Oh! Thou overflowing cup, refreshing and intoxicating every
loving and yearning heart." "I long to behold the body of my Lord!" And
straightway the bridegroom appeared to her, opened his side and said to
her: "Now drink as much of my blood as thou desirest."
But the saint who enjoyed the greatest fame--partly on account of her
frequent portrayal by the plastic arts--was doubtless St. Teresa
(Teresia de Jesus), a Spanish nun (1515-1582). During childhood and
early youth she suffered from serious illnesses, and on one occasion was
even believed to be dead. "Before I felt the presence of God," she says
in her biography, "I experienced for some time a very delightful
sensation, a sensation which I believe one is partly able to produce at
will (!), a pleasure which is neither quite sensuous, nor quite
spiritual, but which comes from God." She describes in her "Life" four
stages of prayer, which gradually lead the soul to God: "There is no joy
to be compared with the joy which the Lord giveth to the soul in its
exile.
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