Rise and shine

January 6

I have always fixed on the Eastern Eye in middle of the night around him, to distinguish that miraculous star that guided our ancestors to the grotto of Bethlehem. But in vain fixed my eyes to see emerge this bright star. The more you look , the less I fail to see , the more effort and more earnestly I seek you , the more I am involved in greater darkness . I'm only day I 'm alone at night , and no light comes to enlighten , never a drop of refreshing comes to fan a flame that devours me constantly , never consume .One time I felt , in the most intimate and secret part of my spirit, very delicate I do not know how to explain it . The soul began to feel his presence, without being able to see it , and immediately , I will say so, he came to my soul so closely that it clearly warned his touch , exactly - to give a pale figure - as often happens when our body touches closely another body.I can not say anything about it , just admit it , at first , I fell into a great panic, but the panic gradually was transformed into a celestial euphoria. I found that I no longer was in a state of passer , and could not say if when this happened, I realized it or not I was still in my own body . Only God knows , and I could not say anything more to give a better understanding of this event.
( March 8, 1916 , by P. Benedict of San Marco in Lamis - . Ep I, p 756. )