Behold then the interior virtues of Christ; humility, charity, and
suffering in patience. These three virtues Jesus, our Bridegroom,
practised throughout His life, and He died in them, and He paid our
debt by satisfying justice, and opened His side in His bounty. And
thence flow rivers of delight, and sacraments of blessedness. And He
was exalted to His power, and sat at the right hand of the Father,
and reigns eternally. This is the first coming of our Bridegroom,
and it is completely past.

ON THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, HOW HE EVERY DAY FLOWS INTO OUR
HEARTS WITH NEW GRACE

THE second coming of Christ, our Bridegroom, takes place every day
in just men. We do not wish to speak here of the first conversion of
man, nor of the first grace which was given him when he was
converted from sin to virtue. But we wish to speak of a daily
increase of new gifts and new virtues, and of a more actual coming
of Christ, our Bridegroom, into our soul. Now we must observe the
cause, the mode, and the work, of this coming. The cause is fourfold;
the mercy of God, our misery, the divine generosity, and our
desire. These four causes make the virtues grow and increase.

Now understand. When the sun sends forth its bright rays into a deep
valley between two high mountains, and while it is at the zenith, so
that it can illuminate the depths of the valley, a triple phenomenon
occurs; for the valley is lighted from the mountains, and it becomes
warmer and more fertile than the plain. In the same way, when a just
man sinks in his misery, and recognises that he has nothing, and is
nothing, that he can neither halt nor go forward by his own