Observations placeholder
Clark, Sir Kenneth - A religious experience which took place in the Church of San Lorenzo
Identifier
025618
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
I lived in solitude in Bernard Berenson's villino surrounded by books on the history of religion, which have always been my favorite reading .
This may help to account for a curious episode that took place on one of my stays in the villino. I had a religious experience.
It took place in the Church of San Lorenzo, but did not seem to be connected with the harmonious beauty of the architecture.
I can only say that for a few minutes my whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had known before.
This state of mind lasted for several months, and, wonderful though it was, it posed an awkward problem in terms of action.
My Iife was far from blameless: I would have to reform. My family would think I was going mad, and perhaps, after all, it was a delusion, for I was in every way unworthy of receiving such a flood of grace.
Gradually the effect wore off, and I made no effort to retain it. I think I was right, I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course. But that I had felt "the finger of God" I am quite sure, and, although the memory of this experience has faded, it still helps me to understand the joys of the saints.