Page 28 - volume1

I would start to pray, and I would feel the demons come over
me to increase my torment, and some would beat me, some

would prick me, some would suffocate my throat. I remember
that once, while I was praying, I felt my feet being pulled
from underneath the earth, and the earth open, and flames
come out; and I was sinking into it. The fright and the pain

were such that I remained half-dead; so much so, that in order
to make me recover from that state, Jesus Christ came and

consoled me. He made me understand that it was not true
that I had placed my will to offend Him, and that I myself
could know this from the most bitter pain that I felt; that the
devil was a liar, and that I should not pay attention to him;

that for now I had to have patience in suffering those bothers,
and that, later, peace would come. This would happen from
time to time, when I would really come to the extremes, and,

sometimes, in order to put me into more bitter torments. In
the act of that comfort the soul would be convinced, because
before that Light it is impossible for the soul not to learn the
Truth; but then, when I was in the fight, I would find myself

in the same state as before.

He also tempted me not to receive Communion, persuading

me that after I had committed so many sins, it was a boldness
to go there, and that if I dared to, not Jesus Christ, but the
devil would come, and would give me so many torments as
to make me die. However, obedience would win. It is true

that sometimes I suffered mortal pains, such that I could
hardly come round after Communion, but since the confessor

absolutely wanted me to receive It, I could not do otherwise. I
remember that quite a few times I did not receive It.

I also remember that sometimes, while I was praying in
the evening, they would turn off the lamp; sometimes they

The devil.
would let out such roars as to strike fear; other times, feeble
voices as if they were dying. But who can say all that they

28