Flower of Devotion

In the apparitions of St. Mechtilde we read:
“When the soul of a righteous man departs from this world and is free from all sin, so that it is worthy to ascend immediately to Heaven, God penetrates it with His divine power when it comes out of this world and fulfills it. And He takes possession of all its feelings and senses, so that He becomes, as it were, the eye of that soul, and the light through which it looks. And at the same time the beauty which the soul sees, so that in a most wonderful and joyful way God sees Himself in the soul and with the soul, and beholds this soul with all the saints. God also becomes the ear of such a soul, through which it hears His words of honey, with which the Lord caresses the soul more than any mother’s love caresses her child. God is also the breath of such a soul, by means of which it draws into itself the blue life-giving air, that is, God Himself, who surpasses the beauty of all fragrances, and who alone sustains the soul for ever by life. God is also the taste of the soul, through which He reveals to it the sweetness of Himself. God is the voice and language of the soul, for in it and through it He glorifies Himself in the most perfect and sublime way. God is also the heart of the soul, for He rejoices and fills it with joy, and henceforth in and with it He enjoys the sweetest joy. Henceforth, God becomes the true life of the soul, so that whatever the soul does, God completes in it, and God is for it “all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
And to those souls who are not yet completely purified, the angels give them the light of discernment, and give them help and consolation in purgatory.
On the other hand, the soul of the damned is filled with dark terror, bitterness, unspeakable sorrow, despair and boundless poverty at their departure from this world. They are so troubled in themselves, and utterly desolate from all that is good, that even if they did not go to hell and into the power of Satan, they would suffer great torments because of the unspeakable misery which fills them within.