Opera nuper in lucem prodeuntia

in her, He had not forgotten any of His gifts. Furthermore, the kind Lord continued His scourges within her, so that she suffered frequently from headaches, the ailment of stones, and excessive heat of the liver. She accepted all of these most willingly and joyfully, considering them to be her only hellish punishment, and because she could not, according to the desire of her heart, enjoy the mellifluous sweetness of the grace of God, nor that happy union by which the soul is made one spirit with God, she could not cling as diligently as she wished to her Beloved with all her strength.

Concerning the day of the Annunciation.

On the day of the Lord’s Annunciation, the Handmaid of Christ, placed in prayer while she reflected on her own bitterness, saw herself clothed in an ash-colored garment. The word also occurred to her mind: Justice shall be the girdle of his loins Isaiah 11:5, and she began to think: What will be done when the Lord of Majesty comes, girded with justice, in the power of His divine omnipotence, given that she had been so negligent? For the holier a person is before God, the more they consider themselves inferior and viler than all others, and the cleaner their conscience is from sin, the more they fear and take precautions, lest they incur the offense of God. While she persisted in such contrition, she saw the Lord Jesus sitting on a sublime throne, in whose mellifluous presence, ashes were reduced to nothing, and she stood in His presence like gold. Then she recognized that all the good works she had neglected were fulfilled by the most holy conversation of Jesus Christ and His most perfect works, and all her imperfection was made perfect by the highest perfection of the Son of God. For when God looks upon a soul with the eye of mercy and inclines Himself toward showing pity,