The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena

<!-- more -->
<pre>
    __________________________________________________________________

          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
    __________________________________________________________________

                   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.
    __________________________________________________________________

            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, [email protected], 1994.

  This etext is in the public domain.
    __________________________________________________________________

                                   CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  A TREATISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE

  A TREATISE OF DISCRETION

  A TREATISE OF PRAYER

  A TREATISE OF OBEDIENCE
    __________________________________________________________________

                    THE DIALOGUE OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
    __________________________________________________________________

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.
    __________________________________________________________________

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."
    __________________________________________________________________

     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.
</pre>

You are viewing proxied material from sdf.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.