The Dialogue

How among the said ministers reigns unnatural sin ; and of a beautiful vision which this soul had on the subject.

" I WISH thee to know, dearest daughter, that I require in this Sacrament from you and from them as great purity as

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it is possible for man to have in this life. On your side you ought to endeavour to acquire it continually. You should think that were it possible that the angelic nature should be purified, such purification would be necessary with regard to this mystery, but this is not possible, for angels need no purification, since the poison of sin cannot infect them. I say this to thee in order that thou mayest see how great a purity I require from you and from them in this Sacrament, and particularly from them. But they act in a contrary way, for they come full of impurity to this mystery, and not only of that impurity to which, through the fragility of your weak nature, you are all naturally inclined (although reason when free-will permits, can quiet the rebellion of nature), but these wretches not only do not bridle this fragility, but do worse, committing that accursed sin against nature, and as blind and fools with the light of their intellect darkened, they do not know the stench and misery in which they are. It is not only that this sin stinks before Me, Who am the Supreme and Eternal Truth, it does indeed displease Me so much and I hold it in such abomination that for it alone I buried five cities by a Divine judgment, My Divine justice being no longer able to endure it. This sin not only displeases Me as I have said, but also the devils whom these wretches have made their masters. Not that the evil displeases them because they like anything good, but because their nature was originally angelic, and their angelic nature causes them to loathe the sight of the actual commission of this enormous sin. They truly enough hurl the arrow poisoned with the venom of concupiscence, but when their victim proceeds to the actual commission of the sin, they depart for the reason and in the manner that I have said. Thou rememberest that I manifested to thee before the plague how displeasing this sin was to Me, and how deeply the world was corrupted by it ; so I lifted thee with holy desire and elevation of mind above thyself, and showed thee the whole world and, as it were, the nations thereof, and thou sawest this terrible sin and the devils fleeing as I have told thee, and thou rememberest that so great was the pain that thou didst receive, and the stench

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of this sin, that thou didst seem to thyself to see no refuge on this side of death, in which thou and My other servants could hide so as not to be attacked by this leprosy. Thou didst see that thou couldest not remain among men, for neither small nor great, nor old nor young, nor clerics nor religious, nor prelates, nor lords, nor subjects, were uncontaminated in body or mind by this curse.

11 1 showed thee this in general but not of individuals. If indeed there may be any of My servants preserved among the wicked from its infection on account of their virtue, I retain My just wrath and do not command the rocks to roll down on them, nor the earth to swallow them up, nor the animals to devour them, nor the devils to carry them off body and soul ; on the contrary, I seek for ways and methods for doing them mercy, in order that they may correct their life. Wherefore I place in their midst My servants who are healthy and not leprous, so that they may pray to Me for them. Sometimes I show them these miserable sins so that they may be more careful in seeking for the salvation of sinners, offering them to Me with greater com passion and sorrow for their defects and the offence done to Me, interceding with Me for them, as I did to thee in the way which thou knowest ; and if thou rememberest well when I caused thee to feel a whiff of this stench, thou didst almost faint, and didst say to Me, 'Oh! Eternal Father ! have mercy on me, and on Thy creatures ; either separate my soul from my body (for it does not seem to me that I can survive) or refresh me by showing me where I and Thy other servants can repose, so that this leprosy may not destroy or injure the purity of our souls and bodies.'

" I replied to thee, turning towards thee with the eye of My kindness, and I repeat now — ' Let your repose, My daughter, be to render glory and praise to My Name, and to offer before Me the incense of continual prayer for these poor wretches who are in so miserable a state, having become worthy of the Divine vengeance for their sins. Let your place of refuge be Christ crucified, My only-begotten Son ; dwell and hide yourselves in the cavern of His Side,

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where you will taste through love for his humanity My Divine nature. In that open Heart you will find love for Me and for your neighbour, for it was for the honour of Me, the Eternal Father, and to fulfil the obedience which I have laid on you for your salvation, that He ran to the shameful death of the Holy Cross. Seeing and tasting this love you will follow His doctrine, feeding at the table of the Holy Cross — that is, enduring through love and true patience your neighbour, and all labours, torments and pains from whatever quarter they come, and in this way you will flee and escape the leprosy. This was the method which I gave thee and others, but in spite of all this the feeling of the stench did not leave thy soul, nor the dark ness the eye of thy intellect. But My Providence provided for this, for at the moment when thou didst receive in communion the Body and Blood of My Son, wholly God and wholly man, the stench left thee on account of the fragrance, and the darkness left thee on account of the light which thou didst receive in this Sacrament, and by an ad mirable effect of My goodness the odour and taste of the Blood remained for several days in thy mouth and palate, as thou knowest.

11 See, therefore, dearest daughter, how abominable this sin is to Me in every creature. Think, then, how much more so it is among those whom I have drawn out of the world and who live in a state of continence, among whom some have left the world to enter religion, and others are planted like flowers in the mystical body of the holy Church among whom are My ministers. Thou couldest never understand how much more this sin displeases Me in them than in men of the world and private persons prac tising continence, of whom I have spoken to you. For these as lights placed on the candlestick are the admini strators of Me, the True Sun in the light of virtue and of their holy and honourable life, and yet they minister in darkness and are so darkened that they do not understand My Holy Scripture, which itself is illuminated because written by My elect with the supernatural help of Me, the True Light, as I explained to thee in another place. I say

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to thee that on account of their inflated pride and lasciviousness they see and understand nothing but the shell of the letter, and that they receive without any profit, because the taste of their soul is not rightly ordered, but rather corrupted with self-love and pride, and their reins are full of impurity; for they desire to fulfil their disordinate delights, committing their sins publicly and without shame ; and in addition to all this, so full are they of greed and avarice that they also commit usury which I have forbidden. Miserable indeed will those be who commit it."