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 and converses  familiarly  with  his  servants!"  '  O  blessed solitude,  in  which  God  speaks  and  converses  with  his  beloved spouses  with  familiarity,  with  great  love  and  confidence!  God  speaks  not  at  the  grates,  nor  in  the  belvedere, nor  in  any  other  place  in  which  religious  indulge in  useless  laughter  and  idle  talk.  The  Lord  is  not  in  the earthquake  But  where  is  he?  I  will  lead  her  into  the wilderness,  and  I  will  speak  to  her  heart.  He  speaks  in  solitude, and  there  he  speaks  to  the  heart  in  words  that  inflame it  with  his  holy  love,  as  the  sacred  spouse  attests: My  soul  melted  when  my  beloved  spoke.  St.  Eucherius  relates that  a  certain  man,  desirous  of  becoming  a  saint, asked  a  servant  of  God  where  he  should  find  God.  The servant of  God  conducted  him  to  a  solitary  place,  and said: "Behold  where  God  is  found!" By these  words he meant  to  say  that  God  is  found  not  amid  the  tumults of the  world,  but  in  solitude.

Virtue is  easily  preserved  in  solitude;  and,  on  the other hand,  it  is  easily  lost  by  intercourse  with  the world, where  God  is  but  little  known,  and  therefore  his love, and  the  goods  that  he  gives  to  those  who  leave  all things for  his  sake,  are  but  little  esteemed. St. Bernard says that  he  learned  more  among  the  trees  of  the  forest than from  books  and  masters. Hence the  saints,  in order  to  live  in  solitude  and  far  from  tumult,  have  so ardently  loved  the  caves,  the  mountains,  and  the  woods. ''The land  that  was  desolate  and  impassable  shall  be  glad,  and the  wilderness  shall  rejoice,  and  shall  flourish  like  the  lily;  it shall  bud  forth  and  blossom. . .  .  They  shall  see  the  glory  of''