Chapter 8: Of the admirable union of her soul with God

ON the following Sunday, at the Mass Esto mihi Thou didst enkindle my spirit, and increase my desires to receive yet more noble gifts which Thou wert about to bestow on me ; especially by these two words, which moved my soul deeply, namely, the versicle of the first response : " Benedicens^ benedicam tibi" — "With blessings I will bless thee/' and the versicle of the ninth response : " Tibi enim et semini tuo dabo universas region es has " — " To thee and to thy posterity I will give all these countries " (Gen. xxvi.). For then Thou didst show me what were these countries which Thy boundless liberality had promised. 0 blessed country, where blessings flow upon blessings ! 0 field of delights, whose least grain is capable of satisfying the hunger which any of the elect may have for those things which the human heart considers desirable, delightful, amiable, sweet, and joyful. While I attended to these things as well as I could, though not as well as I ought, the sweetness and charity of my Saviour and my God was made known to me ; not as an act of justice, for I was far from meriting such favours, but as an act of His ineffable mercy, fortifying me by an adoptive charity, and rendering my extreme vileness — all unworthy, miserable, and detest able as it is — capable of receiving a more supercelestial and superinestimable union with Him. But, my God, how have I merited this inestimable gift from Thy justice ? Surely it proceeds from this love, which observes no rule — • this ardent love, which is not limited by reason, and which has inebriated Thee, my sweetest Lord, if I may dare say so — causing Thee, as if devoid of wisdom, to unite what is so dissimilar ; or, to speak more correctly, the tenderness of Thine essential goodness, and Thy nature, being inwardly moved by Thy sweetest charity (which causes Thee not only to love, but to be all love, and the torrent of which Thou hast turned towards the salvation of the human race), having inclined Thee to draw from the depths of misery the least of Thy creatures, deficient in all good, contemp tible on account of her life and conduct, to elevate her to a share in Thy kingdom, or rather in Thy Divine Majesty, in order by this to confirm the confidence of all who are in the Church ; so that I have hope for all Christians, and can believe that there will not be even one who will abuse the gifts of God as I have done, or give such scandal to their neighbour.

But since we may understand the invisible things of God, in some measure, by those which are visible — as I have before remarked — I saw (to express as far as I can that which is inexpressible) that the part of His blessed Heart where the Lord received my soul on the Feast of the Purification, under the form of wax softened by the fire, was, as it were, dropping a sweat, which came forth with violence, even as if the substance of the wax was melted by the excessive heat hidden in the depth of this Heart. This sacred reservoir attracted these drops to itself with surpris ing force, powerfully and inexpressibly, and even so incon ceivably, that one saw evidently that love, which could not be hindered from communicating itself, had an absolute power in this place, where it discovered secrets which were so great, so hidden, and so impenetrable.

O eternal solstice ! secure mansion, containing all that is desirable ! Paradise of unchanging delights, continual fountain of inestimable pleasures, wherein there is eternal spring-time, soothing by its sweet song, or rather by its delicious and intellectual melodies, rejoicing by the odour of its vivifying perfumes, inebriating by the soothing sweet ness of its mystic liquors, and transforming by its secret caresses !

O thrice blessed, thrice happy, and, if I may so speak, a hundred times holy, is he who allows himself to be guided by this grace ; and who, having clean hands, and a pure heart, and spotless lips, merits to be thus united to and incorporated with his God ! What does he not see and hear and feel and taste ? How can my stammering tongue speak of it ?

For although the Divine mercy has made me experience this by a particular favour, nevertheless the obstinacy of my sins, and the thick covering of negligence with which I am encompassed, hinders me from fully understanding it. For if all the science of men and angels were united together, it would not be capable of making us understand, even in the least degree, the sublime majesty of so high a subject.