Chapter 5: Of the Wound of Divine Love ; and of the manlier of bathing, anointing, and binding it up

Seven years after, a little before Advent, by Thine ordi nance, who art the Source of all good, I engaged a certain person to say this prayer every day for me before a cruci fix, " 0 most loving Lord, by Thy pierced Heart, pierce her heart with the arrow of Thy love, so that nothing earthly may remain therein, and that it may be entirely filled with 1 he strength of Thy Divinity." Being moved, as I believe, by these prayers, on the Sunday when they sang the Mass Gaudete in Domino Thy infinite liberality having per mitted me, by an excess of mercy, to approach the Com munion of Thy adorable Body and Blood, Thou didst infuse a desire in me when I approached It, which broke forth in these words : " Lord, I am not worthy to receive the least of Thy gifts ; but I beseech Thee, by the merits and prayers of all here present, to pierce my heart with the arrow of Thy love." I soon perceived that my words had reached Thy Divine Heart, both by an interior effusion of grace, and by a remarkable prodigy which Thou didst show me in the image of Thy crucifixion.

After I had received the Sacrament of life, and had retired to the place where I pray, it seemed to me that I saw a ray of light like an arrow coming forth from the wound of the right side of the crucifix, which was in an elevated place, and it continued, as it were, to advance and retire for some time, sweetly attracting my cold affections. But my desire was not entirely satisfied with these things until the following Wednesday, when, after the Mass, the faithful meditated on Thy adorable Incarnation and Annun ciation, in which I joined, however imperfectly. And, be hold, Thou earnest suddenly before me, and didst imprint a wound in my heart, saying these words : " May the full tide of your affections flow hither, so that all your plea sure., your hope, your joy, your grief, your fear, and every other feeling may be sustained by My love ! " And I immediately remembered that I had heard a wound should be bathed, anointed, and bandaged. But Thou didst not teach rue then in what manner I should perform these things ; for Thou didst defer it, to discover it to me more clearly in the end by means of another person, who had accustomed the ears of her soul to discern far more exactly and delicately than I do the sweet murmurs of Thy love.

She advised me to reflect devoutly upon the love of Thy Heart when hanging on the cross, and to draw from this fountain the waters of true devotion, to wash away all my ofl'ences ; to take from the unction of mercy the oil of gratitude, which the sweetness of this inestimable love has produced as a remedy for all adversities, and to use this efficacious charity and the strength of this consummate love as a ligament of justification to unite all my thoughts, words, and works indissolubly and powerfully to Thee. May all the deprivation of those things which my malice and wickedness has caused be supplied through that love whose plenitude abides in Him who, being seated on Thy right hand, has become " bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh ! " As it is by Him, through the operation of the

Holy Spirit, that Thou bast placed in me this noble virtue of compassion, humility, and reverence, to enable me to speak to Thee, it is also by Him that I present to Thee my complaint of the miseries I endure, which are so great in number, and which have caused me to offend Thy Di vine goodness in so many ways by my thoughts, words, and actions, but principally by the bad use which I have made of the aforesaid graces, by my unfaithfulness, my negligence, and my irreverence. For if Thou hast given to one so unworthy even a thread of flax * as a remem brance of Thee, I should have been bound to respect it more than I have done all these favours.

Thou knowest, 0 my God, from whom nothing is hid den, that the reason why I have written these things, so much against my inclination, is, that I have profited so little by Thy liberality, that I cannot believe they were made known to me for myself alone, since thine eternal wisdom cannot be deceived. Grant, then, 0 Giver of gifts, who hast so freely and unreservedly bestowed them on me, that whoever reads these things may be touched with ten derness and compassion for Thee ; and, knowing that the zeal which Thou hast for the salvation of souls has induced Thee to leave such royal gems t so long in my defiled heart, they may praise, adore, and extol Thy mercy, saying with their lips, and with their hearts, " Praise, honour, glory, and benediction be to Thee, 0 God the Father, from whom all things proceed," thus to supply for my deficiencies. J

J The words, "Hie distulit scribere usque in Octohrem," are at the end of chapter v. in the original, in italics.