But after Calvary, Paradise always comes. What a night of blessedness!
From 7 p.m. until 10, half dead, sunken in the haze of a collapse. From 10 until midnight, in drowsiness. Then in the frenzy of suffocation. The alarm at 1:05 caught me in that condition. I began to pray, as always,15 for those who were being bombed.
But then, without my willing it, the prayer changed into very sweet conversation. I really felt I was face to face with Jesus - rather, against his Heart. They were not long discourses. No. Short phrases, exactly like those between Husband and wife, between lovers, to say that they love one another with all their heart... I was left perfumed by it. I was left inundated by it, as if immersed in a sea of joy, sweetness, and peace.
With holy regret, I saw the blessed hour fade away... But it was right for it to end. Only in Paradise will it not end. I now live with this memory, with the echo still vibrating in the depths of my heart which makes me feel like singing, laughing, and loving all creatures with passion multiplied a hundredfold, for I am bursting with love, nourished and consumed by it.
15 See the entry for June 24.