Spirit, which is the Word of God.'"[18]

* * * * * *

"Advise us," we said to her, "how to profit by our spiritual
instructions." "Go for guidance with great simplicity, not
counting too much on help which may fail you at any moment. You
would then have to say with the Spouse in the Canticles: 'The
keepers took away my cloak and wounded me; when I had a little
passed by them, I found Him whom my soul loveth.'[19] If you ask
with humility and with detachment after your Beloved, the
_keepers_ will tell you. More often, you will find Jesus only when
you have passed by all creatures. Many times have I repeated this
verse of the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross:

'Messengers, I pray, no more Between us send, who know not how To
tell me what my spirit longs to know. For they Thy charms who
read-- For ever telling of a thousand more-- Make all my wounds to
bleed, While deeper then before Doth an--I know not what!--my
spirit grieve With stammerings vague, and of all life bereave.'"

* * * * * *

"If, supposing the impossible, God Himself could not see my good
actions, I would not be troubled. I love Him so much I would like
to give Him joy without His knowing who gave. When He sees the
gift being made, He is, as it were, obliged to make a
return. . . . I should wish to spare Him the trouble."

* * * * * *