Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 040 - Part 3 Chapter 8

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040 - Part 3 Chapter 8 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter eight of Spiritual Dialog by Saint Catherine
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  Speaker 1: of Genoa. This labor box recording is in the public
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  Speaker 1: domain recording by Anne Boulay, Part three, chapter eight. The
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  Speaker 1: state of the soul is this. She is very sensitive,
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  Speaker 1: so that her mind cannot endure the least suspicion of defect,
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  Speaker 1: because pure love cannot remain where there is even the
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  Speaker 1: slightest fault, and the loving soul unable to endure it
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  Speaker 1: would be thrown into intolerable pain. In this world man
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  Speaker 1: cannot be wholly free from imperfections, but at times God
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  Speaker 1: keeps him in ignorance of them because he could not
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  Speaker 1: support the sight. At other times he reveals them all,
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  Speaker 1: and in this way man is purified. If a suspicion
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  Speaker 1: of sin falls upon this soul, she cannot be pacified
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  Speaker 1: nor at rest until her mind is satisfied. The soul
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  Speaker 1: which dwells in that amorous cannot be disturbed, either by
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  Speaker 1: herself or by others. If any misunderstanding arises between herself
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  Speaker 1: and another, she is unquiet until she has done all
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  Speaker 1: in her power to remove it. And when souls habituated
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  Speaker 1: to the divine love are for any cause permitted by
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  Speaker 1: God to be disturbed for the time. They are wretched
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  Speaker 1: at being cast out of the tranquil paradise in which
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  Speaker 1: they are accustomed to abide, and if God did not
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  Speaker 1: return them to their accustomed state, it would be impossible
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  Speaker 1: for them to live. They live in great liberty and
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  Speaker 1: take little heed of earthly things. They are in a
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  Speaker 1: manner taken out of themselves, especially as they near the
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  Speaker 1: close of this life of which they are stripped, remaining
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  Speaker 1: immersed in that love into which the soul has already
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  Speaker 1: found by long experience, that God, by the operation of
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  Speaker 1: his gracious love, has taken both soul and body, so
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  Speaker 1: that he allows them to want for nothing. God shows
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  Speaker 1: the soul also that all the benefits bestowed on her
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  Speaker 1: by creatures, whether spiritual or temporal, are given because God
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  Speaker 1: moves them to it. And hence she learns to take
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  Speaker 1: no heed of creatures, what service soever they may have
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  Speaker 1: rendered her, for she perceives clearly that it is God
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  Speaker 1: who has done it by the action of His providence.
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  Speaker 1: By this vision, the soul is more and more inflamed,
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  Speaker 1: and finally abandons herself to Love, casting aside all creatures
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  Speaker 1: and finding in God such fullness that she can regard
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  Speaker 1: nothing else but Him. And although such a soul may
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  Speaker 1: seem to have some affection for exterior things, do not
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  Speaker 1: believe it. It is impossible that any love should enter
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  Speaker 1: into hearts like these, except the love of God, unless
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  Speaker 1: God himself permits it by reason of some necessity, either
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  Speaker 1: of the soul or the body. And should this occur,
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  Speaker 1: all love and care from such a source would be
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  Speaker 1: no impediment, and would not touch the depths of the heart,
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  Speaker 1: but would only be ordered of God for some necessity.
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  Speaker 1: Because it is needful that pure love should be free
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  Speaker 1: from every exterior and interior concern. For where the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God is, there is liberty. Oh, that we could
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  Speaker 1: behold this sweet correspondence and hear those burning words with
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  Speaker 1: their joyous vigor, where one can distinguish neither God nor man.
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  Speaker 1: But the heart remains in such a state that it
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  Speaker 1: seems a little paradise given by God to souls that
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  Speaker 1: are dear to Him, as a foretaste of that true
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  Speaker 1: and glorious paradise, but hidden from all except those lovers
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  Speaker 1: who are absorbed and lost in the ocean of divine love.
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  Speaker 1: O love the heart which thou Possessest becomes through peace
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  Speaker 1: of mind so great and so magnanimous that it would
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  Speaker 1: rather suffer martyrdom to gain THEE than without THEE to
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  Speaker 1: be in possession of every good in heaven or earth.
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  Speaker 1: Yet this is beyond the comprehension of all who have
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  Speaker 1: not felt and tasted THEE. A heart which finds itself
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  Speaker 1: in God sees all created things beneath itself, not through
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  Speaker 1: pride or conceit of self, but by reason of its
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  Speaker 1: union with God, which makes all that is God's appear
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  Speaker 1: to be its own, and beside him, it sees, knows
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  Speaker 1: and comprehends nothing. A heart enamored of God is unconquerable,
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  Speaker 1: for God is its strength. Hell does not affright it,
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  Speaker 1: nor Heaven allure it, for it is so disposed that
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  Speaker 1: it receives all that befalls from the hand of God,
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  Speaker 1: remaining with him in immovable peace and inwardly strengthened and
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  Speaker 1: fortified by Him. Soul, Oh Love, how namest thou these
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  Speaker 1: beloved souls The Lord I have said, ye are gods
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  Speaker 1: and all children of the Most High Psalm eighty one. Soul,
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  Speaker 1: Oh Love, Thou annihilatest thy lovers in themselves, and then
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  Speaker 1: restorest them to a true and perfect liberty, and makest
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  Speaker 1: them masters of themselves. They wish nothing but what God wishes,
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  Speaker 1: and finds all things else a grave impediment to them.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Love, I find no words to express thy benign
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  Speaker 1: and joyous sway, thy strong and assured freedom, thy sweet
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  Speaker 1: and gentle goodness. But all that thy true lover could
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  Speaker 1: express would be unequal to what he would desire to say.
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  Speaker 1: He seeks everywhere for loving words appropriate to that love,
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  Speaker 1: and finds them nowhere. For love and its effects are infinite,
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  Speaker 1: and the tongue is not only finite, but very feeble,
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  Speaker 1: and is always dissatisfied and confused by its powerlessness to
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  Speaker 1: say what it desires. And although all that he says
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  Speaker 1: is as nothing, yet when man speaks of this love,
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  Speaker 1: he feels it in his heart. It relieves him that
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  Speaker 1: so he may not die of love? What sayest thou,
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  Speaker 1: my Lord, of this thy beloved soul, who is so
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  Speaker 1: enamored of THEE the Lord that she is holy mine?
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  Speaker 1: And thou my soul, What sayest thou of thy heart soul?
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  Speaker 1: That I am wounded, O, my God with love in
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  Speaker 1: which I live joyfully and at peace. End of Part three,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight,