“This mountain of release is such that the
ascent’s most painful at the start, below;
the more you rise, the milder it will be.
And when the slope feels gentle to the point that
climbing up sheer rock is effortless
as though you were gliding downstream in a boat,
then you will have arrived where this path ends.”
“The love of God, unutterable and perfect,
flows into a pure soul the way that light
rushes into a transparent object.
The more love that it finds, the more it gives
itself; so that, as we grow clear and open,
the more complete the joy of heaven is.
And the more souls who resonate together,
the greater the intensity of their love,
and, mirror-like, each soul reflects the other.”
“But you who are so happy here, tell me:
do you aspire to a more profound
insight, or a greater ecstasy?”
She smiled a little, as did the shades beside her;
then answered with such gladness that her whole
being seemed to glow with love’s first fire:
“Brother, God’s generosity itself
calms our will, and makes us want no more
than what we have, and long for nothing else.
If we desired any greater bliss,
we would not be in harmony with Him
whose love assigns us to a lower place.
The essence of this joy is that we all
have given up our personal desires
so that our will is merged with God’s own will.
Therefore our rank in heaven, from height to height,
is just as dear to each particular soul
as to the Master who appointed it.
In His will is our peace: it is the sea
into which all currents and all streams
empty themselves, for all eternity.”