Chapter I. OF THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR

IT is necessary we should know that love has its seat in the heart, and that we can never love our neighbour too much, or exceed the bounds of reason in that love, provided that it resides in the heart; for, so far as regards the signs of that love, we may easily fall short or exceed, going beyond the rules of sound reason.

The great St. Bernard says, that “the measure of loving God is to love Him without measure,” and that in our love we should assign no limits, but allow it to spread its branches as far as it can. What is here said of the love of God must also be understood of the love of our neighbour, provided always that the love of God floats above it, and holds the first rank.

This being laid down, we ought to love our neighbour with all our heart, and like ourselves, as the commandment of God obliges us to do. Our Lord has said, Love one another as I have loved you (St. John xiii. 34); which means that, as our Lord has always preferred us to Himself, and has done so as often as He has given Himself to us in the most holy Sacrament, making Himself our food, so He wills us to have a love like His one towards another, and that we should even prefer our neighbour to ourselves.

Observe particularly, that as our Saviour has done for us all that could be done, so He wills, and the rule of perfection requires, that we do all that we are able one for another, except sin. With that exception, our love ought to be so firm, so cordial, and so solid, that we should never refuse to do or suffer aught for the good of our neighbour.

Now, rightly to evidence our love for our neighbour, it is necessary to procure for him all the good that we can, both spiritual and temporal, praying for him, and cordially serving him as occasion requires; because a friendship which ends in fine words is no great thing. To do otherwise is not to love as our Lord hath loved us, who did not content Himself with assuring us that He loved us, but gave us effective proofs of His love.

Chapter II. IN WHAT WAT WE SHOULD LOVE OUR NEIGHBOUR

You ask me in what way we should love our neighbour? I answer, that there are friendships which seem extremely great and perfect in the eyes of men, which before God are seen to be little and of no value, because they are not founded in true charity, which is God, but only on certain natural affinities and inclinations, and on considerations humanly praiseworthy and agreeable.

There are other friendships, on the contrary, which seem extremely poor and trifling in the eyes of the world, which before God are seen to be rich and very excellent, because they are only in God and for God, without any admixture of our own interest.

Now the acts of charity which we exercise towards those whom we love in this way are a thousand times more perfect, inasmuch as everything in them tends purely to God; but the services and other help which we render to those whom we love by inclination are of much less merit, by reason of the great satisfaction and enjoyment which we have in doing them, and because we generally do them rather from this motive than from the love of God.

There is yet another reason which makes these first-mentioned affections of less merit than the latter: which is, that they are not durable, because the cause of them being unstable, when anything occurs to thwart them, they alter and grow cold, which is not the case with those that are founded in God, since the cause of them is solid and permanent.

St. Catherine suggests a beautiful comparison on this subject: “If you take,” says she, “a glass, and fill it at a fountain, and drink out of this glass without moving it away from the fountain, the glass will not be emptied; but if you remove it from the fountain, the glass will be empty when you have drunk: so is it with our affections; when we do not remove them from their source they never dry up.”

Even the outward marks of friendship which we give, contrary to our inclination, to persons for whom we have an aversion, are better, and more agreeable to God, than those which we give under the influence of a sensible affection; and this must not be called duplicity or hypocrisy; for although I feel the contrary sentiment, it is only in the inferior part of the soul, and the acts I make are made by a principle of charity.

And so, if those on whom I bestow these out ward marks of friendship knew that I gave them with some feeling of aversion, they ought not to be offended at it, but rather to value and cherish them more than if they proceeded from a sensible affection; for feelings of dislike are natural, and of themselves not bad, if we do not act upon them; on the contrary, they furnish a means of practicing a thousand acts of virtue; and we are even more pleasing to our Lord when we kiss His feet with an extreme repugnance to overcome, than when we do it without having to struggle against any such feeling. Those, therefore, who have nothing to recommend them to the affection of others, are in this more happy; for they are assured that the love which is borne to them is excellent, because it is all in God.

We often fancy that we are loving a person for God, when it is only for ourselves. We avail ourselves of this pretext, saying that our regard for him is for the sake of God, when it is only for the sake of the consolation which we derive from it. For is it not much more pleasant to see before you a soul full of right feeling, following your counsels extremely well, and faithfully and quietly walking in the path which you have marked out for it, than to behold another soul, unquiet, embarrassed, and feeble in good, which requires the same thing to be told it over and over again? No doubt it is so. Your affection, then, is not for God, for the latter soul is as dear to God as the former, and you ought to love it more, because there is more in its regard to be done for the sake of God.

In another point of view, it is true, that when there is more of God, that is to say, more of virtue, which is a participation of the divine qualities, more affection is due.

Chapter III. ON THE DEATH OF PERSONS DEAR TO US

Your affliction is constantly in my mind, and I feel as if I could do nothing else but speak to you to console you; still I could say nothing but that the divine Spouse of our souls wills us to look upon all events that happen to us in the bosom of His heavenly providence, and to cast our affections into eternity, where we shall all be re-united, never again to be separated.

Your father has at last gone, in such a way that, if faith in life eternal reigns in our minds, as it ought, we should be greatly consoled in the midst of the affliction which has come upon us. Little by little, God severs us from the enjoyments of this world. We must, then, more ardently aspire to those of immortality, and keep our hearts raised to heaven, where we desire to be, and where already we have a great number of the souls which we cherish. Blessed forever be the name of our Lord, and may His love live and reign in our inmost souls.

But you should console yourself by thinking that your good father lived all his years in honour and virtue, in public esteem, in the affection of his family and of all who knew him.

After all that I feel from the sad event, I conclude that, God having so willed, it was for the best. May His will be adored for evermore.

His divine majesty attracts u s in this way to the desire of heaven, withdrawing from us by degrees all that was most dear to us here below.

For the rest, we should allow afflictions a passage in our hearts, but we must not make it their abiding- place.

Lastly, this separatio n is less painful, since it will be but short, and we not only hope for, but aspire to, that happy repose, where that beautiful soul either is or soon will be safely housed.

Let us, I implore you, acquiesce in this expectation here below; and instead of multiplying our sighs and our tears over him, let us bestow them for him before our Lord; that it may please Him to hasten his reception into the arms of His divine mercy, if He has not already bestowed that grace upon him.

Let us bless God, let us praise Him, let us adore the order of His decrees, let us acknowledge the instability of this life, and let us peacefully wait for the next.

Chapter IV. ON THE SAME SUBJECT

I have just been told that you are continually weeping over this painful separation. This indeed ought not to be; for either you are weeping for the departed or for yourself. If for him, why weep, since he is in Paradise, where there is no more any place for tears? If for yourself, is there not in this too much self-love? And would one not suppose that you loved yourself more than his happiness, which is beyond compare? my God! for all that, I do not say to you, Weep not; no, for it is most just and reasonable that you should weep a little; I say a little, in testimony of the sincere affection which you bore him, in imitation of our dear Master, who wept over His friend Lazarus; but not overmuch; not like those who, placing all their thoughts on the moments of this miserable life, do not remember that we are also going to eternity, where, if we live well in this world, we shall be re-united to those we love, and who have gone, to quit them no more forever.

We cannot prevent our poor hearts from feeling the condition of this life, and the loss of those who were our beloved associates; still we must not belie the solemn professions we have made of joining our will inseparably to that of our God.

How happy are they, those dear ones whom we lament, to have seen coming little by little, and from afar, the hour of their departure! for so were they prepared for departing holily.

Let us adore this divine Providence, and let us say: Yes, Thou art blessed, for all that pleases Thee is good. My God! how sweetly ought these little accidents to be received by our hearts,—by our hearts, I say, which for the future must have their affections placed more in heaven than on earth!

You must recover your courage after this shock. Alas, these accidents (apoplexy) are but natural; and our Lord, seeing our end approaching, sweetly prepares us for it by His inspirations, that we may not be taken by it unawares.

I am not surprised that you have been somewhat startled, and that you have been unable to regain your spirits so speedily, to offer them to your Lord.

O God! You must prepare yourself better for the next occasion that presents itself; for in proportion as we in this world see the goods we have in it breaking up before our eyes, we must have recourse the more ardently to our Lord, and confess that we are wrong in placing our hopes and expecting our peace anywhere else than in Him, and in the eternity which He has destined for us.

Let us abide in peace, and let us wait for His disposal of us. Let us reckon little of this world, except so far as it serves us as a sort of plank on which to pass to a better.

Alas! we only have life in this world in order to pass to that of Paradise, towards which we are advancing day by day; and we know not when shall be the day of our departure from the former, and of our arrival in the latter.

Chapter V. ON THE SAME SUBJECT

My God! how deceitful is this life, and how short are its consolations! One moment they appear, and another moment hurries them away; and were it not for that holy eternity which is the limit of our days, we should have good reason to complain of the condition of humanity.

Be well assured that I write to you with my heart full of sorrow for my own loss, but still more because of the vivid idea I have of the blow it will be to your own heart when you hear the sad news of your widowhood, so speedy, so unexpected, so lamentable.

If the multitude of those who will share your grief could diminish its bitterness for you, there would be little indeed of it remaining; for there is no one who knew your dear husband who does not unite a heartfelt sorrow to the acknowledgment of his goodness. But all this cannot console you, until time has softened your grief, and meanwhile God must sustain your spirit and be your support.

His sovereign mercy will doubtless incline towards you, and come into your heart to aid and succour it in this visitation, if only you throw yourself into His arms, and resign yourself in His fatherly hands.

It was God who gave you your husband: it is He who has withdrawn him and taken him to Himself. He is bound to be favourable to you in those sorrows which the right affections He gave you for your marriage will now cause you in this bereavement.

Such is our condition, that we die at an hour unforeseen, and that we cannot escape from death. Therefore it is that we must have patience, and employ our reason in softening the evil which we cannot avoid, in looking to God and His eternity, where all our losses shall be restored, and our union, severed by death, shall be re-established.

Taking into consideration all these things, we must accommodate our hearts to the state of life in which we are placed. It is a perishable and mortal life; and death, which reigns over this life, does not observe any certain rules. It takes its prey sometimes here, sometimes there, without any choice or method; the good among the bad, the young among the old.Oh, how happy are they who, living in a continual sense of the uncertainty of life, are always ready to die, so that they will be able to liv e again eternally in that life where there is no death!

In a few days, or at latest, in a few years, we shall follow them in that passage, and friendships and unions begun in this world will be resumed, never more to encounter a separation. However, let us have patience, and let us courageously wait for the hour of our departure to strike, to go where our friends have already arrived; and since we loved them cordially, let us persevere in loving them, doing for the love of them what they desired we should do, and what they now wish for us, and that is, to moderate our grief, by reserving our eyes for a better purpose than tears, and our mind for better occupations than those of sadness.

And since true friendship delights in pleasing the person beloved, do you, in order to please him, comfort your spirit, and raise your courage, and imagine that he besought you to do so on his departure.

It is on these occasions that we must, with a holy love, acquiesce in the good pleasure of our Lord. But tell me; and we, when shall we go to that true country which awaits us? Alas! here we are almost at the eve of our departure, and we are weeping over those who have gone thither.

Take the winding-sheet of our Lord, which wrapped Him in the sepulchre, and dry therewith your tears.

Since our Lord loved death, and has given His death as an object of our love, I cannot take badly the death of any one, however dear to me, provided it take place in the love of that holy death of our Saviour.

May God and your good angel inspire you with all holy consolation.

Chapter VI. ON THE SAME SUBJECT

The thoughts of men are vain and useless in themselves to comfort a heart so afflicted as yours. God alone is the master and comforter of hearts. He alone it is who calms the souls of good will, that is to say, those who hope in Him.

It was truly a good advice which you received from His inspiration, when you proposed to yourself to retire for a short space from the crowd of this world’s consolations, to place in perfect quiet the wound of your heart in the hands of the heavenly Physician, since even earthly physicians confess that no healing can be wrought except in quiet and tranquility.

The interior words which God speaks to the afflicted heart which has recourse to His goodness are sweeter than honey, and more salutary than the most precious balm.

The heart which unites itself to the heart of God cannot choose but love, and finally accept lovingly the arrows darted upon it by His hand.

I shall freely tell you, as a remedy for your sorrow, that whoever wishes to exempt his heart from the evils of earth must hide it in heaven, and as David says, must “hide himself in the secret of God’s face,” must be “hidden in His tabernacle” (Ps. xxx. 21; xxvi. 5). Look steadily at eternity, whither you are going; you will find that nothing which does not belong to that infinite duration should ever shake our courage.

You have been serving God, and have been taught in the school of His cross for so long a time, that not only you ought to accept it patiently, but, as I am sure you will, sweetly and lovingly, in consideration of Him who bore His own, and was carried on His own till death; and of her who, having only one Son, but a Son of incomparable love, saw Him die on the cross, with eyes full of tears and a heart full of grief, but a sweet and loving grief, in favour of our salvation and of that of all the world.

Conform yourself to the Divine will in this loss, if that name should be applied to a short absence, which, by the help of God, will be repaired by an eternal presence. Ah, how blessed is that heart which loves and cherishes the Divine will on every occasion!

Oh, if once we had our heart well fixed on that holy and blessed eternity, “Go,” we should say to those we love,—“go into that eternal existence at the hour which the King of eternity has marked out for you; we also shall go after you. And since time is given us only for that, and the world is peopled only to people heaven, when we go thither we shall have done all that we had to do.”

O God! let us leave our children to the mercy of God, who left His Son to our mercy. Let us offer Him the life of ours, since He gave the life of His for us.

We must be firm and constant near the cross, and even on the cross, if it pleases God to place us there. Blessed are the crucified, for they shall be glorified. But our inheritance in this world is in the cross, and in the other it shall be in glory.

Chapter VII. OF BEARING WITH OUR NEIGHBOUR S IMPERFECTIONS

To bear with our neighbour’s imperfections is one of the principal points of the love of our Lord; for He shewed it to us upon the cross, having a heart so sweet towards us, and loving us so dearly,—us, I say, and even those who wrought His death, which was an act of most enormous sin, for that sin was a monster of wickedness; and nevertheless, our sweet Saviour had thoughts of love for them, giving us an inconceivable instance of the same, when even for those who crucified Him, and heaped barbarous in juries upon Him, He made excuse, and sought devices to make His Father pardon them in the very act of their sin.

Oh, miserable men that we are! for scarcely can we forget an injury done to us till a long time after we have received it. Nevertheless, he who shall prevent his neighbour in benedictions full of sweetness will be the most perfect imitator of our Lord.

Chapter VIII OF CORDIALITY

Cordiality is nothing else than the essence of true and sincere friendship, which cannot be but between reasonable persons, conducting themselves by reason. There must also be a certain equality either in vocation, or rank, or aims; and this is why we do not call by the name of friendship the affection borne by fathers to their children, because this equality does not exist in it; the love of fathers being a majestic love, and that of children a love of respect and submission.

But between brothers, by reason of their like condition, the equality of their love constitutes a firm, strong, and solid friendship. For this reason, the first Christians all called each other brethren, a usage which now remains in monasteries only, the inmates of which are ordered all to call each other brethren and sisters., as a mark of their true and sincere friendship.

This friendship is called cordial, because it has its foundation in the heart. Now this cordial friendship ought to be accompanied by two virtues, one of which is called affability, and the other good conversation. Affability is a virtue which diffuses a certain sweetness over the serious affairs and communications we may have to transact with each other. Good conversation is a virtue which makes us gracious and agreeable in the recreations and less serious communications which we have with our neighbour.

This friendship ought to be shewn without using any ill-advised familiarity. We must laugh with those who laugh, and weep with those who weep, and we ought to shew our friends that we are pleased with them, provided that holiness always accompanies whatever evidence we give of our affection, and that God is not only not offended with it, but that lie is honoured and glorified.

The question here occurs, whether we may shew most affection towards the person whom we esteem most virtuous.

I reply, that although we may love the most virtuous with most love of complacency, we ought not to love them with most love of benevolence, or give them most marks of friendship; and this for two reasons.

The first, because our Lord did not do it; He seems even to have shewn more affection to the imperfect than to the perfect, since He said that He came not for the just, but for sinners. It is to those who have the most need of us that we ought more particularly to shew our affection; for thereby we shew that we love out of charity, better than by loving those who give us more consolation than pain; and in this we must conduct ourselves as the spiritual advantage of our neighbour requires. But apart from this, we should endeavour to love them all equally, since our Lord did not say, Love these, or those; but indifferently, Love each other, as I have loved you, without excluding any, how imperfect soever he be.

The second reason is, that we cannot judge who are the most perfect, or who have most virtue; for appearances are deceitful, and very often those who seem to us to be the most virtuous are not so before God. It may happen that a person whom we see fail very often, and commit a great number of imperfections, is more virtuous and more agreeable to God, either by the greatness of courage he preserves in the midst of his imperfections, not allowing himself to be troubled by seeing himself so subject to fall, or by the humility he derives from it, than another who has in truth a greater number of natural or acquired virtues, but who has gone through less exercise and labour, and has consequently less courage and humility than he whom we see so subject to fail.St. Peter was chosen to be the chief of the Apostles, although he was subject to many imperfections; but because, notwithstanding these imperfections, he had a great courage, our Lord chose him in preference to all the rest.

But if it is true that we have an inclination to love one more than another, we must not amuse ourselves with thinking about it, still less speak about it to him; for we ought not to love our neighbour by inclination, but either because he is virtuous, or from the hope we entertain that he will become so, and principally because such is the will of God.

Chapter IX OF AVERSIONS

Aversions are certain antipathies, sometimes natural, which make us feel a little dislike from the very first to those who are the objects of them, which prevents our liking their conversation, as the contrary feeling makes us fond of the conversation of those to whom we naturally incline.

To shew that it is natural to have an inclination towards some and not towards others, we have only to look at two men coming into a room where two others are at play: the two who come in will wish one of them to win rather than the other. And whence comes this, since they never saw or knew them before, but from the fact that they are thus naturally disposed?

We see also the same law in brutes, who, not having reason, nevertheless have naturally aversions and inclinations. You may try this experiment with a newly-born lambkin. Shew it the skin of a wolf, although dead, it will take to flight, it will moan, it will hide itself under the side of its mother; but shew it a horse, although a much larger animal than a wolf, and it will exhibit no alarm, but will sport with it. The reason of this is that nature makes it friendly to the one and hostile to the other.

Of these natural aversions we must not make much account, any more than of natural inclinations, provided we submit the whole to reason.

What is the remedy for these aversions, since no one can be exempt from them however perfect he be? Those who are naturally rough will have an aversion to very sweet-tempered persons, and will esteem such sweetness an excessive softness, although that quality of sweetness is the most universally loved.

The only remedy to this evil, as to every other sort of temptation, is simply to turn aside from it, not to think about it at all: but the misfortune is that we are always anxious to know far too well whether we have reason or not for these aversions. Oh, we ought never to amuse ourselves with this search; for our self-love, which never sleeps, will gild the pill so well, that it will make us think our antipathies are good; and then, being approved by our own judgment and by self-love, there will no longer be any means of hindering us from thinking them just and reasonable.

Assuredly we should be well on our guard against this: for we never have reason to entertain aversions, much less to be willing to feed them. I say, then, that when the question is of simply natural aversions, we ought to make no account of them, but to turn aside from them without seeming to take any notice, and so to wile away our spirit; but we must contend with and conquer them when we see the aversion is going in advance of mere natural dislike, and leading us away from the submission due to reason, which never allows us to do anything in favour of our aversions, any more than of our inclinations, when they are bad, from fear of offending God.

But if we do nothing more in favour of our aversions than to speak a little less agreeably than we should do to a person for whom we entertain great feelings of affection, that is no great thing, for it is hardly in our power to do otherwise. When we are under the influence of that feeling, it would be wrong to exact that from us.

Chapter X. OF THE MERIT OF OBEDIENCE

To animate us to obedience when we are tempted against it, we should consider its excellence, its beauty, its merit, and even its utility. This observation applies to souls who are not yet well settled in the love of obedience; for when there is merely question of a simple aversion or disgust, we must make an act of love and apply ourselves to the work. Our Lord, even in His passion, felt a sorrow even unto death, as He himself says; but in the sharp point of his spirit He was resigned to the will of His Father; all the rest was a movement of nature.

I do not call it a want of perseverance when we make some little interruptions, provided we do not quit our work altogether: so it is not a want of obedience to fail in some one or other of its conditions, seeing that we are only obliged to the substance, and not to the conditions of the virtues. For even though we obeyed with repugnance, and as it were forced by the obligation of our condition, our obedience would not on that account fail in being good in virtue of our first resolutions; but it is of a value and a merit much greater when it is done with the conditions we have alluded to; for anything, however little, done with such obedience is of very great value.

Obedience is a virtue so excellent, that our Lord willed to conduct Himself through the whole course of His life by obedience, as He so often said that He had not come to do His own will, but the will of His Father; and the Apostle tells us that He made Himself obedient unto death and the death of the cross, having willed to join to the infinite merit of His perfect charity the infinite merit of a perfect obedience. Charity yields to obedience, because obedience depends on justice; thus it is better to pay what one owes than to give alms; which means that it is better to perform an act of obedience than an act of charity by our own proper motive.

I add that obedience is not of less merit than charity. To give a cup of water from charity will win heaven. Do as much from obedience, and you will also win heaven. The least thing done by obedience is very agreeable to God. If you eat by obedience, your eating is more agreeable to God than the fasts of anchorites done without obedience. If you rest by obedience, your rest is more agreeable to God than labour done without obedience. Finally, he who obeys as he ought will enjoy a continual tranquility, and the most holy peace of the Lord, which surpasseth all understanding; and I may well assume, on the part of God, that he shall have Paradise for life everlasting.

Chapter XI. OF OBEDIENCE TO SUPERIORS

Obedience consists in two points. The first is to obey superiors, and the second to obey equals and inferiors; but the second belongs rather to humility, sweetness, and charity than to justice; for he who is humble thinks that all others surpass him and are far better than him, and makes them his superiors, and thinks it his duty to obey them.

As to the obedience which relates to the superiors whom God has placed over us to govern us, it is of justice and necessity, and ought to be rendered with an entire submission of our understanding and our will; and this obedience of the understanding is practiced when we accept and approve of the commandment, and value and think well of the thing commanded.

Our natural inclination leads us to the desire of command, and gives us an aversion to obedience; nevertheless it is certain that we have a much greater capacity for obeying than commanding.

The most ordinary obedience has three conditions. The first is to accept the thing commanded, and to bend our will sweetly thereto, loving to be commanded: for it is not the way to make us truly obedient not to love anyone who commands us, just as it is not the way to have companionship to remain by ourselves. Cassian relates that being alone in the desert, he sometimes gave way to anger, and taking up his pen to write, if it would not mark, he threw it aside in a rage; so that he observes, that it is of no use being alone, since we carry our anger with us.

The second condition is promptitude, to which is opposed laziness or spiritual sadness; for it rarely happens that a sad soul does anything promptly or diligently.

The third is perseverance; for it is not enough to fulfil the commandment if one does not persevere in fulfilling it; and it is this perseverance which wins the crown. It is an act of great humility to do all one’s life by obedience the same exercise, although lowly; for one may perchance be troubled to think oneself capable of something greater.

This third condition is the most difficult, by reason of the levity and inconstancy of the human mind; for we love one thing now, and to-morrow we will not look at it; to-day we would choose one situation, and a little while after we seek for another, so great is this inconstancy of the mind; but we must stay ourselves with the strength of our first resolutions, so as to live evenly in the midst of the inequalities of our feelings.

Chapter XII. OF MURMURS AGAINST SUPERIORS

Take great care not to be discouraged by listening to any little murmur or any sort of reprehension that may be brought against you; no, for I assure you that the task of blaming is a very easy one, and that of doing better a difficult one. There needs scarcely any capacity to find faults and something to speak against in those who govern, or in their government; and when they take us to task, or would point out to us imperfections in our conduct, we must sweetly bear it all, and then lay it before God, and take counsel with our advisers, and after that do what is thought reasonable, with a holy confidence that Providence will make it all to conduce to His glory.

Do not be hasty in promising, but ask for time to determine things that are of consequence. This is the proper means of ensuring safety in our affairs, and of nourishing humility, St. Bernard, writing to a Bishop of Geneva, says to him: “Do all things by the advice of a few people who are peaceable, wise, and good.”

Follow this advice so sweetly, that your inferiors may not take occasion to lose the respect which is due to your office, nor to think that you have need of them to rule; on the contrary, make them know, without telling them so, that you do so in order to follow the rule of modesty and humility, and what is enjoined by the statutes. For, as you will perceive, we ought, as far as possible, to contrive that the respect of our inferiors towards us may not diminish their love, and that their love may not diminish their respect.

Do not trouble yourself about being a little too rudely controlled by the worthy extern you mention; but pass it by in peace, or do according to her advice in things where there is no danger in pleasing her; or do otherwise when the greater glory of God shall require it, and then, as adroitly as you can, you ought to gain her over to approve of it.

If you have any subject who does not fear you with sufficient respect, let her understand it by the means of someone you judge most fit to convey the hint, not as from you, but as from that person; and in order that, in every point of view, your sweetness may be distinct from timidity, and may not be treated as such, when you see any one make profession of not observing that respect, it will be necessary sweetly, and by yourselves, to remonstrate on the ground that your office ought to be honoured, and that all the religious ought to co-operate in maintaining the dignity of that office which binds them all together in one body and one spirit. For the rest, hold yourself wholly in God, and be humbly courageous in His service.

Chapter XIII. OF OBEDIENCE TO SUPERIORS IN WHAT REGARDS THE INTERIOR LIFE

There are souls who will not, as they say, be led, except by the spirit of God; and they fancy that all the things they imagine are so many inspirations and movements of the Holy Ghost, who takes them by the hand, and conducts them like children in all that they would do. In this they greatly deceive themselves. For, I pray you, is there any vocation more marvellous than that of St. Paul, in which our Lord Himself spoke to him, in order to convert him? And nevertheless He would not instruct him, but sent him to Ananias, to learn whatever he had to do. And although St. Paul might have said, “Lord, where fore not Thyself?” he did not say so, but went in all simplicity to do what was commanded him. After this, shall we think ourselves more favoured of God than St. Paul, and believe that He wills to conduct us Himself without the instrumentality of any creature? The conduct of God for us means nothing else than obedience; for beyond this there is nothing but deceit.

There is one thing very certain, that all are not conducted by the same road; but it is also true that it is not ours to know by what road God calls us; that belongs to superiors, who have the light of God to do it.

We must not say that they do not know us well; for we ought to believe that obedience and submission are the true marks of a good inspiration. And although it may happen that we have no consolation in the exercises they make us go through, and that we have much in others, it is not by consolation that we ought to judge of the goodness of our actions: to regard, on these occasions, our own satisfaction, would be to regard the flowers and not the fruit.

You will draw more advantage from what you do in following the direction of your superior, than from what you do by following the dictates of your own instincts, for they ordinarily only come from self-love, which, under the show of good, seeks for complacency in a vain self-esteem.

Chapter XIV. OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN AUSTERITY, AND THE MORTIFICATION OF THE HEART THAN THAT OF THE BODY

I perceived the suggestions which the enemy of your progress makes upon your heart, and I also perceive the grace which the most holy Spirit of God gives you to maintain you strong and firm in pursuing the path wherein He has placed you.

The evil one cares not about our mortifying the body, provided we do always what he wishes: he fears not austerity, but obedience. What greater austerity can there be than holding one’s will continually subject and obedient? You are fond of these voluntary penances; if, after all, the works of self-love can be called by the name of penances.

When you gave yourself to God, after many prayers and much consideration, it was found good that you should enter into obedience and the denial of your own will, rather than be left to your own judgment and to yourself: do not, then, let yourself be overcome, but remain where our Lord has placed you.

It is true, that you there have great mortifications of heart, perceiving yourself so imperfect in that path, and so worthy of frequent correction and reproof; but is not this the very thing you ought to seek, mortification of the heart, and the continual sense of your own abjectness?

But, say you, you cannot do such and such a penance you wish. Tell me, I reply, what better penance could an erring heart have, than to endure a continual cross and denial of its self-love? But I say too much: God Himself will hold you with that same hand of His mercy with which He placed you in this vocation; and the enemy will have no victory over you, who, like the first daughter of this country, must be well proved by temptation, and well crowned by perseverance.

Chapter XV. OF IMPERFECTIONS WE SEE IN OUR SUPERIORS

You ask to know what ought to be done, if one saw imperfections in superiors; for one never supposes the existence, you say, of imperfect superiors.

Alas, if we supposed the existence of perfect superiors only, we should have to pray God to send us saints or angels; for as for men, we should find none such among them. We do indeed seek such as shall not give a bad example; but we do not expect them to be without imperfections, provided they have those conditions of mind which are necessary; and the more so, because there are many to be found more perfect, who, for all that, would not be capable of being superiors.

Tell me, did not our Lord Himself shew to us that we need not expect this, by the choice He made of St. Peter to be superior over the Apostles? Everyone knows the fault which he committed in denying our most dear Lord; but, besides this, after having been confirmed in grace by receiving the Holy Ghost, did he not commit yet another fault which was judged of such importance, that St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, declares that he resisted him to the face, because he was to be blamed?

Not only St. Peter, but St. Paul and St. Barnabas too, who had a dispute because St. Barnabas wished to take with them John Mark, who was his cousin, and St. Paul did not judge him fit for that purpose; and St. Barnabas not wishing to yield to St. Paul, they separated, and went to preach, St. Paul in one country and St. Barnabas in another, with his cousin John Mark. Also it is true, that our Lord drew good out of their dispute; for instead of preaching in one place only, they thus threw the seed of the Gospel in divers places.

Do not, then, let us suppose, that so long as we are in this life we can live without committing imperfections; for that cannot be, whether we are superiors or inferiors, since we are all men, and consequently all imperfect, and subject to every kind of imperfections.

Our Lord has commanded us to say every day these words: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us;—and there is no exception to this commandment, because we have all need to do so. It is therefore no sound reasoning to say: Such a person is a superior; therefore he is never angry, or subject to other imperfections.

You are surprised that, having had occasion to speak to the superioress, she spoke to you less sweetly than usual, because perhaps at the moment she had her head full of anxiety and business; your self-love is all at once in alarm, instead of thinking that God permitted this little dryness on the part of the superioress to mortify your self-love, which wanted her to caress you a little, and receive graciously what you wanted to say. But, in fine, it does annoy us to find mortification where we did not look for it. Alas, you should for that reason go and pray God for the superioress, and bless her for this beloved contradiction.

Chapter XVI. SUPERIORS OUGHT CHEERFULLY TO BEAR WITH OTHERS, PERCEIVING THEIR IMPERFECTIONS

When a sister comes in all simplicity to the superioress to accuse herself of some judgment or thought which indicates imperfection in the latter,—for instance, that she has made a correction with some warmth,—I say that the superioress should humiliate herself, and have recourse to the love of lowliness. But if the sister is somewhat distressed in making this confession, do not let her make a great deal out of nothing, but turn aside the conversation, still taking care to hide humility in the heart. For we must be very careful that our self-love does not cause us to lose an opportunity of seeing that we are imperfect, and of humiliating ourselves; and although you may retrench the exterior act of humility, for fear of distressing the poor sister, who is already distressed enough, it must not be omitted interiorly.

But if, on the other hand, the sister shews no distress in accusing herself, I think it well that the superioress should freely declare that she was in the wrong, if such was really the case. You see that this little virtue of the love of humiliation ought never to be removed from our heart, because we have need of it every moment, since, however advanced we may be in perfection, our passions sometimes spring up afresh. Such an instance is related of a religious under St. Pachomius, who, when in the world, had been an actor by profession; and having been converted and become a religious, he passed many years in most exemplary mortification, without ever doing anything to remind any one of his former mode of life. Twenty years after he thought himself very fairly at liberty to get up some little buffoonery to amuse the brethren. But the poor man was mistaken; his passion for acting so revived, that from amusement he went on to dissipation, so that it was decided to drive him away from the monastery. This would have been done, had not one of the brethren answered for him, promising that he would amend, which really happened, and he became afterwards a great saint.

Observe, therefore, that we should never forget what we have been, for fear we become worse; or suppose that we are perfect when we do not commit many imperfections. Some faults we shall always commit, but we ought to endeavour that they be very rare, and, as it were, but two in the course of fifty years, as there were but two in the Apostles after they received the Holy Ghost. And if there were three or four, or even seven or eight, in so long a series of years, we ought not to lose courage, but to take breath and to strengthen ourselves to do better.

The sisters, then, ought not to be astonished if the superioresses have their imperfections; nor, on the other hand, the superioresses if their faults are observed; but they ought to observe the humility and sweetness with which St. Peter received the admonition given him by St. Paul, although he was St. Paul’s superior. One hardly knows which is greatest, the courage of St. Paul in reproving St. Peter, or the humility with which St. Peter submitted to the reproof, even in a matter where he considered he was doing right and had a good intention.

Chapter XVII. OF THE RESPECT DUE TO CONFESSORS

I would have you give great honour to confessors; for besides our obligation to honour the priesthood in them, we ought to look upon them as angels whom God sends to reconcile us with His divine mercy; and not only so, but we should regard them as his vicegerents on earth; and consequently, if it should happen that they shew themselves men, committing some imperfections, such, for instance, as asking any question not pertaining to confession, as, what is your name, whether you do penances, whether you practice virtues, and what they are, whether you have any temptations, and such-like; I would have you reply, although you are not obliged to do so; for you ought not to say that this is not permitted you.; oh, no! for you may say in confession whatever you please, provided you only speak of what concerns yourself.

But if you are afraid of saying anything relating to yourself, such as your temptations, you may reply: “I have them, but, by the grace of God, I do not think I have offended His goodness in them.” But never say that you are forbidden to confess this or that; say in good faith all that gives you pain, if you choose to do so; but I repeat, be very careful not to speak of others.

In the second place, we have reciprocal obligations to our confessors, of keeping secret what they have said to us in confession, unless it be anything to our edification; but beyond this we ought to say nothing. If they happen to give you any counsels contrary to your rules and your manner of living, listen to them with humility and reverence, and then do what your rules allow you, and nothing else. Confessors do not always intend to oblige you to do what they say under pain of sin: you must receive their counsels simply in the way of direction. Nevertheless, put a high value on whatever is said to you in confession; for you cannot conceive the great profit derived from, the sacrament by souls who approach it with the required humility.

If they wish to assign for a penance anything contrary to the rule, beg of them with all gentleness to change it, because, as it is against the rule, you would be afraid of scandalising your sisters. For the rest, you must never murmur against your confessors, if, by their fault, anything happens to annoy you in confession. You can then say, with all simplicity, to the superioress, that you wish to confess to someone else, if she pleases, without saying anything more; and by doing so, you will not discover the imperfections of the confessors, and you will have the advantage of confessing to your mind: but this ought not to be done lightly, nor for trilling grounds. You must avoid extremes; and as it would be wrong to put up with great defects in confessors, so you ought not to be so nice as to be unable to endure slight ones.

In the third place, I would have you take great care to particularise sins in confession; I mean to say, that those who have observed nothing worthy of absolution, should mention some particular sin. You must also take great care to be truthful, simple, and charitable in confession; that is to say, accuse yourself very clearly of your faults without dissimulation or artifice, observing that it is God to whom you speak, from whom nothing can be concealed, and in nowise mixing up your neighbours in your confession: for example, having to confess that you murmured in your own mind, or perhaps with others, at the superioress having spoken a little too drily to you, do not go and say that you murmured at the too harsh reproof she administered to you, but simply that you murmured against the superioress. Mention only the evil you have done, and not the cause and what led you to it; and never, either directly or indirectly, reveal the sins of others, in confessing your own; and never give the confessor reason to suspect who has contributed to your sin; also introduce no useless accusation in your confession.

If you have had thoughts of imperfection regarding your neighbour, thoughts of vanity, or perhaps even worse; if you have had distractions in prayer; if you have deliberately consented to them, say so in good faith, and do not content yourself with saying that you have not taken pains enough to be recollected in prayer; if you have only been negligent in putting aside these distractions, say so in like manner; for general accusations are of no use in confession.

Chapter XVIII. OF THE RESPECT DUE TO PREACHERS

I would have you moreover give great honour to those who announce to us the word of God: we certainly are under a great obligation to do so; for they are heavenly messengers, who come on God’s part to teach us the way of salvation. We ought to regard them as such, and not as mere men; for although they speak not with the eloquence of heavenly men, we must not on that account abate aught of that humility and reverence with which we are bound to accept the word of God, which is always the same, as pure and as holy, as if it were spoken and delivered by angels.

I observe that if I write to a friend on bad paper, and consequently with bad handwriting, I am thanked as affectionately for my letter as if I wrote on better paper, and with the finest characters in the world. And why is this, but because my friend does not care about the paper or the handwriting being bad, but only cares about the writer.

We ought to act in the same way with regard to the word of God. We must not consider who it is that is preaching to us: it ought to be enough for us that God makes use of this preacher to proclaim His word to us. And since we see that God honours him so much as to speak by his mouth, how can we fail in respecting and honouring him!

Chapter XIX. OF OBEDIENCE TO EQUALS AND INFERIORS

The second point of obedience is rather humility than obedience; for this sort of obedience is a certain pliability of the will to follow the will of another; and is a virtue of great loveliness, which makes our spirit turn in any direction, and disposes us always to do the will of God. For example, if, in going somewhere, I meet a sister, and she tells me to go elsewhere, the will of God is that I should do what she wishes, rather than what I wish. But if I oppose my will to hers, the will of God is that she should yield to me; and so of all things when they are in different.

But if it happens that both parties wish to yield, they ought not to waste time over that dispute, but consider which course would be the most reasonable and the best, and do it with simplicity: it is discretion that ought to be the guide on these occasions; for one ought to abandon a matter which is of necessity for one that is indifferent.

If I wished to do some act of great mortification, and another sister came and told me I should not do it, or do something else, I would defer to another time, if possible, my first purpose, to do what she wished, and then I would finish what I hid begun. But if I could not lay it aside or delay it, and if what she wished me to do was not necessary, I would do what I had first proposed; and then, if possible, I would secure the opportunity of doing what the sister wished.

But if it happens that a sister asks us to do anything, and that from surprise we shew some dislike to it, the sister ought not to take offence at it, or appear to perceive it, or beg the other not to shew such a feeling; because it is not in our power to hinder our colour, or eyes, and our countenance from witnessing to the conflict within, although our reason is well disposed to do what is required of us; for these are messengers which come unbidden, and which, although told to depart, generally disregard the command.

Why, then, should this sister wish me not to do what she asked, merely because she has observed that I have repugnance to it? She ought to be glad that I do so for the good of my soul. You will tell me that it is because she fears she has annoyed you. Not so; it is her self-love, which would not have me entertain so much as a passing thought that she is troublesome. I should have the thought all the same, even if I did not persist in it. If, however, to the expression of my repugnance I add words which openly signify that I had rather not do what she asks, she ought sweetly to allow me to say that I would certainly not do it, were we equal; for those who are in authority are bound to be firm, and to oblige their inferiors to obey.

Now, although a sister gives me a flat refusal, or exhibits a degree of unwillingness, I ought not to lose confidence in employing her another time, nor even be disedified by her imperfection; for if at present I bear with her, she will bear with me another time: at this moment she has an aversion for doing what she is desired, but to-morrow she will do it willingly.

If, however, I was aware by experience that hers was a spirit not yet capable of this mode of acting, I would wait till she was better disposed. We ought all to be capable of bearing with one another s defects, and by no means to be surprised at meeting with them: for if we pass some time without faults, we shall afterwards for a time do nothing but fail and fall into many grave imperfections, by which we must profit in the humiliation which we derive from them. We must endure with patience the delay of our perfection, doing always with a good heart whatever we can for our advancement.

But the means of acquiring this spirit of yielding to the wills of others is frequently to make acts of indifference in our meditations, and afterwards to put them in practice as occasion for them shall offer; for it is not enough to divest oneself of one’s will before God, inasmuch as this, being done by the imagination only, is no great matter; but when it is required to do this in practice, then it is that we are called upon to shew our courage. This sweetness and condescension to the will of our neighbour is a virtue of great price, because it is true union with our neighbour.

Chapter XX. OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE AND OF KINGS

I am very ready to answer your question; but allow me to speak as St. Gregory did to a virtuous lady in the court of the empress. She had entreated him to obtain of God the knowledge of what was to become of her, and he answered: “As to what you ask of me, and say that you will not cease your importunity till I have granted it, your petition is for a thing alike difficult and useless.”

I say the same to you in regard to your question, What authority the Pope has over kingdoms and principalities? You require of me an answer alike difficult and useless: difficult, not in itself, for it is very easy to minds who seek it by the road of charity; but difficult, because in this age, which abounds in hot, sharp, and contentious spirits, it is not easy to say anything which will not offend those who, set ting up to be the headstrong defenders whether of the Pope or of the princes, will never allow any one to stop short of extremes, not considering that one cannot consult for the interests of a father worse than to take away from him the love of his children, or for those of the children worse than by taking away from them the respect which they owe to their father.

But I call it useless, because the Pope asks nothing in this point of view from kings and princes: he loves them all tenderly; he wishes for the firmness and stability of their crowns; he lives sweetly and cordially with them. He does hardly anything in their states, even in what regards matters purely ecclesiastical, except with their agreement and good will.

What need, then, is there to be so anxious just now to examine into this authority over things temporal, and by that means to open a gate to dissension and discord? What object is there in figuring to ourselves pretences, or entering into disputes against him whom we ought filially to cherish, to honour and respect as our true father and spiritual pastor?

I tell you sincerely, I have extreme sorrow at my heart in knowing that this dispute is a play thing, and a subject of gossip among so many people, who, little qualified for its solution, instead of clearing it up, trouble it, and instead of deciding it, tear it to pieces; and what is worse, in troubling it, trouble the quiet of many souls, and tearing it to pieces, tear in pieces the most holy unanimity of Catholics, by turning them away, so far, from thinking of the conversion of heretics. Now, I have said all this to you in order to draw the conclusion that, so far as regards you, you ought not by any means to allow your mind to run after these vain discourses, but to leave all this curiosity, which does not suit you, to spirits which feed on wind. By natural inclination, by the character of my education, by the light drawn from my ordinary reflections, and, as I think, by celestial inspiration, I hate all those contentions and disputes which arise amongst Catholics, the end of which is useless; and still more those, the effects of which can only be dissensions and differences; but above all in this time, full of minds disposed to controversies, to revilings, to censures, and to the ruin of charity.

The Church our mother, who keeps us under her wings, has amply sufficient trouble to shelter us from the kite, without our pecking at each other; and we have enemies enough without, to make it a duty for us not to raise disturbances within the body of the Church.

Abide there; be a humble spiritual daughter of the Church and of the Pope; be a humble subject and servant of the king; pray for the one and for the other; and believe firmly that in so doing you will have God for your Father and your King.

Chapter XXI. HOW WE OUGHT TO RECEIVE AND GIVE CORRECTION

You wish to know what we ought to do in order to receive correction rightly, so that no feeling of it or sadness of heart may remain. To prevent feeling, to hinder the blood rushing to our brow, that is impossible. Happy shall we be if we manage to have this perfection a quarter of an hour before we die: but to retain sadness of heart, so that after the feeling is over you could not speak with as much confidence, sweetness, and tranquility as before; oh, that is what you must not do: and to get rid altogether of this feeling, which you say you have removed to a consider able distance, but which is concealed in some little corner of your heart, or at least a part of it, which causes your sadness, it is necessary to submit your judgment, and not allow it to persuade you that the correction was made unseasonably, or through passion, or in any other similar manner.

But in order to this, you will ask, What is to be done?

You must draw near to our Lord, and speak to Him of something else, until your spirit is restored and tranquilised. For whilst the trouble lasts, you ought not to say or do anything, but remain firm and resolute not to consent to your distress, whatever reason there may be for it; for you will never want reasons at such a time; they will come in crowds; but you must not listen to one of them, however good it may seem to you; but keep yourself nigh unto God, speaking to Him of something else, as I said, and diverting your mind from the subject of your sorrow after you have humiliated and submitted yourself before His majesty.

But observe this remark, which I take pleasure in repeating because of its utility: humiliate yourself with a sweet and peaceful humility, and not with a sad and troubled humility; for it is our misfortune that we bring before God acts of humility full of vexation and sorrow; and so doing, we do not assuage our spirits, and we render those acts fruitless. If, on the contrary, we perform these acts before the Divine goodness with a sweet confidence, we should come out full of peace and serenity, and would very easily reject all the reasons, very often and generally speaking unreasonable, which our own judgment and our self-love suggest to us, and we would go and speak to those who corrected us with as much ease as before.

You torment yourself very much, you say, to speak to them; but if they do not speak as you wish, that doubles the temptation. All this comes from the same source we mentioned. What consequence is it whether they speak to you in one way or another, provided that you do your duty?

Taking everything into consideration, there is no one who has not an aversion for correction. St. Pacomius and St. Francis, saints as they were, being each of them reproved by some one of their brethren shewed some emotion at it; and the former went immediately to throw himself on his knees before God, asking of Him pardon for his fault, complaining that after so long an abode in the desert, he was so little mortified; and he made a prayer so humble and so fervent, that he obtained the grace of never more being subject to impatience;—and the latter immediately threw himself on his knees before his brother, and supplicated his pardon.

Now, how could one suppose, I pray you, that such as we should not feel some pain when we are reproved? We must, therefore, follow the example of those saints who immediately conquered themselves, the one having recourse to prayer, and the other humbly asking pardon of his brother, neither doing anything in compliance with their distress, but correcting themselves, and deriving great profit from their fault.

You will tell me that you receive this correction with a good heart, that you approve of it, and think it just and reasonable; but that this gives you some confusion in the presence of the superioress, because you have annoyed her, or have given her occasion of annoyance; that this takes from you your confidence in approaching her, although you are glad of the humiliation you derive from your fault.

All this is merely obedience to the law of self-love. You do not perhaps know that there is in us a certain monastery over which self-love presides; and this distress is the penance imposed upon you by self-love for the fault you committed in annoying the superioress; because perhaps she will not value you so much as she would have done if you had not erred.

Enough for those who receive correction; let us say a word for those who give it. Besides their being bound to have a great discretion in taking the right time and moment to give it, they ought never to be astonished or offended at seeing those to whom they give it pained at it; because it must always be a painful thing for persons to see themselves corrected.

Chapter XXII. OF COMPLAINTS ON THE SUBJECT OF CORRECTION

You ask me if the sisters are permitted to tell each other that they have been mortified by the superioress.

I answer, that this may be done in three ways. The first is, to shew the joy the sister has had in being mortified, and at having gained this advantage for her soul, that she may make her sister take part in her joy, and bless God for it. The second is, to console herself, by unburdening her heart, and seeking for sympathy, so that the other may take a part of her burden: this way is not so endurable as the first, because there is in it more feebleness and imperfection. But the third is altogether bad, and that consists in telling it by way of murmur and displeasure, to make it known the superioress was to blame.

Although there is no harm in telling it in the first way, it would nevertheless be good not to tell it, and it would be far better to rejoice on it alone with God. As for the second way, this too ought not to be done, because by our complaint we lose the merit of the mortification; we ought, on the contrary, to hide it in our heart, and to kiss and caress it as tenderly as we can.

It is also by no means to the purpose to go and say: “I have been to speak to our mother; I am just as sad as I was before; one ought only to attach oneself to God; for myself, I receive no consolation from creatures; I came away from her less-consoled than I was before.” No, it is by no means to the purpose to speak in this way; and the sister who is thus addressed ought sweetly to reply: “Why were you not well attached to God before you went to speak to our mother, and then you would not be discontented at her not having consoled you? Take care, lest it was from seeking God only because creatures failed you that you did not find Him, for He wills Himself to be sought in preference to all things. Because creatures do not content you, you seek the Creator. Oh, no; the Creator well deserves that you should quit everything for Him, and so He wills that we should do.”

When, therefore, we leave the superioress full of sadness, and without having received one single drop of consolation, we ought to carry our sadness like a precious balm, and take great care not to spill this choice liquor, which has been sent us from heaven as a most precious gift, in order to perfume our heart with the privation of that comfort which we thought to meet with in the words of the superioress.

But there is one remark to make on this subject, which is, that a sister sometimes carries with her a hard and dry heart when she goes to speak to the superioress; a heart that is not capable of being be dewed or softened with the waters of consolation, because it is by no means susceptible of what the superioress can say.

Another time, when your heart is tender and well disposed, she will only say to you three or four words, much less useful for your perfection than the former, which will console you. And why? Because your heart was well disposed.

You fancy that superiors have consolation on their lips, and that they diffuse it as they will in hearts; but it is not so; for they cannot always be equally disposed any more than others. Blessed is he who can keep an evenness of heart amidst all these inequalities. Sometimes we are in consolation, and a little while after, our heart is dry; and then the words of consolation will cost us an extremely great effort to utter.

Chapter XXIII. OF THE MANNER OF GIVING ADVICE

You wish to know whether you ought to have a great confidence and a great care in reminding one another charitably of your faults.

No doubt this is what you ought to do. For what would be the use of your perceiving a fault in your sister, without attempting, by a charitable hint, to remove it from her?

You must nevertheless be discreet in this work; for it would not be the proper time to give such a hint to a sister when you saw her indisposed or oppressed with melancholy, because there would be reason to fear that she would reject at once the friendly warning, if you gave it to her under those circumstances; you should wait a little while, and then admonish her in confidence and charity.

If a sister says to you words that look like murmuring, but seems, however, to have her heart in sweetness, you should say to her with all confidence: “My sister, this is not well;” but if you perceive that there is some emotion in her heart, you must turn the conversation as adroitly as you can.

You say that you are afraid of so often warning a sister of the faults she makes, because that takes her confidence from her, and makes her stumble by mere timidity. O God! we should not pass such a judgment on our sisters; it only belongs to the daughters of this world to lose confidence, when they are admonished of their faults: our sisters are too fond of their own abjection to do so; so far from their troubling themselves about it, on the contrary, they will have a greater courage, and will take the more pains to correct themselves on that account; not to avoid being admonished (for I suppose that they have a sovereign love for whatever may render them vile and lowly in their own eyes), but in order that they may do their duty better and better, and render themselves more and more equal to their vocation.

Chapter XXIV. OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY

Simplicity is nothing else than an act of pure and simple charity, which has only one end, namely, that of pleasing God; and our soul is simple, when we have no other pretension in whatever we do.

The well-known history of Martha and Mary, who exercised hospitality towards our Lord, is very remark able on this head. Although the object of Martha was praiseworthy, in wishing to treat our Lord well, she was nevertheless reproved by that Divine Master, because, beyond the very good end she had in view in her haste, she mixed up other purposes with it; and thus she doubled that first end, for which reason she was reproved: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things; but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. (St. Luke x. 41, 42.)

Christian simplicity is, then, an act of simple charity, which makes us have no other view in all our actions than the sole desire of pleasing God: this is the part of Mary, and the one thing necessary. It is a virtue which is inseparable from charity, which looks straight to God, and which cannot suffer any interference from the consideration of creatures: God alone finds place in it.

This virtue is purely Christian. The pagans, even those who have spoken the best concerning other virtues, had no knowledge of it, any more than they had of humility. They have written well concerning magnificence, liberality, constancy; but nothing about simplicity and humility. It was our Lord Himself, coming down from heaven, who gave the knowledge thereof to man; otherwise these virtues would have remained always unknown. Be wise as serpents, said He to His apostles; but do not stop there; be, moreover, simple as doves. Learn of the dove to love God in simplicity of heart, having only one object or end, which is to please Him by the means corresponding to your vocation.

Thus simplicity banishes from the soul the care and anxiety with which many uselessly seek out a multiplicity of means to enable them to love God, as they say; and they fancy that if they do not do all that the saints have done, they cannot arrive at that end. Poor people, who torment themselves to discover the art of loving God! Do they not know that there is no other way but to love Him? They think there is some stratagem or other for gaining this love, whilst the greatest stratagem in the matter is to proceed with all simplicity.

But this simplicity ought to have no other motive for being excited to seek for the love of God but the end itself, otherwise it would not be perfectly simple: for it cannot allow itself to look to anything else, how perfect soever, but the pure love of God, which is its only object. For instance, if you are going to office, and someone asks you, “Where are you going?” “I am going to office,” you will reply. “But why are you going?” “I am going in order to praise God.” “But why at this hour than at any other?” “Because, the clock having struck, if I did not go, I should be noticed.” The object of going to office to praise God is very good; but this motive is not a simple one: for simplicity requires us to go thither, attracted by the desire of praising God, without any other purpose; and so of everything else.

This virtue, then, does not suffer us to employ ourselves with what people will say or think of us; because its only thought is to please God, and not creatures, except so far as the love of God requires it. After the simple soul has done an action which it thinks it ought to do, it thinks no more about it; and if the idea occurs what people will say or think of it, such a soul at once rejects the thought, because it cannot allow any interference with its object, which is to keep itself attentive to God in order to increase His love in itself. The consideration of creatures in nowise moves it, because it refers everything to its Creator.

This virtue is practiced even in conversations and recreations, as in every other action, although in this there ought to be a holy liberty to entertain oneself with such subjects as serve to promote the spirit of joy and recreation. We must be frank in conversation; but we must not for that reason be inconsiderate, inasmuch as simplicity always follows the rule of the love of God. But if we happened to say any little thing that seemed not to be so well received as we could wish, we ought not on that account to amuse ourselves with making reflections and examens on all our words. Oh! no; for it is self-love that causes us to make all these researches: but holy simplicity does not run after its words and its actions, but leaves the event of them to Divine Providence, to which it supremely attaches itself, without turning to the right hand or the left, but following simply its path. But if it meets with any occasion for practicing any virtue, it diligently avails itself of it, as of a means proper to enable it to arrive at its perfection, which is the love of God: but it does not agitate itself to seek for them; neither does it despise them; it keeps itself peaceable and tranquil in the confidence it has that God knows its desire, which is to please Him, and that suffices it.

Chapter XXV. OF THE EXERCISE OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY

You ask me how souls which are attracted in meditation to this holy simplicity ought to conduct themselves in all their actions.

I answer, that not only in meditation, but also in all their conduct, they ought to walk in the spirit of simplicity; abandoning and giving up their whole soul, their actions, and their successes to the good pleasure of God, by an act of perfect and most absolute confidence in the eternal love of His divine Providence; keeping their soul firm in this disposition, without allowing it to waste time in perpetually returning to itself to see what it does, or whether it is satisfied. Alas! our satisfactions and. Consolations do not satisfy the eyes of God, but they only content that miserable love and care which we have for ourselves, apart from God and the consideration of Him.

Certainly, little children, whom our Lord proposes to us as the model of our perfection, have not ordinarily any care, especially in the presence of their fathers and mothers. They keep themselves attached to them, without regarding either their consolations or their satisfactions, which they take in good faith, and which they enjoy in simplicity, without inquiring too curiously into the causes or effects of them; love occupying them sufficiently without their thinking of doing anything else. Whoever is zealous and watchful lovingly to please the Heavenly Lover, has not either the heart or the leisure to return to himself, his spirit tending continually in the direction whither love carries him.

Spiritual lovers, spouses of the Heavenly King, do indeed view themselves from time to time, like doves near most pure waters, to see whether they shall be pleasing to those they love; and this is done by the examens of conscience, by which they cleanse themselves, purify and adorn themselves the best they may, not to satisfy themselves, but to obey the Spouse, for the reverence they bear Him, and the extreme desire which they have to give Him pleasure. And is not this a love very pure, very simple, and very perfect, since they do not purify themselves in order to be pure, nor adorn themselves in order to be beautiful, but only to please their Heavenly Lover, to whom if ugliness were as pleasing, they would love it as much as beauty.

And moreover these simple doves do not employ either an extremely long time, or an unquiet anxiety in cleansing and arraying them, because the confidence which their love gives them of being greatly loved, although unworthy (I say the confidence which their love gives them in the love and the goodness of their Lover), takes from them all disquietude and mistrust about their not being fair enough: besides that the desire of loving rather than of arraying and adorning themselves for love, takes from them all curious solicitude, and makes them contented with a sweet and faithful preparation, made lovingly and with a good heart.

Let us listen to and imitate the divine Saviour, who, like a most perfect psalmist, sings of the sovereign arrows of His love under the tree of the cross. He concludes them all thus: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” After we shall have said that, what remains but to expire and die the death of love, living no longer to ourselves, hut Jesus Christ living in us? Then will cease all the disquietudes of our heart arising from self-love, and that tenderness for ourselves which breathes only in an atmosphere of satisfaction and consolation; and embarking in the exercises of our vocation with the mind of this holy and loving confidence, without perceiving our progress, we shall make very great progress; without going, we shall advance; without changing our place, we shall make great way, as they do who sail in the deep sea with a favourable gale.

Then all the events and all the varieties of accidents which supervene will be received sweetly and gently. For whoever is in the hands of God, and reposes in His bosom,—whoever has abandoned himself to His love, and has given himself up to His good pleasure, who is there that can shake or trouble him? Certainly, whatever he meets with, without amusing himself by philosophising on the causes, reasons, and motives of the events, he utters from his heart that holy acquiescence of the Saviour, “Yea, Father; for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight.” Then we shall be all steeped in sweetness towards our brethren and towards our neighbour, because we shall see those souls in the bosom of the Saviour. Alas! he who looks at his neighbour, except there, runs a chance of not loving him either purely, or constantly, or agreeably: but there, who would not love him, who would not support him, who would not bear with his imperfections, who would find him ill-favoured? That neighbour of ours is in the bosom of the Saviour as one well-be loved, and so lovely that the Heavenly Lover died of love for him.

Then also the natural love of relationship, of propriety, of convenience, of corresponding dispositions, of sympathies, of graces, will be purified and reduced to the obedience of the all-pure love of the divine good -pleasure: and certainly, the great good and the great happiness of the souls which aspire to perfection, would be to have no desire of being loved by creatures, except with that love of charity which makes us regard our neighbour with affection, and each in his rank, according to the desire of our Lord.

Then, too, we shall no longer desire those virtues the practice of which is not necessary to us, such as magnificence and the like; but only those which are necessary for us, and the practice of which ought to be habitual with us, such as sweetness, the love of our own abjectness, humility, sweet and cordial charity towards our neighbour, and obedience.

Chapter XXVI. THAT SIMPLICITY IS NOT CONTRARY TO PRUDENCE

Many think that simplicity is contrary to prudence; but this is not the case; for the virtues are never contrary to each other; on the contrary, they have a very great union each with another.

The virtue of simplicity is contrary to subtlety, a vice which is the source of contrivances, artifices, and duplicities; and it is by means of this vice that we invent tricks to deceive our neighbour, and to make him suppose we have in our heart no other sentiments but those which we manifest to him by words; and this is infinitely contrary to simplicity, which requires that we should have our exterior conformable to our interior.

Many ask how we ought to understand those words of our Lord: “Be prudent as serpents.” Not to mention any other explanation, I reply, that we ought to understand them thus: Be prudent as the serpent, who, being attacked, exposes all his body to preserve his head: so ought we to do, exposing everything to peril, when it is necessary to preserve in us safe and sound our Lord and His love; for He is our chief, and we are his members; and it is herein that prudence perfectly accords with simplicity.

I will tell you further, that we should remember there are two sorts of prudence, the natural and the supernatural. As to the natural, we must mortify it well, when it suggests to us various unnecessary considerations and precautions, which keep our souls far removed from simplicity.

That which is supernatural ought to be truly practiced, inasmuch as it is, so to speak, a spiritual salt, which gives taste and savour to all the other virtues; but it ought to be so practised, that the virtue of confidence, I mean that which is simple and loving, may surpass all, and make us abide in peace in the hands of our heavenly Father, quite secure, as we shall be by that confidence, of His most precious protection and care.

Chapter XXVII. THAT WE MUST TAKE NO PART IN EVIL-SPEAKING, NOR CARE ABOUT CALUMNIES

In conversations at which you are present by necessity, be in peace, whatever may be said; for if it is good, you have wherewith to praise God; and if it is bad, you have wherewith to serve Him, by turning away your heart from it, without affecting to be astonished and annoyed, since you have not influence enough to hinder the bad words of those who choose to say them, and who will say yet worse if there appears to be an attempt made to check them; for in so doing, you will remain altogether innocent among the hisses of serpents.

As for calumny, do not allow it to enter into your mind, but stop it at the very gate, according to the old proverb: He who over easily To slander’s voice will list, That man he either wanteth head, Or wanteth heart, I wist. Prefer dissimulation to resentment; for we are in the case of the Wise Man of old, who said, “If thou despise it, it shall vanish like smoke; but if thou trouble thyself with it, thou wilt be thought to blame.” And as I often say, if the beard is neither plucked out, nor burnt off, but only clipped or shaven, it will grow again easily.

But I would that this dissimulation should be frank, as all those heroic actions ought to be which are practiced for the love of God, without any complaints, without shewing repugnance to granting pardon; for the candour of the heart that pardons makes the person who did the injury know so much the better how much he was in the wrong.

No one who has the true foundation of honour can ever lose it. No one believes those slanderers; they are taken for worthless persons. The best means of repairing the mischief they do is to despise the tongues which are their instruments, and to reply to them with a holy modesty and compassion.

Believe me, the honour of good people is under the protection of God, who does indeed sometimes allow it to be shaken, to make them exercise patience; but never allows it to be ruined entirely; on the contrary, He speedily raises it again.

You are quite right: a person who is in God’s hands ought never to disquiet himself about his reputation. Let God do what He will with our life and our character and our honour, since it is all His own. If our humiliation serves for His glory, ought we not to glory in being despised I Gladly, therefore, said the Apostle, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Cor. xii. 9.) What virtue is this! Humility and the acquiescing in humiliation. May we sincerely love those crosses we meet with in our road, and may God bless us in the love of His holy cross!

Certainly, most of our evils are imaginary rather than real. Do you think the world believes in its own slanders? It may be that some amuse themselves with them, and the others entertain some little suspicion. But know that your soul being good, and being well resigned into the hands of our Lord, all this sort of attacks will vanish like smoke in the wind; and the stronger the wind is, the quicker will they disappear, especially satires of the day; for calumny, which has neither father nor mother to avow it, shews itself to be illegitimate. “Alas,” said St. Gregory to an afflicted bishop, “if your heart were in heaven, the winds of the earth would never unsettle it: to him who has renounced the world, nothing that passes in the world can do any mischief.” Cast yourself at the feet of the Crucified, and see how many injuries He sustains: supplicate Him by the sweetness with which He received them, that He may give you strength to sustain these little noises, you, to whom they are fallen in inheritance, as to His sworn servant: Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you and speak all this evil against you untruly for My sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven.

Chapter XXVIII. HOW HUMAN PRUDENCE SHOULD BE CORRECTED

When human prudence mixes itself up in our purposes, it is very difficult to silence it, for it is wonderfully importunate, and thrusts itself audaciously and vehemently into our affairs in spite of us.

What must we do hereupon, that our intention may be purified? Let us see if our purpose is lawful, just, and pious; and if it is, let us propose and deliberate about doing it, not to obey human prudence, but to accomplish the will of God.

If you have a daughter, for example, whom human prudence dictates to you should be placed in religion, for some reason connected with the state of your affairs; then you will say to yourself (not before men, but before God), Lord, I wish to offer you this daughter, because, such as she is, she is Thine: and although human prudence excites and inclines me to this, nevertheless, Lord, if I knew that it was not also your good pleasure, in spite of human prudence, I would in nowise do it, rejecting herein that prudence which my heart feels, but to which it desires not to consent, and embracing your will, which my heart does not perceive as to feeling, but to which it consents in its resolution. Oh, it is in everything that the human spirit troubles us with its pretensions, and comes importunately to interfere with our affairs.

We are not more holy than the apostle St. Paul, who felt (Rom. vii.) two wills in the midst of his soul, the one, which would have him do according to the old man,—and this made itself most felt; and the other, which would have him do according to the spirit of God,—and this was less sensibly felt; but nevertheless it ruled, and according to it he lived. This is why, on the one hand, he lamented,

Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? and, on the other, he said: I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. (Gal. ii. 20.) And at every step almost we must make the act of resignation, Father, not my will, but Thine be done (St, Luke xxii. 42) ; and this done, to allow human prudence to murmur as it will; for the world will no longer belong to it, and you may say to it, as the Samaritans said to the Samaritan woman: We now believe, not for thy saying; for we ourselves have heard Him. (St. John iv. 42.)

It will be no longer for the sake of human prudence, although that may have excited your will, that you fulfil this resolution, but because you know that it is agreeable to God: thus shall you correct the human will by the infusion of the divine will.

Chapter XXIX. HOW WE SHOULD BEHAVE OURSELVES TO THOSE FROM WHOM WE HAVE RECEIVED A CONSIDERABLE INJURY

You ask me how I wish that you should act on an interview with the gentleman who killed your husband. I reply, that it is not necessary you should seek either day or occasion for it; but if such an occasion does present itself, I wish you to keep your heart calm, gracious, and compassionate.

I know that, doubtless, your heart will be stirred and agitated, that your blood will boil; but what matters that? Our dear Saviour felt this at the sight of dead Lazarus, and of the representation of His Passion. Yes; but what says the Scripture? That on both occasions He lifted up His eyes to heaven. God makes us see in these emotions that we are made of flesh and blood as well as spirit.

I have explained myself sufficiently. I reply, I do not wish that you should seek an interview with this poor man, but that you should be condescending to those who wished you should grant one; and that you should shew yourself resigned to all things, even the death of your husband, or that of your father, of your children, and of your nearest relations; yes, your own death, in the death and in the love of our sweet Saviour. Courage! let us go forward, and let us practice these low and vulgar, yet solid, holy, and excellent virtues. Abide in peace; and keep yourself on your feet, and on the side of heaven. God has held you by His good hand in your affliction. He will assuredly always do so. “My God,” said St. Gregory to an afflicted bishop, “how can it be that our hearts, which are already in heaven, are agitated by the accidents of the earth?” It was well said: the mere sight of our dear crucified Jesus can soften in a moment all our sorrows, which are only flowers in comparison with those thorns; and then our great meeting-point is in that eternity, the reward of which in view, how can anything affect us which is terminated by time?

Continue to unite yourself more and more with this Saviour; plunge your heart into that abyss of charity which is His; and let us say always, with all our heart, Let me die, and let Jesus live. Our death will be happy, if it be in His life. I live, said the apostle; but he corrects himself immediately, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. (Gal. ii. 20.)

Blessed be you with the benediction which the divine goodness has prepared for hearts which abandon themselves a prey to His holy and sacred love. And courage!—God is good to us: let all else be evil to us, what matters it? Live joyously before Him. Years go on, and eternity approaches to us; may we so employ those years in the divine love, that we may enjoy an eternity in His glory!

Chapter XXX. OF PATIENCE AND RESIGNATION IN LAWSUITS

I know the multitude of your sorrows, and I have recommended them to our Lord, that it may please Him to bless them with that sacred benediction with which He hath blessed those of His dearest servants, that they may be employed in the sanctification of His holy name in your soul.

I must still confess that, in my own opinion, the afflictions regarding a person s own self and those regarding sins are the most distressing; nevertheless, those regarding lawsuits excite my compassion the most, for they are the most dangerous to the soul. How many persons have we seen in peace under the thorns of sickness or the loss of friends, who have lost interior peace in the vexatiousness of a lawsuit! And this is the reason, or rather the cause without reason: it is, that we have difficulty in believing that the evil of lawsuits is employed by God for our exercise, because we see that they are men who contend against us; and not venturing to murmur against that Providence, all good and all wise, we murmur against the persons who afflict us; and we suffer from them, not without great danger of losing eternity,—the only loss which we ought to dread in this life.

Well! when ought we to wish to shew our fidelity to our Saviour, if not on these occasions? When ought we to wish to keep our heart, our judgment, and our tongue under bridle, if not on these uneven paths, so near the precipice? For God’s sake, do not allow a season so favourable to your spiritual advancement to pass without collecting from it abundance of the fruits of patience, lowliness, sweetness, and the love of humiliation. Remember that our Lord never said one word against those who condemned Him. He judged them not. He was judged and condemned wrongfully; and He abode in peace, and died in peace, and revenged Himself only by praying for them: and as for us, we judge our judges and our opponents; we arm ourselves with complaints and reproaches.

Believe me, it is necessary to be firm and constant in the love of our neighbour; and I say this with all my heart, without having regard either to your opponents or to their relation towards me; and I think that nothing touches me in this business except jealousy for your perfection. You will have God always when you please; and is not this being rich enough? I entreat you, let His will be your repose, and His cross your glory.

Chapter XXXI. THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO GO TO LAW, BUT HAVE RECOURSE TO ARBITRATION

How long will you pretend to other victories over the world and the affection for what you may have in it, but those which our Lord won over it, and to the imitation of which He in so many ways exhorts you? How did He do, that Lord of all the world? It is true He was the lawful Lord of all the world: and did He ever go to law to have only whereon to lay His head: They did Him a thousand wrongs: what suits did He ever make about them? Before what tribunal did He ever cause any person to be cited? Never once before any. He would not even cite the executioners who crucified Him before the tribunal of the justice of God; on the contrary, He invoked in their favour the authority of mercy.

And this is what He has so often inculcated on us: If a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. (St. Matt. v. 40.) I am in no respect superstitious, and I do not at all blame those who do go to law, provided that it is in truth, judgment, and justice; but I say, I cry out, I write, and if need were, I would write it in my blood, that whoever would be perfect, and altogether a child of Jesus Christ crucified, must practice this doctrine of our Lord. Let the world murmur, let human prudence raise its eyebrows in scorn as it pleases; let all the wise ones of the age invent as many evasions, pretexts, and excuses as they will; this word is to be preferred to all prudence: He that will take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.

But, you will tell me, that is meant in certain cases. True; but, thanks be to God, we are in that case. For we aspire to perfection, and we wish to follow, the nearest we can, him who with an affection truly apostolic said: Having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content (1 Tim. vi. 8); and cried unto the Corinthians, Already indeed there is plainly a fault among you, that you have lawsuits one with another. (1 Cor. vi. 7.) But listen to the sentiments and counsel of that man who lived not in himself (Gal. ii. 20), but Jesus Christ in him: Why do you not rather, he adds, take wrong? why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? And observe that he speaks not to a single soul aspiring in a particular manner to the perfect life, but to all the Corinthians. Observe that he would have us suffer ourselves to be defrauded. Observe that he tells them that it is a fault to go to law against those who wrong them. But why a fault? Because that in going to law they scandalised the infidels of the world, who said: “See what Christians are Christians!” Their Master saith: He that will take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. See how for temporal goods they put in jeopardy eternal ones, and the tender and brotherly love which they ought to have one for another. Observe moreover, said St. Augustine, the lesson of our Lord. He does not say: He that will take away thy ring, let him have thy necklace also, which are both of them superfluous things; but He speaks of the coat and the cloak, which are necessary things.

Chapter XXXII CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

Oh! behold the wisdom of God. Behold His prudence, which consists in the most sacred and inestimable simplicity, childishness, and, to use the apostolic phrase, in the most holy folly of the cross. But, human prudence will say, Whither are you taking us? What! do you wish us to be trodden under foot, to have our noses pulled, to be trifled with like fools, without saying one word? Yes, it is true, I do wish that; yet I do not wish it myself, but Jesus Christ wishes it in me; and the apostle of the cross and of the Crucified cries out: Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted; we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all. (1 Cor. iv. 11.) The inhabitants of Babylon do not understand this doctrine; but the inhabitants of Mount Calvary practice it.

Oh, Father, you will say, you are very severe all at once. It is certainly not all at once; for from the time that I had grace to know a little of the fruit of the cross, this feeling entered into my mind and never left it. If I have not lived conformably to it, it has been by the weakness of my heart, and not by feeling. The clamour of the world has made me outwardly do the evil I hated inwardly. I do not here examine my conscience; but as far as I see, in the main I am speaking the truth, so much the less excuse for me.

I would have you be prudent like the serpent, which divests itself altogether, not of its habits but of its skin, to grow young again; and which hides its head (signifying to us, says St. Gregory, fidelity to the words of the gospel), and exposes all the rest to the mercy of its enemies, careful only to preserve the head safe. You have about you so many persons of honour, wisdom, ability, cordiality, and piety, will it not be easy for them to bring your adversaries to such views as may give you a holy satisfaction? Are they tigers, who will not allow themselves wisely to be brought back to reason? And would not the good father take pleasure in serving God in your affair, which I may almost say concerns the salvation of your soul, but at all events certainly your advancement in perfection?

How many duplicities, artifices, worldly longings, and perhaps how many lies; how many acts of petty injustice, and sly, well-concealed, and imperceptible calumnies, or at least half-calumnies, do not people employ in these entanglements of legal proceedings!

Chapter XXXIII CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

Will you not say that you wish to marry, to scandalise all the world with manifest inconsistency, if you have not a monitor continually to whisper in your ears the purity of sincerity? Will you not say that you wish to live in the world, and to be regarded according to your rank? that you require to have this and that? And then what will you do with that crowd of thoughts and imaginations such pursuits will produce in your mind?

Leave, I beseech you, to worldlings their world. What need have you of what is required to go through it? Surely two thousand crowns, and less, will most abundantly suffice for a daughter who loves our crucified Lord. An allowance of a hundred and fifty or two hundred crowns is riches for a daughter who believes in the article of evangelical poverty.

But if I were not a cloistered religious, but only associated to some monastery, I should not have the means of being addressed as “madame,” except by a servant or two. Well; did you ever hear that our Blessed Lady had as many? And what consequence is it whether any one knows that you are descended from a noble house, if only they know that you belong to the house of God?

Oh, but I should wish to found some religious house, or at least to give great assistance to a house, for being sickly, I should thereby be supported the more cheerfully. Yes, it is true; I knew well that your piety would throw out a plank to self-love. Certainly, we do not love crosses if they are not of gold, adorned with pearls, and enamelled. It is a rich, although a very devout and admirably spiritual abjectness, to be regarded by a community as their foundress, or at least a great benefactress. Lucifer would have been content to remain in heaven on such a condition. Bat to live on alone, like our Lord, to receive the charity of another in our sick nesses, we who in extraction and spirit are this and that, is indeed a very painful and difficult thing. Difficult, truly, it is to man, but not to the Son of God, who will obtain you that grace.

But is it not a good thing to have one s property, to employ it as one likes in the service of God? The words “as one likes” clear up our difference. But I say, as you like, Father. Well, then, I like that you should be content with what M. and Madame—advise; and that as for the rest, you should leave it for the love of God and the edification of your neighbour, and the peace of the souls of the ladies your sisters, and that you should thus consecrate it to the love of your neighbour and the glory of the Christian spirit. my God, what benedictions, what graces, what spiritual riches, will your soul enjoy, if you do so! You will abound, and more than abound. God will bless the little you have, and He will content you. No, no; it is not difficult for God to do as much with five barley-loaves as Solomon with all his cooks and purveyors. Abide in peace.

Chapter XXXIV. OF SWEETNESS IN THE MIDST OF DOMESTIC ANNOYANCE

It seems to me that I have not quite told you all I wished concerning those slight but frequent feelings of impatience in the management of your household. I tell you, therefore, that it is necessary you should pay special attention to maintain sweetness of temper throughout; and that, on rising in the morning, coming from meditation, returning from mass or communion, and always when you resume your domestic affairs, you ought to take care to be gin sweetly, and at successive moments to watch your heart and see whether it is sweet; and if it is not, above all things to make it so: but if it is sweet, then you must praise God for it, and employ it in the affairs which present themselves, taking particular care not to allow it to dissipate itself.

Do you not see those who frequently eat honey find sour things more sour, and bitter things more bitter, and easily get disgusted with rough-tasted food? so your soul, often occupying itself with spiritual exercises, which are sweet and agreeable to the mind, when it returns to bodily, exterior, and material exercises, finds them very harsh and very troublesome, wherefore it easily gets impatient of them; and it is consequently necessary that in these exercises you should consider the will of God which is in them, and not the thing itself which is being done.Often invoke the one and fair dove of the heavenly Spouse, that she may obtain for you a true dove’s heart, and that you may be a dove, not only as flying by prayer, but still more in your nest, and with all those who surround you.

My God, how treacherous is this life, and how desirable is eternity! How blessed are those who desire it! Let us keep fast hold of the merciful hand of our good God; for He wills to draw us after Him.

Let us be very sweet and humble in heart towards all, but above all towards our own. Let us not agitate ourselves; let us go on with all sweetness, bearing with one another. Let us take good care that our heart does not escape us. Alas! David says, My heart hath forsaken me. (Ps.xxxix. 13.) But our heart will never fail us, if we do not fail it. Let us keep it always in our hands, and let Jesus Christ be always in our heart.

Chapter XXXV. OF THE DEFERENCE WHICH IS DUE TO FATHERS AND HUSBANDS

Truly we have a good father, and you have an excellent husband. Alas! they are a little jealous of their rule and dominion, which seems to them somewhat interfered with when any one acts with out their authority and without their orders. What would you have? You must indulge them in this little human failing. They wish to be masters; and is it not reasonable they should? It is certainly so in whatever relates to the service which you owe them.

But these good lords do not consider that for the good of the soul trust must be reposed in directors and spiritual physicians; and that, saving the rights which they have over you, you ought to provide for your spiritual good by the means judged suitable by those who are set over the conduct of souls.

But notwithstanding all this, you are bound to yield very much to their will, to bear with their humours, and to accommodate yourself to them as much as possible, without breaking through your good designs. These compliances will be pleasing to our Lord. I told you so before: the less we live as we please, and the less of our own choice there is in our actions, the more goodness and solidity of devotion there will be.

Sometimes it happens that we are forced to leave our Lord to oblige others for the love of Him. For we ought, if possible, to hinder ourselves from making our devotion annoying to others. Now I will tell you what you should do. When you can receive holy communion without troubling your two superiors, do it, according to the advice of your confessors. When you are afraid of troubling them, be content with communicating in spirit; and believe me, this spiritual mortification, this privation of God, will be extremely pleasing to God, and will bring Him into your heart long before. I have often admired the extreme resignation of St. John Baptist, who abode so long in the desert, very near to our Lord, without hastening to see Him, to go and hear Him, and to follow Him: and how is it, that after having seen and baptised Him, he can let Him go, without attaching himself to Him by bodily presence, as he was already so closely united to Him by the presence of the heart? But he knew that he was serving this same Lord by means of this privation of His bodily presence.

I wish to say that for a time you will serve God, if to gain the souls of those two superiors whom He has given you, you suffer the privation of real communion; and it will be to me a very great consolation, if I know that this advice which I give you does not put your heart into disquietude. Believe me, this resignation, this abnegation of self, will be extremely useful to you.

You will, nevertheless, be able to gain secret opportunities for receiving holy communion; for, provided that you defer to and compassionate the wills of these two persons, and avoid giving them occasion of impatience, I give you no other rule for your communions than what your confessors shall tell you; for they see the present state of your soul, and will know what is required for your good.