transformed into Him, as food is transformed into the one who has
Part 2 CHAPTER 1: THE RESURRECTION. 50. The soul thus possessed of God finds that He is so perfectly Lord over it, that it can no longer do anything but what He pleases and as He pleases; and this state goes on increasing. Its powerlessness is no longer painful but pleasant, because it is full of the life and power of the Divine Will. 51. The dead soul is in union, but does not enjoy its the fruits until the moment of resurrection, when God, causing it to pass into Him, gives it such pledges and assurances of the consummation of its divine marriage that it can no longer doubt: for this union is so spiritual, so refined, so divine, so intimate, that it is impossible for the soul either to conceive it or doubt it. For we may see that what we speak of is beyond imagination; these souls are not in the least imaginative, having nothing in the intellect, and are perfectly protected from deception and illusion, as everything takes place within. 52. During their journey along the way of faith, nothing was clear, for clarity is opposed to faith, and they could not experience that, having only a sort of generality as a foundation on which everything was given to them. But it is very different when the life becomes advanced in God; for though they have nothing clear for themselves, they have for others; and the light they have for others, though not always received, is the more certain as it is more immediate, and as it were natural. 53. When God raises a soul, and receives it into Himself, and the living seed, which is no other than the Life and Spirit of the Word, begins to appear, this is the revelation in it of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:16) who lives in us by the loss of the life of Adam in self. 54. The soul is thus received into God, and gradually changed and transformed into Him, as food is transformed into the one who has eaten it. All this happens without any loss of its individuality. 55. When the change begins, it is called annihilation, since our form becomes annihilated in order to take on His. This goes on constantly during life, changing the soul more and more into God, and causing it to increasingly share in the divine nature, making it unchangeable, immovable, etc. But He also renders it fruitful in, and not out of, Himself. 56. This fruitfulness extends to certain people whom God gives and attaches to the soul; giving his Love, full of Charity, to it. For the