How do you endure
O life, not living where you live,
and being brought near death
by the arrows you receive
from that which you conceive of your beloved.

St John of the Cross ‘The Spiritual Canticle’

In the midst of this purgation, God grants the soul brief illumination that draw her to seek the “Who” she loves behind every stammering. Must she die and be liberated from this earthly body to be with her Beloved? Or must she simply wait upon his bidding? Eager as she is for total immolation, the soul also knows that now is not the time to be freed from the body (Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?–Romans 7:24). She sighs out of love, not discouragement. Every touch slays her anew. How blessed she is, despite her frail form, not to break under the weight of this cross. –Susan Muto ‘Deep into the Thicket’