the perfections and the lovableness of God, or, rather, they understand them without seeing them; they understand that God alone could be their happiness, and that they are separated from Him for ever; and this thought is their first and most excruciating

torment.

They see the greatness and enormity of their sins, the graces and the means of salvation which God in His goodness had provided for them, and by which they had not profited; and remorse, the more bitter because it is profitless and incurable, forms their second and intolerable torment.

They see that the woes which overwhelm them will never have an end, that they will endure for ever and with the same intensity. O life of despair, which makes them break forth in frightful cries and howlings, and in blasphemies and curses against Heaven ! O my God, what hatred in their souls against Thee ! what hatred against themselves! what hatred against those who have drawn them into evil! Does there not issue from the depths of these souls, as it were, a storm of imprecations, maledictions, blasphemies, insults, threatenings, which sweeps through hell and keeps its flames alive for ever? What a sight! what a spectacle! my soul was filled with terror, it could scarcely look upon the raging fire of those abysses and the fury of the demons tormenting the damned in all their senses.

Justice of God, preserve me from these torments. O my soul, of what should I complain? Are not the ills which God sends me an effect of His mercy? No, Lord, I will not murmur at my sufferings here below, that I may not merit more dreadful ones in Eternity. Do with me what Thou pleasest. Let my life be a

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daily, a perpetual martyrdom provided I save my soul! Whatever my sufferings may be, Thy holy religion shall make them sweet to me and easy to endure; should they last a thousand years on earth, the memory of hell will enable me to bear them as though they were a light burden. Let me suffer, O Jesus Crucified, and let me love Thee for ever! Let my body and my soul be afflicted with trials the heaviest and most painful, so that my heart remain attached to Thee, never be separated from Thee, and have nothing but love and gratitude for Thee, even in the midst of my greatest tribulations.

This, Monsieur, is what I saw, what I experienced, what I understood, so far as my mind could understand it; this is what I felt in myself so far as my soul was capable of feeling. I am aware that I cannot have shown you by this letter the light which I beheld; it is God alone who shows it. I have not been able to exhibit to you in their perfection the instructions I received; God alone could do so. I have not been able to describe to you the sentiments of my heart during those hours of intimate communication with Jesus; it is the secret of the King which I cannot disclose. But I have endeavoured to prove to you my good-will, and the desire I have to obey every command which you may please to lay upon me.

I will conclude by telling you, as far as I am able to express myself, how Jesus on the Cross makes known the mercy of God.

The mercy of God was manifested to me in the Admirable Tabernacle by the sight of Jesus on the Cross in three ways.

The mercy of God is manifested in the good things which it bestows upon us, in the ills which it sends

us, and in the bliss which it accords us in Heaven. Now, Jesus on the Cross manifests this threefold aspect of the mercy of God.

The mercy of God is a boundless, infinite ocean, in which are to be found all the goods, all the gifts, and all the graces which are reserved for us. Now, sin at the beginning raised a wall of separation between God and man, and God could no longer show mercy to man or shed down upon him the abundance of His benefits. Man was separated from God by an infinite distance, sin. But Jesus came upon earth, ascended the tree of the Cross, made reparation for the sin of man, and mercy continued His work, by bestowing upon man graces still more abundant.

The mercy of God manifests itself in the ills which it sends us. To chastise is to love; to chastise is to give the means of expiation; to chastise is to recall the memory of God; to chastise is to punish here below in order not to punish in the other life. The ills which God sends us are darts which the justice of God aims at the soul; but these darts are not deadly, on the contrary they are the cause of life, because they are steeped in the waters of mercy and attract the graces of God. Now, it is from Jesus on the Cross that we receive this effusion of the mercy of God; it is He who implores pardon of God for our sins, and causes the ills of life to be sent us in order to preserve us from those of Eternity. These ills are a participation in His pains, and, united to them, they sanctify us and expiate our sins.

In fine, the mercy of God manifests itself by bestowing on us the bliss of Heaven. It is still Jesus on the Cross who thus manifests the mercy of God; for it is by His Cross that He closed the gates of hell and opened

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those of Heaven. It is by His Cross that He delivered us from the slavery of Satan and made us children of God.

O Cross of Jesus, mystery in time! O Cross of Jesus, mystery in eternity! O Jesus on the Cross, Thou ravishest our hearts on earth! O Jesus on the Cross, Thou captivatest our minds on earth! O Jesus on the Cross, Thou attractest all eyes to Thee! O Jesus on the Cross, life of our life! O Jesus on the Cross, death of our death! O Jesus on the Cross, happiness and bliss of the soul on earth! O Jesus on the Cross, hope of the happiness and bliss of Heaven!

O Cross of Jesus, light of Heaven! O Cross of Jesus, repose of souls in Heaven! O Cross of Jesus, eternal O Cross of

bond between souls and God in Heaven! Jesus, glory be to thee for ever!

O Jesus on the Cross, let my soul be consumed in loving Thee! O Cross of Jesus, may I bear thee on my shoulders, not for a moment, like the Cyrenian, but for my whole life, for all my days; and let me, with thee, present myself to God to ask mercy of Him for all eternity!

I pray you, Monsieur, to excuse my very long letter and the way in which I have written it. You will not taste in it what I tasted in the Admirable Tabernacle ; you will not see in it the lights which I there beheld; you will not receive in it the illuminations which were given to me. I give what I am able to give out of obedience and most willingly.

Accept, Monsieur le Curé, the assurance of my sentiments of veneration, respect, and obedience, with which

I am,

Your

very humble servant,

MIMBASTE, 14th August, 1843.

MARIE.

LETTER XV.

The sufferings of the Body and Soul of Jesus in the Passion.

MONSIEUR LE CURÉ,

I am about further to submit to you what I experienced one day in the Admirable Tabernacle at the sight of Jesus on the Cross.

I beheld in the Saviour two kinds of sufferings: the sufferings of the Body and the sufferings of the Soul, and the sight showed me with what patience and submission I ought to accept all the pains I might myself experience in my body and soul.

The Body of Jesus appeared to me to be afflicted with all the evils, all the sharpest pains, that it were possible to imagine. He endured not only all the sufferings of men because of their sins, but also infinitely more than all the children of Adam together. His Body was like an ocean of suffering; His flesh was mangled by the scourging; His nerves contracted and dislocated by the crucifying; but nothing seemed to me comparable to the thirst which devoured Him. My heart was broken at beholding Him in this condition, I could not take my eyes off Him, and I suffered a thousand deaths in seeing Him suffer. I would fain have unfastened Him from the Cross that I might die in His stead, and suffer what He was suffering; for I could not disguise it from myself-Jesus is innocent, and I am only a miserable sinner; it is for me that He is on the Cross; it is I who have fastened Him to the Cross. O sin of my soul, what hast thou done?

At this moment the light around the Crucifix in the Admirable Tabernacle became more brilliant than