Chapter 48: That the faithful soul ought to abandon herself to the will of God, for life and death

As the Saint offered various testimonies of her love to God during the night, — asking Him, amongst other things, how it happened that she had never wished to know whether her sickness would end in life or death, though it had lasted so long ; and how it was that she felt equally indif ferent to either, — our Lord answered her thus : " When a bridegroom conducts his bride into a garden of roses, to gather them for a bouquet, she takes so much pleasure in his sweet conversation, that she never pauses to inquire which of the roses he would wish her to gather, but she takes whatever flower her bridegroom gives her, and places it in her bouquet. So also the faithful soul, whose greatest pleasure is the accomplishment of My will, and delights in it as in a garden of roses, is indifferent whether I restore her health or take her out of the present life, because, being full of confidence, she abandons herself entirely to My paternal care."

One night also, when the Saint was much exhausted by her spiritual exercises, and by the interior converse she had had with her Lord, she took a few grapes, with the iniention of refreshing her Spouse in herself. The Lord re ceived them with much gratitude, and said to her : " I am now compensated for the bitter draught offered me in a sponge as I hung on the cross for your love, because I taste now in your heart an ineffable sweetness ; and the more purely you recreate your body for love of Me, the sweeter is the refreshment I find in your soul."

As she had thrown from her the skins and stones of the grapes which ske had in her hands, she saw the devil — the persecutor of all good — trying to gather them up, as if to reproach her for the dispensation which her infirmity had made her take, by eating after Matins, contrary to the Rule. But the moment he attempted to touch one of the skins, he was so scorched and burned, as if by devouring flames, that he fled from the house, uttering fearful cries, and taking care for the future how he touched anything that could cause him such frightful torments.