Chapter IX. Imaginary Visions
Stanbrook Abbey translation, Thomas Baker third edition, 1921
Teresa of Ávila and Benedict Zimmerman
21. I believe that these desires are supernatural and proper to very fervent souls who wish to prove to God that they do not serve Him for pay; so as I said, such people do not urge themselves to work harder for Him by the thought of the glory they will gain, but rather labour to satisfy their love, of which the nature is to toil for the Beloved in a thousand ways. Such souls would fain find a way to consume themselves in Him, and were there need that, for the sake of God’s greater glory, they should be annihilated for ever, they would count it great gain. May He be for ever praised Who, in abasing Himself to hold converse with us miserable creatures, vouchsafes to manifest His greatness! Amen.
Source notes
Life, ch. xl. 27. She herself was one, and the other, no doubt, was St. John of the Cross.