First question. When these things had been said, the same religious appeared on his rung as before and said: "O Judge, I ask you: Why do you seem so unfair in your gifts and graces that you preferred your mother Mary to every other creature and exalted her above the angels?

Second question. "Item. Why did you give the angels a spirit without flesh and the gift of being in heavenly joy, whereas to man you gave an earthen vessel and a spirit - and birth with wailing, life with labor, and death with sorrow?"

Third question. "Item. Why did you give man a rational intellect and senses, whereas to animals you did not give reason?"

Fourth question. "Item. Why did you give life to animals, but not to the other created things that lack senses?"

Fifth question. "Item. Why is there not such light at night as there is in the day?"

Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, in my Godhead all that is going to exist or happen is foreseen and foreknown from the beginning as if it had already occurred. The fall of man was foreknown, and out of God's justice it was permitted; but it was not caused by God and did not have to happen because of God's foreknowledge. Foreknown too from eternity was man's liberation, which was to happen out of God's mercy. You now ask why I preferred my mother Mary to all others and loved her more than any other creature. It was because the special mark of virtues was found in her.

When a fire is kindled and many logs surround it, the log most apt and efficient for combustion will be the quickest to catch the flame and burn. So it was with Mary. For when the fire of divine love - which in itself is changeless and eternal - began to kindle and appear and when the Godhead willed to become incarnate, no creature was more apt and efficient for receiving this fire of love than the Virgin Mary; for no creature burned with such charity as she. And although her charity was revealed and shown at the end of time, it was nevertheless foreseen before the beginning of the world. And so, from eternity, it was predetermined in the Godhead that as no one was found comparable to her in charity, so too no one would be her equal in grace and blessing."

Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I gave the angel a spirit without flesh, I answer: In the beginning and before time and the ages, I created spirits in order that of their own free choice they might live according to my will and thus rejoice in my goodness and glory. But some of them took pride in their goodness and did evil to themselves by using their free will in an inordinate way. And because there was nothing evil in nature and creation except the inordinacy of their individual wills, they therefore fell. But other spirits chose to take their stand in humility under me, their God; and therefore they merited eternal stability. For it is right and just that I, God, who am an uncreated spirit and the Creator and Lord of all, should also have in my service spirits more subtle and swift than other creatures.

And because it was not fitting for me to have any diminishment in my hosts, I therefore created, in place of those who fell, another creature - namely, man - who, through his free choice and his good will, might merit the same dignity that the angels deserted. And so, if man had a soul and no flesh, he would not be able to merit so sublime a good nor even be able to labor. The body was joined to the soul for the attainment of eternal honor. Therefore, man's tribulations increase in order that he may experience his free will and his infirmities, to the end that he may not be proud. And so that he may desire the glory for which he was created and that he may undo the disobedience that he voluntarily committed, he has therefore been given, out of divine justice, a tearful entrance and a tearful exit and a life full of toils."

Response to the third question. "Item. As to why animals do not have a rational intellect as man does, I answer you: Everything that has been created is for man's use or for his needs and sustenance or for his instruction and reproof or for his consolation and humiliation. But if brutes had intelligence as man does, they would certainly be a trouble to him, causing harm rather than profit. Therefore, in order that all things may be subject to man - for whom all things were made - and that all things might fear him, while he himself is to fear no one but me, his God, animals have not been given a rational intellect."

Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why insensate things have no life, I answer: Everything that lives is going to die, and every living thing moves unless it is impeded by some obstacle. If, therefore, insensate things had life, they would move against man rather than for him. And so, in order that everything might be for man's solace, higher beings - namely, the angels, with whom man shares reason and immortality of the soul - have been given to man for his protection; and lower beings, whether they are sensate or not, have been given to him for his use and sustenance and instruction and training."

Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why it is not always daylight, I will answer you by means of an example. Under every vehicle, i.e., a cart, there are wheels so that the burden placed upon it may be more easily moved; and the back wheels follow those in front. A similarity exists in spiritual matters. For the world is a great burden, burdening man with worries and troubles. And no wonder; for when man disdained the place of rest, it was right that he experienced a place of work. Therefore, in order that the burden of this world may be more easily borne by man, mercifully there comes a change and alternation of times - namely: day and night, summer and winter - for the sake of man's exercise and his rest.

When contrary things come together - namely, the strong and the weak - it is reasonable to condescend to the weak so that it can exist beside the strong; otherwise the weak would be annihilated. So it also is with man. Even though, in the strength of his immortal soul, man could continue forever in contemplation and labor, nevertheless the strength of his weak body would fail. For this reason, light has been made so that man, who has a common bond with higher and lower beings, may be able to subsist by laboring in the day and remembering the sweetness of the everlasting light that he lost. Night has been made that he may rest his body with the will of coming to that place where there is neither night nor labor, but rather everlasting day and eternal glory."