The soul is like a sponge: if she squeezes herself she becomes soaked with God.
Continuing in my usual state, I felt an extreme affliction because of the privation of blessed Jesus, and I was
almost tired and my strengths exhausted. Now, He made Himself seen for just a little in my interior, and told me: "My
daughter, it is a continuous squeezing of herself that the soul must do. In fact, the soul is like a sponge: if she squeezes
herself she becomes soaked with God, and by becoming soaked with God, she feels the life of God within herself, and
therefore love for virtue and holy inclinations. She feels herself conquered and transformed in God, while if she does not
squeeze herself, she remains soaked with herself, and therefore she feels all the effects which a corrupted nature contains;
and all vices peep out – pride, envy, disobedience, impurity, etc., etc."
L Piccarreta Book of Heaven