The Dialogue

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How this devout soul, thanking God for His explanation of the above-mentioned states of tears, makes three petitions.

THEN this soul, eager with the greatness of her desire, through the sweetness of the explanation and satisfaction which she had received from the Truth, concerning the state of tears, said as one enamoured — " Thanks, thanks be to Thee, Supreme and Eternal Father, Satisfier of holy desires, and Lover of our salvation, Who, through Thy

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Love, didst give us Love Himself, in the time of our warfare with Thee, in the person of Th}' only-begotten Son. By this abyss of Thy fiery Love, I beg of Thee grace and mercy that I may come to Thee truly in the light, and not flee far in darkness away from Thy doctrine, of which Thou hast clearly demonstrated to me the truth, so that, by the light thereof, I perceive two other p6ints, concerning which I fear that they are, or may become, stumbling-blocks to me. I beg, Eternal Father, that, before I leave the subject of these states of tears, Thou wouldst explain these points also to me. The first is — when a person desirous of serving Thee, comes to me, or to some other servant of Thine to ask for counsel, how should I teach him ? I know, Sweet and Eternal God, that Thou didst reply above to this question — c I am He Who takes delight in few words and many deeds.' Never theless, if it please Thy Goodness to grant me a few more words on the subject, it will cause me the greatest pleasure. And also, if on some occasion, when I am praying for Thy creatures, and in particular for Thy servants, and I seem to see the subjects of my prayer, in one I find (in the course of my prayer) a well-disposed mind, a soul rejoicing in Thee ; and in another, as it might seem to me, a mind full of darkness ; have I the right, O Eternal Father, to judge the one soul to be in light, and the other in darkness ? Or, supposing I should see that the one lives in great penance, and the other does not, should I be right to judge that he who does the greater penance has the higher perfection ? I pray Thee, so that I may not be deceived through my limited vision, that Thou wouldst declare to me in detail, what Thou hast already said in general on this matter. The second request I have to make is, that Thou wilt explain further to me about the sign which Thou didst say the soul received on being visited by Thee — the sign which revealed Thy Presence. If I remember well, oh, Eternal Truth, Thou didst say that the soul remained in joy and courageous virtue. I would fain know whether this joy can consist with the delusion of the passion of spiritual self-love ; for if it were so, I

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would humbly confine myself to the sign of virtue. These are the things which I beg Thee to tell me, so that I may serve Thee and my neighbour in truth, and not fall into false judgment concerning thy creatures and servants. For it seems to me that the habit of judging keeps the soul far from Thee, so I do not wish to fall into this snare."