Page 77 - volume1
P. 77

steps, and such that it would take nothing to destroy me but
            someone who would trample me under foot and I would be

            undone. So, seeing myself so ugly, I almost would not dare
            to go to God, but His Goodness would make itself present
            before my mind, and I would feel drawn, as though by a
            magnet, to go to Him. And I would say to myself: “If He is

            Holy, He is also Merciful; if He is Powerful, He also contains
            full and highest Goodness within Himself.” It seemed to me

            that Goodness surrounded Him on the outside and inundated
            Him from within. When I looked at the Goodness of God, it
            seemed to me that it surpassed all other attributes, but then,
            in looking at the others, I would see them all equal among

            themselves Immense, Immeasurable and Incomprehensible
            to the human nature. While my soul would be in this state,


            Jesus would come back and speak about Hope.
            I remember something only confusedly, because after so
            much time it is impossible to remember clearly; but in order
            to do the obedience that wants it so, I will say what I can.


            So, going back to Faith, Jesus would say: “In order to
            obtain, one must believe. Just as for the head without the

            sight of the eyes, everything is darkness, everything is
            bewilderment, so much so, that if one wanted to walk, he
            would stumble now at one point, now at another, and would
            end up falling completely, the same for the soul without

            Faith she does nothing but go from precipice to precipice.


            But Faith serves as the Sight of the soul, and as the Light
            which guides her to Eternal Life. Now, what is this Light of
            Faith nourished by? By Hope. Now, what is the substance of
            this Light of Faith, and of this nourishment of Hope? Charity.

            All three of these Virtues are grafted to one another, in such
            a way that one cannot be without the other.


            In fact, what good comes to man from believing in the
            immense riches of Faith, if he does not Hope for them, for
            himself? He will look at them, yes, but with indifferent eye,


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