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My adorable Jesus continues to come, but this morning, as soon as He came, He took me in His arms and carried me outside of myself. Being in those arms, I comprehended many things, and especially that in order to be in the arms of Our Lord freely, and even to enter into His Heart with all ease and to go out of It as the soul best pleases, and not to be a weight or a bother for blessed Jesus, it was absolutely necessary to strip oneself of everything. Therefore, with all my heart, I said to Him: ‘My dear and only Good, what I ask of You for me is that You strip me of everything, because I see well that in order to be clothed again by You and live in You, and for You to live again in me, it is necessary for me to have not even a shadow of that which does not belong to You.’ And He, all benignity, told me: "My daughter, the main thing so that I may enter into a soul and form my dwelling is total detachment from everything. Without this, not only can I not dwell in her, but not even any of the virtues can form its residence in the soul.
After this, once the soul has made everything go out of herself, then do I enter, and united with the will of the soul, we build a house. The foundations of it are based on humility, and the deeper they are, the higher and stronger the walls will be. These walls will be built with the stones of mortification, cemented with the purest gold of charity. After the walls have been built, I, like a most excelling painter, plaster it and form the most excelling paintings - not with lime and water, but with the merits of my Passion, represented by the lime, and with the colors of my Blood, represented by the water. This serves to protect it well from rains, from snows, and from any shock. Then come the doors, and in order for them to be solid like wood and not subject to wood worms, silence is necessary which forms the death of the exterior senses. In order to keep this house, a guardian is necessary to watch over it everywhere, inside and out. This is the holy fear of God which guards it against any inconvenience, wind or anything else that may threaten it. This fear will be the safeguard of this house, which will cause one to operate, not out of fear of penalty, but out of fear of offending the master of this house. This holy fear must do nothing but do everything to please God, with no other intention.
Then, this house must be adorned and filled with treasures. These treasures must be nothing but holy desires and tears. These were the treasures of the Old Testament, and in them they found their salvation; in the fulfillment of their vows, their consolation; in sufferings, strength. In sum, they placed all their fortune in their desire for the future Redeemer, and in this desire they operated as athletes. A soul without desire operates almost as dead; everything is boredom, bother, rancor – even virtues themselves; there is nothing that she likes, and she walks almost crawling on the path of good. All the opposite for the soul who desires: nothing is a weight for her, everything is joy; she flies, and finds her tastes in the very pains. This, because there was an anticipated desire, and the things which are first desired, are then loved; and as one loves them, one finds the most pleasant delights in them. Therefore, this desire must be entertained even before this house is built. The ornaments of this house will be the most precious stones, the most expensive pearls and gems of this Life of mine, always founded upon suffering – and pure suffering. And since the One who dwells in it is the giver of every good, He places in it the endowment of all virtues, He perfumes it with the most gentle odors, He makes lovely flowers give off their fragrance, He makes a celestial melody, among the most pleasant, resound. He makes one breathe an air of Paradise."
I forgot to say that one must see whether there is domestic peace, and this must be nothing but the recollection and silence of the interior senses.
After this, I continued to be in the arms of Our Lord, and I was all stripped. In the meantime, I saw the confessor there present, and Jesus told me (but it seemed to me that He wanted to play with me to see what I would say): "My daughter, you have stripped yourself of everything, and you know that when one is stripped, someone else is needed who takes care of clothing him, of nourishing him, and who gives him a place where he can stay. Where do you want to stay – in the arms of the confessor, or in Mine?" And as He was saying this, He did the act of placing me in the arms of the confessor. I began to insist that I did not want to go, and He insisted that He wanted it. After a little bit of arguing, He told me: "Do not fear, I keep you in My arms." And so we remained at peace.
