The Dialogue

Of the fourth state, which is, nevertheless, not separated from the third, and of the works of the soul who has arrived at this state, and how she is never left by GOD, Who remains with her in continual sentiment.

41 Now I have told thee how it is to be seen that souls have arrived at the perfection of love, friendly and filial

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Now I do not want to conceal from thee how great is the delight with which they taste Me, though they are still in the mortal body. This is because, having arrived at the third state, they acquire the fourth, which, however, is not separated from the third, but is united with it, and the one cannot be without the other, except in the same way as love of Me can be without love of the neighbour. A fruit that arises from this third condition of the soul's perfect union with Me, wherein she acquires fortitude, is that, not only does she bear with patience, but she anxiously desires to suffer pain for the glory and praise of My Name. Such as these glory in the shame of My only-begotten Son, as said Paul, My standard-bearer: ' I glory in tribulations, and in the shame of Christ crucified ' — and in another place — ' God forbid that I should glory save in Christ crucified' — and again — ' / bear in My body the stigmata of Christ crucified} Such as these, I say, as if enamoured of My honour, and famished for the food of souls, run to the table of the Most Holy Cross, willing to suffer pain and endure much for the service of the neighbour, and desiring to preserve and acquire the virtues, bearing in their body the stigmata of Christ crucified, causing the crucified love which is theirs to shine, being visible through self-contempt and delighted endurance of the shames and vexations on every side. To these, My most dear sons, trouble is a pleasure, and pleasure and every consolation that the world would offer them, are a toil, and not only the consolation that the ser vants of the world, by My dispensation, are constrained to give them, in reverence and in compassion of their corporal necessities, out also the mental consolation which they receive from Me, the Eternal Father. Even this they despise through humility and self-hatred. They do not despise consolation itself, which is my gift and grace, but only the pleasure which the soul's appetite finds therein. And this they do through the virtue of true humility, obtained through holy self- hatred, which is the nurse and nourisher of love, and has been acquired through true knowledge of themselves and of Me. Wherefore, as thou seest, the virtues and wounds of Christ crucified shine in

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their bodies and souls. Such as these do not feel any separation from Me, as happens in the case of others, of whom I have told thee, namely, that I would leave them, not by grace, but by feeling, afterwards returning to them again. I do not act thus to these most perfect ones who have arrived at the great perfection, and are entirely dead to their own will, but I remain continually both by grace and feeling in their souls, so that at any time that they wish they can unite their minds to Me, through love. They can in no way be separated from My love, for, by love, they have arrived at so close a union. Every place is to them an oratory, every moment a time for prayer — their conver sation has ascended from earth to heaven — that is to say, they have cut off from themselves every form of earthly affection and sensual self-love, and have risen alone them selves into the very height of heaven, having climbed the staircase of the virtues and mounted the three Steps which I figured to thee, in the Body of My Son. On the first step the feet of their affection are divested of the love of vice ; on the second they taste the secret love of the Heart, where they can see desire of virtue; on the third, the step of purity and peace of mind, they find in them selves the virtues, and, rising above imperfect love, they attain the great perfection. For they have found rest to their souls in the doctrine of My Truth, having found both Table and Food and Server, which Food they taste, through the doctrine of Christ crucified, My only- begotten Son. I am their Bed and Board, and My sweet and amorous Word is their Food, for they eat the Bread of souls in the person of this glorious Word, for I give Him to you, that is His Flesh and Blood, wholly GOD and wholly man, in the Sacrament of the Altar, by My Goodness, while you are still pilgrims and wayfarers, so that you may not slacken your pace through faintness, or lose the memory of the benefits of the Blood, shed for you with so much fire of love, and may always be able to comfort and delight your selves while on your journey. The Holy Spirit serves these souls, for He is the affection of My charity which ministers to them both gifts and graces. This sweet

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Servant both fetches and carries, to Me their painful but sweetly amorous desires, and to them the fruit of the Divine Love, and of their labours, so that they feed on the sweetness of My charity, so that, as thou seest, I am the Table, and My Son is the Food, and the Holy Spirit pro ceeding from Me, the Father, and from Him, the Son, is the Server. Thou seest, then, that they always feel Me in their minds, by sentiment as well as by grace ; and the more they have despised trouble, taking pleasure in it and desiring it, the more completely have they passed beyond it and acquired delight, because their ardent souls are enflamed with My love, wherein their will is consumed. The devil fears the rod of their charity, and the world strikes the outside of their bodies to hurt them, but to its own injury, because the arrow, which cannot find a place to enter, returns against him who sent it. For when the world hurls the darts of injuries, persecutions and murmurings against My most perfect servants, there is no joint in their harness for them to enter by, the garden of their soul being walled up, so that the dart returns against him who hurled it, poisoning him with the venom of his own sin. Thou seest, then, that the soul can in no way be attacked through the body, but remains both blessed and sorrowful. Sorrowful for the sake of her neighbour's sin, and blessed through the union of love with Me which she enjoys in herself. Such as these follow the Immaculate Lamb, My only-begotten Son, Who was both blessed and sorrowful on the Cross. He was sorrowful in that He bore the cross of the Body, suffering pain and the cross of desire, in order to satisfy for the guilt of the human race, and He was blessed, be cause the Divine nature, though united with the human, could suffer no pain, but always kept His Soul in a state of blessedness, being revealed without a veil to her, so that He was both blessed and sorrowful, for, while the flesh endured, neither the Deity nor the superior part of the soul, which is above the intellect, could suffer.

" So these, My sons of delight, who have arrived at the third and fourth states, are sorrowful, for they carry both a physical and a mental Cross — that is to say, they bear

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pain in their bodies according to My permission, and in their mind, the cross of desire, for they are tortured by sorrow at the offence done to Me, and the loss of their neighbour. Yet I say to thee that they are blessed, be cause the delight of charity which makes them so, cannot be taken away from them. Their grief, then, cannot be called afflicting sorrow, but rather fattening, for the soul is fattened by her love, and virtues are augmented and fortified by trouble. Their trouble fattens them and does not afflict them, because no trouble can draw them out of the fire of My love. These souls, thrown into the furnace of My charity, no part of their will remaining outside, but the whole of them being enflamed in Me, are like a brand, wholly consumed in the furnace, so that no one can take hold of it to extinguish it, because it has become fire. In the same way, no one can seize these souls or draw them outside of Me, because they are made one thing with Me through grace, and I never withdraw Myself from them by sentiment, as in the case of those who I am leading on to perfection. For, with souls who have arrived at perfection, I play no more the Game of Love, which consists in leaving and returning again to the soul, though thou must understand that it is not, properly speaking, I, the immoveable GOD, Who thus illude them, but rather the sentiment that My charity gives them of Me."