xclusion of all practical human interests, which, though
innocent enough, is too one-sided to be admirable. A mind too narrow
has room but for one kind of affection. When the love of God takes
possession of such a mind, it expels all human loves and human uses.
There is no English name for such a sweet excess of devotion, so I will
refer to it as a theopathic condition.

The blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque may serve as an example.

"To be loved here upon the earth," her recent biographer exclaims: "to
be loved by a noble, elevated, distinguished being; to be loved with
fidelity, with devotion--what enchantment! But to be loved by God! and
loved by him to distraction [aime jusqu'a la folie]!--Margaret melted
away with love at the thought of such a thing. Like Saint Philip of
Neri in former times, or like Saint Francis Xavier, she said to God:
'Hold back, O my God, these torrents which overwhelm me, or else
enlarge my capacity for their reception."[202]

[202] Bougaud: Hist. de la bienheureuse Marguerite Marie, Paris, 1894,
p. 145.

The most signal proofs of God's love which Margaret Mary received were
her hallucinations of sight, touch, and hearing, and the most signal in
turn of these were the revelations of Christ's sacred heart,
"surrounded with rays more brilliant than the Sun, and transparent like
a crystal. The wound which he received on the cross visibly appeared
upon it. There was a crown of thorns round about this divine Heart,
and a cross above it." At the same time Christ's voice told her that,
unable longer to contain the flames of his love for mankind, he had
chosen her by a miracle to spread the knowledge of them. He thereupon
took out her mortal heart, placed it inside of his own and inflamed it,
and then replaced it in her breast, adding: "Hitherto thou hast taken
the name of my slave, hereafter thou shalt be called the well-beloved
disciple of my Sacred Heart."

In a later vision the Saviour revealed to her in detail the "great
design" which he wished to establish through her instrumentality. "I
ask of thee to bring it about that every first Friday after the week of
holy Sacrament shall be made into a special holy day for honoring my
Heart by a general communion and by services intended to make honorable
amends for the indignities which it has received. And I promise thee
that my Heart will dilate to shed with abundance the influences of its
love upon all those who pay to it these hon