The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi by Brother Ugolino CHAPTER LII OF THE VISION OF BROTHER JOHN OF ALVERNIA, BY WHICH HE BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH ALL THE ORDER OF THE HOLY TRINITY

The said Brother John of Alvernia having renounced all worldly joys and temporal consolations, and having placed all his hope and love in God, the divine bounty granted him many consolations, especially in the days which commemorated some act of Christ, the blessed one. As the Nativity of Christ was approaching, in which he expected some great consolation from God, the Holy Spirit filled his heart with such love to Christ, who had humbled himself so as to take upon him our humanity, that it seemed truly as if his soul were a burning furnace; and the great love which consumed his heart agitated him so violently, that he could not resist the ardour of the Holy Spirit, or refrain from crying out. At the same time that he experienced this great fervour he felt such a security of his salvation, that it seemed to him, had he died at that moment, that he would not have suffered in Purgatory; and this state lasted six months, though he felt not always the same degree of fervour, but it increased at certain hours of the day. During that time he received many wonderful visitations and consolations from God, and was often rapt in ecsasty, as was seen by the brother who wrote these things. One night especially he was so rapt in God, that he saw in him all things created, both celestial and terrestrial, with all their perfections and their various orders and degrees; and he knew most clearly how every thing created presents itself to its Creator, and how God is above, and within, and around all things created. He was made acquainted likewise with one God in three persons and three persons in one God, and the infinite love which made the Son of God to become man out of obedience to the Father. He was likewise informed in this vision how there is no other way by which the soul can go to God, and have life eternal, but through Christ, the blessed one, who is the way, the truth, and the life of the soul.