"Well, I was beginning the Way of the Cross; suddenly, I was seized by such a violent love for God, that I cannot explain it except by saying it felt as if I were totally plunged into fire.
Oh! What fire and what sweetness at one and the same time! I was on fire with love, and I felt that one minute more, one second more, and I would not be able to sustain this ardour without dying.
I understood, then, what the saints had said regarding these states which they experienced so often. As for me, I experienced it only once, and for one single instant, falling immediately back into my habitual state of dryness."
~ "Story of a Soul,"