Ah! the Mother of God, our Blessed Lady and Mistress, while she did not see her divine child but felt him within her – Ah! my God! what content she had therein! And did not Saint Elizabeth admirably enjoy the fruits of our Saviour’s divine presence without seeing him, upon the day of the most holy Visitation? Nor does the soul in this repose [of contemplation] stand in need of the memory, for she has her lover present. Nor has she need of imagination, for why should we represent in an exterior or interior image him whose presence we are possessed of?
Saint Francis de Sales