ceive them in their proper form,
and nevertheless the view I had of them was of a sovereign clearness,
and has remained vividly impressed upon my soul. It is one of the most
signal of all the graces which the Lord has granted me.... The view
was so subtile and delicate that the understanding cannot grasp
it."[256]

[256] Vie, pp. 581, 582.

She goes on to tell how it was as if the Deity were an enormous and
sovereignly limpid diamond, in which all our actions were contained in
such a way that their full sinfulness appeared evident as never before.
On another day, she relates, while she was reciting the Athanasian
Creed--

"Our Lord made me comprehend in what way it is that one God can be in
three persons. He made me see it so clearly that I remained as
extremely surprised as I was comforted, ... and now, when I think of
the holy Trinity, or hear It spoken of, I understand how the three
adorable Persons form only one God and I experience an unspeakable
happiness."

On still another occasion, it was given to Saint Teresa to see and
understand in what wise the Mother of God had been assumed into her
place in Heaven.[257]

[257] Loc. cit., p. 574

The deliciousness of some of these states seems to be beyond anything
known in ordinary consciousness. It evidently involves organic
sensibilities, for it is spoken of as something too extreme to be
borne, and as verging on bodily pain.[258] But it is too subtle and
piercing a delight for ordinary words to denote. God's touches, the
wounds of his spear, references to ebriety and to nuptial union have to
figure in the phraseology by which it is shadowed forth. Intellect and
senses both swoon away in these highest states of ecstasy. "If our
understanding comprehends," says Saint Teresa, "it is in a mode which
remains unknown to it, and it can understand nothing of what it
comprehends. For my own part, I do not believe that it does
comprehend, because, as I said, it does not understand itself to do so.
I confess that it is all a mystery in which I am lost."[259] In the
condition called raptus or ravishment by theologians, breathing and
circulation are so depressed that it is a question among the doctors
whether the soul be or be not temporarily dissevered from the body.
One must read Saint Teresa's descriptions and the very exact
distinctions which she makes, to persuade one's self that one is
dealing, not with imaginary experiences, but with phenomena which