation. What do you think I should do?” “I suppose you can’t grind them to dust. It would be against their free will. I suggest you make another theatre, and take these remedial students out of this and put them in the other theatre. That would open the way for heaven on earth.” “Yes, and I will heal the earth from the miasma left by those souls, and restore her pristine beauty. I shall take all need away, and with it the ability to oppress. All hearts will be open and all desires known, and there can be no lying or deceit. I will not need to tell the remedials to leave! Some of your poets have caught a glimpse of this:
‘When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold’
Not that there is a rotating disk in the heavens mechanically and arbitrarily clicking over ages from one to another. And I need a large number of helpers to bring it about.”
Solvet saeclum in favilla, Will dissolve the earth in ashes
Teste David cum Sibylla. As David and the Sibyl bear witness.
Quantus tremor est futurus What dread there will be
Quando judex est venturus When the Judge shall come
Cuncta stricte discussurus. To judge all things strictly.
Tuba mirum spargens sonum A trumpet, spreading a wondrous sound
Per sepulcra regionem Through the graves of all lands,
Coget omnes ante thronum. Will drive mankind before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura Death and Nature shall be astonished
Cum resurget creatura When all creation rises again
Judicanti responsura. To answer to the Judge.
Liber scriptus proferetur A book, written in, will be brought forth
In quo totum continetur, In which is contained everything that is
Unde mundus judicetur. Out of which the world shall be judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit When therefore the Judge takes his seat
Quidquid latet apparebit, Whatever is hidden will reveal itself.
Nil inultum remanebit. Nothing will remain unavenged.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, What then shall I say, wretch that I am,
Quem patronum rogaturus, What advocate entreat to speak for me,
Cum vix Justus sit securus? When even the righteous may hardly be secure?
Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awful majesty,
Qui salvanos salvas gratis, Who freely saves the redeemed,
Salve me, fons pietatis… Save me, O fount of goodness…
The trumpet has sounded and the souls have risen from their graves. God is seated on his throne as judge, and St Michael, as clerk of the court, says “Put up the first defendant.”
God sees the defendant and perceives that he has a difficulty. Addressing St Michael he says “I have to acknowledge a family relationship. This is my son, so I must decline jurisdiction.” St Michael, being of quick intelligence, realizes instantly that this applies to every defendant on the court list. He says to God “We will have to find another judge.” God says to St Michael in a loud voice “Who in heaven or earth is fit to judge my sons and daughters? This court is not sitting, never sat and never will sit. I will not even have them judge themselves, for although they have the status, they often judge themselves very harshly.” Then seeing a care-bent soul creeping by ‘with painful steps and slow’ he says “Hello Adolf, where are you going?” “To hell.” “Why are you going there? It’s much more pleasant up here.” “I thought I was a big shot, now I find I am an insignificant pimple, like a dirty fly. I am not worthy to be here.” “Oh, flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but your Father in heaven, who is me. This is a tremendous insight, very precious. Would that more of your contemporaries had come by it. Perhaps being such a big shot has enabled you to see this truth so completely. You will find it a low door to unimaginable glory.” “I find no savour in this. I am so heavy with the weight of six million Jews that I killed.” “Adolf, you are out in your calculation by six million. I received every single one of those six million, men, women and children. I healed them, restored them, and sent some of them out again on other missions. You never killed anybody, not a single one. I permit all things, but killing souls is impossible. It cannot be done.” “This is too much to digest. I am heavy too with the lives of the soldiers of the Fatherland and those of the other countries that I fought, and the damage I caused, and the economies that I ruined, and the relationships that I cracked through death. My name is a synonym for evil, rightly so.” “I was saying to St Michael here that humans tend to judge themselves too harshly. You mentioned ‘Fatherland.’ You probably told your soldiers that they were fighting for the Fatherland, when really it was to make you a big shot. But the others were no better. They said you were the epitome of evil and that their soldiers had to fight the evil, which meant killing large numbers of your young men who had no more idea what they were fighting for than they did. They were told it was for God, King and Country. For me? Really of course, those who mobilized the soldiers thought they were big shots, having imposed themselves on a large empire, and had no intention of letting you be a big shot too. For it is in the nature of big shots that they cannot stand each other. That shows that being a big shot is a lie. ‘Sword and crown betray his trust.’ The truth is love. So please don’t take on so. You have no idea how many pimples have come and gone in the history of this world. I forgive you." "No, you can't. It's too much." "Adolf, my son, If you won't accept forgiveness from me, perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer can give it." "Adolf, I tried to kill you. Please forgive me." "It's a pity you didn't succeed." "Yes, that's what I thought. But each person has to make their own way. I didn't have the right to make that choice for you." "But I did kill you, and deprived our country of your much needed gifts." "Look Adolf, there is nothing dead about me. I forgive you. There is no trade in forgiveness. I ask you for yours, for I need it."
“Dietrich, you need nothing from me. Look how you shine.” “Adolf, you are as I am. There is only one category of human. It is only your thinking that conceals it from you. Come my brother, let us embrace.”
Here comes the nun who, seeing a child frightened by the gas chamber went in with her. Adolf says to her “I suppose you forgive me too.” “There is no unforgiveness here. It cannot exist. Here is the girl I followed into the gas chamber. She is presenting herself as a fully grown young woman.” Adolf, seeing her splendour says “What have I done? I killed you and I didn’t even know you.” “Yes, your killing machine, so very efficient, took no account of individuality. As you see, I am more myself than ever.”
Then he says to God “I am even less of a pimple than I thought. It seems to me that I was not able to do any real damage however hard I tried.” “Do you take me for a bungler, that I should let any ego loose on my heaven to do with it whatever they chose? Isaiah spoke well for me: ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ I do indeed give a completely free hand on earth, so that people say ‘If there was a God He would not allow all this suffering.’ It is like a play, except that everybody is the leading actor and they are learning their lines and their roles as they go along. Setting it up took some doing but by this means I was able to give them free will, and a means of growing in stature. They are encouraged to take on many different roles, to gain the greatest possible experience of being human. A tyrant in one play may be a saint in another. I am proud of it. It is my greatest work.” “No, this young lady is a greater work.” “She is her own work.”
“So what did you pick up from this life just gone?” “It was a rubbish life. I wanted power over people, that is, I wanted them to fear me for their lives, so I was over them. I wanted power over more and more people. And I saw people collectively, not as individuals. So I learned nothing.” “Nothing? You learned that the dream of ages is utterly vacuous. Because of this, you are now able to be a wise and well loved ruler in one of your plays. Perhaps you would like to be a Jew in another.”
“Well now Adolf, how many people did Macbeth kill?” “Is this true about it being a play?” “Oh you’re so funny. I am the truth.” “Well, I don’t see that I need to go to hell for playing a tyrant.” “My thoughts exactly.”
“Well all right then, I accept your forgiveness and that of all these glorious people. Now I am as bright shining as them, but I don’t deserve it.” The nun says “Oh Adolf, none of us do. That is what forgiveness is. I wonder, would you like a new name, like Abram and Saul? You can be Adelphos, brother.”
Adelphos says, despite the tears standing in his eyes, “I consider that there is something missing, for they, er, we pray ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ This seems to be getting further and further from realization.” “Yes, it happens every time. Myriads of souls have graduated from my theatre-school. Some that are left are the ones who have consistently used their free will to turn away from the light, which they are perfectly entitled to do. This makes it more and more intolerable for students of good will. It becomes a black comedy that isn’t funny. Some of my special friends on Earth have begged me to make a separation. What do you think I should do?” “I suppose you can’t grind them to dust. It would be against their free will. I suggest you make another theatre, and take these remedial students out of this and put them in the other theatre. That would open the way for heaven on earth.” “Yes, and I will heal the earth from the miasma left by those souls, and restore her pristine beauty. I shall take all need away, and with it the ability to oppress. All hearts will be open and all desires known, and there can be no lying or deceit. I will not need to tell the remedials to leave! Some of your poets have caught a glimpse of this:
‘When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold’
Not that there is a rotating disk in the heavens mechanically and arbitrarily clicking over ages from one to another. And I need a large number of helpers to bring it about.”