ling the fragments against the Corner-Stone of the
Church, which always remained unshaken.

As there was nothing but darkness in the dwelling of these men, many
among them, instead of directing their steps towards the Candle placed
on the Candlestick in the House of the Spouse of Christ, wandered with
closed eyes around the gardens of the Church, sustaining life only by
inhaling the sweet odours which were diffused from them far and near,
stretching forth their hands towards shadowy idols, and following
wandering stars which led them to wells where there was no water. Even
when on the very brink of the precipice, they refused to listen to the
voice of the Spouse calling them, and, though dying with hunger,
derided, insulted, and mocked at those servants and messengers who were
sent to invite them to the Nuptial Feast. They obstinately refused to
enter the garden, because they feared the thorns of the hedge, although
they had neither wheat with which to satisfy their hunger nor wine to
quench their thirst, but were simply intoxicated with pride and
self-esteem, and being blinded by their own false lights, persisted in
asserting that the Church of the Word made flesh was invisible. Jesus
beheld them all, he wept over them, and was pleased to suffer for all
those who do not see him and who will not carry their crosses after him
in his City built upon a hill--his Church founded upon a rock, to which he
has given himself in the Holy Eucharist, and against which the gates of
Hell will never prevail.

Bearing a prominent place in these mournful visions which were
beheld by the soul of Jesus, I saw Satan, who dragged away and
strangled a multitude of men redeemed by the blood of Christ and
sanctified by the unction of his Sacrament. Our Divine Saviour beheld
with bitterest anguish the ingratitude and corruption of the Christians
of the first and of all succeeding ages, even to the end of the world,
and during the whole of this time the voice of the tempter was
incessantly repeating: 'Canst thou resolve to suffer for such ungrateful
reprobates?' while the various apparitions succeeded each other with
intense rapidity, and so violently weighed down and crushed the soul of
Jesus, that his sacred humanity was overwhelmed with unspeakable
anguish. Jesus--the Anointed of the Lord--the Son of Man struggled and
writhed as he fell on his knees, with clasped hands, as it were
annihilated beneath the weight of his suffering. So violent w