CHAPTER VII

The Soul, confirmed in virtue, begins to rest in her Lord.—God permits her to see that loving operations whereby, through his great goodness alone, he had liberated her.—The Soul, perceiving her own miseries, burns with a continual flame and is unable to speak or thing of aught besides.

When God had despoiled this Soul of her evil habits and clothed her with virtue, and had well instructed her in the spiritual life, she began to rest in her Lord. Her battle and her servitude being ended, she was filled with a great joy, especially when God opened her eyes to see how greatly he had assisted her, and how he had defended her from her enemies, both visible and invisible, and from herself, who was the worst of all. The Soul, discerning the providence of God, and finding herself entirely freed from her interior trials, began to turn towards her Lord, who, designing to raise her to a higher state, caused her to behold with the eye of divine love the loving operation which he had accomplished in her. When she beheld his great and watchful care she was lost in astonishment, and considered what God was and what she herself was; that is, how low she was in misery and sorrow and how his goodness alone had rescued her by pure and simple love, and prepared her by amorous modes and ways to receive his divine love. This vision made her confess with bitter tears her woes and sins; and the love which God manifested to her continued to inflame her in such a manner that she could speak and think of nothing else. And in this state she remained until all other loves, both spiritual and natural, were entirely consumed.

And because the love of God, inasmuch as it is lonely and remote from other loves, is so much the greater, and more vehemently occupies the soul (for it is ever increasing, and works secretly, not only on others but also on itself), therefore the Soul, finding herself in this state, enjoyed all things, interior as well as exterior, in peace, in love, and in delight; for she did not yet know the way by which God intended to lead her, although she was approaching it. And God spake thus to her: