Letter 2. To the Religious in Veas

JESUS be in your souls : My daughters are thinking that I have lost sight of them because I do not write, and that I have ceased to consider how easily they can become saints and rejoice in the Bridegroom Whom they love with great gladness and in strong security. I will come to Veas, and you will see that I have not forgotten you. We shall then see the treasures obtained by pure love and on the pathways of everlasting life ; the blessed progress you have made in Christ, Whose joy and crown are His brides. This crown ought not tp be rotting on the ground, but rather borne by the hands of the seraphim, and placed with respect and reverence on the head of our Lord.

When the heart is grovelling meanly on the ground the crown rolls in the dust, and is trampled on in every act of meanness. But when man shall ' come to a heart that is high/ according to the words of David,* then shall God be dxalted with the crown of the heart of His bride ; wherewith they crown Him in the day of the joy of His coronation, for His delight is to be with the children of men.f

The sources of the waters of interior joy are not on the earth ; the mouth of desire must be opened heavenwards, utterly empty ; and in order that the mouth of desire may be neither closed nor vitiated by the taste of anything, it should be kept perfectly empty and open before Him Who says, ' dilate thy mouth and I will fill it. 'I For so it is, he who seeks for satisfaction in anything is not keeping himself in a state of emptiness that God may fill him with this unspeakable joy ; his hands are encumbered, and he cannot lay hold of that which God is giving him ; as he went to God, so he re.- turned. God save us from these miserable embarrass ments by which a freedom so sweet and so delightful is disturbed. Serve God, my daughters beloved in

Christ, following Him on the road of mortification in all patience and in all silence, with all your soul bent on suffering, having made yourselves executioners of your own will. Mortify yourselves, and if there be anything still living that hinders the interior resurrection of the spirit let it die in your souls. Amen. Your servant,

FR. JOHN OF THE CROSS.

From MALAGA : November 18, 1586.