第五章

與上一章的主題相同，描述了精神的飛翔，這是天主提升靈魂的另一種方式：這需要一個人有很大的勇氣來體驗它。天主極大地喜悅靈魂的這種恩惠得到了解釋。本章非常有利可圖。

1、精神的飛翔。 2.自製力完全喪失。 3. 兩個蓄水池的象徵。 4. 這些恩惠後的義務。 5. 他們所產生的謙卑。 6. 我們被釘在十字架上的主如何安慰這樣的靈魂。 7. 謙卑的靈魂害怕這些恩惠。 8. 精神飛行過程中學到的奧秘。 9. 想像的願景有時伴隨著理智的願景。 10. 精神的飛翔是如何發生的。 11.靈魂因此而堅強。 12. 靈魂中留下三大恩寵。 13. 第三個恩典。 14. 因這種恩惠而產生的恐懼。

1. 1. 還有另一種形式的狂喜，雖然本質上與上一種形式相同，但卻在靈魂中產生非常不同的感覺。我稱之為“精神的飛行”，²⁸⁸因為靈魂突然感覺到一種如此快速的運動感，以至於精神似乎以非常驚人的速度催促它離開，尤其是在開始時。所以我說，被天主賜予這種恩惠的靈魂，除了巨大的信心、信任和順服之外，還需要強大的勇氣，以便天主可以用它來做他所選擇的事情。

2. 2. 你是否認為一個完全擁有感官的人對她的靈魂被吸引到她上方而感到一點沮喪，而有時，正如我們所讀到的，甚至身體也隨之上升？ ²⁸⁹她不知道靈魂要去哪裡，誰在撫養她，也不知道它是如何發生的；因為在這種突然運動的第一瞬間，人們並不確定它是由天主引起的。還可能被抵抗嗎？不;正如有人告訴我的那樣，阻力只會加速運動。天主現在似乎在教導靈魂，靈魂常常將自己絕對地放在他的手中，並將自己完全奉獻給他，以至於它不再屬於自己；靈魂不再屬於自己。因此，由於它的反對，它被更猛烈地奪走。因此，這個人決心像一根吸管被琥珀（你可能見過的東西）吸引時一樣進行抵抗。她把自己交給了全能者的手中，因為她認為最好是在必要時做出美德。說到稻草，毫無疑問，一個偉岸魁梧的傢伙舉起一根稻草就像我們強大而強大的巨人提升我們的精神一樣容易。 ²⁹⁰

3. 3. 似乎我所說的（但我不太記得在哪裡）第四棟居所的水箱，²⁹¹以前是輕輕地、安靜地註滿水的，沒有任何動靜；但現在這位偉大的天主抑制了泉水和水域，不允許海洋越過它的界限，²⁹²釋放了溪流，溪流以強大的衝力流入蓄水池，強大的波浪升起，強大到足以將我們靈魂的小船高高舉起靈魂的小船。無論是船本身，還是她的領航員和水手，都無法根據自己的選擇控制大海的狂怒，並阻止它把船帶到它想要的地方：靈魂的內部現在更不能停留在它選擇的地方，也不能強迫它的感官或能力比在他的統治法令中控制它們的天主採取更多的行動；至於外部的力量，在這裡根本沒有什麼用處。

4. 4. 確實，姐妹們，當我僅僅寫下這位偉大國王和君主的巨大權力的表現時，我感到很驚訝。那麼真正經歷過的人一定會有什麼感受呢？我相信，如果國王陛下向地球上最大的罪人如此顯現，他們將永遠不敢再冒犯他——如果不是出於愛，至少是出於對他的敬畏。那些以如此崇高方式受教的人，有多大的責任，才必須竭盡全力，不讓這樣的明師得罪啊！以祂的名義，我請求你們，姊妹們，接受這些或類似的恩惠，不要僅僅滿足於接受這些恩惠，而要記住，欠得多的人也必須付出很多。 ²⁹³

5. 5. 這種想法使靈魂極度恐懼：除非我們的主給予它所需的巨大勇氣，否則它就會遭受巨大而持續的悲傷；因為首先看看國王陛下為它做了什麼，然後再看看它自己，它就會發現，與它應該做的事情相比，它所做的事情是多麼少，而且它所提供的微不足道的服務充滿了錯誤、失敗和不溫不火。為了抹去對其所有善行（如果它確實曾經做過任何善行）的許多不完美的記憶，它認為最好完全忘記它們，並永遠牢記自己的罪孽，將自己交給天主的憐憫，因為它無法償還對天主的債務，並乞求天主對罪人表現出憐憫和憐憫。

6. 6. 也許他會像對待一個因此事而跪在十字架前的人那樣，承受極大的痛苦，因為她覺得自己從未有過任何東西可以獻給天主，也沒有可以為他犧牲。被釘在十字架上的那一位安慰她，說他將自己在受難中所承受的所有痛苦和勞苦都賜給了她，以便她可以將它們當作自己的獻給天父。 ²⁹⁴我從她那裡得知，她立刻因這些話而感到安慰和充實，她永遠不會忘記這些話，但每當她意識到自己的不幸並感到受到鼓勵和安慰時，她就會想起這些話。我可以講述在與許多熱衷祈禱的聖人交談中了解到的其他幾起同類事件，但我不會重述它們，以免你可能認為它們與我有關。

7. 7. 我認為這個例子很有啟發性；它表明，我們透過自知之明，透過不斷回憶我們的貧窮和苦難，並透過認識到我們除了從祂那裡得到的東西之外一無所有，來取悅我們的主。 ²⁹⁵因此，姊妹們，為了接受這個和許多其他的恩惠，我們的主將靈魂提升到這種狀態，我們需要勇氣；我認為，如果靈魂是謙卑的，那麼為了這最後的憐憫，它需要比以往更多的勇氣。願天主讓我們因祂的名而謙卑。

8. 8. 回到這種突然的精神狂喜。靈魂似乎真的離開了身體，然而身體並不是沒有生命的，雖然，另一方面，這個人肯定沒有死，但她自己在幾秒鐘內無法判斷她的靈魂是否還留在她的身體裡。 ²⁹⁶她感覺自己已經完全被傳送到了另一個與我們生活的地方截然不同的地方，那裡有如此神秘的光。 ²⁹⁷表明，如果她一生都在試圖描繪它和所看到的奇蹟，她不可能成功。剎那間，她的頭腦一下子就學會了很多東西，即使想像力和智力花費數年時間去努力列舉它們，也無法回憶起其中的千分之一。

9. 9. 這種異像不是理智的，而是想像的，用靈魂的眼睛看到的比我們用肉眼看到的世俗事物更清晰。雖然沒有說出任何言語，但精神卻被教導了許多真理；例如，如果它看到任何一位聖人，它就會立即認識他們，就像熟悉他們多年一樣。 ²⁹⁸有時，除了靈魂之眼在智力視覺中所感知到的東西之外，還會向它展示其他東西。在想像中的異像中，通常會看到我們的主有一群天使陪伴。然而，肉體的眼睛和靈魂的眼睛²⁹⁹都看不到任何東西，因為這些幻象和許多其他無法描述的事情是由一些我無法解釋的奇妙直覺揭示的。也許那些經歷過這種恩惠並且比我更有能力的人能夠描述它，儘管這對我來說似乎是一項最困難的任務。

10. 10. 我無法判斷靈魂是否同時居住在身體內：我既不肯定它確實存在，也不認為身體被剝奪了靈魂。我常常想，儘管太陽不會離開他在天上的位置，但他的光芒卻有能力瞬間到達地球，因此，靈魂和精神，它們構成同一事物（就像太陽和它的光芒），可以在保持在自己的位置的同時，通過來自真正的正義之陽的熱情力量，將其更高的部分發送到自身之上。事實上我不明白我在說什麼，但事實是，隨著子彈從槍中射出的速度，靈魂的內部發生了向上的飛行。 （除了「飛行」之外，我不知道它有什麼其他名字。）雖然無聲無息，但它的運動太明顯了，不可能是任何幻覺³⁰⁰，而且靈魂完全在其自身之外；至少這是給人的印象。同時，巨大的奧秘也被揭示出來，當人們恢復意識時，她會受益匪淺，以至於與她所看到的相比，她認為這個世界上的一切都是污穢的。 從今以後，塵世生活對她來說是痛苦的，過去讓她高興的事情現在仍然不受關注和忽視。 ³⁰¹    'Muchas veces he pensado, si como el sol estándose en el cielo, que sus rayos tienen tanta fuerza, que no mudándose que sus rayos prelol tanta fuerza, que no mudándose éll sadbil sil sil si espíritu (que son una missa cosa, como le es el soly sus rayos) puede, quedándose ella en su puesto, con la fuerza de calor que le viene del verdadero Sol breusticia, alguna parta que le soviene del verdadero Sol breusticia, alguna, justicia, elyo's sun​​koo moo​​an skoon, myok's soo​​oo未來, nounoo, Ojpina, no moo moo影響p Otaun聲。 digo, lo que es verdad es, que con la presteza que sale la pelota de un arcabuz, cuando le ponen el fuego, se levanta en lo Interior un vuelo (que yo no sé otro nombre que le poner) que aunque no hace ruido, hace movimento tan claro, que no puede ser antojo en ninguna manera; y muy fuera de si missma, á todo lo que puede entender, se le muestran grandes cosas.’

11. 11. 那些首先被派往應許之地的以色列子民從那裡帶回了令牌；³⁰²因此，在這裡，我們的主似乎試圖向靈魂展示其即將前往的土地的一些東西，給它勇氣去經歷痛苦旅程的考驗，因為它知道必須去哪裡才能找到安息。你可能認為這樣的利益不可能這麼快就獲得，但只有那些經歷過這種恩惠在靈魂中留下的信號好處的人才能意識到它的價值。

12. 12. 這清楚地表明這不是魔鬼的工作；無論是想像力還是邪惡的人都無法代表在靈魂中留下如此平安、平靜和善果的東西，特別是以下三種非常高階的恩典。 ³⁰³其中第一個是對神的偉大的認識，當我們見證更多的時候，它就會變得更加清晰。其次，我們透過看到像我們這樣卑微的生物與創造如此奇蹟的創造者相比，如何敢於在過去冒犯他或現在敢於凝視他，從而獲得自知之明和謙卑。

13. 13. 第三種恩典是蔑視世上的一切事物，除非它們被奉獻給如此偉大的天主服務。新郎開始用這些珠寶來裝飾他的新娘； ³⁰⁴ 這些景像如此深刻地銘刻在她的記憶中，我相信她永遠不會忘記它們，直到她永遠享受它們，因為這樣做將是最大的不幸。 ³⁰⁵ 但給她這些禮物的配偶有能力給她恩典，讓她不要失去它們。

14. 14.我告訴你，靈魂需要勇氣，因為你認為精神感覺與身體真正分離是一件小事嗎？給予其餘一切的人需要有毅力。你會說這種恐懼得到了很好的回報，我也這麼說。願能夠賜予如此恩典的天主永遠受到稱讚，願國王陛下賜福讓我們配得上侍奉他。阿門。

TREATS OF THE SAME SUBJECT AS THE LAST CHAPTER AND DESCRIBES THE FLIGHT OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS ANOTHER WAY BY WHICH GOD ELEVATES THE SOUL: THIS REQUIRES GREAT COURAGE IN ONE EXPERIENCING IT. THIS FAVOUR, BY WHICH GOD GREATLY DELIGHTS THE SOUL IS EXPLAINED. THIS CHAPTER IS VERY PROFITABLE.

1. The flight of the spirit. 2. Self-control completely lost. 3. Symbol of the two cisterns. 4. Obligations following these favours. 5. Humility produced by them. 6. How our crucified Lord comforted such a soul. 7. A humble soul fears these favours. 8. Mysteries learnt during the flight of the spirit. 9. Imaginary visions sometimes accompany intellectual ones. 10. How the flight of the spirit takes place. 11. The soul fortified by it. 12. Three great graces left in the soul. 13. The third grace. 14. Fear caused by this favour.

1.

1. THERE is another form of rapture, which, though essentially the same as the last, yet produces very different feelings in the soul. I call it the ‘flight of the spirit,’²⁸⁸ for the soul suddenly feels so rapid a sense of motion that the spirit appears to hurry it away with a speed which is very alarming, especially at first. Therefore I said that the soul on whom God bestows this favour requires strong courage, besides great faith, trust, and resignation, so that God may do what He chooses with it.

2.

2. Do you suppose a person in perfect possession of her senses feels but little dismay at her soul’s being drawn above her, while sometimes, as we read, even the body rises with it?²⁸⁹ She does not know where the spirit is going, who is raising her, nor how it happens; for at the first instant of this sudden movement one does not feel sure it is caused by God. Can it possibly be resisted? No; resistance only accelerates the motion, as some one told me. God now appears to be teaching the soul, which has so often placed itself absolutely in His hands and offered itself entirely to Him, that it no longer belongs to itself; thus it is snatched away more vehemently in consequence of its opposition. Therefore this person resolved to resist no more than does a straw when attracted by amber (a thing you may have seen); she yielded herself into the hands of Him who is Almighty, seeing it is best to make a virtue of necessity. Speaking of straw, doubtless it is as easy for a stalwart, strapping fellow to lift a straw as for our mighty and powerful Giant to elevate our spirit.²⁹⁰

3.

3. It seems that the cistern of water of which I spoke (but I cannot quite remember where) in the fourth mansion,²⁹¹ was formerly filled gently and quietly, without any movement; but now this great God Who restrains the springs and the waters and will not permit the ocean to transgress its bounds,²⁹² lets loose the streams, which with a powerful rush flow into the cistern and a mighty wave rises, strong enough to uplift on high the little vessel of our soul. Neither the ship herself nor her pilot and sailors can at their choice control the fury of the sea and stop its carrying the boat where it will: far less can the interior of the soul now stay where it chooses or force its senses or faculties to act more than He Who holds them in His dominion decrees; as for the exterior powers, they are here quite useless.

4.

4. Indeed I am amazed, sisters, while merely writing of this manifestation of the immense power of this great King and Monarch. Then what must be felt by those who actually experience it? I am convinced that if His Majesty were to reveal Himself thus to the greatest sinners on earth, they would never dare to offend Him again—if not through love at least through fear of Him. What obligations bind those taught in so sublime a manner to strive with all their might not to displease such a Master! In His Name I beg of you, sisters, who have received these or the like favours, not to rest content with merely receiving them but to remember that she who owes much has much to pay.²⁹³

5.

5. This thought terrifies the soul exceedingly: unless the great courage needed was given it by our Lord, it would suffer great and constant grief; for looking first at what His Majesty has done for it and then upon itself, it sees how little good it has performed compared with what it was bound to do, and that the paltry service it has rendered was full of faults, failures and tepidity. To efface the remembrance of the many imperfections of all its good deeds (if indeed it has ever performed any) it thinks best to forget them altogether and to be ever mindful of its sins, casting itself on the mercy of God since it cannot repay its debt to Him and begging for the pity and compassion He ever shows to sinners.

6.

6. Perhaps He will answer as He did to some one who was kneeling before a crucifix in great affliction on this account, for she felt she had never had anything to offer God nor to sacrifice for His sake. The Crucified One consoled her by saying that He gave her for herself all the pains and labours He had borne in His passion, that she might offer them as her own to His Father.²⁹⁴ I learnt from her that she at once felt comforted and enriched by these words which she never forgets but recalls whenever she realizes her own wretchedness and feels encouraged and consoled. I could relate several other incidents of the same kind learnt in conversation with many holy people much given to prayer, but I will not recount them lest you might imagine they relate to myself.

7.

7. I think this example is very instructive; it shows that we please our Lord by self-knowledge, by the constant recollection of our poverty and miseries, and by realizing that we possess nothing but what we have received from Him.²⁹⁵ Therefore courage is needed, sisters, in order to receive this and many other favours which come to a soul elevated to this state by our Lord; I think that if the soul is humble it requires more valour than ever for this last mercy. May God grant us humility for His Name’s sake.

8.

8. To return to this sudden rapture of the spirit. The soul really appears to have quitted the body, which however is not lifeless, and though, on the other hand, the person is certainly not dead, yet she herself cannot, for a few seconds, tell whether her spirit remains within her body or not.²⁹⁶ She feels that she has been wholly transported into another and a very different region from that in which we live, where a light so unearthly is shown²⁹⁷ that, if during her whole lifetime she had been trying to picture it and the wonders seen, she could not possibly have succeeded. In an instant her mind learns so many things at once that if the imagination and intellect spent years in striving to enumerate them, it could not recall a thousandth part of them.

9.

9. This vision is not intellectual but imaginary and is seen by the eyes of the soul more clearly than earthly things are seen by our bodily eyes. Although no words are pronounced, the spirit is taught many truths; for instance, if it beholds any of the saints, it knows them at once as well as if intimately acquainted with them for years.²⁹⁸ Occasionally, besides what the eyes of the soul perceive in intellectual vision, other things are shown it. In an imaginary vision it usually sees our Lord accompanied by a host of angels; yet neither the bodily eyes nor the eyes of the soul²⁹⁹ see anything, for these visions and many other things impossible to describe, are revealed by some wonderful intuition that I cannot explain. Perhaps those who have experienced this favour and possess more ability than myself may be able to describe it, although it seems to me a most difficult task.

10.

10. I cannot tell whether the soul dwells in the body meanwhile or not: I would neither affirm that it does nor that the body is deprived of it. I have often thought that as, though the sun does not leave his place in the heavens yet his rays have power to reach the earth instantaneously, so the soul and the spirit, which make one and the same thing (like the sun and its rays) may, while remaining in its own place, through the strength of the ardour coming to it from the true Sun of Justice, send up some higher part of it above itself. In fact I do not understand what I am talking about, but the truth is that, with the swiftness of a bullet fired from a gun, an upward flight takes place in the interior of the soul. (I know no other name for it but ‘flight.’) Although noiseless, it is too manifest a movement to be any illusion³⁰⁰ and the soul is quite outside itself; at least that is the impression made upon it. Great mysteries are revealed to it meanwhile, and when the person returns to consciousness she is so greatly benefited that she holds all this world’s goods as filth compared with what she has seen. Henceforth earthly life is grievous to her and what used to please her now remains uncared for and unnoticed.³⁰¹
   ’Muchas veces he pensado, si como el sol estándose en el cielo, que sus rayos tienen tanta fuerza, que no mudándose él de allí, de presto llegan acá; si el alma y el espíritu (que son una misma cosa, como le es el soly sus rayos) puede, quedándose ella en su puesto, con la fuerza de calor que le viene del verdadero Sol de justicia, alguna parte superior salir sobre sì misma. En fin, yo no sé lo que digo, lo que es verdad es, que con la presteza que sale la pelota de un arcabuz, cuando le ponen el fuego, se levanta en lo interior un vuelo (que yo no sé otro nombre que le poner) que aunque no hace ruido, hace movimento tan claro, que no puede ser antojo en ninguna manera; y muy fuera de si misma, á todo lo que puede entender, se le muestran grandes cosas.’

11.

11. Those children of Israel who were sent on first to the Land of Promise brought back tokens from it;³⁰² so here our Lord seems to seek to show the soul something of the land to which it is travelling, to give it courage to pass through the trials of its painful journey, now that it knows where it must go to find rest. You may fancy that such profit could not thus quickly be obtained, yet only those who have experienced what signal benefits this favour leaves in the soul can realize its value.

12.

12. This clearly shows it to be no work of the devil; neither the imagination nor the evil one could represent what leaves such peace, calm, and good fruits in the soul, and particularly the following three graces of a very high order.³⁰³ The first of these is a perception of the greatness of God which becomes clearer to us as we witness more of it. Secondly, we gain self-knowledge and humility from seeing how creatures so base as ourselves in comparison with the Creator of such wonders have dared to offend Him in the past or venture to gaze on Him now.

13.

13. The third grace is a contempt for all earthly things unless they are consecrated to the service of so great a God. With such jewels the Bridegroom begins to deck His Bride; they are too valuable for her to keep them carelessly.³⁰⁴ These visions are so deeply engraved in her memory that I believe she can never forget them until she enjoys them for evermore, for to do so would be the greatest misfortune.³⁰⁵ But the Spouse Who gave her these gifts has power to give her grace not to lose them.

14.

14. I told you that courage was required by the soul, for do you think it is a trifling matter for the spirit to feel literally separated from the body, as it does when perceiving that it is losing its senses without understanding the reason? There is need that He Who gives all the rest should include fortitude. You will say this fright is well rewarded, and so say I. May He Who can bestow such graces be for ever praised and may His Majesty vouchsafe that we may be worthy to serve Him. Amen.