Our third excerpt of a book called An Abridgement of the Interior Spirit of the Religious of the Visitation of Holy Mary may assist those discerning a vocation to our way of life, or others interested in growing in their inner spiritual life.

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Continuation of: CHAPTER I.

Of the Interior Spirit of the Daughters of the Visitation founded on Mount Calvary.

Meditating day and night on this book of the predestinate, at the head of which is written, ” I will accomplish thy will, and thy law shall be in the midst of my heart, love induces them (Visitandines) to receive and eat this sacred volume, to fill their breasts, and to nourish their hearts ; the secrets enclosed therein are always before their eyes, that they may meditate thereon, and they bear these maxims on their arms to reduce them to practice, for which all the powers of their souls bless and praise incessantly the majesty of God. Amiable volume, which, although it casts a bitterness into the interior, since it conducts to the perfect mortification of self- love, yet is sweeter than honey to the lips, since the mortification of self-love is an unparalleled consolation, causing Him and his love to reign who was crucified for the love of us. Thus their greatest bitterness is, on this sacred mount, changed into the sweetness of a most abundant peace, which replenishes them with true happiness, and establishes them in the abode of the wounds of the spouse, in which they find an abyss of graces that confirm them in their generous enterprises under their crucified King. This causes them invariably to tend to a union with him, giving them this happy experience, that one hour spent in this holy retreat is far better than thousands of days passed in the palaces of princes, since it is there he gains their hearts.