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"Know, dearest daughter, how, by humble, continual,
and faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and
perseverance, every virtue."Wherefore should she
persevere and never abandon prayer, either through
the illusion of the Devil or her own fragility, that
is to say, either on account of any thought or
movement coming from her own body, or of the words of
any creature. The Devil often places himself upon the
tongues of creatures, causing them to chatter
nonsensically, with the purpose of preventing the
prayer of the soul. All of this she should pass by,
by means of the virtue of perseverance.
"Oh, how sweet and pleasant to that soul and to Me
is holy prayer, made in the house of knowledge of
self and of Me, opening the eye of the intellect to
the light of faith, and the affections to the
abundance of My charity, which was made visible to
you, through My visible only-begotten Son, who showed
it to you with His blood! Which Blood inebriates the
soul and clothes her with the fire of divine charity,
giving her the food of the Sacrament [which is placed
in the tavern of the mystical body of the Holy
Church] that is to say, the food of the Body and
Blood of My Son, wholly God and wholly man,
administered to you by the hand of My vicar, who
holds the key of the Blood.
"This is that tavern, which I mentioned to you,
standing on the Bridge, to provide food and comfort
for the travelers and the pilgrims, who pass by the
way of the doctrine of My Truth, lest they should
faint through weakness. This food strengthens little
or much, according to the desire of the recipient,
whether he receives sacramentally or virtually.
"He receives sacramentally when he actually
communicates with the Blessed Sacrament. He receives
virtually when he communicates, both by desire of
communion, and by contemplation of the Blood of
Christ crucified, communicating, as it were,
sacramentally, with the affection of love, which is
to be tasted in the Blood which, as the soul sees,
was shed through love. On seeing this the soul
becomes inebriated, and blazes with holy desire and
satisfies herself, becoming full of love for Me and
for her neighbor.
"Where can this be acquired?
"In the house of self-knowledge with holy prayer,
where imperfections are lost, even as Peter and the
disciples, while they remained in watching and
prayer, lost their imperfection and acquired
perfection. By what means is this acquired? By
perseverance seasoned with the most holy faith.
"But do not think that the soul receives such
ardor and nourishment from prayer, if she pray only
vocally, as do many souls whose prayers are rather
words than love. Such as these give heed to nothing
except to completing Psalms and saying many
paternosters. And when they have once completed their
appointed tale, they do not appear to think of
anything further, but seem to place devout attention
and love in merely vocal recitation, which the soul
is not required to do, for, in doing only this, she
bears but little fruit, which pleases Me but little.
"But if you ask Me, whether the soul should
abandon vocal prayer, since it does not seem to all
that they are called to mental prayer, I should reply
'No.' The soul should advance by degrees, and I know
well that, just as the soul is at first imperfect and
afterwards perfect, so also is it with her prayer.
She should nevertheless continue in vocal prayer,
while she is yet imperfect, so as not to fall into
idleness. But she should not say her vocal prayers
without joining them to mental prayer, that is to
say, that while she is reciting, she should endeavor
to elevate her mind in My love, with the
consideration of her own defects and of the Blood of
My only-begotten Son, wherein she finds the breadth
of My charity and the remission of her sins.
"And this she should do, so that self-knowledge
and the consideration of her own defects should make
her recognize My goodness in herself and continue her
exercises with true humility. I do not wish defects
to be considered in particular, but in general, so
that the mind may not be contaminated by the
remembrance of particular and hideous sins. But, as I
said, I do not wish the soul to consider her sins,
either in general or in particular, without also
remembering the Blood and the broadness of My mercy,
for fear that otherwise she should be brought to
confusion.
"And together with confusion would come the Devil,
who has caused it, under color of contrition and
displeasure of sin, and so she would arrive at
eternal damnation, not only on account of her
confusion, but also through the despair which would
come to her, because she did not seize the arm of My
mercy. This is one of the subtle devices with which
the Devil deludes My servants, and, in order to
escape from his deceit, and to be pleasing to Me, you
must enlarge your hearts and affections in My
boundless mercy, with true humility.
"You know that the pride of the Devil cannot
resist the humble mind, nor can any confusion of
spirit be greater than the broadness of My good
mercy, if the soul will only truly hope therein.
Wherefore it was, if you remember rightly, that,
once, when the Devil wished to overthrow you, by
confusion, wishing to prove to you that your life had
been deluded, and that you had not followed My will,
you did that which was your duty, which My goodness
(which is never withheld from him who will receive
it) gave you strength to do, that is you rose, humbly
trusting in My mercy, and saying: 'I confess to my
Creator that my life has indeed been passed in
darkness, but I will hide myself in the wounds of
Christ crucified, and bathe myself in His Blood and
so shall my iniquities be consumed, and with desire
will I rejoice in my Creator.'
"You remember that then the Devil fled, and,
turning round to the opposite side, he endeavored to
inflate you with pride, saying: 'You are perfect and
pleasing to God, and there is no more need for you to
afflict yourself or to lament your sins.' And once
more I gave you the light to see your true path,
namely, humiliation of yourself, and you answered the
Devil with these words: 'Wretch that I am, John the
Baptist never sinned and was sanctified in his
mother's womb. And I have committed so many sins, and
have hardly begun to know them with grief and true
contrition, seeing who God is, who is offended by me,
and who I am, who offend Him.' Then the Devil, not
being able to resist your humble hope in My goodness,
said to you: 'Cursed that you are, for I can find no
way to take you. If I put you down through confusion,
you rise to Heaven on the wings of mercy, and if I
raise you on high, you humble yourself down to Hell,
and when I go into Hell you persecute me, so that I
will return to you no more, because you strike me
with the stick of charity.'
"The soul, therefore, should season the knowledge
of herself with the knowledge of My goodness, and
then vocal prayer will be of use to the soul who
makes it, and pleasing to Me, and she will arrive,
from the vocal imperfect prayer, exercised with
perseverance, at perfect mental prayer; but if she
simply aims at completing her tale, and, for vocal
abandons mental prayer, she will never arrive at it.
"Sometimes the soul will be so ignorant that,
having resolved to say so many prayers vocally, and
I, visiting her mind sometimes in one way, and
sometimes in another, in a flash of self-knowledge or
of contrition for sin, sometimes in the broadness of
My charity, and sometimes by placing before her mind,
in diverse ways, according to My pleasure and the
desire of the soul, the presence of My Truth, she
(the soul), in order to complete her tale, will
abandon My visitation, that she feels, as it were, by
conscience, rather than abandon that which she had
begun. She should not do so, for, in so doing, she
yields to a deception of the Devil.
"The moment she feels her mind disposed by My
visitation, in the many ways I have told you, she
should abandon vocal prayer; then, My visitation
past, if there be time, she can resume the vocal
prayers which she had resolved to say, but if she has
not time to complete them, she ought not on that
account to be troubled or suffer annoyance and
confusion of mind; of course provided that it were
not the Divine office which clerics and religious are
bound and obliged to say under penalty of offending
Me, for, they must, until death, say their office.
"But if they, at the hour appointed for saying it,
should feel their minds drawn and raised by desire,
they should so arrange as to say it before or after
My visitation, so that the debt of rendering the
office be not omitted. But, in any other case, vocal
prayer should be immediately abandoned for the said
cause. Vocal prayer, made in the way that I have told
you, will enable the soul to arrive at perfection,
and therefore she should not abandon it, but use it
in the way that I have told you.
And so, with exercise in perseverance, she will
taste prayer in truth, and the food of the Blood of
My only-begotten Son, and therefore I told you that
some communicated virtually with the Body and Blood
of Christ, although not sacramentally; that is, they
communicate in the affection of charity, which they
taste by means of holy prayer, little or much,
according to the affection with which they pray. They
who proceed with little prudence and without method,
taste little, and they who proceed with much, taste
much.
"For the more the soul tries to loosen her
affection from herself, and fasten it in Me with the
light of the intellect, the more she knows; and the
more she knows, the more she loves, and, loving much,
she tastes much. You see then, that perfect prayer is
not attained to through many words, but through
affection of desire, the soul raising herself to Me,
with knowledge of herself and of My mercy, seasoned
the one with the other. Thus she will exercise
together mental and vocal prayer, for, even as the
active and contemplative life is one, so are they.
"Although vocal or mental prayer can be understood
in many and diverse ways, for I have told you that a
holy desire is a continual prayer, in this sense that
a good and holy will disposes itself with desire to
the occasion actually appointed for prayer in
addition to the continual prayer of holy desire,
wherefore vocal prayer will be made at the appointed
time by the soul who remains firm in a habitual holy
will, and will sometimes be continued beyond the
appointed time, according as charity commands for the
salvation of the neighbor, if the soul see him to be
in need, and also her own necessities according to
the state in which I have placed her.
"Each one, according to his condition, ought to
exert himself for the salvation of souls, for this
exercise lies at the root of a holy will, and
whatever he may contribute, by words or deeds,
towards the salvation of his neighbor, is virtually a
prayer, although it does not replace a prayer which
one should make oneself at the appointed season, as
My glorious standard-bearer Paul said, in the words,
'He who ceases not to work ceases not to pray.'
"It was for this reason that I told you that
prayer was made in many ways, that is, that actual
prayer may be united with mental prayer if made with
the affection of charity, which charity is itself
continual prayer. I have now told you how mental
prayer is reached by exercise and perseverance, and
by leaving vocal prayer for mental when I visit the
soul. I have also spoken to you of common prayer,
that is, of vocal prayer in general, made outside of
ordained times, and of the prayers of good-will, and
how every exercise, whether performed in oneself or
in one's neighbor, with good-will, is prayer.
"The enclosed soul should therefore spur herself
on with prayer, and when she has arrived at friendly
and filial love she does so. Unless the soul keep to
this path, she will always remain tepid and
imperfect, and will only love Me and her neighbor in
proportion to the pleasure which she finds in My
service."
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