He said, "I will not leave you orphans"; and we see that He really did not forsake, but gave us the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit invisibly gives knowledge to the soul. In the Holy Spirit, the soul finds peace. The Holy Spirit rejoices the soul and gives it joy on earth. What joy and gladness will there be in heaven? We have been taught by the Holy Spirit to know the love of God, but there it will be perfect. Oh, I am a weak man. I have only come to know the love of God perfectly, but I cannot acquire it, and my soul weeps every day, and I keep thinking: "I have not yet received what my soul seeks."

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When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they learned by experience what God's love and love for man are.

"A sick child, until Christ is imagined in you," says the Apostle (Gal. 4:19).

Oh, how glad I would be if all the nations knew the Lord.

Lord, Thou Thyself let them know Thee by the Holy Spirit, as Thou didst give the Apostles the Holy Spirit, and they knew Thee, so let all men know Thee by the Holy Spirit.

IX

ABOUT LOVE

MY SOUL thirsts for the living God. My soul again seeks to enjoy the Lord to its heart's content. Oh, the incomprehensible mercy of God: the Lord created man from the dust and breathed into him the breath of life, and the soul of man became dear to God.

The Lord so loved His creation that He gave the Holy Spirit to man, and man knew his Creator and loves his Lord.

The Holy Spirit is the love and sweetness of the soul, mind and body; but when the soul loses grace, or when grace diminishes, then the soul will again tearfully seek the Holy Spirit and miss God, and say: "My soul misses the Lord, and tearfully seek Him. How can I not seek Thee, O Lord? Thou Thyself first sought me, and gave me to delight in the Holy Spirit; and now my soul misses Thee. My heart has loved Thee, and I pray Thee: let me abide in Thy love to the end; grant me for the sake of Thy love to endure all sorrows and illnesses."

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