Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 044 - Part 3 Chapter 12

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044 - Part 3 Chapter 12 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter twelve of Spiritual Dialogue 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 Boulay, Part three, chapter twelve. Alas, how
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  Speaker 1: few and rare are they in whom God abides by
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  Speaker 1: these operations? O God, thou retainest thy love within thyself,
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  Speaker 1: because thou canst not infuse it into creatures so occupied
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  Speaker 1: with earthly affairs? Oh, Earth, Earth, what wilt thou do
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  Speaker 1: with those whom thou dost so absorb? The soul lost
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  Speaker 1: in the body corrupted, all things are lost in infinite
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  Speaker 1: and incredible torments. Reflect upon this, O Soul, reflect and
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  Speaker 1: no longer lose the time and the power which are
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  Speaker 1: now given THEE to escape all danger. Thy God is
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  Speaker 1: now gracious and propitious to THEE. He is very anxious
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  Speaker 1: for thy salvation, and is ever seeking and calling with
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  Speaker 1: measureless love. The operations which God is continually working on
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  Speaker 1: our behalf are so many and great that they can
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  Speaker 1: neither be recounted nor imagined. But all the good which
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  Speaker 1: He has done to us, is still doing, will do,
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  Speaker 1: and desires to do, will result in our condemnation and
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  Speaker 1: our confusion. If we fail to cooperate with him in
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  Speaker 1: the time which we sow under value. Soul, Show me, o,
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  Speaker 1: my Lord, if it please THEE, how thou dost work
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  Speaker 1: within man by thy secret love, in which he is
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  Speaker 1: taken captive by thee, not knowing how nor understanding in
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  Speaker 1: what manner, but only finding himself a prisoner of love
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  Speaker 1: and greatly satisfied. The Lord. I move with my love
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  Speaker 1: the heart of man, and with that movement give him
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  Speaker 1: light by which he sees that I am inspiring him
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  Speaker 1: to well doing. And in that light he ceases to
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  Speaker 1: do ill and struggles with his evil inclinations. Soul. What
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  Speaker 1: is this movement? And how does it begin? In man
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  Speaker 1: who knows not of its existence and asks not for it?
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  Speaker 1: The Lord, the pure, simple and boundless love which I
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  Speaker 1: bear toward all men impels me to grant him this grace,
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  Speaker 1: to knock at his heart, to see whether he will
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  Speaker 1: open and give me entrance, that so I may make
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  Speaker 1: my abode there and banish all things else. Soul, And
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  Speaker 1: what is this grace? The Lord? It is an inspiration
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  Speaker 1: which I send him by means of a ray of love,
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  Speaker 1: with which I give him also the instinct of love
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  Speaker 1: it is impossible for him not to love. And although
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  Speaker 1: he knows not what he loves, yet he learns it
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  Speaker 1: by little and little soul. What is the ray of love?
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  Speaker 1: The Lord? Behold the rays of the sun, which are
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  Speaker 1: so subtle and penetrating that human eyes cannot behold them
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  Speaker 1: without losing their sight. Such are the rays of my
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  Speaker 1: love which I send into human hearts, and which deprive
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  Speaker 1: man of all knowledge and all delight in worldly things. Soul,
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  Speaker 1: And these rays, how do they enter into the hearts
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  Speaker 1: of men? The Lord? Like darts directed at this one
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  Speaker 1: and at that, They touch the heart in secret, inflame it,
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  Speaker 1: and make it heave with sighs. Man knows not what
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  Speaker 1: he wishes, but finding himself wounded with love, can give
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  Speaker 1: no account of his condition, and remains lost in wonder soul.
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  Speaker 1: And what is this dart, the Lord? It is a
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  Speaker 1: scintillation of love which I infuse into man, which softens
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  Speaker 1: his abduracy and melts him as wax is melted by
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  Speaker 1: the fire. I give him also the instinct to refer
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  Speaker 1: to me all the love which I infuse soul. And
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  Speaker 1: what is this scintillation, the Lord? It is an inspiration
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  Speaker 1: sent by Me which sets on fire the human heart,
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  Speaker 1: and so ardently and powerfully inflames it that it can
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  Speaker 1: do nothing but love. By its power, man is kept
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  Speaker 1: constantly intent on me, and is continually admonished by it
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  Speaker 1: within his heart. What this interior inspiration is, which works
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  Speaker 1: so secretly cannot be told in words. Ask of the
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  Speaker 1: heart which feels it. Ask of the intellect which understands it.
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  Speaker 1: Ask of the mind filled with the operations which God
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  Speaker 1: affects by means of it. For the least conception that
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  Speaker 1: can be formed of it is that given by the tongue,
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  Speaker 1: God fills man with love. He draws him to himself
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  Speaker 1: by love, and by its force, enables him to overcome
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  Speaker 1: the world, the devils, and himself. But a man cannot
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  Speaker 1: understand this love, nor put it into words. End of
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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter twelve,