Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 035 - Part 3 Chapter 3

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

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter three 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 Boulay, Part three, Chapter three, Soul, thou
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  Speaker 1: hast shown me, O Lord, another light in which I
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  Speaker 1: have seen that it is self love which has hitherto
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  Speaker 1: moved me, And that all which has had the semblance
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  Speaker 1: of being wrought so lovingly for THEE and in THEE,
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  Speaker 1: was self defiled and of my own doing, and secretly
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  Speaker 1: appropriated to myself. It was hidden in me, my God,
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  Speaker 1: beneath thy shadow under which I rested. But now that
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  Speaker 1: I behold thy simple, pure and ardent love, with its operations,
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  Speaker 1: I am lost and bewildered. And all other loves seem
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  Speaker 1: to me worse than selfish, O divine Love, Where shall
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  Speaker 1: I find words to speak of THEE? I am conquered
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  Speaker 1: and subdued by THEE. I am dying of love, and
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  Speaker 1: I do not feel love. I am annihilated in love,
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  Speaker 1: and I do not know love. I feel love acting
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  Speaker 1: within me, and its action I do not understand. I
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  Speaker 1: feel my heart burning with love, and yet I do
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  Speaker 1: not see the flame of love. My God, I cannot
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  Speaker 1: cease to search for tokens of thy care. And although
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  Speaker 1: I am wholly overpowered by the new light which thou
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  Speaker 1: hast shown me, I do not yet despair of knowing
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  Speaker 1: more fully. This love, which containing within itself everything that
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  Speaker 1: is desirable in heaven and on earth, satisfies man without
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  Speaker 1: satiating him, and even constantly increases the appetite which feeds
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  Speaker 1: upon it. It is so sweet and gentle, this pure and
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  Speaker 1: simple love, and so adapted to the heart of man,
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  Speaker 1: that he who has once enjoyed it, though but a little,
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  Speaker 1: will never cease to seek it, though the search could
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  Speaker 1: cost him a thousand lives. What is this love that
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  Speaker 1: conquers all things? Thou Lord hast told me many things
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  Speaker 1: concerning it, but they all seem to me to fall short.
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  Speaker 1: And since thou hast given me the burning desire to
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  Speaker 1: penetrate it more deeply, I will not believe that it
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  Speaker 1: can be in vain. Thou hast promised me a fuller
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  Speaker 1: satisfaction than I have attained. Thou hast shown me a
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  Speaker 1: spark of thy pure and simple love, and it has
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  Speaker 1: kindled in my heart a flame that devours me. Nowhere
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  Speaker 1: on earth can I find repose nor can I feel
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  Speaker 1: or see aught? Beside I am lost, and beside myself,
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  Speaker 1: I am led, captive and wounded, nigh unto death. And
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  Speaker 1: wait only on Thy providence, which will satisfy every one
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  Speaker 1: of my desires, which is in the order of salvation.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord O Soul, my beloved, Thou art seeking to
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  Speaker 1: know what Thou canst not comprehend. Thy instinct and thy desire,
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  Speaker 1: so far as the natural man is concerned, are supernatural.
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  Speaker 1: But as concerning this spiritual and the end for which
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  Speaker 1: thou wert created, they are natural. Because love is thy beginning,
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  Speaker 1: thy middle, and ought to be thy end. Thou canst
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  Speaker 1: not live without love, for it is Thy life, both
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  Speaker 1: in this world and in the other. It is for
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  Speaker 1: this reason that the desire consumed thee to know what
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  Speaker 1: love may be. But thou canst not comprehend it with
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  Speaker 1: the intellect, nor with the spirit, nor with all the
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  Speaker 1: love thou mayest possess. Even those who are in heaven
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  Speaker 1: their home know it only according to the measure of
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  Speaker 1: grace and charity they have had in this life. For
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  Speaker 1: love is God himself, who cannot be comprehended except by
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  Speaker 1: the wonderful effects of the Great love which he is
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  Speaker 1: ever manifesting, and which can neither be estimated or imagined.
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  Speaker 1: And when I reveal to the soul but one spark
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  Speaker 1: of my pure love, she is constrained to return me
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  Speaker 1: that love whose power compels her to do her all
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  Speaker 1: for me, even if need were to suffer torture and
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  Speaker 1: a thousand deaths. How much love may be infused into
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  Speaker 1: the hearts of men can be learned from what men
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  Speaker 1: have done for love of me. But I see, my beloved,
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  Speaker 1: that thou seekest not this operative love in its effects,
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  Speaker 1: but those gentle drops that I pour into the hearts
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  Speaker 1: of my elect and which melt the soul, the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and even the bodily powers, so that they act no longer.
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  Speaker 1: By these drops. The soul remains immersed in the sweetness
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  Speaker 1: of that love, and is incapable of performing any action.
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  Speaker 1: She is lost in herself and alienated from every creature,
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  Speaker 1: serene in the depths of her heart, at peace with
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  Speaker 1: all and passive. She is absorbed without love, which satisfies
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  Speaker 1: her without any nourishment. Hence she exclaims in her ardor soul,
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  Speaker 1: oh food without taste, Oh taste without flavor, Oh flavor
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  Speaker 1: without food Oh food of love, on which angels, saints,
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  Speaker 1: and men are nourished. Oh be it tific food. He
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  Speaker 1: who tastes thee knows not what thou art, Oh, real food,
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  Speaker 1: satisfying the appetite, Thou dost destroy every other desire. He
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  Speaker 1: who enjoys his food esteems himself already blessed, even in
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  Speaker 1: this life where God communicates it. But in the smallest measure.
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  Speaker 1: If he should be stole, only a little more man
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  Speaker 1: would die of that subtle, penetrating love, for the spirit
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  Speaker 1: would be so inflamed that the weak body would perish.
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  Speaker 1: Oh celestial love, Oh divine love, Thou hast sealed my lips.
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  Speaker 1: I know not how to speak, nor will I seek
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  Speaker 1: what never can be found. I am conquered and overpowered.
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  Speaker 1: End of Part three, Chapter three