ipture: Spiritus ubi vult spirat (the Spirit
breatheth where He will); and, ubi autem abundavit delictum,
superabundavit gratia (but where sin abounded there did grace more
abound.)

. . . . . . . .

"At that time (towards the end of the novitiate) I felt a special
attraction and devotion toward Our Blessed Lord in the Holy Sacrament
and an almost irresistible desire of receiving the blessed Communion
of Divine love. This desire so far from having abated has greatly
increased, so that I have a constant hunger and thirst for Our Lord
in the sacrament of His body and blood. If it were possible I would
desire to receive no other food than this, for it is the only
nourishment that I have a real appetite for. I cannot consider it
other than the source and substance of my whole spiritual and
interior life. The day on which I have been deprived of it I have
experienced a debility and want of both material and spiritual life
like one who is nearly famished. The doctrine of the real presence of
our Lord seems to be with me a matter of conviction arising more from
actual experience than from faith. At times, when I would make my
visit, I am seized with such a violent love towards the Blessed
Sacrament that I am forced to break off immediately, being unable to
support the attraction of the Spouse, the Beloved, the Only One of my
soul. For some time back, wherever I may be, or on whatever side I
turn, I seem to feel the presence of Our Lord in the Sacrament in the
tabernacle. It seems as though I were in the same sphere as our Lord
in the sacrament, where there appears no time nor space, yet both are.

. . . . . . . .

"At times, especially during the great retreat before making the
vows, I was as it were inebriated with love, so that I scarcely knew
what I said or did.

. . . . . . . .

"This was the stage of my interior life on entering the house of
studies at Wittem, October, 1846. Here the principal acts in all my
spiritual exercises were those of resignation and conformity to the
will of God, an entire fidelity to the inspirations and attractions
of the Holy Spirit, and a total abandonment of myself to the conduct
of Divine Providence. God seemed always engaged in my soul by means
of His grace in repressing my own activity. The end of my proper
activity, I said to myself, is its destruction. God commands a total
and entire abandonment of the soul to Him in order that He may wit