A revelation which blessed Francis showed to Lady Bridget wherein he invited her
to his chamber to eat and to drink and explained to her spiritually that his chamber
was obedience and that his food was to convert souls to God and that his drink was
to see his converts loving God with all their strength and fervently absorbed in
prayer and in the other virtues.
On the feast of Saint Francis in his church in Trastevere in Rome, Saint
Francis appeared to the same bride of Christ and said to her, "Come into my
chamber to eat and to drink with me." When she heard this, she at once prepared
for a journey in order to visit him in Assisi. After she had stayed there five days,
she decided to return to Rome and entered the church to recommend herself and her
loved ones to Saint Francis. He then appeared to her and said: "Welcome! For I
invited you into my chamber to eat and to drink with me. Know now that this
building is not the chamber that I mentioned to you. No, my chamber is true
obedience, to which I always so held that I never endured to be without an
instructor. For I continually had with me a priest whose every instruction I humbly
obeyed, and this was my chamber. Therefore do likewise, for this is pleasing to
God.
My food, however, whereby I was refreshed with delight, was the fact that I
most willingly drew my neighbors away from the vanities of worldly life to serve
God with the whole of their hearts; and I then swallowed that joy as if it were the
sweetest morsels. My drink, however, was that joy I had while I saw some whom I
had converted loving God, devoting themselves with all their strength to prayer and
contemplation, teaching others to live good lives, and imitating true poverty.
Behold, daughter: that drink so gladdened my soul that, for me, all things in the
world lost their taste. Enter, therefore, into this chamber of mine; and eat this, my
food; and drink this drink with me. Drink it so that you may be refreshed with God
eternally."
Revelations and Prophecies Imparted to St. Bridget
