She usually spoke in common German, but when in a state of ecstasy, her language became much purer, and her narrations partook at once of child-like simplicity and dignified inspiration.  Her friend wrote down all that she had said, directly he returned to his own apartments; for it was seldom that he could so much as even take notes in her presence.  The Giver of all good gifts bestowed upon him memory, zeal, and strength to bear much trouble and fatigue, so that he has been enabled to bring this work to a conclusion.  His conscience tells him that he has done his best, and he humbly begs the reader, if satisfied with the result of his labours, to bestow upon him the alms of an occasional prayer.

CHAPTER I.

Jesus in the Garden of Olives.

When Jesus left the supper-room with the eleven Apostles, after the institution of the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, his soul was deeply oppressed and his sorrow on the increase.  He led the eleven, by an unfrequented path, to the Valley of Josaphat.  As they left the house, I saw the moon, which was not yet quite at the full, rising in front of the mountain.

Our Divine Lord; as he wandered with his Apostles about the valley, told them that here he should one day return to judge the world, but not in a state of poverty and humiliation, as he then was, and that men would tremble with fear, and cry:  ‘Mountains, fall upon us!’ His disciples did not understand him, and thought, by no means for the first time that night, that weakness and exhaustion had affected his brain.  He said to them again:  ’All you shall be scandalised in me this night.  For it is written:  I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed. But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.’

The Apostles were still in some degree animated by the spirit of enthusiasm and devotion with which their reception of the Blessed Sacrament and the solemn and affecting words of Jesus had inspired them.  They eagerly crowded round him, and expressed their love in a thousand different ways, earnestly protesting that they would never abandon him.  But as Jesus continued to talk in the same strain, Peter exclaimed:  ’Although all shall be scandalised in thee, I will never be scandalised!’ and our Lord answered him:  ’Amen, I say to thee, that in this night, before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice.’  But Peter still insisted, saying:  ’Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.’  And the others all said the same.  They walked onward and stopped, by turns, for the sadness of our Divine Lord continued to increase.  The Apostles tried to comfort him by human arguments, assuring him that what he foresaw would not come to pass.  They tired themselves in these vain efforts, began to doubt, and were assailed by temptation.