Chapter, Paragraph

501   3,     31  |         that you see yourself to be a thief, a debtor, who ought
502   3,     31  |             yourself to be a thief, a debtor, who ought to pay
503   3,     31  |                           And if as a prelate you have given prelacies
504   3,     31  |          better seen when placed on a black ground, and blackness
505   3,     31  |            ground, and blackness on a white, than when they are
506   3,     31  |         evil life is represented to a wicked man, and there is
507   3,     31  |            For vice being placed on a ground of virtue is known
508   3,     31  |         which follows the virtue of a just man, and the pain that
509   3,     31  |          but so that he may come to a perfect self-knowledge and
510   3,     31  |          and the battle of death to a just man and to a sinner,
511   3,     31  |          death to a just man and to a sinner, and how different
512   3,     31  |           the eye of your intellect a very small part of what
513   3,     31  |           the other, that it is but a trifle. See how great is
514   3,     31  |           as good men are placed in a higher degree of excellence.
515   3,     31  |             in greater torment than a pagan, because he had the
516   3,     32  |     praising and thanking GOD, made a prayer for the Holy Church. ~
517   3,     32  |            of Your charity. And can a wretch like me pay back
518   3,     32  |             own head, and should be a lying daughter of the Devil,
519   3,     32  |            sin of Adam, You sent it a Physician, the sweet and
520   3,     32  |             Eternal God, have given a soothing, sweet, and bitter
521   3,     32  |          Wherefore I have conceived a very great sorrow at Your
522   3,     32  |           their iniquities to me -- a wretch who am the cause
523   3,     32  |    manifested this to me, giving me a sweet and bitter medicine
524   3,     32  |        people, so that I might shed a river of tears, drawn from
525   3,     32  |           me to ask You. Alas! what a wretched and sorrowful soul
526   3,     32  |         Your lambs, and made for us a bath of His Blood. ~
527   4          |                                     A TREATISE OF OBEDIENCE ~
528   4,      1  |             and what is the sign of a man's possessing it, and
529   4,      1  |              dearest daughter, have a right to be heard, and inasmuch
530   4,      1  |         outside His obedience is in a state of damnation, as I
531   4,      1  |          possessed them all, but in a different way from that
532   4,      1  |            marrow of obedience, and a demonstrative sign, whether
533   4,      1  |         demonstrative sign, whether a soul be in a state of grace
534   4,      1  |          sign, whether a soul be in a state of grace and truly
535   4,      1  |          patience, has given her as a sister to obedience, and
536   4,      1  |            neither. This virtue has a nurse who feeds her, that
537   4,      1  |            true humility; therefore a soul is obedient in proportion
538   4,      1  |            for as I spoke to you of a companion virtue proceeding
539   4,      2  |        should fasten it by means of a cord to her girdle, and
540   4,      2  |          which the Word had, and if a man does not unlock in the
541   4,      2  |             that no matter how much a man may have spoiled his
542   4,      2  |           can walk? or that without a key you can open the door?
543   4,      2  |             that you can, for it is a fantastical delusion; you
544   4,      2  |            must leave mortal sin by a holy confession, contrition
545   4,      2  |            of which you should make a girdle to yourself to bind
546   4,      2  |             key; for if they suffer a little extra fatigue, or
547   4,      2  |           of the holy faith. She is a queen whose consort will
548   4,      2  |            in whom she dwells. Such a one feels no hatred when
549   4,      2  |         doctrine, of which you make a table when you eat the food
550   4,      2  |         truly My creatures, you are a sunrise drawing after you
551   4,      2  |            of divine grace, you are a sun which makes the earth,
552   4,      2  |             celestial door. You are a hidden pearl, trampled by
553   4,      3  |           Truth, leading them along a way of lies, making them
554   4,      3  |           placed them in so blessed a state? The blood of the
555   4,      4  |              but take on themselves a particular obedience. ~
556   4,      4  |            precepts of the Law with a general obedience as you
557   4,      4  |            but take upon themselves a particular obedience, following
558   4,      5  |                                 How a soul advances from general
559   4,      5  |             on fire with desire and a holy self-hatred, having
560   4,      5  |             judgment can be made on a person's entrance into religion,
561   4,      5  |             not supply material for a real judgment, but only
562   4,      5  |           cross by love, so that by a singular grace there appeared
563   4,      5  |          but having it also. And as a sign that he had it truly,
564   4,      5  |       privately or in community, as a sign that he had chosen
565   4,      5  |            and giving light. He was a light which I gave the world
566   4,      5  |          have already told you that a man's humility is in proportion
567   4,      5  |            true poverty; he made it a royal ship, not obliging
568   4,      5  |             kind, yet one possesses a higher degree of perfection
569   4,      5  |             not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that
570   4,      5  |           Wherefore his religion is a delightful garden, broad
571   4,      5  |           vows, have turned it into a desert and defiled it with
572   4,      5  |         than by human study. He was a brilliant light, illuminating
573   4,      5  |             him his death, but like a true knight he fearlessly
574   4,      5  |          virtues in their stead. Of a truth Dominic and Francis
575   4,      6  |            those who travel in such a ship, speaking of all together
576   4,      6  |            of the obedient, so that a man may better know the
577   4,      6  |             would enter the ship of a religious order. How should
578   4,      6  |          for obedience soon dies in a soul deprived of this little
579   4,      6  |            enough enter the ship of a religious order, but however
580   4,      6  |             to you. They have taken a little key, passing through
581   4,      6  |         little key, passing through a low and narrow opening in
582   4,      6  |            for it is impossible for a man with many worldly relations,
583   4,      6  |       narrow door, and that in such a state he would die before
584   4,      6  |           of My servants. These are a man's enemies, causing him
585   4,      6  |           Thus the conversations of a truly obedient man are good
586   4,      6  |       charity. Of his cell he makes a heaven, delighting there
587   4,      6  |          leave it, and when he sees a brother more obedient than
588   4,      6  |           him in his eagerness with a holy envy, stealing from
589   4,      6  |         table with the poor. And as a sign that he delights therein,
590   4,      6  |          the labors of the order in a faith which despises nothing,
591   4,      6  |            despises nothing, for as a child who does not remember
592   4,      6  |            the greater, for calling a child, He said: 'Allow the
593   4,      7  |          the truly obedient receive a hundredfold for one, and
594   4,      7  |           replied, 'I will give you a hundredfold for one, and
595   4,      7  |            this life, will give you a hundredfold for one.' And
596   4,      7  |           one for which I repay him a hundredfold. What is the
597   4,      7  |           the meaning of the number a hundred? A hundred is a
598   4,      7  |            of the number a hundred? A hundred is a perfect number,
599   4,      7  |             a hundred? A hundred is a perfect number, and cannot
600   4,      7  |             into eternal life, like a mistress bringing with her
601   4,      7  |           these little ones receive a hundredfold for one, and
602   4,      7  |            figured by the number of a hundred (as has been said).
603   4,      7  |   hundredfold from Me, they possess a wonderful and hearty joy,
604   4,      7  |     generous, not narrow or double. A soul wounded by this sweet
605   4,      8  |                       Contrariwise, a wicked disobedient man dwells
606   4,      8  |           man dwells in the ship of a religious order with so
607   4,      8  |      insupportable to himself. What a terrible thing it is, My
608   4,      8  |             the key of obedience of a religious order, living
609   4,      8  |           which he has made himself a slave, for of disobedience
610   4,      8  |            three vows, My daughter, a religious comes to ruin,
611   4,      8  |         aspect is no longer that of a religious but of an incarnate
612   4,      8  |            intellect is fixed, with a dead faith, on pleasing
613   4,      8  |          the order wishes him to be a pilgrim, and continually
614   4,      8  |           to him; for when he is in a nice pleasant resting place,
615   4,      8  |            true obedience, which is a road of truth founded by
616   4,      8  |      passion for disobedience. Such a man thinks like a fool to
617   4,      8  |              Such a man thinks like a fool to navigate this tempestuous
618   4,      8  |           and of his superior. Such a one is indeed in the ship
619   4,      8  |          but not on his heart. Such a one is no friar, but a masquerader,
620   4,      8  |         Such a one is no friar, but a masquerader, a man only
621   4,      8  |           friar, but a masquerader, a man only in appearance.
622   4,      8  |            of place in the mouth of a ribald secular; and if he
623   4,      8  |            to be able to accomplish a sinful act, the which is
624   4,      8  |   unfaithfully his superior's will; a stench of impurity, for
625   4,      8  |             of devotion you conceal a troop of children? This
626   4,      8  |            make to you, but in such a case you immediately bring
627   4,      8  |             your cell as if it were a prison, for you have abandoned
628   4,      8  |            does not think of laying a table, or of providing food
629   4,      8  |          himself, and that not with a reasonable but with a bestial
630   4,      8  |          with a reasonable but with a bestial love. So great are
631   4,      9  |          and every man will receive a price, according to the
632   4,      9  |          fathers, where you read of a religious, who at once obeyed
633   4,      9  |            Me, My clemency gave him a proof by writing the other
634   4,      9  |           disciple who, being given a dry stick by his abbot,
635   4,      9  |         forth leaves and fruits, as a sign that that soul had
636   4,      9  |          obey the obedient man; for a certain disciple, commanded
637   4,      9  |            purity and virtue caught a dragon and brought it to
638   4,      9  |          abbot, but the abbot, like a true physician of the soul,
639   4,      9  |           sent by obedience to save a drowning disciple; he did
640   4,      9  |      speaking generally, and not in a particular case, which cannot
641   4,      9  |             case, which cannot give a law), you ought, if possible,
642   4,      9  |            the obedient man does is a source of merit to him.
643   4,      9  |           smaller than itself, like a vessel, which, dipped into
644   4,     10  |                             This is a brief repetition of the
645   4,     10  |         finite time can satisfy for a sin committed against Me,
646   4,     10  |             you under the figure of a Bridge, reaching from earth
647   4,     10  |             have shown it to you as a universal key, and so it
648   4,     10  |         sweet Jesus, of whom I made a Bridge, the road to Heaven
649   4,     10  |            have given you, which is a doctrine of truth founded
650   4,     11  |             oh eternal Trinity, are a deep Sea, into which the
651   4,     11  |             light of holy faith. Of a truth this light is a sea,
652   4,     11  |            Of a truth this light is a sea, for the soul revels
653   4,     11  |          she knows the truth; it is a deep which manifests sweet
654   4,     11  |             believes. This water is a magic mirror into which
655   4,     11  |              have given Yourself in a fire of love to men; You,
656   4,     11  |         that I may be the mirror of a good and holy life, and
657   4,     11  |            of truth, which has been a special grace over and above
658   4,     11  |        servant, penetrating me with a ray of grace, so that in
659 Lette        |          the Monastery of San Piero a Monticelli near Florence.
660 Lette,      0|            Catherine, I, Barduccio, a wretched and guilty sinner,
661 Lette,      0|             to your holy prayers as a feeble infant, orphaned
662 Lette,      0|            by the death of so great a mother. I received your
663 Lette,      0|          and you. But since you, as a beloved and faithful daughter,
664 Lette,      0|          little fitted to give such a narration, I will write
665 Lette,      0|              began to feel so great a change both in soul and
666 Lette,      0|     refreshment, whence came to her a most violent and tedious
667 Lette,      0|          prayer, she had so violent a stroke that from that day
668 Lette,      0|            just after I had written a letter, she had another
669 Lette,      0|              remaining under it for a long time without giving
670 Lette,      0|            her heart appeared to us a miracle. I think, too, that
671 Lette,      0|        arose from the earth in such a state that any one who had
672 Lette,      0|            to St. Peter's, although a good mile distant, where
673 Lette,      0|            worn out that she seemed a corpse. ~
674 Lette,      0|          say, that, every time that a new torment came upon her,
675 Lette,      0|         time it was reduced to such a state that it seemed like
676 Lette,      0|           state that it seemed like a corpse in a picture, though
677 Lette,      0|             seemed like a corpse in a picture, though I speak
678 Lette,      0|        could not move herself, even a little, from one side to
679 Lette,      0|          hours or more before dawn, a great change was produced
680 Lette,      0|           gradually reduced to such a state that we could observe
681 Lette,      0|    calamitous state for an hour and a half, half of which time
682 Lette,      0|          serene and joyous, in such a manner that I could not
683 Lette,      0|           that, like one saved from a deep sea, she was restored
684 Lette,      0|       succeeded in rising, and with a little help began to sit
685 Lette,      0|             had put before her eyes a pious picture, containing
686 Lette,      0|            been to them nothing but a mirror of human weakness;
687 Lette,      0|             had not been present at a memorable discourse, which,
688 Lette,      0|            I can say is that it was a bitter sweet to her. How
689 Lette,      0|           and begging her to obtain a particular grace from God --
690 Lette,      0|              and thus sweetly, with a face all shining and angelical,