morning and evening, for ten years, an outpouring of grace like
this, which lasted about as long as it would take to say the "Vigils
of the Dead" twice over.[40] At these times he was so entirely
absorbed in God, the eternal Wisdom, that he would not speak of it.
Sometimes he would converse with God as with a friend, not with the
mouth, but mentally; at other times he would utter piteous sighs to
Him; at other times he would weep copiously, or smile silently. He
often seemed to himself to be flying in the air, and swimming
between time and eternity in the depth of the Divine wonders, which
no man can fathom. And his heart became so full from this, that he
would sometimes lay his hand upon it as it beat heavily, saying,
"Alas, my heart, what labours will befall thee to-day?" One day it
seemed to him that the heart of his heavenly Father was, in a
spiritual and indescribable manner, pressed tenderly, and with
nothing between, against his heart; and that the Father's
heart--that is, the eternal Wisdom, spoke inwardly to his heart
without forms.[41] Then he began to exclaim joyously in spiritual
jubilation: Behold, now, Thou whom I most fervently love, thus do I
lay bare my heart to Thee, and in simplicity and nakedness of all
created things I embrace Thy formless Godhead! O God, most excellent
of all friends! Earthly friends must needs endure to be distinct and
separate from those whom they love; but Thou, O fathomless sweetness
of all true love, meltest into the heart of Thy beloved, and pourest
Thyself fully into the essence of his soul, that nothing of Thee
remains outside, but Thou art joined and united most lovingly with
Thy beloved.

To this the maiden replied: Truly it is a great grace, when anyone
is thus caught up into God. But I should like to be informed,
whether this is the most perfect kind of union or not? The servitor