The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

May 15, 1906

The soul is like a sponge: if she squeezes herself she becomes soaked with God.

Continuing in my usual state, I felt an extreme affliction because of the privation of blessed Jesus, and I was almost tired and my strengths exhausted. Now, He made Himself seen for just a little in my interior, and told me: "My daughter, it is a continuous squeezing of herself that the soul must do. In fact, the soul is like a sponge: if she squeezes herself she becomes soaked with God, and by becoming soaked with God, she feels the life of God within herself, and therefore love for virtue and holy inclinations. She feels herself conquered and transformed in God, while if she does not squeeze herself, she remains soaked with herself, and therefore she feels all the effects which a corrupted nature contains; and all vices peep out – pride, envy, disobedience, impurity, etc., etc."