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because he knows that they are not his. But Hope provides
the Light of Faith with wings, and by hoping in the Merits of

Jesus Christ, he looks at them as his own, and he comes to
love them.”

“Hope,” Jesus said, “provides the soul with a garment of

Fortitude, almost of iron, in such a way that all the enemies
with their arrows cannot wound her; not only this, but they

cannot cause even the slightest disturbance. Everything is
Tranquillity in her, everything is Peace.”

O! it is beautiful to see this soul invested with beautiful

Hope, all cleaving to her beloved, all distrustful of herself,
and all trustful in God. She challenges the fiercest enemies;
she is queen of her passions, she regulates all of her interior,

her inclinations, the desires, the heartbeats, the thoughts,
with such mastery that Jesus Himself remains enamoured,
because He sees that this soul operates with such Courage
and Strength but she draws it and hopes for it all from Him;

so much so, that in seeing this firm hope, Jesus cannot deny
anything to this soul.

Now, while Jesus would speak about Hope, He would
withdraw for a little, leaving a Light in my intellect. Who can
say what I comprehended about Hope? If the other virtues
all serve to embellish the soul, but can make us stagger and

render us inconstant Hope, instead, renders the soul firm
and stable, like those high mountains which cannot be moved

a tiny bit. It seems to me that it happens to the soul invested
by Hope as to certain extremely high mountains, such that all
the intemperances of the air cannot cause any harm to these
mountains. Neither snow, nor winds, nor heat can penetrate

into them; whatever thing might be placed at their top, one
can be sure of finding it there where it was put, even if a
hundred years should pass. Just so is the soul clothed by

Hope: nothing can harm her, neither tribulation, nor poverty;
nor do all the various accidents of life dismay her for one
instant. She says to herself: “I can do everything, I can bear

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