Quodvultdeus

In his own words on Revelation

• Revelation 12:4

  Our holy mother church has received you in her womb through the most sacred sign of the cross and with the greatest joy will give birth spiritually as she did also with your brothers. As new and future offspring of such a mother, until she restores to the true Light those born anew through the sacred washing, she feeds in her womb those whom she is carrying with suitable food, and she who is joyful leads those who are joyful to the day of their birth. She does not possess the mind and thought of Eve, who in sadness and in groaning brings forth sons who are themselves without joy but full of lamentation. What that [mother] bound, this [mother] has loosened, so that as [Eve] gave over to death her offspring through her disobedience, this [mother] restores to life through her obedience. All the mysteries that have been done and are being done among you through the ministry of the servants of God—the exorcisms, prayers, spiritual songs, insufflations, the coarse garment, the bowing of the neck, the humility of the feet—all of these things, as I have said, are food that refreshes us in the womb and makes us strong, so that when we have been reborn through baptism, our mother might bring us happy to Christ. And you have received the symbol, the protection of her who desires to bring you to birth against the poison of the serpent. It is written in the Apocalypse of the apostle John that the dragon stood before a woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. We all know that the dragon is the devil and that that woman signifies the Virgin Mary, who remaining intact gave birth to our Head who was complete. She herself presents in herself a figure of the holy church, so that just as she remained a virgin while giving birth to a son, so also [the church] at all times brings forth his members without losing her virginity.

  ON THE SYMBOL 3.1.1-6