The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena

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           Title: Dialog of Catherine of Siena
      Creator(s): Catherine of Siena, St. (1347-1380)
   CCEL Subjects: All; Mysticism; Theology; Proofed
      LC Call no: BV5080
     LC Subjects:

                  Practical theology

                  Practical religion. The Christian life

                  Mysticism
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                    The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena

    Translated by Algar Thorold

   "Man is placed above all creatures, and not beneath them, and he cannot
   be satisfied or content except in something greater than himself.
   Greater than himself there is nothing but Myself, the Eternal God.
   Therefore I alone can satisfy him, and, because he is deprived of this
   satisfaction by his guilt, he remains in continual torment and pain.
   Weeping follows pain, and when he begins to weep, the wind strikes the
   tree of self-love, which he has made the principle of all his being."
   (Page 203). This work was dictated by Saint Catherine of Siena during a
   state of ecstasy while in dialogue with God the Father. Saint Catherine
   of Siena (1347-1380) was declared a Doctor of the Church on October 4,
   1970.
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             THE DIALOGUE OF THE SERAPHIC VIRGIN CATHERINE OF SIENA

    DICTATED BY HER, WHILE IN A STATE OF ECSTASY,

    TO HER SECRETARIES, AND COMPLETED

    IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1370

        TOGETHER WITH

        AN ACCOUNT OF HER DEATH BY AN EYE-WITNESS

        TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL ITALIAN, AND PRECEDED BY AN INTRODUCTION ON
        THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SAINT, BY

        ALGAR THOROLD

        A NEW AND ABRIDGED EDITION

   Originally published in 1907 by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.,
   Ltd., London.

   Digitized by Harry Plantinga, planting@cs.pitt.edu, 1994.

   This etext is in the public domain.
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                                    CONTENTS

   INTRODUCTION

   A TREATISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE

   A TREATISE OF DISCRETION

   A TREATISE OF PRAYER

   A TREATISE OF OBEDIENCE
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                     THE DIALOGUE OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
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INTRODUCTION

   It would be hard to say whether the Age of the Saints, le moyen ?ge
   ?norme et d?licat, has suffered more at the hands of friends or foes.
   It is at least certain that the medieval period affects those who
   approach it in the manner of a powerful personality who may awaken love
   or hatred, but cannot be passed over with indifference. When the
   contempt of the eighteenth century for the subject, the result of that
   century's lack of historic imagination, was thawed by the somewhat
   rhetorical enthusiasm of Chateaubriand and of the Romanticists beyond
   the Rhine, hostility gave place to an undiscriminating admiration. The
   shadows fell out of the picture; the medieval time became a golden age
   when heaven and earth visibly mingled, when Christian society reached
   the zenith of perfection which constituted it a model for all
   succeeding ages. Then came the German professors with all the
   paraphernalia of scientific history, and, looking through their
   instruments, we, who are not Germans, have come to take a more critical
   and, perhaps, a juster view of the matter. The Germans, too, have had
   disciples of other nations, and though conclusions on special points
   may differ, in every country now at a certain level of education, the
   same views prevail as to the principles on which historical
   investigation should be conducted. And yet, while no one with a
   reputation to lose would venture on any personal heresy as to the
   standards of legitimate evidence, the same facts still seem to lead
   different minds to differing appreciations. For history, written solely
   ad narrandum, is not history; the historian's task is not over when he
   has disinterred facts and established dates: it is then that the most
   delicate part of his work begins. History, to be worthy of the name,
   must produce the illusion of living men and women, and, in order to do
   this successfully, must be based, not only upon insight into human
   nature in general, but also upon personal appreciation of the
   particular men and women engaged in the episodes with which it deals.
   With facts as such, there can indeed be no tampering; but for the
   determination of their significance, of their value, as illustrative of
   a course of policy or of the character of those who were responsible
   for their occurrence, we have to depend in great measure on the
   personality of the historian. It is evident that a man who lacks the
   sympathetic power to enter into the character that he attempts to
   delineate, will hardly be able to make that character live for us. For
   in Art as well as Life, sympathy is power.

   Now, while this is true of all history whatever, it is perhaps truer of
   the history of the middle ages than of that of any more recent period,
   nor is the reason of this far to seek. The middle ages were a period
   fruitful in great individuals who molded society, to an extent that
   perhaps no succeeding period has been. In modern times the formula, an
   abstraction such as "Capital" or the "Rights of Man" has largely taken
   the place of the individual as a plastic force. The one great Tyrant of
   the nineteenth century found his opportunity in the anarchy which
   followed the French Revolution. The spoil was then necessarily to the
   strong. But even Napoleon was conquered at last rather by a conspiracy
   of the slowly developing anonymous forces of his time than by the
   superior skill or strength of an individual rival. The lion could
   hardly have been caught in such meshes in the trecento. Then, the fate
   of populations was bound up with the animosities of princes, and, in
   order to understand the state of Europe at any particular moment of
   that period, it is necessary to understand the state of soul of the
   individuals who happened, at the time, to be the political
   stakeholders.

   It must not be thought, however, that the personality of the prince was
   the only power in the medieval state, for the prince himself was held
   to be ultimately amenable to an idea, which so infinitely transcended
   earthly distinctions as to level them all in relation to itself.
   Religion was in those days a mental and social force which we, in spite
   of the petulant acerbity of modern theological controversies, have
   difficulty in realizing. Prince and serf would one day appear as
   suppliants before the Judgment-seat of Christ, and the theory of
   medieval Christianity was considerably in favor of the serf. The Father
   of Christendom, at once Priest and King, anointed and consecrated as
   the social exponent of the Divine Justice, could not, in his own
   person, escape its rigors, but must, one day, render an account of his
   stewardship. Nor did the medieval mind, distinguishing between the
   office and the individual, by any means shrink from contemplating the
   fate of the faithless steward. In a "Last Judgment" by Angelico at
   Florence, the ministers of justice seem to have a special joy in
   hurrying off to the pit popes and cardinals and other ecclesiastics.

   For it is an insufficient criticism that has led some to suppose that
   the medieval Church weighed on the conscience of Christendom solely, or
   even primarily, as an arbitrary fact: that the priesthood, aided by the
   ignorance of the people, succeeded in establishing a monstrous claim to
   control the destinies of the soul by quasi-magical agencies and the
   powers of excommunication. Nothing can be further from the truth.
   Probably at no period has the Christian conscience realized more
   profoundly that the whole external fabric of Catholicism, its
   sacraments, its priesthood, its discipline, was but the phenomenal
   expression, necessary and sacred in its place, of the Idea of
   Christianity, that the vitality of that Idea was the life by which the
   Church lived, and that by that Idea all Christians, priests as well as
   laymen, rulers as well as subjects, would at the last be judged. When
   Savonarola replied to the Papal Legate, who, in his confusion,
   committed the blunder of adding to the formula of excommunication from
   the Church Militant, a sentence of exclusion from the Church
   Triumphant, "You cannot do it," he was in the tradition of medieval
   orthodoxy. Moreover, even though the strict logic of her theory might
   have required it, the hierarchical Church was not considered as the
   sole manifestation of the Divine Will to Christendom. The unanimity
   with which the Christian idea was accepted in those times made the
   saint a well-known type of human character just as nowadays we have the
   millionaire or the philanthropist. Now the saint, although under the
   same ecclesiastical dispensation as other Christians, was conceived to
   have his own special relations with God, which amounted almost to a
   personal revelation. In particular he was held to be exempt from many
   of the limitations of fallen humanity. His prayers were of certain
   efficacy; the customary uniformities of experience were thought to be
   constantly transcended by the power that dwelt within him; he was often
   accepted by the people as the bearer to Christendom of a Divine message
   over and above the revelation of which the hierarchy was the legitimate
   guardian. Not infrequently indeed that message was one of warning or
   correction to the hierarchy. Sabatier points out truly that the
   medieval saints occupied much the same relation to the ecclesiastical
   system as the Prophets of Israel had done, under the older
   dispensation, to the Jewish Priesthood. They came out of their
   hermitages or cloisters, and with lips touched by coal from the altar
   denounced iniquity wherever they found it, even in the highest places.
   It is needless to say that they were not revolutionaries--had they been
   so indeed the state of Europe might have been very different today; for
   them, as for other Christians, the organization of the Church was
   Divine; it was by the sacred responsibilities of his office that they
   judged the unworthy pastor.

   An apt illustration of this attitude occurs in the life of the Blessed
   Colomba of Rieti. Colomba, who was a simple peasant, was called to the
   unusual vocation of preaching. The local representatives of the Holy
   Office, alarmed at the novelty, imprisoned her and took the opportunity
   of a visit of Alexander VI. to the neighboring town of Perugia to bring
   her before his Holiness for examination. When the saint was brought
   into the Pope's presence, she reverently kissed the hem of his garment,
   and, being overcome with devotion at the sight of the Vicar of Christ,
   fell into an ecstasy, during which she invoked the Divine judgment on
   the sins of Rodrigo Borgia. It was useless to attempt to stop her; she
   was beyond the control of inquisitor or guards; the Pope had to hear
   her out. He did so; proclaimed her complete orthodoxy, and set her free
   with every mark of reverence. In this highly characteristic episode
   scholastic logic appears, for once, to have been justified, at perilous
   odds, of her children. . . .

   * * *

   Midway between sky and earth hangs a City Beautiful: Siena, Vetus
   Civitas Virginis. The town seems to have descended as a bride from airy
   regions, and lightly settled on the summits of three hills which it
   crowns with domes and clustering towers. As seen from the vineyards
   which clothe the slopes of the hills or with its crenellated wall and
   slender-necked Campanile silhouetted against the evening sky from the
   neighboring heights of Belcaro, the city is familiar to students of the
   early Italian painters. It forms the fantastic and solemn background of
   many a masterpiece of the trecentisti, and seems the only possible
   home, if home they can have on earth, of the glorified persons who
   occupy the foreground. It would create no surprise to come, while
   walking round the ancient walls, suddenly, at a turn in the road, on
   one of the sacred groups so familiarly recurrent to the memory in such
   an environment: often indeed one experiences a curious illusion when a
   passing friar happens for a moment to "compose" with cypress and
   crumbling archway.

   Siena, once the successful rival of Florence in commerce, war, and
   politics, has, fortunately for the more vital interests which it
   represents, long desisted from such minor matters. Its worldly ruin has
   been complete for more than five hundred years; in truth the town has
   never recovered from the plague which, in the far-off days of 1348,
   carried off 80,000 of its population. Grassy mounds within the city
   walls mark the shrinking of the town since the date of their erection,
   and Mr. Murray gives its present population at less than 23,000. The
   free Ghibelline Republic which, on that memorable 4th of September
   1260, defeated, with the help of Pisa, at Monte Aperto, the combined
   forces of the Guelf party in Tuscany, has now, after centuries of
   servitude to Spaniard and Austrian, to be content with the somewhat
   pinchbeck dignity of an Italian Prefettura. At least the architectural
   degradation which has overtaken Florence at the hands of her modern
   rulers has been as yet, in great measure, spared to Siena. Even the
   railway has had the grace to conceal its presence in the folds of olive
   which enwrap the base of the hill on which the city is set.

   Once inside the rose-colored walls, as we pass up the narrow, roughly
   paved streets between lines of palaces, some grim and massive like Casa
   Tolomei, built in 1205, others delicate specimens of Italian Gothic
   like the Palazzo Saracini, others again illustrating the combination of
   grace and strength which marked the domestic architecture of the
   Renaissance at its prime, like the Palazzo Piccolomini, we find
   ourselves in a world very remote indeed from anything with which the
   experience of our own utilitarian century makes us familiar. And yet,
   as we rub our eyes, unmistakably a world of facts, though of facts, as
   it were, visibly interpreted by the deeper truth of an art whose
   insistent presence is on all sides of us. Here is Casa Tolomei, a huge
   cube of rough-hewn stone stained to the color of tarnished silver with
   age, once the home of that Madonna Pia whose story lives forever in the
   verse of Dante. Who shall distinguish between her actual tale of days
   and the immortal life given her by the poet? In her moment of suffering
   at least she has been made eternal. And not far from that ancient
   fortress-home, in a winding alley that can hardly be called a street,
   is another house of medieval Siena--no palace this time, but a small
   tradesman's dwelling. In the fourteenth century it belonged to Set
   Giacomo Benincasa, a dyer. Part of it has now been converted into a
   chapel, over the door of which are inscribed the words: Sponsae Xti
   Katerinae Domus. Here, on March 5, 1347, being Palm Sunday, was born
   Giacomo's daughter Caterina, who still lives one of the purest glories
   of the Christian Church under the name of St. Catherine of Siena. More
   than 500 years have passed since the daughter of the Siennese dyer
   entered into the rest of that sublime and touching symbolism under
   which the Church half veils and half reveals her teaching as to the
   destiny of man. Another case, but how profoundly more significant than
   that of poor Madonna Pia, of the intertwining of the world of fact with
   the deeper truth of art.

   St. Catherine was born at the same time as a twin-sister, who did not
   survive. Her parents, Giacomo and Lapa Benincasa, were simple
   townspeople, prosperous, and apparently deserving their reputation for
   piety. Lapa, the daughter of one Mucio Piagenti, a now wholly forgotten
   poet, bore twenty-five children to her husband, of whom thirteen only
   appear to have grown up. This large family lived together in the manner
   still obtaining in Italy, in the little house, till the death of
   Giacomo in 1368.

   There are stirring pages enough in Christian hagiology. Who can read
   unmoved of the struggles towards his ideal of an Augustine or a Loyola,
   or of the heroic courage of a Theresa, affirming against all human odds
   the divinity of her mission, and justifying, after years of labor, her
   incredible assertions by the steadfastness of her will? There are other
   pages in the lives of the saints, less dramatic, it may be, but
   breathing, nevertheless, a na*ve grace and poetry all their own: the
   childhood of those servants of Christ who have borne His yoke from the
   dawn of their days forms their charming theme. Here the blasting
   illuminations of the Revelation are toned down to a soft and tender
   glow, in which the curves and lines of natural humanity do but seem
   more pathetically human. The hymn at Lauds for the Feast of the Holy
   Innocents represents those unconscious martyrs as playing with their
   palms and crowns under the very altar of Heaven:--


   "Vos prima Christi victima

   Grex immolatorum tener

   Aram sub ipsam simplices

   Palma et coronis luditis!"

   And so these other saintly babies play at hermits or monasteries
   instead of the soldiers and housekeeping beloved of more secular-minded
   infants. Heaven condescends to their pious revels: we are told of the
   Blessed Hermann Joseph, the Premonstratensian, that his infantile
   sports were joyously shared by the Divine Child Himself. He would be a
   morose pedant indeed who should wish to rationalize this white
   mythology. The tiny Catherine was no exception to the rest of her
   canonized brothers and sisters. At the age of five it was her custom on
   the staircase to kneel and repeat a "Hail Mary" at each step, a
   devotion so pleasing to the angels, that they would frequently carry
   her up or down without letting her feet touch the ground, much to the
   alarm of her mother, who confided to Father Raymond of Capua, the
   Dominican confessor of the family, her fears of an accident. Nor were
   these phenomena the only reward of her infant piety. From the day that
   she could walk she became very popular among her numerous relatives and
   her parents' friends, who gave her the pet name of Euphrosyne, to
   signify the grief-dispelling effect of her conversation, and who were
   constantly inviting her to their houses on some pretext or other. Sent
   one morning on an errand to the house of her married sister
   Bonaventura, she was favored with a beautiful vision which, as it has
   an important symbolical bearing on the great task of her after-life, I
   will relate in Father Raymond's words, slightly abridging their
   prolixity.

   "So it happened that Catherine, being arrived at the age of six, went
   one day with her brother Stephen, who was a little older than herself,
   to the house of their sister Bonaventura, who was married to one
   Niccol?, as has been mentioned above, in order to carry something or
   give some message from their mother Lapa. Their mother's errand
   accomplished, while they were on the way back from their sister's house
   to their own and were passing along a certain valley, called by the
   people Valle Piatta, the holy child, lifting her eyes, saw on the
   opposite side above the Church of the Preaching Friars a most beautiful
   room, adorned with regal magnificence, in which was seated, on an
   imperial throne, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, clothed in
   pontifical vestments, and wearing on His head a papal tiara; with Him
   were the princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, and the holy
   evangelist John. Astounded at such a sight, Catherine stood still, and
   with fixed and immovable look, gazed, full of love, on her Savior, who,
   appearing in so marvelous a manner, in order sweetly to gain her love
   to Himself, fixed on her the eyes of His Majesty, and, with a tender
   smile, lifted over her His right hand, and, making the sign of the Holy
   Cross in the manner of a bishop, left with her the gift of His eternal
   benediction. The grace of this gift was so efficacious, that Catherine,
   beside herself, and transformed into Him upon whom she gazed with such
   love, forgetting not only the road she was on, but also herself,
   although naturally a timid child, stood still for a space with lifted
   and immovable eyes in the public road, where men and beasts were
   continually passing, and would certainly have continued to stand there
   as long as the vision lasted, had she not been violently diverted by
   others. But while the Lord was working these marvels, the child
   Stephen, leaving her standing still, continued his way down hill,
   thinking that she was following, but, seeing her immovable in the
   distance and paying no heed to his calls, he returned and pulled her
   with his hands, saying: What are you doing here? why do you not come?'
   Then Catherine, as if waking from a heavy sleep, lowered her eyes and
   said: Oh, if you had seen what I see, you would not distract me from so
   sweet a vision!' and lifted her eyes again on high; but the vision had
   entirely disappeared, according to the will of Him who had granted it,
   and she, not being able to endure this without pain, began with tears
   to reproach herself for having turned her eyes to earth." Such was the
   "call" of St. Catherine of Siena, and, to a mind intent on mystical
   significance, the appearance of Christ, in the semblance of His Vicar,
   may fitly appear to symbolize the great mission of her after-life to
   the Holy See.

   * * *

   Much might be said of the action of Catherine on her generation. Few
   individuals perhaps have ever led so active a life or have succeeded in
   leaving so remarkable an imprint of their personality on the events of
   their time. Catherine the Peacemaker reconciles warring factions of her
   native city and heals an international feud between Florence and the
   Holy See. Catherine the Consoler pours the balm of her gentle spirit
   into the lacerated souls of the suffering wherever she finds them, in
   the condemned cell or in the hospital ward. She is one of the most
   voluminous of letter-writers, keeping up a constant correspondence with
   a band of disciples, male and female, all over Italy, and last, but not
   least, with the distant Pope at Avignon.

   Her lot was cast on evil days for the Church and the Peninsula. The
   trecento, the apogee of the middle ages was over. Francis and Dominic
   had come and gone, and though Franciscans and Dominicans remained and
   numbered saints among their ranks, still the first fervor of the
   original inspiration was a brightness that had fled. The moral state of
   the secular clergy was, according to Catherine herself, too often one
   of the deepest degradation, while, in the absence of the Pontiff, the
   States of the Church were governed by papal legates, mostly men of
   blood and lust, who ground the starving people under their heel.
   Assuredly it was not from Christian bishops who would have disgraced
   Islam that their subjects could learn the path of peace. The Pope's
   residence at Avignon, the Babylonish Captivity, as it was called, may
   have seemed, at the time when his departure from Rome was resolved
   upon, a wise measure of temporary retreat before the anarchy which was
   raging round the city of St. Peter. But not many years passed before it
   became evident that Philip the Fair, the astute adviser to whose
   counsel--and possibly more than counsel--Clement had submitted in
   leaving Rome, was the only one who profited by the exile of the Pope.
   Whatever the truth may be about the details of Clement's election, so
   far as his subservience to the French king went, he might have remained
   Archbishop of Bordeaux to the end of his days. He accepted for his
   relations costly presents from Philip; he placed the papal authority at
   his service in the gravely suspicious matter of the suppression of the
   Templars. Gradually the Holy See in exile lost its ecumenical character
   and became more and more the vassal of the French crown. Such a decline
   in its position could not fail to affect even its doctrinal prestige.
   It was well enough in theory to apply to the situation such maxims as
   Ubi Petrus ibi Ecclesia, or, as the Avignonese doctors paraphrased it,
   Ubi Papa ibi Roma; but, in practice, Christendom grew shy of a French
   Pope, living under the eye and power of the French king. The Romans,
   who had always treated the Pope badly, were furious when at last they
   had driven him away, and gratified their spite by insulting their
   exiled rulers. Nothing could exceed their contempt for the Popes of
   Avignon, who, as a matter of fact, though weak and compliant, were in
   their personal characters worthy ecclesiastics. They gave no credit to
   John XXII. for his genuine zeal in the cause of learning, or the energy
   with which he restored ecclesiastical studies in the Western Schools.
   For Benedict XII., a retiring and abstemious student, they invented the
   phrase: bibere papaliter--to drink like the Pope. Clement VI. they
   called poco religioso, forgetting his noble charity at the time of the
   plague, and also the fact that Rome herself had produced not a few
   popes whose lives furnished a singular commentary on the ethics of the
   Gospel.

   The real danger ahead to Christendom was the possibility of an Italian
   anti-Pope who should fortify his position by recourse to the heretical
   elements scattered through the peninsula. Those elements were grave and
   numerous. The Fraticelli or Spiritual Franciscans, although crushed for
   the time by the iron hand of Pope Boniface, rather flourished than
   otherwise under persecution. These dangerous heretics had inherited a
   garbled version of the mysticism of Joachim of Flora, which constituted
   a doctrine perhaps more radically revolutionary than that of any
   heretics before or since. It amounted to belief in a new revelation of
   the Spirit, which was to supersede the dispensation of the Son as that
   had taken the place of the dispensation of the Father. According to the
   Eternal Gospel of Gerard of San Domino, who had derived it, not without
   much adroit manipulation, from the writings of Abbot Joachim, the Roman
   Church was on the eve of destruction, and it was the duty of the
   Spirituali, the saints who had received the new dispensation, to fly
   from the contamination of her communion. An anti-Pope who should have
   rallied to his allegiance these elements of schism would have been a
   dangerous rival to a French Pope residing in distant Avignon, however
   legitimate his title. Nor was there wanting outside Italy matter for
   grave anxiety. Germs of heresy were fermenting north of the Alps; the
   preaching of Wycliffe, the semi-Islamism of the Hungarian Beghards, the
   Theism of the Patarini of Dalmatia, the erotic mysticism of the
   Adamites of Paris, indicated a widespread anarchy in the minds of
   Christians. Moreover, the spiritual difficulties of the Pope were
   complicated by his temporal preoccupations. For good or ill, it had
   come to be essential to the action of the Holy See that the successor
   of the penniless fisherman should have his place among the princes of
   the earth.

   The papal monarchy had come about, as most things come about in this
   world, by what seems to have been the inevitable force of
   circumstances. The decay of the Imperial power in Italy due to the
   practical abandonment of the Western Empire--for the ruler of
   Constantinople lived at too great a distance to be an effective Emperor
   of the West--had resulted in a natural increase of secular importance
   to the See of Rome. To the genius of Pope Gregory I., one of the few
   men whom their fellows have named both Saint and Great, was due the
   development of the political situation thus created in Italy.

   Chief and greatest of bishops in his day was St. Gregory the Great.
   Seldom, if ever, has the papal dignity been sustained with such lofty
   enthusiasm, such sagacious political insight. Himself a Roman of Rome,
   Romano di Roma, as those who possess that privilege still call
   themselves today, the instinct of government was his by hereditary
   right. He had the defects as well as the qualities of the statesman.
   His theological writings, which are voluminous and verbose, are marked
   rather by a sort of canonized common sense than by exalted flights of
   spirituality. His missionary enterprise was characterized by a shrewd
   and gracious condescension to the limitations of human nature. Thus he
   counsels St. Augustine, who had consulted him as to the best means of
   extirpating the pagan customs of our English forefathers, to deal
   gently with these ancient survivals. He ruled that the celebration of
   the Festivals of the Sabots should if possible be held at the times and
   places at which the people had been in the habit of meeting together to
   worship the gods. They would thus come to associate the new religion
   with their traditional merry-makings, and their conversion would be
   gradually, and as it were unconsciously, effected. It was a kindly and
   statesmanlike thought. In this way Gregory may truly be looked upon as
   the founder of popular Catholicism, that "pensive use and wont
   religion," not assuredly in the entirety of its details Christian, but
   at least profoundly Catholic, as weaving together in the web of its own
   secular experience of man so large a proportion of the many-colored
   threads that have at any time attached his hopes and fears to the
   mysterious unknown which surrounds him. No miracle is needed to explain
   the political ascendancy which such a man inevitably came to acquire in
   an Italy deserted by the Empire, and, but for him and the organization
   which depended on him, at the mercy of the invading Lombard. More and
   more, people came to look on the Pope as their temporal ruler no less
   than as their spiritual father. In many cases, indeed, his was the only
   government they knew. Kings and nobles had conferred much property on
   the Roman Church. By the end of the sixth century the Bishop of Rome
   held, by the right of such donations to his See, large tracts of
   country, not only in Italy, but also in Sicily, Corsica, Gaul, and even
   Asia and Africa. Gregory successfully defended his Italian property
   against the invaders, and came to the relief of the starving population
   with corn from Sicily and Africa, thus laying deep in the hearts of the
   people the foundations of the secular power of the Papacy.

   It would be an unnecessary digression from our subject to work out in
   detail the stages by which the Pope came to take his place first as the
   Italian vicar of a distant emperor, and at length, as the result of
   astute statecraft and the necessities of the case, among the princes of
   Europe, as their chief and arbiter. So much as has been said was,
   however, necessary for the comprehension of the task with which
   Catherine measured, for the time, successfully her strength. It was
   given to the Popolana of Siena, by the effect of her eloquence in
   persuading the wavering will of the Pope to return to his See, to bring
   about what was, for the moment, the only possible solution of that
   Roman question, which, hanging perpetually round the skirts of the
   Bride of Christ, seems at every step to impede her victorious advance.

   * * *

   Nevertheless, it is neither the intrinsic importance nor the social
   consequences of her actions that constitute the true greatness of St.
   Catherine. Great ends may be pursued by essentially small means, in an
   aridity and narrowness of temper that goes far to discount their actual
   achievement. History, and in particular the history of the Church, is
   not wanting in such instances. Savonarola set great ends before
   himself--the freedom of his country and the regeneration of the state;
   but the spirit in which he pursued them excludes him from that Pantheon
   of gracious souls in which humanity enshrines its true benefactors.
   "Soul, as a quality of style, is a fact," and the soul of St.
   Catherine's gesta expressed itself in a "style" so winning, so sweetly
   reasonable, as to make her the dearest of friends to all who had the
   privilege of intimate association with her, and a permanent source of
   refreshment to the human spirit. She intuitively perceived life under
   the highest possible forms, the forms of Beauty and Love. Truth and
   Goodness were, she thought, means for the achievement of those two
   supreme ends. The sheer beauty of the soul "in a state of Grace" is a
   point on which she constantly dwells, hanging it as a bait before those
   whom she would induce to turn from evil. Similarly the ugliness of sin,
   as much as its wickedness, should warn us of its true nature. Love,
   that love of man for man which, in deepest truth, is, in the words of
   the writer of the First Epistle of St. John, God Himself, is, at once,
   the highest achievement of man and his supreme and satisfying
   beatitude. The Symbols of Catholic theology were to her the necessary
   and fitting means of transit, so to speak. See, in the following pages,
   the fine allegory of the Bridge of the Sacred Humanity, of the soul in
   vi? on its dusty pilgrimage towards those gleaming heights of vision.
   "Truth" was to her the handmaid of the spiritualized imagination, not,
   as too often in these days of the twilight of the soul, its tyrant and
   its gaoler. Many of those who pass lives of unremitting preoccupation
   with the problems of truth and goodness are wearied and cumbered with
   much serving. We honor them, and rightly; but if they have nothing but
   this to offer us, our hearts do not run to meet them, as they fly to
   the embrace of those rare souls who inhabit a serener, more pellucid
   atmosphere. Among these spirits of the air, St. Catherine has taken a
   permanent and foremost place. She is among the few guides of humanity
   who have the perfect manner, the irresistible attractiveness, of that
   positive purity of heart, which not only sees God, but diffuses Him, as
   by some natural law of refraction, over the hearts of men. The Divine
   nuptials, about which the mystics tell us so much, have been
   accomplished in her, Nature and Grace have lain down together, and the
   mysteries of her religion seem but the natural expression of a
   perfectly balanced character, an unquenchable love and a deathless
   will.

   * * *

   The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena was dictated to her secretaries
   by the Saint in ecstasy. Apart from the extraordinary circumstances of
   its production, this work has a special interest.

   The composition of the Siennese dyer's daughter, whose will, purified
   and sublimated by prayer, imposed itself on popes and princes, is an
   almost unique specimen of what may be called "ecclesiastical"
   mysticism; for its special value lies in the fact that from first to
   last it is nothing more than a mystical exposition of the creeds taught
   to every child in the Catholic poor-schools. Her insight is sometimes
   very wonderful. How subtle, for instance, is the analysis of the state
   of the "worldly man" who loves God for his own pleasure or profit! The
   special snares of the devout are cut through by the keen logic of one
   who has experienced and triumphed over them. Terrible, again, is the
   retribution prophesied to the "unworthy ministers of the Blood."

   And so every well-known form of Christian life, healthy or parasitic,
   is treated of, detailed, analyzed incisively, remorselessly, and then
   subsumed under the general conception of God's infinite loving-kindness
   and mercy.

   The great mystics have usually taken as their starting-point what, to
   most, is the goal hardly to be reached; their own treatment of the
   preliminary stages of spirituality is frequently conventional and
   jejune. Compare, for instance, the first book with the two succeeding
   ones, of Ruysbrock's Ornement des Noces spirituelles, that unique
   breviary of the Christian Platonician. Another result of their having
   done so is that, with certain noble exceptions, the literature of this
   subject has fallen into the hands of a class of writers, or rather
   purveyors, well-intentioned no doubt, but not endowed with the higher
   spiritual and mental faculties, whom it is not unfair to describe as
   the feuilletonistes of piety. Such works, brightly bound, are
   appropriately exposed for sale in the Roman shop-windows, among the
   gaudy objets de religion they so much resemble. To keep healthy and
   raise the tone of devotional literature is surely an eighth spiritual
   work of mercy. St. Philip Neri's advice in the matter was to prefer
   those writers whose names were preceded by the title of Saint. In the
   Dialogo we have a great saint, one of the most extraordinary women who
   ever lived, treating, in a manner so simple and familiar as at times to
   become almost colloquial, of the elements of practical Christianity.
   Passages occur frequently of lofty eloquence, and also of such literary
   perfection that this book is held by critics to be one of the classics
   of the age and land which produced Boccaccio and Petrarch. To-day, in
   the streets of Siena, the same Tuscan idiom can be heard, hardly
   altered since the days of St. Catherine.

   One word as to the translation. I have almost always followed the text
   of Gigli, a learned Siennese ecclesiastic, who edited the complete
   works of St. Catherine in the last century. His is the latest edition
   printed of the Dialogo. Once or twice I have preferred the cinquecento
   Venetian editor. My aim has been to translate as literally as possible,
   and at the same time to preserve the characteristic rhythm of the
   sentences, so suggestive in its way of the sing-song articulation of
   the Siennese of today. St. Catherine has no style as such; she
   introduces a metaphor and forgets it; the sea, a vine, and a plough
   will often appear in the same sentence, sometimes in the same phrase.
   In such cases I have occasionally taken the liberty of adhering to the
   first simile when the confusion of metaphor in the original involves
   hopeless obscurity of expression.

   Viareggio, September 1906.
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A TREATISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
     __________________________________________________________________

      How a soul, elevated by desire of the honor of God, and of the salvation
      of her neighbors, exercising herself in humble prayer, after she had seen
      the union of the soul, through love, with God, asked of God four requests.

   The soul, who is lifted by a very great and yearning desire for the
   honor of God and the salvation of souls, begins by exercising herself,
   for a certain space of time, in the ordinary virtues, remaining in the
   cell of self-knowledge, in order to know better the goodness of God
   towards her. This she does because knowledge must precede love, and
   only when she has attained love, can she strive to follow and to clothe
   herself with the truth. But, in no way, does the creature receive such
   a taste of the truth, or so brilliant a light therefrom, as by means of
   humble and continuous prayer, founded on knowledge of herself and of
   God; because prayer, exercising her in the above way, unites with God
   the soul that follows the footprints of Christ Crucified, and thus, by
   desire and affection, and union of love, makes her another Himself.
   Christ would seem to have meant this, when He said: To him who will
   love Me and will observe My commandment, will I manifest Myself; and he
   shall be one thing with Me and I with him. In several places we find
   similar words, by which we can see that it is, indeed, through the
   effect of love, that the soul becomes another Himself. That this may be
   seen more clearly, I will mention what I remember having heard from a
   handmaid of God, namely, that, when she was lifted up in prayer, with
   great elevation of mind, God was not wont to conceal, from the eye of
   her intellect, the love which He had for His servants, but rather to
   manifest it; and, that among other things, He used to say: "Open the
   eye of your intellect, and gaze into Me, and you shall see the beauty
   of My rational creature. And look at those creatures who, among the
   beauties which I have given to the soul, creating her in My image and
   similitude, are clothed with the nuptial garment (that is, the garment
   of love), adorned with many virtues, by which they are united with Me
   through love. And yet I tell you, if you should ask Me, who these are,
   I should reply" (said the sweet and amorous Word of God) "they are
   another Myself, inasmuch as they have lost and denied their own will,
   and are clothed with Mine, are united to Mine, are conformed to Mine."
   It is therefore true, indeed, that the soul unites herself with God by
   the affection of love.

   So, that soul, wishing to know and follow the truth more manfully, and
   lifting her desires first for herself--for she considered that a soul
   could not be of use, whether in doctrine, example, or prayer, to her
   neighbor, if she did not first profit herself, that is, if she did not
   acquire virtue in herself--addressed four requests to the Supreme and
   Eternal Father. The first was for herself; the second for the
   reformation of the Holy Church; the third a general prayer for the
   whole world, and in particular for the peace of Christians who rebel,
   with much lewdness and persecution, against the Holy Church; in the
   fourth and last, she besought the Divine Providence to provide for
   things in general, and in particular, for a certain case with which she
   was concerned.
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the desire of this soul grew when God showed her the neediness of the
      world.

   This desire was great and continuous, but grew much more, when the
   First Truth showed her the neediness of the world, and in what a
   tempest of offense against God it lay. And she had understood this the
   better from a letter, which she had received from the spiritual Father
   of her soul, in which he explained to her the penalties and intolerable
   dolor caused by offenses against God, and the loss of souls, and the
   persecutions of Holy Church.

   All this lighted the fire of her holy desire with grief for the
   offenses, and with the joy of the lively hope, with which she waited
   for God to provide against such great evils. And, since the soul seems,
   in such communion, sweetly to bind herself fast within herself and with
   God, and knows better His truth, inasmuch as the soul is then in God,
   and God in the soul, as the fish is in the sea, and the sea in the
   fish, she desired the arrival of the morning (for the morrow was a
   feast of Mary) in order to hear Mass. And, when the morning came, and
   the hour of the Mass, she sought with anxious desire her accustomed
   place; and, with a great knowledge of herself, being ashamed of her own
   imperfection, appearing to herself to be the cause of all the evil that
   was happening throughout the world, conceiving a hatred and displeasure
   against herself, and a feeling of holy justice, with which knowledge,
   hatred, and justice, she purified the stains which seemed to her to
   cover her guilty soul, she said: "O Eternal Father, I accuse myself
   before You, in order that You may punish me for my sins in this finite
   life, and, inasmuch as my sins are the cause of the sufferings which my
   neighbor must endure, I implore You, in Your kindness, to punish them
   in my person."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How finite works are not sufficient for punishment or recompense without
      the perpetual affection of love.

   Then, the Eternal Truth seized and drew more strongly to Himself her
   desire, doing as He did in the Old Testament, for when the sacrifice
   was offered to God, a fire descended and drew to Him the sacrifice that
   was acceptable to Him; so did the sweet Truth to that soul, in sending
   down the fire of the clemency of the Holy Spirit, seizing the sacrifice
   of desire that she made of herself, saying: "Do you not know, dear
   daughter, that all the sufferings, which the soul endures, or can
   endure, in this life, are insufficient to punish one smallest fault,
   because the offense, being done to Me, who am the Infinite Good, calls
   for an infinite satisfaction? However, I wish that you should know,
   that not all the pains that are given to men in this life are given as
   punishments, but as corrections, in order to chastise a son when he
   offends; though it is true that both the guilt and the penalty can be
   expiated by the desire of the soul, that is, by true contrition, not
   through the finite pain endured, but through the infinite desire;
   because God, who is infinite, wishes for infinite love and infinite
   grief. Infinite grief I wish from My creature in two ways: in one way,
   through her sorrow for her own sins, which she has committed against Me
   her Creator; in the other way, through her sorrow for the sins which
   she sees her neighbors commit against Me. Of such as these, inasmuch as
   they have infinite desire, that is, are joined to Me by an affection of
   love, and therefore grieve when they offend Me, or see Me offended,
   their every pain, whether spiritual or corporeal, from wherever it may
   come, receives infinite merit, and satisfies for a guilt which deserved
   an infinite penalty, although their works are finite and done in finite
   time; but, inasmuch as they possess the virtue of desire, and sustain
   their suffering with desire, and contrition, and infinite displeasure
   against their guilt, their pain is held worthy. Paul explained this
   when he said: If I had the tongues of angels, and if I knew the things
   of the future and gave my body to be burned, and have not love, it
   would be worth nothing to me. The glorious Apostle thus shows that
   finite works are not valid, either as punishment or recompense, without
   the condiment of the affection of love."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How desire and contrition of heart satisfies, both for the guilt and the
      penalty in oneself and in others; and how sometimes it satisfies for the
      guilt only, and not the penalty.

   "I have shown you, dearest daughter, that the guilt is not punished in
   this finite time by any pain which is sustained purely as such. And I
   say, that the guilt is punished by the pain which is endured through
   the desire, love, and contrition of the heart; not by virtue of the
   pain, but by virtue of the desire of the soul; inasmuch as desire and
   every virtue is of value, and has life in itself, through Christ
   crucified, My only begotten Son, in so far as the soul has drawn her
   love from Him, and virtuously follows His virtues, that is, His
   Footprints. In this way, and in no other, are virtues of value, and in
   this way, pains satisfy for the fault, by the sweet and intimate love
   acquired in the knowledge of My goodness, and in the bitterness and
   contrition of heart acquired by knowledge of one's self and one's own
   thoughts. And this knowledge generates a hatred and displeasure against
   sin, and against the soul's own sensuality, through which, she deems
   herself worthy of pains and unworthy of reward."

   The sweet Truth continued: "See how, by contrition of the heart,
   together with love, with true patience, and with true humility, deeming
   themselves worthy of pain and unworthy of reward, such souls endure the
   patient humility in which consists the above-mentioned satisfaction.
   You ask me, then, for pains, so that I may receive satisfaction for the
   offenses, which are done against Me by My Creatures, and you further
   ask the will to know and love Me, who am the Supreme Truth. Wherefore I
   reply that this is the way, if you will arrive at a perfect knowledge
   and enjoyment of Me, the Eternal Truth, that you should never go
   outside the knowledge of yourself, and, by humbling yourself in the
   valley of humility, you will know Me and yourself, from which knowledge
   you will draw all that is necessary. No virtue, my daughter, can have
   life in itself except through charity, and humility, which is the
   foster-mother and nurse of charity. In self-knowledge, then, you will
   humble yourself, seeing that, in yourself, you do not even exist; for
   your very being, as you will learn, is derived from Me, since I have
   loved both you and others before you were in existence; and that,
   through the ineffable love which I had for you, wishing to re-create
   you to Grace, I have washed you, and re-created you in the Blood of My
   only-begotten Son, spilt with so great a fire of love. This Blood
   teaches the truth to him, who, by self-knowledge, dissipates the cloud
   of self-love, and in no other way can he learn. Then the soul will
   inflame herself in this knowledge of Me with an ineffable love, through
   which love she continues in constant pain; not, however, a pain which
   afflicts or dries up the soul, but one which rather fattens her; for
   since she has known My truth, and her own faults, and the ingratitude
   of men, she endures intolerable suffering, grieving because she loves
   Me; for, if she did not love Me, she would not be obliged to do so;
   whence it follows immediately, that it is right for you, and My other
   servants who have learnt My truth in this way, to sustain, even unto
   death, many tribulations and injuries and insults in word and deed, for
   the glory and praise of My Name; thus will you endure and suffer pains.
   Do you, therefore, and My other servants, carry yourselves with true
   patience, with grief for your sins, and with love of virtue for the
   glory and praise of My Name. If you act thus, I will satisfy for your
   sins, and for those of My other servants, inasmuch as the pains which
   you will endure will be sufficient, through the virtue of love, for
   satisfaction and reward, both in you and in others. In yourself you
   will receive the fruit of life, when the stains of your ignorance are
   effaced, and I shall not remember that you ever offended Me. In others
   I will satisfy through the love and affection which you have to Me, and
   I will give to them according to the disposition with which they will
   receive My gifts. In particular, to those who dispose themselves,
   humbly and with reverence, to receive the doctrine of My servants, will
   I remit both guilt and penalty, since they will thus come to true
   knowledge and contrition for their sins. So that, by means of prayer,
   and their desire of serving Me, they receive the fruit of grace,
   receiving it humbly in greater or less degree, according to the extent
   of their exercise of virtue and grace in general. I say then, that,
   through your desires, they will receive remission for their sins. See,
   however, the condition, namely, that their obstinacy should not be so
   great in their despair as to condemn them through contempt of the
   Blood, which, with such sweetness, has restored them.

   "What fruit do they receive?

   "The fruit which I destine for them, constrained by the prayers of My
   servants, is that I give them light, and that I wake up in them the
   hound of conscience, and make them smell the odor of virtue, and take
   delight in the conversation of My servants.

   "Sometimes I allow the world to show them what it is, so that, feeling
   its diverse and various passions, they may know how little stability it
   has, and may come to lift their desire beyond it, and seek their native
   country, which is the Eternal Life. And so I draw them by these, and by
   many other ways, for the eye cannot see, nor the tongue relate, nor the
   heart think, how many are the roads and ways which I use, through love
   alone, to lead them back to grace, so that My truth may be fulfilled in
   them. I am constrained to do so by that inestimable love of Mine, by
   which I created them, and by the love, desire, and grief of My
   servants, since I am no despiser of their tears, and sweat, and humble
   prayers; rather I accept them, inasmuch as I am He who give them this
   love for the good of souls and grief for their loss. But I do not, in
   general, grant to these others, for whom they pray, satisfaction for
   the penalty due to them, but, only for their guilt, since they are not
   disposed, on their side, to receive, with perfect love, My love, and
   that of My servants. They do not receive their grief with bitterness,
   and perfect contrition for the sins they have committed, but with
   imperfect love and contrition, wherefore they have not, as others,
   remission of the penalty, but only of the guilt; because such complete
   satisfaction requires proper dispositions on both sides, both in him
   that gives and him that receives. Wherefore, since they are imperfect,
   they receive imperfectly the perfection of the desires of those who
   offer them to Me, for their sakes, with suffering; and, inasmuch as I
   told you that they do receive remission, this is indeed the truth,
   that, by that way which I have told you, that is, by the light of
   conscience, and by other things, satisfaction is made for their guilt;
   for, beginning to learn, they vomit forth the corruption of their sins,
   and so receive the gift of grace.

   "These are they who are in a state of ordinary charity, wherefore, if
   they have trouble, they receive it in the guise of correction, and do
   not resist over much the clemency of the Holy Spirit, but, coming out
   of their sin, they receive the life of grace. But if, like fools, they
   are ungrateful, and ignore Me and the labors of My servants done for
   them, that which was given them, through mercy, turns to their own ruin
   and judgment, not through defect of mercy, nor through defect of him
   who implored the mercy for the ingrate, but solely through the man's
   own wretchedness and hardness, with which, with the hands of his free
   will, he has covered his heart, as it were, with a diamond, which, if
   it be not broken by the Blood, can in no way be broken. And yet, I say
   to you, that, in spite of his hardness of heart, he can use his free
   will while he has time, praying for the Blood of My Son, and let him
   with his own hand apply It to the diamond over his heart and shiver it,
   and he will receive the imprint of the Blood which has been paid for
   him. But, if he delays until the time be past, he has no remedy,
   because he has not used the dowry which I gave him, giving him memory
   so as to remember My benefits, intellect, so as to see and know the
   truth, affection, so that he should love Me, the Eternal Truth, whom he
   would have known through the use of his intellect. This is the dowry
   which I have given you all, and which ought to render fruit to Me, the
   Father; but, if a man barters and sells it to the devil, the devil, if
   he choose, has a right to seize on everything that he has acquired in
   this life. And, filling his memory with the delights of sin, and with
   the recollection of shameful pride, avarice, self-love, hatred, and
   unkindness to his neighbors (being also a persecutor of My servants),
   with these miseries, he has obscured his intellect by his disordinate
   will. Let such as these receive the eternal pains, with their horrible
   stench, inasmuch as they have not satisfied for their sins with
   contrition and displeasure of their guilt. Now, therefore, you have
   understood how suffering satisfies for guilt by perfect contrition, not
   through the finite pain; and such as have this contrition in perfection
   satisfy not only for the guilt, but also for the penalty which follows
   the guilt, as I have already said when speaking in general; and if they
   satisfy for the guilt alone, that is, if, having abandoned mortal sin,
   they receive grace, and have not sufficient contrition and love to
   satisfy for the penalty also, they go to the pains of Purgatory,
   passing through the second and last means of satisfaction.

   "So you see that satisfaction is made, through the desire of the soul
   united to Me, who am the Infinite Good, in greater or less degree,
   according to the measure of love, obtained by the desire and prayer of
   the recipient. Wherefore, with that very same measure with which a man
   measures to Me, do he receive in himself the measure of My goodness.
   Labor, therefore, to increase the fire of your desire, and let not a
   moment pass without crying to Me with humble voice, or without
   continual prayers before Me for your neighbors. I say this to you and
   to the father of your soul, whom I have given you on earth. Bear
   yourselves with manful courage, and make yourselves dead to all your
   own sensuality."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How very pleasing to God is the willing desire to suffer for Him.

   "Very pleasing to Me, dearest daughter, is the willing desire to bear
   every pain and fatigue, even unto death, for the salvation of souls,
   for the more the soul endures, the more she shows that she loves Me;
   loving Me she comes to know more of My truth, and the more she knows,
   the more pain and intolerable grief she feels at the offenses committed
   against Me. You asked Me to sustain you, and to punish the faults of
   others in you, and you did not remark that you were really asking for
   love, light, and knowledge of the truth, since I have already told you
   that, by the increase of love, grows grief and pain, wherefore he that
   grows in love grows in grief. Therefore, I say to you all, that you
   should ask, and it will be given you, for I deny nothing to him who
   asks of Me in truth. Consider that the love of divine charity is so
   closely joined in the soul with perfect patience, that neither can
   leave the soul without the other. For this reason (if the soul elect to
   love Me) she should elect to endure pains for Me in whatever mode or
   circumstance I may send them to her. Patience cannot be proved in any
   other way than by suffering, and patience is united with love as has
   been said. Therefore bear yourselves with manly courage, for, unless
   you do so, you will not prove yourselves to be spouses of My Truth, and
   faithful children, nor of the company of those who relish the taste of
   My honor, and the salvation of souls."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How every virtue and every defect is obtained by means of our neighbor.

   "I wish also that you should know that every virtue is obtained by
   means of your neighbor, and likewise, every defect; he, therefore, who
   stands in hatred of Me, does an injury to his neighbor, and to himself,
   who is his own chief neighbor, and this injury is both general and
   particular. It is general because you are obliged to love your neighbor
   as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him spiritually, with
   prayer, counseling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually
   and temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with
   your goodwill if you have nothing else. A man therefore, who does not
   love, does not help him, and thereby does himself an injury; for he
   cuts off from himself grace, and injures his neighbor, by depriving him
   of the benefit of the prayers and of the sweet desires that he is bound
   to offer for him to Me. Thus, every act of help that he performs should
   proceed from the charity which he has through love of Me. And every
   evil also, is done by means of his neighbor, for, if he do not love Me,
   he cannot be in charity with his neighbor; and thus, all evils derive
   from the soul's deprivation of love of Me and her neighbor; whence,
   inasmuch as such a man does no good, it follows that he must do evil.
   To whom does he evil? First of all to himself, and then to his
   neighbor, not against Me, for no evil can touch Me, except in so far as
   I count done to Me that which he does to himself. To himself he does
   the injury of sin, which deprives him of grace, and worse than this he
   cannot do to his neighbor. Him he injures in not paying him the debt,
   which he owes him, of love, with which he ought to help him by means of
   prayer and holy desire offered to Me for him. This is an assistance
   which is owed in general to every rational creature; but its usefulness
   is more particular when it is done to those who are close at hand,
   under your eyes, as to whom, I say, you are all obliged to help one
   another by word and doctrine, and the example of good works, and in
   every other respect in which your neighbor may be seen to be in need;
   counseling him exactly as you would yourselves, without any passion of
   self-love; and he (a man not loving God) does not do this, because he
   has no love towards his neighbor; and, by not doing it, he does him, as
   you see, a special injury. And he does him evil, not only by not doing
   him the good that he might do him, but by doing him a positive injury
   and a constant evil. In this way sin causes a physical and a mental
   injury. The mental injury is already done when the sinner has conceived
   pleasure in the idea of sin, and hatred of virtue, that is, pleasure
   from sensual self-love, which has deprived him of the affection of love
   which he ought to have towards Me, and his neighbor, as has been said.
   And, after he has conceived, he brings forth one sin after another
   against his neighbor, according to the diverse ways which may please
   his perverse sensual will. Sometimes it is seen that he brings forth
   cruelty, and that both in general and in particular.

   "His general cruelty is to see himself and other creatures in danger of
   death and damnation through privation of grace, and so cruel is he that
   he reminds neither himself nor others of the love of virtue and hatred
   of vice. Being thus cruel he may wish to extend his cruelty still
   further, that is, not content with not giving an example of virtue, the
   villain also usurps the office of the demons, tempting, according to
   his power, his fellow-creatures to abandon virtue for vice; this is
   cruelty towards his neighbors, for he makes himself an instrument to
   destroy life and to give death. Cruelty towards the body has its origin
   in cupidity, which not only prevents a man from helping his neighbor,
   but causes him to seize the goods of others, robbing the poor
   creatures; sometimes this is done by the arbitrary use of power, and at
   other times by cheating and fraud, his neighbor being forced to redeem,
   to his own loss, his own goods, and often indeed his own person.

   "Oh, miserable vice of cruelty, which will deprive the man who
   practices it of all mercy, unless he turn to kindness and benevolence
   towards his neighbor!

   "Sometimes the sinner brings forth insults on which often follows
   murder; sometimes also impurity against the person of his neighbor, by
   which he becomes a brute beast full of stench, and in this case he does
   not poison one only, but whoever approaches him, with love or in
   conversation, is poisoned.

   "Against whom does pride bring forth evils? Against the neighbor,
   through love of one's own reputation, whence comes hatred of the
   neighbor, reputing one's self to be greater than he; and in this way is
   injury done to him. And if a man be in a position of authority, he
   produces also injustice and cruelty and becomes a retailer of the flesh
   of men. Oh, dearest daughter, grieve for the offense against Me, and
   weep over these corpses, so that, by prayer, the bands of their death
   may be loosened!

   "See now, that, in all places and in all kinds of people, sin is always
   produced against the neighbor, and through his medium; in no other way
   could sin ever be committed either secret or open. A secret sin is when
   you deprive your neighbor of that which you ought to give him; an open
   sin is where you perform positive acts of sin, as I have related to
   you. It is, therefore, indeed the truth that every sin done against Me,
   is done through the medium of the neighbor."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How virtues are accomplished by means of our neighbor, and how it is that
      virtues differ to such an extent in creatures.

   "I have told you how all sins are accomplished by means of your
   neighbor, through the principles which I exposed to you, that is,
   because men are deprived of the affection of love, which gives light to
   every virtue. In the same way self-love, which destroys charity and
   affection towards the neighbor, is the principle and foundation of
   every evil. All scandals, hatred, cruelty, and every sort of trouble
   proceed from this perverse root of self-love, which has poisoned the
   entire world, and weakened the mystical body of the Holy Church, and
   the universal body of the believers in the Christian religion; and,
   therefore, I said to you, that it was in the neighbor, that is to say
   in the love of him, that all virtues were founded; and, truly indeed
   did I say to you, that charity gives life to all the virtues, because
   no virtue can be obtained without charity, which is the pure love of
   Me.

   "Wherefore, when the soul knows herself, as we have said above, she
   finds humility and hatred of her own sensual passion, for she learns
   the perverse law, which is bound up in her members, and which ever
   fights against the spirit. And, therefore, arising with hatred of her
   own sensuality, crushing it under the heel of reason, with great
   earnestness, she discovers in herself the bounty of My goodness,
   through the many benefits which she has received from Me, all of which
   she considers again in herself. She attributes to Me, through humility,
   the knowledge which she has obtained of herself, knowing that, by My
   grace, I have drawn her out of darkness and lifted her up into the
   light of true knowledge. When she has recognized My goodness, she loves
   it without any medium, and yet at the same time with a medium, that is
   to say, without the medium of herself or of any advantage accruing to
   herself, and with the medium of virtue, which she has conceived through
   love of Me, because she sees that, in no other way, can she become
   grateful and acceptable to Me, but by conceiving, hatred of sin and
   love of virtue; and, when she has thus conceived by the affection of
   love, she immediately is delivered of fruit for her neighbor, because,
   in no other way, can she act out the truth she has conceived in
   herself, but, loving Me in truth, in the same truth she serves her
   neighbor.

   "And it cannot be otherwise, because love of Me and of her neighbor are
   one and the same thing, and, so far as the soul loves Me, she loves her
   neighbor, because love towards him issues from Me. This is the means
   which I have given you, that you may exercise and prove your virtue
   therewith; because, inasmuch as you can do Me no profit, you should do
   it to your neighbor. This proves that you possess Me by grace in your
   soul, producing much fruit for your neighbor and making prayers to Me,
   seeking with sweet and amorous desire My honor and the salvation of
   souls. The soul, enamored of My truth, never ceases to serve the whole
   world in general, and more or less in a particular case according to
   the disposition of the recipient and the ardent desire of the donor, as
   I have shown above, when I declared to you that the endurance of
   suffering alone, without desire, was not sufficient to punish a fault.

   "When she has discovered the advantage of this unitive love in Me, by
   means of which, she truly loves herself, extending her desire for the
   salvation of the whole world, thus coming to the aid of its neediness,
   she strives, inasmuch as she has done good to herself by the conception
   of virtue, from which she has drawn the life of grace, to fix her eye
   on the needs of her neighbor in particular. Wherefore, when she has
   discovered, through the affection of love, the state of all rational
   creatures in general, she helps those who are at hand, according to the
   various graces which I have entrusted to her to administer; one she
   helps with doctrine, that is, with words, giving sincere counsel
   without any respect of persons, another with the example of a good
   life, and this indeed all give to their neighbor, the edification of a
   holy and honorable life. These are the virtues, and many others, too
   many to enumerate, which are brought forth in the love of the neighbor;
   but, although I have given them in such a different way, that is to say
   not all to one, but to one, one virtue, and to another, another, it so
   happens that it is impossible to have one, without having them all,
   because all the virtues are bound together. Wherefore, learn, that, in
   many cases I give one virtue, to be as it were the chief of the others,
   that is to say, to one I will give principally love, to another
   justice, to another humility, to one a lively faith, to another
   prudence or temperance, or patience, to another fortitude. These, and
   many other virtues, I place, indifferently, in the souls of many
   creatures; it happens, therefore, that the particular one so placed in
   the soul becomes the principal object of its virtue; the soul disposing
   herself, for her chief conversation, to this rather than to other
   virtues, and, by the effect of this virtue, the soul draws to herself
   all the other virtues, which, as has been said, are all bound together
   in the affection of love; and so with many gifts and graces of virtue,
   and not only in the case of spiritual things but also of temporal. I
   use the word temporal for the things necessary to the physical life of
   man; all these I have given indifferently, and I have not placed them
   all in one soul, in order that man should, perforce, have material for
   love of his fellow. I could easily have created men possessed of all
   that they should need both for body and soul, but I wish that one
   should have need of the other, and that they should be My ministers to
   administer the graces and the gifts that they have received from Me.
   Whether man will or no, he cannot help making an act of love. It is
   true, however, that that act, unless made through love of Me, profits
   him nothing so far as grace is concerned. See then, that I have made
   men My ministers, and placed them in diverse stations and various
   ranks, in order that they may make use of the virtue of love.

   "Wherefore, I show you that in My house are many mansions, and that I
   wish for no other thing than love, for in the love of Me is fulfilled
   and completed the love of the neighbor, and the law observed. For he,
   only, can be of use in his state of life, who is bound to Me with this
   love."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How virtues are proved and fortified by their contraries.

   "Up to the present, I have taught you how a man may serve his neighbor,
   and manifest, by that service, the love which he has towards Me.

   "Now I wish to tell you further, that a man proves his patience on his
   neighbor, when he receives injuries from him.

   "Similarly, he proves his humility on a proud man, his faith on an
   infidel, his true hope on one who despairs, his justice on the unjust,
   his kindness on the cruel, his gentleness and benignity on the
   irascible. Good men produce and prove all their virtues on their
   neighbor, just as perverse men all their vices; thus, if you consider
   well, humility is proved on pride in this way. The humble man
   extinguishes pride, because a proud man can do no harm to a humble one;
   neither can the infidelity of a wicked man, who neither loves Me, nor
   hopes in Me, when brought forth against one who is faithful to Me, do
   him any harm; his infidelity does not diminish the faith or the hope of
   him who has conceived his faith and hope through love of Me, it rather
   fortifies it, and proves it in the love he feels for his neighbor. For,
   he sees that the infidel is unfaithful, because he is without hope in
   Me, and in My servant, because he does not love Me, placing his faith
   and hope rather in his own sensuality, which is all that he loves. My
   faithful servant does not leave him because he does not faithfully love
   Me, or because he does not constantly seek, with hope in Me, for his
   salvation, inasmuch as he sees clearly the causes of his infidelity and
   lack of hope. The virtue of faith is proved in these and other ways.
   Wherefore, to those, who need the proof of it, My servant proves his
   faith in himself and in his neighbor, and so, justice is not diminished
   by the wicked man's injustice, but is rather proved, that is to say,
   the justice of a just man. Similarly, the virtues of patience,
   benignity, and kindness manifest themselves in a time of wrath by the
   same sweet patience in My servants, and envy, vexation, and hatred
   demonstrate their love, and hunger and desire for the salvation of
   souls. I say, also, to you, that, not only is virtue proved in those
   who render good for evil, but, that many times a good man gives back
   fiery coals of love, which dispel the hatred and rancor of heart of the
   angry, and so from hatred often comes benevolence, and that this is by
   virtue of the love and perfect patience which is in him, who sustains
   the anger of the wicked, bearing and supporting his defects. If you
   will observe the virtues of fortitude and perseverance, these virtues
   are proved by the long endurance of the injuries and detractions of
   wicked men, who, whether by injuries or by flattery, constantly
   endeavor to turn a man aside from following the road and the doctrine
   of truth. Wherefore, in all these things, the virtue of fortitude
   conceived within the soul, perseveres with strength, and, in addition
   proves itself externally upon the neighbor, as I have said to you; and,
   if fortitude were not able to make that good proof of itself, being
   tested by many contrarieties, it would not be a serious virtue founded
   in truth."
     __________________________________________________________________

A TREATISE OF DISCRETION
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the affection should not place reliance chiefly on penance, but rather
      on virtues; and how discretion receives life from humility, and renders to
      each man his due.

   "These are the holy and sweet works which I seek from My servants;
   these are the proved intrinsic virtues of the soul, as I have told you.
   They not only consist of those virtues which are done by means of the
   body, that is, with an exterior act, or with diverse and varied
   penances, which are the instruments of virtue; works of penance
   performed alone without the above-mentioned virtues would please Me
   little; often, indeed, if the soul perform not her penance with
   discretion, that is to say, if her affection be placed principally in
   the penance she has undertaken, her perfection will be impeded; she
   should rather place reliance on the affection of love, with a holy
   hatred of herself, accompanied by true humility and perfect patience,
   together with the other intrinsic virtues of the soul, with hunger and
   desire for My honor and the salvation of souls. For these virtues
   demonstrate that the will is dead, and continually slays its own
   sensuality through the affection of love of virtue. With this
   discretion, then, should the soul perform her penance, that is, she
   should place her principal affection in virtue rather than in penance.
   Penance should be but the means to increase virtue according to the
   needs of the individual, and according to what the soul sees she can do
   in the measure of her own possibility. Otherwise, if the soul place her
   foundation on penance she will contaminate her own perfection, because
   her penance will not be done in the light of knowledge of herself and
   of My goodness, with discretion, and she will not seize hold of My
   truth; neither loving that which I love, nor hating that which I hate.
   This virtue of discretion is no other than a true knowledge which the
   soul should have of herself and of Me, and in this knowledge is virtue
   rooted. Discretion is the only child of self-knowledge, and, wedding
   with charity, has indeed many other descendants, as a tree which has
   many branches; but that which gives life to the tree, to its branches,
   and its root, is the ground of humility, in which it is planted, which
   humility is the foster-mother and nurse of charity, by whose means this
   tree remains in the perpetual calm of discretion. Because otherwise the
   tree would not produce the virtue of discretion, or any fruit of life,
   if it were not planted in the virtue of humility, because humility
   proceeds from self-knowledge. And I have already said to you, that the
   root of discretion is a real knowledge of self and of My goodness, by
   which the soul immediately, and discreetly, renders to each one his
   due. Chiefly to Me in rendering praise and glory to My Name, and in
   referring to Me the graces and the gifts which she sees and knows she
   has received from Me; and rendering to herself that which she sees
   herself to have merited, knowing that she does not even exist of
   herself, and attributing to Me, and not to herself, her being, which
   she knows she has received by grace from Me, and every other grace
   which she has received besides.

   "And she seems to herself to be ungrateful for so many benefits, and
   negligent, in that she has not made the most of her time, and the
   graces she has received, and so seems to herself worthy of suffering;
   wherefore she becomes odious and displeasing to herself through her
   guilt. And this founds the virtue of discretion on knowledge of self,
   that is, on true humility, for, were this humility not in the soul, the
   soul would be indiscreet, indiscretion being founded on pride, as
   discretion is on humility.

   "An indiscreet soul robs Me of the honor due to Me, and attributes it
   to herself, through vainglory, and that which is really her own she
   imputes to Me, grieving and murmuring concerning My mysteries, with
   which I work in her soul and in those of My other creatures; wherefore
   everything in Me and in her neighbor is cause of scandal to her.
   Contrariwise those who possess the virtue of discretion. For, when they
   have rendered what is due to Me and to themselves, they proceed to
   render to their neighbor their principal debt of love, and of humble
   and continuous prayer, which all should pay to each other, and further,
   the debt of doctrine, and example of a holy and honorable life,
   counseling and helping others according to their needs for salvation,
   as I said to you above. Whatever rank a man be in, whether that of a
   noble, a prelate, or a servant, if he have this virtue, everything that
   he does to his neighbor is done discreetly and lovingly, because these
   virtues are bound and mingled together, and both planted in the ground
   of humility which proceeds from self-knowledge."
     __________________________________________________________________

      A parable showing how love, humility, and discretion are united; and how
      the soul should conform herself to this parable.

   "Do you know how these three virtues stand together? It is, as if a
   circle were drawn on the surface of the earth, and a tree, with an
   off-shoot joined to its side, grew in the center of the circle. The
   tree is nourished in the earth contained in the diameter of the circle,
   for if the tree were out of the earth it would die, and give no fruit.
   Now, consider, in the same way, that the soul is a tree existing by
   love, and that it can live by nothing else than love; and, that if this
   soul have not in very truth the divine love of perfect charity, she
   cannot produce fruit of life, but only of death. It is necessary then,
   that the root of this tree, that is the affection of the soul, should
   grow in, and issue from the circle of true self-knowledge which is
   contained in Me, who have neither beginning nor end, like the
   circumference of the circle, for, turn as you will within a circle,
   inasmuch as the circumference has neither end nor beginning, you always
   remain within it.

   "This knowledge of yourself and of Me is found in the earth of true
   humility, which is as wide as the diameter of the circle, that is as
   the knowledge of self and of Me (for, otherwise, the circle would not
   be without end and beginning, but would have its beginning in knowledge
   of self, and its end in confusion, if this knowledge were not contained
   in Me). Then the tree of love feeds itself on humility, bringing forth
   from its side the off-shoot of true discretion, in the way that I have
   already told you, from the heart of the tree, that is the affection of
   love which is in the soul, and the patience, which proves that I am in
   the soul and the soul in Me. This tree then, so sweetly planted,
   produces fragrant blossoms of virtue, with many scents of great
   variety, inasmuch as the soul renders fruit of grace and of utility to
   her neighbor, according to the zeal of those who come to receive fruit
   from My servants; and to Me she renders the sweet odor of glory and
   praise to My Name, and so fulfills the object of her creation.

   "In this way, therefore, she reaches the term of her being, that is
   Myself, her God, who am Eternal Life. And these fruits cannot be taken
   from her without her will, inasmuch as they are all flavored with
   discretion, because they are all united, as has been said above."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How penance and other corporal exercises are to be taken as instruments
      for arriving at virtue, and not as the principal affection of the soul;
      and of the light of discretion in various other modes and operations.

   "These are the fruits and the works which I seek from the soul, the
   proving, namely, of virtue in the time of need. And yet some time ago,
   if you remember, when you were desirous of doing great penance for My
   sake, asking, What can I do to endure suffering for You, oh Lord?' I
   replied to you, speaking in your mind, I take delight in few words and
   many works.' I wished to show you that he who merely calls on me with
   the sound of words, saying: Lord, Lord, I would do something for You,'
   and he, who desires for My sake to mortify his body with many penances,
   and not his own will, did not give Me much pleasure; but that I desired
   the manifold works of manly endurance with patience, together with the
   other virtues, which I have mentioned to you above, intrinsic to the
   soul, all of which must be in activity in order to obtain fruits worthy
   of grace. All other works, founded on any other principle than this, I
   judge to be a mere calling with words, because they are finite works,
   and I, who am Infinite, seek infinite works, that is an infinite
   perfection of love.

   "I wish therefore that the works of penance, and of other corporal
   exercises, should be observed merely as means, and not as the
   fundamental affection of the soul. For, if the principal affection of
   the soul were placed in penance, I should receive a finite thing like a
   word, which, when it has issued from the mouth, is no more, unless it
   have issued with affection of the soul, which conceives and brings
   forth virtue in truth; that is, unless the finite operation, which I
   have called a word, should be joined with the affection or love, in
   which case it would be grateful and pleasant to Me. And this is because
   such a work would not be alone, but accompanied by true discretion,
   using corporal works as means, and not as the principal foundation; for
   it would not be becoming that that principal foundation should be
   placed in penance only, or in any exterior corporal act, such works
   being finite, since they are done in finite time, and also because it
   is often profitable that the creature omit them, and even that she be
   made to do so.

   "Wherefore, when the soul omits them through necessity, being unable
   through various circumstances to complete an action which she has
   begun, or, as may frequently happen, through obedience at the order of
   her director, it is well; since, if she continued then to do them, she
   not only would receive no merit, but would offend Me; thus you see that
   they are merely finite. She ought, therefore, to adopt them as a means,
   and not as an end. For, if she takes them as an end she will be
   obliged, some time or other, to leave them, and will then remain empty.
   This, My trumpeter, the glorious Paul, taught you when he said in his
   epistle, that you should mortify the body and destroy self-will,
   knowing, that is to say, how to keep the rein on the body, macerating
   the flesh whenever it should wish to combat the spirit, but the will
   should be dead and annihilated in everything, and subject to My will,
   and this slaying of the will is that due which, as I told you, the
   virtue of discretion renders to the soul, that is to say, hatred and
   disgust of her own offenses and sensuality, which are acquired by
   self-knowledge. This is the knife which slays and cuts off all
   self-love founded in self-will. These then are they who give Me not
   only words but manifold works, and in these I take delight. And then I
   said that I desired few words, and many actions; by the use of the word
   many' I assign no particular number to you, because the affection of
   the soul, founded in love, which gives life to all the virtues and good
   works, should increase infinitely, and yet I do not, by this, exclude
   words, I merely said that I wished few of them, showing you that every
   actual operation, as such, was finite, and therefore I called them of
   little account; but they please Me when they are performed as the
   instruments of virtue, and not as a principal end in themselves.

   "However, no one should judge that he has greater perfection, because
   he performs great penances, and gives himself in excess to the slaying
   of his body, than he who does less, inasmuch as neither virtue nor
   merit consists therein; for otherwise he would be in an evil case, who,
   from some legitimate reason, was unable to do actual penance. Merit
   consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true
   discretion, without which the soul is worth nothing. And this love
   should be directed to Me endlessly, boundlessly, since I am the Supreme
   and Eternal Truth. The soul can therefore place neither laws nor limits
   to her love for Me; but her love for her neighbor, on the contrary, is
   ordered in certain conditions. The light of discretion (which proceeds
   from love, as I have told you) gives to the neighbor a conditioned
   love, one that, being ordered aright, does not cause the injury of sin
   to self in order to be useful to others, for, if one single sin were
   committed to save the whole world from Hell, or to obtain one great
   virtue, the motive would not be a rightly ordered or discreet love, but
   rather indiscreet, for it is not lawful to perform even one act of
   great virtue and profit to others, by means of the guilt of sin. Holy
   discretion ordains that the soul should direct all her powers to My
   service with a manly zeal, and, that she should love her neighbor with
   such devotion that she would lay down a thousand times, if it were
   possible, the life of her body for the salvation of souls, enduring
   pains and torments so that her neighbor may have the life of grace, and
   giving her temporal substance for the profit and relief of his body.

   "This is the supreme office of discretion which proceeds from charity.
   So you see how discreetly every soul, who wishes for grace, should pay
   her debts, that is, should love Me with an infinite love and without
   measure, but her neighbor with measure, with a restricted love, as I
   have said, not doing herself the injury of sin in order to be useful to
   others. This is St. Paul's counsel to you when he says that charity
   ought to be concerned first with self, otherwise it will never be of
   perfect utility to others. Because, when perfection is not in the soul,
   everything which the soul does for itself and for others is imperfect.
   It would not, therefore, be just that creatures, who are finite and
   created by Me, should be saved through offense done to Me, who am the
   Infinite Good. The more serious the fault is in such a case, the less
   fruit will the action produce; therefore, in no way should you ever
   incur the guilt of sin.

   "And this true love knows well, because she carries with herself the
   light of holy discretion, that light which dissipates all darkness,
   takes away ignorance, and is the condiment of every instrument of
   virtue. Holy discretion is a prudence which cannot be cheated, a
   fortitude which cannot be beaten, a perseverance from end to end,
   stretching from Heaven to earth, that is, from knowledge of Me to
   knowledge of self, and from love of Me to love of others. And the soul
   escapes dangers by her true humility, and, by her prudence, flies all
   the nets of the world and its creatures, and, with unarmed hands, that
   is through much endurance, discomfits the devil and the flesh with this
   sweet and glorious light; knowing, by it, her own fragility, she
   renders to her weakness its due of hatred.

   "Wherefore she has trampled on the world, and placed it under the feet
   of her affection, despising it, and holding it vile, and thus becoming
   lord of it, holding it as folly. And the men of the world cannot take
   her virtues from such a soul, but all their persecutions increase her
   virtues and prove them, which virtues have been at first conceived by
   the virtue of love, as has been said, and then are proved on her
   neighbor, and bring forth their fruit on him. Thus have I shown you,
   that, if virtue were not visible and did not shine in the time of
   trial, it would not have been truly conceived; for, I have already told
   you, that perfect virtue cannot exist and give fruit except by means of
   the neighbor, even as a woman, who has conceived a child, if she do not
   bring it forth, so that it may appear before the eyes of men, deprives
   her husband of his fame of paternity. It is the same with Me, who am
   the Spouse of the soul, if she do not produce the child of virtue, in
   the love of her neighbor, showing her child to him who is in need, both
   in general and in particular, as I have said to you before, so I
   declare now that, in truth, she has not conceived virtue at all; and
   this is also true of the vices, all of which are committed by means of
   the neighbor."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this soul grew by means of the divine response, and how her sorrows
      grew less, and how she prayed to God for the Holy Church, and for her own
      people.

   "Then that soul, thirsting and burning with the very great desire that
   she had conceived on learning the ineffable love of God, shown in His
   great goodness, and, seeing the breadth of His charity, that, with such
   sweetness, He had deigned to reply to her request and to satisfy it,
   giving hope to the sorrow which she had conceived, on account of
   offenses against God, and the damage of the Holy Church, and through
   His own mercy, which she saw through self-knowledge, diminished, and
   yet, at the same time, increased her sorrow.

   "For, the Supreme and Eternal Father, in manifesting the way of
   perfection, showed her anew her own guilt, and the loss of souls, as
   has been said more fully above. Also because in the knowledge which the
   soul obtains of herself, she knows more of God, and knowing the
   goodness of God in herself, the sweet mirror of God, she knows her own
   dignity and indignity. Her dignity is that of her creation, seeing that
   she is the image of God, and this has been given her by grace, and not
   as her due. In that same mirror of the goodness of God, the soul knows
   her own indignity, which is the consequence of her own fault.
   Wherefore, as a man more readily sees spots on his face when he looks
   in a mirror, so, the soul who, with true knowledge of self, rises with
   desire, and gazes with the eye of the intellect at herself in the sweet
   mirror of God, knows better the stains of her own face, by the purity
   which she sees in Him.

   "Wherefore, because light and knowledge increased in that soul in the
   aforesaid way, a sweet sorrow grew in her, and at the same time, her
   sorrow was diminished by the hope which the Supreme Truth gave her,
   and, as fire grows when it is fed with wood, so grew the fire in that
   soul to such an extent that it was no longer possible for the body to
   endure it without the departure of the soul; so that, had she not been
   surrounded by the strength of Him who is the Supreme Strength, it would
   not have been possible for her to have lived any longer. This soul
   then, being purified by the fire of divine love, which she found in the
   knowledge of herself and of God, and her hunger for the salvation of
   the whole world, and for the reformation of the Holy Church, having
   grown with her hope of obtaining the same, rose with confidence before
   the Supreme Father, showing Him the leprosy of the Holy Church, and the
   misery of the world, saying, as if with the words of Moses, My Lord,
   turn the eyes of Your mercy upon Your people, and upon the mystical
   body of the Holy Church, for You will be the more glorified if You
   pardon so many creatures, and give to them the light of knowledge,
   since all will render You praise when they see themselves escape
   through Your infinite goodness from the clouds of mortal sin, and from
   eternal damnation; and then You will not only be praised by my wretched
   self, who have so much offended You, and who am the cause and the
   instrument of all this evil, for which reason I pray Your divine and
   eternal love to take Your revenge on me, and to do mercy to Your
   people, and never will I depart from before Your presence until I see
   that you grant them mercy. For what is it to me if I have life, and
   Your people death, and the clouds of darkness cover Your spouse, when
   it is my own sins, and not those of Your other creatures, that are the
   principal cause of this? I desire, then, and beg of You, by Your grace,
   that You have mercy on Your people, and I adjure You that You do this
   by Your uncreated love which moved You Yourself to create man in Your
   image and similitude, saying, "Let us make man in our own image," and
   this You did, oh eternal Trinity, that man might participate in
   everything belonging to You, the most high and eternal Trinity.'

   "Wherefore You gave him memory in order to receive Your benefits, by
   which he participates in the power of the Eternal Father; and intellect
   that he might know, seeing Your goodness, and so might participate in
   the wisdom of Your only-begotten Son; and will, that he might love that
   which his intellect has seen and known of Your truth, thus
   participating in the clemency of Your Holy Spirit. What reason had You
   for creating man in such dignity? The inestimable love with which You
   saw Your creature in Yourself, and became enamored of him, for You
   created him through love, and destined him to be such that he might
   taste and enjoy Your Eternal Good. I see therefore that through his sin
   he lost this dignity in which You originally placed him, and by his
   rebellion against You, fell into a state of war with Your kindness,
   that is to say, we all became Your enemies.

   "Therefore, You, moved by that same fire of love with which You created
   him, willingly gave man a means of reconciliation, so that after the
   great rebellion into which he had fallen, there should come a great
   peace; and so You gave him the only-begotten Word, Your Son, to be the
   Mediator between us and You. He was our Justice, for He took on Himself
   all our offenses and injustices, and performed Your obedience, Eternal
   Father, which You imposed on Him, when You clothed Him with our
   humanity, our human nature and likeness. Oh, abyss of love! What heart
   can help breaking when it sees such dignity as Yours descend to such
   lowliness as our humanity? We are Your image, and You have become ours,
   by this union which You have accomplished with man, veiling the Eternal
   Deity with the cloud of woe, and the corrupted clay of Adam. For what
   reason?--Love. Wherefore, You, O God, have become man, and man has
   become God. By this ineffable love of Yours, therefore, I constrain
   You, and implore You that You do mercy to Your creatures."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How God grieves over the Christian people, and particularly over His
      ministers; and touches on the subject of the Sacrament of Christ's Body,
      and the benefit of the Incarnation.

   Then God, turning the eye of His mercy towards her, allowing Himself to
   be constrained by her tears, and bound by the chain of her holy desire,
   replied with lamentation--"My sweetest daughter, your tears constrain
   Me, because they are joined with My love, and fall for love of Me, and
   your painful desires force Me to answer you; but marvel, and see how My
   spouse has defiled her face, and become leprous, on account of her
   filthiness and self-love, and swollen with the pride and avarice of
   those who feed on their own sin.

   "What I say of the universal body and the mystical body of the Holy
   Church (that is to say the Christian religion) I also say of My
   ministers, who stand and feed at the breasts of Holy Church; and, not
   only should they feed themselves, but it is also their duty to feed and
   hold to those breasts the universal body of Christian people, and also
   any other people who should wish to leave the darkness of their
   infidelity, and bind themselves as members to My Church. See then with
   what ignorance and darkness, and ingratitude, are administered, and
   with what filthy hands are handled this glorious milk and blood of My
   spouse, and with what presumption and irreverence they are received.
   Wherefore, that which really gives life, often gives, through the
   defects of those who receive it, death; that is to say, the precious
   Blood of My only-begotten Son, which destroyed death and darkness, and
   gave life and truth, and confounded falsehood. For I give this Blood
   and use It for salvation and perfection in the case of that man who
   disposes himself properly to receive it, for It gives life and adorns
   the soul with every grace, in proportion to the disposition and
   affection of him who receives It; similarly It gives death to him who
   receives It unworthily, living in iniquity and in the darkness of
   mortal sin; to him, I say, It gives death and not life; not through
   defect of the Blood, nor through defect of the minister, though there
   might be great evil in him, because his evil would not spoil nor defile
   the Blood nor diminish Its grace and virtue, nor does an evil minister
   do harm to him to whom he gives the Blood, but to himself he does the
   harm of guilt, which will be followed by punishment, unless he correct
   himself with contrition and repentance. I say then that the Blood does
   harm to him who receives it unworthily, not through defect of the
   Blood, nor of the minister, but through his own evil disposition and
   defect inasmuch as he has befouled his mind and body with such impurity
   and misery, and has been so cruel to himself and his neighbor. He has
   used cruelty to himself, depriving himself of grace, trampling under
   the feet of his affection the fruit of the Blood which he had received
   in Holy Baptism, when the stain of original sin was taken from him by
   virtue of the Blood, which stain he drew from his origin, when he was
   generated by his father and mother.

   "Wherefore I gave My Word, My only-begotten Son, because the whole
   stuff of human generation was corrupted through the sin of the first
   man Adam. Wherefore, all of you, vessels made of this stuff, were
   corrupted and not disposed to the possession of eternal life--so I,
   with My dignity, joined Myself to the baseness of your human
   generation, in order to restore it to grace which you had lost by sin;
   for I was incapable of suffering, and yet, on account of guilt, My
   divine justice demanded suffering. But man was not sufficient to
   satisfy it, for, even if he had satisfied to a certain extent, he could
   only have satisfied for himself, and not for other rational creatures,
   besides which, neither for himself, nor for others, could man satisfy,
   his sin having been committed against Me, who am the Infinite Good.
   Wishing, however, to restore man, who was enfeebled, and could not
   satisfy for the above reason, I sent My Word, My own Son, clothed in
   your own very nature, the corrupted clay of Adam, in order that He
   might endure suffering in that self-same nature in which man had
   offended, suffering in His body even to the opprobrious death of the
   Cross, and so He satisfied My justice and My divine mercy. For My mercy
   willed to make satisfaction for the sin of man and to dispose him to
   that good for which I had created him. This human nature, joined with
   the divine nature, was sufficient to satisfy for the whole human race,
   not only on account of the pain which it sustained in its finite
   nature, that is in the flesh of Adam, but by virtue of the Eternal
   Deity, the divine and infinite nature joined to it. The two natures
   being thus joined together, I received and accepted the sacrifice of My
   only-begotten Son, kneaded into one dough with the divine nature, by
   the fire of divine love which was the fetter which held him fastened
   and nailed to the Cross in this way. Thus human nature was sufficient
   to satisfy for guilt, but only by virtue of the divine nature. And in
   this way was destroyed the stain of Adam's sin, only the mark of it
   remaining behind, that is an inclination to sin, and to every sort of
   corporeal defect, like the cicatrice which remains when a man is healed
   of a wound. In this way the original fault of Adam was able still to
   cause a fatal stain; wherefore the coming of the great Physician, that
   is to say, of My only-begotten Son, cured this invalid, He drinking
   this bitter medicine, which man could not drink on account of his great
   weakness, like a foster-mother who takes medicine instead of her
   suckling, because she is grown up and strong, and the child is not fit
   to endure its bitterness. He was man's foster-mother, enduring, with
   the greatness and strength of the Deity united with your nature, the
   bitter medicine of the painful death of the Cross, to give life to you
   little ones debilitated by guilt. I say therefore that the mark alone
   of original sin remains, which sin you take from your father and your
   mother when you were generated by them. But this mark is removed from
   the soul, though not altogether, by Holy Baptism, which has the virtue
   of communicating the life of grace by means of that glorious and
   precious Blood. Wherefore, at the moment that the soul receives Holy
   Baptism, original sin is taken away from her, and grace is infused into
   her, and that inclination to sin, which remains from the original
   corruption, as has been said, is indeed a source of weakness, but the
   soul can keep the bridle on it if she choose. Then the vessel of the
   soul is disposed to receive and increase in herself grace, more or
   less, according as it pleases her to dispose herself willingly with
   affection, and desire of loving and serving Me; and, in the same way,
   she can dispose herself to evil as to good, in spite of her having
   received grace in Holy Baptism. Wherefore when the time of discretion
   is come, the soul can, by her free will, make choice either of good or
   evil, according as it pleases her will; and so great is this liberty
   that man has, and so strong has this liberty been made by virtue of
   this glorious Blood, that no demon or creature can constrain him to one
   smallest fault without his free consent. He has been redeemed from
   slavery, and made free in order that he might govern his own
   sensuality, and obtain the end for which he was created. Oh, miserable
   man, who delights to remain in the mud like a brute, and does not learn
   this great benefit which he has received from Me! A benefit so great,
   that the poor wretched creature full of such ignorance could receive no
   greater."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How sin is more gravely punished after the Passion of Christ than before;
      and how God promises to do mercy to the world, and to the Holy Church, by
      means of the prayers and sufferings of His servants.

   "And I wish you to know, My daughter, that, although I have re-created
   and restored to the life of grace, the human race, through the Blood of
   My only-begotten Son, as I have said, men are not grateful, but, going
   from bad to worse, and from guilt to guilt, even persecuting Me with
   many injuries, taking so little account of the graces which I have
   given them, and continue to give them, that, not only do they not
   attribute what they have received to grace, but seem to themselves on
   occasion to receive injuries from Me, as if I desired anything else
   than their sanctification.

   "I say to you that they will be more hard-hearted, and worthy of more
   punishment, and will, indeed, be punished more severely, now that they
   have received redemption in the Blood of My Son, than they would have
   been before that redemption took place--that is, before the stain of
   Adam's sin had been taken away. It is right that he who receives more
   should render more, and should be under great obligations to Him from
   whom he receives more.

   "Man, then, was closely bound to Me through his being which I have
   given him, creating him in My own image and similitude; for which
   reason, he was bound to render Me glory, but he deprived Me of it, and
   wished to give it to himself. Thus he came to transgress My obedience
   imposed on him, and became My enemy. And I, with My humility, destroyed
   his pride, humiliating the divine nature, and taking your humanity,
   and, freeing you from the service of the devil, I made you free. And,
   not only did I give you liberty, but, if you examine, you will see that
   man has become God, and God has become man, through the union of the
   divine with the human nature. This is the debt which they have
   incurred--that is to say, the treasure of the Blood, by which they have
   been procreated to grace. See, therefore, how much more they owe after
   the redemption than before. For they are now obliged to render Me glory
   and praise by following in the steps of My Incarnate Word, My
   only-begotten Son, for then they repay Me the debt of love both of
   Myself and of their neighbor, with true and genuine virtue, as I have
   said to you above, and if they do not do it, the greater their debt,
   the greater will be the offense they fall into, and therefore, by
   divine justice, the greater their suffering in eternal damnation.

   "A false Christian is punished more than a pagan, and the deathless
   fire of divine justice consumes him more, that is, afflicts him more,
   and, in his affliction, he feels himself being consumed by the worm of
   conscience, though, in truth, he is not consumed, because the damned do
   not lose their being through any torment which they receive. Wherefore
   I say to you, that they ask for death and cannot have it, for they
   cannot lose their being; the existence of grace they lose, through
   their fault, but not their natural existence. Therefore guilt is more
   gravely punished after the Redemption of the Blood than before, because
   man received more; but sinners neither seem to perceive this, nor to
   pay any attention to their own sins, and so become My enemies, though I
   have reconciled them, by means of the Blood of My Son. But there is a
   remedy with which I appease My wrath--that is to say, by means of My
   servants, if they are jealous to constrain Me by their desire. You see,
   therefore, that you have bound Me with this bond which I have given
   you, because I wished to do mercy to the world.

   "Therefore I give My servants hunger and desire for My honor, and the
   salvation of souls, so that, constrained by their tears, I may mitigate
   the fury of My divine justice. Take, therefore, your tears and your
   sweat, drawn from the fountain of My divine love, and, with them, wash
   the face of My spouse.

   "I promise you, that, by this means, her beauty will be restored to
   her, not by the knife nor by cruelty, but peacefully, by humble and
   continued prayer, by the sweat and the tears shed by the fiery desire
   of My servants, and thus will I fulfill your desire if you, on your
   part, endure much, casting the light of your patience into the darkness
   of perverse man, not fearing the world's persecutions, for I will
   protect you, and My Providence shall never fail you in the slightest
   need."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the road to Heaven being broken through the disobedience of Adam, God
      made of His Son a Bridge by which man could pass.

   "Wherefore I have told you that I have made a Bridge of My Word, of My
   only-begotten Son, and this is the truth. I wish that you, My children,
   should know that the road was broken by the sin and disobedience of
   Adam, in such a way, that no one could arrive at Eternal Life.
   Wherefore men did not render Me glory in the way in which they ought to
   have, as they did not participate in that Good for which I had created
   them, and My truth was not fulfilled. This truth is that I have created
   man to My own image and similitude, in order that he might have Eternal
   Life, and might partake of Me, and taste My supreme and eternal
   sweetness and goodness. But, after sin had closed Heaven and bolted the
   doors of mercy, the soul of man produced thorns and prickly brambles,
   and My creature found in himself rebellion against himself.

   "And the flesh immediately began to war against the Spirit, and, losing
   the state of innocence, became a foul animal, and all created things
   rebelled against man, whereas they would have been obedient to him, had
   he remained in the state in which I had placed him. He, not remaining
   therein, transgressed My obedience, and merited eternal death in soul
   and body. And, as soon as he had sinned, a tempestuous flood arose,
   which ever buffets him with its waves, bringing him weariness and
   trouble from himself, the devil, and the world. Every one was drowned
   in the flood, because no one, with his own justice alone, could arrive
   at Eternal Life. And so, wishing to remedy your great evils, I have
   given you the Bridge of My Son, in order that, passing across the
   flood, you may not be drowned, which flood is the tempestuous sea of
   this dark life. See, therefore, under what obligations the creature is
   to Me, and how ignorant he is, not to take the remedy which I have
   offered, but to be willing to drown."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How God induces the soul to look at the greatness of this Bridge, inasmuch
      as it reaches from earth to Heaven.

   "Open, my daughter, the eye of your intellect, and you will see the
   accepted and the ignorant, the imperfect, and also the perfect who
   follow Me in truth, so that you may grieve over the damnation of the
   ignorant, and rejoice over the perfection of My beloved servants.

   "You will see further how those bear themselves who walk in the light,
   and those who walk in the darkness. I also wish you to look at the
   Bridge of My only-begotten Son, and see the greatness thereof, for it
   reaches from Heaven to earth, that is, that the earth of your humanity
   is joined to the greatness of the Deity thereby. I say then that this
   Bridge reaches from Heaven to earth, and constitutes the union which I
   have made with man.

   "This was necessary, in order to reform the road which was broken, as I
   said to you, in order that man should pass through the bitterness of
   the world, and arrive at life; but the Bridge could not be made of
   earth sufficiently large to span the flood and give you Eternal Life,
   because the earth of human nature was not sufficient to satisfy for
   guilt, to remove the stain of Adam's sin. Which stain corrupted the
   whole human race and gave out a stench, as I have said to you above. It
   was, therefore, necessary to join human nature with the height of My
   nature, the Eternal Deity, so that it might be sufficient to satisfy
   for the whole human race, so that human nature should sustain the
   punishment, and that the Divine nature, united with the human, should
   make acceptable the sacrifice of My only Son, offered to Me to take
   death from you and to give you life.

   "So the height of the Divinity, humbled to the earth, and joined with
   your humanity, made the Bridge and reformed the road. Why was this
   done? In order that man might come to his true happiness with the
   angels. And observe, that it is not enough, in order that you should
   have life, that My Son should have made you this Bridge, unless you
   walk thereon."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this soul prays God to show her those who cross by the aforesaid
      Bridge, and those who do not.

   Then this soul exclaimed with ardent love,--"Oh, inestimable Charity,
   sweet above all sweetness! Who would not be inflamed by such great
   love? What heart can help breaking at such tenderness? It seems, oh,
   Abyss of Charity, as if you were mad with love of Your creature, as if
   You could not live without him, and yet You are our God who have no
   heed of us, Your greatness does not increase through our good, for You
   are unchangeable, and our evil causes You no harm, for You are the
   Supreme and Eternal Goodness. What moves You to do us such mercy
   through pure love, and on account of no debt that You owed us, or need
   that You had of us? We are rather Your guilty and malignant debtors.
   Wherefore, if I understand aright, Oh, Supreme and Eternal Truth, I am
   the thief and You have been punished for me. For I see Your Word, Your
   Son, fastened and nailed to the Cross, of which You have made me a
   Bridge, as You have shown me, Your miserable servant, for which reason,
   my heart is bursting, and yet cannot burst, through the hunger and the
   desire which it has conceived towards You. I remember, my Lord, that
   You were willing to show me who are those who go by the Bridge and
   those who do not; should it please Your goodness to manifest this to
   me, willingly would I see and hear it."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this Bridge has three steps, which signify the three states of the
      soul; and how, being lifted on high, yet it is not separated from the
      earth; and how these words are to be understood: "If I am lifted up from
      the earth, I will draw all things unto Me."

   Then the Eternal God, to enamor and excite that soul still more for the
   salvation of souls, replied to her, and said: "First, as I have shown
   you that for which you wished, and ask Me, I will now explain to you
   the nature of this Bridge. I have told you, My daughter, that the
   Bridge reaches from Heaven to earth; this is through the union which I
   have made with man, whom I formed of the clay of the earth. Now learn
   that this Bridge, My only-begotten Son, has three steps, of which two
   were made with the wood of the most Holy Cross, and the third still
   retains the great bitterness He tasted, when He was given gall and
   vinegar to drink. In these three steps you will recognize three states
   of the soul, which I will explain to you below. The feet of the soul,
   signifying her affection, are the first step, for the feet carry the
   body as the affection carries the soul. Wherefore these pierced Feet
   are steps by which you can arrive at His Side, Which manifests to you
   the secret of His Heart, because the soul, rising on the steps of her
   affection, commences to taste the love of His Heart, gazing into that
   open Heart of My Son, with the eye of the intellect, and finds It
   consumed with ineffable love. I say consumed, because He does not love
   you for His own profit, because you can be of no profit to Him, He
   being one and the same thing with Me. Then the soul is filled with
   love, seeing herself so much loved. Having passed the second step, the
   soul reaches out to the third--that is--to the Mouth, where she finds
   peace from the terrible war she has been waging with her sin. On the
   first step, then, lifting her feet from the affections of the earth,
   the soul strips herself of vice; on the second she fills herself with
   love and virtue; and on the third she tastes peace. So the Bridge has
   three steps, in order that, climbing past the first and the second, you
   may reach the last, which is lifted on high, so that the water, running
   beneath, may not touch it; for, in My Son, was no venom of sin. This
   Bridge is lifted on high, and yet, at the same time, joined to the
   earth. Do you know when it was lifted on high? When My Son was lifted
   up on the wood of the most Holy Cross, the Divine nature remaining
   joined to the lowliness of the earth of your humanity.

   "For this reason I said to you that, being lifted on high, He was not
   lifted out of the earth, for the Divine nature is united and kneaded
   into one thing with it. And there was no one who could go on the Bridge
   until It had been lifted on high, wherefore He said,--'Si exaltatus
   fuero a terra omnia traham ad me ipsum,' that is, 'If I am lifted on
   high I will draw all things to Me.' My Goodness, seeing that in no
   other way could you be drawn to Me, I sent Him in order that He should
   be lifted on high on the wood of the Cross, making of it an anvil on
   which My Son, born of human generation, should be re-made, in order to
   free you from death, and to restore you to the life of grace; wherefore
   He drew everything to Himself by this means, namely, by showing the
   ineffable love, with which I love you, the heart of man being always
   attracted by love. Greater love, then, I could not show you, than to
   lay down My life for you; perforce, then, My Son was treated in this
   way by love, in order that ignorant man should be unable to resist
   being drawn to Me.

   "In very truth, then, My Son said, that, being lifted on high, He would
   draw all things to Him. And this is to be understood in two ways.
   Firstly, that, when the heart of man is drawn by the affection of love,
   as I have said, it is drawn together with all the powers of his soul,
   that is, with the Memory, the Intellect, and the Will; now, when these
   three powers are harmoniously joined together in My Name, all the other
   operations which the man performs, whether in deed or thought, are
   pleasing, and joined together by the effect of love, because love is
   lifted on high, following the Sorrowful Crucified One; so My Truth said
   well, 'If I am lifted on high,' &c., meaning, that if the heart and the
   powers of the soul are drawn to Him, all the actions are also drawn to
   Him. Secondly, everything has been created for the service of man, to
   serve the necessities of rational creatures, and the rational creature
   has not been made for them, but for Me, in order to serve Me with all
   his heart, and with all his affection. See, then, that man being drawn,
   everything else is drawn with him, because everything else has been
   made for him. It was therefore necessary that the Bridge should be
   lifted on high, and have steps, in order that it might be climbed with
   greater facility."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this Bridge is built of stones which signify virtues; and how on the
      Bridge is a hostelry where food is given to the travelers; and how he who
      goes over the Bridge goes to life, while he who goes under It goes to
      perdition and death.

   "This Bridge is built of stones, so that, if the rain come, it may not
   impede the traveler. Do you know what these stones are? They are the
   stones of true and sincere virtues. These stones were not built into
   the walls before the Passion of My Son, and therefore even those who
   attempted to walk by the road of virtue were prevented from arriving at
   their journey's end, because Heaven was not yet unlocked with the key
   of the Blood, and the rain of Justice did not let them pass; but, after
   the stones were made, and built up on the Body of My sweet Son, My
   Word, of whom I have spoken to you, He, who was Himself the Bridge,
   moistened the mortar for its building with His Blood. That is, His
   Blood was united with the mortar of divinity, and with the fortitude,
   and the fire of love; and, by My power, these stones of the virtues
   were built into a wall, upon Him as the foundation, for there is no
   virtue which has not been proved in Him, and from Him all virtues have
   their life. Wherefore no one can have the virtue given by a life of
   grace, but from Him, that is, without following the footsteps of His
   doctrine. He has built a wall of the virtues, planting them as living
   stones, and cementing them with His Blood, so that every believer may
   walk speedily, and without any servile fear of the rain of Divine
   justice, for he is sheltered by the mercy which descended from Heaven
   in the Incarnation of this My Son. How was Heaven opened? With the key
   of His Blood; so you see that the Bridge is walled and roofed with
   Mercy. His also is the Hostelry in the Garden of the Holy Church, which
   keeps and ministers the Bread of Life, and gives to drink of the Blood,
   so that My creatures, journeying on their pilgrimage, may not, through
   weariness, faint by the way; and for this reason My love has ordained
   that the Blood and the Body of My only-begotten Son, wholly God and
   wholly man, may be ministered to you. The pilgrim, having passed the
   Bridge, arrives at the door which is part of the Bridge, at which all
   must enter, wherefore He says: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
   he who follows Me does not walk in darkness, but in light.' And in
   another place My Truth says, 'That no man can come to Me if not by
   Him,' and so indeed it is. Therefore He says of Himself that He is the
   Road, and this is the truth, and I have already shown you that He is a
   Road in the form of the Bridge. And He says that He is the Truth, and
   so He is, because He is united with Me who am the Truth, and he who
   follows Him, walks in the Truth, and in Life, because he who follows
   this Truth receives the life of grace, and cannot faint from hunger,
   because the Truth has become your food, nor fall in the darkness,
   because He is light without any falsehood. And, with that Truth, He
   confounded and destroyed the lie that the Devil told to Eve, with which
   he broke up the road to Heaven, and the Truth brought the pieces
   together again, and cemented them with His Blood. Wherefore, those who
   follow this road are the sons of the Truth, because they follow the
   Truth, and pass through the door of Truth and find themselves united to
   Me, who am the Door and the Road and at the same time Infinite Peace.

   "But he, who walks not on this road, goes under the Bridge, in the
   river where there are no stones, only water, and since there are no
   supports in the water, no one can travel that way without drowning;
   thus have come to pass the sins, and the condition of the world.
   Wherefore, if the affection is not placed on the stones, but is placed,
   with disordinate love, on creatures, loving them, and being kept by
   them far from Me, the soul drowns, for creatures are like water that
   continually runs past, and man also passes continually like the river,
   although it seems to him that he stands still and the creatures that he
   loves pass by, and yet he is passing himself continually to the end of
   his journey--death! And he would gladly retain himself (that is his
   life, and the things that he loves), but he does not succeed, either,
   through death, by which he has to leave them, or through my
   disposition, by which these created things are taken from the sight of
   My creatures. Such as these follow a lie, walking on the road of
   falsehood, and are sons of the Devil, who is the Father of Lies; and,
   because they pass by the door of falsehood, they receive eternal
   damnation. So then you see, that I have shown you both Truth and
   Falsehood, that is, My road which is Truth, and the Devil's which is
   Falsehood."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How traveling on both of these roads, that is the Bridge and the River, is
      fatiguing; and of the delight which the soul feels in traveling by the
      Bridge.

   "These are the two roads, and both are hard to travel. Wonder, then, at
   the ignorance and blindness of man, who, having a Road made for him,
   which causes such delight to those who use It, that every bitterness
   becomes sweet, and every burden light, yet prefers to walk over the
   water. For those who cross by the Bridge, being still in the darkness
   of the body, find light, and, being mortal, find immortal life,
   tasting, through love, the light of Eternal Truth which promises
   refreshment to him who wearies himself for Me, who am grateful and
   just, and render to every man according as he deserves. Wherefore every
   good deed is rewarded, and every fault is punished. The tongue would
   not be sufficient to relate the delight felt by him who goes on this
   road, for, even in this life, he tastes and participates in that good
   which has been prepared for him in eternal life. He, therefore, is a
   fool indeed, who despises so great a good, and chooses rather to
   receive in this life, the earnest money of Hell, walking by the lower
   road with great toil, and without any refreshment or advantage.
   Wherefore, through their sins, they are deprived of Me, who am the
   Supreme and Eternal Good. Truly then have you reason for grief, and I
   will that you and My other servants remain in continual bitterness of
   soul at the offense done to Me, and in compassion for the ignorant, and
   the loss of those who, in their ignorance, thus offend Me. Now you have
   seen and heard about this Bridge, how it is, and this I have told you
   in order to explain My words, that My only-begotten Son was a Bridge.
   And thus, you see that He is the Truth, made in the way that I have
   shown you, that is--by the union of height and lowliness."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this Bridge, having reached to Heaven on the day of the Ascension, did
      not for that reason have the earth.

   "When My only-begotten Son returned to Me, forty days after the
   resurrection, this Bridge, namely Himself, arose from the earth, that
   is, from among the conversation of men, and ascended into Heaven by
   virtue of the Divine Nature and sat at the right hand of Me, the
   Eternal Father, as the angels said, on the day of the Ascension, to the
   disciples, standing like dead men, their hearts lifted on high, and
   ascended into Heaven with the wisdom of My Son--'Do not stand here any
   longer, for He is seated at the right hand of the Father!' When He,
   then, had thus ascended on high, and returned to Me the Father, I sent
   the Master, that is the Holy Spirit, who came to you with My power and
   the wisdom of My Son, and with His own clemency, which is the essence
   of the Holy Spirit. He is one thing with Me, the Father, and with My
   Son. And He built up the road of the doctrine which My Truth had left
   in the world. Thus, though the bodily presence of My Son left you, His
   doctrine remained, and the virtue of the stones founded upon this
   doctrine, which is the way made for you by this Bridge. For first, He
   practiced this doctrine and made the road by His actions, giving you
   His doctrine by example rather than by words; for He practiced, first
   Himself, what He afterwards taught you, then the clemency of the Holy
   Spirit made you certain of the doctrine, fortifying the minds of the
   disciples to confess the truth, and to announce this road, that is, the
   doctrine of Christ crucified, reproving, by this means, the world of
   its injustice and false judgment, of which injustice and false
   judgment, I will in time discourse to you at greater length.

   "This much I have said to you in order that there might be no cloud of
   darkness in the mind of your hearers, that is, that they may know that
   of this Body of Christ I made a Bridge by the union of the divine with
   the human nature, for this is the truth.

   "This Bridge, taking its point of departure in you, rose into Heaven,
   and was the one road which was taught you by the example and life of
   the Truth. What has now remained of all this, and where is the road to
   be found? I will tell you, that is, I will rather tell those who might
   fall into ignorance on this point. I tell you that this way of His
   doctrine, of which I have spoken to you, confirmed by the Apostles,
   declared by the blood of the martyrs, illuminated by the light of
   doctors, confessed by the confessors, narrated in all its love by the
   Evangelists, all of whom stand as witnesses to confess the Truth, is
   found in the mystical body of the Holy Church. These witnesses are like
   the light placed on a candlestick, to show forth the way of the Truth
   which leads to life with a perfect light, as I have said to you, and,
   as they themselves say to you, with proof, since they have proved in
   their own cases, that every person may, if he will, be illuminated to
   know the Truth, unless he choose to deprive his reason of light by his
   inordinate self-love. It is, indeed, the truth that His doctrine is
   true, and has remained like a lifeboat to draw the soul out of the
   tempestuous sea and to conduct her to the port of salvation.

   "Wherefore, first I gave you the Bridge of My Son living and conversing
   in very deed amongst men, and when He, the living Bridge, left you,
   there remained the Bridge and the road of His doctrine, as has been
   said, His doctrine being joined with My power and with His wisdom, and
   with the clemency of the Holy Spirit. This power of Mine gives the
   virtue of fortitude to whoever follows this road, wisdom gives him
   light, so that, in this road, he may recognize the truth, and the Holy
   Spirit gives him love, which consumes and takes away all sensitive love
   out of the soul, leaving there only the love of virtue. Thus, in both
   ways, both actually and through His doctrine, He is the Way, the Truth,
   and the Life; that is, the Bridge which leads you to the height of
   Heaven. This is what He meant when He said, 'I came from the Father,
   and I return to the Father, and shall return to you'; that is to say,
   My Father sent Me to you, and made Me your Bridge, so that you might be
   saved from the river and attain to life.' Then He says, 'I will return
   to you, I will not leave you orphans, but will send you the
   Paraclete'--as if My Truth should say, I will go to the Father and
   return; that is, that when the Holy Spirit shall come, who is called
   the Paraclete, He will show you more clearly, and will confirm you in
   the way of truth, that I have given you.' He said that He would return,
   and He did return, because the Holy Spirit came not alone, but with the
   power of the Father, and the wisdom of the Son, and the clemency of His
   own Essence.

   "See then how He returns, not in actual flesh and blood, but, as I have
   said, building the road of His doctrine, with His power, which road
   cannot be destroyed or taken away from him who wishes to follow it,
   because it is firm and stable, and proceeds from Me, who am immovable.

   "Manfully, then, should you follow this road, without any cloud of
   doubt, but with the light of faith which has been given you as a
   principle in Holy Baptism.

   "Now I have fully shown to you the Bridge as it actually is, and the
   doctrine, which is one and the same thing with it. And I have shown it
   to the ignorant, in order that they may see where this road of Truth
   is, and where stand those who teach it; and I have explained that they
   are the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Evangelists, and Holy Doctors,
   placed like lanterns in the Holy Church.

   "And I have shown how My Son, returning to Me, none the less, returned
   to you, not in His bodily presence, but by His power, when the Holy
   Spirit came upon the disciples, as I have said. For in His bodily
   presence He will not return until the last Day of Judgment, when He
   will come again with My Majesty and Divine Power to judge the world, to
   render good to the virtuous, and reward them for their labors, both in
   body and soul, and to dispense the evil of eternal death to those who
   have lived wickedly in the world.

   "And now I wish to tell you that which I, the Truth, promised you, that
   is, to show you the perfect, the imperfect, and the supremely perfect;
   and the wicked, who, through their iniquities, drown in the river,
   attaining to punishment and torment; wherefore I say to you, My dearest
   sons, walk over the Bridge, and not underneath it, because underneath
   is not the way of truth, but the way of falsehood, by which walk the
   wicked, of whom I will presently speak to you. These are those sinners
   for whom I beg you to pray to Me, and for whom I ask in addition your
   tears and sweat, in order that they may receive mercy from Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this soul wondering at the mercy of God, relates many gifts and graces
      given to the human race.

   Then this soul, as it were, like one intoxicated, could not contain
   herself, but standing before the face of God, exclaimed, "How great is
   the Eternal Mercy with which You cover the sins of Your creatures! I do
   not wonder that You say of those who abandon mortal sin and return to
   You, 'I do not remember that you have ever offended Me.' Oh, ineffable
   Mercy! I do not wonder that You say this to those who are converted,
   when You say of those who persecute You, I wish you to pray for such,
   in order that I may do them mercy.' Oh, Mercy, who proceeds from Your
   Eternal Father, the Divinity who governs with Your power the whole
   world, by You were we created, in You were we re-created in the Blood
   of Your Son. Your Mercy preserves us, Your Mercy caused Your Son to do
   battle for us, hanging by His arms on the wood of the Cross, life and
   death battling together; then life confounded the death of our sin, and
   the death of our sin destroyed the bodily life of the Immaculate Lamb.
   Which was finally conquered? Death! By what means? Mercy! Your Mercy
   gives light and life, by which Your clemency is known in all Your
   creatures, both the just and the unjust. In the height of Heaven Your
   Mercy shines, that is, in Your saints. If I turn to the earth, it
   abounds with Your Mercy. In the darkness of Hell Your Mercy shines, for
   the damned do not receive the pains they deserve; with Your Mercy You
   temper Justice. By Mercy You have washed us in the Blood, and by Mercy
   You wish to converse with Your creatures. Oh, Loving Madman! was it not
   enough for You to become Incarnate, that You must also die? Was not
   death enough, that You must also descend into Limbo, taking thence the
   holy fathers to fulfill Your Mercy and Your Truth in them? Because Your
   goodness promises a reward to them that serve You in truth, You
   descended to Limbo, to withdraw from their pain Your servants, and give
   them the fruit of their labors. Your Mercy constrains You to give even
   more to man, namely, to leave Yourself to him in food, so that we, weak
   ones, should have comfort, and the ignorant commemorating You, should
   not lose the memory of Your benefits. Wherefore every day You give
   Yourself to man, representing Yourself in the Sacrament of the Altar,
   in the body of Your Holy Church. What has done this? Your Mercy. Oh,
   Divine Mercy! My heart suffocates in thinking of you, for on every side
   to which I turn my thought, I find nothing but mercy. Oh, Eternal
   Father! Forgive my ignorance, that I presume thus to chatter to You,
   but the love of Your Mercy will be my excuse before the Face of Your
   loving-kindness."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the baseness of those who pass by the river under the Bridge; and how
      the soul, that passes underneath, is called by God the tree of death,
      whose roots are held in four vices.

   After this soul had refreshed a little her heart in the mercy of God,
   by these words, she humbly waited for the fulfillment of the promise
   made to her, and God continuing His discourse said: "Dearest daughter,
   you have spoken before Me of My mercy, because I gave it you to taste
   and to see in the word which I spoke to you when I said: these are
   those for whom I pray you to intercede with Me,' but know, that My
   mercy is without any comparison, far more than you can see, because
   your sight is imperfect, and My mercy perfect and infinite, so that
   there can be no comparison between the two, except what may be between
   a finite and an infinite thing. But I have wished that you should taste
   this mercy, and also the dignity of man, which I have shown you above,
   so that you might know better the cruelty of those wicked men who
   travel below the Bridge. Open the eye of your intellect, and wonder at
   those who voluntarily drown themselves, and at the baseness to which
   they are fallen by their fault, from which cause, they have first
   become weak, and this was when they conceived mortal sin in their
   minds, for they then bring it forth, and lose the life of grace. And,
   as a corpse which can have no feeling or movement of itself, but only
   when it is moved and lifted by others, so those, who are drowned in the
   stream of disordinate love of the world, are dead to grace. Wherefore
   because they are dead their memory takes no heed of My mercy. The eye
   of their intellect sees not and knows not My Truth, because their
   feeling is dead, that is, their intellect has no object before it but
   themselves, with the dead love of their own sensuality, and so their
   will is dead to My will because it loves nothing but dead things. These
   three powers then being dead, all the soul's operations both in deed
   and thought are dead as far as grace is concerned. For the soul cannot
   defend herself against her enemies, nor help herself through her own
   power, but only so far as she is helped by Me. It is true indeed, that
   every time that this corpse, in whom only free-will has remained (which
   remains as long as the mortal body lives), asks My help, he can have
   it, but never can he help himself; he has become insupportable to
   himself, and, wishing to govern the world, is governed by that which is
   not, that is by sin, for sin in itself is nothing, and such men have
   become the servants and slaves of sin. I have made them trees of love
   with the life of grace which they received in Holy Baptism; and they
   have become trees of death, because they are dead, as I have already
   said to you. Do you know how this tree finds such roots? In the height
   of pride, which is nourished by their own sensitive self-love. Its
   branch is their own impatience, and its offshoot indiscretion: these
   are the four principal vices which destroy the soul of him who is a
   tree of death, because he has not drawn life from grace. Inside the
   tree is nourished the worm of conscience, which, while man lives in
   mortal sin, is blinded by self-love, and therefore felt but little; the
   fruits of this tree are mortal, for they have drawn their nourishment,
   which should have been humility, from the roots of pride, and the
   miserable soul is full of ingratitude, whence proceeds every evil. But
   if she were grateful for the benefits she has received, she would know
   Me, and knowing Me would know herself, and so would remain in My love:
   but she, as if blind, goes groping down the river, and she does not see
   that the water does not support her."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the fruits of this tree are as diverse as are the sins; and first, of
      the sin of sensuality.

   "The fruits of this death-giving tree, are as diverse as sins are
   diverse. See that some of these fruits are the food of beasts who live
   impurely, using their body and their mind like a swine who wallows in
   mud, for in the same way they wallow in the mire of sensuality. Oh,
   ugly soul, where have you left your dignity? You were made sister to
   the angels, and now you are become a brute beast. To such misery come
   sinners, notwithstanding that they are sustained by Me, who am Supreme
   Purity, notwithstanding that the very devils, whose friends and
   servants they have become, cannot endure the sight of such filthy
   actions. Neither does any sin, abominable as it may be, take away the
   light of the intellect from man, so much as does this one. This the
   philosophers knew, not by the light of grace, because they had it not,
   but because nature gave them the light to know that this sin obscured
   the intellect, and for that reason they preserved themselves in
   continence the better to study. Thus also they flung away their riches
   in order that the thought of them should not occupy their heart. Not so
   does the ignorant and false Christian, who has lost grace by sin."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the fruit of others is avarice; and of the evils that proceed from it.

   "A fruit of the earth belongs to some others, who are covetous misers,
   acting like the mole, who always feeds on earth till death, and when
   they arrive at death they find no remedy. Such as these, with their
   meanness, despise My generosity, selling time to their neighbor. They
   are cruel usurers, and robbers of their neighbor; because in their
   memory they have not the remembrance of My mercy, for if they had it
   they would not be cruel to themselves or to their neighbor; on the
   contrary, they would be compassionate and merciful to themselves,
   practicing the virtues on their neighbor and succoring him charitably.
   Oh, how many are the evils that come of this cursed sin of avarice, how
   many homicides and thefts, and how much pillage with unlawful gain, and
   cruelty of heart and injustice! It kills the soul and makes her the
   slave of riches, so that she cares not to observe My commandments.

   "A miser loves no one except for his own profit. Avarice proceeds from
   and feeds pride, the one follows from the other, because the miser
   always carries with him the thought of his own reputation, and thus
   avarice, which is immediately combined with pride, full of its own
   opinions, goes on from bad to worse. It is a fire which always
   germinates the smoke of vainglory and vanity of heart, and boasting in
   that which does not belong to it. It is a root which has many branches,
   and the principal one is that which makes a man care for his own
   reputation, from whence proceeds his desire to be greater than his
   neighbor. It also brings forth the deceitful heart that is neither pure
   nor liberal, but is double, making a man show one thing with his
   tongue, while he has another in his heart, and making him conceal the
   truth and tell lies for his own profit. And it produces envy, which is
   a worm that is always gnawing, and does not let the miser have any
   happiness out of his own or others' good. How will these wicked ones in
   so wretched a state give of their substance to the poor, when they rob
   others? How will they draw their foul soul out of the mire, when they
   themselves put it there? Sometimes even do they become so brutish, that
   they do not consider their children and relations, and cause them to
   fall with them into great misery. And, nevertheless, in My mercy I
   sustain them, I do not command the earth to swallow them up, that they
   may repent of their sins. Would they then give their life for the
   salvation of souls, when they will not give their substance? Would they
   give their affections when they are gnawed with envy? Oh, miserable
   vices that destroy the heaven of the soul. Heaven I call her (the soul)
   because so I made her, living in her at first by grace, and hiding
   Myself within her, and making of her a mansion through affection of
   love. Now she has separated herself from Me, like an adulteress, loving
   herself, and creatures more than Me, and has made a god of herself,
   persecuting Me with many and diverse sins. And this she does because
   she does not consider the benefit of the Blood that was shed with so
   great Fire of Love."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How some others hold positions of authority, and bring forth fruits of
      injustice.

   "There are others who hold their heads high by their position of
   authority, and who bear the banner of injustice--using injustice
   against Me, God, and against their neighbor, and against themselves--to
   themselves by not paying the debt of virtue, and towards Me by not
   paying the debt of honor in glorifying and praising My Name, which debt
   they are bound to pay. But they, like thieves, steal what is Mine, and
   give it to the service of their own sensuality. So that they commit
   injustice towards Me and towards themselves, like blind and ignorant
   men who do not recognize Me in themselves on account of self-love, like
   the Jews and the ministers of the Law who, with envy and self-love,
   blinded themselves so that they did not recognize the Truth, My
   only-begotten Son, and rendered not His due to the Eternal Truth, who
   was amongst them, as said My Truth: 'The Kingdom of God is among you.'
   But they knew it not, because, in the aforesaid way, they had lost the
   light of reason, and so they did not pay their debt of honor and glory
   to Me, and to Him, who was one thing with Me, and like blind ones
   committed injustice, persecuting Him with much ignominy, even to the
   death of the Cross.

   "Thus are such as these unjust to themselves, to Me, and to their
   neighbor, unjustly selling the flesh of their dependents, and of any
   person who falls into their hands."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How through these and through other defects, one falls into false
      judgment; and of the indignity to which one comes.

   "By these and by other sins men fall into false judgment, as I will
   explain to you below. They are continually being scandalized by My
   works, which are all just, and all performed in truth through love and
   mercy. With this false judgment, and with the poison of envy and pride,
   the works of My Son were slandered and unjustly judged, and with lies
   did His enemies say: 'This man works by virtue of Beelzebub.' Thus
   wicked men, standing in self-love, impurity, pride, and avarice, and
   founded in envy, and in perverse rashness with impatience, are forever
   scandalized at Me and at My servants, whom they judge to be feignedly
   practicing the virtues, because their heart is rotten, and, having
   spoiled their taste, good things seem evil to them, and bad things,
   that is to say disorderly living, seem good to them. Oh, how blind is
   the human generation in that it considers not its own dignity! From
   being great you have become small, from a ruler you have become a
   slave, and that in the vilest service that can be had, because you are
   the servant and slave of sin, and are become like unto that which you
   do serve.

   "Sin is nothing. You, then, have become nothing; it has deprived you of
   life, and given you death. This life and power were given you by the
   Word, My only-begotten Son, the glorious Bridge, He drawing you from
   out of your servitude when you were servants of the devil, Himself
   becoming as a servant to take you out of servitude, imposing on Himself
   obedience to do away the disobedience of Adam, and humbling Himself to
   the shameful death of the Cross to confound pride. By His death He
   destroyed every vice, so that no one could say that any vice remained
   that was not punished and beaten out with pains, as I said to you
   above, when I said that of His Body He had made an anvil. All the
   remedies are ready to save men from eternal death, and they despise the
   Blood, and have trampled It under the feet of their disordinate
   affection; and it is for this injustice and false judgment that the
   world is reproved, and will be reproved on the Last Day of Judgment.

   "This was meant by My Truth when He said: 'I will send the Paraclete,
   who will reprove the world of injustice and false judgment.' And it was
   reproved when I sent the Holy Spirit on the Apostles."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the words that Christ said: "I will send the Holy Spirit, who will
      reprove the world of injustice and of false judgment;" and how one of
      these reproofs is continuous.

   "There are three reproofs. One was given when the Holy Spirit came upon
   the disciples, who, as it is said, being fortified by My power, and
   illuminated by the wisdom of My beloved Son, received all in the
   plenitude of the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit, who is one thing
   with Me and with My Son, reproved the world by the mouth of the
   Apostles, with the doctrine of My Truth. They and all others, who are
   descended from them, following the truth which they understand through
   the same means, reprove the world.

   "This is that continuous reproof that I make to the world by means of
   the Holy Scriptures, and My servants, putting the Holy Spirit on their
   tongues to announce My truth, even as the Devil puts himself on the
   tongues of his servants, that is to say, of those who pass through the
   river in iniquity. This is that sweet reproof that I have fixed
   forever, in the aforesaid way, out of My most great affection of love
   for the salvation of souls. And they cannot say I had no one who
   reproved me,' because the truth is revealed to them showing them vice
   and virtue. And I have made them see the fruit of virtue, and the
   hurtfulness of vice, to give them love and holy fear with hatred of
   vice and love of virtue, and this truth has not been shown them by an
   angel, so that they cannot say, the angel is a blessed spirit who
   cannot offend, and feels not the vexations of the flesh as we do,
   neither the heaviness of our body,' because the Incarnate Word of My
   Truth has been given to them with your mortal flesh.

   "Who were the others who followed this Word? Mortal creatures,
   susceptible of pain like you, having the same opposition of the flesh
   to the Spirit, as had the glorious Paul, My standard-bearer, and many
   other saints who, by one thing or another, have been tormented. Which
   torments I permitted for the increase of grace and virtue in their
   souls. Thus, they were born in sin like you, and nourished with a like
   food, and I am God now as then. My power is not weakened, and cannot
   become weak. So that I can and will succor him who wishes to be
   succored by Me. Man wants My succor when he comes out of the river, and
   walks by the Bridge, following the doctrine of My Truth. Thus no one
   has any excuse, because both reproof and truth are constantly given to
   them. Wherefore, if they do not amend while they have time, they will
   be condemned by the second condemnation which will take place at the
   extremity of death, when My Justice will cry to them, Rise, you dead,
   and come to judgment!' That is to say, You, who are dead to grace, and
   have reached the moment of your corporal death, arise and come before
   the Supreme Judge with your injustice and false judgment, and with the
   extinguished light of faith which you received burning in Holy Baptism
   (and which you have blown out with the wind of pride), and with the
   vanity of your heart, with which you set your sails to winds which were
   contrary to your salvation, for with the wind of self-esteem, you
   filled the sail of self-love.' Thus you hastened down the stream of the
   delights and dignities of the world at your own will, following your
   fragile flesh and the temptations of the devil, who, with the sail of
   your own will set, has led you along the underway which is a running
   stream, and so has brought you with himself to eternal damnation."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the second reproof of injustice, and of false judgment, in general and
      in particular.

   "This second reproof, dearest daughter, is indeed a condemnation, for
   the soul has arrived at the end, where there can be no remedy, for she
   is at the extremity of death, where is the worm of conscience, which I
   told you was blinded self-love. Now at the time of death, since she
   cannot get out of My hands, she begins to see, and therefore is gnawed
   with remorse, seeing that her own sin has brought her into so great
   evil. But if the soul have light to know and grieve for her fault, not
   on account of the pain of Hell that follows upon it, but on account of
   pain at her offense against Me, who am Supreme and Eternal Good, still
   she can find mercy. But if she pass the Bridge of death without light,
   and alone, with the worm of conscience, without the hope of the Blood,
   and bewailing herself more on account of her first condemnation than on
   account of My displeasure, she arrives at eternal damnation. And then
   she is reproved cruelly by My Justice of injustice and of false
   judgment, and not so much of general injustice and false judgment which
   she has practiced generally in all her works, but much more on account
   of the particular injustice and false judgment which she practices at
   the end, in judging her misery greater than My mercy. This is that sin
   which is neither pardoned here nor there, because the soul would not be
   pardoned, depreciating My mercy. Therefore is this last sin graver to
   Me than all the other sins that the soul has committed. Wherefore the
   despair of Judas displeased Me more, and was more grave to My Son than
   was his betrayal of Him. So that they are reproved of this false
   judgment, which is to have held their sin to be greater than My mercy,
   and, on that account, are they punished with the devils, and eternally
   tortured with them. And they are reproved of injustice because they
   grieve more over their condemnation than over My displeasure, and do
   not render to Me that which is Mine, and to themselves that which is
   theirs. For to Me, they ought to render love, and to themselves
   bitterness, with contrition of heart, and offer it to Me, for the
   offense they have done Me. And they do the contrary because they give
   to themselves love, pitying themselves, and grieving on account of the
   pain they expect for their sin; so you see that they are guilty of
   injustice and false judgment, and are punished for the one and the
   other together. Wherefore, they, having depreciated My mercy, I with
   justice send them, with their cruel servant, sensuality, and the cruel
   tyrant the Devil, whose servants they made themselves through their own
   sensuality, so that, together, they are punished and tormented, as
   together they have offended Me. Tormented, I say, by My ministering
   devils whom My judgment has appointed to torment those who have done
   evil."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the four principal torments of the damned, from which follow all the
      others; and particularly of the foulness of the Devil.

   "My daughter, the tongue is not sufficient to narrate the pain of these
   poor souls. As there are three principal vices, namely: self-love,
   whence proceeds the second, that is love of reputation, whence proceeds
   the third, that is pride, with injustice and cruelty, and with other
   filthiness and iniquitous sins, that follow upon these. So I say to
   you, that in Hell, the souls have four principal torments, out of which
   proceed all the other torments. The first is, that they see themselves
   deprived of the vision of Me, which is such pain to them, that, were it
   possible, they would rather choose the fire, and the tortures and
   torments, and to see Me, than to be without the torments and not to see
   Me.

   "This first pain revives in them, then, the second, the worm of
   Conscience, which gnaws unceasingly, seeing that the soul is deprived
   of Me, and of the conversation of the angels, through her sin, made
   worthy of the conversation and sight of the devils, which vision of the
   Devil is the third pain and redoubles to them their every toil. As the
   saints exult in the sight of Me, refreshing themselves with joyousness
   in the fruit of their toils borne for Me with such abundance of love,
   and displeasure of themselves, so does the sight of the Devil revive
   these wretched ones to torments, because in seeing him they know
   themselves more, that is to say, they know that, by their own sin, they
   have made themselves worthy of him. And so the worm of Conscience gnaws
   more and more, and the fire of this Conscience never ceases to burn.
   And the sight is more painful to them, because they see him in his own
   form, which is so horrible that the heart of man could not imagine it.
   And if you remember well, you know that I showed him to you in his own
   form for a little space of time, hardly a moment, and you chose (after
   you had returned to yourself) rather to walk on a road of fire, even
   until the Day of Judgment, than to see him again. With all this that
   you have seen, even you do not know well how horrible he is, because,
   by Divine justice, he appears more horrible to the soul that is
   deprived of Me, and more or less according to the gravity of her sin.
   The fourth torment that they have is the fire. This fire burns and does
   not consume, for the being of the soul cannot be consumed, because it
   is not a material thing that fire can consume. But I, by Divine
   justice, have permitted the fire to burn them with torments, so that it
   torments them, without consuming them, with the greatest pains in
   diverse ways according to the diversity of their sins, to some more,
   and to some less, according to the gravity of their fault. Out of these
   four torments issue all others, such as cold and heat and gnashing of
   the teeth and many others. Now because they did not amend themselves
   after the first reproof that they had of injustice and false judgment,
   neither in the second, which was that, in death, they would not hope in
   Me, nor grieve for the offense done to Me, but only for their own pain,
   have they thus so miserably received Eternal Punishment."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the third reproof which is made on the Day of Judgment.

   "Now it remains to tell of the third reproof which is on the Last Day
   of Judgment. Already I have told you of two, and now, so that you may
   see how greatly man deceives himself, I will tell you of the third--of
   the General Judgment, when the pain of the miserable soul is renewed
   and increased by the union that the soul will make with the body, with
   an intolerable reproof, which will generate in it confusion and shame.
   Know that, in the Last Day of Judgment, when will come the Word--My
   Son, with My Divine Majesty to reprove the world with Divine Power, He
   will not come like a poor one, as when He was born, coming in the womb
   of the Virgin, and being born in a stable amongst the animals, and then
   dying between two thieves. Then I concealed My power in Him, letting
   Him suffer pain and torment like man, not that My divine nature was
   therefore separated from human nature, but I let Him suffer like man to
   satisfy for your guilt. He will not come thus in that last moment, but
   He will come, with power, to reprove in His Own Person, and will render
   to everyone his due, and there will be no one in that Day who will not
   tremble. To the miserable ones who are damned, His aspect will cause
   such torment and terror that the tongue cannot describe it. To the just
   it will cause the fear of reverence with great joy; not that His face
   changes, because He is unchangeable, being one thing with Me according
   to the divine nature, and, according to the human nature, His face was
   unchangeable, after it took the glory of the Resurrection. But, to the
   eye of the damned, it will appear such, on account of their terrible
   and darkened vision, that, as the sun which is so bright, appears all
   darkness to the infirm eye, but to the healthy eye light (and it is not
   the defect of the light that makes it appear other to the blind than to
   the illuminated one, but the defect of the eye which is infirm), so
   will the condemned ones see His countenance in darkness, in confusion,
   and in hatred, not through defect of My Divine Majesty, with which He
   will come to judge the world, but through their own defect."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the damned cannot desire any good.

   "And their hatred is so great that they cannot will or desire any good,
   but they continually blaspheme Me. And do you know why they cannot
   desire good? Because the life of man ended, free-will is bound.
   Wherefore they cannot merit, having lost, as they have, the time to do
   so. If they finish their life, dying in hatred with the guilt of mortal
   sin, their souls, by divine justice, remain forever bound with the
   bonds of hatred, and forever obstinate in that evil, in which,
   therefore, being gnawed by themselves, their pains always increase,
   especially the pains of those who have been the cause of damnation to
   others, as that rich man, who was damned, demonstrated to you when he
   begged the favor that Lazarus might go to his brothers, who were in the
   world, to tell them of his pains. This, certainly, he did not do out of
   love or compassion for his brothers, for he was deprived of love and
   could not desire good, either for My honor or their salvation, because,
   as I have already told you, the damned souls cannot do any good to
   their neighbor, and they blaspheme Me, because their life ended in
   hatred of Me and of virtue. But why then did he do it? He did it
   because he was the eldest, and had nourished them up in the same
   miseries in which he had lived, so that he was the cause of their
   damnation, and he saw pain increased to himself, on account of their
   damnation when they should arrive in torment together with him, to be
   gnawed forever by hatred, because in hatred they finished their lives."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the glory of the Blessed.

   "Similarly, the just soul, for whom life finishes in the affection of
   charity and the bonds of love, cannot increase in virtue, time having
   come to naught, but she can always love with that affection with which
   she comes to Me, and that measure that is measured to her. She always
   desires Me, and loves Me, and her desire is not in vain--being hungry,
   she is satisfied, and being satisfied, she has hunger, but the
   tediousness of satiety and the pain of hunger are far from her. In
   love, the Blessed rejoice in My eternal vision, participating in that
   good that I have in Myself, everyone according to his measure, that is
   that, with that measure of love, with which they have come to Me, is it
   measured to them. Because they have lived in love of Me and of the
   neighbor, united together with the general love, and the particular,
   which, moreover, both proceed from the same love. And they rejoice and
   exult, participating in each other's good with the affection of love,
   besides the universal good that they enjoy altogether. And they rejoice
   and exult with the angels with whom they are placed, according to their
   diverse and various virtues in the world, being all bound in the bonds
   of love. And they have a special participation with those whom they
   closely loved with particular affection in the world, with which
   affection they grew in grace, increasing virtue, and the one was the
   occasion to the other of manifesting the glory and praise of My name,
   in themselves and in their neighbor; and, in the life everlasting, they
   have not lost their love, but have it still, participating closely,
   with more abundance, the one with the other, their love being added to
   the universal good, and I would not that you should think that they
   have this particular good, of which I have told you, for themselves
   alone, for it is not so, but it is shared by all the proved citizens,
   My beloved sons, and all the angels--for, when the soul arrives at
   eternal life, all participate in the good of that soul, and the soul in
   their good. Not that her vessel or theirs can increase, nor that there
   be need to fill it, because it is full, but they have an exultation, a
   mirthfulness, a jubilee, a joyousness in themselves, which is refreshed
   by the knowledge that they have found in that soul. They see that, by
   My mercy, she is raised from the earth with the plenitude of grace, and
   therefore they exult in Me in the good of that soul, which good she has
   received through My goodness.

   "And that soul rejoices in Me, and in the souls, and in the blessed
   spirits, seeing and tasting in them the beauty and the sweetness of My
   love. And their desires forever cry out to Me, for the salvation of the
   whole world. And because their life ended in the love of the neighbor,
   they have not left it behind, but, with it, they will pass through the
   Door, My only-begotten Son in the way that I will relate to you. So you
   see that in those bonds of love in which they finished their life, they
   go on and remain eternally. They are conformed so entirely to My will,
   that they cannot desire except what I desire, because their free-will
   is bound in the bond of love, in such a way that, time failing them,
   and, dying in a state of grace, they cannot sin any more. And their
   will is so united with Mine, that a father or a mother seeing their
   son, or a son seeing his father or his mother in Hell, do not trouble
   themselves, and even are contented to see them punished as My enemies.
   Wherefore in nothing do they disagree with Me, and their desires are
   all satisfied. The desire of the blessed is to see My honor in you
   wayfarers, who are pilgrims, forever running on towards the term of
   death. In their desire for My honor, they desire your salvation, and
   always pray to Me for you, which desire is fulfilled by Me, when you
   ignorant ones do not resist My mercy. They have a desire too, to regain
   the gifts of their body, but this desire does not afflict them, as they
   do not actually feel it, but they rejoice in tasting the desire, from
   the certainty they feel of having it fulfilled. Their desire does not
   afflict them, because, though they have it not yet fulfilled, no bliss
   is thereby lacking to them. Wherefore they feel not the pain of desire.
   And think not, that the bliss of the body after the resurrection gives
   more bliss to the soul, for, if this were so, it would follow that,
   until they had the body, they had imperfect bliss, which cannot be,
   because no perfection is lacking to them. So it is not the body that
   gives bliss to the soul, but the soul will give bliss to the body,
   because the soul will give of her abundance, and will re-clothe herself
   on the Last Day of Judgment, in the garments of her own flesh which she
   had quitted. For, as the soul is made immortal, stayed and established
   in Me, so the body in that union becomes immortal, and, having lost
   heaviness, is made fine and light. Wherefore, know that the glorified
   body can pass through a wall, and that neither water nor fire can
   injure it, not by virtue of itself, but by virtue of the soul, which
   virtue is of Me, given to her by grace, and by the ineffable love with
   which I created her in My image and likeness. The eye of your intellect
   is not sufficient to see, nor your ear to hear, nor your tongue to tell
   of the good of the Blessed. Oh, how much delight they have in seeing
   Me, who am every good! Oh, how much delight they will have in being
   with the glorified body, though, not having that delight from now to
   the general Judgment, they have not, on that account, pain, because no
   bliss is lacking to them, the soul being satisfied in herself, and, as
   I have told you, the body will participate in this bliss.

   "I told you of the happiness which the glorified body would take in the
   glorified humanity of My only-begotten Son, which gives you assurance
   of your resurrection. There, they exult in His wounds, which have
   remained fresh, and the Scars in His Body are preserved, and
   continually cry for mercy for you, to Me, the Supreme and Eternal
   Father. And they are all conformed with Him, in joyousness and mirth,
   and you will all be conformed with Him, eye with eye, and hand with
   hand, and with the whole Body of the sweet Word My Son, and, dwelling
   in Me, you will dwell in Him, because He is one thing with Me. But
   their bodily eye, as I told you, will delight itself in the glorified
   humanity of the Word, My only-begotten Son. Why so? Because their life
   finished in the affection of My love, and therefore will this delight
   endure for them eternally. Not that they can work any good, but they
   rejoice and delight in that good which they have brought with them,
   that is, they cannot do any meritorious act, by which they could merit
   anything, because in this life alone can they merit and sin, according
   as they please, with free-will.

   "These then do not await, with fear, the Divine judgment, but with joy,
   and the Face of My Son will not seem to them terrible, or full of
   hatred, because they finished their lives in love and affection for Me,
   and good-will towards their neighbor. So you see then, that the
   transformation is not in His Face, when He comes to judge with My
   Divine Majesty, but in the vision of those who will be judged by Him.
   To the damned He will appear with hatred and with justice. And to the
   saved with love and mercy."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How, after the General Judgment, the pain of the damned will increase.

   "I have told you of the dignity of the Righteous, so that you may the
   better know the misery of the damned. For this is another of their
   pains, namely, the vision of the bliss of the righteous, which is to
   them an increase of pain, as, to the righteous, the damnation of the
   damned is an increase of exultation in My goodness. As light is seen
   better near darkness, and darkness near light, so the sight of the
   Blessed increases their pain. With pain they await the Last Day of
   Judgment, because they see, following it, an increase of pain to
   themselves. And so will it be, because when that terrible voice shall
   say to them, Arise, you dead, and come to judgment,' the soul will
   return with the body, in the just to be glorified, and in the damned to
   be tortured eternally. And the aspect of My Truth, and of all the
   blessed ones will reproach them greatly, and make them ashamed, and the
   worm of conscience will gnaw the pith of the tree, that is the soul,
   and also the bark outside, which is the body. They will be reproached
   by the Blood that was shed for them, and by the works of mercy,
   spiritual and temporal, which I did for them by means of My Son, and
   which they should have done for their neighbor, as is contained in the
   Holy Gospel. They will be reproved for their cruelty towards their
   neighbor, for their pride and self-love, for their filthiness and
   avarice; and when they see the mercy that they have received from Me,
   their reproof will seem to be intensified in harshness. At the time of
   death, the soul only is reproved, but, at the General Judgment, the
   soul is reproved together with the body, because the body has been the
   companion and instrument of the soul--to do good and evil according as
   the free-will pleased. Every work, good or bad, is done by means of the
   body. And, therefore, justly, My daughter, glory and infinite good are
   rendered to My elect ones with their glorified body, rewarding them for
   the toils they bore for Me, together with the soul. And to the perverse
   ones will be rendered eternal pains by means of their body, because
   their body was the instrument of evil. Wherefore, being their body,
   restored, their pains will revive and increase at the aspect of My Son,
   their miserable sensuality with its filthiness, in the vision of their
   nature (that is, the humanity of Christ), united with the purity of My
   Deity, and of this mass of their Adam nature raised above all the
   choirs of Angels, and themselves, by their own fault, sunk into the
   depths of Hell. And they will see generosity and mercy shining in the
   blessed ones, who receive the fruit of the Blood of the Lamb, the pains
   that they have borne remaining as ornaments on their bodies, like the
   dye upon the cloth, not by virtue of the body but only out of the
   fullness of the soul, representing in the body the fruit of its labor,
   because it was the companion of the soul in the working of virtue. As
   in the mirror is represented the face of the man, so in the body is
   represented the fruit of bodily toils, in the way that I have told you.

   "The pain and confusion of the darkened ones, on seeing so great a
   dignity (of which they are deprived), will increase, and their bodies
   will appear the sign of the wickedness they have committed, with pain
   and torture. And when they hear that terrible speech, 'Go, cursed ones,
   to the Eternal Fire,' the soul and the body will go to be with the
   Devil without any remedy or hope--each one being wrapped up in diverse
   filth of earth, according to his evil works. The miser with the filth
   of avarice, wrapping himself up with the worldly substance which he
   loved disordinately, and the burning in the fire; the cruel one with
   cruelty; the foul man with foulness and miserable concupiscence; the
   unjust with his injustice; the envious with envy; and the hater of his
   neighbor with hatred. And inordinate self-love, whence were born all
   their ills, will be burnt with intolerable pain, as the head and
   principle of every evil, in company with pride. So that body and soul
   together will be punished in diverse ways. Thus miserably do they
   arrive at their end who go by the lower way, that is, by the river, not
   turning back to see their sins and My Mercy. And they arrive at the
   Gate of the Lie, because they follow the doctrine of the Devil, who is
   the Father of Lies; and this Devil is their Door, through which they go
   to Eternal Damnation, as has been said, as the elect and My sons,
   keeping by the way above, that is by the Bridge, follow the Way of
   Truth, and this Truth is the Door, and therefore said My Truth, 'No one
   can go to the Father but by Me.' He is the Door and the Way through
   which they pass to enter the Sea Pacific. It is the contrary for those
   who have kept the Way of the Lie, which leads them to the water of
   death. And it is to this that the Devil calls them, and they are as
   blind and mad, and do not perceive it, because they have lost the light
   of faith. The Devil says, as it were, to them: Whosoever thirsts for
   the water of death, let him come and I will give it to him.'"
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the use of temptations, and how every soul in her extremity sees her
      final place either of pain or of glory, before she is separated from the
      body.

   "The Devil, dearest daughter, is the instrument of My Justice to
   torment the souls who have miserably offended Me. And I have set him in
   this life to tempt and molest My creatures, not for My creatures to be
   conquered, but that they may conquer, proving their virtue, and receive
   from Me the glory of victory. And no one should fear any battle or
   temptation of the Devil that may come to him, because I have made My
   creatures strong, and have given them strength of will, fortified in
   the Blood of my Son, which will, neither Devil nor creature can move,
   because it is yours, given by Me. You therefore, with free arbitration,
   can hold it or leave it, according as you please. It is an arm, which,
   if you place it in the hands of the Devil, straightway becomes a knife,
   with which he strikes you and slays you. But if man do not give this
   knife of his will into the hands of the Devil, that is, if he do not
   consent to his temptations and molestations, he will never be injured
   by the guilt of sin in any temptation, but will even be fortified by
   it, when the eye of his intellect is opened to see My love which
   allowed him to be tempted, so as to arrive at virtue, by being proved.
   For one does not arrive at virtue except through knowledge of self, and
   knowledge of Me, which knowledge is more perfectly acquired in the time
   of temptation, because then man knows himself to be nothing, being
   unable to lift off himself the pains and vexations which he would flee;
   and he knows Me in his will, which is fortified by My goodness, so that
   it does not yield to these thoughts. And he has seen that My love
   permits these temptations, for the devil is weak, and by himself can do
   nothing, unless I allow him. And I let him tempt, through love, and not
   through hatred, that you may conquer, and not that you may be
   conquered, and that you may come to a perfect knowledge of yourself,
   and of Me, and that virtue may be proved, for it is not proved except
   by its contrary. You see, then, that he is my Minister to torture the
   damned in Hell, and in this life, to exercise and prove virtue in the
   soul. Not that it is the intention of the Devil to prove virtue in you
   (for he has not love), but rather to deprive you of it, and this he
   cannot do, if you do not wish it. Now you see, then, how great is the
   foolishness of men in making themselves feeble, when I have made them
   strong, and in putting themselves into the hands of the Devil.
   Wherefore, know, that at the moment of death, they, having passed their
   life under the lordship of the Devil (not that they were forced to do
   so, for as I told you they cannot be forced, but they voluntarily put
   themselves into his hands), and, arriving at the extremity of their
   death under this perverse lordship, they await no other judgment than
   that of their own conscience, and desperately, despairingly, come to
   eternal damnation. Wherefore Hell, through their hate, surges up to
   them in the extremity of death, and before they get there, they take
   hold of it, by means of their lord the Devil. As the righteous, who
   have lived in charity and died in love, if they have lived perfectly in
   virtue, illuminated with the light of faith, with perfect hope in the
   Blood of the Lamb, when the extremity of death comes, see the good
   which I have prepared for them, and embrace it with the arms of love,
   holding fast with pressure of love to Me, the Supreme and Eternal Good.
   And so they taste eternal life before they have left the mortal body,
   that is, before the soul be separated from the body. Others who have
   passed their lives, and have arrived at the last extremity of death
   with an ordinary charity (not in that great perfection), embrace My
   mercy with the same light of faith and hope that had those perfect
   ones, but, in them, it is imperfect, for, because they were imperfect,
   they constrained My mercy, counting My mercy greater than their sins.
   The wicked sinners do the contrary, for, seeing, with desperation,
   their destination, they embrace it with hatred, as I told you. So that
   neither the one nor the other waits for judgment, but, in departing
   this life, they receive every one their place, as I have told you, and
   they taste it and possess it before they depart from the body, at the
   extremity of death--the damned with hatred and with despair, and the
   perfect ones with love and the light of faith and with the hope of the
   Blood. And the imperfect arrive at the place of Purgatory, with mercy
   and the same faith."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the Devil gets hold of souls, under pretense of some good: and, how
      those are deceived who keep by the river, and not by the aforesaid Bridge,
      for, wishing to fly pains, they fall into them; and of the vision of a
      tree, that this soul once had.

   "I have told you that the Devil invites men to the water of death, that
   is, to that which he has, and, blinding them with the pleasures and
   conditions of the world, he catches them with the hook of pleasure,
   under the pretense of good, because in no other way could he catch
   them, for they would not allow themselves to be caught if they saw that
   no good or pleasure to themselves were to be obtained thereby. For the
   soul, from her nature, always relishes good, though it is true that the
   soul, blinded by self-love, does not know and discern what is true
   good, and of profit to the soul and to the body. And, therefore, the
   Devil, seeing them blinded by self-love, iniquitously places before
   them diverse and various delights, colored so as to have the appearance
   of some benefit or good; and he gives to everyone according to his
   condition and those principal vices to which he sees him to be most
   disposed--of one kind to the secular, of another to the religious, and
   others to prelates and noblemen, according to their different
   conditions. I have told you this, because I now speak to you of those
   who drown themselves in the river, and who care for nothing but
   themselves, to love themselves to My injury, and I will relate to you
   their end.

   "Now I want to show you how they deceive themselves, and how, wishing
   to flee troubles, they fall into them. For, because it seems to them
   that following Me, that is, walking by the way of the Bridge, the Word,
   My Son, is great toil, they draw back, fearing the thorn. This is
   because they are blinded and do not know or see the Truth, as, you
   know, I showed you in the beginning of your life, when you prayed Me to
   have mercy on the world, and draw it out of the darkness of mortal sin.
   You know that I then showed you Myself under the figure of a Tree, of
   which you saw neither the beginning nor the end, so that you did not
   see that the roots were united with the earth of your humanity. At the
   foot of the Tree, if you remember well, there was a certain thorn, from
   which thorn all those who love their own sensuality kept away, and ran
   to a mountain of Lolla, in which you figured to yourself all the
   delights of the world. That Lolla seemed to be of corn and was not,
   and, therefore, as you saw, many souls thereon died of hunger, and
   many, recognizing the deceits of the world, returned to the Tree and
   passed the thorn, which is the deliberation of the will. Which
   deliberation, before it is made, is a thorn which appears to man to
   stand in the way of following the Truth. And conscience always fights
   on one side, and sensuality on the other; but as soon as he, with
   hatred and displeasure of himself, manfully makes up his mind, saying,
   I wish to follow Christ crucified,' he breaks at once the thorn, and
   finds inestimable sweetness, as I showed you then, some finding more
   and some less, according to their disposition and desire. And you know
   that then I said to you, I am your God, unmoving and unchangeable,' and
   I do not draw away from any creature who wants to come to Me. I have
   shown them the Truth, making Myself visible to them, and I have shown
   them what it is to love anything without Me. But they, as if blinded by
   the fog of disordinate love, know neither Me nor themselves. You see
   how deceived they are, choosing rather to die of hunger than to pass a
   little thorn. And they cannot escape enduring pain, for no one can pass
   through this life without a cross, far less those who travel by the
   lower way. Not that My servants pass without pain, but their pain is
   alleviated. And because--by sin, as I said to you above--the world
   germinates thorns and tribulations, and because this river flows with
   tempestuous waters, I gave you the Bridge, so that you might not be
   drowned.

   "I have shown you how they are deceived by a disordinate fear, and how
   I am your God, immovable, who am not an Acceptor of persons but of holy
   desire. And this I have shown you under the figure of the Tree, as I
   told you."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How, the world having germinated thorns, who those are whom they do not
      harm; although no one passes this life without pain.

   "Now I want to show you to whom the thorns and tribulations, that the
   world germinated through sin, do harm, and to whom they do not. And as,
   so far, I have shown you the damnation of sinners, together with My
   goodness, and have told you how they are deceived by their own
   sensuality, now I wish to tell you how it is only they themselves who
   are injured by the thorns. No one born passes this life without pain,
   bodily or mental. Bodily pain My servants bear, but their minds are
   free, that is, they do not feel the weariness of the pain; for their
   will is accorded with Mine, and it is the will that gives trouble to
   man. Pain of mind and of body have those, of whom I have narrated to
   you, who, in this life, taste the earnest money of hell, as My servants
   taste the earnest money of eternal life. Do you know what is the
   special good of the blessed ones? It is having their desire filled with
   what they desire; wherefore desiring Me, they have Me, and taste Me
   without any revolt, for they have left the burden of the body, which
   was a law that opposed the spirit, and came between it and the perfect
   knowledge of the Truth, preventing it from seeing Me face to face. But
   after the soul has left the weight of the body, her desire is full,
   for, desiring to see Me, she sees Me, in which vision is her bliss; and
   seeing she knows, and knowing she loves, and loving she tastes Me,
   Supreme and Eternal Good, and, in tasting Me, she is satisfied, and her
   desire is fulfilled, that is, the desire she had to see and know Me;
   wherefore desiring she has, and having she desires. And as I told you
   pain is far from the desire, and weariness from the satisfaction of it.
   So you see that My servants are blessed principally in seeing and in
   knowing Me, in which vision and knowledge their will is fulfilled, for
   they have that which they desired to have, and so are they satisfied.
   Wherefore I told you that the tasting of eternal life consisted
   especially in having that which the will desires, and thus being
   satisfied; but know that the will is satisfied in seeing and knowing
   Me, as I have told you. In this life then, they taste the earnest money
   of eternal life, tasting the above, with which I have told you they
   will be satisfied.

   "But how have they the earnest money in this present life? I reply to
   you, they have it in seeing My goodness in themselves, and in the
   knowledge of My Truth, which knowledge, the intellect (which is the eye
   of the soul) illuminated in Me, possesses. This eye has the pupil of
   the most holy faith, which light of faith enables the soul to discern,
   to know, and to follow the way and the doctrine of My Truth--the Word
   Incarnate; and without this pupil of faith she would not see, except as
   a man who has the form of the eye, but who has covered the pupil (which
   causes the eye to see) with a cloth. So the pupil of the intellect is
   faith, and if the soul has covered it with the cloth of infidelity,
   drawn over it by self-love, she does not see, but only has the form of
   the eye without the light, because she has hidden it. Thus you see,
   that in seeing they know, and in knowing they love, and in loving they
   deny and lose their self-will. Their own will lost, they clothe
   themselves in Mine, and I will nothing but your sanctification. At once
   they set to, turning their back to the way below, and begin to ascend
   by the Bridge, and pass over the thorns, which do not hurt them, their
   feet being shod with the affection of My love. For I told you that My
   servants suffered corporally but not mentally, because the sensitive
   will, which gives pain and afflicts the mind of the creature, is dead.
   Wherefore, the will not being there, neither is there any pain. They
   bear everything with reverence, deeming themselves favored in having
   tribulation for My sake, and they desire nothing but what I desire. If
   I allow the Devil to trouble them, permitting temptations to prove them
   in virtue, as I told you above, they resist with their will fortified
   in Me, humiliating themselves, and deeming themselves unworthy of peace
   and quiet of mind and deserving of pain, and so they proceed with
   cheerfulness and self-knowledge, without painful affliction. And if
   tribulations on man's account, or infirmity, or poverty, or change of
   worldly condition, or loss of children, or of other much loved
   creatures (all of which are thorns that the earth produced after sin)
   come upon them, they endure them all with the light of reason and holy
   faith, looking to Me, who am the Supreme Good, and who cannot desire
   other than good, for which I permit these tribulations through love,
   and not through hatred. And they that love Me recognize this, and,
   examining themselves, they see their sins, and understand by the light
   of faith, that good must be rewarded and evil punished. And they see
   that every little sin merits infinite pain, because it is against Me,
   who am Infinite Good, wherefore they deem themselves favored because I
   wish to punish them in this life, and in this finite time; they drive
   away sin with contrition of heart, and with perfect patience do they
   merit, and their labors are rewarded with infinite good. Hereafter they
   know that all labor in this life is small, on account of the shortness
   of time. Time is as the point of a needle and no more; and, when time
   has passed labor is ended, therefore you see that the labor is small.
   They endure with patience, and the thorns they pass through do not
   touch their heart, because their heart is drawn out of them and united
   to Me by the affection of love. It is a good truth then that these do
   taste eternal life, receiving the earnest money of it in this life, and
   that, though they walk on thorns, they are not pricked, because as I
   told you, they have known My Supreme Goodness, and sought for it where
   it was to be found, that is in the Word, My only-begotten son."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this soul was in great bitterness, on account of the blindness of
      those who are drowned below in the river.

   Then that soul, tormented by desire, considering her own imperfections
   and those of others, was saddened to hear of and to see the great
   blindness of creatures, notwithstanding the great goodness of God, in
   having placed nothing in this life, no matter in what condition, that
   could be an impediment to the salvation of creatures, but rather
   arranged for the exercising and proving of virtue in them. And,
   notwithstanding all this, she saw them, through self-love and
   disordinate affection, go under by the river and arrive at eternal
   damnation, and many who were in the river and had begun to come out,
   turn back again, scandalized at her, because they had heard of the
   sweet goodness of GOD, who had deigned to manifest Himself to her. And,
   for this, she was in bitterness, and fixing the eye of her intellect on
   the Eternal Father, she said: "Oh, Inestimable Love, great is the
   delusion of Your creatures. I would that, when it is pleasing to Your
   Goodness, You would more clearly explain to me the three steps figured
   in the Body of Your only Son, and what method should be used so as to
   come entirely out of the depths and to keep the way of Your Truth, and
   who are those who ascend the staircase."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the three steps figured in the Bridge, that is, in the Son of GOD,
      signify the three powers of the soul.

   Then the Divine Goodness, regarding with the eye of His mercy, the
   hunger and desire of that soul, said: "Oh, My most delightful daughter,
   I am not a Despiser, but the Fulfiller of holy desire, and therefore I
   will show and declare to you that which you ask Me. You ask Me to
   explain to you the figure of three steps, and to tell you what method
   they who want to come out of the river must use, to be able to ascend
   the Bridge. And, although above, in relating to you the delusion and
   blindness of men, tasting in this life the earnest-money of Hell, and,
   as martyrs of the Devil, receiving damnation, I showed you the methods
   they should use; nevertheless, now I will declare it to you more fully,
   satisfying your desire. You know that every evil is founded in
   self-love, and that self-love is a cloud that takes away the light of
   reason, which reason holds in itself the light of faith, and one is not
   lost without the other. The soul I created in My image and similitude,
   giving her memory, intellect, and will. The intellect is the most noble
   part of the soul, and is moved by the affection, and nourishes it, and
   the hand of love--that is, the affection--fills the memory with the
   remembrance of Me and of the benefits received, which it does with care
   and gratitude, and so one power spurs on another, and the soul is
   nourished in the life of grace.

   "The soul cannot live without love, but always wants to love something,
   because she is made of love, and, by love, I created her. And therefore
   I told you that the affection moved the intellect, saying, as it were,
   'I will love, because the food on which I feed is love.' Then the
   intellect, feeling itself awakened by the affection, says, as it were,
   If you will love, I will give you that which you can love.' And at once
   it arises, considering carefully the dignity of the soul, and the
   indignity into which she has fallen through sin. In the dignity of her
   being it tastes My inestimable goodness, and the increate charity with
   which I created her, and, in contemplating her misery, it discovers and
   tastes My mercy, and sees how, through mercy, I have lent her time and
   drawn her out of darkness. Then the affection nourishes itself in love,
   opening the mouth of holy desire, with which it eats hatred and
   displeasure of its own sensuality, united with true humility and
   perfect patience, which it drew from holy hatred. The virtues
   conceived, they give birth to themselves perfectly and imperfectly,
   according as the soul exercises perfection in herself, as I will tell
   you below. So, on the contrary, if the sensual affection wants to love
   sensual things, the eye of the intellect set before itself for its sole
   object transitory things, with self-love, displeasure of virtue, and
   love of vice, whence she draws pride and impatience, and the memory is
   filled with nothing but that which the affection presents to it. This
   love so dazzles the eye of the intellect that it can discern and see
   nothing but such glittering objects. It is the very brightness of the
   things that causes the intellect to perceive them and the affection to
   love them; for had worldly things no such brightness there would be no
   sin, for man, by his nature, cannot desire anything but good, and vice,
   appearing to him thus, under color of the soul's good, causes him to
   sin. But, because the eye, on account of its blindness, does not
   discern, and knows not the truth, it errs, seeking good and delights
   there where they are not.

   "I have already told you that the delights of the world, without Me,
   are venomous thorns, and, that the vision of the intellect is deluded
   by them, and the affection of the will is deluded into loving them, and
   the memory into retaining remembrance of them. The unity of these
   powers of the soul is so great that I cannot be offended by one without
   all the others offending Me at the same time, because the one presents
   to the other, as I told you, good or evil, according to the pleasure of
   the free will. This free will is bound to the affection, and it moves
   as it pleases, either with the light of reason or without it. Your
   reason is attached to Me when your will does not, by disordinate love,
   cut it off from Me; you have also in you the law of perversity, that
   continually fights against the Spirit. You have, then, two parts in
   you--sensuality and reason. Sensuality is appointed to be the servant,
   so that, with the instrument of the body, you may prove and exercise
   the virtues. The soul is free, liberated from sin by the Blood of My
   Son, and she cannot be dominated unless she consent with her will,
   which is controlled by her free choice, and when this free choice
   agrees with the will, it becomes one thing with it. And I tell you
   truly, that, when the soul undertakes to gather together, with the hand
   of free choice, her powers in My Name, then are assembled all the
   actions, both spiritual and temporal, that the creature can do, and
   free choice gets rid of sensuality and binds itself with reason. I,
   then, by grace, rest in the midst of them; and this is what My truth,
   the Word Incarnate, meant, when He said: 'When there are two or three
   or more gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.'
   And this is the truth. I have already told you that no one could come
   to Me except by Him, and therefore I made of Him a Bridge with three
   steps. And those three steps figure, as I will narrate to you below,
   the three states of the soul."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How if the three aforesaid powers are not united, there cannot be
      perseverance, without which no man arrives at his end.

   "I have explained to you the figure of the three steps, in general, as
   the three powers of the soul, and no one who wishes to pass by the
   Bridge and doctrine of My Truth can mount one without the other, and
   the soul cannot persevere except by the union of her three powers. Of
   which I told you above, when you asked Me, how the voyagers could come
   out of the river. There are two goals, and, for the attainment of
   either, perseverance is needful--they are vice and virtue. If you
   desire to arrive at life, you must persevere in virtue, and if you
   would have eternal death, you must persevere in vice. Thus it is with
   perseverance that they who want life arrive at Me who am Life, and with
   perseverance that they who taste the water of death arrive at the
   Devil."
     __________________________________________________________________

      An exposition on Christ's words: "Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me
      and drink."

   "You were all invited, generally and in particular, by My Truth, when
   He cried in the Temple, saying: 'Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me
   and drink, for I am the Fountain of the Water of Life.' He did not say
   'Go to the Father and drink,' but He said 'Come to Me.' He spoke thus,
   because in Me, the Father, there can be no pain, but in My Son there
   can be pain. And you, while you are pilgrims and wayfarers in this
   mortal life, cannot be without pain, because the earth, through sin,
   brought forth thorns. And why did He say 'Let him come to Me and
   drink'? Because whoever follows His doctrine, whether in the most
   perfect way or by dwelling in the life of common charity, finds to
   drink, tasting the fruit of the Blood, through the union of the Divine
   nature with the human nature. And you, finding yourselves in Him, find
   yourselves also in Me, who am the Sea Pacific, because I am one thing
   with Him, and He with Me. So that you are invited to the Fountain of
   Living Water of Grace, and it is right for you, with perseverance, to
   keep by Him who is made for you a Bridge, not being turned back by any
   contrary wind that may arise, either of prosperity or adversity, and to
   persevere till you find Me, who am the Giver of the Water of Life, by
   means of this sweet and amorous Word, My only-begotten Son. And why did
   He say: 'I am the Fountain of Living Water'? Because He was the
   Fountain which contained Me, the Giver of the Living Water, by means of
   the union of the Divine with the human nature. Why did He say 'Come to
   Me and drink'? Because you cannot pass this mortal life without pain,
   and in Me, the Father, there can be no pain, but in Him there can be
   pain, and therefore of Him did I make for you a Bridge. No one can come
   to Me except by Him, as He told you in the words: 'No one can come to
   the Father except by Me.'

   "Now you have seen to what way you should keep, and how, namely with
   perseverance, otherwise you shall not drink, for perseverance receives
   the crown of glory and victory in the life everlasting."
     __________________________________________________________________

      The general method by which every rational creature can come out of the
      sea of the world, and go by the aforesaid holy Bridge.

   "I will now return to the three steps, which you must climb in order to
   issue from the river without drowning, and attain to the Living Water,
   to which you are invited, and to desire My Presence in the midst of
   you. For in this way, in which you should follow, I am in your midst,
   reposing, by grace, in your souls. In order to have desire to mount the
   steps, you must have thirst, because only those who thirst are invited:
   'Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.' He who has no thirst
   will not persevere, for either fatigue causes him to stop, or pleasure,
   and he does not care to carry the vessel with which he may get the
   water, and neither does he care for the company, and alone he cannot
   go, and he turns back at the smallest prick of persecution, for he
   loves it not. He is afraid because he is alone; were he accompanied he
   would not fear, and had he ascended the three steps he would not have
   been alone, and would, therefore, have been secure. You must then have
   thirst and gather yourselves together, as it is said, 'two or three or
   more.'

   "Why is it said 'two or three or more'? Because there are not two
   without three, nor three without two, neither three nor two without
   more. The number one is excluded, for, unless a man has a companion, I
   cannot be in the midst; this is no indifferent trifle, for he who is
   wrapped up in self-love is solitary.

   "Why is he solitary? Because he is separated from My grace and the love
   of his neighbor, and being, by sin, deprived of Me, he turns to that
   which is naught, because I am He that is. So that he who is solitary,
   that is, who is alone in self-love, is not mentioned by My Truth and is
   not acceptable to Me. He says then: 'If there be two or three or more
   gathered together in My name, I will be in the midst of them.' I said
   to you that two were not without three, nor three without two, and so
   it is. You know that the commandments of the Law are completely
   contained in two, and if these two are not observed the Law is not
   observed. The two commandments are to love Me above everything, and
   your neighbor as yourself, which two are the beginning, the middle and
   the end of the Law. These two cannot be gathered together in My Name,
   without three, that is without the congregation of the powers of the
   soul, the memory, the intellect, and the will; the memory to retain the
   remembrance of My benefits and My goodness, the intellect to gaze into
   the ineffable love, which I have shown you by means of My only-begotten
   Son, whom I have placed as the object of the vision of your intellect,
   so that, in Him, you behold the fire of My charity, and the will to
   love and desire Me, who am your End. When these virtues and powers of
   the soul are congregated together in My Name, I am in the midst of them
   by grace, and a man, who is full of My love and that of his neighbor,
   suddenly finds himself the companion of many and royal virtues. Then
   the appetite of the soul is disposed to thirst. Thirst, I say, for
   virtue, and the honor of My Name and salvation of souls, and his every
   other thirst is spent and dead, and he then proceeds securely without
   any servile fear, having ascended the first step of the affection, for
   the affection, stripped of self-love, mounts above itself and above
   transitory things, or, if he will still hold them, he does so according
   to My will--that is, with a holy and true fear, and love of virtue. He
   then finds that he has attained to the second step--that is, to the
   light of the intellect, which is, through Christ crucified, mirrored in
   cordial love of Me, for through Him have I shown My love to man. He
   finds peace and quiet, because the memory is filled with My love. You
   know that an empty thing, when touched, resounds, but not so when it is
   full. So memory, being filled with the light of the intellect, and the
   affection with love, on being moved by the tribulations or delights of
   the world, will not resound with disordinate merriment or with
   impatience, because they are full of Me, who am every good.

   "Having climbed the three steps, he finds that the three powers of the
   soul have been gathered together by his reason in My Name. And his
   soul, having gathered together the two commandments, that is love of Me
   and of the neighbor, finds herself accompanied by Me, who am her
   strength and security, and walks safely because I am in the midst of
   her. Wherefore then he follows on with anxious desire, thirsting after
   the way of Truth, in which way he finds the Fountain of the Water of
   Life, through his thirst for My honor and his own salvation and that of
   his neighbor, without which thirst he would not be able to arrive at
   the Fountain. He walks on, carrying the vessel of the heart, emptied of
   every affection and disordinate love of the world, but filled
   immediately it is emptied with other things, for nothing can remain
   empty, and, being without disordinate love for transitory things, it is
   filled with love of celestial things, and sweet Divine love, with which
   he arrives at the Fountain of the Water of Life, and passes through the
   Door of Christ crucified, and tastes the Water of Life, finding himself
   in Me, the Sea Pacific."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this devoted soul looking in the Divine mirror saw the creatures going
      in diverse ways.

   Then that soul, tormented with intense desire, gazing into the sweet
   Divine mirror, saw creatures setting out to attain their end in diverse
   ways and with diverse considerations. She saw that many began to mount,
   feeling themselves pricked by servile fear, that is, fearing their own
   personal pain, and she saw others, practicing this first state,
   arriving at the second state, but few she saw who arrived at the
   greatest perfection.
     __________________________________________________________________

      How servile fear is not sufficient, without the love of virtue, to give
      eternal life; and how the law of fear and that of love are united.

   Then the goodness of God, wishing to satisfy the desire of that soul,
   said, "Do you see those? They have arisen with servile fear from the
   vomit of mortal sin, but, if they do not arise with love of virtue,
   servile fear alone is not sufficient to give eternal life. But love
   with holy fear is sufficient, because the law is founded in love and
   holy fear. The old law was the law of fear, that was given by Me to
   Moses, by which law they who committed sin suffered the penalty of it.
   The new law is the law of love, given by the Word of My only-begotten
   Son, and is founded in love alone. The new law does not break the old
   law, but rather fulfills it, as said My Truth, 'I come not to destroy
   the law, but to fulfill it.' And He united the law of fear with that of
   love. Through love was taken away the imperfection of the fear of the
   penalty, and the perfection of holy fear remained, that is, the fear of
   offending, not on account of one's own damnation, but of offending Me,
   who am Supreme Good. So that the imperfect law was made perfect with
   the law of love. Wherefore, after the car of the fire of My
   only-begotten Son came and brought the fire of My charity into your
   humanity with abundance of mercy, the penalty of the sins committed by
   humanity was taken away, that is, he who offended was no longer
   punished suddenly, as was of old given and ordained in the law of
   Moses.

   "There is, therefore, no need for servile fear; and this does not mean
   that sin is not punished, but that the punishment is reserved, unless,
   that is to say, the person punish himself in this life with perfect
   contrition. For, in the other life, the soul is separated from the
   body, wherefore while man lives is his time for mercy, but when he is
   dead comes the time of justice. He ought, then, to arise from servile
   fear, and arrive at love and holy fear of Me, otherwise there is no
   remedy against his falling back again into the river, and reaching the
   waters of tribulation, and seeking the thorns of consolation, for all
   consolations are thorns that pierce the soul who loves them
   disordinately."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How, by exercising oneself in servile fear, which is the state of
      imperfection, by which is meant the first step of the holy Bridge, one
      arrives at the second step, which is the state of perfection.

   "I told you that no one could go by the Bridge or come out of the river
   without climbing the three steps, which is the truth. There are some
   who climb imperfectly, and some perfectly, and some climb with the
   greatest perfection. The first are those who are moved by servile fear,
   and have climbed so far being imperfectly gathered together; that is to
   say, the soul, having seen the punishment which follows her sin,
   climbs; and gathers together her memory to recollect her vice, her
   intellect to see the punishment which she expects to receive for her
   fault, and her will to move her to hate that fault. And let us consider
   this to be the first step and the first gathering together of the
   powers of the soul, which should be exercised by the light of the
   intellect with the pupil of the eye of holy faith, which looks, not
   only at the punishment of sin, but at the fruit of virtue, and the love
   which I bear to the soul, so that she may climb with love and
   affection, and stripped of servile fear. And doing so, such souls will
   become faithful and not unfaithful servants, serving Me through love
   and not through fear, and if, with hatred of sin, they employ their
   minds to dig out the root of their self-love with prudence, constancy,
   and perseverance they will succeed in doing so. But there are many who
   begin their course climbing so slowly, and render their debt to Me by
   such small degrees, and with such negligence and ignorance, that they
   suddenly faint, and every little breeze catches their sails, and turns
   their prow backwards. Wherefore, because they imperfectly climb to the
   first Step of the Bridge of Christ crucified, they do not arrive at the
   second step of His Heart."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the imperfection of those who love GOD for their own profit, delight,
      and consolation.

   "Some there are who have become faithful servants, serving Me with
   fidelity without servile fear of punishment, but rather with love. This
   very love, however, if they serve Me with a view to their own profit,
   or the delight and pleasure which they find in Me, is imperfect. Do you
   know what proves the imperfection of this love? The withdrawal of the
   consolations which they found in Me, and the insufficiency and short
   duration of their love for their neighbor, which grows weak by degrees,
   and oftentimes disappears. Towards Me their love grows weak when, on
   occasion, in order to exercise them in virtue and raise them above
   their imperfection, I withdraw from their minds My consolation and
   allow them to fall into battles and perplexities. This I do so that,
   coming to perfect self-knowledge, they may know that of themselves they
   are nothing and have no grace, and accordingly in time of battle fly to
   Me, as their Benefactor, seeking Me alone, with true humility, for
   which purpose I treat them thus, without drawing from them consolation
   indeed, but not grace. At such a time these weak ones, of whom I speak,
   relax their energy, impatiently turning backwards, and sometimes
   abandon, under color of virtue, many of their exercises, saying to
   themselves, This labor does not profit me. All this they do, because
   they feel themselves deprived of mental consolation. Such a soul acts
   imperfectly, for she has not yet unwound the bandage of spiritual
   self-love, for, had she unwound it she would see that, in truth,
   everything proceeds from Me, that no leaf of a tree falls to the ground
   without My providence, and that what I give and promise to My
   creatures, I give and promise to them for their sanctification, which
   is the good and the end for which I created them. My creatures should
   see and know that I wish nothing but their good, through the Blood of
   My only-begotten Son, in which they are washed from their iniquities.
   By this Blood they are enabled to know My Truth, how, in order to give
   them eternal life, I created them in My image and likeness and
   re-created them to grace with the Blood of My Son, making them sons of
   adoption. But, since they are imperfect, they make use of Me only for
   their own profit, relaxing their love for their neighbor. Thus, those
   in the first state come to naught through the fear of enduring pain,
   and those in the second, because they slacken their pace, ceasing to
   render service to their neighbor, and withdrawing their charity if they
   see their own profit or consolation withdrawn from them: this happens
   because their love was originally impure, for they gave to their
   neighbor the same imperfect love which they gave to Me, that is to say,
   a love based only on desire of their own advantage. If, through a
   desire for perfection, they do not recognize this imperfection of
   theirs, it is impossible that they should not turn back. For those who
   desire Eternal Life, a pure love, prescinding from themselves, is
   necessary, for it is not enough for eternal life to fly sin from fear
   of punishment, or to embrace virtue from the motive of one's own
   advantage. Sin should be abandoned because it is displeasing to Me, and
   virtue should be loved for My sake. It is true that, generally
   speaking, every person is first called in this way, but this is because
   the soul herself is at first imperfect, from which imperfection she
   must advance to perfection, either while she lives, by a generous love
   to Me with a pure and virtuous heart that takes no thought for herself,
   or, at least, in the moment of death, recognizing her own imperfection,
   with the purpose, had she but time, of serving Me, irrespectively of
   herself. It was with this imperfect love that S. Peter loved the sweet
   and good Jesus, My only-begotten Son, enjoying most pleasantly His
   sweet conversation, but, when the time of trouble came, he failed, and
   so disgraceful was his fall, that, not only could he not bear any pain
   himself, but his terror of the very approach of pain caused him to
   fall, and deny the Lord, with the words, 'I have never known Him.' The
   soul who has climbed this step with servile fear and mercenary love
   alone, falls into many troubles. Such souls should arise and become
   sons, and serve Me, irrespective of themselves, for I, who am the
   Rewarder of every labor, render to each man according to his state and
   his labor; wherefore, if these souls do not abandon the exercise of
   holy prayer and their other good works, but go on, with perseverance,
   to increase their virtues, they will arrive at the state of filial
   love, because I respond to them with the same love, with which they
   love Me, so that, if they love Me, as a servant does his master, I pay
   them their wages according to their deserts, but I do not reveal Myself
   to them, because secrets are revealed to a friend, who has become one
   thing with his friend, and not to a servant. Yet it is true, that a
   servant may so advance by the virtuous love, which he bears to his
   master, as to become a very dear friend, and so do some of these of
   whom I have spoken, but while they remain in the state of mercenary
   love, I do not manifest Myself to them. If they, through displeasure at
   their imperfection, and love of virtue, dig up, with hatred, the root
   of spiritual self-love, and mount to the throne of conscience,
   reasoning with themselves, so as to quell the motions of servile fear
   in their heart, and to correct mercenary love by the light of the holy
   faith, they will be so pleasing to Me, that they will attain to the
   love of the friend. And I will manifest Myself to them, as My Truth
   said in these words: 'He who loves Me shall be one thing with Me and I
   with him, and I will manifest Myself to him and we will dwell
   together.' This is the state of two dear friends, for though they are
   two in body, yet they are one in soul through the affection of love,
   because love transforms the lover into the object loved, and where two
   friends have one soul, there can be no secret between them, wherefore
   My Truth said: 'I will come and we will dwell together,' and this is
   the truth."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the way in which GOD manifests Himself to the soul who loves Him.

   "Do you know how I manifest Myself to the soul who loves Me in truth,
   and follows the doctrine of My sweet and amorous Word? In many is My
   virtue manifested in the soul in proportion to her desire, but I make
   three special manifestations. The first manifestation of My virtue,
   that is to say, of My love and charity in the soul, is made through the
   Word of My Son, and shown in the Blood, which He spilled with such fire
   of love. Now this charity is manifested in two ways; first, in general,
   to ordinary people, that is to those who live in the ordinary grace of
   God. It is manifested to them by the many and diverse benefits which
   they receive from Me. The second mode of manifestation, which is
   developed from the first, is peculiar to those who have become My
   friends in the way mentioned above, and is known through a sentiment of
   the soul, by which they taste, know, prove, and feel it. This second
   manifestation, however, is in men themselves; they manifesting Me,
   through the affection of their love. For though I am no Acceptor of
   creatures, I am an Acceptor of holy desires, and Myself in the soul in
   that precise degree of perfection which she seeks in Me. Sometimes I
   manifest Myself (and this is also a part of the second manifestation)
   by endowing men with the spirit of prophecy, showing them the things of
   the future. This I do in many and diverse ways, according as I see need
   in the soul herself and in other creatures. At other times the third
   manifestation takes place. I then form in the mind the presence of the
   Truth, My only-begotten Son, in many ways, according to the will and
   the desire of the soul. Sometimes she seeks Me in prayer, wishing to
   know My power, and I satisfy her by causing her to taste and see My
   virtue. Sometimes she seeks Me in the wisdom of My Son, and I satisfy
   her by placing His wisdom before the eye of her intellect, sometimes in
   the clemency of the Holy Spirit and then My Goodness causes her to
   taste the fire of Divine charity, and to conceive the true and royal
   virtues, which are founded on the pure love of her neighbor."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Why Christ did not say "I will manifest My Father," but "I will manifest
      myself."

   "You see now how truly My Word spoke, when He said: 'He who loves Me
   shall be one thing with Me.' Because, by following His doctrine with
   the affection of love, you are united with Him, and, being united with
   Him, you are united with Me, because We are one thing together. And so
   it is that I manifest Myself to you, because We are one and the same
   thing together. Wherefore if My Truth said, 'I will manifest Myself to
   you,' He said the truth, because, in manifesting Himself, He manifested
   Me, and, in manifesting Me, He manifested Himself. But why did He not
   say, 'I will manifest My Father to you'? For three reasons in
   particular. First, because He wished to show that He and I are not
   separate from each other, on which account He also made the following
   reply to S. Philip, when he said to Him, 'Show us the Father, and it is
   enough for us.' My Word said, 'Who sees Me sees the Father, and who
   sees the Father sees Me.' This He said because He was one thing with
   Me, and that which He had, He had from Me, I having nothing from Him;
   wherefore, again, He said to Judas, 'My doctrine is not Mine, but My
   Father's who sent Me,' because My Son proceeds from Me, not I from Him,
   though I with Him and He with Me are but one thing. For this reason He
   did not say I will manifest the Father,' but I will manifest Myself,'
   being one thing with the Father. The second reason was because, in
   manifesting Himself to you, He did not present to you anything He had
   not received from Me, the Father. These words, then, mean, the Father
   has manifested Himself to Me, because I am one thing with Him, and I
   will manifest to you, by means of Myself, Me and Him. The third reason
   was, because I, being invisible, could not be seen by you, until you
   should be separated from your bodies. Then, indeed, will you see Me,
   your GOD, and My Son, the Word, face to face. From now until after the
   general Resurrection, when your humanity will be conformed with the
   humanity of the Eternal Word, according to what I told you in the
   treatise of the Resurrection, you can see Me, with the eye of the
   intellect alone, for, as I am, you cannot see Me now. Wherefore I
   veiled the Divine nature with your humanity, so that you might see Me
   through that medium. I, the Invisible, made Myself, as it were, visible
   by sending you the Word, My Son, veiled in the flesh of your humanity.
   He manifested Me to you. Therefore it was that He did not say 'I will
   manifest the Father to you,' but rather, 'I will manifest Myself to
   you,' as if He should say, 'According as My Father manifests himself to
   Me, will I manifest myself to you, for in this manifestation of
   Himself, He manifests Me.' Now therefore you understand why He did not
   say 'I will manifest the Father to you.' Both, because such a vision is
   impossible for you, while yet in the mortal body, and because He is one
   thing with Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the soul, after having mounted the first step of the Bridge, should
      proceed to mount the second.

   "You have now seen how excellent is the state of him who has attained
   to the love of a friend; climbing with the foot of affection, he has
   reached the secret of the Heart, which is the second of the three steps
   figured in the Body of My Son. I have told you what was meant by the
   three powers of the soul, and now I will show you how they signify the
   three states, through which the soul passes. Before treating of the
   third state, I wish to show you how a man becomes a friend and how,
   from a friend, he grows into a son, attaining to filial love, and how a
   man may know if he has become a friend. And first of how a man arrives
   at being a friend. In the beginning, a man serves Me imperfectly
   through servile fear, but, by exercise and perseverance, he arrives at
   the love of delight, finding his own delight and profit in Me. This is
   a necessary stage, by which he must pass, who would attain to perfect
   love, to the love that is of friend and son. I call filial love
   perfect, because thereby, a man receives his inheritance from Me, the
   Eternal Father, and because a son's love includes that of a friend,
   which is why I told you that a friend grows into a son. What means does
   he take to arrive thereat? I will tell you. Every perfection and every
   virtue proceeds from charity, and charity is nourished by humility,
   which results from the knowledge and holy hatred of self, that is,
   sensuality. To arrive thereat, a man must persevere, and remain in the
   cellar of self-knowledge in which he will learn My mercy, in the Blood
   of My only-begotten Son, drawing to Himself, with this love, My divine
   charity, exercising himself in the extirpation of his perverse
   self-will, both spiritual and temporal, hiding himself in his own
   house, as did Peter, who, after the sin of denying My Son, began to
   weep. Yet his lamentations were imperfect and remained so, until after
   the forty days, that is until after the Ascension. But when My Truth
   returned to Me, in His humanity, Peter and the others concealed
   themselves in the house, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit, which
   My Truth had promised them. They remained barred in from fear, because
   the soul always fears until she arrives at true love. But when they had
   persevered in fasting and in humble and continual prayer, until they
   had received the abundance of the Holy Spirit, they lost their fear,
   and followed and preached Christ crucified. So also the soul, who
   wishes to arrive at this perfection, after she has risen from the guilt
   of mortal sin, recognizing it for what it is, begins to weep from fear
   of the penalty, whence she rises to the consideration of My mercy, in
   which contemplation, she finds her own pleasure and profit. This is an
   imperfect state, and I, in order to develop perfection in the soul,
   after the forty days, that is after these two states, withdraw Myself
   from time to time, not in grace but in feeling. My Truth showed you
   this when He said to the disciples 'I will go and will return to you.'

   "Everything that He said was said primarily, and in particular, to the
   disciples, but referred in general to the whole present and future, to
   those, that is to say, who should come after. He said 'I will go and
   will return to you;' and so it was, for, when the Holy Spirit returned
   upon the disciples, He also returned, as I told you above, for the Holy
   Spirit did not return alone, but came with My power, and the wisdom of
   the Son, who is one thing with Me, and with His own clemency, which
   proceeds from Me the Father, and from the Son. Now, as I told you, in
   order to raise the soul from imperfection, I withdraw Myself from her
   sentiment, depriving her of former consolations. When she was in the
   guilt of mortal sin, she had separated herself from Me, and I deprived
   her of grace through her own guilt, because that guilt had barred the
   door of her desires. Wherefore the sun of grace did not shine, not
   through its own defect, but through the defect of the creature, who
   bars the door of desire. When she knows herself and her darkness, she
   opens the window and vomits her filth, by holy confession. Then I,
   having returned to the soul by grace, withdraw Myself from her by
   sentiment, which I do in order to humiliate her, and cause her to seek
   Me in truth, and to prove her in the light of faith, so that she come
   to prudence. Then, if she love Me without thought of self, and with
   lively faith and with hatred of her own sensuality, she rejoices in the
   time of trouble, deeming herself unworthy of peace and quietness of
   mind. Now comes the second of the three things of which I told you,
   that is to say: how the soul arrives at perfection, and what she does
   when she is perfect. This is what she does. Though she perceives that I
   have withdrawn Myself, she does not, on that account, look back, but
   perseveres with humility in her exercises, remaining barred in the
   house of self-knowledge, and, continuing to dwell therein, awaits, with
   lively faith, the coming of the Holy Spirit, that is of Me, who am the
   fire of charity. How does she await me? Not in idleness, but in
   watching and continued prayer, and not only with physical, but also
   with intellectual watching, that is, with the eye of her mind alert,
   and, watching with the light of faith, she extirpates, with hatred, the
   wandering thoughts of her heart, looking for the affection of My
   charity, and knowing that I desire nothing but her sanctification,
   which is certified to her in the Blood of My Son. As long as her eye
   thus watches, illumined by the knowledge of Me and of herself, she
   continues to pray with the prayer of holy desire, which is a continued
   prayer, and also with actual prayer, which she practices at the
   appointed times, according to the orders of Holy Church. This is what
   the soul does in order to rise from imperfection and arrive at
   perfection, and it is to this end, namely that she may arrive at
   perfection, that I withdraw from her, not by grace but by sentiment.
   Once more do I leave her, so that she may see and know her defects, so
   that, feeling herself deprived of consolation and afflicted by pain,
   she may recognize her own weakness, and learn how incapable she is of
   stability or perseverance, thus cutting down to the very root of
   spiritual self-love, for this should be the end and purpose of all her
   self-knowledge, to rise above herself, mounting the throne of
   conscience, and not permitting the sentiment of imperfect love to turn
   again in its death-struggle, but, with correction and reproof, digging
   up the root of self-love, with the knife of self-hatred and the love of
   virtue."
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      How an imperfect lover of GOD loves his neighbor also imperfectly, and of
      the signs of this imperfect love.

   "And I would have you know that just as every imperfection and
   perfection is acquired from Me, so is it manifested by means of the
   neighbor. And simple souls, who often love creatures with spiritual
   love, know this well, for, if they have received My love sincerely
   without any self-regarding considerations, they satisfy the thirst of
   their love for their neighbor equally sincerely. If a man carry away
   the vessel which he has filled at the fountain and then drink of it,
   the vessel becomes empty, but if he keep his vessel standing in the
   fountain, while he drinks, it always remains full. So the love of the
   neighbor, whether spiritual or temporal, should be drunk in Me, without
   any self-regarding considerations. I require that you should love Me
   with the same love with which I love you. This indeed you cannot do,
   because I loved you without being loved. All the love which you have
   for Me you owe to Me, so that it is not of grace that you love Me, but
   because you ought to do so. While I love you of grace, and not because
   I owe you My love. Therefore to Me, in person, you cannot repay the
   love which I require of you, and I have placed you in the midst of your
   fellows, that you may do to them that which you cannot do to Me, that
   is to say, that you may love your neighbor of free grace, without
   expecting any return from him, and what you do to him, I count as done
   to Me, which My Truth showed forth when He said to Paul, My
   persecutor--'Saul, Saul, why persecute you Me?' This He said, judging
   that Paul persecuted Him in His faithful. This love must be sincere,
   because it is with the same love with which you love Me, that you must
   love your neighbor. Do you know how the imperfection of spiritual love
   for the creature is shown? It is shown when the lover feels pain if it
   appear to him that the object of his love does not satisfy or return
   his love, or when he sees the beloved one's conversation turned aside
   from him, or himself deprived of consolation, or another loved more
   than he. In these and in many other ways can it be seen that his
   neighborly love is still imperfect, and that, though his love was
   originally drawn from Me, the Fountain of all love, he took the vessel
   out of the water, in order to drink from it. It is because his love for
   Me is still imperfect, that his neighborly love is so weak, and because
   the root of self-love has not been properly dug out. Wherefore I often
   permit such a love to exist, so that the soul may in this way come to
   the knowledge of her own imperfection, and for the same reason do I
   withdraw myself from the soul by sentiment, that she may be thus led to
   enclose herself in the house of self-knowledge, where is acquired every
   perfection. After which I return into her with more light and with more
   knowledge of My Truth, in proportion to the degree in which she refers
   to grace the power of slaying her own will. And she never ceases to
   cultivate the vine of her soul, and to root out the thorns of evil
   thoughts, replacing them with the stones of virtues, cemented together
   in the Blood of Christ crucified, which she has found on her journey
   across the Bridge of Christ, My only-begotten Son. For I told you, if
   you remember, that upon the Bridge, that is, upon the doctrine of My
   Truth, were built up the stones, based upon the virtue of His Blood,
   for it is in virtue of this Blood that the virtues give life."
     __________________________________________________________________

A TREATISE OF PRAYER
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the means which the soul takes to arrive at pure and generous love; and
      here begins the Treatise of Prayer.

   "When the soul has passed through the doctrine of Christ crucified,
   with true love of virtue and hatred of vice, and has arrived at the
   house of self-knowledge and entered therein, she remains, with her door
   barred, in watching and constant prayer, separated entirely from the
   consolations of the world. Why does she thus shut herself in? She does
   so from fear, knowing her own imperfections, and also from the desire,
   which she has, of arriving at pure and generous love. And because she
   sees and knows well that in no other way can she arrive thereat, she
   waits, with a lively faith for My arrival, through increase of grace in
   her. How is a lively faith to be recognized? By perseverance in virtue,
   and by the fact that the soul never turns back for anything, whatever
   it be, nor rises from holy prayer, for any reason except (note well)
   for obedience or charity's sake. For no other reason ought she to leave
   off prayer, for, during the time ordained for prayer, the Devil is wont
   to arrive in the soul, causing much more conflict and trouble than when
   the soul is not occupied in prayer. This he does in order that holy
   prayer may become tedious to the soul, tempting her often with these
   words: 'This prayer avails you nothing, for you need attend to nothing
   except your vocal prayers.' He acts thus in order that, becoming
   wearied and confused in mind, she may abandon the exercise of prayer,
   which is a weapon with which the soul can defend herself from every
   adversary, if grasped with the hand of love, by the arm of free choice
   in the light of the Holy Faith."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Here, touching something concerning the Sacrament of the Body of Christ,
      the complete doctrine is given; and how the soul proceeds from vocal to
      mental prayer, and a vision is related which this devout soul once
      received.

   "Know, dearest daughter, how, by humble, continual, and faithful
   prayer, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every virtue.
   Wherefore should she persevere and never abandon prayer, either through
   the illusion of the Devil or her own fragility, that is to say, either
   on account of any thought or movement coming from her own body, or of
   the words of any creature. The Devil often places himself upon the
   tongues of creatures, causing them to chatter nonsensically, with the
   purpose of preventing the prayer of the soul. All of this she should
   pass by, by means of the virtue of perseverance. Oh, how sweet and
   pleasant to that soul and to Me is holy prayer, made in the house of
   knowledge of self and of Me, opening the eye of the intellect to the
   light of faith, and the affections to the abundance of My charity,
   which was made visible to you, through My visible only-begotten Son,
   who showed it to you with His blood! Which Blood inebriates the soul
   and clothes her with the fire of divine charity, giving her the food of
   the Sacrament [which is placed in the tavern of the mystical body of
   the Holy Church] that is to say, the food of the Body and Blood of My
   Son, wholly God and wholly man, administered to you by the hand of My
   vicar, who holds the key of the Blood. This is that tavern, which I
   mentioned to you, standing on the Bridge, to provide food and comfort
   for the travelers and the pilgrims, who pass by the way of the doctrine
   of My Truth, lest they should faint through weakness. This food
   strengthens little or much, according to the desire of the recipient,
   whether he receives sacramentally or virtually. He receives
   sacramentally when he actually communicates with the Blessed Sacrament.
   He receives virtually when he communicates, both by desire of
   communion, and by contemplation of the Blood of Christ crucified,
   communicating, as it were, sacramentally, with the affection of love,
   which is to be tasted in the Blood which, as the soul sees, was shed
   through love. On seeing this the soul becomes inebriated, and blazes
   with holy desire and satisfies herself, becoming full of love for Me
   and for her neighbor. Where can this be acquired? In the house of
   self-knowledge with holy prayer, where imperfections are lost, even as
   Peter and the disciples, while they remained in watching and prayer,
   lost their imperfection and acquired perfection. By what means is this
   acquired? By perseverance seasoned with the most holy faith.

   "But do not think that the soul receives such ardor and nourishment
   from prayer, if she pray only vocally, as do many souls whose prayers
   are rather words than love. Such as these give heed to nothing except
   to completing Psalms and saying many paternosters. And when they have
   once completed their appointed tale, they do not appear to think of
   anything further, but seem to place devout attention and love in merely
   vocal recitation, which the soul is not required to do, for, in doing
   only this, she bears but little fruit, which pleases Me but little. But
   if you ask Me, whether the soul should abandon vocal prayer, since it
   does not seem to all that they are called to mental prayer, I should
   reply 'No.' The soul should advance by degrees, and I know well that,
   just as the soul is at first imperfect and afterwards perfect, so also
   is it with her prayer. She should nevertheless continue in vocal
   prayer, while she is yet imperfect, so as not to fall into idleness.
   But she should not say her vocal prayers without joining them to mental
   prayer, that is to say, that while she is reciting, she should endeavor
   to elevate her mind in My love, with the consideration of her own
   defects and of the Blood of My only-begotten Son, wherein she finds the
   breadth of My charity and the remission of her sins. And this she
   should do, so that self-knowledge and the consideration of her own
   defects should make her recognize My goodness in herself and continue
   her exercises with true humility. I do not wish defects to be
   considered in particular, but in general, so that the mind may not be
   contaminated by the remembrance of particular and hideous sins. But, as
   I said, I do not wish the soul to consider her sins, either in general
   or in particular, without also remembering the Blood and the broadness
   of My mercy, for fear that otherwise she should be brought to
   confusion. And together with confusion would come the Devil, who has
   caused it, under color of contrition and displeasure of sin, and so she
   would arrive at eternal damnation, not only on account of her
   confusion, but also through the despair which would come to her,
   because she did not seize the arm of My mercy. This is one of the
   subtle devices with which the Devil deludes My servants, and, in order
   to escape from his deceit, and to be pleasing to Me, you must enlarge
   your hearts and affections in My boundless mercy, with true humility.
   You know that the pride of the Devil cannot resist the humble mind, nor
   can any confusion of spirit be greater than the broadness of My good
   mercy, if the soul will only truly hope therein. Wherefore it was, if
   you remember rightly, that, once, when the Devil wished to overthrow
   you, by confusion, wishing to prove to you that your life had been
   deluded, and that you had not followed My will, you did that which was
   your duty, which My goodness (which is never withheld from him who will
   receive it) gave you strength to do, that is you rose, humbly trusting
   in My mercy, and saying: 'I confess to my Creator that my life has
   indeed been passed in darkness, but I will hide myself in the wounds of
   Christ crucified, and bathe myself in His Blood and so shall my
   iniquities be consumed, and with desire will I rejoice in my Creator.'
   You remember that then the Devil fled, and, turning round to the
   opposite side, he endeavored to inflate you with pride, saying: 'You
   are perfect and pleasing to God, and there is no more need for you to
   afflict yourself or to lament your sins.' And once more I gave you the
   light to see your true path, namely, humiliation of yourself, and you
   answered the Devil with these words: 'Wretch that I am, John the
   Baptist never sinned and was sanctified in his mother's womb. And I
   have committed so many sins, and have hardly begun to know them with
   grief and true contrition, seeing who God is, who is offended by me,
   and who I am, who offend Him.' Then the Devil, not being able to resist
   your humble hope in My goodness, said to you: 'Cursed that you are, for
   I can find no way to take you. If I put you down through confusion, you
   rise to Heaven on the wings of mercy, and if I raise you on high, you
   humble yourself down to Hell, and when I go into Hell you persecute me,
   so that I will return to you no more, because you strike me with the
   stick of charity.' The soul, therefore, should season the knowledge of
   herself with the knowledge of My goodness, and then vocal prayer will
   be of use to the soul who makes it, and pleasing to Me, and she will
   arrive, from the vocal imperfect prayer, exercised with perseverance,
   at perfect mental prayer; but if she simply aims at completing her
   tale, and, for vocal abandons mental prayer, she will never arrive at
   it. Sometimes the soul will be so ignorant that, having resolved to say
   so many prayers vocally, and I, visiting her mind sometimes in one way,
   and sometimes in another, in a flash of self-knowledge or of contrition
   for sin, sometimes in the broadness of My charity, and sometimes by
   placing before her mind, in diverse ways, according to My pleasure and
   the desire of the soul, the presence of My Truth, she (the soul), in
   order to complete her tale, will abandon My visitation, that she feels,
   as it were, by conscience, rather than abandon that which she had
   begun. She should not do so, for, in so doing, she yields to a
   deception of the Devil. The moment she feels her mind disposed by My
   visitation, in the many ways I have told you, she should abandon vocal
   prayer; then, My visitation past, if there be time, she can resume the
   vocal prayers which she had resolved to say, but if she has not time to
   complete them, she ought not on that account to be troubled or suffer
   annoyance and confusion of mind; of course provided that it were not
   the Divine office which clerics and religious are bound and obliged to
   say under penalty of offending Me, for, they must, until death, say
   their office. But if they, at the hour appointed for saying it, should
   feel their minds drawn and raised by desire, they should so arrange as
   to say it before or after My visitation, so that the debt of rendering
   the office be not omitted. But, in any other case, vocal prayer should
   be immediately abandoned for the said cause. Vocal prayer, made in the
   way that I have told you, will enable the soul to arrive at perfection,
   and therefore she should not abandon it, but use it in the way that I
   have told you.

   And so, with exercise in perseverance, she will taste prayer in truth,
   and the food of the Blood of My only-begotten Son, and therefore I told
   you that some communicated virtually with the Body and Blood of Christ,
   although not sacramentally; that is, they communicate in the affection
   of charity, which they taste by means of holy prayer, little or much,
   according to the affection with which they pray. They who proceed with
   little prudence and without method, taste little, and they who proceed
   with much, taste much. For the more the soul tries to loosen her
   affection from herself, and fasten it in Me with the light of the
   intellect, the more she knows; and the more she knows, the more she
   loves, and, loving much, she tastes much. You see then, that perfect
   prayer is not attained to through many words, but through affection of
   desire, the soul raising herself to Me, with knowledge of herself and
   of My mercy, seasoned the one with the other. Thus she will exercise
   together mental and vocal prayer, for, even as the active and
   contemplative life is one, so are they. Although vocal or mental prayer
   can be understood in many and diverse ways, for I have told you that a
   holy desire is a continual prayer, in this sense that a good and holy
   will disposes itself with desire to the occasion actually appointed for
   prayer in addition to the continual prayer of holy desire, wherefore
   vocal prayer will be made at the appointed time by the soul who remains
   firm in a habitual holy will, and will sometimes be continued beyond
   the appointed time, according as charity commands for the salvation of
   the neighbor, if the soul see him to be in need, and also her own
   necessities according to the state in which I have placed her. Each
   one, according to his condition, ought to exert himself for the
   salvation of souls, for this exercise lies at the root of a holy will,
   and whatever he may contribute, by words or deeds, towards the
   salvation of his neighbor, is virtually a prayer, although it does not
   replace a prayer which one should make oneself at the appointed season,
   as My glorious standard-bearer Paul said, in the words, 'He who ceases
   not to work ceases not to pray.' It was for this reason that I told you
   that prayer was made in many ways, that is, that actual prayer may be
   united with mental prayer if made with the affection of charity, which
   charity is itself continual prayer. I have now told you how mental
   prayer is reached by exercise and perseverance, and by leaving vocal
   prayer for mental when I visit the soul. I have also spoken to you of
   common prayer, that is, of vocal prayer in general, made outside of
   ordained times, and of the prayers of good-will, and how every
   exercise, whether performed in oneself or in one's neighbor, with
   good-will, is prayer. The enclosed soul should therefore spur herself
   on with prayer, and when she has arrived at friendly and filial love
   she does so. Unless the soul keep to this path, she will always remain
   tepid and imperfect, and will only love Me and her neighbor in
   proportion to the pleasure which she finds in My service."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the method by which the soul separates herself from imperfect love, and
      attains to perfect love, friendly and filial.

   "Hitherto I have shown you in many ways how the soul raises herself
   from imperfection and attains to perfection, which she does after she
   has attained to friendly and filial love. I tell you that she arrives
   at perfect love by means of perseverance, barring herself into the
   House of Self-Knowledge, which knowledge of self requires to be
   seasoned with knowledge of Me, lest it bring the soul to confusion, for
   it would cause the soul to hate her own sensitive pleasure and the
   delight of her own consolations. But from this hatred, founded in
   humility, she will draw patience, with which she will become strong
   against the attacks of the Devil, against the persecutions of man, and
   towards Me, when, for her good, I withdraw delight from her mind. And
   if her sensuality, through malevolence, should lift its head against
   reason, the judgment of conscience should rise against it, and, with
   hatred of it, hold out reason against it, not allowing such evil
   emotions to get by it. Though sometimes the soul who lives in holy
   hatred corrects and reproves herself, not only for those things that
   are against reason, but also for things that in reality come from Me,
   which is what My sweet servant S. Gregory meant, when he said that a
   holy and pure conscience made sin where there was no sin, that is, that
   through purity of conscience, it saw sin where there was no sin.

   "Now the soul who wishes to rise above imperfection should await My
   Providence in the House of Self-Knowledge, with the light of faith, as
   did the disciples, who remained in the house in perseverance and in
   watching, and in humble and continual prayer, awaiting the coming of
   the Holy Spirit. She should remain fasting and watching, the eye of her
   intellect fastened on the doctrine of My Truth, and she will become
   humble because she will know herself in humble and continual prayer and
   holy and true desire."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the signs by which the soul knows she has arrived at perfect love.

   "It now remains to be told you how it can be seen that souls have
   arrived at perfect love. This is seen by the same sign that was given
   to the holy disciples after they had received the Holy Spirit, when
   they came forth from the house, and fearlessly announced the doctrine
   of My Word, My only-begotten Son, not fearing pain, but rather glorying
   therein. They did not mind going before the tyrants of the world, to
   announce to them the truth, for the glory and praise of My Name. So the
   soul, who has awaited Me in self-knowledge as I have told you, receives
   Me, on My return to her, with the fire of charity, in which charity,
   while still remaining in the house with perseverance, she conceives the
   virtues by affection of love, participating in My power; with which
   power and virtues she overrules and conquers her own sensitive
   passions, and through which charity she participates in the wisdom of
   My Son, in which she sees and knows, with the eye of her intellect, My
   Truth and the deceptions of spiritual self-love, that is, the imperfect
   love of her own consolations, as has been said, and she knows also the
   malice and deceit of the devil, which he practices on those souls who
   are bound by that imperfect love. She therefore arises, with hatred of
   that imperfection and with love of perfection, and, through this
   charity, which is of the Holy Spirit, she participates in His will,
   fortifying her own to be willing to suffer pain, and, coming out of the
   house through My Name, she brings forth the virtues on her neighbor.
   Not that by coming out to bring forth the virtues, I mean that she
   issues out of the House of Self-Knowledge, but that, in the time of the
   neighbor's necessity she loses that fear of being deprived of her own
   consolations, and so issues forth to give birth to those virtues which
   she has conceived through affection of love. The souls, who have thus
   come forth, have reached the fourth state, that is, from the third
   state, which is a perfect state, in which they taste charity and give
   birth to it on their neighbors, they have arrived at the fourth state,
   which is one of perfect union with Me. The two last-mentioned states
   are united, that is to say, one cannot be without the other, for there
   cannot be love of Me, without love of the neighbor, nor love of the
   neighbor without love of Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How they who are imperfect desire to follow the Father alone, but they who
      are perfect desire to follow the Son. And of a vision, which this holy
      soul had, concerning diverse baptisms, and of many other beautiful and
      useful things.

   "As I have told you, these latter have issued forth from the house,
   which is a sign that they have arisen from imperfection and arrived at
   perfection. Open the eye of your intellect and see them running by the
   Bridge of the doctrine of Christ crucified, which was their rule, way,
   and doctrine. They place none other before the eye of their intellect
   than Christ crucified, not the Father, as they do who are in imperfect
   love and do not wish to suffer pain, but only to have the delight which
   they find in Me. But they, as if drunken with love and burning with it,
   have gathered together and ascended the three steps, which I figured to
   you as the three powers of the soul, and also the three actual steps,
   figured to you as in the Body of My only Son, Christ crucified, by
   which steps the soul, as I told you, ascended, first climbing to the
   Feet, with the feet of the soul's affection, from thence arriving at
   the Side, where she found the secret of the Heart and knew the baptism
   of water, which has virtue through the Blood, and where I dispose the
   soul to receive grace, uniting and kneading her together in the Blood.
   Where did the soul know of this her dignity, in being kneaded and
   united with the Blood of the Lamb, receiving the grace in Holy Baptism,
   in virtue of the Blood? In the Side, where she knew the fire of divine
   Charity, and so, if you remember well, My Truth manifested to you, when
   you asked, saying: 'Sweet and Immaculate Lamb, You were dead when Your
   side was opened. Why then did You want to be struck and have Your heart
   divided?' And He replied to you, telling you that there was occasion
   enough for it; but the principal part of what He said I will tell you.
   He said: Because My desire towards the human generation was ended, and
   I had finished the actual work of bearing pain and torment, and yet I
   had not been able to show, by finite things, because My love was
   infinite, how much more love I had, I wished you to see the secret of
   the Heart, showing it to you open, so that you might see how much more
   I loved than I could show you by finite pain. I poured from it Blood
   and Water, to show you the baptism of water, which is received in
   virtue of the Blood. I also showed the baptism of love in two ways,
   first in those who are baptized in their blood, shed for Me, which has
   virtue through My Blood, even if they have not been able to have Holy
   Baptism, and also in those who are baptized in fire, not being able to
   have Holy Baptism, but desiring it with the affection of love. There is
   no baptism of fire without the Blood, because the Blood is steeped in
   and kneaded with the fire of Divine charity, because, through love was
   It shed. There is yet another way by which the soul receives the
   baptism of Blood, speaking, as it were, under a figure, and this way
   the Divine charity provided, knowing the infirmity and fragility of
   man, through which he offends, not that he is obliged, through his
   fragility and infirmity, to commit sin unless he wish to do so; but,
   falling, as he will, into the guilt of mortal sin, by which he loses
   the grace which he drew from Holy Baptism in virtue of the Blood, it
   was necessary to leave a continual baptism of Blood. This the Divine
   charity provided in the Sacrament of Holy Confession, the soul
   receiving the Baptism of Blood, with contrition of heart, confessing,
   when able, to My ministers, who hold the keys of the Blood, sprinkling
   It, in absolution, upon the face of the soul. But, if the soul be
   unable to confess, contrition of heart is sufficient for this baptism,
   the hand of My clemency giving you the fruit of this precious Blood.
   But if you are able to confess, I wish you to do so, and if you are
   able to, and do not, you will be deprived of the fruit of the Blood. It
   is true that, in the last extremity, a man, desiring to confess and not
   being able to, will receive the fruit of this baptism, of which I have
   been speaking. But let no one be so mad as so to arrange his deeds,
   that, in the hope of receiving it, he puts off confessing until the
   last extremity of death, when he may not be able to do so. In which
   case, it is not at all certain that I shall not say to him, in My
   Divine Justice: 'You did not remember Me in the time of your life, when
   you could, now will I not remember you in your death.'

   "You see then that these Baptisms, which you should all receive until
   the last moment, are continual, and though My works, that is the pains
   of the Cross were finite, the fruit of them which you receive in
   Baptism, through Me, are infinite. This is in virtue of the infinite
   Divine nature, united with the finite human nature, which human nature
   endures pain in Me, the Word, clothed with your humanity. But because
   the one nature is steeped in and united with the other, the Eternal
   Deity drew to Himself the pain, which I suffered with so much fire and
   love. And therefore can this operation be called infinite, not that My
   pain, neither the actuality of the body be infinite, nor the pain of
   the desire that I had to complete your redemption, because it was
   terminated and finished on the Cross, when the Soul was separated from
   the Body; but the fruit, which came out of the pain and desire for your
   salvation, is infinite, and therefore you receive it infinitely. Had it
   not been infinite, the whole human generation could not have been
   restored to grace, neither the past, the present, nor the future. This
   I manifested in the opening of My Side, where is found the secret of
   the Heart, showing that I loved more than I could show, with finite
   pain. I showed to you that My love was infinite. How? By the Baptism of
   Blood, united with the fire of My charity, and by the general baptism,
   given to Christians, and to whomsoever will receive it, and by the
   baptism of water, united with the Blood and the fire, wherein the soul
   is steeped. And, in order to show this, it was necessary for the Blood
   to come out of My Side. Now I have shown you (said My Truth to you)
   what you asked of Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How worldly people render glory and praise to GOD, whether they will or
      no.

   "And so perfect is her vision that she sees the glory and praise of My
   Name, not so much in the angelic nature as in the human, for, whether
   worldly people will or no, they render glory and praise to My Name, not
   that they do so in the way they should, loving Me above everything, but
   that My mercy shines in them, in that, in the abundance of My charity,
   I give them time, and do not order the earth to open and swallow them
   up on account of their sins. I even wait for them, and command the
   earth to give them of her fruits, the sun to give them light and
   warmth, and the sky to move above them. And in all things created and
   made for them, I use My charity and mercy, withdrawing neither on
   account of their sins. I even give equally to the sinner and the
   righteous man, and often more to the sinner than to the righteous man,
   because the righteous man is able to endure privation, and I take from
   him the goods of the world that he may the more abundantly enjoy the
   goods of heaven. So that in worldly men My mercy and charity shine, and
   they render praise and glory to My Name, even when they persecute My
   servants; for they prove in them the virtues of patience and charity,
   causing them to suffer humbly and offer to Me their persecutions and
   injuries, thus turning them into My praise and glory.

   "So that, whether they will or no, worldly people render to My Name
   praise and glory, even when they intend to do Me infamy and wrong."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How even the devils render glory and praise to GOD.

   "Sinners, such as those of whom I have just spoken, are placed in this
   life in order to augment virtues in My servants, as the devils are in
   Hell as My justiciars and augmenters of My Glory; that is, My
   instruments of justice towards the damned, and the augmenters of My
   Glory in My creatures, who are wayfarers and pilgrims on their journey
   to reach Me, their End. They augment in them the virtues in diverse
   ways, exercising them with many temptations and vexations, causing them
   to injure one another and take one another's property, and not for the
   motive of making them receive injury or be deprived of their property,
   but only to deprive them of charity. But in thinking to deprive My
   servants, they fortify them, proving in them the virtues of patience,
   fortitude, and perseverance. Thus they render praise and glory to My
   Name, and My Truth is fulfilled in them, which Truth created them for
   the praise and glory of Me, Eternal Father, and that they might
   participate in My beauty. But, rebelling against Me in their pride,
   they fell and lost their vision of Me, wherefore they rendered not to
   Me glory through the affection of love, and I, Eternal Truth, have
   placed them as instruments to exercise My servants in virtue in this
   life and as justiciars to those who go, for their sins, to the pains of
   Purgatory. So you see that My Truth is fulfilled in them, that is, that
   they render Me glory, not as citizens of life eternal, of which they
   are deprived by their sins, but as My justiciars, manifesting justice
   upon the damned, and upon those in Purgatory."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the soul, after she has passed through this life, sees fully the
      praise and glory of My Name in everything, and, though, in her the pain of
      desire is ended, the desire is not.

   "Thus in all things created, in all rational creatures, and in the
   devils is seen the glory and praise of My Name. Who can see it? The
   soul who is denuded of the body and has reached Me, her End, sees it
   clearly, and, in seeing, knows the truth. Seeing Me, the Eternal
   Father, she loves, and loving, she is satisfied. Satisfied, she knows
   the Truth, and her will is stayed in My Will, bound and made stable, so
   that in nothing can it suffer pain, because it has that which it
   desired to have, before the soul saw Me, namely, the glory and praise
   of My Name. She now, in truth, sees it completely in My saints, in the
   blessed spirits, and in all creatures and things, even in the devils,
   as I told you. And although she also sees the injury done to Me, which
   before caused her sorrow, it no longer now can give her pain, but only
   compassion, because she loves without pain, and prays to Me continually
   with affection of love, that I will have mercy on the world. Pain in
   her is ended, but not love, as the tortured desire, which My Word, the
   Son, had borne from the beginning when I sent Him into the world,
   terminated on the Cross in His painful death, but His love--no. For had
   the affection of My charity, which I showed you by means of Him, been
   terminated and ended then, you would not be, because by love you are
   made, and had My love been drawn back, that is, had I not loved your
   being, you could not be, but My love created you, and My love possesses
   you, because I am one thing with My Truth, and He, the Word Incarnate
   with Me. You see then, that the saints and every soul in Eternal Life
   have desire for the salvation of souls without pain, because pain ended
   in their death, but not so the affection of love.

   "Thus, as if drunk with the Blood of the Immaculate Lamb, and clothed
   in the love of the neighbor, they pass through the Narrow Gate, bathed
   in the Blood of Christ crucified, and they find themselves in Me, the
   Sea Pacific, raised from imperfection, far from satiety, and arrived at
   perfection, satisfied by every good."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How after Saint Paul was drawn to the glory of the blessed, he desired to
      be loosened from the body, as they do, who have reached the aforesaid
      third and fourth states.

   "Paul, then, had seen and tasted this good, when I drew him up into the
   third heaven, that is into the height of the Trinity, where he tasted
   and knew My Truth, receiving fully the Holy Spirit, and learning the
   doctrine of My Truth, the Word Incarnate. The soul of Paul was clothed,
   through feeling and union, in Me, Eternal Father, like the blessed ones
   in Eternal Life, except that his soul was not separated from his body,
   except through this feeling and union. But it being pleasing to My
   Goodness to make of him a vessel of election in the abyss of Me,
   Eternal Trinity, I dispossessed him of Myself, because on Me can no
   pain fall, and I wished him to suffer for My name; therefore I placed
   before him, as an object for the eyes of his intellect, Christ
   crucified, clothing him with the garment of His doctrine, binding and
   fettering him with the clemency of the Holy Spirit and inflaming him
   with the fire of charity. He became a vessel, disposed and reformed by
   My Goodness, and, on being struck, made no resistance, but said: 'My
   Lord, what do You wish me to do? Show me that which it is Your pleasure
   for me to do, and I will do it.' Which I answered when I placed before
   him Christ crucified, clothing him with the doctrine of My charity. I
   illuminated him perfectly with the light of true contrition, by which
   he extirpated his defects, and founded him in My charity."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the soul who finds herself in the unitive state desires infinitely to
      have the barren earthly state and unite herself to GOD.

   "And when I depart from the soul in the aforesaid way that the body may
   return a little to its corporal sentiment, the soul, on account of the
   union which she had made with Me, is impatient in her life, being
   deprived of union with Me, and the conversation of the Immortals, who
   render glory to Me, and finding herself, amid the conversation of
   mortals, and seeing them so miserably offending Me. This vision of My
   offense is the torture which such souls always have, and which, with
   the desire to see Me, renders their life insupportable to them.
   Nevertheless, as their will is not their own, but becomes one with
   Mine, they cannot desire other than what I desire, and though they
   desire to come and be with Me, they are contented to remain, if I
   desire them to remain, with their pain, for the greater praise and
   glory of My Name and the salvation of souls. So that in nothing are
   they in discord with My Will; but they run their course with ecstatic
   desire, clothed in Christ crucified, and keeping by the Bridge of His
   doctrine, glorying in His shame and pains. Inasmuch as they appear to
   be suffering they are rejoicing, because the enduring of many
   tribulations is to them a relief in the desire which they have for
   death, for oftentimes the desire and the will to suffer pain mitigates
   the pain caused them by their desire to quit the body. These not only
   endure with patience, as I told you they did, who are in the third
   state, but they glory, through My Name, in bearing much tribulation. In
   bearing tribulation they find pleasure, and not having it they suffer
   pain, fearing that I reward not their well-doing or that the sacrifice
   of their desires is not pleasing to Me; but when I permit to them many
   tribulations they rejoice, seeing themselves clothed with the suffering
   and shame of Christ crucified. Wherefore were it possible for them to
   have virtue without toil they would not want it. They would rather
   delight in the Cross, with Christ, acquiring it with pain, than in any
   other way obtain Eternal Life. Why? Because they are inflamed and
   steeped in the Blood, where they find the blaze of My charity, which
   charity is a fire proceeding from Me, ravishing their heart and mind
   and making their sacrifices acceptable. Wherefore, the eye of the
   intellect is lifted up and gazes into My Deity, when the affection
   behind the intellect is nourished and united with Me. This is a sight
   which I grant to the soul, infused with grace, who, in truth, loves and
   serves Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How they, who are arrived at the aforesaid unitive state, have the eye of
      their intellect illuminated by supernatural light infused by grace. And
      how it is better to go for counsel for the salvation of the soul, to a
      humble and holy conscience than to a proud lettered man.

   "With this light that is given to the eye of the intellect, Thomas
   Aquinas saw Me, wherefore he acquired the light of much science; also
   Augustine, Jerome, and the doctors, and my saints. They were
   illuminated by My Truth to know and understand My Truth in darkness. By
   My Truth I mean the Holy Scripture, which seemed dark because it was
   not understood; not through any defect of the Scriptures, but of them
   who heard them, and did not understand them. Wherefore I sent this
   light to illuminate the blind and coarse understanding, uplifting the
   eye of the intellect to know the Truth. And I, Fire, Acceptor of
   sacrifices, ravishing away from them their darkness, give the light;
   not a natural light, but a supernatural, so that, though in darkness,
   they know the Truth. Wherefore that, which at first appeared to be
   dark, now appears with the most perfect light, to the gross or subtle
   mind; and everyone receives according as he is capable or disposed to
   know Me, for I do not despise dispositions. So you see that the eye of
   the intellect has received supernatural light, infused by grace, by
   which the doctors and saints knew light in darkness, and of darkness
   made light. The intellect was, before the Scriptures were formed,
   wherefore, from the intellect came science, because in seeing they
   discerned. It was thus that the holy prophets and fathers understood,
   who prophesied of the coming and death of My Son, and the Apostles,
   after the coming of the Holy Spirit, which gave them that supernatural
   light. The evangelists, doctors, professors, virgins, and martyrs were
   all likewise illuminated by the aforesaid perfect light. And everyone
   has had the illumination of this light according as he needed it for
   his salvation or that of others, or for the exposition of the
   Scriptures. The doctors of the holy science had it, expounding the
   doctrine of My Truth, the preaching of the Apostles, and the Gospels of
   the Evangelists. The martyrs had it, declaring in their blood the Most
   Holy Faith, the fruit and the treasure of the Blood of the Lamb. The
   virgins had it in the affection of charity and purity. To the obedient
   ones is declared, by it, the obedience of the Word, showing them the
   perfection of obedience, which shines in my Truth, who for the
   obedience that I imposed upon Him, ran to the opprobrious death of the
   Cross. This light is to be seen in the Old and New Testament; in the
   Old, by it, were seen by the eye of the intellect, and known the
   prophecies of the holy prophets. In the New Testament of the
   evangelical life, how is the Gospel declared to the faithful? By this
   same light. And because the New Testament proceeded from the same
   light, the new law did not break the old law; rather are the two laws
   bound together, the imperfection of the old law, founded in fear alone,
   being taken from it, by the coming of the Word of My only-begotten Son,
   with the law of Love, completing the old law by giving it love, and
   replacing the fear of penalty by holy fear. And, therefore, said My
   Truth to the disciples, to show that He was not a breaker of laws: 'I
   came not to dissolve the law, but to fulfill it.' It is almost as if My
   Truth would say to them--The Law is now imperfect, but with My Blood I
   will make it perfect, and I will fill it up with what it lacks, taking
   away the fear of penalty, and founding it in love and holy fear. How
   was this declared to be the Truth? By this same supernatural light,
   which was and is given by grace to all, who will receive it? Every
   light that comes from Holy Scripture comes and came from this
   supernatural light. Ignorant and proud men of science were blind
   notwithstanding this light, because their pride and the cloud of
   self-love had covered up and put out the light. Wherefore they
   understood the Holy Scripture rather literally than with understanding,
   and taste only the letter of it, still desiring many other books; and
   they get not to the marrow of it, because they have deprived themselves
   of the light, with which is found and expounded the Scripture; and they
   are annoyed and murmur, because they find much in it that appears to
   them gross and idiotic. And, nevertheless, they appear to be much
   illuminated in their knowledge of Scripture, as if they had studied it
   for long; and this is not remarkable, because they have of course the
   natural light from whence proceeds science. But because they have lost
   the supernatural light, infused by grace, they neither see nor know My
   Goodness, nor the grace of My servants. Wherefore, I say to you, that
   it is much better to go for counsel for the salvation of the soul, to a
   holy and upright conscience, than to a proud lettered man, learned in
   much science, because such a one can only offer what he has himself,
   and, because of his darkness, it may appear to you, that, from what he
   says, the Scriptures offer darkness. The contrary will you find with My
   servants, because they offer the light that is in them, with hunger and
   desire for the soul's salvation. This I have told you, my sweetest
   daughter, that you might know the perfection of this unitive state,
   when the eye of the intellect is ravished by the fire of My charity, in
   which charity it receives the supernatural light. With this light the
   souls in the unitive state love Me, because love follows the intellect,
   and the more it knows the more can it love. Thus the one feeds the
   other, and, with this light, they both arrive at the Eternal Vision of
   Me, where they see and taste Me, in Truth, the soul being separated
   from the body, as I told you when I spoke to you of the blissfulness
   that the soul received in Me. This state is most excellent, when the
   soul, being yet in the mortal body, tastes bliss with the immortals,
   and oftentimes she arrives at so great a union that she scarcely knows
   whether she be in the body or out of it; and tastes the earnest-money
   of Eternal Life, both because she is united with Me, and because her
   will is dead in Christ, by which death her union was made with Me, and
   in no other way could she perfectly have done so. Therefore do they
   taste life eternal, deprived of the hell of their own will, which gives
   to man the earnest-money of damnation, if he yield to it."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this devout soul seeks knowledge from God concerning the state and
      fruit of tears.

   Then this soul, yearning with very great desire, and rising as one
   intoxicated both by the union which she had had with God, and by what
   she had heard and tasted of the Supreme and Sweet Truth, yearned with
   grief over the ignorance of creatures, in that they did not know their
   Benefactor, or the affection of the love of God. And nevertheless she
   had joy from the hope of the promise that the Truth of God had made to
   her, teaching her the way she was to direct her will (and the other
   servants of God as well as herself) in order that He should do mercy to
   the world. And, lifting up the eye of her intellect upon the sweet
   Truth, to whom she remained united, wishing to know somewhat of the
   aforesaid states of the soul of which God had spoken to her, and seeing
   that the soul passes through these states with tears, she wished to
   learn from the Truth concerning the different kinds of tears, and how
   they came to be, and whence they proceeded, and the fruit that resulted
   from weeping. Wishing then to know this from the Sweet, Supreme and
   First Truth, as to the manner of being and reason of the aforesaid
   tears, and inasmuch as the truth cannot be learnt from any other than
   from the Truth Himself, and nothing can be learnt in the Truth but what
   is seen by the eye of the intellect, she made her request of the Truth.
   For it is necessary for him who is lifted with desire to learn the
   Truth with the light of faith.

   Wherefore, knowing that she had not forgotten the teaching which the
   Truth, that is, God, had given her, that in no other way could she
   learn about the different states and fruits of tears, she rose out of
   herself, exceeding every limit of her nature with the greatness of her
   desire. And, with the light of a lively faith, she opened the eye of
   her intellect upon the Eternal Truth, in whom she saw and knew the
   Truth, in the matter of her request, for God Himself manifested it to
   her, and condescending in His benignity to her burning desire,
   fulfilled her petition.
     __________________________________________________________________

      How there are five kinds of tears.

   Then said the Supreme and Sweet Truth of God, "Oh, beloved and dearest
   daughter, you beg knowledge of the reasons and fruits of tears, and I
   have not despised your desire; open well the eye of your intellect and
   I will show you, among the aforesaid states of the soul, of which I
   have told you, concerning the imperfect tears caused by fear; but first
   rather of the tears of wicked men of the world. These are the tears of
   damnation. The former are those of fear, and belong to men who abandon
   sin from fear of punishment, and weep for fear. The third are the tears
   of those who, having abandoned sin, are beginning to serve and taste
   Me, and weep for very sweetness; but since their love is imperfect, so
   also is their weeping, as I have told you. The fourth are the tears of
   those who have arrived at the perfect love of their neighbor, loving Me
   without any regard whatsoever for themselves. These weep and their
   weeping is perfect. The fifth are joined to the fourth and are tears of
   sweetness let fall with great peace, as I will explain to you. I will
   tell you also of the tears of fire, without bodily tears of the eyes,
   which satisfy those who often would desire to weep and cannot. And I
   wish you to know that all these various graces may exist in one soul,
   who, rising from fear and imperfect love, reaches perfect love in the
   unitive state. Now I will begin to tell you of these tears in the
   following way."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the difference of these tears, arising from the explanation of the
      aforesaid state of the soul.

   "I wish you to know that every tear proceeds from the heart, for there
   is no member of the body that will satisfy the heart so much as the
   eye. If the heart is in pain the eye manifests it. And if the pain be
   sensual the eye drops hearty tears which engender death, because
   proceeding from the heart, they are caused by a disordinate love
   distinct from the love of Me; for such love, being disordinate and an
   offense to Me, receives the meed of mortal pain and tears. It is true
   that their guilt and grief are more or less heavy, according to the
   measure of their disordinate love. And these form that first class, who
   have the tears of death, of whom I have spoken to you, and will speak
   again. Now, begin to consider the tears which give the commencement of
   life, the tears, that is, of those who, knowing their guilt, set to
   weeping for fear of the penalty they have incurred.

   "These are both hearty and sensual tears, because the soul, not having
   yet arrived at perfect hatred of its guilt on account of the offense
   thereby done to Me, abandons it with a hearty grief for the penalty
   which follows the sin committed, while the eye weeps in order to
   satisfy the grief of the heart.

   "But the soul, exercising herself in virtue, begins to lose her fear,
   knowing that fear alone is not sufficient to give her eternal life, as
   I have already told you when speaking of the second stage of the soul.
   And so she proceeds, with love, to know herself and My goodness in her,
   and begins to take hope in My mercy in which her heart feels joy.
   Sorrow for her grief, mingled with the joy of her hope in My mercy,
   causes her eye to weep, which tears issue from the very fountain of her
   heart.

   "But, inasmuch as she has not yet arrived at great perfection, she
   often drops sensual tears, and if you ask Me why, I reply: Because the
   root of self-love is not sensual love, for that has already been
   removed, as has been said, but it is a spiritual love with which the
   soul desires spiritual consolations or loves some creature spiritually.
   (I have spoken to you at length regarding the imperfections of such
   souls.) Wherefore, when such a soul is deprived of the thing she loves,
   that is, internal or external consolation, the internal being the
   consolation received from Me, the external being that which she had
   from the creature, and when temptations and the persecutions of men
   come on her, her heart is full of grief. And, as soon as the eye feels
   the grief and suffering of the heart, she begins to weep with a tender
   and compassionate sorrow, pitying herself with the spiritual compassion
   of self-love; for her self-will is not yet crushed and destroyed in
   everything, and in this way she lets fall sensual tears--tears, that
   is, of spiritual passion. But, growing, and exercising herself in the
   light of self-knowledge, she conceives displeasure at herself and
   finally perfect self-hatred. From this she draws true knowledge of My
   goodness with a fire of love, and she begins to unite herself to Me,
   and to conform her will to Mine and so to feel joy and compassion. Joy
   in herself through the affection of love, and compassion for her
   neighbor, as I told you in speaking of the third stage. Immediately her
   eye, wishing to satisfy the heart, cries with hearty love for Me and
   for her neighbor, grieving solely for My offense and her neighbor's
   loss, and not for any penalty or loss due to herself; for she does not
   think of herself, but only of rendering glory and praise to My Name,
   and, in an ecstasy of desire, she joyfully takes the food prepared for
   her on the table of the Holy Cross, thus conforming herself to the
   humble, patient, and immaculate Lamb, My only-begotten Son, of whom I
   made a Bridge, as I have said. Having thus sweetly traveled by that
   Bridge, following the doctrine of My sweet Truth, enduring with true
   and sweet patience every pain and trouble which I have permitted to be
   inflicted upon her for her salvation, having manfully received them
   all, not choosing them according to her own tastes, but accepting them
   according to Mine, and not only, as I said, enduring them with
   patience, but sustaining them with joy, she counts it glory to be
   persecuted for My Name's sake in whatever she may have to suffer. Then
   the soul arrives at such delight and tranquillity of mind that no
   tongue can tell it. Having crossed the river by means of the Eternal
   Word, that is, by the doctrine of My only-begotten Son, and, having
   fixed the eye of her intellect on Me, the Sweet Supreme Truth, having
   seen the Truth, knows it; and knowing it, loves it. Drawing her
   affection after her intellect, she tastes My Eternal Deity, and she
   knows and sees the Divine nature united to your humanity.

   "Then she reposes in Me, the Sea Pacific, and her heart is united to Me
   in love, as I told you when speaking of the fourth and unitive state.
   When she thus feels Me, the Eternal Deity, her eyes let fall tears of
   sweetness, tears indeed of milk, nourishing the soul in true patience;
   an odoriferous ointment are these tears, shedding odors of great
   sweetness.

   "Oh, best beloved daughter, how glorious is that soul who has indeed
   been able to pass from the stormy ocean to Me, the Sea Pacific, and in
   that Sea, which is Myself, the Supreme and Eternal Deity, to fill the
   pitcher of her heart. And her eye, the conduit of her heart, endeavors
   to satisfy her heart-pangs, and so sheds tears. This is the last stage
   in which the soul is blessed and sorrowful.

   "Blessed she is through the union which she feels herself to have with
   Me, tasting the divine love; sorrowful through the offenses which she
   sees done to My goodness and greatness, for she has seen and tasted the
   bitterness of this in her self-knowledge, by which self-knowledge,
   together with her knowledge of Me, she arrived at the final stage. Yet
   this sorrow is no impediment to the unitive state, which produces tears
   of great sweetness through self-knowledge, gained in love of the
   neighbor, in which exercise the soul discovers the plaint of My divine
   mercy, and grief at the offenses caused to her neighbor, weeping with
   those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice--that is, who live
   in My love. Over these the soul rejoices, seeing glory and praise
   rendered Me by My servants, so that the third kind of grief does not
   prevent the fourth, that is, the final grief belonging to the unitive
   state; they rather give savor to each other, for, had not this last
   grief (in which the soul finds such union with Me), developed from the
   grief belonging to the third state of neighborly love, it would not be
   perfect. Therefore it is necessary that the one should flavor the
   other, else the soul would come to a state of presumption, induced by
   the subtle breeze of love of her own reputation, and would fall at
   once, vomited from the heights to the depths. Therefore it is necessary
   to bear with others and practice continually love to one's neighbor,
   together with true knowledge of oneself.

   "In this way will she feel the fire of My love in herself, because love
   of her neighbor is developed out of love of Me--that is, out of that
   learning which the soul obtained by knowing herself and My goodness in
   her. When, therefore, she sees herself to be ineffably loved by Me, she
   loves every rational creature with the self-same love with which she
   sees herself to be loved. And, for this reason, the soul that knows Me
   immediately expands to the love of her neighbor, because she sees that
   I love that neighbor ineffably, and so, herself, loves the object which
   she sees Me to have loved still more. She further knows that she can be
   of no use to Me and can in no way repay Me that pure love with which
   she feels herself to be loved by Me, and therefore endeavors to repay
   it through the medium which I have given her, namely, her neighbor, who
   is the medium through which you can all serve Me. For, as I have said
   to you, you can perform all virtues by means of your neighbor, I having
   given you all creatures, in general and in particular, according to the
   diverse graces each has received from Me, to be ministered unto by you;
   you should therefore love them with the same pure love with which I
   have loved you. That pure love cannot be returned directly to Me,
   because I have loved you without being Myself loved, and without any
   consideration of Myself whatsoever, for I loved you without being loved
   by you--before you existed; it was, indeed, love that moved Me to
   create you to My own image and similitude. This love you cannot repay
   to Me, but you can pay it to My rational creature, loving your neighbor
   without being loved by him and without consideration of your own
   advantage, whether spiritual or temporal, but loving him solely for the
   praise and glory of My Name, because he has been loved by Me.

   "Thus will you fulfill the commandment of the law, to love Me above
   everything, and your neighbor as yourselves.

   "True indeed is it that this height cannot be reached without passing
   through the second stage, namely the second stage of union which
   becomes the third (and final) stage. Nor can it be preserved when it
   has been reached if the soul abandon the affection from which it has
   been developed, the affection to which the second class of tears
   belongs. It is therefore impossible to fulfill the law given by Me, the
   Eternal God, without fulfilling that of your neighbor, for these two
   laws are the feet of your affection by which the precepts and counsels
   are observed, which were given you, as I have told you, by My Truth,
   Christ crucified. These two states united nourish your soul in virtue,
   making her to grow in the perfection of virtue and in the unitive
   state. Not that the other state is changed because this further state
   has been reached, for this further state does but increase the riches
   of grace in new and various gifts and admirable elevations of the mind,
   in the knowledge of the truth, as I said to you, which, though it is
   mortal, appears immortal because the soul's perception of her own
   sensuality is mortified and her will is dead through the union which
   she has attained with Me.

   "Oh, how sweet is the taste of this union to the soul, for, in tasting
   it, she sees My secrets! Wherefore she often receives the spirit of
   prophecy, knowing the things of the future. This is the effect of My
   Goodness, but the humble soul should despise such things, not indeed in
   so far as they are given her by My love, but in so far as she desires
   them by reason of her appetite for consolation, considering herself
   unworthy of peace and quiet of mind, in order to nourish virtue within
   her soul. In such a case let her not remain in the second stage, but
   return to the valley of self-knowledge. I give her this light, My grace
   permitting, so that she may ever grow in virtue. For the soul is never
   so perfect in this life that she cannot attain to a higher perfection
   of love. My only-begotten Son, your Captain, was the only One who could
   increase in no perfection, because He was one thing with Me, and I with
   Him, wherefore His soul was blessed through union with the Divine
   nature. But do you, His pilgrim-members, be ever ready to grow in
   greater perfection, not indeed to another stage, for as I have said,
   you have now reached the last, but to that further grade of perfection
   in the last stage, which may please you by means of My Grace."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the four stages of the soul, to which belong the five aforesaid states
      of tears, produce tears of infinite value: and how God wishes to be served
      as the Infinite, and not as anything finite.

   "These five states are like five principal canals which are filled with
   abundant tears of infinite value, all of which give life if they are
   disciplined in virtue, as I have said to you. You ask how their value
   can be infinite. I do not say that in this life your tears can become
   infinite, but I call them infinite, on account of the infinite desire
   of your soul from which they proceed. I have already told you how tears
   come from the heart, and how the heart distributes them to the eye,
   having gathered them in its own fiery desire. As, when green wood is on
   the fire, the moisture it contains groans on account of the heat,
   because the wood is green, so does the heart, made green again by the
   renovation of grace drawn into itself among its self-love which dries
   up the soul, so that fiery desire and tears are united. And inasmuch as
   desire is never ended, it is never satisfied in this life, but the more
   the soul loves the less she seems to herself to love. Thus is holy
   desire, which is founded in love, exercised, and with this desire the
   eye weeps. But when the soul is separated from the body and has reached
   Me, her End, she does not on that account abandon desire, so as to no
   longer yearn for Me or love her neighbor, for love has entered into her
   like a woman bearing the fruits of all other virtues. It is true that
   suffering is over and ended, as I have said to you, for the soul that
   desires Me possesses Me in very truth, without any fear of ever losing
   that which she has so long desired; but, in this way, hunger is kept
   up, because those who are hungry are satisfied, and as soon as they are
   satisfied hunger again; in this way their satiety is without disgust,
   and their hunger without suffering, for, in Me, no perfection is
   wanting.

   "Thus is your desire infinite, otherwise it would be worth nothing, nor
   would any virtue of yours have any life if you served Me with anything
   finite. For I, who am the Infinite God, wish to be served by you with
   infinite service, and the only infinite thing you possess is the
   affection and desire of your souls. In this sense I said that there
   were tears of infinite value, and this is true as regards their mode,
   of which I have spoken, namely, of the infinite desire which is united
   to the tears. When the soul leaves the body the tears remain behind,
   but the affection of love has drawn to itself the fruit of the tears,
   and consumed it, as happens in the case of the water in your furnace.
   The water has not really been taken out of the furnace, but the heat of
   the fire has consumed it and drawn it into itself. Thus the soul,
   having arrived at tasting the fire of My divine charity, and having
   passed from this life in a state of love towards Me and her neighbor,
   having further possessed that unitive love which caused her tears to
   fall, does not cease to offer Me her blessed desires, tearful indeed,
   though without pain or physical weeping, for physical tears have
   evaporated in the furnace, becoming tears of fire of the Holy Spirit.
   You see then how tears are infinite, how, as regards the tears shed in
   this life only, no tongue can tell what different sorrows may cause
   them. I have now told you the difference between four of these states
   of tears."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the fruit of worldly men's tears.

   "It remains for Me to tell you of the fruit produced by tears shed with
   desire, and received into the soul. But first will I speak to you of
   that first class of men whom I mentioned at the beginning of this My
   discourse; those, that is, who live miserably in the world, making a
   god of created things and of their own sensuality, from which comes
   damage to their body and soul. I said to you that every tear proceeded
   from the heart, and this is the truth, for the heart grieves in
   proportion to the love it feels. So worldly men weep when their heart
   feels pain, that is, when they are deprived of something which they
   loved.

   "But many and diverse are their complainings. Do you know how many?
   There are as many as there exist different loves. And inasmuch as the
   root of self-love is corrupt, everything that grows from it is corrupt
   also. Self-love is a tree on which grow nothing but fruits of death,
   putrid flowers, stained leaves, branches bowed down, and struck by
   various winds. This is the tree of the soul. For you are all trees of
   love, and without love you cannot live, for you have been made by Me
   for love. The soul who lives virtuously, places the root of her tree in
   the valley of true humility; but those who live thus miserably are
   planted on the mountain of pride, whence it follows that since the root
   of the tree is badly planted, the tree can bear no fruits of life but
   only of death. Their fruits are their actions, which are all poisoned
   by many and diverse kinds of sin, and if they should produce some good
   fruit among their actions, even it will be spoiled by the foulness of
   its root, for no good actions done by a soul in mortal sin are of value
   for eternal life, for they are not done in grace. Let not, however,
   such a soul abandon on this account its good works, forevery good deed
   is rewarded, and every evil deed punished. A good action performed out
   of a state of grace is not sufficient to merit eternal life, as has
   been said, but My Justice, My Divine Goodness, grants an incomplete
   reward, imperfect as the action which obtains it. Often such a man is
   rewarded in temporal matters; sometimes I give him more time in which
   to repent, as I have already said to you in another place. This also
   will I sometimes do, I grant him the life of grace by means of My
   servants who are pleasing and acceptable to Me. I acted in this way
   with My glorious apostle Paul, who abandoned his infidelity, and the
   persecutions he directed against the Christians, at the prayer of St.
   Stephen. See truly, therefore, that, in whatever state a man may be, he
   should never stop doing good.

   "I said to you that the flowers of this tree were putrid, and so in
   truth they are. Its flowers are the stinking thoughts of the heart,
   displeasing to Me, and full of hatred and unkindness towards their
   neighbor. So if a man be a thief, he robs Me of honor, and takes it
   himself. This flower stinks less than that of false judgment, which is
   of two kinds. The first with regard to Me, by which men judge My secret
   judgments, gauging falsely all My mysteries, that is, judging that
   which I did in love, to have been done in hatred; that which I did in
   truth to have been done in falsehood; that which I give them for life,
   to have been given them for death. They condemn and judge everything
   according to their weak intellect; for they have blinded the eye of
   their intellect with sensual self-love, and hidden the pupil of the
   most holy Faith, which they will not allow to see or know the Truth.
   The second kind of false judgment is directed against a man's neighbor,
   from which often come many evils, because the wretched man wishes to
   set himself up as the judge of the affections and heart of other
   rational creatures, when he does not yet know himself. And, for an
   action which he may see, or for a word he may hear, he will judge the
   affection of the heart. My servants always judge well, because they are
   founded on Me, the Supreme Good; but such as these always judge badly,
   for they are founded on evil. Such critics as these cause hatreds,
   murders, unhappinesses of all kinds to their neighbors, and remove
   themselves far away from the love of My servants' virtue.

   "Truly these fruits follow the leaves, which are the words which issue
   from their mouth in insult to Me and the Blood of My only-begotten Son,
   and in hatred to their neighbors. And they think of nothing else but
   cursing and condemning My works, and blaspheming and saying evil of
   every rational creature, according as their judgment may suggest to
   them. The unfortunate creatures do not remember that the tongue is made
   only to give honor to Me, and to confess sins, and to be used in love
   of virtue, and for the salvation of the neighbor. These are the stained
   leaves of that most miserable fault, because the heart from which they
   proceeded was not clean, but all spotted with duplicity and misery. How
   much danger, apart from the spiritual privation of grace to the soul,
   of temporal loss may not occur! For you have all heard and seen how,
   through words alone, have come revolutions of states, and destructions
   of cities, and many homicides and other evils, a word having entered
   the heart of the listener, and having passed through a space not large
   enough for a knife.

   "I say that this tree has seven branches drooping to the earth, on
   which grow the flowers and leaves in the way I have told you. These
   branches are the seven mortal sins which are full of many and diverse
   wickednesses, contained in the roots and trunk of self-love and of
   pride, which first made both branches and flowers of many thoughts, the
   leaves of words, and the fruits of wicked deeds. They stand drooping to
   the earth because the branches of mortal sin can turn no other way than
   to the earth, the fragile disordinate substance of the world. Do not
   marvel, they can turn no way but that in which they can be fed by the
   earth; for their hunger is insatiable, and the earth is unable to
   satisfy them. They are insatiable and unbearable to themselves, and it
   is conformable to their state that they should always be unquiet,
   longing and desiring that thing which they have to satiety. This is the
   reason why such satiety cannot content them, because they (who are
   infinite in their being) are always desiring something finite; because
   their being will never end, though their life to grace ends when they
   commit mortal sin.

   "Man is placed above all creatures, and not beneath them, and he cannot
   be satisfied or content except in something greater than himself.
   Greater than himself there is nothing but Myself, the Eternal God.
   Therefore I alone can satisfy him, and, because he is deprived of this
   satisfaction by his guilt, he remains in continual torment and pain.
   Weeping follows pain, and when he begins to weep the wind strikes the
   tree of self-love, which he has made the principle of all his being."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this devout soul, thanking God for His explanation of the
      above-mentioned states of tears, makes three petitions.

   Then this soul, eager with the greatness of her desire, through the
   sweetness of the explanation and satisfaction which she had received
   from the Truth, concerning the state of tears, said as one
   enamored--"Thanks, thanks be to You, Supreme and Eternal Father,
   Satisfier of holy desires, and Lover of our Salvation, who, through
   Your Love, gave us Love Himself, in the time of our warfare with You,
   in the person of Your only-begotten Son. By this abyss of Your fiery
   Love, I beg of You grace and mercy that I may come to You truly in the
   light, and not flee far in darkness away from Your doctrine, of which
   You have clearly demonstrated to me the truth, so that, by the light
   thereof, I perceive two other points, concerning which I fear that they
   are, or may become, stumbling-blocks to me. I beg, Eternal Father,
   that, before I leave the subject of these states of tears, You would
   explain these points also to me. The first is--when a person desirous
   of serving You, comes to me, or to some other servant of Yours to ask
   for counsel, how should I teach him? I know, Sweet and Eternal God,
   that You replied above to this question--I am He who takes delight in
   few words and many deeds.' Nevertheless, if it please Your Goodness to
   grant me a few more words on the subject, it will cause me the greatest
   pleasure. And also, if on some occasion, when I am praying for Your
   creatures, and in particular for Your servants, and I seem to see the
   subjects of my prayer, in one I find (in the course of my prayer) a
   well-disposed mind, a soul rejoicing in You; and in another, as it
   might seem to me, a mind full of darkness; have I the right, O Eternal
   Father, to judge the one soul to be in light, and the other in
   darkness? Or, supposing I should see that the one lives in great
   penance, and the other does not, should I be right to judge that he who
   does the greater penance has the higher perfection? I pray You, so that
   I may not be deceived through my limited vision, that You would declare
   to me in detail, what You have already said in general on this matter.
   The second request I have to make is, that You will explain further to
   me about the sign which You said the soul received on being visited by
   You--the sign which revealed Your Presence. If I remember well, oh,
   Eternal Truth, You said that the soul remained in joy and courageous
   virtue. I would gladly know whether this joy can consist with the
   delusion of the passion of spiritual self-love; for if it were so, I
   would humbly confine myself to the sign of virtue. These are the things
   which I beg You to tell me, so that I may serve You and my neighbor in
   truth, and not fall into false judgment concerning Your creatures and
   servants. For it seems to me that the habit of judging keeps the soul
   far from You, so I do not wish to fall into this snare."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the light of reason is necessary to every soul that wishes to serve
      God in truth; and first of the light of reason in general.

   Then the Eternal God, delighting in the thirst and hunger of that soul,
   and in the purity of her heart, and the desire with which she longed to
   serve Him, turned the eye of His benignity and mercy upon her,
   saying--"Oh, best-beloved, dearest and sweetest daughter, my spouse!
   rise out of yourself, and open the eye of your intellect to see Me, the
   Infinite Goodness, and the ineffable love which I have towards you and
   My other servants. And open the ear of the desire which you feel
   towards Me, and remember, that if you do not see, you can not hear,
   that is to say, that the soul that does not see into My Truth with the
   eye of her intellect, cannot hear or know My Truth, wherefore in order
   that you may the better know it, rise above the feelings of your
   senses.

   "And I, who take delight in your request, will satisfy your demand. Not
   that you can increase My delight, for I am the cause of you and of your
   increase; not those of Mine. Yet the very pleasure that I take in the
   work of My own hands causes Me delight."

   Then that soul obeyed and rose out of herself, in order to learn the
   true solution of her difficulty. And the Eternal God said to her, "In
   order that you may the better understand what I shall say to you, I
   shall revert to the beginning of your request concerning the three
   lights which issue from Me, the True Light. The first is a general
   light dwelling in those who live in ordinary charity. (I shall repeat
   to you here many things concerning these lights, which I have already
   told you, in spite of My having done so, in order that your creeping
   intelligence may better understand that which you wish to know.) The
   other two lights dwell in those who, having abandoned the world, desire
   perfection. Besides this I will explain to you your request, telling
   you in great detail that which I have already pointed out to you in
   general. You know, as I have told you, that, without the light, no one
   can walk in the truth, that is, without the light of reason, which
   light of reason you draw from Me the True Light, by means of the eye of
   your intellect and the light of faith which I have given you in holy
   baptism, though you may have lost it by your own defects. For, in
   baptism, and through the mediation of the Blood of My only-begotten
   Son, you have received the form of faith; which faith you exercise in
   virtue by the light of reason, which gives you life and causes you to
   walk in the path of truth, and, by its means, to arrive at Me, the True
   Light, for, without it, you would plunge into darkness.

   "It is necessary for you to have two lights derived from this primary
   light, and to these two I will also add a third. The first lightens you
   all to know the transitory nature of the things of the world, all of
   which pass like the wind. But this you cannot know thoroughly, unless
   you first recognize your own fragility, how strong is your inclination,
   through the law of perversity with which your members are bound, to
   rebel against Me, your Creator (not that by this law any man can be
   constrained to commit any, even the smallest sin, against his will, but
   that this law of perversity fights lustily against the spirit). I did
   not impose this law upon you, in order that My rational creature should
   be conquered by it, but in order that he should prove and increase the
   virtue of his soul, because virtue cannot be proved, except by its
   contrary. Sensuality is contrary to the spirit, and yet, by means of
   sensuality, the soul is able to prove the love which she has for Me,
   her Creator. How does she prove it? When, with anger and displeasure,
   she rises against herself. This law has also been imposed in order to
   preserve the soul in true humility. Wherefore you see that, while I
   created the soul to Mine own image and similitude, placing her in such
   dignity and beauty, I caused her to be accompanied by the vilest of all
   things, imposing on her the law of perversity, imprisoning her in a
   body, formed of the vilest substance of the earth, so that, seeing in
   what her true beauty consisted, she should not raise her head in pride
   against Me. Wherefore, to one who possesses this light, the fragility
   of his body is a cause of humiliation to the soul, and is in no way
   matter for pride, but rather for true and perfect humility. So that
   this law does not constrain you to any sin by its strivings, but
   supplies a reason to make you know yourselves and the instability of
   the world. This should be seen by the eye of the intellect, with light
   of the holy faith, of which I said to you that it was the pupil of the
   eye. This is that light which is necessary in general to every rational
   creature, whatever may be his condition, who wishes to participate in
   the life of grace, in the fruit of the Blood of the immaculate Lamb.
   This is the ordinary light, that is, the light which all persons must
   possess, as has been said, for, without it, the soul would be in a
   state of damnation. And, for this reason, because the soul, being
   without the light, is not in a state of grace, inasmuch as, not having
   the light, she does not know the evil of her sin or its cause, and
   therefore cannot avoid or hate it.

   "And similarly if the soul know not good, and the reason of good, that
   is to say virtue, she cannot love or desire either Me, who am the
   Essential Good, or virtue, which I have given you as an instrument and
   means for you to receive My grace, and Myself the True Good. See then
   how necessary is this light, for your sins consist in nothing else than
   in loving that which I hate, and in hating that which I love. I love
   virtue and hate vice; he who loves vice and hates virtue offends Me,
   and is deprived of My grace. Such a one walks as if blind, for he knows
   not the cause of vice, that is, his sensual self-love, nor does he hate
   himself on account of it; he is ignorant of vice and of the evil which
   follows it: he is ignorant of virtue and of Me, who am the cause of his
   obtaining life-giving virtue; he is ignorant of his own dignity, which
   he should maintain by advancing to grace, by means of virtue. See,
   therefore, how his ignorance is the cause of all his evil, and how you
   also need this light, as has been said."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of those who have placed their desire rather in the mortification of the
      body than in the destruction of their own will; and of the second light,
      more perfect than the former general one.

   "When the soul has arrived at the attainment of the general light, of
   which I have spoken, she should not remain contented, because, as long
   as you are pilgrims in this life, you are capable of growth, and he who
   does not go forward, by that very fact, is turning back. She should
   either grow in the general light, which she has acquired through My
   Grace, or anxiously strive to attain to the second and perfect light,
   leaving the imperfect and reaching the perfect. For, if the soul truly
   have light, she will wish to arrive at perfection. In this second
   perfect light are to be found two kinds of perfection; for they may be
   called perfect who have abandoned the general way of living of the
   world. One perfection is that of those who give themselves up wholly to
   the castigation of the body, doing great and severe penance. These, in
   order that their sensuality may not rebel against their reason, have
   placed their desire rather in the mortification of the body than in the
   destruction of their self-will, as I have explained to you in another
   place. These feed their souls at the table of penance, and are good and
   perfect, if their penance be illuminated by discretion, and founded on
   Me, if, that is to say, they act with true knowledge of themselves and
   of Me, with great humility, and wholly conformed to the judgment of My
   Will, and not to that of the will of man. But, if they were not thus
   clothed with My Will, in true humility, they would often offend against
   their own perfection, esteeming themselves the judges of those who do
   not walk in the same path. Do you know why this would happen to them?
   Because they have placed all their labor and desire in the
   mortification of the body, rather than in the destruction of their own
   will. Such as these wish always to choose their own times, and places,
   and consolations, after their own fashion, and also the persecutions of
   the world and of the Devil, as I have narrated to you in speaking of
   the second state of perfection.

   "They say, cheating themselves with the delusion of their own
   self-will, which I have already called their spiritual self-will, I
   wish to have that consolation, and not these battles, or these
   temptations of the Devil, not, indeed, for my own pleasure, but in
   order to please God the more, and in order to retain Him the more in my
   soul through grace; because it seems to me that I should possess Him
   more, and serve Him better in that way than in this.' And this is the
   way the soul often fails into trouble, and becomes tedious and
   insupportable to herself; thus injuring her own perfection; yet she
   does not perceive it, nor that, within her, lurks the stench of pride,
   and there she lies. Now, if the soul were not in this condition, but
   were truly humble and not presumptuous, she would be illuminated to see
   that I, the Primary and Sweet Truth, grant condition, and time, and
   place, and consolations, and tribulations as they may be needed for
   your salvation, and to complete the perfection to which I have elected
   the soul. And she would see that I give everything through love, and
   that therefore, with love and reverence, should she receive everything,
   which is what the souls in the second state do, and, by doing so,
   arrive at the third state. Of whom I will now speak to you, explaining
   to you the nature of these two states which stand in the most perfect
   light."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the third and most perfect state, and of reason, and of the works done
      by the soul who has arrived at this light. And of a beautiful vision which
      this devout soul once received, in which the method of arriving at perfect
      purity is fully treated, and the means to avoid judging our neighbor is
      spoken of.

   "Those who belong to the third state, which immediately follows the
   last, having arrived at this glorious light, are perfect in every
   condition in which they may be, and receive every event which I permit
   to happen to them with due reverence, as I have mentioned to you when
   speaking of the third and unitive state of the soul. These deem
   themselves worthy of the troubles and stumbling-blocks caused them by
   the world, and of the privation of their own consolation, and indeed of
   whatever circumstance happens to them. And inasmuch as they deem
   themselves worthy of trouble, so also do they deem themselves unworthy
   of the fruit which they receive after their trouble. They have known
   and tasted in the light My Eternal Will, which wishes naught else but
   your good, and gives and permits these troubles in order that you
   should be sanctified in Me. Wherefore the soul having known My Will,
   clothes herself with it, and fixes her attention on nothing else except
   seeing in what way she can preserve and increase her perfection to the
   glory and praise of My Name, opening the eye of her intellect and
   fixing it in the light of faith upon Christ crucified, My only-begotten
   Son, loving and following His doctrine, which is the rule of the road
   for perfect and imperfect alike. And see, how My Truth, the Lamb, who
   became enamored of her when He saw her, gives the soul the doctrine of
   perfection. She knows what this perfection is, having seen it practiced
   by the sweet and amorous Word, My only-begotten Son, who was fed at the
   table of holy desire, seeking the honor of Me, the Eternal Father, and
   your salvation. And, inflamed with this desire, He ran, with great
   eagerness, to the shameful death of the Cross, and accomplished the
   obedience which was imposed on Him by Me, His Father, not shunning
   labors or insults or withdrawing on account of your ingratitude or
   ignorance of so great a benefit, or because of the persecutions of the
   Jews, or on account of the insults, derision, grumbling, and shouting
   of the people. But all this He passed through like the true Captain and
   Knight that He was, whom I had placed on the battle-field to deliver
   you from the hands of the Devil, so that you might be free, and drawn
   out of the most terrible slavery in which you could ever be, and also
   to teach you His road, His doctrine, and His rule, so that you might
   open the Door of Me, Eternal Life, with the key of His precious Blood,
   shed with such fire of love, with such hatred of your sins. It was as
   if the sweet and amorous Word, My Son, should have said to you: Behold,
   I have made the road, and opened the door with My Blood.' Do not you
   then be negligent to follow, laying yourselves down to rest in
   self-love and ignorance of the road, presuming to choose to serve Me in
   your own way, instead of in the way which I have made straight for you
   by means of My Truth, the Incarnate Word, and built up with His Blood.
   Rise up then, promptly, and follow Him, for no one can reach Me, the
   Father, if not by Him; He is the Way and the Door by which you must
   enter into Me, the Sea Pacific.

   "When therefore the soul has arrived at seeing, knowing, and tasting,
   in its full sweetness, this light, she runs, as one enamored and
   inflamed with love, to the table of holy desire; she does not see
   herself in herself, seeking her own consolation either spiritual or
   temporal, but, like one who has placed his all in this light and
   knowledge, and has destroyed his own will, she shuns no labor from
   whatever source it comes, but rather enduring the troubles, the
   insults, the temptations of the Devil, and the murmurings of men, eats
   at the table of the most holy Cross, the food of the honor of Me, the
   Eternal God, and of the salvation of souls; seeking no reward, either
   from Me or from creatures, because she is stripped of mercenary love,
   that is of love for Me based on interested motives, and is clothed in
   perfect light, loving Me in perfect purity, with no other regard than
   for the praise and glory of My Name, serving neither Me for her own
   delight, nor her neighbor for her own profit, but purely through love
   alone. Such as these have lost themselves, and have stripped themselves
   of the Old Man, that is of their own sensuality, and, having clothed
   themselves with the New Man, the sweet Christ Jesus, My Truth, follow
   Him manfully. These are they who sit at the table of holy desire,
   having been more anxious to slay their own will than to slay and
   mortify their own body. They have indeed mortified their body, though
   not as an end in itself, but as a means which helps them to stay their
   own will, as I said to you when explaining that sentence that I wished
   few words and many deeds, and so ought you to do. Their principal
   desire should be to slay their own will, so that it may not seek or
   wish anything else than to follow My sweet Truth, Christ crucified,
   seeking the honor and glory of My Name and the salvation of souls.
   Those who are in this sweet light know it, and remain constantly in
   peace and quiet, and no one scandalizes them, for they have cut away
   that thing by which stumbling-blocks are caused, namely their own will.
   And all the persecutions, with which the world and the Devil can attack
   them, slide under their feet, standing, as they do, in the waters of
   many tribulations and temptations, and do not hurt them, for they
   remain attached to Me by the umbilical cord of fiery desire. Such a man
   rejoices in everything, nor does he make himself judge of My servants,
   or of any rational creature, but rejoices in every condition and in
   every manner of holiness which he sees, saying: Thanks be to You,
   Eternal Father, who have in Your House many mansions.' And he rejoices
   more in the different ways of holiness which he sees, than if he were
   to see all traveling by one road, because, in this way, he perceives
   the greatness of My Goodness become more manifest, and thus, rejoicing,
   draws from all the fragrance of the rose. And not only in the case of
   good, but even when he sees something evidently sinful, he does not
   fall into judgment, but rather into true and holy compassion,
   interceding with Me for sinners and saying, with perfect humility:
   To-day it is your turn, and tomorrow it will be mine unless the Divine
   Grace preserve me.'

   "Enamor yourself, dearest daughter, of this sweet and excellent state,
   and gaze at those who run in this glorious light and holiness, for they
   have holy minds, and eat at the table of holy desire, and, with the
   light, have arrived at feeding on the food of souls, that is, the honor
   of Me, the Eternal Father, being clothed with burning love in the sweet
   garment of My Lamb, My only-begotten Son, namely His doctrine. These do
   not lose their time in passing false judgments, either on My servants
   or the servants of the world, and they are never scandalized by any
   murmurings of men, either for their own sake or that of others. That is
   to say, in their own case they are content to endure anything for My
   Name's sake; and when an injury is done to some one else, they endure
   it with compassion of this injured neighbor, and without murmuring
   against him who caused the injury, or him who received it, because
   their love is not disordinate, but has been ordered in Me, the Eternal
   God.

   "And, since their love is so ordered, these souls, my dearest daughter,
   never take offense from those they love, nor from any rational
   creature, their will being dead and not alive, wherefore they never
   assume the right to judge the will of men, but only the will of My
   Clemency. These observe the doctrine which, as you know, was given you
   by My Truth at the beginning of your life, when you were thinking in
   what way you could arrive at perfect purity, and were praying to Me
   with a great desire of doing so. You know what was replied to you,
   while you were asleep, concerning this holy desire, and that the words
   resounded not only in your mind, but also in your ear. So much so,
   that, if you remember truly, you returned to your waking body, when My
   Truth said, Will you arrive at perfect purity, and be freed from
   stumbling-blocks, so that your mind may not be scandalized by
   anything?' Unite yourself always to Me by the affection of love, for I
   am the Supreme and Eternal Purity. I am that Fire which purifies the
   soul, and the closer the soul is to Me, the purer she becomes, and the
   further she is from Me, the more does her purity leave her; which is
   the reason why men of the world fall into such iniquities, for they are
   separated from Me, while the soul, who, without any medium, unites
   herself directly to Me, participates in My Purity. Another thing is
   necessary for you to arrive at this union and purity, namely, that you
   should never judge the will of man in anything that you may see done or
   said by any creature whatsoever, either to yourself or to others. My
   will alone should you consider, both in them and in yourself. And, if
   you should see evident sins or defects, draw out of those thorns the
   rose, that is to say, offer them to Me, with holy compassion. In the
   case of injuries done to yourself, judge that My will permits this in
   order to prove virtue in yourself, and in My other servants, esteeming
   that he who acts thus does so as the instrument of My will; perceiving,
   moreover, that such apparent sinners may frequently have a good
   intention, for no one can judge the secrets of the heart of man. That
   which you do not see you should not judge in your mind, even though it
   may externally be open mortal sin, seeing nothing in others, but My
   will, not in order to judge, but, as has been said, with holy
   compassion. In this way you will arrive at perfect purity, because
   acting thus, your mind will not be scandalized, either in Me or in your
   neighbor. Otherwise you fall into contempt of your neighbor, if you
   judge his evil will towards you, instead of My will acting in him. Such
   contempt and scandal separates the soul from Me, and prevents
   perfection, and, in some cases, deprives a man of grace, more or less
   according to the gravity of his contempt, and the hatred which his
   judgment has conceived against his neighbor.

   "A different reward is received by the soul who perceives only My will,
   which, as has been said, wishes nothing else but your good; so that
   everything which I give or permit to happen to you, I give so that you
   may arrive at the end for which I created you. And because the soul
   remains always in the love of her neighbor, she remains always in Mine,
   and thus remains united to Me. Wherefore, in order to arrive at purity,
   you must entreat Me to do three things: to grant you to be united to Me
   by the affection of love, retaining in your memory the benefits you
   have received from Me; and with the eye of your intellect to see the
   affection of My love, with which I love you inestimably; and in the
   will of others to discern My will only, and not their evil will, for I
   am their Judge, not you, and, in doing this, you will arrive at all
   perfection.

   "This was the doctrine given to you by My Truth, if you remember well.
   Now I tell you, dearest daughter, that such as these, who have learnt
   this doctrine, taste the earnest of eternal life in this life; and, if
   you have well retained this doctrine, you will not fall into the snares
   of the Devil, because you will recognize them in the case about which
   you have asked Me.

   "But, nevertheless, in order to satisfy your desire more clearly, I
   will tell you and show you how men should never discern by judgment,
   but with holy compassion."
     __________________________________________________________________

      In what way they, who stand in the above-mentioned third most perfect
      light, receive the earnest of eternal lift in this life.

   "Why did I say to you that they received the earnest of eternal life? I
   say that they receive the earnest-money, but not the full payment,
   because they wait to receive it in Me, the Eternal Life, where they
   have life without death, and satiety without disgust, and hunger
   without pain, for from that divine hunger pain is far away, and though
   they have what they desire, disgust is far from satiety, for I am the
   flawless Food of Life. It is true that, in this life, they receive the
   earnest, and taste it in this way, namely that the soul begins to
   hunger for the honor of the Eternal God, and for the food of the
   salvation of other souls, and being hungry, she eats, that is to say,
   nourishes herself with love of her neighbor, which causes her hunger
   and desire, for the love of the neighbor is a food which never satiates
   him who feeds on it, the eater being insatiable and always remains
   hungry. So this earnest-money is a commencement of a guarantee which is
   given to man, in virtue of which he expects one day to receive his
   payment, not through the perfection of the earnest-money in itself, but
   through faith, through the certitude which he has of reaching the
   completion of his being and receiving his payment. Wherefore this
   enamored soul, clothed in My Truth, having already received in this
   life the earnest of My love, and of her neighbor's, is not yet perfect,
   but expects perfection in immortal life. I say that this earnest is not
   perfect, because the soul who tastes it has not, as yet, the perfection
   which would prevent her feeling pain in herself, or in others. In
   herself, through the offense done to Me by the law of perversity which
   is bound in her members and struggles against the spirit, and in others
   by the offense of her neighbor. She has indeed, in a sense, a perfect
   grace, but not that perfection of My saints, who have arrived at Me,
   Eternal Life, for, as has been said, their desires are without
   suffering, and yours are not. These servants of Mine, as I have said to
   you in another place, who nourish themselves at this table of holy
   desire, are blessed and full of grief, even as My only-begotten Son
   was, on the wood of the holy Cross, because, while His flesh was in
   grief and torment, His soul was blessed through its union with the
   divine nature. In like manner these are blessed by the union of their
   holy desire towards Me, clothed, as has been said, in My sweet Will,
   and they are full of grief through compassion for their neighbor, and
   because they afflict their own self-love, depriving it of sensual
   delights and consolations."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this soul, rendering thanks to God, humiliates herself; then she prays
      for the whole world and particularly for the mystical body of the holy
      Church, and for her spiritual children, and for the two fathers of her
      soul; and, after these things, she asks to hear something about the
      defects of the ministers of the holy Church.

   Then that soul, as if, in truth, inebriated, seemed beside herself, as
   if the feelings of the body were alienated through the union of love
   which she had made with her Creator, and as if, in elevation of mind,
   she had gazed into the eternal truth with the eye of her intellect,
   and, having recognized the truth, had become enamored of it, and said,
   "Oh! Supreme and Eternal Goodness of God, who am I, miserable one, that
   You, Supreme and Eternal Father, have manifested to me Your Truth, and
   the hidden deceits of the Devil, and the deceitfulness of personal
   feeling, so that I, and others in this life of pilgrimage, may know how
   to avoid being deceived by the Devil or ourselves! What moved you to do
   it? Love, because You loved me, without my having loved You. Oh, Fire
   of Love! Thanks, thanks be to You, Eternal Father! I am imperfect and
   full of darkness, and You, Perfection and Light, have shown to me
   perfection, and the resplendent way of the doctrine of Your
   only-begotten Son. I was dead, and You have brought me to life. I was
   sick, and You have given me medicine, and not only the medicine of the
   Blood which You gave for the diseased human race in the person of Your
   Son, but also a medicine against a secret infirmity that I knew not of,
   in this precept that, in no way, can I judge any rational creature, and
   particularly Your servants, upon whom oftentimes I, as one blind and
   sick with this infirmity, passed judgment under the pretext of Your
   honor and the salvation of souls. Wherefore, I thank You, Supreme and
   Eternal Good, that, in the manifesting of Your truth and the
   deceitfulness of the Devil, and our own passions, You have made me know
   my infirmity. Wherefore I beseech You, through grace and mercy, that,
   from today henceforward, I may never again wander from the path of Your
   doctrine, given by Your goodness to me and to whoever wishes to follow
   it, because without You is nothing done. To You, then, Eternal Father,
   do I have recourse and flee, and I do not beseech You for myself alone,
   Father, but for the whole world, and particularly for the mystical body
   of the holy Church, that this truth given to me, miserable one, by You,
   Eternal Truth, may shine in Your ministers; and also I beseech You
   especially for all those whom You have given me, and whom You have made
   one thing with me, and whom I love with a particular love, because they
   will be my refreshment to the glory and praise of Your Name, when I see
   them running on this sweet and straight road, pure, and dead to their
   own will and opinion, and without any passing judgment on their
   neighbor, or causing him any scandal or murmuring. And I pray You,
   Sweetest Love, that not one of them may be taken from me by the hand of
   the infernal Devil, so that at last they may arrive at You, their End,
   Eternal Father.

   "Also I make another petition to You for my two fathers, the supports
   whom You have placed on the earth to guard and instruct me, miserable
   infirm one, from the beginning of my conversion until now, that You
   unite them, and of two bodies make one soul, and that they attend to
   nothing else than to complete in themselves, and in the mysteries that
   You have placed in their hands, the glory and praise of Your Name, and
   the salvation of souls, and that I, an unworthy and miserable slave,
   and no daughter, may behave to them with due reverence and holy fear,
   for love of You, in a way that will be to Your honor, and their peace
   and quiet, and to the edification of the neighbor. I now know for
   certain, Eternal Truth, that You will not despise the desire of the
   petitions that I have made to You, because I know, from seeing what it
   has pleased You to manifest, and still more from proof, that You are
   the Acceptor of holy desires. I, Your unworthy servant, will strive,
   according as You will give me grace, to observe Your commandments and
   Your doctrine. Now, O Eternal Father, I remember a word which you said
   to me in speaking of the ministers of the holy Church, to the effect
   that You would speak to me more distinctly, in some other place, of the
   sins which they commit today; wherefore if it should please Your
   goodness to tell me anything of this matter, I will gladly hear it, so
   as to have material for increasing my grief, compassion, and anxious
   desire for their salvation; for I remember that You said, that, on
   account of the endurance and tears, the grief, and sweat and prayers of
   Your servants, You would reform the holy Church, and comfort her with
   good and holy pastors. I ask You this in order that these sentiments
   may increase in me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How God renders this soul attentive to prayer, replying to one of the
      above-mentioned petitions.

   Then the Eternal God, turning the eye of His mercy upon this soul, not
   despising her desire, but granting her requests, proceeded to satisfy
   the last petition, which she had made concerning His promise, saying,
   "Oh! best beloved and dearest daughter, I will fulfill your desire in
   this request, in order that, on your side, you may not sin through
   ignorance or negligence; for a fault of yours would be more serious and
   worthy of graver reproof now than before, because you have learnt more
   of My truth; wherefore apply yourself attentively to pray for all
   rational creatures, for the mystical body of the holy Church, and for
   those friends whom I have given you, whom you love with particular
   love, and be careful not to be negligent in giving them the benefit of
   your prayers, and the example of your life, and the teaching of your
   words, reproving vice and encouraging virtue according to your power.

   "Concerning the supports which I have given you, of whom you spoke to
   Me, know that you are, in truth, a means by which they may each
   receive, according to their needs and fitness. And as I, your Creator,
   grant you the opportunity, for without Me you can do nothing, I will
   fulfill your desires, but do not you fail, or they either, in your hope
   in Me. My Providence will never fail you, and every man, if he be
   humble, shall receive that which he is fit to receive; and every
   minister, that which I have given him to administer, each in his own
   way, according to what he has received and will receive from My
   goodness."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the dignity of the priest; and of the Sacrament of the Body of Christ;
      and of worthy and unworthy communicants.

   "Now I will reply to that which you asked Me concerning the ministers
   of the holy Church, and, in order that you may the better understand
   the truth, open the eye of your intellect, and look at their excellence
   and the dignity in which I have placed them. And, since one thing is
   better known by means of contrast with its contrary, I will show you
   the dignity of those who use virtuously the treasure I have placed in
   their hands; and, in this way, you will the better see the misery of
   those who today are suckled at the breast of My Spouse." Then this soul
   obediently contemplated the truth, in which she saw virtue resplendent
   in those who truly taste it. Then said the Eternal God: "I will first,
   dearest daughter, speak to you of the dignity of priests, having placed
   them where they are through My Goodness, over and above the general
   love which I have had to My creatures, creating you in My image and
   similitude and re-creating you all to the life of grace in the Blood of
   My only-begotten Son, whence you have arrived at such excellence,
   through the union which I made of My Deity with human nature; so that
   in this you have greater dignity and excellence than the angels, for I
   took your human nature and not that of the angels. Wherefore, as I have
   said to you, I, God, have become man, and man has become God by the
   union of My Divine Nature with your human nature. This greatness is
   given in general to all rational creatures, but, among these I have
   especially chosen My ministers for the sake of your salvation, so that,
   through them, the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb, My
   only-begotten Son, may be administered to you. To them have I given the
   Sun to administer, giving them the light of science and the heat of
   Divine Love, united together in the color of the Body and Blood of My
   Son, whose Body is a Sun, because He is one thing with Me, the True
   Sun, in such a way that He cannot be separated or divided from Me, as
   in the case of the natural sun, in which heat and light cannot be
   separated, so perfect is their union; for, the sun, never leaving its
   orbit, lights the whole world and warms whoever wishes to be warmed by
   it, and is not defiled by any impurity on which it shines, for its
   light and heat and color are united.

   "So this Word, My Son, with His most sweet Blood, is one Sun, all God
   and all man, because He is one thing with Me and I with Him. My power
   is not separated from His wisdom, nor the fiery heat of the Holy Spirit
   from Me, the Father, or from Him, the Son; for He is one thing with us,
   the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, and We together
   forming one and the same Sun; that is to say, I, the Eternal God, am
   that Sun whence have proceeded the Son and the Holy Spirit. To the Holy
   Spirit is attributed fire and to the Son wisdom, by which wisdom My
   ministers receive the light of grace, so that they may administer this
   light to others, with gratitude for the benefits received from Me, the
   Eternal Father, following the doctrine of the Eternal Wisdom, My
   only-begotten Son. This is that Light, which has the color of your
   humanity, color and light being closely united. Thus was the light of
   My Divinity united to the color of your humanity, which color shone
   brightly when it became perfect through its union with the Divine
   nature, and, by this means of the Incarnate Word mixed with the Light
   of My Divine nature and the fiery heat of the Holy Spirit, have you
   received the Light. Whom have I entrusted with its administration?

   "My ministers in the mystical body of the holy Church, so that you may
   have life, receiving His Body in food and His Blood in drink. I have
   said to you that this Body is, as it were, a Sun. Wherefore, you cannot
   receive the Body without the Blood, or the Blood or the Body without
   the Soul of the Incarnate Word; nor the Soul, nor the Body, without the
   Divinity of Me, the Eternal God, because none of these can be separated
   from each other, as I said to you in another place that the Divine
   nature never left the human nature, either by death or from any other
   cause. So that you receive the whole Divine Essence in that most Sweet
   Sacrament concealed under the whiteness of the bread; for as the sun
   cannot be divided into light, heat, and color, the whole of God and the
   whole of man cannot be separated under the white mantle of the host;
   for even if the host should be divided into a million particles (if it
   were possible) in each particle should I be present, whole God and
   whole Man. When you break a mirror the reflection to be seen in it is
   not broken; similarly, when the host is divided God and man are not
   divided, but remain in each particle. Nor is the Sacrament diminished
   in itself, except as far as may be in the following example.

   "If you have a light, and the whole world should come to you in order
   to take light from it--the light itself does not diminish--and yet each
   person has it all. It is true that everyone participates more or less
   in this light, according to the substance into which each one receives
   the fire. I will develop this metaphor further that you may the better
   understand Me. Suppose that there are many who bring their candles, one
   weighing an ounce, others two or six ounces, or a pound, or even more,
   and light them in the flame, in each candle, whether large or small, is
   the whole light, that is to say, the heat, the color, and the flame;
   nevertheless you would judge that he whose candle weighs an ounce has
   less of the light than he whose candle weighs a pound. Now the same
   thing happens to those who receive this Sacrament. Each one carries his
   own candle, that is the holy desire, with which he receives this
   Sacrament, which of itself is without light, and lights it by receiving
   this Sacrament. I say without light, because of yourselves you can do
   nothing, though I have given you the material, with which you can
   receive this light and feed it. The material is love, for through love
   I created you, and without love you cannot live.

   "Your being, given to you through love, has received the right
   disposition in holy baptism, which you receive in virtue of the Blood
   of the Word, for, in no other way, could you participate in this light;
   you would be like a candle with no wick inside it, which cannot burn or
   receive light, if you have not received in your souls the wick which
   catches this Divine Flame, that is to say, the Holy Faith, which you
   receive, by grace, in baptism, united with the disposition of your soul
   created by Me, so fitted for love, that, without love, which is her
   very food, she cannot live. Where does the soul united in this way
   obtain light? At the fire of My Divine love, loving and fearing Me, and
   following the Doctrine of My Truth. It is true that the soul becomes
   more or less lighted according to the material which it brings to the
   fire; for although you all have one and the same material, in that you
   are all created to My image and similitude, and, being Christians,
   possess the light of holy baptism, each of you may grow in love and
   virtue by the help of My grace, as may please you. Not that you change
   the form of what I have given you, but that you increase your strength
   in love, and your free-will, by using it while you have time, for when
   time is past you can no longer do so. So that you can increase in love,
   as has been said, coming with love to receive this Sweet and Glorious
   Light, which I have given you as Food for your service, through My
   ministers, and you receive this Light according to the love and fiery
   desire with which you approach It.

   "The Light Itself you receive entire, as I have said (in the example of
   those, who in spite of the difference in weight of their candles, all
   receive the entire light), and not divided, because It cannot be
   divided, as has been said, either on account of any imperfection of
   yours who receive, or of the minister; but you personally participate
   in this light, that is in the grace which you receive in this
   Sacrament, according to the holy desire with which you dispose
   yourselves to receive it. He who should go to this sweet Sacrament in
   the guilt of mortal sin, will receive no grace therefrom, though he
   actually receive the whole of God and the whole of Man. Do you know the
   condition of the soul who receives unworthily? She is like a candle on
   which water has fallen, which can do nothing but crackle when brought
   near the flame, for no sooner has the fire touched it, than it is
   extinguished, and nothing remains but smoke; so this soul has cast the
   water of guilt within her mind upon the candle which she received in
   holy baptism, which has drenched the wick of the grace of baptism, and,
   not having heated it at the fire of true contrition and confession,
   goes to the table of the altar to receive this Light with her body, and
   not with her mind, wherefore the Light, since the soul is not disposed
   as she should be for so great a mystery, does not remain by grace in
   that soul, but leaves her, and, in the soul, remains only greater
   confusion, for her light is extinguished and her sin increased by her
   darkness. Of the Sacrament she feels nothing but the crackling of a
   remorseful conscience, not through the defect of the Light Itself, for
   that can receive no hurt, but on account of the water that was in the
   soul, which impeded her proper disposition so that she could not
   receive the Light. See, therefore, that in no way can this Light,
   united with its heat and its color, be divided, either by the scanty
   desire of the soul when she receives the Sacrament, or by any defect
   which may be in the soul, or by any defect of him who administers it,
   as I told you of the sun which is not defiled by shining on anything
   foul, so the sweet Light of this Sacrament cannot be defiled, divided,
   or diminished in any way, nor can it be detached from its orbit.

   "If all the world should receive in communion the Light and Heat of
   this Sun, the Word, My only-begotten Son, would not be separated from
   Me--the True Sun, His Eternal Father--because in His mystical Body, the
   holy Church, He is administered to whoever will receive Him. He remains
   wholly with Me, and yet you have Him, whole God and whole man, as I
   told you, in the metaphor of the light, that, if all the world came to
   take light from it, each would have it entire, and yet it would remain
   whole."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the bodily sentiments are all deceived in the aforesaid Sacrament, but
      not those of the soul; therefore it is, with the latter, that one must
      see, taste, and touch It; and of a beautiful vision this soul had upon
      this subject.

   "Oh, dearest daughter, open well the eye of your intellect and gaze
   into the abyss of My love, for there is no rational creature whose
   heart would not melt for love in contemplating and considering, among
   the other benefits she receives from Me, the special Gift that she
   receives in the Sacrament.

   "And with what eye, dearest daughter, should you and others look at
   this mystery, and how should you touch it? Not only with the bodily
   sight and touch, because in this Sacrament all bodily perceptions fail.

   "The eye can only see, and the hand can only touch, the white substance
   of the bread, and the taste can only taste the savor of the bread, so
   that the grosser bodily sentiments are deceived; but the soul cannot be
   deceived in her sentiments unless she wish to be--that is, unless she
   let the light of the most holy faith be taken away from her by
   infidelity.

   "How is this Sacrament to be truly tasted, seen, and touched? With the
   sentiment of the soul. With what eye is It to be seen? With the eye of
   the intellect if within it is the pupil of the most holy faith. This
   eye sees in that whiteness whole God and whole man, the Divine nature
   united with the human nature, the Body, the Soul, and the Blood of
   Christ, the Soul united to the Body, the Body and the Soul united with
   My Divine nature, not detached from Me, as I revealed to you, if you
   remember well, almost in the beginning of your life; and not so much at
   first through the eye of your intellect as through your bodily eye,
   although the light being so great your bodily eyes lost their vision,
   and only the sight of the eye of your intellect remained. I showed it
   to you for your enlightenment in the battle that the Devil had been
   waging against you in this Sacrament; and to make you increase in love
   in the light of the most holy faith.

   "You know that you went one morning to church at sunrise to hear Mass,
   having beforehand been tormented by the Devil, and you placed yourself
   upright at the Altar of the Crucifix, while the priest went to the
   Altar of Mary; you stood there to consider your sin, fearing to have
   offended Me through the vexation which the Devil had been causing you,
   and to consider My love, which had made you worthy to hear Mass, seeing
   that you deemed yourself unworthy to enter into My holy temple. When
   the minister came to consecrate, you raised your eyes above his head
   while he was saying the words of consecration, and I manifested Myself
   to you, and you saw issue from My breast a light, like a ray from the
   sun, which proceeds from the circle of the sun without being separated
   from it, out of the midst of which light came a dove and hovered over
   the host, in virtue of the words which the minister was saying. But
   sight remained alone in the eye of your intellect, because your bodily
   sight was not strong enough to stand the light, and in that place you
   saw and tasted the Abyss of the Trinity, whole God and whole man
   concealed and veiled in that whiteness that you saw in the bread; and
   you perceived that the seeing of the Light and the presence of the
   Word, which you saw intellectually in the whiteness of the bread, did
   not prevent you seeing at the same time the actual whiteness of the
   bread, the one vision did not prevent the other vision, that is to say,
   the sight of the God-Man revealed in the bread did not prevent the
   sight of the bread, for neither its whiteness, nor its touch, nor its
   savor were taken away. This was shown you by My goodness, as I have
   said to you. The eye of the intellect had the true vision, using the
   pupil of the holy faith, for this eye should be your principal means of
   vision, inasmuch as it cannot be deceived; wherefore, with it you
   should look on this Sacrament. How do you touch It? By the hand of
   love. With this hand alone can you touch that which the eye of the
   intellect has recognized in this Sacrament. The soul touches Me with
   the hand of love, as if to certify to herself that which she has seen
   and known through faith. How do you taste It? With the palate of holy
   desire. The corporal palate tastes only the savor of the bread; but the
   palate of the soul, which is holy desire, tastes God and Man. See,
   therefore, that the perceptions of the body are deluded, but not those
   of the soul, for she is illuminated and assured in her own perceptions,
   for she touches with the hand of love that which the eye of her
   intellect has seen with the pupil of holy faith; and with her
   palate--that is, with fiery desire--she tastes My Burning Charity, My
   Ineffable Love, with which I have made her worthy to receive the
   tremendous mystery of this Sacrament and the Grace which is contained
   therein. See, therefore, that you should receive and look on this
   Sacrament, not only with bodily perceptions, but rather with your
   spiritual perceptions, disposing your soul in the way that has been
   said, to receive, and taste, and see this Sacrament."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the excellent state of the soul who receives the sacrament in grace.

   "See, dearest daughter, in what an excellent state is the soul who
   receives, as she should, this Bread of Life, this Food of the Angels.
   By receiving this Sacrament she dwells in Me and I in her, as the fish
   in the sea, and the sea in the fish--thus do I dwell in the soul, and
   the soul in Me--the Sea Pacific. In that soul grace dwells, for, since
   she has received this Bread of Life in a state of grace, My grace
   remains in her, after the accidents of bread have been consumed. I
   leave you the imprint of grace, as does a seal, which, when lifted from
   the hot wax upon which it has been impressed, leaves behind its
   imprint, so the virtue of this Sacrament remains in the soul, that is
   to say, the heat of My Divine charity, and the clemency of the Holy
   Spirit. There also remains to you the wisdom of My only-begotten Son,
   by which the eye of your intellect has been illuminated to see and to
   know the doctrine of My Truth, and, together with this wisdom, you
   participate in My strength and power, which strengthen the soul against
   her sensual self-love, against the Devil, and against the world. You
   see then that the imprint remains, when the seal has been taken away,
   that is, when the material accidents of the bread, having been
   consumed, this True Sun has returned to Its Center, not that it was
   ever really separated from It, but constantly united to Me. The Abyss
   of My loving desire for your salvation has given you, through My
   dispensation and Divine Providence, coming to the help of your needs,
   the sweet Truth as Food in this life, where you are pilgrims and
   travelers, so that you may have refreshment, and not forget the benefit
   of the Blood. See then how straitly you are constrained and obliged to
   render Me love, because I love you so much, and, being the Supreme and
   Eternal Goodness, deserve your love."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the things which have been said about the excellence of this
      Sacrament, have been said that we might know better the dignity of
      priests; and how God demands in them greater purity than in other
      creatures.

   "I have told you all this, dearest daughter, that you may the better
   recognize the dignity to which I have called My ministers, so that your
   grief at their miseries may be more intense. If they themselves
   considered their own dignity they would not be in the darkness of
   mortal sin, or defile the face of their soul. They would not only see
   their offenses against Me, but also, that, if they gave their bodies to
   be burned, they would not repay the tremendous grace and favor which
   they have received, inasmuch as no greater dignity exists in this life.
   They are My anointed ones, and I call them My Christs, because I have
   given them the office of administering Me to you, and have placed them
   like fragrant flowers in the mystical body of the holy Church. The
   angel himself has no such dignity, for I have given it to those men
   whom I have chosen for My ministers, and whom I have appointed as
   earthly angels in this life. In all souls I demand purity and charity,
   that they should love Me and their neighbor, helping him by the
   ministration of prayer, as I said to you in another place. But far more
   do I demand purity in My ministers, and love towards Me, and towards
   their fellow-creatures, administering to them the Body and Blood of My
   only-begotten Son, with the fire of charity, and a hunger for the
   salvation of souls, for the glory and honor of My Name. Even as these
   ministers require cleanness in the chalice in which this Sacrifice is
   made, even so do I require the purity and cleanness of their heart and
   soul and mind. And I wish their body to be preserved, as the instrument
   of the soul in perfect charity; and I do not wish them to feed upon and
   wallow in the mire of filth, or to be inflated by pride, seeking great
   prelacies, or to be cruel to themselves or to their fellow-creatures,
   because they cannot use cruelty to themselves without being cruel to
   their fellow-creatures; for, if by sin they are cruel to themselves,
   they are cruel to the souls of their neighbors, in that they do not
   give them an example of life, nor care to draw them out of the hands of
   the Devil, nor to administer to them the Body and Blood of My
   only-begotten Son, and Me the True Light, as I told you, and the other
   Sacraments of the holy Church. So that, in being cruel to themselves,
   they are cruel to others."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the excellence, virtues, and holy works of virtuous and holy ministers;
      and how such are like the sun.

   "I will now speak to you, in order to give a little refreshment to your
   soul, and to mitigate your grief at the darkness of these miserable
   subjects, of the holy life of some of My ministers, of whom I have
   spoken to you, who are like the sun, for the odor of their virtues
   mitigates the stench of the vices of the others, and the light thereof
   shines in their darkness. And, by means of this light, will you the
   better be able to understand the darkness and sins of My unworthy
   ministers. Open then the eye of your intellect and gaze at the Sun of
   Justice, and you will see those glorious ministers, who, through
   ministering the Sun, have become like to It, as I told you of Peter,
   the prince of the Apostles, who received the keys of the kingdom of
   Heaven. I say the same of these others, who have administered, in the
   garden of the holy Church, the Light, that is to say, the Body and the
   Blood of My only-begotten Son, who is Himself the undivided Sun, as has
   been said, and all the Sacraments of the holy Church, which all give
   life in virtue of the Blood. Each one, placed in a different rank, has
   administered, according to his state, the grace of the Holy Spirit.
   With what have they administered it? With the light of grace, which
   they have drawn from this True Light. With light alone? No; because the
   light cannot be separated from the warmth and color of grace, wherefore
   a man must either have the light, warmth, and color of grace, or none
   at all. A man in mortal sin is deprived of the life of grace, and he
   who is in grace has illuminated the eye of his intellect to know Me,
   who gave him both grace and the virtue which preserves it, and, in that
   light, he knows the misery and the reason of sin, that is to say, his
   own self-love, on which account he hates it, and thereby receives the
   warmth of Divine love into his affection, which follows his intellect,
   and he receives the color of this glorious Light, following the
   doctrine of My sweet Truth, by which his memory is filled with the
   benefit of the Blood. You see, therefore, that no one can receive the
   light without receiving the warmth and the color, for they are united
   together and are one thing; wherefore he cannot, as I have said to you,
   have one power of his soul so ordered as to receive Me, the True Sun,
   unless all three powers of his soul are brought together and ordered in
   My Name. For, as soon as the eye of the intellect lifts itself with the
   pupil of faith above sensual vision in the contemplation of Me,
   affection follows it, loving that which the intellect sees and knows,
   and the memory is filled with that which the affection loves; and, as
   soon as these powers are thus disposed, the soul participates in Me,
   the Sun who illuminates her with My power, and with the wisdom of My
   only-begotten Son, and the fiery clemency of the Holy Spirit. See,
   then, that these have taken on them the condition of the Sun, for,
   having clothed themselves, and filled the power of their soul with Me,
   the true Sun, they become like Me. The Sun illuminates them and causes
   the earth of their souls to germinate with Its heat. Thus do My sweet
   ministers, elected and anointed and placed in the mystical body of the
   holy Church, in order to administer Me, the Sun, that is to say, the
   Body and Blood of My only-begotten Son, together with the other
   Sacraments, which draw their life from this Blood; this they do in two
   ways, actually, in administering the Sacraments, and spiritually, by
   shedding forth in the mystical body of the holy Church, the light of
   supernatural science, together with the color of an honorable and holy
   life, following the doctrine of My Truth, which they administer in the
   ardent love with which they cause barren souls to bear fruit,
   illuminating them with the light of their science, and driving away the
   darkness of their mortal sin and infidelity, by the example of their
   holy and regular life, and reforming the lives of those who live in
   disorder and darkness of sin, and in coldness, through the privation of
   charity. So you see that they are the Sun, because they have taken the
   condition of the Sun from Me, the True Sun, because, through affection
   of love, they are one thing with Me, and I with them, as I narrated to
   you in another place, and each one has given light in the holy Church,
   according to the position to which I have elected him: Peter with
   preaching and doctrine, and in the end with blood; Gregory with
   science, and holy scripture, and with the mirror of his life;
   Sylvester, against the infidels, and with disputation and proving of
   the most holy faith, which he made in word and in deed, receiving
   virtue from Me. If you turn to Augustine, and to the glorious Thomas
   and Jerome, and the others, you will see how much light they have
   thrown over this spouse, extirpating error, like lamps placed upon the
   candelabra, with true and perfect humility. And, as if famished for
   such food, they feed upon My honor, and the salvation of souls, upon
   the table of the most holy Cross. The martyrs, indeed, with blood,
   which blood cast up sweet perfume before My countenance; and, with the
   perfume of blood, and of the virtues, and with the light of science,
   they brought forth fruit in this spouse and extended the faith, and, by
   their means, the light of the most holy faith was rekindled in the
   darkened. And prelates, placed in the position of the prelacy of Christ
   on earth, offered Me the sacrifice of justice with holy and upright
   lives. The pearl of justice, with true humility, and most ardent love,
   shone in them, and in their subjects, with the light of discretion. In
   them, principally because they justly paid Me My due, in rendering
   glory and praise to My Name, and, to their own sensuality, hatred and
   displeasure, despising vice and embracing virtue, with love of Me and
   of their neighbor. With humility they trampled on pride, and, with
   purity of heart and of body, came, like angels, to the table of the
   altar, and, with sincerity of mind, celebrated, burning in the furnace
   of love. And, because they first had done justice to themselves, they
   therefore did justice to those under them, wishing to see them live
   virtuously, and correcting them without any servile fear, because they
   were not thinking of themselves, but solely of My honor and the
   salvation of souls, like good shepherds, followers of the Good
   Shepherd, My Truth, whom I gave you to lead your sheep, having willed
   that He should give His life for you. These have followed His
   footsteps, and therefore did they correct them, and did not let their
   members become putrid for want of correcting, but they charitably
   corrected them with the unction of benignity, and with the sharpness of
   fire, cauterizing the wound of sin with reproof and penance, little or
   much, according to the graveness of the fault. And, in order to correct
   it and to speak the truth, they did not even fear death. They were true
   gardeners who, with care and holy tears, took away the thorns of mortal
   sins, and planted plants odoriferous of virtue. Wherefore, those under
   them lived in holy, true fear, and grew up like sweet smelling flowers
   in the mystic body of the holy Church (because they were not deprived
   of correction, and so were not guilty of sin), for My gardeners
   corrected them without any servile fear, being free from it, and
   without any sin, for they balanced exactly the scales of holy justice,
   reproving humbly and without human respect. And this justice was and is
   that pearl which shines in them, and which gave peace and light in the
   minds of the people and caused holy fear to be with them, and unity of
   hearts. And I would that you know that, more darkness and division have
   come into the world amongst seculars and religious and the clergy and
   pastors of the holy Church, through the lack of the light of justice,
   and the advent of the darkness of injustice, than from any other
   causes.

   "Neither the civil law, nor the divine law, can be kept in any degree
   without holy justice, because he who is not corrected, and does not
   correct others, becomes like a limb which putrefies, and corrupts the
   whole body, because the bad physician, when it had already begun to
   corrupt, placed ointment immediately upon it, without having first
   burnt the wound. So, were the prelate, or any other lord having
   subjects, on seeing one putrefying from the corruption of mortal sin,
   to apply to him the ointment of soft words of encouragement alone,
   without reproof, he would never cure him, but the putrefaction would
   rather spread to the other members, who, with him, form one body under
   the same pastor. But if he were a physician, good and true to those
   souls, as were those glorious pastors of old, he would not give salving
   ointment without the fire of reproof. And, were the member still to
   remain obstinate in his evil doing, he would cut him off from the
   congregation in order that he corrupt not the other members with the
   putrefaction of mortal sin. But they act not so today, but, in cases of
   evil doing, they even pretend not to see. And do you know why? The root
   of self-love is alive in them, wherefore they bear perverted and
   servile fear. Because they fear to lose their position or their
   temporal goods, or their prelacy, they do not correct, but act like
   blind ones, in that they see not the real way by which their position
   is to be kept. If they would only see that it is by holy justice they
   would be able to maintain it; but they do not, because they are
   deprived of light. But, thinking to preserve their position with
   injustice, they do not reprove the faults of those under them; and they
   are deluded by their own sensitive self-love, or by their desire for
   lordship and prelacy, and they correct not the faults they should
   correct in others, because the same or greater ones are their own. They
   feel themselves comprehended in the guilt, and they therefore lose all
   ardor and security, and, fettered by servile fear, they make believe
   not to see. And, moreover, if they do see they do not correct, but
   allow themselves to be bound over with flattering words and with many
   presents, and they themselves find the excuse for the guilty ones not
   to be punished. In such as these are fulfilled the words spoken by My
   Truth, saying: 'These are blind and leaders of the blind, and if the
   blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch.' My sweet
   ministers, of whom I spoke to you, who have the properties and
   condition of the sun, did not, and do not (if there be any now) act so.
   And they are truly suns, as I have told you, because in them is no
   darkness of sin, or of ignorance, because they follow the doctrine of
   My Truth. They are not tepid, because they burn in the furnace of My
   love, and because they are despisers of the grandeurs, positions, and
   delights of the world. They fear not to correct, for he who does not
   desire lordship or prelacy will not fear to lose it, and will reprove
   manfully, and he whose conscience does not reprove him of guilt, does
   not fear.

   "And therefore this pearl of justice was not dimmed in My anointed
   ones, My Christs (of whom I have narrated to you), but was resplendent
   in them, wherefore they embraced voluntary poverty, and sought out
   vileness with profound humility, and cared not for scorn or villainies,
   or the detractions of men, or insult, or opprobrium, or pain, or
   torment.

   "They were cursed, and they blessed, and, with true patience, they bore
   themselves like terrestrial angels, not by nature, but by their
   ministry, and the supernatural grace given to them, of administering
   the Body and Blood of My only-begotten Son. And they are truly angels.
   Because, as the angel, which I give you to be your guardian, ministers
   to you holy and good inspirations, so were these ministers angels, and
   were given by My goodness to be guardians, and therefore had they their
   eye continually over those under them, like real guardian angels,
   inspiring in their hearts holy and good thoughts, and offering up for
   them before Me, sweet and amorous desires with continual prayer, and
   the doctrine of words, and with example of life. So you see that they
   are angels, placed by My burning love, like lanterns in the mystic body
   of the holy Church, to be your guardians, so that you blind ones may
   have guides to direct you into the way of truth, giving you good
   inspirations, with prayers and example of life, and doctrine as I said.
   With how much humility did they govern those under them, and converse
   with them! With how much hope and lively faith, and therefore with
   liberality, did they distribute to the poor the substance of the holy
   Church, not fearing, or caring if for them and their subjects temporal
   substance diminished. And they scarcely observed that which they were
   really bound to do, that is, to distribute the temporal substance to
   their own necessity being the poor in the Church. They saved nothing,
   and after their death there remained no money at all, and there were
   some even who, for the sake of the poor, left the Church in debt. This
   was because through the largeness of their charity, and of the hope
   that they had placed in My Providence, they were without servile fear
   that anything should diminish to them, either spiritual or temporal.

   "The sign that a creature hopes in Me and not in himself, is that he
   does not fear with a servile fear. They who hope in themselves are the
   ones who fear, and are afraid of their own shadow, and doubt lest the
   sky and earth fade away before them. With such fears as these, and a
   perverted hope in their own small knowledge, they spend so much
   miserable solicitude in acquiring and preserving temporal things, that
   they turn their back on the spiritual, caring not for them. But they,
   miserable, faithless, proud ones consider not that I alone am He who
   provides all things necessary for the soul and the body, and that with
   the same measure that My creatures hope in Me, will My providence be
   measured to them. The miserable presumptuous ones do not regard the
   fact that I am He who is, and they are they who are not, and that they
   have received their being, and every other additional grace, from My
   Goodness. And therefore his labor may be reputed to be in vain, who
   watches the city if it be not guarded by Me. All his labor will be
   vain, if he thinks by his labor or solicitude to keep it, because I
   alone keep it. It is true that I desire you to use your being, and
   exercise the graces which I have bestowed upon you, in virtue using the
   free-will which I have given you, with the light of reason, because
   though I created you without your help I will not save you without it.
   I loved you before you were, and those My beloved ones saw and knew
   this, and therefore they loved Me ineffably, and through their love
   hoped so greatly in Me that they feared nothing. Sylvester feared not
   when he stood before the Emperor Constantine disputing with those
   twelve Jews before the whole crowd, but with lively faith he believed
   that I being for him, no one could be against him; and in the same way
   the others all lost their every fear, because they were not alone but
   were accompanied, because being in the enjoyment of love, they were in
   Me, and from Me they acquired the light of the wisdom of My
   only-begotten Son, and from Me they received the faculty to be strong
   and powerful against the princes and tyrants of the world, and from Me
   they had the fire of the Holy Spirit, sharing the clemency and burning
   love of that Spirit.

   "This love was and is the companion of whosoever desires it, with the
   light of faith, with hope, with fortitude, true patience and long
   perseverance even until death. So you see that because they were not
   alone but were accompanied they feared nothing. He only who feels
   himself to be alone, and hopes in himself, deprived of the affection of
   love, fears, and is afraid of every little thing, because he alone is
   without Me who give supreme security to the soul who possesses Me
   through the affection of love. And of this did those glorious ones, My
   beloved, have full experience, for nothing could injure their souls;
   but they on the contrary could injure men and the devils, who
   oftentimes remained bound by the virtue and power that I had given My
   servants over them. This was because I responded to the love, faith,
   and hope they had placed in Me. Your tongue would not be sufficient to
   relate their virtues, neither the eye of your intellect to see the
   fruit which they receive in everlasting life, and that all will receive
   who follow in their footsteps. They are like precious stones, and as
   such do they stand in My presence, because I have received their labor
   and poverty and the light which they shed with the odor of virtues in
   the mystic body of the holy Church. And in the life eternal I have
   placed them in the greatest dignity, and they receive blessing and
   glory in My sight, because they gave the example of an honorable and
   holy life, and with light administered the Light of the Body and Blood
   of My only-begotten Son, and all the Sacraments. And these My anointed
   ones and ministers are peculiarly beloved by Me, on account of the
   dignity which I placed in them, and because this Treasure which I
   placed in their hands they did not hide through negligence and
   ignorance, but rather recognized it to be from Me, and exercised it
   with care and profound humility with true and real virtues; and because
   I, for the salvation of souls, having placed them in so much excellency
   they never rested like good shepherds from putting the sheep into the
   fold of the holy Church, and even out of love and hunger for souls they
   gave themselves to die, to get them out of the hands of the devil. They
   made themselves infirm with those who were infirm, so that they might
   not be overcome with despair, and to give them more courage in exposing
   their infirmity, they would oftentimes lend countenance to their
   infirmity and say, I, too, am infirm with you.' They wept with those
   who wept, and rejoiced with those who rejoiced; and thus sweetly they
   knew to give everyone his nourishment, preserving the good and
   rejoicing in their virtues, not being gnawed by envy, but expanded with
   the broadness of love for their neighbors, and those under them. They
   drew the imperfect ones out of imperfection, themselves becoming
   imperfect and infirm with them, as I told you, with true and holy
   compassion, and correcting them and giving them penance for the sins
   they committed--they through love endured their penance--together with
   them. For through love, they who gave the penance, bore more pain than
   they who received it; and there were even those who actually performed
   the penance, and especially when they had seen that it had appeared
   particularly difficult to the penitent. Wherefore by that act the
   difficulty became changed into sweetness.

   "Oh! My beloved ones, they made themselves subjects, being prelates,
   they made themselves servants, being lords, they made themselves
   infirm, being whole, and without infirmity and the leprosy of mortal
   sin, being strong they made themselves weak, with the foolish and
   simple they showed themselves simple, and with the small insignificant.
   And so with love they knew how to be all things to all men, and to give
   to each one his nourishment. What caused them to do thus? The hunger
   and desire for My honor and the salvation of souls which they had
   conceived in Me. They ran to feed on it at the table of the holy Cross,
   not fleeing from or refusing any labor, but with zeal for souls and for
   the good of the holy Church and the spread of the faith, they put
   themselves in the midst of the thorns of tribulation, and exposed
   themselves to every peril with true patience, offering incense
   odoriferous with anxious desires, and humble and continual prayers.
   With tears and sweat they anointed the wounds of their neighbor, that
   is the wounds of the guilt of mortal sin, which latter were perfectly
   cured, the ointment so made, being received in humility."
     __________________________________________________________________

      A brief repetition of the preceding chapter; and of the reverence which
      should be paid to priests, whether they are good or bad.

   "I have shown you, dearest daughter, a sample of the excellence of good
   priests (for what I have shown you is only a sample of what that
   excellence really is), and I have told you of the dignity in which I
   have placed them, having elected them for My ministers, on account of
   which dignity and authority I do not wish them to be punished by the
   hand of seculars on account of any personal defect, for those who
   punish them offend Me miserably. But I wish seculars to hold them in
   due reverence, not for their own sakes, as I have said, but for Mine,
   by reason of the authority which I have given them. Wherefore this
   reverence should never diminish in the case of priests whose virtue
   grows weak, any more than in the case of those virtuous ones of whose
   goodness I have spoken to you; for all alike have been appointed
   ministers of the Sun--that is of the Body and Blood of My Son, and of
   the other Sacraments.

   "This dignity belongs to good and bad alike--all have the Sun to
   administer, as has been said, and perfect priests are themselves in a
   condition of light, that is to say, they illuminate and warm their
   neighbors through their love. And with this heat they cause virtues to
   spring up and bear fruit in the souls of their subjects. I have
   appointed them to be in very truth your guardian angels to protect you;
   to inspire your hearts with good thoughts by their holy prayers, and to
   teach you My doctrine reflected in the mirror of their life, and to
   serve you by administering to you the holy Sacraments, thus serving
   you, watching over you, and inspiring you with good and holy thoughts
   as does an angel.

   "See, then, that besides the dignity to which I have appointed them,
   how worthy they are of being loved; when they also possess the
   adornment of virtue, as did those of whom I spoke to you, which are all
   bound and obliged to possess, and in what great reverence you should
   hold them, for they are My beloved children and shine each as a sun in
   the mystical body of the holy Church by their virtues, forevery
   virtuous man is worthy of love, and these all the more by reason of the
   ministry which I have placed in their hands. You should love them
   therefore by reason of the virtue and dignity of the Sacrament, and by
   reason of that very virtue and dignity you should hate the defects of
   those who live miserably in sin, but not on that account appoint
   yourselves their judges, which I forbid, because they are My Christs,
   and you ought to love and reverence the authority which I have given
   them. You know well that if a filthy and badly dressed person brought
   you a great treasure from which you obtained life, you would not hate
   the bearer, however ragged and filthy he might be, through love of the
   treasure and of the lord who sent it to you. His state would indeed
   displease you, and you would be anxious through love of his master that
   he should be cleansed from his foulness and properly clothed. This,
   then, is your duty according to the demands of charity, and thus I wish
   you to act with regard to such badly ordered priests, who themselves
   filthy and clothed in garments ragged with vice through their
   separation from My love, bring you great Treasures--that is to say, the
   Sacraments of the holy Church--from which you obtain the life of grace,
   receiving Them worthily (in spite of the great defects there may be in
   them) through love of Me, the Eternal God, who send them to you, and
   through love of that life of grace which you receive from the great
   treasure, by which they administer to you the whole of God and the
   whole of Man, that is to say, the Body and Blood of My Son united to My
   Divine nature. Their sins indeed should displease you, and you should
   hate them, and strive with love and holy prayer to re-clothe them,
   washing away their foulness with your tears--that is to say, that you
   should offer them before Me with tears and great desire, that I may
   re-clothe them in My goodness, with the garment of charity. Know well
   that I wish to do them grace, if only they will dispose themselves to
   receive it, and you to pray for it; for it is not according to My will
   that they should administer to you the Sun being themselves in
   darkness, not that they should be stripped of the garment of virtue,
   foully living in dishonor; on the contrary I have given them to you,
   and appointed them to be earthly angels and suns, as I have said. It
   not being My will that they should be in this state, you should pray
   for them, and not judge them, leaving their judgment to Me. And I,
   moved by your prayers, will do them mercy if they will only receive it,
   but if they do not correct their life, their dignity will be the cause
   of their ruin. For if they do not accept the breadth of My mercy, I,
   the Supreme Judge, shall terribly condemn them at their last extremity,
   and they will be sent to the eternal fire."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the difference between the death of a just man and that of a sinner,
      and first of the death of the just man.

   "Having told you how the world and the devils accuse these wretches,
   which is indeed the truth, I wish to speak to you in more detail on
   this point (so that you may have greater compassion on these poor
   wretches), telling you how different are the struggles of the soul of a
   just man to those of a sinner, and how different are their deaths, and
   how the peace of the just man's death is greater or less according to
   the perfection of his soul. For I wish you to know that all the
   sufferings which rational creatures endure depend on their will,
   because if their will were in accordance with mine they would endure no
   suffering, not that they would have no labors on that account, but
   because labors cause no suffering to a will which gladly endures them,
   seeing that they are ordained by My will. Such men as these wage war
   with the world, the Devil, and their own sensuality through holy hatred
   of themselves. Wherefore when they come to the point of death, they die
   peacefully, because they have vanquished their enemies during their
   life. The world cannot accuse such a man, because he saw through its
   deceptions and therefore renounced it with all its delights. His
   sensual fragility and his body do not accuse him, because he bound
   sensuality like a slave with the rein of reason, macerating his flesh
   with penance, with watchings, and humble and continual prayer. The will
   of his senses he slew with hatred and dislike of vice, and with love of
   virtue. He has entirely lost all tenderness for his body, which
   tenderness and love between the soul and the body makes death seem
   difficult, and on account of it man naturally fears death; but since
   the virtue of a just and perfect man transcends nature, extinguishing
   his natural fear and overcoming it with holy hatred of himself and
   desire of arriving at his last end, his natural tenderness cannot make
   war on him, and his conscience remains in peace; for during his life
   his conscience kept a good guard, warning him when enemies were coming
   to attack the city of his soul, like a watch-dog which stands at the
   door, and when it sees enemies warns the guards by its barking, for in
   this way the dog of conscience warns the sentry of reason, and the
   reason together with the free-will know by the light of the intellect
   whether the stranger be friend or enemy. To a friend, that is to say,
   to virtue and holy thoughts, he gave his delighted love, receiving and
   using these with great solicitude; to an enemy, that is to say, to vice
   and wicked thoughts, he gave hatred and displeasure. And with the knife
   of hatred of self, and love of Me, and with the light of reason, and
   the hand of free-will he struck his enemies; so that at the point of
   death his conscience, having been a faithful guardian, does not gnaw
   but remains in peace.

   "It is true that a just soul, through humility, and because at the
   moment of death she realizes better the value of time and of the jewels
   of virtue, reproves herself, seeming to herself to have used her time
   but little; but this is not an afflictive pain, but rather profitable,
   for the soul recollected in herself, is caused by it to throw herself
   before the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb My Son. The just man
   does not turn his head to admire his past virtues, because he neither
   can nor will hope in his own virtues, but only in the Blood in which he
   has found mercy; and as he lived in the memory of that Blood, so in
   death he is inebriated and drowned in the same. How is it that the
   devils cannot reprove him of sin? Because during his life he conquered
   their malice with wisdom, yet they come round him to see if they can
   acquire anything, and appear in horrible shapes in order to frighten
   him with hideous aspect, and many diverse phantasms, but the poison of
   sin not being in his soul, their aspect causes him no terror or fear,
   as it would do to another who had lived wickedly in the world.
   Wherefore the devils, seeing that the soul has entered into the Blood
   with ardent love, cannot endure the sight, but stand afar off shooting
   their arrows. But their war and their shouts cannot hurt that soul, who
   already is beginning to taste eternal life, as I said to you in another
   place, for with the eye of the intellect illuminated by the pupil of
   the holy faith, she sees Me, the Infinite and Eternal Good, whom she
   hopes to obtain by grace, not as her due, but by virtue of Jesus Christ
   My Son.

   "Wherefore opening the arms of hope and seizing Him with the hands of
   love, she seems to enter into His possession before she actually does
   so, in the way which I have narrated to you in another place. Passing
   suddenly, drowned in the Blood, by the narrow door of the Word she
   reaches Me, the Sea Pacific. For sea and door are united together. I
   and the Truth, My only-begotten Son being one and the same thing. What
   joy such a soul receives who sees herself so sweetly arrived at this
   pass, for in Truth she tastes the happiness of the angelic nature! This
   joy is received by all those who pass in this sweet manner, but to a
   far greater extent by My ministers, of whom I spoke to you, who have
   lived like angels, for in this life have they lived with greater
   knowledge, and with greater hunger for the salvation of souls. I do not
   speak only of the light of virtue which all can have in general, but of
   the supernatural light which these men possessed over and above the
   light of virtuous living, the light, that is, of holy science, by which
   science they knew more of My Truth, and he who knows more loves Me
   more, and he who loves Me more receives more. Your reward is measured
   according to the measure of your love, and if you should ask Me,
   whether one who has no science can attain to this love, I should reply,
   yes it is possible that he may attain to it, but an individual case
   does not make a general law and I always discourse to you in general.

   "They also receive greater dignity on account of their priesthood,
   because they have personally received the office of eating souls in My
   honor. For just as everyone has the office of remaining in charity with
   his neighbor, to them is given the office of administering the Blood,
   and of governing souls.

   "Wherefore if they do this solicitously and with love of virtue they
   receive, as has been said, more than others. Oh! how happy are their
   souls when they come to the extremity of death! For they have been the
   defenders and preachers of the faith to their neighbor. This faith they
   have incarnated in their very marrow, and with it they see their place
   of repose in Me. The hope with which they have lived, confiding in My
   providence and losing all trust in themselves, in that they did not
   hope in their own knowledge, and having lost hope in themselves, placed
   no inordinate love in any fellow-creature or in any created thing;
   having lived in voluntary poverty, causes them now with great delight
   to lift their confidence towards Me. Their heart, which was a vessel of
   love, inscribed by their ardent charity with My name, they showed forth
   with the example of their good and holy life and by the doctrine of
   their words to their neighbor. This heart then arises and seizes Me,
   who am its End, with ineffable love, restoring to Me the pearl of
   justice which it always carried before it, doing justice to all, and
   discreetly rendering to each his due. Wherefore this man renders to Me
   justice with true humility, and renders glory and praise to My Name,
   because he refers to Me the grace of having been able to run his course
   with a pure and holy conscience, and with himself he is indignant,
   deeming himself unworthy of receiving such grace.

   "His conscience gives good testimony of him to Me, and I justly give
   him the crown of justice, adorned with the pearls of the virtues--that
   is, of the fruit which love has drawn from the virtues. Oh, earthly
   angel! happy you are in that you have not been ungrateful for the
   benefits received from Me, and have not been negligent or ignorant, but
   have solicitously opened your eye by the true light, and kept it on
   your subjects, and have faithfully and manfully followed the doctrine
   of the Good Shepherd, sweet Christ Jesus, My only-begotten Son,
   wherefore you are really now passing through Him, the Door, bathed and
   drowned in His blood, with your troop of lambs of whom you have brought
   many by your holy doctrine and example to eternal life, and have left
   many behind you in a state of grace.

   "Oh, dearest daughter! to such as these the vision of the devils can do
   no harm, because of the vision which they have of Me, which they see by
   faith and hold by love; the darkness and the terrible aspect of the
   demons do not give them trouble or any fear, because in them is not the
   poison of sin. There is no servile fear in them, but holy fear.
   Wherefore they do not fear the demon's deception, because with
   supernatural light and with the light of Holy Scripture they know them,
   so that they do not cause them darkness or disquietude. So thus they
   gloriously pass, bathed in the blood, with hunger for the salvation of
   souls, all on fire with love for the neighbor, having passed through
   the door of the word and entered into Me; and by My goodness each one
   is arranged in his place, and to each one is measured of the affection
   of love according as he has measured to Me."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the death of sinners, and of their pains in the hour of death.

   "Not so excellent, dearest daughter, is the end of these other poor
   wretches who are in great misery as I have related to you. How terrible
   and dark is their death! Because in the moment of death, as I told you,
   the Devil accuses them with great terror and darkness, showing his
   face, which you know is so horrible that the creature would rather
   choose any pain that can be suffered in this world than see it; and so
   greatly does he freshen the sting of conscience that it gnaws him
   horribly. The disordinate delights and sensuality of which he made
   lords over his reason, accuse him miserably, because then he knows the
   truth of that which at first he knew not, and his error brings him to
   great confusion.

   "In his life he lived unfaithfully to Me--self-love having veiled the
   pupil of the most holy faith--wherefore the Devil torments him with
   infidelity in order to bring him to despair. Oh! how hard for them is
   this battle, because it finds them disarmed, without the armor of
   affection and charity; because, as members of the Devil, they have been
   deprived of it all. Wherefore they have not the supernatural light,
   neither the light of science, because they did not understand it, the
   horns of their pride not letting them understand the sweetness of its
   marrow. Wherefore now in the great battle they know not what to do.
   They are not nourished in hope, because they have not hoped in Me,
   neither in the Blood of which I made them ministers, but in themselves
   alone, and in the dignities and delights of the world. And the
   incarnate wretch did not see that all was counted to him with interest,
   and that as a debtor he would have to render an account to Me; now he
   finds himself denuded and without any virtue, and on whichever side he
   turns he hears nothing but reproaches with great confusion. His
   injustice which he practiced in his life accuses him to his conscience,
   wherefore he dares not ask other than justice.

   "And I tell you that so great is that shame and confusion that unless
   in their life they have taken the habit of hoping in My mercy, that is,
   have taken the milk of mercy (although on account of their sins this is
   great presumption, for you cannot truly say that he who strikes Me with
   the arm of My mercy has a hope in mercy, but rather has presumption),
   there is not one who would not despair, and with despair they would
   arrive with the Devil in eternal damnation.

   "But arriving at the extremity of death, and recognizing his sin, his
   conscience unloaded by holy confession, and presumption taken away, so
   that he offends no more, there remains mercy, and with this mercy he
   can, if he will, take hold on hope. This is the effect of Mercy, to
   cause them to hope therein during their life, although I do not grant
   them this, so that they should offend Me by means of My mercy, but
   rather that they should dilate themselves in charity, and in the
   consideration of My goodness. But they act in a contrary way, because
   they offend Me in the hope which they have in My mercy. And
   nevertheless, I keep them in this hope so that at the last moment they
   may have something which they may lay hold of, and by so doing not
   faint away with the condemnation which they receive, and thus arrive at
   despair; for this final sin of despair is much more displeasing to Me
   and injures them much more than all the other sins which they have
   committed. And this is the reason why this sin is more dangerous to
   them and displeasing to Me, because they commit other sins through some
   delight of their own sensuality, and they sometimes grieve for them,
   and if they grieve in the right way their grief will procure them
   mercy. But it is no fragility of your nature which moves you to
   despair, for there is no pleasure and nothing but intolerable suffering
   in it. One who despairs despises My mercy, making his sin to be greater
   than mercy and goodness. Wherefore, if a man fall into this sin, he
   does not repent, and does not truly grieve for his offense against Me
   as he should, grieving indeed for his own loss, but not for the offense
   done to Me, and therefore he receives eternal damnation. See,
   therefore, that this sin alone leads him to hell, where he is punished
   for this and all the other sins which he has committed; whereas had he
   grieved and repented for the offense done to Me, and hoped in My mercy,
   he would have found mercy, for, as I have said to you, My mercy is
   greater without any comparison than all the sins which any creature can
   commit; wherefore it greatly displeases Me that they should consider
   their sins to be greater.

   "Despair is that sin which is pardoned neither here nor hereafter, and
   it is because despair displeases Me so much that I wish them to hope in
   My mercy at the point of death, even if their life have been disordered
   and wicked. This is why during their life I use this sweet trick with
   them, making them hope greatly in My mercy, for when, having fed
   themselves with this hope, they arrive at death, they are not so
   inclined to abandon it, on account of the severe condemnation they
   receive, as if they had not so nourished themselves.

   "All this is given them by the fire and abyss of My inestimable love,
   but because they have used it in the darkness of self-love, from which
   has proceeded their every sin, they have not known it in truth, but in
   so far as they have turned their affections towards the sweetness of My
   mercy they have thought of it with great presumption. And this is
   another cause of reproof which their conscience gives them in the
   likeness of the Devil, reproving them in that they should have used the
   time and the breadth of My mercy in which they hoped, in charity and
   love of virtue, and that time which I gave them through love should
   have been spent in holiness, whereas with all their time and great hope
   of My mercy they did nothing but offend Me miserably. Oh! blinder than
   the blind! You have hidden your pearl and your talent which I placed in
   your hands in order that you might gain more with it, but you in your
   presumption would not do My will, rather you hid it under the ground of
   disordinate self-love, which now renders you the fruit of death.

   "Your miseries are not hid from you now, for the worm of conscience
   sleeps no longer, but is gnawing you, the devils shout and render to
   you the reward which they are accustomed to give their servants, that
   is to say, confusion and condemnation; they wish to bring you to
   despair, so that at the moment of death you may not escape from their
   hands, and therefore they try to confuse you, so that afterwards when
   you are with them they may render to you of the part which is theirs.
   Oh, wretch! the dignity in which I placed you, you now see shining as
   it really is, and you know to your shame that you have held and used in
   such guilty darkness the substance of the holy Church, that you see
   yourself to be a thief, a debtor, who ought to pay his debt to the poor
   and the holy Church. Then your conscience represents to you that you
   have spent the money on public harlots, and have brought up your
   children and enriched your relations, and have thrown it away on
   gluttony and on many silver vessels and other adornments for your
   house. Whereas you should have lived in voluntary poverty.

   "Your conscience represents to you the divine office which you
   neglected, by which you fell into the guilt of mortal sin, and how even
   when you recited it with your mouth your heart was far from Me.
   Conscience also shows you your subjects, that is to say, the love and
   hunger which you should have felt towards nourishing them in virtue,
   giving them the example of your life and striking them with the hand of
   mercy and the rod of justice, and because you did the contrary your
   conscience and the horrible likeness of the Devil reproves you.

   "And if as a prelate you have given prelacies or any charge of souls
   unjustly to one of your subjects, that is, that you have not considered
   to whom and how you were giving it, the Devil puts this also before
   your conscience, because you ought to have given it, not on account of
   pleasant words, nor in order to please creatures, nor for the sake of
   gifts, but solely with regard to virtue, My honor and the salvation of
   souls. And since you have not done so you are reproved, and for your
   greater pain and confusion you have before your conscience and the
   light of your intellect that which you have done and ought not to have
   done, and that which you ought to have done and have not done.

   "I wish you to know, dearest daughter, that whiteness is better seen
   when placed on a black ground, and blackness on a white, than when they
   are separated. So it happens to these wretches, to these in particular
   and to all others in general, for at death when the soul begins to see
   its woes, and the just man his beatitude, his evil life is represented
   to a wicked man, and there is no reason that any one should remind him
   of the sins that he has committed, for his conscience places them
   before him, together with the virtues which he ought to have practiced.
   Why the virtues? For his greater shame. For vice being placed on a
   ground of virtue is known better on account of the virtue, and the
   better he knows his sin, the greater his shame, and by comparison with
   his sin he knows better the perfection of virtue, wherefore he grieves
   the more, for he sees that his own life was devoid of any; and I wish
   you to know that in this knowledge which dying sinners have of virtue
   and vice they see only too clearly the good which follows the virtue of
   a just man, and the pain that comes on him who has lain in the darkness
   of mortal sin. I do not give him this knowledge so that he may despair,
   but so that he may come to a perfect self-knowledge and shame for his
   sins, with hope, so that with that pain and knowledge he may pay for
   his sins, and appease My anger, humbly begging My mercy. The virtuous
   woman increases thereby in joy and in knowledge of My love, for he
   attributes the grace of having followed virtue in the doctrine of My
   truth to Me and not to himself, wherefore he exalts in Me, with this
   truly illuminated knowledge, and tastes and receives the sweet end of
   his being in the way which I have related to you in another place. So
   that the one, that is to say, the just man, who has lived in ardent
   charity, exults in joy, while the wicked man is darkened and confounded
   in sorrow.

   "To the just man the appearance and vision of the Devil causes no harm
   or fear, for fear and harm can only be caused to him by sin; but those
   who have passed their lives lasciviously and in many sins, receive both
   harm and fear from the appearance of the devils, not indeed the harm of
   despair if they do not wish it, but the suffering of condemnation, of
   the refreshing of the worm of conscience, and of fear and terror at
   their horrible aspect. See now, dearest daughter, how different are the
   sufferings and the battle of death to a just man and to a sinner, and
   how different is their end.

   "I have shown to the eye of your intellect a very small part of what
   happens, and so small is what I have shown you with regard to what it
   really is, to the suffering, that is, of the one, and the happiness of
   the other, that it is but a trifle. See how great is the blindness of
   man, and in particular of these ministers, for the more they have
   received of Me, and the more they are enlightened by the Holy
   Scripture, the greater are their obligations and more intolerable
   confusion do they receive for not fulfilling them; the more they knew
   of Holy Scripture during their life, the better do they know at their
   death the great sins they have committed, and their torments are
   greater than those of others, just as good men are placed in a higher
   degree of excellence. Theirs is the fate of the false Christian, who is
   placed in Hell in greater torment than a pagan, because he had the
   light of faith and renounced it, while the pagan never had it.

   "So these wretches will be punished more than other Christians for the
   same sin, on account of the ministry which I entrusted to them,
   appointing them to administer the sun of the holy Sacrament, and
   because they had the light of science, in order to discern the truth
   both for themselves and others had they wished to; wherefore they
   justly receive the greater pains. But the wretches do not know this,
   for did they consider their state at all, they would not come to such
   misery, but would be that which they ought to be and are not. For the
   whole world has thus become corrupt, they being much more guilty than
   seculars, according to their state; for with their stench they defile
   the face of their soul, and corrupt their subjects, and suck the blood
   from My spouse, that is, the holy Church, wherefore through these sins
   they make her grow pale, because they divert to themselves the love and
   charity which they should have to this divine spouse, and think of
   nothing but stripping her for their own advantage, seizing prelacies,
   and great properties, when they ought to be seeking souls. Wherefore
   through their evil life, seculars become irreverent and disobedient to
   the holy Church, not that they ought on that account to do so, or that
   their sins are excused through the sins of My ministers."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this devout soul, praising and thanking GOD, made a prayer for the
      Holy Church.

   Then this soul, as if inebriated, tormented, and on fire with love, her
   heart wounded with great bitterness, turned herself to the Supreme and
   Eternal Goodness, saying: "Oh! Eternal God! oh! Light above every other
   light, from whom issues all light! Oh! Fire above every fire, because
   You are the only Fire who burn without consuming, and consume all sin
   and self-love found in the soul, not afflicting her, but fattening her
   with insatiable love, and though the soul is filled she is not sated,
   but ever desires You, and the more of You she has, the more she
   seeks--and the more she desires, the more she finds and tastes of
   You--Supreme and Eternal Fire, Abyss of Charity. Oh! Supreme and
   Eternal Good, who has moved You, Infinite God, to illuminate me, Your
   finite creature, with the light of Your Truth? You, the same Fire of
   Love are the cause, because it is always love which constrained and
   constrains You to create us in Your image and similitude, and to do us
   mercy, giving immeasurable and infinite graces to Your rational
   creatures. Oh! Goodness above all goodness! You alone are He who is
   Supremely Good, and nevertheless You gave the Word, Your only-begotten
   Son, to converse with us filthy ones and filled with darkness. What was
   the cause of this? Love. Because You loved us before we were. Oh! Good!
   oh! Eternal Greatness! You made Yourself low and small to make man
   great. On whichever side I turn I find nothing but the abyss and fire
   of Your charity. And can a wretch like me pay back to You the graces
   and the burning charity that You have shown and show with so much
   burning love in particular to me beyond common charity, and the love
   that You show to all Your creatures? No, but You alone, most sweet and
   amorous Father, are He who will be thankful and grateful for me, that
   is, that the affection of Your charity itself will render You thanks,
   because I am she who is not, and if I spoke as being anything of
   myself, I should be lying by my own head, and should be a lying
   daughter of the Devil, who is the father of lies, because You alone are
   He who is. And my being and every further grace that You have bestowed
   upon me, I have from You, who give them to me through love, and not as
   my due.

   "Oh! sweetest Father, when the human race lay sick through the sin of
   Adam, You sent it a Physician, the sweet and amorous Word--Your Son;
   and now, when I was lying infirm with the sickness of negligence and
   much ignorance, You, most soothing and sweet Physician, Eternal God,
   have given a soothing, sweet, and bitter medicine, that I may be cured
   and rise from my infirmity. You have soothed me because with Your love
   and gentleness You have manifested Yourself to me, Sweet above all
   sweetness, and have illuminated the eye of my intellect with the light
   of most holy faith, with which light, according as it has pleased You
   to manifest it to me, I have known the excellence of grace which You
   have given to the human race, administering to it the entire God-Man in
   the mystic body of the holy Church. And I have known the dignity of
   Your ministers whom You have appointed to administer You to us. I
   desired that You would fulfill the promise that You made to me, and You
   gave much more, more even than I knew how to ask for. Wherefore I know
   in truth that the heart of man knows not how to ask or desire as much
   as You can give, and thus I see that You are He who is the Supreme and
   Eternal Good, and that we are they who are not. And because You are
   infinite, and we are finite, You give that which Your rational creature
   cannot desire enough; for she cannot desire it in itself, nor in the
   way in which You can and will satisfy the soul, filling her with things
   for which she does not ask You. Moreover, I have received light from
   Your Greatness and Charity, through the love which You have for the
   whole human race, and in particular for Your anointed ones, who ought
   to be earthly angels in this life. You have shown me the virtue and
   beatitude of these Your anointed ones who have lived like burning
   lamps, shining with the Pearl of Justice in the holy Church. And by
   comparison with these I have better understood the sins of those who
   live wretchedly. Wherefore I have conceived a very great sorrow at Your
   offense and the harm done to the whole world, for they do harm to the
   world, being mirrors of sin when they ought to be mirrors of virtue.
   And because You have manifested and grieved over their iniquities to
   me--a wretch who am the cause and instrument of many sins--I am plunged
   in intolerable grief.

   "You, oh! inestimable love, have manifested this to me, giving me a
   sweet and bitter medicine that I might wholly arise out of the
   infirmity of my ignorance and negligence, and have recourse to You with
   anxious and solicitous desire, knowing myself and Your goodness and the
   offenses which are committed against You by all sorts of people, so
   that I might shed a river of tears, drawn from the knowledge of Your
   infinite goodness, over my wretched self and over those who are dead in
   that they live miserably. Wherefore I do not wish, oh! Eternal Father,
   ineffable Fire of Love, that my heart should ever grow weary, or my
   eyes fail through tears, in desiring Your honor and the salvation of
   souls, but I beg of You, by Your grace, that they may be as two streams
   of water issuing from You, the Sea Pacific. Thanks, thanks to You, oh!
   Father, for having granted me that which I asked You and that which I
   neither knew nor asked, for by thus giving me matter for grief You have
   invited me to offer before You sweet, loving, and yearning desires,
   with humble and continual prayer. Now I beg of You that You will do
   mercy to the world and to the holy Church. I pray You to fulfill that
   which You caused me to ask You. Alas! what a wretched and sorrowful
   soul is mine, the cause of all these evils. Do not put off any longer
   Your merciful designs towards the world, but descend and fulfill the
   desire of Your servants.

   "Ah me! You cause them to cry in order to hear their voices! Your truth
   told us to cry out, and we should be answered; to knock, and it would
   be opened to us; to beg, and it would be given to us. Oh! Eternal
   Father, Your servants do cry out to Your mercy; do You then reply.

   "I know well that mercy is Your own attribute, wherefore You can not
   destroy it or refuse it to him who asks for it. Your servants knock at
   the door of Your truth, because in the truth of Your only-begotten Son
   they know the ineffable love which You have for man, wherefore the fire
   of Your love ought not and cannot refrain from opening to him who
   knocks with perseverance. Wherefore open, unlock, and break the
   hardened hearts of Your creatures, not for their sakes who do not
   knock, but on account of Your infinite goodness, and through love of
   Your servants who knock at You for their sakes. Grant the prayer of
   those, Eternal Father who, as You see, stand at the door of Your truth
   and pray. For what do they pray? For with the Blood of this door--Your
   truth--have You washed our iniquities and destroyed the stain of Adam's
   sin. The Blood is ours, for You have made it our bath, wherefore You
   can not deny it to any one who truly asks for it. Give, then, the fruit
   of Your Blood to Your creatures. Place in the balance the price of the
   blood of Your Son, so that the infernal devils may not carry off Your
   lambs. You are the Good Shepherd who, to fulfill Your obedience, laid
   down His life for Your lambs, and made for us a bath of His Blood.

   "That Blood is what Your hungry servants beg of You at this door,
   begging You through it to do mercy to the world, and to cause Your holy
   Church to bloom with the fragrant flowers of good and holy pastors, who
   by their sweet odor shall extinguish the stench of the putrid flowers
   of sin. You have said, Eternal Father, that through the love which You
   have for Your rational creatures, and the prayers and the many virtues
   and labors of Your servants, You would do mercy to the world, and
   reform the Church, and thus give us refreshment; wherefore do not
   delay, but turn the eye of Your mercy towards us, for You must first
   reply to us before we can cry out with the voice of Your mercy. Open
   the door of Your inestimable love which You have given us through the
   door of Your Word. I know indeed that You open before even we can
   knock, for it is with the affection of love which You have given to
   Your servants, that they knock and cry to You, seeking Your honor and
   the salvation of souls. Give them then the bread of life, that is to
   say, the fruit of the Blood of Your only-begotten Son, which they ask
   of You for the praise and glory of My name and the salvation of souls.
   For more glory and praise will be Yours in saving so many creatures,
   than in leaving them obstinate in their hardness of heart. To You,
   Eternal Father, everything is possible, and even though You have
   created us without our own help, You will not save us without it. I beg
   of You to force their wills, and dispose them to wish for that for
   which they do not wish; and this I ask You through Your infinite mercy.
   You have created us from nothing; now, therefore, that we are in
   existence, do mercy to us, and remake the vessels which You have
   created to Your image and likeness. Re-create them to Grace in Your
   mercy and the Blood of Your Son sweet Christ Jesus."
     __________________________________________________________________

A TREATISE OF OBEDIENCE
     __________________________________________________________________

      Here begins the treatise of obedience, and first of where obedience may be
      found, and what it is that destroys it, and what is the sign of a man's
      possessing it, and what accompanies and nourishes obedience.

   The Supreme and Eternal Father, kindly turning the eye of His mercy and
   clemency towards her, replied: "Your holy desire and righteous request,
   oh! dearest daughter, have a right to be heard, and inasmuch as I am
   the Supreme Truth, I will keep My word, fulfilling the promise which I
   made to you, and satisfying your desire. And if you ask Me where
   obedience is to be found, and what is the cause of its loss, and the
   sign of its possession, I reply that you will find it in its
   completeness in the sweet and amorous Word, My only-begotten Son. So
   prompt in Him was this virtue, that, in order to fulfill it, He
   hastened to the shameful death of the Cross. What destroys obedience?
   Look at the first man and you will see the cause which destroyed the
   obedience imposed on him by Me, the Eternal Father. It was pride, which
   was produced by self-love, and desire to please his companion. This was
   the cause that deprived him of the perfection of obedience, giving him
   instead disobedience, depriving him of the life of grace, and slaying
   his innocence, wherefore he fell into impurity and great misery, and
   not only he, but the whole human race, as I said to you. The sign that
   you have this virtue is patience, and impatience the sign that you have
   it not, and you will find that this is indeed so, when I speak to you
   further concerning this virtue. But observe that obedience may be kept
   in two ways, of which one is more perfect than the other, not that they
   are on that account separated, but united as I explained to you of the
   precepts and counsels. The one way is the most perfect, the other is
   also good and perfect; for no one at all can reach eternal life if he
   be not obedient, for the door was unlocked by the key of obedience,
   which had been fastened by the disobedience of Adam. I, then, being
   constrained by My infinite goodness, since I saw that man whom I so
   much loved, did not return to Me, his End, took the keys of obedience
   and placed them in the hands of My sweet and amorous Word--the
   Truth--and He becoming the porter of that door, opened it, and no one
   can enter except by means of that door and that Porter. Wherefore He
   said in the Holy Gospel that 'no one could come to Me, the Father, if
   not by Him.' When He returned to Me, rising to Heaven from the
   conversation of men at the Ascension, He left you this sweet key of
   obedience; for as you know He left His vicar, the Christ, on earth,
   whom you are all obliged to obey until death, and whoever is outside
   His obedience is in a state of damnation, as I have already told you in
   another place. Now I wish you to see and know this most excellent
   virtue in that humble and immaculate Lamb, and the source whence it
   proceeds. What caused the great obedience of the Word? The love which
   He had for My honor and your salvation. Whence proceeded this love?
   From the clear vision with which His soul saw the divine essence and
   the eternal Trinity, thus always looking on Me, the eternal God. His
   fidelity obtained this vision most perfectly for Him, which vision you
   imperfectly enjoy by the light of holy faith. He was faithful to Me,
   His eternal Father, and therefore hastened as one enamored along the
   road of obedience, lit up with the light of glory. And inasmuch as love
   cannot be alone, but is accompanied by all the true and royal virtues,
   because all the virtues draw their life from love, He possessed them
   all, but in a different way from that in which you do. Among the others
   he possessed patience, which is the marrow of obedience, and a
   demonstrative sign, whether a soul be in a state of grace and truly
   love or not. Wherefore charity, the mother of patience, has given her
   as a sister to obedience, and so closely united them together that one
   cannot be lost without the other. Either you have them both or you have
   neither. This virtue has a nurse who feeds her, that is, true humility;
   therefore a soul is obedient in proportion to her humility, and humble
   in proportion to her obedience. This humility is the foster-mother and
   nurse of charity, and with the same milk she feeds the virtue of
   obedience. Her raiment given her by this nurse is self-contempt, and
   insult, desire to displease herself, and to please Me. Where does she
   find this? In sweet Christ Jesus, My only-begotten Son. For who abased
   Himself more than He did! He was sated with insults, jibes, and
   mockings. He caused pain to Himself in His bodily life, in order to
   please Me. And who was more patient than He? for His cry was never
   heard in murmuring, but He patiently embraced His injuries like one
   enamored, fulfilling the obedience imposed on Him by Me, His Eternal
   Father. Wherefore in Him you will find obedience perfectly
   accomplished. He left you this rule and this doctrine, which gives you
   life, for it is the straight way, having first observed them Himself.
   He is the way, wherefore He said, 'He was the Way, the Truth, and the
   Life.' For he who travels by that way, travels in the light, and being
   enlightened cannot stumble, or be caused to fall, without perceiving
   it. For He has cast from Himself the darkness of self-love, by which he
   fell into disobedience; for as I spoke to you of a companion virtue
   proceeding from obedience and humility, so I tell you that disobedience
   comes from pride, which issues from self-love depriving the soul of
   humility. The sister given by self-love to disobedience is impatience,
   and pride, her foster-mother, feeds her with the darkness of
   infidelity, so she hastens along the way of darkness, which leads her
   to eternal death. All this you should read in that glorious book, where
   you find described this and every other virtue."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How obedience is the key with which Heaven is opened, and how the soul
      should fasten it by means of a cord to her girdle, and of the excellences
      of obedience.

   "Now that I have shown you where obedience is to be found, and whence
   she comes, and who is her companion, and who her foster-mother, I will
   continue to speak of the obedient and of the disobedient together, and
   of obedience in general, which is the obedience of the precepts; and in
   particular, which is that of the counsels. The whole of your faith is
   founded upon obedience, for by it you prove your fidelity. You are all
   in general by My truth to obey the commandments of the law, the chief
   of which is to love Me above everything, and your neighbor as yourself,
   and the commandments are so bound up together, that you cannot observe
   or transgress one without observing or transgressing all. He who
   observes this principal commandment observes all the others; he is
   faithful to Me and his neighbor, for he loves Me and My creature, and
   is therefore obedient, becoming subject to the commandments of the law,
   and to creatures for My sake, and with humble patience he endures every
   labor, and even his neighbor's detraction of him. This obedience is of
   such excellence that you all derive grace from it, just as from
   disobedience you all derive death. Wherefore it is not enough that it
   should be only in word, and not practiced by you. I have already told
   you that this word is the key which opens heaven, which key My Son
   placed in the hands of His vicar. This vicar placed it in the hands of
   everyone who receives holy baptism, promising therein to renounce the
   world and all its pomps and delights, and to obey. So that each man has
   in his own person that very same key which the Word had, and if a man
   does not unlock in the light of faith, and with the hand of love the
   gate of heaven by means of this key, he never will enter there, in
   spite of its having been opened by the Word; for though I created you
   without yourselves, I will not save you without yourselves. Wherefore
   you must take the key in your hand and walk by the doctrine of My Word,
   and not remain seated, that is to say, placing your love in finite
   things, as do foolish men who follow the first man, their first father,
   following his example, and casting the key of obedience into the mud of
   impurity, breaking it with the hammer of pride, rusting it with
   self-love. It would have been entirely destroyed had not My
   only-begotten Son, the Word, come and taken this key of obedience in
   His hands and purified it in the fire of divine love, having drawn it
   out of the mud, and cleansed it with His blood, and straightened it
   with the knife of justice, and hammered your iniquities into shape on
   the anvil of His own body. So perfectly did He repair it that no matter
   how much a man may have spoiled his key by his free-will, by the
   self-same free-will, assisted by My grace, he can repair it with the
   same instruments that were used by My Word. Oh! blinder than the blind,
   for, having spoiled the key of obedience, you do not think of mending
   it! Do you think, forsooth, that the disobedience which closed the door
   of Heaven will open it? that the pride which fell can rise? Do you
   think to be admitted to the marriage feast in foul and disordered
   garments? Do you think that sitting down and binding yourself with the
   chain of mortal sin, you can walk? or that without a key you can open
   the door? Do not imagine that you can, for it is a fantastical
   delusion; you must be firm, you must leave mortal sin by a holy
   confession, contrition of heart, satisfaction, and purpose of
   amendment. Then you will throw off that hideous and defiled garment
   and, clothed in the shining nuptial robe, will hasten, the key of
   obedience in your hand, to open the door. But bind this key with the
   cord of self-contempt, and hatred of yourself and of the world, and
   fasten it to the love of pleasing Me, Your creator, of which you should
   make a girdle to yourself to bind your loins with it, for fear you lose
   it. Know, My daughter, there are many who take up this key of
   obedience, having seen by the light of faith that in no other way can
   they escape eternal damnation; but they hold it in their hand without
   wearing this girdle, or fastening the key to it with the cord of
   self-contempt, that is to say that they are not perfectly clothed with
   My pleasure, but still seek to please themselves; they do not wear the
   cord of self-contempt, for they do not desire to be despised, but
   rather take delight in the praise of men. Such as these are apt to lose
   their key; for if they suffer a little extra fatigue, or mental or
   corporal tribulation, and if, as often happens, the hand of holy desire
   loosens its grasp, they will lose it. They can indeed find it again if
   they wish to while they live, but if they do not wish they will never
   find it, and what will prove to them, that they have lost it?
   Impatience, for patience was united to obedience, and their impatience
   proves that obedience does not dwell in their soul. Oh! how sweet and
   glorious is this virtue, which contains all the rest, for she is
   conceived and born of charity, on her is founded the rock of the holy
   faith. She is a queen whose consort will feel no trouble, but only
   peace and quiet; the waves of the stormy sea cannot hurt her, nor can
   any tempest reach the interior of the soul in whom she dwells. Such a
   one feels no hatred when injured, because he wishes to obey the precept
   of forgiveness, he suffers not when his appetites are not satisfied,
   because obedience has ordered him to desire Me alone, who can and will
   satisfy all his desires, if he strip himself of worldly riches. And so
   in all things which would be too long to relate, he who has chosen as
   spouse Queen Obedience, the appointed key of heaven, finds peace and
   quiet. Oh! blessed obedience! you voyage without fatigue, and reach
   without danger the port of salvation, you are conformed to My
   only-begotten Son, the Word, you board the ship of the holy cross,
   forcing yourself to endure, so as not to transgress the obedience of
   the Word, nor abandon His doctrine, of which you make a table when you
   eat the food of souls, dwelling in the love of your neighbor, being
   anointed with true humility, which saves you from coveting, contrary to
   My will, his possessions, you walk erect, without bending, for your
   heart is sincere and not false, loving generously and truly My
   creatures, you are a sunrise drawing after you the light of divine
   grace, you are a sun which makes the earth, that is to say, the organs
   of the soul, to germinate with the heat of charity, all of which as
   well as those of the body produce life-giving fruit for yourself and
   your neighbor. You are even cheerful, for your face is never wrinkled
   with impatience, but smooth and pleasant with the happiness of
   patience, and even in its fortitude you are great by your long
   endurance, so long that it reaches from earth to heaven and unlocks the
   celestial door. You are a hidden pearl, trampled by the world, abasing
   yourself, submitting to all creatures. Yet your kingdom is so great
   that no one can rule you, for you have come out of the mortal servitude
   of your own sensuality, which destroyed your dignity, and having slain
   this enemy with hatred and dislike of your own pleasure have
   re-obtained your liberty."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Here both the misery of the disobedient and the excellence of the obedient
      are spoken of.

   "All this, dearest daughter, has been done by My goodness and
   providence as I have told you, for by My providence the Word repaired
   the key of obedience, but worldly men devoid of every virtue do the
   contrary; they, like unbridled horses, without the bit of obedience, go
   from bad to worse, from sin to sin, from misery to misery, from
   darkness to darkness, from death to death, until they finally reach the
   edge of the ditch of death, gnawed by the worm of their conscience, and
   though it is true that they can obey the precepts of the law if they
   will, and have the time repenting of their disobedience, it is very
   hard for them to do so, on account of their long habit of sin.
   Therefore let no man trust to this, putting off his finding of the key
   of obedience to the moment of his death, for although everyone may and
   should hope as long as he has life, he should not put such trust in
   this hope as to delay repentance. What is the reason of all this, and
   of such blindness that prevents them recognizing this treasure? The
   cloud of self-love and wretched pride, through which they abandoned
   obedience, and fell into disobedience. Being disobedient they are
   impatient, as has been said, and in their impatience endure intolerable
   pain, for it has seduced them from the way of Truth, leading them along
   a way of lies, making them slaves and friends of the devils with whom,
   unless indeed they amend themselves with patience, they will go to the
   eternal torments. Contrariwise, My beloved sons, obedient and observers
   of the law, rejoice and exult in My eternal vision with the Immaculate
   and humble Lamb, the Maker, Fulfiller, and Giver of this law of
   obedience. Observing this law in this life they taste peace without any
   disturbance, they receive and clothe themselves in the most perfect
   peace, for there they possess every good without any evil, safety
   without any fear, riches without any poverty, satiety without disgust,
   hunger without pain, light without darkness, one supreme infinite good,
   shared by all those who taste it truly. What has placed them in so
   blessed a state? The blood of the Lamb, by virtue of which the key of
   obedience has lost its rust, so that, by the virtue of the blood, it
   has been able to unlock the door. Oh! fools and madmen, delay no longer
   to come out of the mud of impurity, for you seem like pigs to wallow in
   the mire of your own lust. Abandon the injustice, murders, hatreds,
   rancors, detractions, murmurings, false judgments, and cruelty, with
   which you use your neighbors, your thefts and treacheries, and the
   disordinate pleasures and delights of the world; cut off the horns of
   pride, by which amputation you will extinguish the hatred which is in
   your heart against your neighbors. Compare the injuries which you do to
   Me and to your neighbor with those done to you, and you will see that
   those done to you are but trifles. You will see that remaining in
   hatred you injure Me by transgressing My precept, and you also injure
   the object of your hate, for you deprive him of your love, whereas you
   have been commanded to love Me above everything, and your neighbor as
   yourself. No gloss has been put upon these words as if it should have
   been said, if your neighbor injures you do not love him; but they are
   to be taken naturally and simply, as they were said to you by My Truth,
   who Himself literally observed this rule. Literally also should you
   observe it, and if you do not you will injure your own soul, depriving
   it of the life of grace. Take, oh! take, then, the key of obedience
   with the light of faith, walk no longer in such darkness or cold, but
   observe obedience in the fire of love, so that you may taste eternal
   life together with the other observers of the law."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of those who have such love for obedience that they do not remain content
      with the general obedience of precepts, but take on themselves a
      particular obedience.

   "There are some, My dearest daughter, in whom the sweet and amorous
   fire of love towards obedience burns so high (which fire of love cannot
   exist without hatred of self-love, so that when the fire increases so
   does this self-hatred), that they are not content to observe the
   precepts of the Law with a general obedience as you are all obliged to
   do if you will have life and not death, but take upon themselves a
   particular obedience, following the greatest perfection, so that they
   become observers of the counsels both in deed and in thought. Such as
   these wish to bind themselves more tightly through self-hatred, and in
   order to restrain in everything their own will. They either place
   themselves under the yoke of obedience in holy religion, or, without
   entering religion, they bind themselves to some creature, submitting
   their will to his, so as more expeditiously to unlock the door of
   Heaven. These are they, as I have told you, who have chosen the most
   perfect obedience. I have already spoken to you of obedience in
   general, and as I know it to be your will that I should speak to you of
   this particular and most perfect obedience, I will now relate to you
   somewhat of this second kind, which is not divided from the first, but
   is more perfect, for, as I have already told you, these two kinds of
   obedience are so closely united together that they cannot be separated.
   I have told you where general obedience is to be found and whence it
   proceeds, and the cause of its loss. Now I will speak to you of this
   particular obedience, not altering, however, the fundamental principle
   of the virtue."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How a soul advances from general to particular obedience; and of the
      excellence of the religious orders.

   "The soul who with love has submitted to the yoke of obedience, to the
   Commandments, following the doctrine of My truth virtuously exercising
   herself, as has been said, in this general kind of obedience will
   advance to the second kind by means of the same light which brought her
   to the first, for by the light of the most holy faith she would have
   learnt, in the blood of the humble Lamb, My truth--the ineffable love
   which I have for her, and her own fragility, which cannot respond to Me
   with due perfection. So she wanders, seeking by that light in what
   place and in what way she can pay her debt, trampling on her own
   fragility, and restraining her own will. Enlightened in her search by
   faith, she finds the place--namely, holy religion--which has been
   founded by the Holy Spirit, appointed as the ship to receive souls who
   wish to hasten to perfection, and to bring them to the port of
   salvation. The Captain of this ship is the Holy Spirit, who never fails
   in Himself through the defects of any of His religious subjects who may
   transgress the rule of the order. The ship itself cannot be damaged,
   but only the offender. It is true that the mistake of the steersman may
   send her down into the billows, and these are wicked pastors and
   prelates appointed by the Master of the ship. The ship herself is so
   delightful that your tongue could not narrate it. I say, then, that the
   soul, on fire with desire and a holy self-hatred, having found her
   place by the light of faith, enters there as one dead, if she is truly
   obedient; that is to say, if she have perfectly observed general
   obedience. And even if she should be imperfect when she enters, it does
   not follow that she cannot attain perfection. On the contrary, she
   attains it by exercising herself in the virtue of obedience; indeed,
   most of those who enter are imperfect. There are some who enter already
   in perfection, others in the childhood of virtue, others through fear,
   others through penance, others through allurements, everything depends
   on whether after they have entered they exercise themselves in virtue,
   and persevere till death, for no true judgment can be made on a
   person's entrance into religion, but only on their perseverance, for
   many have appeared to be perfect who have afterwards turned back, or
   remained in the order with much imperfection, so that, as I have said,
   the act of entrance into this ship ordained by Me, who call men in
   different ways, does not supply material for a real judgment, but only
   the love of those who persevere therein with true obedience. This ship
   is rich, so that there is no need for the subject to think about his
   necessities either temporal or spiritual, for if he is truly obedient,
   and observes his order, he will be provided for by his Master, who is
   the Holy Spirit, as I told you when I spoke to you of My providence,
   saying that though your servants might be poor, they were never
   beggars. No more are these, for they find everything they need, and
   those who observe this order find this to be indeed true. Wherefore,
   see that in the days when the religious orders lived virtuously,
   blossoming with true poverty and fraternal charity, their temporal
   substance never failed them, but they had more than their needs
   demanded. But because the stench of self-love has entered and caused
   each to keep his private possessions and to fail in obedience, their
   temporal substance has failed, and the more they possess to the greater
   destitution do they come. It is just that even in the smallest matters
   they should experience the fruit of disobedience, for had they been
   obedient and observed the vow of poverty, each would not have taken his
   own, and lived privately. See the riches of these holy rules, so
   thoughtfully and luminously appointed by those who were temples of the
   Holy Spirit. See with what judgment Benedict ordered his ship; see with
   what perfection and order of poverty Francis ordered his ship, decked
   with the pearls of virtue, steering it in the way of lofty perfection,
   being the first to give his order for spouse, true and holy poverty,
   whom he had chosen for himself, embracing self-contempt and
   self-hatred, not desiring to please any creature but only your will;
   desiring rather to be thought vile by the world, macerating his body
   and slaying his will, clothing himself in insults, sufferings, and
   jibes, for love of the humble Lamb, with whom he was fastened and
   nailed to the cross by love, so that by a singular grace there appeared
   in his body the very wounds of your Truth, showing in the vessel of his
   body that which was in the love of his soul, so he prepared the way.

   "But you will say, Are not all the other religious orders equally
   founded on this point?' Yes, but though they are all founded on it, in
   no other is this the principal foundation; as with the virtues, though
   all the virtues draw their life from charily, nevertheless, as I
   explained to you in another place, one virtue belongs especially to one
   man, and another to another, and yet they all remain in charity, so
   with the principal foundation of the religious orders. Poverty belonged
   especially to My poor man Francis, who placed the principal foundation
   of his order in love for this poverty, and made it very strict for
   those who were perfect, for the few and the good, not for the majority.
   I say few because they are not many who choose this perfection, though
   now through their sins they are multiplied in numbers and deficient in
   virtue, not through defect of the ship, but through disobedient
   subjects and wicked rulers. Now look at the ship of your father
   Dominic, My beloved son: he ordered it most perfectly, wishing that his
   sons should apply themselves only to My honor and the salvation of
   souls, with the light of science, which light he laid as his principal
   foundation, not, however, on that account, being deprived of true and
   voluntary poverty, but having it also. And as a sign that he had it
   truly, and that the contrary displeased him, he left as an heirloom to
   his sons his curse and Mine, if they should hold any possessions,
   either privately or in community, as a sign that he had chosen for his
   spouse Queen Poverty. But for his more immediate and personal object he
   took the light of science in order to extirpate the errors which had
   arisen in his time, thus taking on him the office of My only-begotten
   Son, the Word. Rightly he appeared as an apostle in the world, and
   sowed the seed of My Word with much truth and light, dissipating
   darkness and giving light. He was a light which I gave the world by
   means of Mary, placed in the mystical body of the Holy Church as an
   extirpator of heresies. Why do I say by means of Mary? Because Mary
   gave him his habit--this office was committed to her by My goodness. At
   what table does he feed his sons with the light of science? At the
   table of the cross, which is the table of holy desire, when souls are
   eaten for My honor. Dominic does not wish his sons to apply themselves
   to anything, but remaining at this table, there to seek with the light
   of science, the glory and praise of My name alone, and the salvation of
   souls. And in order that they might do nothing else, he chose poverty
   for them, so that they might not have the care of temporal things. It
   is true that some failed in faith, fearing that they would not be
   provided for, but he never. Being clothed in faith, and hoping with
   firm confidence in My providence, He wishes his sons to observe
   obedience and do their duty, and since impure living obscures the eye
   of the intellect, and not only the eye of the intellect, but also of
   the body, he does not wish them to obscure their physical light with
   which they may more perfectly obtain the light of science; wherefore he
   imposed on them the third vow of continence, and wishes that all should
   observe it, with true and perfect obedience, although today it is badly
   observed. They also prevent the light of science with the darkness of
   pride, not that this light can be darkened in itself, but only in their
   souls, for there, where pride is, can be no obedience. I have already
   told you that a man's humility is in proportion to his obedience, and
   his obedience to his humility, and similarly, when he transgresses the
   vow of obedience, it rarely happens that he does not also transgress
   the vow of continence, either in thought or deed; so that he has rigged
   his ship with the three ropes of obedience, continence, and true
   poverty; he made it a royal ship, not obliging his subjects under pain
   of mortal sin, and illuminated by Me the true light, he provided for
   those who should be less perfect, for though all who observe the order
   are perfect in kind, yet one possesses a higher degree of perfection
   than another, yet all perfect or imperfect live well in this ship. He
   allied himself with My truth, showing that he did not desire the death
   of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live. Wherefore
   his religion is a delightful garden, broad and joyous and flagrant, but
   the wretches who do not observe the order, but transgress its vows,
   have turned it into a desert and defiled it with their scanty virtue
   and light of science, though they are nourished at its breast. I do not
   say that the order itself is in this condition, for it still possesses
   every delight, but in the beginning its subjects were not as they are
   now, but blooming flowers, and men of great perfection. Each scented to
   be another St. Paul, their eyes so illuminated that the darkness of
   error was dissipated by their glance. Look at My glorious Thomas, who
   gazed with the gentle eye of his intellect at My Truth, whereby he
   acquired supernatural light and science infused by grace, for he
   obtained it rather by means of prayer than by human study. He was a
   brilliant light, illuminating his order and the mystical body of the
   Holy Church, dissipating the clouds of heresy. Look at My Peter, virgin
   and martyr, who by his blood gave light among the darkness of many
   heresies, and the heretics hated him so that at last they took his
   life; yet while he lived he applied himself to nothing but prayer,
   preaching, and disputation with heretics, hearing confessions,
   announcing the truth, and spreading the faith without any fear, to such
   an extent that he not only confessed it in his life but even at the
   moment of his death, for when he was at the last extremity, having
   neither voice nor ink left, having received his death-blow, he dipped
   his finger in his blood, and this glorious martyr, having not paper on
   which to write, leaned over, confessing the faith, and wrote the Credo
   on the ground. His heart burnt in the furnace of My charity, so that he
   never slackened his pace nor turned his head back, though he knew that
   he was to die, for I had revealed to him his death, but like a true
   knight he fearlessly came forth on to the battlefield; and I could tell
   you the same of many others, who though they did not actually
   experience martyrdom, were martyrs in will like Dominic; great laborers
   were these sent by My Father to labor in His vineyard to extirpate the
   thorns of vice, planting the virtues in their stead. Of a truth Dominic
   and Francis were two columns of the holy Church. Francis with the
   poverty which was specially his own, as has been said, and Dominic with
   his learning."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the excellence of the obedient, and of the misery of the disobedient
      members of the religious orders.

   "Now that places suitable for obedience have been found, namely, these
   ships commanded by the Holy Spirit through the medium of their
   superiors, for, as I told you, the Holy Spirit is the true Master of
   these ships, which are built in the light of the most holy faith by
   those who have the light to know that My clemency, the Holy Spirit,
   will steer them, and having thus shown you the place of obedience and
   its perfection, I will speak to you of the obedience and of the
   disobedience of those who travel in such a ship, speaking of all
   together and not of one ship--that is, one order--in particular,
   showing you the sin of the disobedient and the virtue of the obedient,
   so that a man may better know the one by contrast with the other, and
   how he should walk if he would enter the ship of a religious order. How
   should he walk who wishes to enter this state of perfect and particular
   obedience? With the light of holy faith, by which he will know that he
   must slay his self-will with the knife of hatred of every sensual
   passion, taking the spouse which charity gives him, together with her
   sister. The spouse is true and prompt obedience, and the sister,
   patience; and he must also take the nurse of humility, for without this
   nurse obedience would perish of hunger, for obedience soon dies in a
   soul deprived of this little virtue of humility.

   "Humility is not alone but has the handmaid of contempt of self and of
   the world, which causes the soul to hold herself vile, and not to
   desire honor but shame. Thus dead to himself, should he who is old
   enough enter the ship of a religious order, but however he may enter it
   (for I have told you that I call souls in diverse ways), he should
   acquire and preserve this affection, hurrying generously to seize the
   key of the obedience of his order, which will open the little door
   which is in the panel of the door of Heaven. Such as these have
   undertaken to open the little door, doing without the great key of
   general obedience, which opens the door of Heaven, as I have said to
   you. They have taken a little key, passing through a low and narrow
   opening in the great door. This small door is part of the great door,
   as you may see in any real door. They should keep this key when they
   have got it, and not throw it away. And because the truly obedient have
   seen with the light of faith that they will never be able to pass
   through this little door with the load of their riches and the weight
   of their own will without great fatigue and without losing their life,
   and that they cannot walk with head erect without breaking their neck;
   whether they wish to or not, they cast from them the load of their
   riches, and of their own will observing the vow of voluntary poverty,
   refusing to possess anything, for they see by the light of faith to
   what ruin they would come if they transgressed obedience, and the and
   of poverty which they promised to keep. The disobedient walk in pride,
   holding their heads erect, and if sometimes it suits their convenience
   to obey they do not incline their heads with humility, but proudly do
   so, because they must, which force breaks the neck of their will, for
   they fulfill their obedience with hatred of their order and of their
   superior. Little by little they are ruined on another point, for they
   transgress the vow of continence, for he who does not constrain his
   appetite or strip himself of temporal substance makes many relations
   and finds plenty of friends who love him for their own profit. From
   these relations they go on to close intimacies, their body they tend
   luxuriously, for being without either the nurse of humility or her
   sister, self-contempt, they live in their own pleasure richly and
   delicately, not like religious but like nobles, without watching or
   prayer. This and many other things happen to them because they have
   money to spend, for if they had it not they could not spend it. They
   fall into mental and physical impurity, for if sometimes from shame or
   through lack of means they abstain physically, they indulge themselves
   mentally, for it is impossible for a man with many worldly relations,
   of delicate habits and disordinate greediness, who watches not nor
   prays, to preserve his mind pure. Wherefore the perfectly obedient man
   sees from afar with the light of holy faith the evil and the loss which
   would come to him from temporal possessions and from walking weighed
   down by his own will; he also sees that he is obliged to pass by this
   narrow door, and that in such a state he would die before he would be
   able to pass it, having no key of obedience wherewith to open it, for
   as I said to you, he is obliged to pass through it. Wherefore it is
   that whether he will or no he should not leave the ship of the order,
   but should walk the narrow path of obedience to his superior.

   "Wherefore the perfectly obedient man rises above himself and his own
   sensuality, and rising above his own feelings with living faith, places
   self-hatred as servant in the house of his soul to drive out the enemy
   of self-love, for he does not wish that his spouse, Obedience, given
   him with the light of faith by her mother, Charity, should be offended;
   so he drives out the enemy and puts in his place the nurse and
   companions of his spouse.

   "The love of obedience places in the house of his soul the lovers of
   his spouse, Obedience, who are the true and royal virtues, the customs
   and observances of his order, so that this sweet spouse enters his soul
   with her sister, Patience, and her nurse, Humility, together with
   Self-contempt and Self-hatred, and when she has entered she possesses
   peace and quiet, for her enemies have been exiled. She dwells in the
   garden of true continence, with the sun of intellectual light shining
   in, the eye of holy faith fixed on the object of My Truth, for her
   object is My Truth, and the fire of love with which she observes the
   rules of the order, warms all her servants and companions.

   "Who are her enemies who have been expelled? The chief is self-love,
   producing pride, the enemy of humility and charity. Impatience is the
   enemy of patience, disobedience of true obedience, infidelity of faith,
   presumption and self-confidence do not accord with the true hope which
   the soul should have in Me; injustice cannot be conformed to justice,
   nor imprudence to prudence, nor intemperance to temperance, nor the
   transgression of the commandments of the order to perfect observance of
   them, nor the wicked conversation of those who live in sin to the good
   conversation of My servants. These are a man's enemies, causing him to
   leave the good customs and traditions of his order. He has also those
   other cruel enemies, anger, which wars against his benevolence;
   cruelty, against his kindness; wrath, against his benignity; hatred of
   virtue, against the love of virtue; impurity, against chastity;
   negligence, against solicitude; ignorance, against knowledge; and sloth
   against watchfulness and continued prayer.

   "And since he knew by the light of faith that all these were his
   enemies who would defile his spouse, holy obedience, he appointed
   hatred to drive them out, and love to replace them with her friends.
   Wherefore with the knife of hatred he slew his perverse self-will, who,
   nourished by self-love, gave life to all these enemies of true
   obedience, and having cut off the source by which all the others are
   preserved in life, he remains free and in peace without any war, for
   there is no one to make war on him, for the soul has cut off from
   herself that which kept her in bitterness and in sadness. What makes
   war on obedience? Injuries? No, for the obedient man is patient,
   patience being the sister of obedience. The weight of the observances
   of the order? No, for obedience causes him to fulfill them. Does the
   weight of obedience give him pain? No, for he has trampled on his own
   will, and does not care to examine or judge the will of his superior,
   for with the light of faith he sees My will in him, believing truly
   that My clemency causes him to command according to the needs of his
   subject's salvation. Is he disgusted and angry at having to perform the
   humble duties of the order or to endure the mockeries, reproofs, jibes,
   and insults which are often cast at him, or to be held at little worth?
   No, for he has conceived love for self-contempt and self-hatred.
   Wherefore he rejoices with patience, exulting with delight and joy in
   the company of his spouse, true obedience, for the only thing which
   saddens him is to see Me, his Creator, offended. His conversation is
   with those who truly fear Me, and if he should converse with those who
   are separated from My Will, it is not in order to conform himself to
   their sins, but to draw them out of their misery, for through the
   brotherly love which he has in his heart towards them he would like to
   give them the good which he possesses, seeing that more glory and
   praise would be given to My name by many observing aright their order
   than by him doing so alone. Wherefore he endeavors to convert religious
   and seculars by his words and by prayer, and by every means by which he
   can draw them out of the darkness of mortal sin. Thus the conversations
   of a truly obedient man are good and perfect, whether they be with just
   men or with sinners, through his rightly ordered love and the breadth
   of his charity. Of his cell he makes a heaven, delighting there to
   converse with Me, his supreme and eternal Father, with the affection of
   love, flying idleness with humble and continual prayer, and when,
   through the illusion of the Devil, thoughts come crowding into his
   cell, he does not sit down on the bed of negligence embracing idleness,
   nor care to examine by reason the thoughts or opinions of his heart,
   but he flies sloth, rising above himself and his senses with hatred and
   true humility, patiently enduring the weariness which he feels in his
   mind, and resisting by watching and humble prayer, fixing the eye of
   his intellect on Me, and seeing with the light of faith that I am his
   helper, and both can and will help him, and open to him the eyes of My
   kindness, and that it is I who permit this suffering in order that he
   may be more eager to fly himself and come to Me. And if it should seem
   to him that on account of his great weariness and the darkness of his
   mind, mental prayer is impossible, he recites vocal prayers, or busies
   himself with some corporal exercises, so that by these means he may
   avoid idleness. He looks at Me with the light which I give him through
   love, which draws forth true humility, for he deems himself unworthy of
   the peace and quiet of mind of My other servants, but rather worthy of
   pain, for he despises himself in his own mind with hatred and
   self-reproach, thinking that he can never endure enough pain, for
   neither his hope nor My providence fail him, but with faith and the key
   of obedience he passes over this stormy sea in the ship of his order,
   dwelling thus in his cell as has been said, and avoiding idleness.

   "The obedient man wishes to be the first to enter choir and the last to
   leave it, and when he sees a brother more obedient than himself he
   regards him in his eagerness with a holy envy, stealing from him the
   virtue in which he excels, not wishing, however, that his brother
   should have less thereof, for if he wished this he would be separated
   from brotherly love. The obedient man does not leave the refectory, but
   visits it continually and delights at being at table with the poor. And
   as a sign that he delights therein, and so as to have no reason to
   remain without, he has abandoned his temporal substance, observing so
   perfectly the vow of poverty that he blames himself for considering
   even the necessities of his body. His cell is full of the odor of
   poverty, and not of clothes; he has no fear that thieves will come to
   rob him, or that rust or moths will corrupt his garments; and if
   anything is given to him, he does not think of laying it by for his own
   use, but freely shares it with his brethren, not thinking of the
   morrow, but rather depriving himself today of what he needs, thinking
   only of the kingdom of heaven and how he may best observe true
   obedience.

   "And in order that he may better keep to the path of humility, he
   submits to small and great, to poor and rich, and becomes the servant
   of all, never refusing labor, but serving all with charity. The
   obedient man does not wish to fulfill his obedience in his own way, or
   to choose his time or place, but prefers the way of his order and of
   his superior. All this the truly and perfectly obedient man does
   without pain and weariness of mind. He passes with this key in his hand
   through the narrow door of the order, easily and without violence,
   because he observes the vows of poverty, true obedience, and
   continence, having abandoned the heights of pride, and bowed his head
   to obedience through humility. He does not break his neck through
   impatience, but is patient with fortitude and enduring perseverance,
   the friends of obedience. Thus he passes by the assaults of the devils,
   mortifying and macerating his flesh, stripping it bare of all pleasures
   and delights and clothing it with the labors of the order in a faith
   which despises nothing, for as a child who does not remember the blows
   and injuries inflicted on him by his father, so this child of the
   spirit does not remember the injuries, pains, or blows inflicted on him
   by his superior in the order, but calling him humbly, turns to him
   without anger, hatred, or rancor, but with meekness and benevolence.

   "These are those little ones of whom My Truth spoke to the disciples,
   who were contending among themselves which of them should be the
   greater, for calling a child, He said: 'Allow the little ones to come
   to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven to be; whoever will not
   humble himself like this child (that is, who will not keep this
   childlike condition), shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. For he who
   humbles himself, dearest daughter, will be exalted, and he who exalts
   himself will be humbled,' which also was said to you by My Truth.
   Justly, therefore, are these humble little ones, humiliated and
   subjected through love, with true and holy obedience, who do not kick
   against the pricks of their order or superior, exalted by Me, the
   supreme and eternal Father, with the true citizens of the blessed life,
   when they are rewarded for all their labors, and in this life also do
   they taste eternal life."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How the truly obedient receive a hundredfold for one, and also eternal
      lift; and what is meant by this one, and this hundredfold.

   "In them is fulfilled the saying of the sweet and amorous Word, My
   only-begotten Son, in the gospel when He replied to Peter's demand,
   'Master, we have left everything for your love's sake, and have
   followed You, what will you give us?' My Truth replied, 'I will give
   you a hundredfold for one, and you shall possess eternal life.' As if
   My Truth had wished to say, You have done well, Peter, for in no other
   way could you follow Me. And I, in this life, will give you a
   hundredfold for one.' And what is this hundredfold, beloved daughter,
   besides which the apostle obtained eternal life? To what did My Truth
   refer? To temporal substance?

   "Properly speaking, no. Do I not, however, often cause one who gives
   alms to multiply in temporal goods? In return for what do I this? In
   return for the gift of his own will. This is the one for which I repay
   him a hundredfold. What is the meaning of the number a hundred? A
   hundred is a perfect number, and cannot be added to except by
   recommencing from the first. So charity is the most perfect of all the
   virtues, so perfect that no higher virtue can be attained except by
   recommencing at the beginning of self-knowledge, and thus increasing
   many hundredfold in merit; but you always necessarily arrive at the
   number one hundred. This is that hundredfold which is given to those
   who have given Me the unit of their own will, both in general
   obedience, and in the particular obedience of the religious life. And
   in addition to this hundred you also possess eternal life, for charity
   alone enters into eternal life, like a mistress bringing with her the
   fruit of all the other virtues, while they remain outside, bringing
   their fruit, I say, into Me, the eternal life, in whom the obedient
   taste eternal life. It is not by faith that they taste eternal life,
   for they experience in its essence that which they have believed
   through faith; nor by hope, for they possess that for which they had
   hoped, and so with all the other virtues, Queen Charity alone enters
   and possesses Me, her possessor. See, therefore, that these little ones
   receive a hundredfold for one, and also eternal life, for here they
   receive the fire of divine charity figured by the number of a hundred
   (as has been said). And because they have received this hundredfold
   from Me, they possess a wonderful and hearty joy, for there is no
   sadness in charity, but the joy of it makes the heart large and
   generous, not narrow or double. A soul wounded by this sweet arrow does
   not appear one thing in face and tongue while her heart is different.
   She does not serve, or act towards her neighbor with dissembling and
   ambition, because charity is an open book to be read by all. Wherefore
   the soul who possesses charity never falls into trouble, or the
   affliction of sadness, or jars with obedience, remains obedient until
   death."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Of the perversities, miseries, and labors of the disobedient man; and of
      the miserable fruits which proceed from disobedience.

   "Contrariwise, a wicked disobedient man dwells in the ship of a
   religious order with so much pain to himself and others, that in this
   life he tastes the earnest of hell, he remains always in sadness and
   confusion of mind, tormented by the sting of conscience, with hatred of
   his order and superior, insupportable to himself. What a terrible thing
   it is, My daughter, to see one who has once taken the key of obedience
   of a religious order, living in disobedience, to which he has made
   himself a slave, for of disobedience he has made his mistress with her
   companion impatience, nourished by pride, and his own pleasure, which
   pride (as has been said) issues from self-love. For him everything is
   the contrary to what it would be for the obedient man. For how can this
   wretch be in any other state than suffering, for he is deprived of
   charity, he is obliged by force to incline the neck of his own will,
   and pride keeps it erect, all his desires are in discord with the will
   of the order. The order commands obedience, and he loves disobedience;
   the order commands voluntary poverty, and he avoids it, possessing and
   acquiring riches; the order commands continence and purity, and he
   desires lewdness. By transgressing these three vows, My daughter, a
   religious comes to ruin, and falls into so many miseries, that his
   aspect is no longer that of a religious but of an incarnate devil, as
   in another place I related to you at greater length. I will, however,
   tell you something now of their delusion, and of the fruit which they
   obtained by disobedience to the commendation and exhortation of
   obedience. This wretched man is deluded by his self-love, because the
   eye of his intellect is fixed, with a dead faith, on pleasing his
   self-will, and on things of the world. He left the world in body, but
   remained there in his affections, and because obedience seems wearisome
   to him he wishes to disobey in order to avoid weariness; whereby he
   arrives at the greatest weariness of all, for he is obliged to obey
   either by force or by love, and it would have been better and less
   wearisome to have obeyed by love than without it. Oh! how deluded he
   is, and no one else deceives him but himself. Wishing to please himself
   he only gives himself displeasure, for the actions which he will have
   to do, through the obedience imposed on him, do not please him. He
   wishes to enjoy delights and make this life his eternity, but the order
   wishes him to be a pilgrim, and continually proves it to him; for when
   he is in a nice pleasant resting place, where he would like to remain
   for the pleasures and delights he finds there, he is transferred
   elsewhere, and the change gives him pain, for his will was active
   against his obedience, and yet he is obliged to endure the discipline
   and labors of the order, and thus remains in continual torment. See,
   therefore, how he deludes himself; for, wishing to fly pain, he on the
   contrary falls into it, for his blindness does not let him know the
   road of true obedience, which is a road of truth founded by the
   obedient Lamb, My only-begotten Son, who removed pain from it, so that
   he walks by the road of lies, believing that he will find delight
   there, but finding on the contrary pain and bitterness. Who is his
   guide? Self-love, that is his own passion for disobedience. Such a man
   thinks like a fool to navigate this tempestuous sea, with the strength
   of his own arms, trusting in his own miserable knowledge, and will not
   navigate it in the arms of his order, and of his superior. Such a one
   is indeed in the ship of the order in body, and not in mind; he has
   quitted it in desire, not observing the regulations or customs of the
   order, nor the three vows which he promised to observe at the time of
   his profession; he swims in the tempestuous sea, tossed to and fro by
   contrary winds, fastened only to the ship by his clothes, wearing the
   religious habit on his body but not on his heart. Such a one is no
   friar, but a masquerader, a man only in appearance. His life is lower
   than an animal's, and he does not see that he labors more swimming with
   his arms, than the good religious in the ship, or that he is in danger
   of eternal death; for if his clothes should be suddenly torn from the
   ship, which will happen at the moment of death, he will have no remedy.
   No, he does not see, for he has darkened his light with the cloud of
   self-love, whence has come his disobedience, which prevents him seeing
   his misery, wherefore he miserably deceives himself. What fruit is
   produced by this wretched tree?

   "The fruit of death, because the root of his affection is planted in
   pride, which he has drawn from self-love. Wherefore everything that
   issues from this root--flowers, leaves, and fruit--is corrupt, and the
   three boughs of this tree, which are obedience, poverty, and
   continence, which spring from the foot of the tree; that is, his
   affections are corrupted. The leaves produced by this tree, which are
   his words, are so corrupt that they would be out of place in the mouth
   of a ribald secular; and if he have to preach My doctrine, he does so
   in polished terms, not simply, as one who should feed souls with the
   seed of My Word, but with eloquent language. Look at the stinking
   flowers of this tree, which are his diverse and various thoughts, which
   he voluntarily welcomes with delight and pleasure, not flying the
   occasions of them, but rather seeking them in order to be able to
   accomplish a sinful act, the which is the fruit which kills him,
   depriving him of the light of grace, and giving him eternal death. And
   what stench comes from this fruit, sprung from the flowers of the tree?
   The stench of disobedience, for, in the secret of his heart, he wishes
   to examine and judge unfaithfully his superior's will; a stench of
   impurity, for he takes delight in many foul conversations, wretchedly
   tempting his penitents.

   "Wretch that you are, do you not see that under the color of devotion
   you conceal a troop of children? This comes from your disobedience. You
   have not chosen the virtues for your children as does the truly
   obedient religious; you strive to deceive your superior when you see
   that he denies you something which your perverse will desires, using
   the leaves of smooth or rough words, speaking irreverently and
   reproving him. You can not endure your brother, nor even the smallest
   word and reproof which he may make to you, but in such a case you
   immediately bring forth the poisoned fruit of anger and hatred against
   him, judging that to be done to your hurt which was done for your good,
   and thus taking scandal, your soul and body living in pain. Why has
   your brother displeased you? Because you live for your own sensual
   pleasure, you fly your cell as if it were a prison, for you have
   abandoned the cell of self-knowledge, and thus fallen into
   disobedience, wherefore you can not remain in your material cell. You
   will not appear in the refectory against your will whilst you have
   anything to spend; when you have nothing left necessity takes you
   there.

   "Therefore the obedient have done well, who have chosen to observe
   their vow of poverty, so that they have nothing to spend, and therefore
   are not led away from the sweet table of the refectory, where obedience
   nourishes both body and soul in peace and quiet. The obedient religious
   does not think of laying a table, or of providing food for himself like
   this wretched man, to whose taste it is painful to eat in the
   refectory, wherefore he avoids it; he is always the last to enter the
   choir, and the first to leave it; with his lips he approaches Me, with
   his heart he is far from Me. He gladly escapes from the chapter-house
   when he can through fear of penance. When he is obliged to be there, he
   is covered with shame and confusion for the faults which he felt it no
   shame to commit. What is the cause of this? Disobedience. He does not
   watch in prayer, and not only does he omit mental prayer, but even the
   Divine office to which he is obliged. He has no fraternal charity,
   because he loves no one but himself, and that not with a reasonable but
   with a bestial love. So great are the evils which fall on the
   disobedient; so many are the fruits of sorrow which he produces, that
   your tongue could not relate them. Oh! disobedience, which deprives the
   soul of the light of obedience, destroying peace, and giving war!
   Disobedience destroys life and gives death, drawing the religious out
   of the ship of the observance of his order, to drown him in the sea,
   making him swim in the strength of his own arms, and not repose on
   those of the order. Disobedience clothes him with every misery, causes
   him to die of hunger, taking away from him the food of the merit of
   obedience, it gives him continual bitterness, depriving him of every
   sweetness and good, causing him to dwell with every evil in life it
   gives him the earnest of cruel torments to endure, and if he do not
   amend before his clothes are loosened from the ship at death,
   disobedience will lead the soul to eternal damnation, together with the
   devils who fell from heaven, because they rebelled against Me. In the
   same way have you, oh! disobedient man, having rebelled against
   obedience and cast from you the key which would have opened the door of
   heaven, opened instead the door of hell with the key of disobedience."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How God does not reward merit according to the labor of the obedient, nor
      according to the length of time which it takes, but according to the love
      and promptitude of the truly obedient; and of the miracles which God has
      performed by means of this virtue; and of discretion in obedience, and of
      the works and reward of the truly obedient man.

   "I have appointed you all to labor in the vineyard of obedience in
   different ways, and every man will receive a price, according to the
   measure of his love, and not according to the work he does, or the
   length of time for which he works, that is to say, that he who comes
   early will not have more than he who comes late, as My Truth told you
   in the holy gospel by the example of those who were standing idle and
   were sent by the lord of the vineyard to labor; for he gave as much to
   those who went at dawn, as to those who went at prime or at tierce, and
   those who went at sext, at none, and even at vespers, received as much
   as the first: My Truth showing you in this way that you are rewarded
   not according to time or work, but according to the measure of your
   love. Many are placed in their childhood to work in the vineyard; some
   enter later in life, and others in old age; sometimes these latter
   labor with such fire of love, seeing the shortness of the time, that
   they rejoin those who entered in their childhood, because they have
   advanced but slowly. By love of obedience, then, does the soul receive
   her merit, filling the vessel of her heart in Me, the Sea Pacific.
   There are many whose obedience is so prompt, and has become, as it
   were, so incarnate in them, that not only do they wish to see reason in
   what is ordered them by their superior, but they hardly wait until the
   word is out of his mouth, for with the light of faith they understand
   his intention. Wherefore the truly obedient man obeys rather the
   intention than the word, judging that the will of his superior is fixed
   in My will, and that therefore his command comes from My dispensation,
   and from My will, wherefore I say to you that he rather obeys the
   intention than the word. He also obeys the word, having first
   spiritually obeyed in affection his superior's will, seeing and judging
   it by the light of faith to be Mine. This is well shown in the lives of
   the fathers, where you read of a religious, who at once obeyed in his
   affection the command of his superior, commencing to write the letter
   o, though he had not space to finish it; wherefore to show how pleasing
   his prompt obedience was to Me, My clemency gave him a proof by writing
   the other half of the letter in gold. This glorious virtue is so
   pleasing to Me, that to no other have I given so many miraculous signs
   and testimonies, for it proceeds from the height of faith.

   "In order to show how pleasing it is to Me, the earth obeys this
   virtue, the animals obey it--water grows solid under the feet of the
   obedient man. And as for the obedience of the earth, you remember
   having read of that disciple who, being given a dry stick by his abbot,
   and being ordered by obedience to plant it in the earth and water it
   every day, did not proceed to ask how could it possibly do any good,
   but, without inquiring about possibilities, he fulfilled his obedience
   in such virtue of faith that the dry wood brought forth leaves and
   fruits, as a sign that that soul had risen from the dryness of
   disobedience, and, covered by the green leaves of virtue, had brought
   forth the fruit of obedience, wherefore the fruit of this tree was
   called by the holy fathers the fruit of obedience. You will also find
   that animals obey the obedient man; for a certain disciple, commanded
   by obedience, through his purity and virtue caught a dragon and brought
   it to his abbot, but the abbot, like a true physician of the soul, in
   order that he might not be tossed about by the wind of vainglory, and
   to prove his patience, sent him away with harsh words, saying: Beast
   that you are, you have brought along another beast with yourself.' And
   as to fire, you have read in the holy scripture that many were placed
   in the fire, rather than transgress My obedience, and, at My command
   were not hurt by it. This was the case of the three children, who
   remained happily in the furnace--and of many others of whom I could
   tell you. The water bore up Maurus who had been sent by obedience to
   save a drowning disciple; he did not think of himself, but thought only
   with the light of faith of how to fulfill the command of his superior,
   and so walked upon the water as if he had been on dry land, and so
   saved the disciple. In everything, if you open the eye of the
   intellect, you will find shown forth the excellence of this virtue.
   Everything else should be abandoned for the sake of obedience. If you
   were lifted up in such contemplation and union of mind with Me, that
   your body was raised from the earth, and an obedience were imposed on
   you (speaking generally, and not in a particular case, which cannot
   give a law), you ought, if possible, to force yourself to arise, to
   fulfill the obedience imposed on you, though you should never leave
   prayer, except for necessity, charity, or obedience. I say this in
   order that you may see how prompt I wish the obedience of My servants
   to be, and how pleasing it is to Me. Everything that the obedient man
   does is a source of merit to him. If he eats, obedience is his food; if
   he sleeps, his dreams are obedience; if he walks, if he remains still,
   if he fasts, if he watches--everything that he does is obedience; if he
   serve his neighbor, it is obedience that he serves. How is he guided in
   the choir, in the refectory, or his cell? By obedience, with the light
   of the most holy faith, with which light he has slain and cast from him
   his humbled self-will, and abandoned himself with self-hatred to the
   arms of his order and superior. Reposing with obedience in the ship,
   allowing himself to be guided by his superior, he has navigated the
   tempestuous sea of this life, with calm and serene mind and
   tranquillity of heart, because obedience and faith have taken all
   darkness from him; he remains strong and firm, having lost all weakness
   and fear, having destroyed his own will, from which comes all
   feebleness and disordinate fear. And what is the food of this spouse
   obedience? She eats knowledge of self, and of Me, knowing her own
   non-existence and sinfulness, and knowing that I am He who is, thus
   eating and knowing My Truth in the Incarnate Word. What does she drink?
   The Blood, in which the Word has shown her, My Truth, and the ineffable
   love which I have for her, and the obedience imposed on Him by Me, His
   Eternal Father, so she becomes inebriated with the love and obedience
   of the Word, losing herself and her own opinions and knowledge, and
   possessing Me by grace, tasting Me by love, with the light of faith in
   holy obedience.

   "The obedient man speaks words of peace all his life, and at his death
   receives that which was promised him at his death by his superior, that
   is to say, eternal life, the vision of peace, and of supreme and
   eternal tranquillity and rest, the inestimable good which no one can
   value or understand, for, being the infinite good, it cannot be
   understood by anything smaller than itself, like a vessel, which,
   dipped into the sea, does not comprehend the whole sea, but only that
   quantity which it contains. The sea alone contains itself. So I, the
   Sea Pacific, am He who alone can comprehend and value Myself truly. And
   in My own estimate and comprehension of Myself I rejoice, and this joy,
   the good which I have in Myself, I share with you, and with all,
   according to the measure of each. I do not leave you empty, but fill
   you, giving you perfect beatitude; each man comprehends and knows My
   goodness in the measure in which it is given to him. Thus, then, the
   obedient man, with the light of faith in the truth burning in the
   furnace of charity, anointed with humility, inebriated with the Blood,
   in company with his sister patience, and with self-contempt, fortitude,
   and enduring perseverance, and all the other virtues (that is, with the
   fruit of the virtues), receives his end from Me, his Creator."
     __________________________________________________________________

      This is a brief repetition of the entire book.

   "I have now, oh dearest and best beloved daughter, satisfied from the
   beginning to the end your desire concerning obedience.

   "If you remember well, you made four petitions of Me with anxious
   desire, or rather I caused you to make them in order to increase the
   fire of My love in your soul: one for yourself, which I have satisfied,
   illuminating you with My Truth, and showing you how you may know this
   truth which you desired to know; explaining to you how you might come
   to the knowledge of it through the knowledge of yourself and Me,
   through the light of faith. The second request you made of Me was that
   I should do mercy to the world. In the third you prayed for the
   mystical body of the holy Church, that I would remove darkness and
   persecutions from it, punishing its iniquities at own desire in your
   person. As to this I explained that no penalty inflicted in finite time
   can satisfy for a sin committed against Me, the Infinite Good, unless
   it is united with the desire of the soul and contrition of the heart.
   How this is to be done I have explained to you. I have also told you
   that I wish to do mercy to the world, proving to you that mercy is My
   special attribute, for through the mercy and the inestimable love which
   I had for man, I sent to the earth the Word, My only-begotten Son,
   whom, that you might understand things quite clearly, I represented to
   you under the figure of a Bridge, reaching from earth to heaven,
   through the union of My divinity with your human nature.

   "I also showed you, to give you further light concerning My truth, how
   this Bridge is built on three steps; that is, on the three powers of
   the soul. These three steps I also represented to you, as you know,
   under figures of your body--the feet, the side, and the mouth--by which
   I also figured three states of soul--the imperfect state, the perfect
   state, and the most perfect state, in which the soul arrives at the
   excellence of unitive love. I have shown you clearly in each state the
   means of cutting away imperfection and reaching perfection, and how the
   soul may know by which road she is walking and of the hidden delusions
   of the devil and of spiritual self-love. Speaking of these three states
   I have also spoken of the three judgments which My clemency
   delivers--one in this life, the second at death on those who die in
   mortal sin without hope, of whom I told you that they went under the
   Bridge by the Devil's road, when I spoke to you of their wretchedness.
   And the third is that of the last and universal judgment. And I who
   told you somewhat of the suffering of the damned and the glory of the
   blessed, when all shall have reassumed their bodies given by Me, also
   promised you, and now again I repeat my promise, that through the long
   endurance of My servants I will reform My spouse. Wherefore I invite
   you to endure, Myself lamenting with you over her iniquities. And I
   have shown you the excellence of the ministers I have given her, and
   the reverence in which I wish seculars to hold them, showing you the
   reason why their reverence towards My ministers should not diminish on
   account of the sins of the latter, and how displeasing to me is such
   diminution of reverence; and of the virtue of those who live like
   angels. And while speaking to you on this subject, I also touched on
   the excellence of the sacraments. And further wishing you to know of
   the states of tears and whence they proceed, I spoke to you on the
   subject and told you that all tears issue from the fountain of the
   heart, and pointed out their causes to you in order.

   "I told you not only of the four states of tears, but also of the
   fifth, which germinates death. I have also answered your fourth
   request, that I would provide for the particular case of an individual;
   I have provided as you know. Further than this, I have explained My
   providence to you, in general and in particular, showing you how
   everything is made by divine providence, from the first beginning of
   the world until the end, giving you and permitting everything to happen
   to you, both tribulations and consolations temporal and spiritual, and
   every circumstance of your life for your good, in order that you may be
   sanctified in Me, and My Truth be fulfilled in you, which truth is that
   I created you in order to possess eternal life, and manifested this
   with the blood of My only-begotten Son, the Word.

   "I have also in My last words fulfilled your desire and My promise to
   speak of the perfection of obedience and the imperfection of
   disobedience; and how obedience can be obtained and how destroyed. I
   have shown it to you as a universal key, and so it is. I have also
   spoken to you of particular obedience, and of the perfect and
   imperfect, and of those in religion, and of those in the world,
   explaining the condition of each distinctly to you, and of the peace
   given by obedience, and the war of disobedience, and how the
   disobedient man is deceived, showing you how death came into the world
   by the disobedience of Adam, and how I, the Eternal Father, supreme and
   eternal Truth, give you this conclusion of the whole matter, that in
   the obedience of the only-begotten Word, My Son, you have life, and as
   from that first old man you contracted the infection of death, so all
   of you who will take the key of obedience have contracted the infection
   of the life of the new Man, sweet Jesus, of whom I made a Bridge, the
   road to Heaven being broken. And now I urge you and My other servants
   to grief, for by your grief and humble and continual prayer I will do
   mercy to the world. Die to the world and hasten along this way of
   truth, so as not to be taken prisoner if you go slowly. I demand this
   of you now more than at first, for now I have manifested to you My
   Truth. Beware that you never leave the cell of self-knowledge, but in
   this cell preserve and spend the treasure which I have given you, which
   is a doctrine of truth founded upon the living stone, sweet Christ
   Jesus, clothed in light which scatters darkness, with which doctrine
   clothe yourself, My best beloved and sweetest daughter, in the truth."
     __________________________________________________________________

      How this most devout soul, thanking and praising God, makes prayer for the
      whole world and for the Holy Church, and commending the virtue of faith
      brings this work to an end.

   Then that soul, having seen with the eye of the intellect, and having
   known by the light of holy faith the truth and excellence of obedience,
   hearing and tasting it with love and ecstatic desire, gazed upon the
   divine majesty and gave thanks to Him, saying, "Thanks, thanks to You,
   oh eternal Father, for You have not despised me, the work of Your
   hands, nor turned Your face from me, nor despised my desires; You, the
   Light, have not regarded my darkness; You, true Life, have not regarded
   my living death; You, the Physician, have not been repelled by my grave
   infirmities; You, the eternal Purity, have not considered the many
   miseries of which I am full; You, who are the Infinite, have overlooked
   that I am finite; You, who are Wisdom, have overlooked my folly; Your
   wisdom, Your goodness, Your clemency, Your infinite good, have
   overlooked these infinite evils and sins, and the many others which are
   in me. Having known the truth through Your clemency, I have found Your
   charity, and the love of my neighbor. What has constrained me? Not my
   virtues, but only Your charity. May that same charity constrain You to
   illuminate the eye of my intellect with the light of faith, so that I
   may know and understand the truth which You have manifested to me.
   Grant that my memory may be capable of retaining Your benefits, that my
   will may burn in the fire of Your charity, and may that fire so work in
   me that I give my body to blood, and that by that blood given for love
   of the Blood, together with the key of obedience, I may unlock the door
   of Heaven. I ask this of You with all my heart, forevery rational
   creature, both in general and in particular, in the mystical body of
   the holy Church. I confess and do not deny that You loved me before I
   existed, and that Your love for me is ineffable, as if You were mad
   with love for Your creature. Oh, eternal Trinity! oh Godhead! which
   Godhead gave value to the Blood of Your Son, You, oh eternal Trinity,
   are a deep Sea, into which the deeper I enter the more I find, and the
   more I find the more I seek; the soul cannot be satiated in Your abyss,
   for she continually hungers after You, the eternal Trinity, desiring to
   see You with light in Your light. As the hart desires the spring of
   living water, so my soul desires to leave the prison of this dark body
   and see You in truth. How long, oh! Eternal Trinity, fire and abyss of
   love, will Your face be hidden from my eyes? Melt at once the cloud of
   my body. The knowledge which You have given me of Yourself in Your
   truth, constrains me to long to abandon the heaviness of my body, and
   to give my life for the glory and praise of Your Name, for I have
   tasted and seen with the light of the intellect in Your light, the
   abyss of You--the eternal Trinity, and the beauty of Your creature,
   for, looking at myself in You, I saw myself to be Your image, my life
   being given me by Your power, oh! eternal Father, and Your wisdom,
   which belongs to Your only-begotten Son, shining in my intellect and my
   will, being one with Your Holy Spirit, who proceeds from You and Your
   Son, by whom I am able to love You. You, Eternal Trinity, are my
   Creator, and I am the work of Your hands, and I know through the new
   creation which You have given me in the blood of Your Son, that You are
   enamored of the beauty of Your workmanship. Oh! Abyss, oh! Eternal
   Godhead, oh! Sea Profound! what more could You give me than Yourself;
   You are the fire which ever burns without being consumed; You consume
   in Your heat all the soul's self-love; You are the fire which takes
   away all cold; with Your light You do illuminate me so that I may know
   all Your truth; You are that light above all light, which illuminates
   supernaturally the eye of my intellect, clarifying the light of faith
   so abundantly and so perfectly, that I see that my soul is alive, and
   in this light receives You--the true light. By the Light of faith I
   have acquired wisdom in the wisdom of the Word--Your only-begotten Son.
   In the light of faith I am strong, constant, and persevering. In the
   light of faith I hope, suffer me not to faint by the way. This light,
   without which I should still walk in darkness, teaches me the road, and
   for this I said, Oh! Eternal Father, that You have illuminated me with
   the light of holy faith. Of a truth this light is a sea, for the soul
   revels in You, Eternal Trinity, the Sea Pacific. The water of the sea
   is not turbid, and causes no fear to the soul, for she knows the truth;
   it is a deep which manifests sweet secrets, so that where the light of
   Your faith abounds, the soul is certain of what she believes. This
   water is a magic mirror into which You, the Eternal Trinity, bid me
   gaze, holding it with the hand of love, that I may see myself, who am
   Your creature, there represented in You, and Yourself in me through the
   union which You made of Your godhead with our humanity. For this light
   I know to represent to myself You--the Supreme and Infinite Good, Good
   Blessed and Incomprehensible, Good Inestimable. Beauty above all
   beauty; Wisdom above all wisdom--for You are wisdom itself. You, the
   food of the angels, have given Yourself in a fire of love to men; You,
   the garment which covers all our nakedness, feed the hungry with Your
   sweetness. Oh! Sweet, without any bitter, oh! Eternal Trinity, I have
   known in Your light, which You have given me with the light of holy
   faith, the many and wonderful things You have declared to me,
   explaining to me the path of supreme perfection, so that I may no
   longer serve You in darkness, but with light, and that I may be the
   mirror of a good and holy life, and arise from my miserable sins, for
   through them I have hitherto served You in darkness. I have not known
   Your truth and have not loved it. Why did I not know You? Because I did
   not see You with the glorious light of the holy faith; because the
   cloud of self-love darkened the eye of my intellect, and You, the
   Eternal Trinity, have dissipated the darkness with Your light. Who can
   attain to Your Greatness, and give You thanks for such immeasurable
   gifts and benefits as You have given me in this doctrine of truth,
   which has been a special grace over and above the ordinary graces which
   You give also to Your other creatures? You have been willing to
   condescend to my need and to that of Your creatures--the need of
   introspection. Having first given the grace to ask the question, You
   reply to it, and satisfy Your servant, penetrating me with a ray of
   grace, so that in that light I may give You thanks. Clothe me, clothe
   me with You, oh! Eternal Truth, that I may run my mortal course with
   true obedience and the light of holy faith, with which light I feel
   that my soul is about to become inebriated afresh."
     __________________________________________________________________

      Letter of Ser Barduccio di Piero Canigiani, containing the Transit of the
      Seraphic Virgin, Saint Catherine of Siena, to Sister Catherine Petriboni
      in the Monastery of San Piero a Monticelli near Florence. In the Name of
      Jesus Christ.

   Dearest Mother in Christ Jesus, and Sister in the holy memory of our
   blessed mother Catherine, I, Barduccio, a wretched and guilty sinner,
   recommend myself to your holy prayers as a feeble infant, orphaned by
   the death of so great a mother. I received your letter and read it with
   much pleasure, and communicated it to my afflicted mothers here, who,
   supremely grateful for your great charity and tender love towards them,
   recommend themselves greatly, for their part, to your prayers, and beg
   you to recommend them to the Prioress and all the sisters that they may
   be ready to do all that may be pleasing to God concerning themselves
   and you. But since you, as a beloved and faithful daughter, desire to
   know the end of our common mother, I am constrained to satisfy your
   desire; and although I know myself to be but little fitted to give such
   a narration, I will write in any case what my feeble eyes have seen,
   and what the dull senses of my soul have been able to comprehend.

   This blessed virgin and mother of thousands of souls, about the feast
   of the Circumcision, began to feel so great a change both in soul and
   body, that she was obliged to alter her mode of life, the action of
   taking food for her sustenance becoming so loathsome to her, that it
   was only with the greatest difficulty that she could force herself to
   take any, and, when she did so, she swallowed nothing of the substance
   of the food, but had the habit of rejecting it. Moreover, not one drop
   of water could she swallow for refreshment, whence came to her a most
   violent and tedious thirst, and so great an inflammation of her throat
   that her breath seemed to be fire, with all which, however, she
   remained in very good health, robust and fresh as usual. In these
   conditions we reached Sexagesima Sunday, when, about the hour of
   vespers, at the time of her prayer, she had so violent a stroke that
   from that day onwards she was no longer in health. Towards the night of
   the following Monday, just after I had written a letter, she had
   another stroke so terrific, that we all mourned her as dead, remaining
   under it for a long time without giving any sign of life. Then, rising,
   she stood for an equal space of time, and did not seem the same person
   as she who had fallen.

   From that hour began new travail and bitter pains in her body, and,
   Lent having arrived, she began, in spite of her infirmity, to give
   herself with such application of mind to prayer that the frequency of
   the humble sighs and sorrowful plaints which she exhaled from the depth
   of her heart appeared to us a miracle. I think, too, that you know that
   her prayers were so fervent that one hour spent in prayer by her
   reduced that dear tender frame to greater weakness than would be
   suffered by one who should persist for two whole days in prayer.
   Meanwhile, every morning, after communion, she arose from the earth in
   such a state that any one who had seen her would have thought her dead,
   and was thus carried back to bed. Thence, after an hour or two, she
   would arise afresh, and we would go to St. Peter's, although a good
   mile distant, where she would place herself in prayer, so remaining
   until vespers, finally returning to the house so worn out that she
   seemed a corpse.

   These were her exercises up till the third Sunday in Lent, when she
   finally succumbed, conquered by the innumerable sufferings, which daily
   increased, and consumed her body, and the infinite afflictions of the
   soul which she derived from the consideration of the sins which she saw
   being committed against God, and from the dangers ever more grave to
   which she knew the Holy Church to be exposed, on account of which she
   remained greatly overcome, and both internally and externally
   tormented. She lay in this state for eight weeks, unable to lift her
   head, and full of intolerable pains, from the soles of her feet to the
   crown of her head, to such an extent that she would often say: "These
   pains are truly physical, but not natural; for it seems that God has
   given permission to the devils to torment this body at their pleasure."
   And, in truth, it evidently was so; for, if I were to attempt to
   explain the patience which she practiced, under this terrible and
   unheard-of agony, I should fear to injure, by my explanations, facts
   which cannot be explained. This only will I say, that, every time that
   a new torment came upon her, she would joyously raise her eyes and her
   heart to God and say: "Thanks to You, oh eternal Spouse, for granting
   such graces afresh every day to me, Your miserable and most unworthy
   handmaid!"

   In this way her body continued to consume itself until the Sunday
   before the Ascension; but by that time it was reduced to such a state
   that it seemed like a corpse in a picture, though I speak not of the
   face, which remained ever angelical and breathed forth devotion, but of
   the bosom and limbs, in which nothing could be seen but the bones,
   covered by the thinnest skin, and so feeble was she from the waist
   downwards that she could not move herself, even a little, from one side
   to another. In the night preceding the aforesaid Sunday, about two
   hours or more before dawn, a great change was produced in her, and we
   thought that she was approaching the end. The whole family was then
   called around her, and she, with singular humility and devotion, made
   signs to those who were standing near that she desired to receive Holy
   Absolution for her faults and the pains due to them, and so it was
   done. After which she became gradually reduced to such a state that we
   could observe no other movement than her breathing, continuous, sad,
   and feeble. On account of this it seemed right to give her extreme
   unction, which our abbot of Sant' Antimo did, while she lay as it were
   deprived of feeling.

   After this unction she began altogether to change, and to make various
   signs with her head and her arms as if to show that she was suffering
   from grave assaults of demons, and remained in this calamitous state
   for an hour and a half, half of which time having been passed in
   silence, she began to say: "I have sinned! Oh Lord, have mercy on me!"
   And this, as I believe, she repeated more than sixty times, raising
   each time her right arm, and then letting it fall and strike the bed.
   Then, changing her words, she said as many times again, but without
   moving her arms, "Holy God, have mercy on me!" Finally she employed the
   remainder of the above-mentioned time with many other formulas of
   prayer both humble and devout, expressing various acts of virtue, after
   which her face suddenly changed from gloom to angelic light, and her
   tearful and clouded eyes became serene and joyous, in such a manner
   that I could not doubt that, like one saved from a deep sea, she was
   restored to herself, which circumstance greatly mitigated the grief of
   her sons and daughters who were standing around in the affliction you
   can imagine.

   Catherine had been lying on the bosom of Mother Alessia and now
   succeeded in rising, and with a little help began to sit up, leaning
   against the same mother. In the meantime we had put before her eyes a
   pious picture, containing many relics and various pictures of the
   saints. She, however, fixed her eyes on the image of the cross set in
   it, and began to adore it, explaining, in words, certain of her most
   profound feelings of the goodness of God, and while she prayed, she
   accused herself in general of all her sins in the sight of God, and, in
   particular, said: "It is my fault, oh eternal Trinity, that I have
   offended You so miserably with my negligence, ignorance, ingratitude,
   and disobedience, and many other defects. Wretch that I am! for I have
   not observed Your commandments, either those which are given in general
   to all, or those which Your goodness laid upon me in particular! Oh
   mean creature that I am!" Saying which, she struck her breast,
   repeating her confession, and continued: "I have not observed Your
   precept, with which You commanded me to seek always to give You honor,
   and to spend myself in labors for my neighbor, while I, on the
   contrary, have fled from labors, especially where they were necessary.
   Did You not command me, oh, my God! to abandon all thought of myself
   and to consider solely the praise and glory of Your Name in the
   salvation of souls, and with this food alone, taken from the table of
   the most holy Cross, to comfort myself? But I have sought my own
   consolation. You did ever invite me to bind myself to You alone by
   sweet, loving, and fervent desires, by tears and humble and continuous
   prayers for the salvation of the whole world and for the reformation of
   the holy Church, promising me that, on account of them, You would use
   mercy with the world, and give new beauty to Your Spouse; but I,
   wretched one, have not corresponded with Your desire, but have remained
   asleep in the bed of negligence.

   "Oh, unhappy that I am! You have placed me in charge of souls,
   assigning to me so many beloved sons, that I should love them with
   singular love and direct them to You by the way of Life, but I have
   been to them nothing but a mirror of human weakness; I have had no care
   of them; I have not helped them with continuous and humble prayer in
   Your presence, nor have I given them sufficient examples of the good
   life or the warnings of salutary doctrine. Oh, mean creature that I am!
   with how little reverence have I received Your innumerable gifts, the
   graces of such sweet torments and labors which it pleased You to
   accumulate on this fragile body, nor have I endured them with that
   burning desire and ardent love with which You sent them to me. Alas!
   oh, my Love, through Your excessive goodness You chose me for Your
   spouse, from the beginning of my childhood, but I was not faithful
   enough; in fact, I was unfaithful to You, because I did not keep my
   memory faithful to You alone and to Your most high benefits; nor have I
   fixed my intelligence on the thought of them only or disposed my will
   to love You immediately with all its strength."

   Of these and many other similar things did that pure dove accuse
   herself, rather, as I think, for our example than for her own need, and
   then, turning to the priest, said: "For the love of Christ crucified,
   absolve me of all these sins which I have confessed in the presence of
   God, and of all the others which I cannot remember." That done, she
   asked again for the plenary indulgence, saying that it had been granted
   her by Pope Gregory and Pope Urban, saying this as one an hungered for
   the Blood of Christ. So I did what she asked, and she, keeping her eyes
   ever fixed on the crucifix, began afresh to adore it with the greatest
   devotion, and to say certain very profound things which I, for my sins,
   was not worthy to understand, and also on account of the grief with
   which I was laboring and the anguish with which her throat was
   oppressed, which was so great that she could hardly utter her words,
   while we, placing our ears to her mouth, were able to catch one or two
   now or again, passing them on from one to the other. After this she
   turned to certain of her sons, who had not been present at a memorable
   discourse, which, many days previously, she had made to the whole
   family, showing us the way of salvation and perfection, and laying upon
   each of us the particular task which he was to perform after her death.
   She now did the same to these others, begging most humbly pardon of all
   for the slight care which she seemed to have had of our salvation. Then
   she said certain things to Lucio and to another, and finally to me, and
   then turned herself straightway to prayer.

   Oh! had you seen with what humility and reverence she begged and
   received many times the blessing of her most sorrowful mother, all that
   I can say is that it was a bitter sweet to her. How full of tender
   affection was the spectacle of the mother, recommending herself to her
   blessed child, and begging her to obtain a particular grace from
   God--namely, that in these melancholy circumstances she might not
   offend Him. But all these things did not distract the holy virgin from
   the fervor of her prayer; and, approaching her end, she began to pray
   especially for the Catholic Church, for which she declared she was
   giving her life. She prayed again for Pope Urban VI., whom she
   resolutely confessed to be the true Pontiff, and strengthened her sons
   never to hesitate to give their life for that truth. Then, with the
   greatest fervor, she besought all her beloved children whom the Lord
   had given her, to love Him alone, repeating many of the words which our
   Savior used, when He recommended the disciples to the Father, praying
   with such affection, that, at hearing her, not only our hearts, but the
   very stones might have been broken. Finally, making the sign of the
   cross, she blessed us all, and thus continued in prayer to the end of
   her life for which she had so longed, saying: "You, oh Lord, call me,
   and I come to You, not through my merits, but through Your mercy alone,
   which I ask of You, in virtue of Your Blood!" and many times she called
   out: "Blood, Blood!" Finally, after the example of the Savior, she
   said: "Father, into Your Hands I commend my soul and my spirit," and
   thus sweetly, with a face all shining and angelical, she bent her head,
   and gave up the ghost.

   Her transit occurred on the Sunday at the hour of Sext, but we kept her
   unburied until the hour of Compline on Tuesday, without any odor being
   perceptible, her body remaining so pure, intact, and fragrant, that her
   arms, her neck and her legs remained as flexible as if she were still
   alive. During those three days the body was visited by crowds of
   people, and lucky he thought himself who was able to touch it. Almighty
   God also worked many miracles in that time, which in my hurry I omit.
   Her tomb is visited devoutly by the faithful, like those of the other
   holy bodies which are in Rome, and Almighty God is granting many graces
   in the name of His blessed spouse, and I doubt not that there will be
   many more, and we are made great by hearing of them. I say no more.
   Recommend me to the Prioress and all the sisters, for I have, at
   present, the greatest need of the help of prayer. May Almighty God
   preserve you and help you to grow in His grace.
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.
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