Oh, who will free me from the exile of this pilgrimage? Oh, who will snatch me from the snares of this age? Oh, when will I leave behind this miserable body in order to see you without mediation, O God, love, star of stars. In you, O dear love, I will be snatched from the temptation of this death. Unworried and exultant, stepping over the wall of my body into you, God, my lover, I will see you there, in truth, face to face, without any obscurity.
Ah! You fountain of sempiternal light, fetch me back into the flow of your abyss from which I flowed forth (there where I may recognize you just as I am recognized and love you just as I am loved) so that forever I may see you, my God, as you really are in your blessed vision, fruition, and possession. Amen.
….. offer your soul to the Lord seven times [a day] to freshen in yourself the love of his divine heart. And first, at Lauds, pray the Lord himself, the supreme master, to teach you the art of love by the anointing of his Spirit, …..
Lord Jesus Christ, I have taken refuge in you; teach me to do your will for you are my God.”
Gertrud the Great of Helfta, Spiritual Exercises – V: Mystical Union (CF 49, p. 83, lines 279-298)