It is expedient for thee to look for My coming and My heavenly visitation with an assured hope; to bear with patience thy banishment and the aridity of thy mind, till thou be visited again by Me and delivered from all anguish.
I will make thee forget thy pains and enjoy internal rest. I will lay open before thee the pleasant fields of the Scriptures, that thy heart being dilated thou mayest begin to run in the way of My commandments. And then thou shalt say that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us (Rom. viii, 18).
- Bk. III, ch. li.
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I do not know if you are still feeling as you did when you last wrote, but I am sending you in answer this passage from the Canticle of Canticles, which describes so vividly a soul in a state of dryness, who can find no comfort anywhere: I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flowered, and the pomegranates budded. I knew not: my soul troubled me for the chariots of Aminadab (Cant. vi, 10, 11).
That is a picture of our souls. How often we go down to the fertile valleys where we found spiritual food, to the pleasant fields of Scripture where we discovered so many treasures, but which now seem like a waterless desert. We no longer know where we are: instead of peace and light our lot is darkness and distress, but like the Bride we know the cause of this trial. We are not yet in our fatherland, but have still to be tried by temptation as gold in the furnace. Sometimes we feel utterly abandoned, and cannot make sure whether the chariots, that is, the noise and commotion which surround us, are within or without.
We do not know, but Jesus knows, and He sees our sorrow, and suddenly in the dark night, His voice is heard: Return, return, O Sulamitess: return, return that we may behold thee (ibid., vi, 12).
- Letters
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For a List of Abbreviations, see this post.
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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