Quote for the Night: In the Flowery Meadow

'It is related in the Flowery Meadow that a devout lady wished to know what souls were the dearest to Jesus.

One day, whilst she was hearing Mass, at the elevation of the Sacred Host, she saw the Infant Jesus on the altar, and with him three young virgins.

Jesus took the first, and caressed her very much.

He went to the second, and, having taken her veil off her face, he struck her severely on the cheek, and turned his back upon her; but soon after, seeing the child looking sorrowful, he comforted her with all sorts of kindness.

At last he approached the third; he seized her by the arm as if he were angry, struck her, and drove her away from him; but the more she saw herself ill-used and driven off, the more the little virgin humbled herself and followed him: and thus the vision ended.

This devout woman, remaining in the church with great desire to know what was the meaning of the vision, Jesus appeared to her again, and told her that there are on the earth three sorts of souls that love him.

Some love him; but their love is so weak that if they are not coaxed by spiritual pleasures they become uneasy, and are in danger of turning their backs upon him; and of these the first virgin was a figure.

The second represented those souls who love him with a less feeble love, but who require to be comforted from time to time.

The third was a figure of those more courageous souls who, although constantly desolate, and deprived of spiritual consolations, do not cease doing all they can to please their Lord; and these, he said, were the souls in which he took the greatest delight.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori