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029 - Part 2 Chapter 8 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

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  Speaker 1: Part two, chapter eight of Spiritual Dialog by Saint Catherine
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  Speaker 1: of Genoa. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Anne Boulat Part two, chapter eight. The Lord,
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  Speaker 1: my daughter, hitherto you have followed the odor of my perfumes,
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  Speaker 1: which have guided and supported you thus far upon your way.
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  Speaker 1: But without me you could have done nothing in this way.
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  Speaker 1: My grace assisting you are purged from your sins, despoiled
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  Speaker 1: of your affections, habited in virtue, burning with love, and
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  Speaker 1: as it were, united with me in love, and so
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  Speaker 1: full of delight, both inwardly and outwardly, that you seem
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  Speaker 1: to yourself to be in paradise. But understand that hitherto
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  Speaker 1: you have merited nothing. For whatever you have done in
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  Speaker 1: the way of penance, fasting, alms and prayers you were
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  Speaker 1: obliged to do. It was needful for you to perform
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  Speaker 1: them all by My light in order to cancel your debts,
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  Speaker 1: and having not the means wherewith to satisfy, I have
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  Speaker 1: granted you these through love for you, that you might
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  Speaker 1: buy them make satisfaction. And know that all this time
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  Speaker 1: which you have spent in satisfying for your sins is
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  Speaker 1: as if it were lost, for it was given you
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  Speaker 1: that you might increase in love, grace, and glory. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: you have merited nothing, although it may seem to you
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  Speaker 1: that you have done great things, and such as are
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  Speaker 1: highly esteemed by those who do not understand them. It
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  Speaker 1: was also necessary that you should be clothed with the
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  Speaker 1: virtues which attract love, that they might protect you from
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  Speaker 1: evil and prepare you to receive greater light. And knowing
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  Speaker 1: that of yourself you were unfit for any good work,
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  Speaker 1: and also incapable of it, I have given you in
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  Speaker 1: order that you might night work and persevere in work,
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  Speaker 1: a hidden love, by whose operations all your facilities, and
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  Speaker 1: also your bodily senses, should be voluntarily disposed to make satisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: I have given you moreover the power to love me,
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  Speaker 1: in order to detach you from every other love. And
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  Speaker 1: finally I have conducted you to the portals of my
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  Speaker 1: true and perfect love, beyond which you have not advanced,
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  Speaker 1: for to do so is beyond your strength. And with
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  Speaker 1: all this you are not yet content. For you have
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  Speaker 1: the instinct to advance, although you know not even what
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  Speaker 1: you desire. End of Part two, Chapter eight