I. It is a long time since I wrote the last pages, and I

have had no opportunity of resuming the book, so that
unless I read over the latter part I cannot remember
what I said. However, to save time, I must go straight
on, without either order or connection. For methodical
minds and for souls who practise prayer, and who are
able to keep their attention fixed, ^ there are so many
suitable books,® written by good authors, that it would
be a mistake to come to me for advice on the subject.
There are volumes containing meditations * for every
day of the week on the mysteries of our Lord’s life and

* Valladolid edition, ch. xxi. ; Escorial, ch. xxx.

2 “The habit of recollection is not to be gained by force of
arms, but with calmness, which will enable you to practise it
for a longer space of time. . . . There is no remedy for having
given up a habit of recollection except to recommence it, other-
wise the soul will continue to lose it more and more every day,
and God grant it may realise its danger “ {Castle, M. ii. ch. i. i8).

^ Life, ch, iv. lo, 14. ^ Found, ch. v. 2, 3,

CHAP. XIX.]

METHOD.

I2I

sacred Passion, on the last Judgment, hell, our own
nothingness, the mercies God has granted us, and our
many debts to Him.® These books contain excellent
teaching, and a good method for the beginning and
conclusion of mental prayer.

2. One who is accustomed to this kind of prayer
requires no further instruction : our Lord will thus
bring her to the port of light ; such a good beginning
is sure to end well. Those who can walk in this way
enjoy peace and security, for when the thoughts are
kept under control the journey becomes easy. But,
with God’s permission, I wish to offer some help to
those who cannot practise such prayer. Even if I fail,
at least you will have learnt that many others suffer in
the same way as yourselves, so that you need not be
distressed about it. When you begin to practise prayer,
I will give you some advice about this matter.

3. .Some minds are as disorderly as unbroken horses —
no one can quiet them : they rush about, hither and
thither, and are never at rest. Although, with prudence,
one may, in spite of this, escape harm, yet this is not
always possible. Perhaps no vital injury may be done,
yet there is a risk of making mistakes, and the soul is
in a continual state of agitation and trouble. Either
this is natural to certain persons, or God permits it.
I pity them deeply. They are like a man parched with

^ Such are the Meditations of St. Peter of Alcantara.

122 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XIX.

thirst, who sees water in the far distance, and, while
trying to get to it, is hindered by other people, both at
starting, when he has got half-way, and again just before
the end of his journey. They resemble those souls who,
after a great effort and immense trouble, have defeated
their first enemies, yet are beaten by the second ad-
versaries, and would rather die of thirst than drink of
water that costs them so dear. They lack strength,
their courage fails them : though sometimes they over-
come their second set of opponents yet they succumb
before the third.

4. Perhaps they were not two steps off the living
fountain of water of which our Lord spoke to the
Samaritan woman,® promising that, whoever drank of
it, should never thirst again.’ How true is this
which was told us by Truth Himself, for the soul
thirsts no more for the things of this world, although its
craving for the next life exceeds any natural thirst
that can be imagined. Yet, how the heart pines for this
thirst, realising its priceless value ! This drought brings
its own remedy with it : it allays all desire of created
things, and satisfies the soul. When it has been satiated
by God, one of the greatest graces He can bestow on
the spirit is to leave it with this thirst, which, after

® St. John iv, 13 ; “ Qui autem biberit ex aqua quam ego

dabo ei, non sitiet in aetcrnum.”

’ Castle, M. vi. ch. xi. 5. Excl. ix. i. Life, ch. xxx. -24.

CHAP. XIX.] WATER AND LIVE-FIRE. 123

drinking, increases the longing to partake again and
again of this water.®

5. As far as I can remember, water has three properties
— there must be many more, but these suit my purpose.
One property is that it chills other things. However
warm any one may be, he is cooled by plunging into a
river, and water extinguishes the fiercest fire, except
wild-hre, which it only kindles the more. How strange
it is that water should only increase this fire, which is
fierce, raging, and subject to none of the elements, so
that its opposite, instead of putting it out, only adds
fuel to its flames. I could explain a great deal by this,
if only I understood philosophy. If I knew the properties
of things I should be able to make my meaning clear :
as it is, though I am amused and interested by them I
do not know how to express myself — perhaps I do not
even understand the matter. When God gives you this
water, sisters, this comparison will please you, and you will
understand, as those do who drink of it, how a genuine
love of God, that is powerful and freed from earthly
dross, rises above mortal things and is sovereign over
all the elements of this world. Though water may
flow from the earth, there is no fear of its quenching
the fire of divine love, over which it has no empire.
Although they are the antidotes of one another, its

® Escorial edition, ch. xxxi. A comparison symbolising
perfect contemplation. . . ' ■

124 the way of perfection. [chap. XIX.

flames are beyond the influence of water and are all-
powerful. Do not be surprised then, sisters, at the
stress I have laid in this book on your gaining liberty
of spirit.

6. Is it a small thing that an insignificant little nun
of St. Joseph’s should obtain the mastery over the
globe and all the elements ? What wonder that the
saints, with the help of God, did what they pleased with
them ? Fire and water obeyed St. Martin,® the birds
and fish were subject to St. Francis,^® and many other
saints possessed this power over created things which
they had evidently gained by striving to despise the
world and by subjecting themselves, with their whole
hearts, to the Lord of creation. “ They did their utmost,

^ Sulpicius Severus, in his Dialogues, tells us that St. Martin,
having set fire to a heathen temple, prevented the flames from
spreading elsewhere by standing in their way (ch. vii.). By his
prayers he made a cool and refreshing space for himself in the
midst of a burning room. He freed a whole district from an
annual hailstorm which used to devastate it. A tempest in
the Tuscan Sea was calmed by an invocation of the “ God of
St. Martin ” uttered by a heathen merchant (ch. xiv.). (From
the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Oxford, 1894.)

St. Francis stopped the swallows twittering during his
sermon. At another time he preached to the birds who gathered
round and listened, and flew away at his bidding, singing sweetly
in praise of God. At Rimini he spoke to a multitude of fish
which ranged themselves in front of him in the river to listen.
This miracle so touched some of the heretics of the city as to
convert them. {The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi,
chs. xvii. xl.)

Job V. 23 : “ Ft bestiae terrae pacificae erunt tibi*'*

CHAP. XIX.] DOMINATION. 125

therefore they may almost seem to have claimed this
power as a right, for, as the Psalmist says : ‘‘ Thou
hast subjected all things under his feet.” Do you
think this applies to every one ? I see some men ” under
the feet ” of the things of this world. I knew a gentleman
who was literally kicked to death in a struggle with his
horses — you see how miserably he was “subject” to
them ! Things occur every day that witness to the
truth of what I say. Indeed, the Psalmist could not
speak untruth, being guided by the Holy Ghost. How-
ever, I may be mistaken in his meaning, or misquote
the text as saying that perfect souls are rulers of the
whole earth. The water I spoke of has an earthly source,
and has no influence over the fire of the love of God,
whose flames rise high above it, and spring from nothing
so base. There are fires of a tepid love for God, which
any passing event may extinguish, but although a
tempest rose against it, fervent charity would not be
destroyed, but would vanquish its enemy : if water
should rain from heaven,^’ instead of putting out this
fire, it would revive the flames. These two elements
are not opposed to one another, but spring from the
same origin. There is no fear of their harming one
another — they only increase each other’s effects ..^J^^^he
water of genuine tears, shed during real prayer, is a

Psalm viii. 8 : “ Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus.”

Castle, M. vi. ch. vi. 8, 9. Life, ch. xviii. 12 sqq.

126 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XIX.

gift from the King of heaven : it feeds the flames, and
keeps them alight, while the fire helps to cool the
water.

7. Ah, how delightful and wonderful a thing is this
fire ! When it is combined with the rain from heaven
from whence flow the tears I spoke of, it chills and
even freezes all worldly affections. These waters are
given us, and not obtained by any effort of our own :
thus they leave no warmth that might attract us in
anything of this world, unless it is something tending
to feed this fire, which by its nature is initiate and
would, if possible, envelop the whole earth in its
flames.

8. A second property of water is the cleansing of what
is foul. What would become of mankind with no water
to wash in ? This living, celestial water is limpid, un-
disturbed, and unmixed with any earthly matter, for
it has come straight from heaven. The soul which has
once drunk of it is cleansed and left pure and free from
all sins.^^ As I said, we are powerless to obtain this
water for ourselves, because perfect contemplation
and divine union are high and supernatural graces
given by God to the soul that it may be washed and
left stainless and purified from the mire contracted by
its sins. The water of sensible devotion,^® obtained by

Castle, M. vi, ch. iv. 3.

Castle, M. iv. ch. i. 4-7 ; ch. ii. 4.

Chap, xix.] MedItatIoN. 127

the use of the intellect, has run its course over the earth
and is not imbibed directly from the source itself ; there-
fore whatever benefit we may derive from it, it always
contains a certain amount of mud, and is never so pure
and limpid as the other. I do not call prayer made
by thinking over a subject, ‘'living water,” for I
believe that, in spite of all our efforts, owing partly
to physical causes and partly to human nature, it
always retains something from which we should like it
to be free.

9. I will explain myself more clearly. While medi-
tating on the world and the contempt it deserves on
account of its short duration, almost without knowing
it, we find ourselves thinking about the worldly matters
we used to care for. Although we try to check these
thoughts, they distract us all the more by the remem-
brance of what happened, and speculations about what
will come of it, what will be the consequences, what we
did, and what we shall do. By pondering over the
means of freeing ourselves from faults, we sometimes
run into fresh danger. Not that we ought to omit
such meditation, but we must be cautious and watchful.
In contemplation our Lord Himself takes care of us, for
He will not entrust us with our own interests. Our souls
are so dear to Him that He prevents them from running
into danger, while He is bestowing this grace on them.
He at once calls them to His side, and in a single instant

128 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XlX.

shows them more truths and gives them a clearer know-
ledge of the nothingness of all things than we could
gain for ourselves in many years. For our sight is not
clear — our eyes are blinded by the dust on our path ;
but here, we know not how, our Lord brings us at once
to the end of the journey.

10. The third property of water is to satisfy and
quench thirst. Thirst seems to me to be a desire of
something which we need so greatly that we should
die were we altogether deprived of it. Water is a strange
thing ! we die for want of it, yet too much of it kills
us — see how many men it has drowned ! O Lord, is
any one plunged so deeply into this living water as to
die of it ? Could such a thing happen ? Yes. • This
love and desire of God may increase until nature can
bear it no longer and men have perished from this cause.
I know some one who received such abundance of this
water that, if God had not promptly come to her aid,
she would almost have been drawn out of herself by
raptures.^® I say “drawn out of herself” because her
soul was in repose. Her thirst and longing for God were
great and increased to such a degree that she knew that,
unless some remedy were applied, they might kill her.
Such a soul appears overcome by its loathing for this
world, but it revives in God : His Majesty thus enables
it to enjoy this grace which, if left to itself, it could not
Castle, M. vi. ch. xi. 8. Rel. iv. i. Concep, ch, vii. 2.

CHAP. XIX.] THIRST FOR GOD. I2g

have borne without loss of life. Blessed be He Who
in the Gospel invites us to drink of this water.

Most certainly, our Lord and our supreme Good pos-
sesses no imperfection, and all He does is for our welfare ;
therefore, however abundant this water may be, it is
never in excess, for there is nothing superfluous in His
gifts. If He gives a deep draught He makes the soul
capable of drinking it, just as a glass-maker moulds his
vessels the right size to contain the fluid he means to
pour into them. It is always wrong of us to wish for
this water : it is solely through the grace of God that we
reap any benefit from such a desire. We are indiscreet
and think that, as this pain is sweet and enjoyable, we
cannot have too much of it. We covet it beyond all
measure, and do all we can to augment our longings, so
that sometimes people die of such emotions. What a
blessed death ! Yet perhaps, by living, one might have
helped others to die with the desire of such a death. I
believe the devil has a hand in this : he knows what
harm such people do him by living, and incites them
to perform imprudent penances so as to destroy their
health, which would be no small gain to him.