Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 039 - Part 3 Chapter 7

Transcript

039 - Part 3 Chapter 7 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter seven of Spiritual Dialog by Saint Catherine
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of Genoa. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: recording by Anne Boulat Part three, chapter seven. The Lord,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: what hast thou to say, O, my soul, of this
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: sweet love so dear to THEE, which never leaves THEE
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to thyself is always speaking to THEE, comforting THEE, inflaming THEE,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and revealing to THEE some new and celestial beauty that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: so thy affection, for it may become more and more ardent.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Tell me some of these loving words it speaks to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: THEE when thou art with it alone, Soul, I find
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: myself repeating certain words which are understood in the depths
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of my heart, which is glowing with an amorous flame.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: These words and the sentiment of love I do not
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: understand and am unable to express, for they are unlike others.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Love opens my heart and is ever making such gracious
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: communications to it that it is wholly inflamed and dissolved
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: in love. Yet in particular can discern neither words, flames
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: nor love. The heart is seized, possessed, and held by
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a loving satisfaction. Yet the soul does not comprehend this work,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: although she perceives that in this visitation Love bestows all
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: possible caresses upon the beloved soul that a true lover
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: can give when his affection is the greatest that can
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: be conceived. This operation melts the soul, detaches her from earth,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: purifies her, makes her simple, strengthens her, and draws her
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: deeper and deeper into its loving flame. But she is
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: not allowed to remain long in this great and penetrating fire,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: for humanity could not endure its vehemence. Yet in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: heart there remains always the impression that she is living
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: in that love with God, Oh Love, Thou absorbest this
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: heart into thyself, and leavest humanity deserted on the earth,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: where it finds no resting place. It appears an exiled
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: creature with no object, either in Heaven or in this world,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Oh Love, How burning and enamored is this soul in
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: which thou art performing such a work of love. I
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: would that I knew how this creature lives upon the earth,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: both as to her body and her soul, and how
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: it is that she has her conversation as well with
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Heaven as with creatures. I see her living a life
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: very different from that of others, and one more for
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: admiration than for edification. She sets no value upon anything.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: She appears like the Mistress of Heaven and the Queen
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: of Earth. Although she has nothing of her own, few
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: can understand her. She is very free and fearless, and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: dreads not that anything can ever be wanting to her.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: She has nothing, and yet to her seeming all things
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: are hers. The Lord, the answer is not for men
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: blind and deprived of celestial light, who, having their intellects
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: occupied with earthly things, cannot comprehend my words. Yet I
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: will answer for those who, aided by the divine ray,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: will be able to understand it. My love so delights
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the soul that it destroys every other joy which can
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: be possessed by man. Here below, the taste of me
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: extinguishes every other taste. My light blinds all who behold it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: All the faculties of the soul are so possessed and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: bound by love, that she is lost and understands neither
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: what she has done nor what she should do. She
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: is raised above herself and bereft of reason, memory and will.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Creatures like these no longer take part in the things
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: of this world save through necessity, and then, as if
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: they knew them not. They are always occupied interiorly, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: this prevents their being nourished by temporal things. God sends
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: into their hearts rays and flames of love, so subtle
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and penetrating that they know not where they are, but
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: remain silently plunged in the serene depths of that love.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And if God did not sometimes deprive them of this
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: vehement love, the soul could not remain in the body.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Yet when He thus departs, he leaves the soul so
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: sweetly occupied in him that not beside is seen, known
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: or understood. Rarely does she remember anything but what she
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: has felt, And until the impression grows weaker, it is
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: impossible for her to think of her own affairs, however
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: pressing they may be. End of Part three, Chapter seven,