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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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