March 24

I did know thee in the wilderness.

KNOW that although exterior Solitude doth much assist for the obtaining of inner Peace, yet the Lord did not mean this when He spake by His Prophet, I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. But he meant the inner Solitude which, together with the other, conduces to the obtaining of the precious Jewel of inner Peace. Inner Solitude consists in the forgetting of all Creatures, in detachment, in a perfect abnegation of all purpose, desire, thought, and will. This is the true Solitude, wherein the Soul reposes in a sweet and inward serenity, in the arms of the Highest Good.

O what infinite room is there in a Soul that has attained this divine Solitude! O what inward, what hidden, what secret, what spacious, what vast ranges are there within a happy Soul that has once come to be truly Solitary! There the Lord converses, and communes inwardly with the soul.

Go on, blessed Soul! go on without delay, towards this blessedness of internal Solitude. See how God calls thee to enter into thy inward Centre, where He will renew thee, change thee, fill thee, clothe thee, and show thee a new and Heavenly Kingdom, full of joy, peace, content, and serenity.

MIGUEL DE MOLINOS

THE VISITED SOUL