paths; for, having no longer any anxiety about themselves, and
faithlessness has made Him suffer, what is the redemption of Jesus Christ, and how He has borne his children. 69. The transformation is recognized by the lack of distinction between God and the soul; it is no longer able to separate itself from God; everything is equally God, because it has passed into its Original Source, is reunited to its ALL, and changed into Him. But it is enough for me to sketch the outline of what you want to know; experience will teach you the rest, and having shown you what I ought to be to you, you may judge of what I am in our Lord. 70. To the degree that its transformation is complete, the soul finds a more extended quality in itself. Everything is expanded, God making it share his infinity; so that it often finds itself immense, and the whole earth appears as nothing compared with this wonderful breadth. Whatever is in the order and will of God expands it; everything else contracts it; and this contraction restrains it from fainting. As the will is what works the transformation, and the centre is nothing else but all the faculties united in the will, so the more the soul is transformed, the more its will is changed and passed into God's, and the more God himself wills for the soul. The soul acts and works in this divine will, which is thus substituted for its own so naturally that it cannot tell whether the will of the soul has become the will of God, or the will of God become the will of the soul. 71. God often exacts strange sacrifices from souls thus transformed in Him; but it costs them nothing, for they will sacrifice everything to Him without reluctance. The smaller sacrifices cost the most, and the greater ones the least, for they are not needed until the soul is in a state to grant them without difficulty. This is what is said of Jesus Christ when he came into the world; "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the scroll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do your will, O God; your love is in my heart." (Psalm 9:7,8.) As soon as Christ comes into any soul to become its living principle, He says the same thing of it; He becomes the eternal Priest who unceasingly fulfils his priestly office in the soul. This is sublime indeed, and continues until the victim is carried to glory. 72. God destines these souls to help others in the most tangled paths; for, having no longer any anxiety about themselves, and having nothing to lose, God can use them to bring others into the way of his pure, naked and assured will. Those who are still selfpossessed could not be used for this purpose; for, not having yet
entered into a state where they follow the will of God blindly for themselves, but always mingling it with their own reasonings and false wisdom, they are not in a condition to withhold nothing in following it blindly for others. When I say withhold nothing, I mean of what God desires in the present moment; for He often does not let us point out to a person all that hinders him, and what we see must happen to him, except in general terms, because he cannot bear it. And though we may sometimes say hard things, as Christ did to the Capernaites, He nevertheless gives a secret strength to bear it; at least He does so to the souls He has chosen solely for Himself; and this is the touchstone.