Observe the wise bee and make it your model. It dwells in a community
in the midst of its companions, and it goes forth, not during the
storm, but when the weather is calm and still and the sun is shining;
and it flies towards all the flowers on which it can find sweetness.
It does not rest on any flower, neither in its beauty nor in its
sweetness, but it draws from each calix honey and wax--that is to say,
the sweetness and the substance of its brightness--and it bears them
back to the community in which all the bees are assembled, so that the
honey and wax may profitably bear fruit.
The opened heart on which Christ, the Eternal Sun, is shining, grows
and flourishes under His rays, and flows with all its inner powers
into joy and sweetnesses.
Now the wise man will act like the bee, and he will fly out in order
to settle with care, intelligence, and prudence on all the gifts and
on all the sweetness which he has experienced, and on all the good
which God has done to him; and through the rays of the sun and his own
inward observation he will experience a multitude of consolations and
blessings. And he will not rest on any flower of all these gifts, but,
laden with gratitude and praise, he will fly back again toward the home
in which he longs to dwell and rest for evermore with God.