Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 041 - Part 3 Chapter 9

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041 - Part 3 Chapter 9 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

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  Speaker 1: Part three, chapter nine 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 Boulat Part three, chapter nine. As the
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  Speaker 1: state of a soul enkindled and glowing with divine love
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  Speaker 1: has been explained, something now remains to be said of
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  Speaker 1: the condition of the body. The body cannot live on
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  Speaker 1: love like the soul, but it is nourished by material food.
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  Speaker 1: And as God has will to separate the soul from
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  Speaker 1: earthly things and from her body, and engage her holy
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  Speaker 1: in spiritual operations, therefore it is left without vigor and
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  Speaker 1: almost without nourishment, for all communication having ceased between it
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  Speaker 1: and the soul, without which it has no strength. It
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  Speaker 1: becomes like a soul deprived of God, like one dead
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  Speaker 1: without enjoyment, without vigor, and without aid or comfort. And
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  Speaker 1: if God should for a long time keep the soul
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  Speaker 1: thus vehemently occupied within herself, it would be impossible in
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  Speaker 1: the nature of things for the body to survive. But God,
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  Speaker 1: who sees all things, provides for all necessities. And although
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  Speaker 1: by reason of the union of the soul with God,
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  Speaker 1: humanity has little comfort and can neither smile nor relish food,
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  Speaker 1: nor sleep, nor take delight in the emotions of the soul,
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  Speaker 1: or the sensations of the body, nor in any earthly thing.
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  Speaker 1: Yet God concedes a sufficiency of the support of its
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  Speaker 1: wearisome life. And in order that every imperfection which exists
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  Speaker 1: in man may die in God. While man still lives
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  Speaker 1: upon the earth, God seems to open a vein and
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  Speaker 1: let out the blood of humanity, the soul meanwhile remaining
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  Speaker 1: as if in a bath. And when there is no
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  Speaker 1: blood within the body, and the soul is wholly transformed
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  Speaker 1: in God, then each goes to its own place, the
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  Speaker 1: soul to her rest in God, and the body to
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  Speaker 1: the grave. And this work is done in secret and
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  Speaker 1: by love alone. If you know how harassed and besieged
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  Speaker 1: is this poor humanity, you would, in truth believe that
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  Speaker 1: no creature suffers so greatly as itself. But because this
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  Speaker 1: is invisible, it is neither credited nor understood, nor has
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  Speaker 1: anyone compassion for it, especially as it is endured for
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  Speaker 1: the love of God. But I say with all this,
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  Speaker 1: for the love of God, it is necessary that this
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  Speaker 1: creature should live always as if dead, like a man
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  Speaker 1: hanging by his feet, who notwithstanding lives. And though it
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  Speaker 1: may be said and truly that the heart is contented,
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  Speaker 1: yet what enjoyment can the body have? Thus humanity, no
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  Speaker 1: longer able to live according to its nature, appears to
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  Speaker 1: me to be always tortured and greatly afflicted. It lives,
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  Speaker 1: but knows not how it lives, nor on what food
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  Speaker 1: it desires. Nothing but remin means in God, who pierces
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  Speaker 1: often this beloved heart with darts of love so keen
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  Speaker 1: that they almost destroy the body by the ardor of
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  Speaker 1: their penetrating and amorous flame, and absorbs the soul in
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  Speaker 1: an obscure and hidden satisfaction from which she would never part,
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  Speaker 1: since in it she finds her own proper repose and
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  Speaker 1: natural beatitude, which God often reveals to the heart he loves.
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  Speaker 1: But the body, constrained to follow the soul, without which
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  Speaker 1: it cannot live or do aught else, not being spirit,
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  Speaker 1: remains during this time as if without a soul and
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  Speaker 1: without human comfort, in almost mortal weakness, and knows not
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  Speaker 1: how to aid itself. Therefore, in this necessity it is
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  Speaker 1: assisted by others or secretly provided for by God himself,
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  Speaker 1: for otherwise this creature would be as helpless as a
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  Speaker 1: little child, who, having no one to care for it,
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  Speaker 1: can do nothing but weep until its wants are supplied.
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  Speaker 1: It is not to be wondered at. Therefore, that for
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  Speaker 1: creatures like this, God should provide particular persons to assist them,
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  Speaker 1: by whose means all their necessaries, both of soul and body,
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  Speaker 1: are supplied for otherwise they would die. Behold how our
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ left his beloved mother to the special
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  Speaker 1: care of Saint John. He did the same for his disciples,
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  Speaker 1: and does it still for other devout persons, in such
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  Speaker 1: a manner that one succors another, both in spiritual and
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  Speaker 1: temporal things, with this divine union. But because people in
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  Speaker 1: general do not understand these operations and have no such union,
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  Speaker 1: therefore particular persons are needed for such cares through whom
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  Speaker 1: God may operate by his grace and light. Those who
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  Speaker 1: behold such creatures and do not understand them admire, rather
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  Speaker 1: than are edified by them. Do not judge them, then,
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  Speaker 1: if you do not wish to err, but consider how
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  Speaker 1: besieged and how afflicted is this humanity living as if
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  Speaker 1: without life. She lives because God gives her the grace
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  Speaker 1: to live, and by nature her life would be impossible
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  Speaker 1: when the soul was able to give love for love.
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  Speaker 1: That love yielded humanity a certain satisfaction which sustained it.
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  Speaker 1: But now, when the soul is deprived of all sensible
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  Speaker 1: and active love, humanity is left abandoned and forsaken, like
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  Speaker 1: one dead. But God performs another loving work, so secret
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  Speaker 1: and so subtle, that the soul becomes more noble and
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  Speaker 1: more perfect than before by reason of the destitution and
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  Speaker 1: the nakedness in which God leaves her, so that without
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  Speaker 1: other support, she rests firm and stable on him alone.
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  Speaker 1: End of Part three, Chapter nine,