“After the death of a certain virgin, St. Gertrude saw her soul exulting in celestial glory; and having heard her relate many most wonderful things, she said to her, “How knowest thou all these things? for whilst thou wert in the body, thy capacity was very simple.” She answered:
She answered:“I have learnt them from that Source, of which a certain Saint says, that
She answered:“I have learnt them from that Source, of which a certain Saint says, that
to have once behold God, is to have learnt all things.”
… The most favoured virgin, St. Gertrude, once understood in spirit, that the light of the Divinity was so great and so incomprehensible, that if each one of the Saints, from Adam to the last man, were to attain as deep and clear a knowledge of it as any one has ever attained, without that knowledge being shared by any other, and even if the multitude of the Saints were a thousand times more numerous, yet that light of the Divinity would infinitely surpass all understanding. The same is true of the beauty, sweetness, and goodness of God, and of His other desirable perfections.”
– Ven. Louis de Blois (Blosius)
To know God, we must love Him.
“I tell you this, My most sweet daughter, to let you know the perfection of the unitive* state, in which the intellect is ravished by the fire of My charity which gives supernatural light. The soul loves Me with this light, because love follows the intellect. The more she knows, the more she loves, and the more she loves, the more she knows, intellect and love reciprocally nourish one another…
This is the most elevated state, when the soul during its mortal life can taste the life of the blessed. Her union with Me is often so great that she scarcely knows whether she is in the body or out of the body. She has a foretaste of eternal life, because she is closely united with Me, and there is no other way to be perfectly united to Me.”
– These words were allegedly revealed by God to St. Catherine of Siena (from memory, they are not found in her ‘Dialogue’ but in another lesser-known text)
************
* You can read about the unitive state/way (which is attained by very few) here:
https://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/3WAYS.TXT (‘The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life’ – an excellent little work – by Pere Garrigou-Lagrange)