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Then this soul, as if inebriated, tormented, and on
fire with love, her heart wounded with great
bitterness, turned herself to the Supreme and Eternal
Goodness, saying: "Oh! Eternal God! oh! Light above
every other light, from whom issues all light! Oh!
Fire above every fire, because You are the only Fire
who burn without consuming, and consume all sin and
self-love found in the soul, not afflicting her, but
fattening her with insatiable love, and though the
soul is filled she is not sated, but ever desires
You, and the more of You she has, the more she seeks
-- and the more she desires, the more she finds and
tastes of You -- Supreme and Eternal Fire, Abyss of
Charity. Oh! Supreme and Eternal Good, who has moved
You, Infinite God, to illuminate me, Your finite
creature, with the light of Your Truth?
"You, the same Fire of Love are the cause, because
it is always love which constrained and constrains
You to create us in Your image and similitude, and to
do us mercy, giving immeasurable and infinite graces
to Your rational creatures.
"Oh! Goodness above all goodness! You alone are He
who is Supremely Good, and nevertheless You gave the
Word, Your only-begotten Son, to converse with us
filthy ones and filled with darkness. What was the
cause of this? Love. Because You loved us before we
were. Oh! Good! oh! Eternal Greatness! You made
Yourself low and small to make man great.
"On whichever side I turn I find nothing but the
abyss and fire of Your charity. And can a wretch like
me pay back to You the graces and the burning charity
that You have shown and show with so much burning
love in particular to me beyond common charity, and
the love that You show to all Your creatures? No, but
You alone, most sweet and amorous Father, are He who
will be thankful and grateful for me, that is, that
the affection of Your charity itself will render You
thanks, because I am she who is not, and if I spoke
as being anything of myself, I should be lying by my
own head, and should be a lying daughter of the
Devil, who is the father of lies, because You alone
are He who is. And my being and every further grace
that You have bestowed upon me, I have from You, who
give them to me through love, and not as my due.
"Oh! sweetest Father, when the human race lay sick
through the sin of Adam, You sent it a Physician, the
sweet and amorous Word -- Your Son; and now, when I
was lying infirm with the sickness of negligence and
much ignorance, You, most soothing and sweet
Physician, Eternal God, have given a soothing, sweet,
and bitter medicine, that I may be cured and rise
from my infirmity.
"You have soothed me because with Your love and
gentleness You have manifested Yourself to me, Sweet
above all sweetness, and have illuminated the eye of
my intellect with the light of most holy faith, with
which light, according as it has pleased You to
manifest it to me, I have known the excellence of
grace which You have given to the human race,
administering to it the entire God-Man in the mystic
body of the holy Church.
"And I have known the dignity of Your ministers
whom You have appointed to administer You to us. I
desired that You would fulfill the promise that You
made to me, and You gave much more, more even than I
knew how to ask for. Wherefore I know in truth that
the heart of man knows not how to ask or desire as
much as You can give, and thus I see that You are He
who is the Supreme and Eternal Good, and that we are
they who are not.
"And because You are infinite, and we are finite,
You give that which Your rational creature cannot
desire enough; for she cannot desire it in itself,
nor in the way in which You can and will satisfy the
soul, filling her with things for which she does not
ask You. Moreover, I have received light from Your
Greatness and Charity, through the love which You
have for the whole human race, and in particular for
Your anointed ones, who ought to be earthly angels in
this life.
"You have shown me the virtue and beatitude of
these Your anointed ones who have lived like burning
lamps, shining with the Pearl of Justice in the holy
Church. And by comparison with these I have better
understood the sins of those who live wretchedly.
Wherefore I have conceived a very great sorrow at
Your offense and the harm done to the whole world,
for they do harm to the world, being mirrors of sin
when they ought to be mirrors of virtue. And because
You have manifested and grieved over their iniquities
to me -- a wretch who am the cause and instrument of
many sins -- I am plunged in intolerable grief.
"You, oh! inestimable love, have manifested this
to me, giving me a sweet and bitter medicine that I
might wholly arise out of the infirmity of my
ignorance and negligence, and have recourse to You
with anxious and solicitous desire, knowing myself
and Your goodness and the offenses which are
committed against You by all sorts of people, so that
I might shed a river of tears, drawn from the
knowledge of Your infinite goodness, over my wretched
self and over those who are dead in that they live
miserably.
"Wherefore I do not wish, oh! Eternal Father,
ineffable Fire of Love, that my heart should ever
grow weary, or my eyes fail through tears, in
desiring Your honor and the salvation of souls, but I
beg of You, by Your grace, that they may be as two
streams of water issuing from You, the Sea Pacific.
"Thanks, thanks to You, oh! Father, for having
granted me that which I asked You and that which I
neither knew nor asked, for by thus giving me matter
for grief You have invited me to offer before You
sweet, loving, and yearning desires, with humble and
continual prayer. Now I beg of You that You will do
mercy to the world and to the holy Church. I pray You
to fulfill that which You caused me to ask You.
"Alas! what a wretched and sorrowful soul is mine,
the cause of all these evils. Do not put off any
longer Your merciful designs towards the world, but
descend and fulfill the desire of Your servants.
"Ah me! You cause them to cry in order to hear
their voices! Your truth told us to cry out, and we
should be answered; to knock, and it would be opened
to us; to beg, and it would be given to us. Oh!
Eternal Father, Your servants do cry out to Your
mercy; do You then reply.
"I know well that mercy is Your own attribute,
wherefore You can not destroy it or refuse it to him
who asks for it. Your servants knock at the door of
Your truth, because in the truth of Your
only-begotten Son they know the ineffable love which
You have for man, wherefore the fire of Your love
ought not and cannot refrain from opening to him who
knocks with perseverance.
"Wherefore open, unlock, and break the hardened
hearts of Your creatures, not for their sakes who do
not knock, but on account of Your infinite goodness,
and through love of Your servants who knock at You
for their sakes. Grant the prayer of those, Eternal
Father who, as You see, stand at the door of Your
truth and pray. For what do they pray?
"For with the Blood of this door -- Your truth --
have You washed our iniquities and destroyed the
stain of Adam's sin. The Blood is ours, for You have
made it our bath, wherefore You can not deny it to
any one who truly asks for it. Give, then, the fruit
of Your Blood to Your creatures. Place in the balance
the price of the blood of Your Son, so that the
infernal devils may not carry off Your lambs. You are
the Good Shepherd who, to fulfill Your obedience,
laid down His life for Your lambs, and made for us a
bath of His Blood.
"That Blood is what Your hungry servants beg of
You at this door, begging You through it to do mercy
to the world, and to cause Your holy Church to bloom
with the fragrant flowers of good and holy pastors,
who by their sweet odor shall extinguish the stench
of the putrid flowers of sin.
"You have said, Eternal Father, that through the
love which You have for Your rational creatures, and
the prayers and the many virtues and labors of Your
servants, You would do mercy to the world, and reform
the Church, and thus give us refreshment; wherefore
do not delay, but turn the eye of Your mercy towards
us, for You must first reply to us before we can cry
out with the voice of Your mercy.
"Open the door of Your inestimable love which You
have given us through the door of Your Word. I know
indeed that You open before even we can knock, for it
is with the affection of love which You have given to
Your servants, that they knock and cry to You,
seeking Your honor and the salvation of souls.
"Give them then the bread of life, that is to say,
the fruit of the Blood of Your only-begotten Son,
which they ask of You for the praise and glory of My
name and the salvation of souls. For more glory and
praise will be Yours in saving so many creatures,
than in leaving them obstinate in their hardness of
heart.
"To You, Eternal Father, everything is possible,
and even though You have created us without our own
help, You will not save us without it. I beg of You
to force their wills, and dispose them to wish for
that for which they do not wish; and this I ask You
through Your infinite mercy.
"You have created us from nothing; now, therefore,
that we are in existence, do mercy to us, and remake
the vessels which You have created to Your image and
likeness. Re-create them to Grace in Your mercy and
the Blood of Your Son sweet Christ Jesus."
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