X. Another thing that divine goodness allows me to experience regarding the Marian life is that this life in Mary and for Mary, with Mary and through Mary, is simultaneously a life in God, for God, with God, and through God. It can be lived with such great simplicity, intimacy, and detachment of spirit, as the life in the very divine essence, that during that time very few remain in the spirit of the idea of Mary's person. The spirit can grasp her as one with God and in God to such an extent that it scarcely makes any distinction. Memory, understanding, and will are so peacefully, simply, intimately, and sweetly engaged that the soul can hardly grasp what activities are taking place within it. But it vaguely knows and feels that the memory is engaged in a very simple recollection of God and Mary; the understanding is engaged in mere pure and clear knowledge of the present God or His contemplation, as well as Mary in God; the will is engaged in a very calm, intimate, delightful, tender, and at the same time very spiritual loving and affectionate attachment to God and Mary. I say spiritual loving because love here seems to shine and be active in the highest aspect of the soul, excluding the lower aspect of sensory powers, and thus being more suitable for reaching a confidential union with God, immersion in Him, and connection with Him, and simultaneously with Mary and in Mary.
When the spiritual powers are engaged so nobly and perfectly in the aforementioned recollection, knowledge, and love of God and Mary, a so intimate and firm attachment of the whole soul to God and Mary arises that, united in love, all three, it seems, become one – namely God, Mary, and the soul – as if these three merged, were absorbed, immersed in one, and were transformed into one.
This is the ultimate and highest goal that a soul can reach in the Marian life. It is the only fruit and main act of this exercise and love for Mary, in the sense that she is the means and stronger bond by which the soul connects with God. And so Mary provides sustenance and help to the loving soul so that it can more enduringly and perfectly arrive at a contemplative, united, and transforming life in God and persist in it.
