It is a good counsel, that when thou hast conceived the spirit of fervour, thou shouldst meditate how it will be with thee when that light shall leave thee. Which, when it shall happen, remember that the light may return again, which for thy insttuction and My glory I have withdrawn from thee for a time.
Such a trial is oftentimes more profitable than if thou wert always to have prosperity according to thy will.
-Bk. III, ch. vii.
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You may think that I am inclined to exaggerate the night of my soul. If you judge by the poems I have written this year, I may seem to be overflowing with consolations, a soul for whom the veil of faith is almost rent. And yet, it is no longer a veil, but rather a wall, that reaches up and hides the starry sky. When I sing of the bliss of Heaven and the endless possession of God, I feel no joy; I am merely singing of that which I wish to believe. I admit that occasionally a little ray of light pierces my dark night, and for a moment my trial ceases; but afterwards, the memory of the light makes my darkness more intense.
I realize better than ever before how tender and merciful Our Lord is; He has sent me this cross when I am capable of bearing it, whereas before I should have given way to discouragement. Now, its only result is that all natural satisfaction is taken from my longing for Heaven.
-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme)
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Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.
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