Letter VII. To the Same

Sentiments which he felt in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

O God! how full is my heart of things to tell you, my child, for to-day is the day of the Church's great feast, in which, bearing our Saviour in the procession, he has by his grace given me a thousand sweet thoughts, amidst which I have had difficulty to keep back my tears.

O God! I put in comparison the High Priest of the old law with myself, and considered how this High Priest carried a rich pectoral on his breast, adorned with twelve precious stones, and on it appeared the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; but I found my pectoral far more rich, though it was composed of only one stone, that Oriental pearl, which the strong mother conceived in her chaste womb, by the blessed dew of heaven; for, you see, I was holding this Divine Sacrament clasped tightly on my breast, and I considered how the names of the children of Israel were all marked on it, yes, the names of the daughters especially, and the name of one still more.

The falcon and the sparrow of St. Joseph came to my memory, and it seemed to me that I was a knight of the Order of God, bearing on my breast the same Son who lives eternally on his. Ah! how would I have wished that my heart should be opened to receive this precious Saviour, as was that of the gentleman whose history I told you.* But alas! I had not the knife which was needed to cut it open, for it is only to be opened by love; I have indeed had great desires of this love, and I speak for oar indivisible heart. This is what I can say to you. Live all in God and for God. I am with him absolutely yours.

• See Love of God, Book VII. cb. 12.