Chapter I OF DEVOTION

You ask me what means you ought to use for acquiring devotion. This is no trifling question; but take good heed to what I shall say to you in reply.

The virtue of devotion is nothing else than a general inclination and promptitude of spirit in doing that which one knows is agreeable to God. It is that enlargement of the heart of which David said, I have run the way of Thy commandments when Thou didst enlarge my heart. (Ps. cxviii. 32.) Those who are simply good people walk in the way of God, but the devout run in it; and when they are greatly devout, they fly in it.

Now I shall tell you that there are some rules that one must observe in order to be truly devout. We must, above all things, observe the commandments of God and of the Church, which are laid down for every faithful Christian; and without that, one cannot have any true devotion in it. This everyone knows. Besides the general commandments, we must carefully observe the particular commandments, which regard each person s vocation; and whoever does not do this, he will not fail, at the resurrection, of being culpable of sin, and of being damned, if he has died in it.

For example, Bishops are commanded to visit their dioceses, teach their flocks, defend and console them. If a Bishop spent all the week in prayer, and fasted all his life, but did not do this, he is lost. Though a woman, being in the married state, were to work miracles, and yet not obey her husband in what regards the duties of that state, or to take no trouble to bring up her children well, she is worse than an infidel, says St. Paul (1 Tim. v. 8); and so of other cases. Here, then, are two sorts of command ments which it is necessary to observe diligently, as the foundation of all devotion; and nevertheless, the virtue of devotion does not consist in observing them, but in observing them with promptitude, and willingly.

Chapter II. MEANS FOR ARRIVING AT DEVOTION

To acquire this promptitude, in which the virtue of devotion consists, we must avail ourselves of several considerations.

The first is, that God so wills it; and there is indeed good reason that we should do His will, for we are in the world only for that purpose. Alas, we every day ask of Him that His will be done; and when it comes to be done, we have so much trouble! We offer ourselves to God so often; we say to Him on every occasion, Lord, I am all yours, behold my heart; and when He wills to employ us, we are so cowardly! How can we say that we are all His, if we will not accommodate our will to His?

The second consideration is, to think on the nature of the commandments of God, which are sweet, gracious, and loving, not only those which are general, but also the particular commandments of each one’s vocation.

What is it, then, that renders them hard to you? Nothing, in truth, except your own will, which wishes to reign in you at whatever cost; and the things which perhaps that will would desire, if they were not commanded, being commanded, it rejects. Among a thousand delicious fruits, Eve chose that which had been forbidden her, and which, no doubt, she would not have eaten, had she been at liberty to do so. In one word, we like to serve God according to our own will, and not according to His. Saul was ordered to smite Amalec and utterly destroy all that was there (1 Kings xv.); he did destroy every thing except what was valuable, and that he reserved and made a sacrifice of it. But God declared that He desired no sacrifice that was contrary to obedience.

God commands me to save souls, and I wish to remain in contemplation; the contemplative life is good, but not to the prejudice of obedience. It is not for us to choose according to our will; we must will what God wills; and if God wills that I should serve Him in one capacity, I must not will to serve

Him in another. God wills Saul to serve Him in the quality of a king and captain, and Saul wills to serve Him in the quality of a priest and a sacrificer. There is no doubt that the latter quality is more excellent than the former; but nevertheless this is not the way to please God; He wills to be obeyed.

This is remarkable. God had given manna to the children of Israel, which was a most delicious viand, and they would none of it, but desired and longed for the onions of Egypt. (Numbers xi. 5.) Our feeble nature evermore wishes its own will to be done, and not God’s will. But in proportion as we have less of our own will, that of God will be more easily observed.

The third consideration is, to reflect that there is no vocation which has not its annoyances, bitternesses, and vexations; and much more, if we except those who are fully resigned to the will of God, each person would willingly change his condition for that of others. Those who are married would wish not to be so; and those who are single would wish to be married.

Whence comes this general disquietude of minds, unless from a certain dislike which we all have to constraint? But it is all one. Whoever is not fully resigned, he may turn to this side or to that, he will never find repose. Those who have a fever find no place to their mind. They have not remained a quarter of an hour in one place, when they would be in an other. It is not the bed that causes their restlessness, but the fever which torments them every where. A person who has not the fever of self-will is contented every where, provided that God is served. Such a one does not trouble himself about what capacity God employs him in; provided that he does His divine will, it is to him all one.

But this is not all: we ought not only to do the will of God, but in order to be devout, we ought to do it cheerfully. If I were not a Bishop, it may be that, knowing what I do know, I would not wish to be one; but being such, not only am I obliged to do what that painful vocation requires, but I ought also to do it joyously, and to be pleased with it, and find delight in it.

It was St. Paul s lesson, Let every man wherein lie mas called, therein abide with God. (1 Cor. vii. 24.) He must not bear other people s crosses, but his own cross; and in order to bear his own, our Lord would have him deny himself (St. Matt. xvi. 24), that is to say, his own will. “I would like to have this or that;” “I would be better in this place or that:” these are temptations. Our Lord knows well what He is about; let us do what He wills; let us remain where He has placed us.

You ought not only to be devout and to love devotion, but you ought to make it amiable, profitable, and agreeable to each person. The sick will love your devotion, if they are charitably consoled by it; your family will, if they find that it makes you more attentive to their good, more reasonable in the management of affairs, more gentle in reproving those who are subjected to you. Your husband will love it, if he perceive that in proportion as your devotion increases, you are more cordial with regard to him, and more kind in the affection you entertain towards him; your relatives and friends will rejoice at it, if they observe in you more frankness, more support and compliance with their will when not contrary to that of God. In short, you ought, as far as possible, to render your devotion pleasing and amiable.

Chapter III. OTHER MEANS FOR ARRIVING AT DEVOTION

Besides the considerations I have mentioned, at tend to the following:

1. Always add to the end of your meditation each day a consideration of the obedience which our Lord exercised towards God His Father, for you will find that whatever He did, He did to please the will of His Father; and hereupon excite yourself to a great love of the will of God.

2. Before employing yourself in any business of your vocation that annoys you, reflect that the Saints cheerfully did other things much greater and more annoying. Some of them suffered martyrdom, others suffered disgrace in the eyes of the world; and all this in order to do something that was pleasing to God. And what do we do that approaches to all that?

3. Often reflect that all that we do, derives its true value from the conformity which we have to the will of God; so that in eating and drinking, if I do it because it is the will of God that I do it, I am more pleasing to God than if I suffered death without that intention.

4. I would wish you frequently in the course of the day to invoke God, that He may give you the love of your vocation, and that you may say with St. Paul, when he was converted, Lord, what milt Thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6.) Wouldst Thou have me serve Thee in the meanest employment in Thine house? Ah, I would still consider myself too happy; provided that I serve Thee, I do not trouble myself in what capacity. And coming in particular to what would give you annoyance, say: Wouldst Thou have me do such and such a thing? Alas, Lord, although I am not worthy of it, I will do it most willingly. O my God, what treasures you will gain in this way! greater, no doubt, than you can conceive.

5. I would have you consider how many Saints, men and women, have been in your vocation and in your state, and have all accommodated themselves to it with great sweetness and resignation, as well in the New as in the Old Testament,—Sara, Rebecca, St. Anne, St. Paula, St. Monica, and innumerable others: and let this encourage you, recommending yourself to their prayers. One ought to love what God loves: now He loves our vocation; let us love it also well, and let us not amuse ourselves by thinking about other people s vocations. Let us do our own work. To each one his cross; it is not too much. Sweetly mingle the offices of Martha and Magdalene. Fulfil diligently the service of your vocation, and often return to yourself, and place yourself in spirit at the feet of our Lord, and say: Lord, whether I ran or whether I stay, I am all Thine, and Thou art all mine. Thou art my first spouse, and all that I do is for the love of Thee.

Remember what I have so often told you: Do honour to your devotion; make it very amiable to all who know you, and above all to your family; and act so that every person may speak well of you.

Chapter IV. MAXIMS FOR LIVING CONSTANTLY IN PIETY

In order to live in piety, we have only to settle strong and excellent maxims in our mind.

The first maxim is that of St. Paul: To them that love God, all things work together unto good. (Rom. viii. 28.) And in truth: since God is able, and knows how, to draw good out of evil, for whom will He do it, if not for those who have given themselves without reserve to Him? Yes, even the sins from which God by His mercy preserves us, are turned by divine Providence to the advantage of those that are His. David would never have had such a depth of humility, if he had not sinned; nor Magdalene such a love for her Saviour, if He had not forgiven her so many sins; and He could never have forgiven them her, if she had not committed them. Tell me, then, I pray you, what will He not make of our afflictions, our sorrows, and the persecutions that are brought upon us? If, therefore, it ever occurs that any sorrow touches you, on whatever side it may be, assure your soul that if it loves God, all will turn out for good. And although you cannot see the means by which this good is to arise, remain so much the more assured that it will arise.

The second maxim is, that God is your Father; for otherwise He would not have commanded you to say, Our Father who art in heaven. And what have you to fear? you are the child of that Father, without whose providence not a hair of your head shall perish. (St. Luke xxi. 18.) It is a marvel that being children of such a Father, we have or can have any care but that of loving and serving Him well. Have the care which He wills you should have, and nothing more; for doing so, you will see that He will have a care for you. Think of Me, He said to St. Catherine of Sienna, and I will think of you.

The third maxim you ought to have is that which our Lord taught to His Apostles. He had sent His Apostles hither and thither, without money, without staff, without shoes, without scrip, clad in a single coat; and He says to them afterwards, When I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, did you want anything? But they said, Nothing. (St. Luke xxii. 35.) I say the same to you. When you were under affliction, even at the time when you had not so much confidence in God, did you perish in affliction? You will tell me, No. And wherefore, then, will you not have courage to succeed in all other adversities? God has not abandoned you so far; how should He abandon you now, when you are willing to be His more than before?

Have no apprehensions for future evils of this world, for perhaps they will never come; but in any case, if they do come, God will strengthen you. He commanded St. Peter to walk on the waves; and St. Peter, beholding the wind and the storm, was fearful, and fear made him sink, and he asked his Master for help. But his Master said to him, O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? (St. Matt. xiv.31.) And stretching forth His hand to him, He encouraged him.

If God wills you to walk upon the waves of adversity, do not doubt, do not be fearful, God is with you; be of good courage, and you will be delivered.

The fourth maxim is that of eternity. Of little consequence is it to be under affliction in these passing moments, provided that I am eternally in the glory of my God. We are going into eternity; we have, as it were, one foot there already. Provided it is a happy eternity for us, what matters it if these short moments are painful? Is it possible that we know our tribulations of three or four moments work for us so many eternal consolations, and yet we are not willing to endure them? In fine, what is not for eternity, can be nothing but vanity.

The fifth maxim is that of the Apostle: God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Gal.vi. 14.) Plant Jesus Christ in your heart, and all the crosses of this world will only seem to you roses. Those who are wounded by the thorns of the crown of our Lord, who is our chief, hardly feel the smarts of other thorns.

Chapter V. THAT DEVOTION OUGHT TO BE DISCREET

It is true, as I have often told you, that discretion is a virtue without which, according to the testimony of St. Anthony, no virtue is virtue, not even devotion, if, indeed, real devotion could exist without real discretion.

This good lady complains wonderfully about her daughter, that having found a swarm of bees with their honey, she amuses herself too much with them, and eats too much of this honey, contrary to the advice of the Wise Man, who said, Thou hast found honey; eat what is sufficient for thee. (Prov. xxv. 16.)

She will have given you all her reasons in better terms than I could represent them to you. Contribute, then, as much as you can to the satisfaction of this mother, by speaking to her daughter, that she may give up, I will not say a little, but a great deal of her consolations, no matter how spiritual they may be; to leave a great deal of them to her mother.

I confess that I do not know how it can happen that a mother of such talents, perfection, and piety, and a daughter of such great virtue and devotion, do not remain altogether united in that great God who is the God of union and of charity; but I know, nevertheless, that this does happen, and that even the angels, without ceasing to be angels, have contrary wills even upon the same subject, without falling, for all that, into either division or dissension; because they have a perfect love for the will of God, which, the moment it appears, is embraced and adored by them all.

Ah, my God, are there no means of helping these two ladies to understand that holy will? For I am certain it would range them both under its obedience.

To speak properly on this occasion, it would be necessary to hear both parties at length; but while this is impossible, one should speak on the side of the mother: there is always a just prejudice in her favour.

For the rest, she only wishes you to use your influence to moderate the zeal which her good daughter has for her retreats, which is a thing which cannot and ought not to be refused; moderation being always good in all exercises, except in that of the love of God, whom we ought not to love by measure, but altogether without measure.

Have the goodness, then, to interest yourself about this moderation, to which it will be very easy to bring this good daughter, since her good mother permits her to enjoy the devotion in peace all the great feasts of the year, and besides that, for three days every six weeks. This is a great deal; this is enough.

I assure myself, that after having invoked the Holy Ghost, He will give you light to bring about or to advise this moderation.

Chapter VI. THAT DEVOTION OUGHT TO BE SWEET, SIMPLE, AND PATIENT

Remain firm; endeavour to be, as perfectly as you can, the servant of God. Take care to preserve sweetness. I do not tell you to love what you ought to love, for I know that you do so; but I tell you to be even-tempered, patient, and sweet. Repress the sallies of your somewhat too lively and ardent disposition.

I do not know what uneasiness you can have about your confessions, for you make very good ones. Abide, therefore, in peace before our Lord, who hath loved you this long time, giving you His most holy fear, and the desire of His love. But if you have not corresponded to it well up to this time, the remedy is easy; you must correspond to it well for the future.

Your miseries and infirmities ought not to astonish you. God has seen many more of them; and His compassion does not reject the miserable, but He exercises Himself in doing them good, placing the seat of His glory in their abjection.

I wish I had a good hammer to blunt the edge of your spirit, which is too subtle in thinking about your advancement.

I have often said to you, that one should go on with devotion in good faith, and, as it were, in a simple open-handed manner. If you do well, praise God for it; if you do ill, humiliate yourself. I am sure that you would never do ill of deliberate purpose; other evils only serve for humiliation.

Do not, therefore, be afraid, and do not be so ready to argue with your conscience; for you know too well that after all your pains there remains nothing more for you in the sight of our Lord except to entreat His love, which desires nothing of you but yours.

Do so, and diligently cultivate sweetness and interior humility. I incessantly wish a thousand benedictions for you; and above all, that you may be humble, sweet, and patient, and that you may turn your sorrows to profit by accepting them lovingly for the love of Him who suffered so much for the love of you.

Chapter VII. THAT DEVOTION OUGHT TO BE INTIMATE AND STRONG

It is necessary to make it a particular object, to nourish in our heart an intimate and strong devotion. I say intimate, in such a way as to have our will conformed to the good actions we do outwardly, whether little or great; to do nothing from custom, but by choice and application of the will; and if sometimes the outward affection anticipates the interior affection in consequence of habit, at least let the latter closely follow it. If before bowing to my inferior, I have not made the interior inclination by a humble act of election to be subject to him, at least let this election accompany or closely follow the out ward act of homage.

It is also necessary that this devotion be strong:

1. To support temptations, which rarely fail those who wish in good earnest to serve God.

2. Strong, to support the variety of tempers amidst which we have to live, which is a temptation as great as can be met with for feeble souls.

3. Strong, to support our own imperfections, so as not to disquiet ourselves at seeing ourselves subject to them; for as it is necessary to have a strong humility, not to lose courage, but to raise our confidence in God in the midst of our weaknesses, so ought we to have a powerful courage to take in hand the task of correcting ourselves, and bringing about a perfect reformation of our souls.

4. Strong, to combat our imperfections.

5. Strong, to despise the words and judgments of the world, which never fails to attempt to control those who give themselves up to devotion, especially at the commencement.

6. Strong, to keep ourselves independent of particular affections, friendships, or inclinations, so as not to live according to our inclinations, but according to the light of true piety.

7. Strong, to keep ourselves independent of the tendernesses, sweetnesses, and consolations which come to us as well from God as from creatures, so as not to surrender ourselves to them.

8. Strong, to carry on a continual war against our bad inclinations, humours, habits, and propensities.

Chapter VIII. THAT DEVOTION OUGHT TO BE GENEROUS

Devotion, moreover, ought to be generous, so as not to be surprised at difficulties, but to augment its courage by them. For, as St. Bernard says, he is not very valiant whose heart does not grow bolder in the midst of pains and contradictions.

Generous, to aim at the highest point of Christian perfection, in spite of all present imperfections and weaknesses, resting with perfect confidence on the divine mercy, after the example of her who said to the Beloved: Draw me; we will run after Thee in the odour of Thy ointments (Cant. i. 3); as though she would have said, “Of myself I am immovable; but when Thou drawest me I shall run.”

The divine Lover of our souls often leaves us, as it were, entangled in our miseries, in order that we may know that our deliverance comes from Him, and that when we have it we may cherish it as a precious gift of His goodness. This is the reason why, as generous devotion never ceases to cry unto God, “Draw me,” so it never ceases to aspire, to hope, and to promise to itself always to run courageously, and to say, “We will run after Thee;” and we ought never to distress ourselves if at first we do not run after the Saviour, provided we always say, “Draw me,” and provided we have the good courage to add, “We will run after Thee.” For although we run not, it is enough that, God aiding us, we shall run.

The communities which are in the Church are not assemblages of perfect persons, but of persons who aim at perfection; not of persons who run, but who aim at running, and who for that reason learn first to walk step by step, then to hasten, and at length to run.

This generous devotion despises nothing, and causes us without trouble or disquietude to see each one walk and run, and walk and run differently, according to the diversity of inspirations and the variety of the measures of divine grace which he receives.

It is a great admonition which the holy Apostle gives us in his epistle to the Romans (xiv. 3–6): Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and he that eateth not, let him not judge him that eateth; let every man abound in his own sense. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth thanks unto God. “Let every man abound in his own sense:” that is to say, let him enjoy and use his liberty without judging or controlling others who do not do the same, or wish ing to make them think his own way the best; since it may even happen that one person eats with as much renouncement of his own will as another exercises in fasting.

Generous devotion does not wish to have companions in every thing it does, but only in its aim, which is the glory of God, and the advancement of our neighbour in divine love; and provided that it goes straight to that end, it does not trouble itself by what road: provided that he who fasts, fasts for God, and that he who fasts not, also for God fasts not, it is as content with the one as with the other.

Generous devotion, then, does not wish to attract others to its own mode of life, but it follows its own path simply, humbly, tranquily. But even if it did happen that a person ate, not for God, but from inclination, still it would be necessary that those who do the contrary judge him not; but that without censuring him, they follow their own path sweetly, without despising or judging to the prejudice of the weak; recollecting that if on these occasions those persons yield perhaps too weakly to their inclinations, the others on other occasions do much the same. But those also who have these inclinations ought to be very much on their guard against saying anything, or giving any sign that they are displeased that others do better, for herein they would commit a great fault; but considering their own weakness, they ought to regard those who do better with a holy, sweet, and cordial reverence; and by so doing, they will be able to derive as much profit from their weakness, by the humility which will arise from it, as the others will derive from what they do. If this point is well understood and well observed, it will preserve in souls a marvellous tranquility of mind and a great sweetness of heart. Let Martha be active, but let her not control Mary. Let Mary be contemplative, but let her not despise Martha; for our Lord will take up the defence of her who is censured.

Nevertheless, those who have aversions to pious practices, or inclinations to practices of less piety, will, if they take my advice, use violence, and oppose themselves as much as they can to their aversions and inclinations, in order truly to conquer themselves, and to serve God by this excellent mortification, making the authority of reason reign in every thing and every where.

Lastly, they will endeavour to have a pliable and manageable heart, ready and easy to yield in all permitted things, and to shew obedience and charity on all occasions, so as to resemble the dove, whose feathers reflect all the colours of the light. Blessed are the pliable hearts, for they will never break.

Chapter IX. OF THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY, AND OF THE MARKS BY WHICH IT IS KNOWN

Behold the general rule of our obedience, written in large letters: We must do every thing by love, and nothing by force. We must love obedience more than we fear disobedience. I leave you the spirit of liberty, not that which excludes obedience, for that is the liberty of the flesh, but that which excludes constraint, scrupulosity, or anxiety. Now I will tell you what is the spirit of liberty. Every good man has the liberty or power to commit mortal sins, and does in nowise attach his affection to this: here is a liberty necessary to salvation. I am not speaking of that; the liberty of which I speak is the liberty of wellbeloved children. And what is that? It is a dis engagement of the Christian heart from all things, to follow the will of God. You will easily understand what I mean to say, if God gives me the grace to point out to you the marks, the signs, the effects, and the occasions of this liberty.

We ask of God, before all things, that His name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done in earth as it is in heaven. All this is nothing else but the spirit of liberty; for provided that His name is hallowed, that His majesty reigns in us, that His will is done, the spirit of liberty does not trouble itself about anything else.

First mark. The soul which has this liberty is not attached to consolations, but receives affliction with all the sweetness which the flesh can permit. I do not say that it does not love and desire consolations, but I say that it does not set its heart upon them.

Second mark. It in nowise fixes its affection on particular spiritual exercises; so that if, in consequence of sickness or any other accident, it is hindered, it does not distress itself about them. I again do not say that it does not love them, but I say that it does not set its heart upon them. Third mark. It rarely loses its joy of heart, because no privation can sadden him who has not his heart set upon anything. I do not say that it never loses it, but it is only for a little while.

Chapter X. OF THE EFFECTS OF THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY, AND OF THE OCCASIONS FOR PRACTISING IT

The effects of this liberty are a great sweetness of spirit, a great gentleness and readiness to yield wherever there is not sin or danger of sin. It creates a disposition sweetly pliable in the action of all virtue and charity. For example, a soul that has attached itself to the exercise of meditation; interrupt it, and you will see it lay aside that exercise with some expression of annoyance, disturbed and put out. A soul which has true liberty, will lay aside its meditation with an even countenance, and a heart graciously disposed towards the troublesome person who may have caused it inconvenience; for to such a soul it is all one whether it serves God by meditating, or serves Him by bearing with its neighbour. Both the one and the other is the will of God; but to bear with its neighbour is necessary at that particular moment.

The occasions of this liberty are all things which occur contrary to our inclination; for whoever has not his inclinations fixed, is not disquieted when they meet with opposition. This liberty has two vices opposed to it— instability of spirit and constraint. Instability of spirit is a certain excess of liberty, by which one would be ready to change one s exercises and state of life without reason, or without knowing what the will of God may be. On the least occasion such persons change their exercises, purpose, and rule. For the most trifling occurrence, they lay aside their rule or praiseworthy custom; and by that means the heart dissipates and loses itself: it becomes like a garden open on all sides, the fruits of which are not for the master, but for all the passers-by. Constraint is a certain deficiency in liberty, by which the spirit is overwhelmed either with weariness or anger when it cannot do what it has determined on, although it might be able to do something better.

For example, I determine to make a meditation every day in the morning: if I have the spirit of instability, on the least occasion in the world I defer it till the evening; for the barking of a dog that has prevented my sleeping; for a letter I must needs write, though there is no pressing necessity for it. On the contrary, if I have the spirit of constraint, I refuse to omit my meditation, although a sick person has great need of my assistance during that hour; although I have a despatch of great importance, and which cannot well be deferred; and so of other subjects.

We must nevertheless observe two rules, in order not to fail in this.

The first is, that a person ought never to lay aside his exercises and the common rules of the virtues, unless he sees the will of God on the other side. Now the will of God manifests itself in two ways, by necessity and by charity. I wish to preach this Lent: if, however, I fall sick or break my leg, I have no business to regret and to vex myself about not preaching; for it is a certain thing, that the will of God is, that I should serve Him by suffering and not by preaching. Or again, if I am not sick, but an occasion presents itself for going to some other place, where, if I do not go, the people will turn Protestants, here the will of God is sufficiently evident to make me gently change my purpose.

The second rule is, that when it is necessary to use liberty from a motive of charity, this must be done without scandal and without injustice. For example, I know that I would be more useful else where, at a distance from my sphere of duty: I ought not to use liberty in this case, because I should give scandal and do injustice, since I am bound to be here. So it is a false liberty for married women to separate themselves from their husbands without lawful reason, under pretext of devotion and charity. So that this liberty never prejudices vocations: on the contrary, it makes each one satisfied with his own vocation, since each one ought to know that it is the will of God he should remain in it.

Chapter XI. EXAMPLES OF THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY

It remains for me to give you two or three examples of this liberty, which will make you understand better what I cannot adequately express. I wish you to consider Cardinal Borromeo: his was the most exact, the most rigid, and the most austere spirit that can be imagined. His only food was bread, his only drink water. So exact was he, that after he was archbishop, in the course of twenty-four years he only twice entered the house of his brothers, they being sick, and only twice walked in his garden; and nevertheless, that man, rigorous as he was (having occasion frequently to eat in company with the Swiss, his neighbours, to gain them over and induce them to act better), made no difficulty about drinking with them and proposing their healths at each meal, be sides what he drank to satisfy thirst. This was a trait of holy liberty in the most austere man of this age. A spirit without control would have done too much of it; a spirit under constraint would have thought it was committing mortal sin; a spirit of liberty acted as I have described, from charity.

Spiridion, an ancient bishop, having received a pilgrim almost dying of hunger in the season of Lent, and in a place where there was nothing to be had but salted meat, caused this meat to be cooked, and presented it to the pilgrim, who refused to eat of it, not withstanding his necessity. Spiridion, who was under no necessity, ate of it the first, in order, by his example, to take away the scruples of the pilgrim.

St. Ignatius Loyola, on Holy Thursday, ate meat on the simple order of the physician, who judged it expedient for a slight sickness he had. A spirit of constraint would have made him pray for three days.

But I wish, after all this, to invite you to look upon a very sun, upon a true spirit, frank and free from all entanglement, and which held only to God’s will. I have often thought, what was the greatest mortification of all the saints whose lives I am acquainted with? and, after many considerations, I think the greatest was this. St. John the Baptist went into the desert at the age of five years, and knew that our Saviour and his was born quite near to him. God knows how the heart of St. John, touched with the love of his Saviour from his mother s womb, must have desired to enjoy His holy presence. He, nevertheless, passed twenty-five years in the desert without once coming to see our Lord; and he waited for Himself to come to him. After that, having baptised Him, he does not follow Him, but remains to fulfil his duty. God, what mortification of spirit! To be so near his Saviour, and not to see Him! To have Him so close at hand, and not to enjoy Him! And what was this but to have his spirit disengaged of every thing, and even of God, in order to do the will of God and to serve Him? To leave God for God, and to deprive himself of God in order to love Him so much the better and the more purely? This example overwhelms my mind with its greatness.

I forgot to observe, that not only is the will of God made known by necessity and charity, but furthermore by obedience; in such a way, that he who receives a command ought to believe that it is the will of God.

Chapter XII. THAT PROGRESS IN PIETY DOES NOT CONSIST IN MULTIPLYING THE EXERCISES OF IT

Some time ago, there were some holy religious who said to me, “Sir, what shall we do this year? Last year we fasted three times a week, and we took the discipline as often; what shall we do now? Surely we must do something more, as well to render thanks to God for the past year, as to go on always increasing in the ways of God.”

“You have said well that we ought always to go forward,” replied I; “but our advancement is not brought about, as you think, by the multitude of exercises of piety, but by the perfection with which we do them, reposing ever more and more trust in our Lord, and more and more distrusting ourselves. Last year you fasted three times a week, and you took the discipline three times. If you wish always to double your exercises, this year it will be the entire week; but next year how will you manage?

You will be obliged to make nine days in the week, or to fast twice in the day.” Great is their folly who amuse themselves with desiring to be martyred in the Indies, and do not apply themselves to what they have to do in the place where their vocation is appointed. Greatly also are they deceived who would eat more than they are able to digest. We have not sufficient spiritual heat to digest well all that we take in for our perfection, and nevertheless we are unwilling to cut off those anxieties which make us so desirous of doing a great deal.

To read store of spiritual books, especially when they are new—to speak much of God and of spiritual things—excite ourselves, as we say, to devotion—to hear abundance of sermons and conferences—to communicate often—to confess still oftener—to wait upon the sick—to speak copiously of all that passes in our mind, in order to manifest the aim which we have of arriving at perfection, and doing so speedily; are not all these means very well adapted for perfecting ourselves?

Yes, provided that all is done according as it is ordered, and that it is always with dependence on the grace of God; that is to say, that we do not put our confidence in all this, good as it is, but in God alone, who only can enable us to draw fruit from our exercises.

Consider, I entreat you, the life of those great saints of the desert, of a St. Anthony, who was honoured of God and man by reason of his very great holiness. Tell me how did he arrive at that? Was it by dint of reading, or by conferences and frequent communion, or by the multitude of sermons which he heard? Not so; for he did not know how to read, and he had no preachers to hear. How, then, did he arrive at it? It was by making use of the examples of the holy hermits, copying from one his abstinence, from another his prayer; and thus he went about, like a busy bee, picking and gathering the virtues of the servants of God, to compose out of them the honey of a holy edification. You may say the same of St. Paul, the first hermit, of St. Pacomius, and of so many others who were models of perfection.

What means it, then, that these holy solitaries, eating so little of those spiritual viands which nourish our souls unto immortality, were nevertheless always in such good case—that is to say, so strong and so courageous in undertaking the acquisition of the virtues, and in going on to perfection; whilst we, who eat much, are always so thin—that is to say, so cowardly and languishing in the pursuit of our designs? And it seems as if we had no courage and no vigour in the service of our Lord, if we are not supported by spiritual consolations.

We ought, then, to imitate those holy religious, applying ourselves to our work, that is to say, to what God demands of us according to our vocation, fervently and humbly; and to think only of this, considering that we cannot find any better means of perfecting ourselves than this.

But perhaps some one will reply, “You stay fervently. My God! and how can I do this, for I have no fervour at all?” Not that which you mean so far as regards sensible feeling, which God gives to whom He thinks fit, and which it is not in our power to have when we please. I add also humbly; and do not say, “I have no humility, and it is not in my power to have it,” for the Holy Spirit, who is goodness itself, gives it to whosoever asks for it: bat not that humility, or if you please, that sensible feeling of our own littleness, which leads us to humble ourselves so gracefully in every thing; but that humility which makes us know our own abjectness, and which makes us love it; for that is true humility.

Chapter XIII. OF MENTAL PRAYER

The first method of mental prayer is, to carry to it some point wherewith to occupy one s mind, such as the mysteries of the life, death, and passion of our Lord, which are the most useful; and very rarely indeed is it that one cannot profit by the consideration of what our Saviour did, said, or suffered. He is the sovereign Master, whom the Eternal Father sent into this world to teach us what we ought to do; and consequently, besides the obligation we are under of forming ourselves upon this divine model, we ought to be very exact in considering His actions, His words, and His sufferings, in order to imitate them by practicing the virtues, because our Father and our Master practised them; and in order to comprehend them well, it is necessary faithfully to weigh them, to see and consider them, in mental prayer.

What you say is true, that there are souls who cannot fix themselves or occupy their minds on any mystery, being attracted to a certain sweet simplicity, which holds them in great tranquility before God, without any other consideration except to know that they are before Him, and that He is all their good. If they can thus remain profitably, it is good; but, generally speaking, all ought to manage to begin by that, method of mental prayer which is the surest, and which leads to the reformation of life and change of manners, which is the kind we speak of, and which consists in the consideration of the mysteries of the life and death of our Saviour. It is necessary, then, to apply oneself in all good faith to our Master, to learn what He would have us do; and those who are able to avail themselves of the imagination even ought to do so, but it is necessary to use it soberly, very simply, and briefly.

The holy fathers have left several pious and devout considerations, of which use maybe made, on this subject; for since these great and holy persons made them, who shall hesitate to make use of them, and piously to believe what they most piously believed? We ought to follow in security persons of such an authority. But people are not content with what they have left; some have devised abundance of other imaginations; and it is these of which we ought not to make use in meditation, inasmuch as they may prove prejudicial.

The second method of mental prayer is, not to make use of the imagination at all, but to meditate purely and simply on the Gospel and the mysteries of our faith, entertaining ourselves familiarly and in all simplicity with our Lord, on what He has done, said, and suffered for us, without any representation. Now this method is much better and safer than the first. This is why it is necessary to incline to it the more easily, however little attrait one may have for it, observing in every degree of prayer to keep one’s spirit in a holy liberty to follow the lights and movements which God shall give us in it; but for the other more elevated modes of devotion, unless God absolutely gives them to us, I beg of you not to urge your mind towards them yourself, or without the advice of those who direct you.

We ought to make our resolutions in the fervour of prayer, when the Sun of Justice enlightens us and excites us by His inspiration. I do not mean by this to say that we must needs have great sentiments and great resolutions, although when God gives them to us we are obliged to turn them to our profit, and to correspond with His love: but when He does not give them, we ought not to fail in fidelity; on the contrary, we ought to live according to reason and the Divine will, and make our resolutions at the point of our spirit in the superior part of our soul, not omitting to put them into effect and to practise them, in spite of the drynesses, repugnances, or contradictions which may present themselves.

To make mental prayer profitable, we ought to have a great determination never to abandon it for any difficulty which may arise, and not to go to it with the previous idea of being consoled and satisfied by it; for that would not be to unite and conform our will to that of our Lord, who would have us, when entering into mental prayer, to be resolved to suffer the distractions, the drynesses, and disgusts which we may meet with in it, remaining as content as if we had had a great deal of consolation and tranquility, since it is certain that our prayer will not be the less agreeable to God, or the less profitable, because it is made with the greater difficulty; for provided that we always conform our will to that of His Divine Majesty, remaining always in a simple readiness and disposition to receive the events of His good pleasure with love, whether it is in prayer or on other occasions, He will order it so that all things shall be profitable to us, and, at the same time, pleasing in the eyes of His Divine Goodness. We shall, therefore, be making our meditation well, if we keep ourselves in peace and tranquility near our Lord, or in His sight, without any other aim than to be with Him and to please Him.

Those greatly deceive themselves who consider that for mental prayer there is required an abundance of methods, and a certain art which consists, according to them, in subtilising and refining on their meditation, to see how they are doing it, or how they may do it to satisfy themselves, thinking that one must neither cough nor move for fear the Spirit of God should withdraw itself. A great deceit, indeed; as if the Spirit of God was so delicate, that it depended on the method and the countenance of those who perform the meditation.

I do not say that one ought not to use the methods I have alluded to; but I do say that one ought not to attach oneself to them, as those do who think that they have not made their meditation well, if they do not place their considerations before the affections, which hitter are nevertheless the end for which we make the considerations. Such persons resemble those who, finding themselves at the place whither they wanted to go, return again, because they had not arrived by the road they had been told to go.

Further, it is necessary to hold oneself in great reverence when speaking to the Divine Majesty, since the angels, who are so pure, tremble in His presence. But, my God, some one will say, I cannot always have this feeling of the presence of God, which causes so great a humiliation in the soul, nor this sensible reverence, which so sweetly and delightfully annihilates me before God. But it is not of this sort of reverence I mean to speak, but of that which makes the highest part and the very edge of our souls hold themselves lowly and humbled in the presence of God, in acknowledgment of His infinite greatness, and of our profound littleness and unworthiness.

Chapter XIV CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

You have too good a courage not to do perfectly what you ought to do for the love of Him who wills not to be loved except wholly. Go on, therefore, courageously in this way, with your spirit raised unto God, and looking only at the countenance and the eyes of the heavenly Spouse, to do all things according to His will; and do not doubt but that He will diffuse over you His holy grace, to give you strength equal to the courage with which He has inspired you.

The holy gift of prayer is already in the right hand of the Saviour, the moment that you shall be empty of yourself, that is to say, of this love of your body and of your own will. When you shall be thoroughly humble, He will pour it into your heart. Have patience to go step by step, until you have legs to run, or rather wings to fly with. God will fill your vessel with His balm, when He shall see it void of the perfumes of this world.

Often call to mind that the graces and the goods of prayer are not waters of the earth, but of the heavens; and that therefore all our efforts cannot acquire them, although the truth is, that we ought to dispose ourselves for them with diligence: let that diligence be great, but humble and tranquil. We ought to keep our heart open unto heaven, and wait for the holy dew.

Never forget to bring to mental prayer this consideration, that by it one approaches unto God, and that one places one s self in His presence for two principal reasons.

The first, that we may render unto God the honour and homage which we owe to Him; and this cannot be done unless He speaks unto us, and we unto Him: for this duty is fulfilled by our acknowledging that He is our God, and we His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him prostrate in spirit, waiting for His orders. How many courtiers are there who go a hundred times into the presence of the king, not to speak to him nor to hear him, but simply to be seen by him, and to testify by this assiduity that they are his servants! And this end of presenting ourselves before God, solely to lay our will prostrate before Him, to testify unto Him our utter devotion to His service, is very excellent, very holy, and very pure, and consequently belongs to very great perfection.

The second is, that we may speak with Him, and hear Him speak unto us by these inspirations and interior movements; and ordinarily this is done with a most delicious pleasure, because it is a great good to us to speak to so great a Lord; and when He answers, He diffuses a thousand balms, which give a great sweetness to the soul. But one of these two goods can never fail you in mental prayer. When, therefore, you appear before our Lord, speak to Him if you can; if you cannot, abide there, make Him see you, and do not be anxious about other matters.

Chapter XV. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

Your manner of meditation is very good, and much better than if you made in it considerations and reasonings, since considerations and reasonings are of no use, except to excite the affections; so that if it pleases God to give us the affections without reasonings or considerations, that is a great grace to us. The secret of secrets in meditation is to follow the attraits in simplicity of heart.

Take the trouble to read the seventh book of the treatise on the Love of God, and you will there find all that will be necessary for you to know about mental prayer; and although you must bring one or more points with you to the meditation, if nevertheless God attracts you to some affection, you must not attach yourself to the point, but follow the affection: and the more simple and tranquil it is, the better it is; for it attaches the more strongly the spirit to its object.

Being once for all instructed on this point, never amuse yourself during the meditation with wishing to know what you are doing and how you are praying; for the best prayer or meditation is that which keeps us so well employed in God, that we do not think at all of ourselves, or of what we are doing.

Lastly, we ought to enter on prayer simply, in good faith, and without art, in order to be near God, to love Him, and to unite ourselves to Him. Do not force yourself to speak in this divine love; sufficiently does he speak who gazes and makes himself seen. Follow, then, the path to which you are attracted by the Holy Spirit, yet without failing to prepare yourself for meditation; for that is what you ought to do on your side, and you ought not of yourself to attempt any other way; but when you would place yourself in that path, if God attracts you to another, go thither with Him. We ought on our side to make a preparation proportionate to our powers; and when God shall lead us higher, to Him alone be the glory.

But if, after having applied our spirit to this humble preparation, God notwithstanding does not give us sweetnesses and consolations, then we must abide in patience to eat our dry bread, and fulfil our duty without present recompense.

Chapter XVI. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

You do nothing, you tell me, in meditation. But what would you have yourself do, except what you already do in it, which is to present and represent to God your nothingness and your miseries? It is the most pathetic speech that mendicants address to us, to expose to our eyes their ulcers and their necessities.

But still sometimes you do nothing of all this, as you tell me, but you remain yonder like a phantom or a statue. Well, even that is not so little. In the palaces of princes and kings they place statues which serve only to recreate the eyes of the prince. Be contented, then, to serve for that purpose in the presence of God. He will animate this statue when it shall please Him.

The trees produce fruit only by the presence of the sun, some sooner and others later; some every year, and others once in three years, and not always in equal quantity. We are happy to be able to remain in the presence of God; and let us content ourselves, since He will make us bring forth our fruit either sooner or later, either every day or from time to time, according to His good pleasure, to which we ought fully to resign ourselves.

It is a maxim of marvellous efficacy, that which you tell me of: “Let God put me in what service He wills, ’tis all one to me, provided that I serve Him.” But take care to chew it well over and over in your mind; make it melt in your mouth, and do not swallow it whole. St. Teresa, whom you love so much, of which I am very glad, says somewhere that we very often say such words from habit and a certain slight idea of them, and we fancy that they are spoken from the deep of our heart, although it was nothing of the sort, as we afterwards discover by our practice.

Well, you tell me that in whatever service God puts you, it is all one to you. But you know well in what service He has put you, and in what state

and condition; and do you say to me, it is all one to you? My God, how subtlely does self-love intrude itself amidst our affections, however pious they appear to be!

Here is the great maxim. We must look to what God wills, and discerning His will, we must attempt to fulfil it cheerfully, or at least courageously; and not only that, but we must love this will of God, and the obligation which results from it, even were it to herd swine all our life, and to do the most abject things in the world. For in whatever service God puts us, that ought to be all one to us. Here is the very center of the target of perfection, at which we ought all to aim, and whoever approaches it the nearest is the winner of the prize. Courage, I implore you. Accustom your will, little by little, to follow that of God, to whatever place it leads you. Let your will feel sharply goaded when your conscience shall say to it, God wills it.

Chapter XVII. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

Your meditation is good. Only be very faithful to abide near God in this sweet and tranquil attention of heart, and in this sweet acquiescence with His holy will; for all this is pleasing to Him. Avoid any violent application of the understanding, since such is injurious to you, and busy yourself around your beloved object with the affections, in all simplicity, and as sweetly as you can.

It cannot be helped that the understanding now and then makes attempts to apply itself, and there is no occasion to be on the watch to hinder it from doing so, for that would only be a distraction to you; but you ought to content yourself, when you perceive it, with returning simply to the actions of the will. To keep oneself in the presence of God, and to place oneself in the presence of God, are, in my opinion, two things: for in order to place oneself there, one ought to withdraw one s soul from every other object, and render it actually attentive to this presence; but after one has placed oneself in it, one always keeps oneself in it, so long as, either by the understanding or by the will, one performs actions towards God: whether regarding Him, or regarding something else for the love of Him; or regarding nothing, but speaking to Him; or neither regarding Him nor speaking to Him, but simply abiding where He has placed us.

And when to this simple abiding there is added some feeling that we are God’s, and that He is our all, we ought to render great thanks to His good ness for this. If a statue, which had been placed in a niche or in the midst of a hall, had the power of speech, and were asked the question, “Wherefore art thou there?” “Because,” it would reply, “the statuary my master placed me here.” “Wherefore dost thou not move?” “Because he wills that I should remain in my place immovably.” “What use art thou of, then? What advantage dost thou derive from being thus stationary?” “It is not for my own service that I am here; it is to serve and obey the will of my master.” “But dost thou not see him?” “No,” the statue would reply; “but he sees me, and takes pleasure in knowing that I am where he has placed me.” “But wouldst not thou be glad to have the power of moving, in order to go nearer to him?” “Not unless he commanded me to do so.” “Desirest thou, then, nothing?” “No; for I am where my master has placed me, and his pleasure is the only contentment of my being.”

My God, it is indeed a good meditation, and a good mode of keeping oneself in the presence of God, that of keeping oneself in His will and in His good pleasure. It is my opinion that St. Mary Magdalen was a statue in a niche, when, without saying a word, without moving, and perhaps without looking at Him, she listened to what our Lord said, seated at His feet: when He spoke, she heard; when He ceased to speak, she ceased to hear, and nevertheless she was always there. A little infant who is laid on the bosom of its sleeping mother, is truly in its good and desirable place, though she says not a word to it, nor it to her.

My God, how happy we are when we will to love our Lord! Let us love Him, then, well; and let us not set ourselves to consider too much in detail what we do for His love, provided that we know that we never will to do anything except for His love.

For myself, I think that we keep ourselves in the presence of God even in sleep; for we betake ourselves to sleep in His sight, at His good pleasure, and by His will; and when we wake, we find that He is there, nigh unto us: He has not moved, nor have we. We have, then, kept ourselves in His presence, though with our eyes closed.

Chapter XVIII OF DISTINCTIONS

You ask me how you are to act in order to bring your spirit straight to God, without looking either to the right hand or to the left?

This proposition is so much the more pleasing to me because it carries its own answer with it. You must do as you say, go straight to God without looking to the right hand or to the left.

I see well enough that this is not what you ask me; but your question is, how you ought to act, so to strengthen your spirit in God, that nothing may be able to detach it from Him.

Two things are necessary for this, death and salvation; for after that, there will be no more separation, and your spirit will be indissolubly attached and united to its God.

You tell me that this, again, is not what you ask; but what you are to do in order to prevent the least fly from drawing away your spirit from God, as happens but too often.

You apparently mean to say, the least distraction; but you ought to know, that the least fly of distraction does not draw away your spirit from God, for nothing draws us away from God but sin; and the resolution which we have made in the morning to keep our spirit united to God, and attentive to His presence, makes us remain there always, even when we sleep, since we do so in the name of God, and according to His most holy will.

Even venial sins are not capable of turning us aside from the path which conducts to God. They doubtless stop us somewhat in our road, but they do not turn us aside from it, and much less do simple distractions.

As for mental prayer, it is not the less profitable or less pleasing to God for having in it many distractions; on the contrary, it will perhaps be more profitable to us than if we had much consolation, because there is thus more labour in it; provided, nevertheless, that we have the will to draw ourselves

away from these distractions, and that we do not voluntarily allow our mind to rest upon them.

It is the same with the trouble which we have all through the day in fixing our mind on God and heavenly things, provided that we take pains to recal our mind, and to hinder it from running after these flies, persevering with patience, and not tiring of our toil, which is endured for the love of God.

A careful distinction must be made between God and the feeling of God, between faith and the feeling of faith. A person who is going to suffer martyrdom for God does not always think upon God during that time; and although he has not at that moment the feeling of faith, he does not for all that fail to merit it, or to make an act of very great love. It is the same with the presence of God; we must be contented with considering that He is our God, and that we are His feeble creatures, unworthy of this honour, as St. Francis did, who passed a whole night saying to God, “Who art Thou, and who am I?”

Chapter XIX. OF GOOD DESIRES, AND OF UNSUITABLE THOUGHTS IN MEDITATION

There are two sorts of good desires: one, those which augment the grace and the glory of the servants of God; the other, those which do nothing. Desires of the first sort are thus expressed: I would desire, for example, to give alms; but I give them not, because I have not wherewithal; and these desires greatly increase charity and sanctify the soul. Thus pious souls desire martyrdom, disgraces, and the cross, which nevertheless they are unable to obtain. Desires of the second sort are thus expressed: I would desire to give alms, but I do not will to give them; and these desires are not sin by impossibility, but by cowardice, tepidity, and defect of courage. This is why they are useless and do not sanctify the soul, nor give it any increase of grace; a-nd of these desires St. Bernard says that hell is full of them. The souls which are tempted by unsuitable thoughts in the meditation of the life and death of the Saviour ought, as much as they can, to represent to themselves the mysteries simply by faith, without making use of the imagination. For example, my Saviour was crucified, is a proposition of the faith: it suffices that I conceive of it simply, without imagining to myself His body extended on the cross; and when unsuitable thoughts occur, we ought to turn them aside by affections proceeding from faith. crucified Jesus, I adore Thee! I adore Thy torments, Thy pains, Thy labour! Thou art my salvation. As for thinking, on account of these troublesome thoughts, of giving up the meditation of the life and death of our Lord, this would be to play the game of the enemy, who tries by this means to deprive us of our greatest happiness.

Chapter XX. OF DRYNESSES IN PRAYER

Keep your heart at large; do not press it too much by desires of perfection. Have one of these, a good one, thoroughly resolved and thoroughly constant. I mean the old one, which made you give yourself to God with so much courage. This desire you must diligently water with the dew of holy prayer. You must take great pains to preserve it, for it is the tree of life. But as for certain desires which tyrannise over the heart, which would have nothing oppose itself to our designs, which would have no clouds, but insist that every thing should be in broad noon-day; which would have nothing but sweetness in our exercises, no disgusts, no opposition, no distraction; and the moment any interior temptation arises, are not contented with our not consenting to them, but would have us not feel them; desires so delicate, that they are not contented if we are fed with juicy and nourishing viands, unless they are all sugared over; which would have us not even see the summer-flies of August pass before our eyes; these are desires after too sweet a perfection; we ought to mistrust them. Believe me, sweet food engenders worms in little children, and even in those who are not little children. This is why our Saviour mingles them for us with bitterness.

I wish you to have a great courage, and not one so tender; a courage which, whilst it can say very resolutely, “Live, Jesus!” without reserve, does not trouble itself either with the sweet or the bitter, with light or with shade.

Let us walk boldly in this love of our God, essential, strong, and unpliable; and let us allow those phantoms of temptations to run hither and thither; let them cross our path as much as they please. “Ah!” said St. Antony, “I see you; but I do not regard you.” No, let us regard our Saviour, who waits for us beyond all these flourishes of the enemy. Let us implore His succour; for it is for this that He permits these illusions to terrify us. Courage: have we not reason to believe that our Lord loves us? Most certainly we have. Wherefore, then, distress ourselves about temptations? I recommend to you our simplicity, which is so agreeable to the Spouse; and still more our humility, which has so much credit with Him.

I have, as it appears to me, more will and desire to love our Saviour than I ever had. Blessed and praised be His holy name! Are we not too happy in knowing that we must love God, and that all our happiness consists in serving Him, all our glory in honouring him? Oh, how great is His goodness over us!

Chapter XXI. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

No, the Lord will not suffer it; no, I will not trouble myself; I will have no fears, I will have no doubts, either for your helplessness or the pain in your head; because having once begotten you in Christ Jesus, and placed you in the hands of the Blessed Virgin, she has taken you under her protection, and my chief care is removed. This is the first reason why I have no fears.

The other reason is, that there is nothing to fear. At the death of our sweet Jesus, He made darkness to come upon the earth. I think that Magdalen, who was with the Blessed Virgin, was very mortified that she was no longer able to see her dear Lord: she was nevertheless as near to Him as before. Let it alone; all is going on right: as much darkness as you please, but nevertheless we are near the light; as much helplessness as you please, but we are at the feet of the Almighty. Live, Jesus! may we never separate ourselves from Him, whether in darkness or in light.

You do not know what I think of your asking me for remedies; it is, that I do not remember that our Lord ever gave command to heal the head of the daughter of Sion, but only her heart. No, doubtless, He never said, “Speak ye to the head of Jerusalem,” but Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem. (Is. xl.2.) Your heart is in good order, since your resolutions in it are living. Abide in peace; you have the inheritance of the children of God. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. (St. Matt. v. 8.) He does not say that they do see Him, but that they shall see Him. Ran, then, within the barriers, since they have set them up; you shall not fail to carry off the ring, and with greater certainty. Do not force yourself; do not make yourself anxious about yourself, since you speak to me as if you did. After the rain, comes fine weather; do not be so jealous about your mind. Well, on bad news a feeling of trouble does arise; it is no great wonder that the mind of a poor little widow should be feeble and unhappy; but what would you have it be? A clear-sighted spirit, strong, constant, and self-dependent? Be content that your spirit is in harmony with your condition; the spirit of a widow, that is to say, poor and abject, in all abjection, except that of offending God. I lately saw a widow following the Blessed Sacrament, and where the others were carrying great tapers of white wax, she carried only a little candle, which perhaps she had made herself; the wind extinguished even hers; that did not bring her nearer the Blessed Sacrament, or remove her farther from it; she did not on that account miss entering the church as soon as the others. Do not be suspicious again; you are not the only person who has this cross. But even though you alone had some cross all to yourself, what of that? It would be so much the more valuable, and by its rarity it ought to be dearer. St. Peter would not have his cross like that of his Divine Master; he caused it to be inverted: he had his head on the ground and his heart in heaven as he was dying.

Use the light you have: a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn. (2 St. Pet. i. 19.) They have not yet opened to you the gate, but through the wicket you can see the court and the front-buildings of the palace of the heavenly King. Abide there it is not unsuitable for widows to be a little retired. There are a crowd of good people waiting as well as you; it is reasonable that they should be preferred. However, have you not your little works to attend to meanwhile? Am I not too hard? At least I tell you the truth.

Chapter XXII. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

What shall I say to you on the return of your miseries, except that, at the return of the enemy, it is necessary again to take up one s arms and one scourage to combat him more strongly than ever? But take good care not to give way to any sort of mistrust; for that heavenly goodness does not allow you to fall in this way in order to abandon you, but to humiliate you, and to make you cling the more firmly to the hand of His mercy.

You do exactly as I think you ought, in continuing your exercises in the midst of the drynesses and interior languors which have returned to you; for, since we will not serve God except for the love of Him, and since the service which we render Him in the midst of the affliction of dryness is more pleasing to Him than that which we perform in the midst of sweetness, we ought also on our side to acquiesce in it more, at least with our higher will; and although, according to our taste and self-love, sweetnesses are more pleasant to us, nevertheless drynesses remain according to God’s taste and to His love, and are more profitable, as dry food is better for the dropsical than watery food, although they always are fondest of the latter. Your fits of coldness ought in nowise to astonish you, provided that you have a real desire of warmth, and that you do not cease, on account of cold, from continuing your exercises. Alas! tell me, was not the sweet Jesus born in the heart of cold? and wherefore shall He not also remain in the cold of the heart? I understand this cold of which, as I think, you speak to me, which does not consist in any relaxation of our good resolutions, but simply in a certain lassitude and heaviness of spirit, which makes us walk with difficulty in the path in which we have placed ourselves, and from which we are resolved never to stray until we are safe in port.

However, live entirely unto God; and for the love which He has borne towards you, support yourself in all your miseries. To be a good servant of God is not to be always in consolation, always in sweetness, always without aversion or repugnance to good; for at this rate, neither St. Paula, nor St. Angela, nor St. Catherine of Sienna, served God well. To be a servant of God is to be charitable towards your neighbour to have in the higher part of your soul an inviolable resolution to follow the will of God—to have a most humble humility and simplicity to trust your self with God, and to rise again as often as you fall—to bear with yourself in your abjections, and tranquilly to endure the imperfections of others.

Chapter XXIII. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

When will it be that we, all dead before God, shall rise again to that new life in which we shall no more wish to do aught, but shall leave it to God to will all that we must do, and allow His living will to act upon ours, all dead? Courage! keep yourself well unto God; consecrate to Him all your labours; wait in patience for the return of sunshine. Ah! God has not cut off from us for ever the enjoyment of His sweetness. He has only withdrawn it for a little while, in order that we may live unto Him and for Him, and not for those consolations; in order that troubled hearts may find in us a compassionate succour and a kind and loving support; in order that, from a heart all lacerated, dead, and wearied, He may receive the sweet odour of a holy holocaust. Lord Jesus, by thy incomparable sadness, by that desolation like none other which burdened Thy divine heart in the Garden of Olives and on the Cross, and by the desolation of Thy dear Mother whilst she was deprived of Thy presence, be the joy and the strength of our heart, when our spirit is most specially fastened to Thy cross!

Do not trouble yourself, then, at all about your dryness and barrenness; on the contrary, console yourself in your higher spirit, and call to mind what our Lord said: Blessed are the poor in spirit; and, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice. (St. Matt, v. 3, 6.) What a happiness to serve God in the desert without manna, without water, and without other consolations than those we have from being under His guidance, and from suffering for Him!

After the winter of this coldness, the holy summer will arrive, and we shall be consoled. Alas! we are always ready to welcome weetness, enjoyment, and delicious consolation; but, after all, the roughness of desolation is more fruitful: and although St. Peter loved the mountain of Thabor, and fled from that of Calvary, the latter is nevertheless more salutary than the former; and the blood which is sprinkled over the one is more desirable than the light which is diffused over the other. Our Lord already treats you like a beloved daughter. Better is it to eat bread without sugar than sugar without bread.

Chapter XXIV. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

You set your hand to the work, you tell me. my God, how great a consolation is here for me! Do this continually, and set your hand a little to the work. Spin some portion daily, whether it be by day, by the shining light of interior brightness, or by night, under the gleam of the lamp, in the midst of weaknesses and barrenness. Herein the wise man praises the valiant woman. Her fingers, he says, have taken hold of the spindle. (Prov. xxxi. 19.) How willingly would I give you some instruction on this word! Your distaff is the accumulated work of your desires. Spin some portion daily; draw your purposes out to fulfilment, and you will doubtless accomplish them. But take care not to be too hasty, for so you would entangle your thread, and disarrange your spindle.

Let us continually go forward; slowly as we may advance, we shall get over a great deal of ground. Your weaknesses do you much harm; for, say you, they hinder you from entering into yourself, and from drawing near to God. This is to speak wrongly, without doubt. God leaves you these for His glory and your great profit. He wishes that your misery should be the throne of His mercy, and your weaknesses the seat of His almighty power. Where did God make the divine strength which He placed in Samson reside, but in his hair, the feeblest part of the body? (Judges xvi.) Let us hear no more such words from a daughter who wishes to serve God according to His divine pleasure, and not according to sensible tastes and inclinations. Although He should kill me, said Job, I will trust in Him. (Job xiii. 15.) No, these weaknesses do not hinder you from entering into yourself, but rather from being pleased with yourself. We always wish this or that; and although we have our sweet Jesus in our heart, we are not content; and nevertheless it is all that we can desire. One thing alone is necessary for us, and that is to be near Him.

You tell me—you know it well—that at the birth of our Saviour, the shepherds heard the angelical and divine chants of those celestial spirits. Scripture says so. It is not said, however, that our Lady and St. Joseph, who were nearest the Child, heard the voice of the angels, or saw those miraculous lights; on the contrary, instead of hearing the angels sing, they heard the Infant cry, and saw by some borrowed light the eyes of that divine Infant all covered with tears, and chilled with the rigour of the cold. Now, I ask you in good faith, would you not have chosen to be in the stable, dark as it was, but resounding with the cries of that divine Infant, than to be with the shepherds, swooning with gladness and joy at the sweetness of that celestial music, and the beauty of that admirable light?

Yes; It is good for us, said St. Peter, to be here (St. Matt. xvii. 4), to see the transfiguration; and the Blessed Virgin was not there, but only on the hill of Calvary, where she saw nothing but deaths, thorns, nails, weaknesses, marvellous darknesses, abandon ments, and derelictions. Enough on this subject. I pray you, love God crucified in the midst of darkness; abide near Him. Say, “It is good for me to be here. Let us make here three tabernacles—one for our Lord, another for our Lady, and another for St. John.” Three crosses only; and place yourself near that of the Son, or near that of our Lady, or near that of the disciple: you will be every where welcome with the other daughters who are standing all around.

Chapter XXV. OF STRENGTHENING OUR GOOD RESOLUTIONS

You ask me, what you can do to strengthen tho roughly your good resolutions, and to make them succeed? There is no better means than to put them in practice.

But you tell me that you remain always so feeble, that although you often make strong resolutions not to fall, yet you notwithstanding lose your footing, and fall headlong.

Shall I tell you why you remain always so feeble? It is because you will not abstain from food that is bad for you. It is as if a person who wanted to be free from indigestion asked a physician what he was to do, and the physician were to reply, Do not eat such and such food, because it causes crudity and sickness; but the patient were nevertheless to eat of it.

You do the same; you would wish, for example, to love correction well, and yet you choose at the same time to remain always attached to your own opinions. Oh, this cannot be: you will never be strong to endure correction, so long as you will eat of the food of self-esteem.

You would wish to keep your soul in a state of recollection, and yet you will not banish a crowd of useless reflections. This cannot be.

My God, you say once more, I would willingly keep firm ly and invariably to my resolutions, but I would like it not to cost me so much trouble to put them into practice; that is to say, you want to find the work all done to your hands: but that cannot be in this life, where we shall always have to labour. The feast of Purification has no octave; we must purify ourselves every day, as long as we are in this world.

It is necessary for us to have two equal resolutions: one, to see ill weeds grow in our garden; the other, to have the courage to see them torn up, and to tear them up ourselves: for our self-love will not die so long as we live, and this it is that causes these evil plants to grow.

For the rest, it is not being feeble to fall sometimes into venial sins, provided that we forthwith raise ourselves up from them, by a return of our soul to God, sweetly humbling ourselves. We ought not to imagine that we can live without always committing some venial sins or other, for only our Lady had the privilege of being free from them. Certainly, though they may check us a little, they do not turn us aside out of the way; one single loving look of God effaces them.

Lastly, we must be convinced that we ought never to cease from making good resolutions, although we may see clearly that, according to our ordinary state, we shall not practise them, nay, though we saw that it is impossible for us to practise them when the occasion for them shall present itself; and then we ought to make them with more firmness than if we felt that we had sufficient courage to succeed in our enterprise, saying to our Lord: “It is true that I shall not have the strength to do such and such a thing of myself; but I am rejoiced at it, inasmuch as it will be Thy strength that will do it in me;” and resting on this support, to go to the battle courageously, and never to doubt but that we shall win the victory.

St. Paula, who was so generous in disentangling herself from the world, quitting the city of Rome and so much grandeur, and who could not be shaken by the maternal affection which she felt towards her children, so resolved was her heart to quit everything for the sake of God; she, after achieving all these marvels, allowed herself to yield to the temptation of her own judgment, which persuaded her that she ought not to submit to the counsel of several holy persons, who wished her to retrench somewhat of her ordinary austerities: in which St. Jerome declares that she was reprehensible.

Chapter XXVI. OF PRAYERS WHICH MAY BE MADE IN SICKNESS

As to meditation, the physicians are right; so long as you remain infirm, you must abstain from it; and to make up for this deficiency, you must redouble your ejaculatory prayers, and apply yourself wholly to God, by an acquiescence in His good pleasure, who in nowise separates you from Himself in giving you this hindrance to meditation; but it is for you to unite yourself more solidly to Him by the exercise of holy and tranquil resignation.

What matters it to us that we are in God’s service in this way or in that? Indeed, since we seek not for aught but Him, and since we find Him not less in mortification than in prayer, especially when He touches us with sickness, the one ought to be as good to us as the other; besides, short ejaculations and dartings forth of our spirit are true and continual prayers, and the suffering of evils is the most worthy offering which we could make to Him who has saved us by suffering. Make them read you some good book from time to time, for that too is an assistance.

Do not distress yourself that you are not able to serve God according to your taste; for, by accommodating your self-will to your discomforts, you serve Him according to His taste, which is better than yours. May He be blessed and glorified for ever!

When God shall have restored your health to you, it will be proper to resume your meditation, at least for half an hour in the morning, and for a quarter of an hour in the evening, before supper; for, since our Lord has once given you the taste of this celestial honey, it will be a great reproach to you if you lose the taste of it. You must therefore take courage, and not allow conversation to deprive you of so rare an advantage as that of speaking heart to heart with your God.

Chapter XXVII. OF PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENTS

The sacraments are channels by which God descends to us, as by meditation we ascend to Him. The effects of the sacraments are different, although they all have but one end, which is to unite us to God.

We speak here only of that of penance and of the Eucharist. It is very necessary to know why it is, that, receiving so frequently these two sacraments, we do not also receive the graces which they are wont to communicate to souls which are well prepared, since the graces are joined to the sacraments. I will tell you why it is, in two words: it is for want of due and suitable preparation.

The first preparation is purity of intention, a thing absolutely necessary, not only in receiving the sacraments, but moreover in every thing that we do. Now, the intention is pure if we receive the sacraments, or do anything else, whatever it may be, in the single view of uniting ourselves to God, and of being more pleasing to Him.

You will know this if, when you wish for communion, you are not permitted to have it; or, again, if after communion you do not feel consolation, and notwithstanding do not fail to remain in peace: for if you become disquieted because you have not been allowed to communicate, or because you do not feel consolation, who can help seeing that your intention was not pure, and that you were seeking for something else than to unite yourself to God, since your union with God ought to be made under the holy virtue of obedience?

And just in the same way, if you desire perfection with a desire full of restlessness, who can help seeing that it is self-love, which is unwilling that people should see imperfection in you? If it were possible that we could be as pleasing to God, being imperfect, as we should be, being perfect, we ought to desire to be without perfection, in order to nourish in us by this means most holy humility.

The second preparation is attention. Certainly, we ought to go to the sacraments with much attention, as well to the greatness of the action, as to that which each sacrament demands of us. For example, in going to confession, we ought to carry thither a heart lovingly sorrowful, and to holy communion a heart ardently loving. I do not say, in requiring this great attention, that we must have no distractions at all, for that is not in our power; but I say that we ought to have a most particular care not voluntarily to pause upon them.

The third preparation is humility, which is a virtue highly necessary in order to receive abundantly the graces which are transmitted through the channels of the sacraments; because waters flow more swiftly and more strongly when the channels are placed on low and sloping ground.

But besides these preparations, I must tell you that the chief of them all is the total abandonment of ourselves to the mercy of God, submitting without any reserve our will and all our affections to His dominion: I say without reserve, because our misery is so great, that we evermore reserve something to ourselves, which is what we ought not to do; for our Lord, wishing to give Himself entirely to us, wishes that we in return should give ourselves entirely to Him, in order that the union of our soul with His Divine Majesty may be more perfect, and that we may be able to say with truth, after that great example of perfection among Christians: I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. (Gal. ii. 20.)

The second part of this preparation consists in emptying our heart of every thing, in order that our Lord may fill it all Himself. Certainly, the cause why we do not receive the grace of sanctification (since one single communion well made is able and sufficient to render us holy and perfect) only arises from our not leaving our Lord to reign in us, as His goodness desires. This Beloved of our souls comes unto us, and He finds our hearts all full of desires and affections; and this is not what He seeks; for He wishes to find them empty, to make Himself the master of them and to govern them; and to shew how much He desires this, He tells His holy spouse to place Him as a seal upon her heart, that nothing may enter there, except by His permission and His good pleasure.

Now, I am well aware that the inmost depth of our heart is void; were it otherwise, it would be too great an unfaithfulness; I mean to say, that we have not only rejected and detested mortal sin, but also every kind of evil affections. But alas! all the nooks and corners of our hearts are full of a thousand things unworthy to appear in the presence of this sovereign King, which bind, as it would seem, His hands, and hinder Him from distributing those goods and graces which His goodness would desire to bestow upon us, if He found us prepared.

Let us, then, do on our parts what is in our power to prepare ourselves well for receiving that bread which is supersubstantial, wholly abandoning ourselves to the divine Providence, not only in what concerns temporal goods, but even spiritual; spreading out in the presence of the divine Goodness all our affections, desires, and inclinations, to be entirely submitted to it; and let us be assured that our Lord, on His part, will accomplish the promise which He has made us to transform ourselves into Himself, by raising our lowliness so as to be united to His greatness.

Chapter XXVIII. OF THE FRUIT WHICH WE OUGHT TO DRAW FROM THE SACRAMENTS

You will know whether you are receiving the sacraments profitably, by the virtues which belong to them; for instance, if you draw from confession the love of your own abjection and humility: for these are the virtues which belong to it, and it is always by the measure of humility that we recognize our own progress. Do you not see that it is written that he that shall humble himself shall be exalted? (St. Matt. xxhi. 12.) To be exalted, is to make progress.

If you become by means of the most holy communion very gentle, since that virtue is proper to this sacrament, which is all gentle, all sweet, all honey, you will derive that fruit which belongs to it, and thus will be making progress. But if, on the contrary, you do not become at all more humble or more gentle, you deserve that the bread should be taken from you, since you do not labour to make yourself worthy of it.I would have you simply to g o to communion when you wish it, asking permission of the superioress; resigning yourself humbly to accept a denial, if you are denied it, and if it be granted you, to go to communion with love. Although there may be some mortification in asking permission, you must nevertheless not omit to do so; for the daughters who enter into religion, only enter into it to mortify themselves; and the cross which they carry ought to remind them of that.

But if the inspiration suggests itself to a religious, not to communicate so often as the rest, by reason of the knowledge which she has of her own unworthiness, she can ask permission of the superioress, and await her judgment with great sweetness and humility.

You ought not to be so tender about wishing to confess so many trifling imperfections, since we are even under no obligation to confess venial sins, unless we choose; but when we do confess them, we ought to have the resolute will to amend ourselves of them, otherwise it would be an abuse to confess them.

Nor ought you to torment yourself when you cannot recollect your faults to confess them; for it is not to be believed that a soul which often examines itself would not observe, in such a way as to remember them, any faults of importance. As for all these little and trifling defects, you can speak of them to our Lord as often as you perceive them: a humiliation of spirit and a sigh suffices for that.

You ask how you can make your act of contrition in a small space of time? I tell you that you require hardly any time to make it well, since nothing more is needed than to prostrate oneself before God in the spirit of humility and of repentance for having offended.

Lastly, it is necessary that all the prayers and supplications which you make to God should be made not for yourself only, but also for others; and that you should always take care to say “we,” as our Lord taught us in the Lord’s prayer, where there is neither “my,” nor “mine,” nor “I.” This means that you should have the intention of praying God to give the virtue or the grace which you ask of Him for yourself to all those who have the same need of it; and that it should always be with the object of uniting ourselves yet more closely to Him: for we ought not to ask for or desire anything else, either for ourselves or for our neighbour, since that is the end for which the sacraments were instituted.

We ought, then, to correspond with this intention of our Lord, receiving them for this same end. And we ought not to think that in communicating or in praying for others, we lose anything thereby, unless when we offer to God this communion or this prayer for the satisfaction of their sins, for then we would not make satisfaction for our own; but nevertheless, the merit of the communion or the prayer would remain our own: for we cannot merit grace for each other; none but our Lord could do that. We are able to obtain by prayers graces for others, but to merit them is what we cannot do. The prayer which we have made for them augments our merit, as well for the recompense of grace in this life, as of glory in the other. But if a person did not, in doing anything, fix his intention on doing it in satisfaction for his sins, the mere intention he might have of doing all he does for the pure love of God would suffice to make satisfaction for them; since it is a certain maxim, that whoever should make an excellent act of charity, or an act of perfect contrition, would fully make satisfaction for his sins.

Chapter XXIX. OF DISPOSITIONS FOR HOLY COMMUNION

I would not wish you to bring your daughter so frequently to communion as that she should not be well aware of what this frequent communion really is. There is a difference between distinguishing communion from other food, and distinguishing frequent communion from rare communion. If this little soul sees clearly that, in order to frequent holy communion, one ought to have great purity and fervour; and if she aspires to it, and is diligent in adorning herself with its virtues,—then I am quite of opinion that she ought to be made to approach it frequently, that is to say, once a fortnight.

But if she is strongly disposed to communion merely, and not to the mortification of her little imperfections of faith, I think it would be sufficient to make her go to confession once a week, and to communion once a month. It is true that the communion is the great means of arriving at perfection; but we ought to receive it with the desire and the pains to remove from our heart all that is displeasing to Him whom we would lodge there.

To put yourself into such a state as to profit well by your communions, persevere in conquering those little daily contradictions which you feel; make the great proportion of your aspirations for this end; know that at present God only requires this of you. Do not amuse yourself, then, by doing anything else. Do not sow your desires in the garden of another; cultivate only your own, and do it well. Do not desire not to be what you are, but be content to be what you are. Occupy your thoughts in perfecting yourself therein, and in carrying the crosses, little or great, which you find there; and believe me, here is the great word, and the word least understood in the spiritual life: every one loves according to his own taste; few love according to their duty and the taste of our Lord. What is the use of building castles in the air, when we must live upon the earth? It is my old lesson, and you understand it well. Tell me if you practise it well. By practising it well, you will not fail to find in your communions greater enjoyment and greater fruit.

You have done well in obeying your confessor, whether he has deprived you of the consolation of frequent communion in order to try you, or whether he has done it because you have not been at sufficient pains to correct your impatience: as for me, I think he has done it for both these reasons, and that you ought to persevere in this penance as long as he orders it, since you have every reason to think that he does nothing without due consideration; and if you obey humbly, one communion will be more really useful to you than two or three made otherwise. For nothing makes our food so beneficial to us as taking it with appetite and after exercise. But the delay will give you greater appetite; and the exercise of mortifying your impatience will give a new vigour to your spiritual constitution. Humble yourself sweetly, however, and often make the act of the love of your own abjection. Abide for a little time in the position of the woman of Canaan. (St. Matt. xv. 27.) Yea, Lord, I am not worthy to eat the bread of the children. I am truly a whelp, who look angry and bite my neighbour without reason, by my words of impatience; but if the whelps eat not of the entire bread, at least they eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their master. Thus, my sweet Master, I ask of Thee, if not Thy holy body, at least the benedictions which it diffuses over those who approach it with love. This is the feeling which you may have on those days on which you were accustomed to communicate, but on which you now do not.

Chapter XXX. OF THE MOST HOLY COMMUNION

You tell me that you feel more than ordinarily famished for the most holy communion. There are two sorts of hunger: one which is caused by good digestion, and another which is caused by the derangement of the stomach. Humble yourself profoundly, and warm yourself with the holy love of Jesus Christ crucified, that you may be able spiritually well to digest this heavenly viand; and since whoso complains of famine asks sufficiently for bread, I say to you, Yes; communicate this Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the day of our Lady, besides Sundays.

But what do you understand by spiritual digestions of Jesus Christ? Those who digest material food well, feel a new vigour through their whole body, by the general distribution of the food which is made throughout it. So those who digest well spiritually, feel that Jesus Christ, who is their food, diffuses and communicates Himself to all the parts of their soul and body.

They have Jesus Christ in their brain, in their heart, lungs, eyes, hands, tongue, ears, feet. But this Saviour, what doth He, thus circulating every where? He straightens all, He purifies all, He mortifies all, He vivifies all; He loves in the heart, He understands in the brain, He breathes in the lungs, He sees in the eyes, He hears in the ears, and so of the rest. He doth all in all; and then we live, yet not we, but Jesus Christ liveth in us. Oh, when shall this be, rny God, when shall this be? but herein I shew to you what we ought to aim at, although we must be contented with attaining thereto little by little.

Let us keep ourselves humble, and let us communicate boldly. Little by little our interior stomach will accustom itself to this viand, and will learn to digest it well. It is a great point to eat only one kind of food; when it is good, the stomach does its duty far better. Let us desire only the Saviour, and I hope that our food will be digested well.

Let us boldly communicate in peace, with all humility, in order to correspond to this Spouse, who, to unite Himself unto us, has annihilated and sweetly abased Himself, so far as to make Himself the food and nourishment of us—of us, who are the food and nourishment of worms. Oh! He who communicates according to the spirit of the Spouse, annihilates himself, and says to our Lord: Receive me, feed on me, annihilate me, and convert me into Thyself.

Chapter XXXI. OF THE SPIRIT IN WHICH ONE OUGHT TO HEAD SPIRITUAL BOOKS

The superioress gives to one of the sisters a book which treats extremely well of the virtues; but because she does not like it, she makes no profit by her reading, from the negligence of spirit with which she reads. Now I say that it is an imperfection to wish to choose or to desire any other book than the one given to us; and it is a sign that we read rather to satisfy our curiosity than for the sake of profiting.

If we read for the sake of profiting, and not to please ourselves, we should be as satisfied with one book as with another; at least, we should accept with a good heart whatever was given to us. I say more: we should take pleasure in only reading one single book, provided that it was good and that it spoke of God; and though there was nothing in it but only this name of God, we should be content, because we should always find plenty of work to do after having read and re-read it several times.

To wish to read in order to satisfy curiosity, is a mark that there is still somewhat of levity in our mind, and that it does not sufficiently apply itself to do the good which it has learned in those little books on the practice of the virtues; for they speak extremely well of humility and mortification, which, nevertheless, we do not practise, when we do not accept them with a good heart.

Now to say, “Because I do not like it, I shall derive no profit from it,” is not good reasoning. No more is it to say,” I have it already by heart, I cannot take any pleasure in reading it all over.” All this is childish talk. Do they give you a book which you already know by heart? Bless God for it, because you will understand it the more easily. Do they give you one which you have already read several times? Be well assured that it is God who so wills it, in order that you may apply yourself rather to do than to learn what is taught in it; and that His good ness gives it you for the second and third time, because you have not profited by the first reading.

But the evil of all this is, that we are always seeking our own satisfaction, and not our greater perfection.

If by chance, regard being had to our infirmity, the superioress allows us to choose which book we please, then we can choose one with simplicity. But apart from this, we ought always to remain humbly subject to whatever the superioress orders, whether it be agreeable to us or not, without ever shewing the feelings we may have contrary to this submission.

Chapter XXXII. OF THE IMPERFECTIONS WHICH ARE FOUND IN RELIGIOUS PERSONS

There is no doubt we are never so perfect as not always to commit some imperfections, according to the occasions in which we are exercised. It is no great thing to see a sister very gentle, and committing very few faults, when she has nothing to vex or to try her.

When people say to me, Look at such a sister, in whom one sees no imperfection, I immediately ask, Does she hold any office? If they say not, then I make no great account of her perfection; for there is a great difference between the virtue of this sister and that of another who shall be well tried, whether interiorly by temptations, or exteriorly by contradictions; for the virtue of strength and the strength of virtue are not ordinarily acquired so perfectly in time of peace, as they are whilst we are not tried by the temptation of its contrary.

Those who are very gentle, but who meet with no contradiction, and who have not acquired this virtue sword in hand, are in truth very exemplary, and give great edification; but if you come to the proof, you will find them immediately disturbed, and they will shew that their sweetness was not a strong and solid virtue, but an imaginary rather than a real one.

There is a great deal of difference between the absence of a vice and the presence of the opposite virtue. Many appear to be highly endowed with virtue, who, nevertheless, are not so, because they have not acquired it by labour.

It very often happens that our passions sleep and remain dormant; and if, during that time, we do not lay up provision of strength with which to combat and resist them when they wake up, we shall be vanquished in the combat.

We ought always to remain humble, and not to suppose that we have the virtues merely because we do not commit, or at least do not know that we commit, the faults opposed to them.

Certainly, there are many persons who greatly deceive themselves, in imagining that those who make profession of perfection must needs never fall into imperfections; and particularly persons in the religious life, because they fancy that it is only required to enter into religion to be perfect, which is not the case: for the religious orders are not instituted to gather together perfect persons, but persons who have the courage to aim at perfection.

Chapter XXXIII. EXERCISES OF PIETY FOR PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE WORLD

Keep always fixed in the midst of your heart the resolutions which God has given you of being all His; for if you preserve them in this mortal life, they will preserve you in the eternal life.

And in order not only to preserve them, but to make them happily increase, you require no other counsels than those which are given to Philothea in the book of the Introduction to a Devout Life, which is in your hands; but nevertheless, to gratify you, I will gladly indicate in a few words what I wish you principally to do.

1. Go to confession once a fortnight, in order to receive the divine sacrament of the holy communion; and never go either to the one or to the other of these heavenly mysteries, without a new and very deep resolution of amending yourself more and more from your imperfections, and of living with a continually increasing purity and perfection of heart. Now I do not say, that if you find you have a devotion to communicate every week, you may not do so, especially if you observe that by this sacred mystery your troublesome inclinations and the imperfections of your life go on diminishing; but I have mentioned once a fortnight, in order that you might not defer it longer than that.

2. Make your spiritual exercises brief and fervent, in order that you may feel no difficulty in betaking yourself to them from apprehension of their length, and that little by little you may accustom yourself to these acts of piety.

3. Learn to use frequently ejaculatory prayers, and elevations of the heart unto God.

4. Take pains to be gentle and affable to every one, but above all, those in the house.

5. Let the alms distributed in your house be distributed by your own hand, when you are able; for it is a great increase in virtue to do the work with your own hands, when that is possible.

6. Visit the sick in your parish very readily; for that is one of the works to which our Lord will have an eye at His judgment-day.

7. Read every day a page or two of some spiritual book, to keep yourself in taste and devotion, and on festivals a little more.

8. During the day, and in the midst of business, as often as you can, examine whether your affection is not engaged too far; whether it is not out of order; and whether you are holding by one hand to our Lord. If you find yourself embarrassed beyond measure, tranquillise your soul, and bring it back to repose. Imagine to yourself how our Lady sweetly busied herself with one hand, whilst she held our Lord with the other, or on the other arm, in his infancy; for it was with a great reverence. In your time of peace multiply acts of sweetness; for by this means you will accustom your heart to meekness.

Chapter XXXIV. WHAT A PERSON ENGAGED IN THE WORLD OUGHT TO DO IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT PERFECTION

You have a great desire of Christian perfection. It is the most generous desire which you can possibly have: nourish it, and make it increase day by day. The means for arriving at perfection are different, according to the diversity of vocations; for religious, widows, and married people, ought all to seek this perfection, but not by the same means; for in your case, who are married, the means are to unite yourself well with God and with your neighbour.

The means for uniting yourself with God ought to be principally the use of the sacraments and prayer.

As to the use of the sacraments, you ought to allow no month to pass without communicating; and after some time, according to the progress you shall have made in the service of God, and according to the advice of your spiritual fathers, you can communicate oftener: but as for confession, I strongly advise you to frequent it still more often.

As to prayer, you ought to use it assiduously, particularly meditation. Spend, then, a short time in meditation every day, and take good care not to make it either after dinner or after supper, for that would be injurious to your health. I pray of you by no means to afflict yourself if sometimes, and even very often, you do not feel consolation in it, but go on sweetly, and with humility and patience, without distressing your mind about that. Avail yourself of the book when you see that your mind is fatigued; that is to say, read a little, and then meditate, and then read a little again, and then meditate until the end of your hour. St. Teresa made use of a book in this way from the commencement, and says that she found very great advantage from it; and since we are speaking in confidence, I will add, that I have made trial of it thus, and that I found much advantage from it. Consider it as a rule, that the grace of meditation cannot be gained by any effort of the mind; but it requires a sweet and very affectionate perseverance, full of humility.

Besides this, frequently address ejaculatory prayers to our Lord, and do so at all hours you can, and in all companies, regarding always God in your heart, and your heart in God. I would wish that no day passed without your giving half-an-hour or an hour to the reading of some spiritual book.

As for the means which serve for uniting oneself well with one s neighbour, there are a great number of them; but I will only mention a few. We ought to consider our neighbour in God, who wills us to love and cherish him. It is the advice of St. Paul, who orders servants to serve God in their masters, and their masters in God. (Eph. vi. 5.) We ought to exercise ourselves in this love of our neighbour by cherishing him exteriorly; and although it may seem at first to be against our will, we must not give it up on that account; for this repugnance of the inferior part will be at last overcome by the habit and good inclination which will be produced by the repetition of the acts. We ought to bring our prayers and meditations to bear upon this; for after having asked for the love of God, we ought always to ask for the love of our neighbour, and particularly of those for whom our will has no inclination.

I advise you to take the trouble now and then of visiting the hospitals; consoling the sick, considering their infirmities, softening your heart by beholding them, and praying for them, whilst you render them some assistance. But in all this take diligent heed that no one suffers through you, by your remaining in church too long, and abandoning the care of your household overmuch; or, as sometimes happens, by allowing yourself to criticise the actions of others, or to be disdainful of conversations where the rules of devotion are not so exactly observed; for in all this charity must govern and enlighten us, to make us condescend to the wills of our neighbour in whatever is not contrary to the commandments of God.

Chapter XXXV. OF THE COMBAT OF THE INWARD MAN WITH THE OUTWARD

You say well that you have two selves within you. One which is somewhat tender, and is ready to fret if it is but touched. That self is the daughter of Eve, and consequently of an ill humour. The other self has a very good will to be all for God; and in order to be all for God, to be all simply humble, and humbly sweet towards all the world. This self is the daughter of the glorious Virgin Mary, and is of a good temperament.

And the two daughters of these different mothers fight with each other; and the worthless one is sometimes so bad, that the good one has much trouble to defend herself against her; and then it seems as if she has been beaten, and as if the bad one was the braver. But indeed not: this bad daughter is not braver than you, but she is more perverse, more cross-grained and self-opinionated; and when you go and weep she is well pleased, because it is always so much time lost, and she is contented with making you lose time, since she cannot make you lose eternity.

Take my advice; rouse your courage strongly, arm yourself with the patience that we ought to have for ourselves. Often awaken your heart, that it may be a little on its guard, so as not to allow itself to be surprised. Be a little attentive as to this enemy. Wherever you set your foot, think of it, if you would not be surprised; for this bad daughter goes every where with you; and if you are off your guard, she will think of some stratagem against you.

But when it happens that she attacks you with a start, even though she makes you stumble a little and sprain yourself slightly, do not distress yourself, but call upon our Lord and our Lady. They will stretch towards you the holy hand of their succour; and if they leave you some time in trouble, it will be to make you call on them again, and cry more loudly for help.

Do not be in the least ashamed of all this, anymore than St. Paul, who confesses (Rom. vii. 22, 23) that there were in him two selves, one of which was rebellious to God, and the other obedient. Be simple; do not distress yourself; humble yourself without discouragement, and encourage yourself without presumption. Be well assured that our Lord, having placed you amidst the embarrassments of a household, knows well, and sees well, that you are embarrassed with it; but He does not fail to cherish you, provided that you are humble and filled with confidence; and if you do this, all will turn to good for you.

Chapter XXXVI. WHAT WE OUGHT TO THINK OF THE WORLD

You ask me whether those who desire to live with some perfection should see so much of the world. Perfection does not consist in not seeing the world, but rather in not relishing it. The danger consists in what the sight of the world brings to us; for whoever sees it runs some risk of loving it: but whoso is very resolute and determined, the sight of it does not hurt him. In one word, the perfection of charity is the perfection of life; for the life of our soul is charity.

The first Christians were in the world bodily, but not in heart, and nevertheless did not fail of being very perfect.

I would not wish there should be any affectation in us. Sincerity and simplicity are our proper virtues. If the world despises us, let us rejoice; for it has reason to do so, since we know very well that we are worthy to be despised: if it values us, let us despise its value and its judgment, for it is blind. Trouble yourself very little with what the world thinks; despise its respect and its contempt, and leave it to say what it will, good or bad.

I do not at all approve of one s committing any fault for the sake of giving a bad opinion of oneself. It is always doing wrong, and making one s neighbour do wrong. On the contrary, I would wish that, keeping our eyes upon our Lord, we should do our actions without regarding what the world thinks of them, or what face it puts on them.

One may avoid giving a good opinion of oneself, but not seek to give a bad one, above all by faults intentionally committed. In a word, despise almost equally the good or bad opinion which the world may have of you, and do not at all trouble yourself about it. To say that you are not what the world thinks you, when it thinks well of you, that is good; for the world is a charlatan: it always says too much, whether for good or for ill. You will often be amidst the children of this world, who, according to their custom, will mock at whatever they see or suppose to be in you contrary to their miserable inclinations.

Do not amuse yourself by disputing with them; do not shew any sort of sadness at their attacks; but with joy laugh at their laughter, contemn their contempt, make sport of their advice, modestly jeer at their jeerings, and, without paying any attention to all that, go on cheerfully in the service of God; and, at the time of prayer, recommend these poor souls to the Divine mercy. They deserve compassion for finding their recreation, and what they call their innocent conversation, in laughing and joking at subjects worthy of respect and reverence.

Every thing passes away. After the few days of this mortal life that remain to us, the infinite eternity will come. Of little consequence is it that we have advantages or disadvantages here, provided that for all eternity we are blessed. Let this holy eternity which awaits us be your consolation, and to be a Christian, a child of Jesus Christ, regenerated in His blood: for in this alone lies our glory, that this Divine Saviour has died for us.

Chapter XXXVII. OF THE DEFECTS INTO WHICH WE FALL IN SPITE OF OUR DESIRES AFTER PERFECTION

You complain that many imperfections and many defects trouble your life, contrary to the desire which you have of perfection and of the purity of the love of our God. I reply to you, that it is not possible for us entirely to get rid of ourselves, so long as we are here below. We must needs carry ourselves about with us, until God carries us into heaven; and whilst we are carrying ourselves, we carry what is nothing worth.

We must, therefore, have patience, and not think that we can cure ourselves in one day of such a number of bad habits as we have contracted, in consequence of the little care we have taken of our spiritual health. There are those whom God has cured of them thoroughly all at one stroke, without leaving them any trace of their former malady; as He did in the case of St. Mary Magdalene, who in one instant was changed from a sink of corruption into a clear fountain of perfection, and was never troubled from that moment.

But on the other hand, the same God left in many of His dear disciples many marks of their evil inclinations some time after their conversion, and all for their greater profit: for instance, the blessed St. Peter, who, after his first vocation, fell several times into imperfections, and on one occasion all at once fell miserably.

Solomon says, that a bondwoman who all at once becomes mistress is likely to be very insolent. (Prov. xxx. 23.) There would be great danger lest a soul which has for a long time served its own passions and affections, should become haughty and vain, if in a moment it obtained a complete mastery over itself. It is necessary for us, little by little and step by step, to acquire this dominion, in the conquest of which saints have spent dozens of years.

You must, if you please, have patience with everybody, but first of all, with yourself. Have a little patience, and you will see that every thing will turn out to admiration; for this dear and sweet Saviour of our souls has not given us these ardent desires of serving Him without giving us the means of doing so. Doubtless He only retards the hour of the fulfillment of your holy desires to make you meet with a fulfillment more blessed; for do you see, this loving heart of our Redeemer measures and adjusts all the events of this world for the advantage ofsouls which, without reserve, wish to subject themselves to His Divine love. It will come, then, that good hour that you long for, in the day which this supreme Providence has named in the secret of His mercy; and then, with a thousand sorts of secret consolations, you will pour out your prayer before His divine goodness, who will turn your rocks into rivers of water, your serpent into a rod, and all the thorns of your heart into roses; yes, into sweetsmelling roses, which will refresh your spirit with their sweetness. For it is true that our faults, which, so long as they are in our souls, are thorns, by coming out therefrom through voluntary accusation, are changed into roses and perfumes; and as it is our wickedness that keeps them within our hearts, even so it is the goodness of the Holy Spirit that drives them forth.

Since you are strong enough to rise an hour before matins, and to make a meditation, I approve of it very highly. What a blessing is it to be thus all alone with God, without any person s knowing what passes between God and the heart, except God Himself and the heart that adores Him!

I approve of jmir exercising yourself in meditations on the life and passion of our Lord. In the evening, before supper, withdraw yourself for a quarter of an hour, or a short half-hour, either in the church or in your chamber, to rekindle the fire of the morning, either by resuming the same subject you have meditated on before, or taking for your subject Christ crucified; you will make a dozen fervent and loving aspirations to your Beloved, always renewing your good resolutions of being all His.

Chapter XXXVIII. PERFECTION IS NOT TO BE ACQUIRED IN A DAY

Oh, no, I pray you, do not suppose that the work which you have undertaken can be so soon accomplished. Cherry-trees soon bear fruit, because the fruit lasts but a short time; but palm-trees, the princes among the trees, do not yield their dates till long after they have been planted. A moderate virtue can be acquired in a year; but the perfection to which we aim cannot be acquired under several years time, at least in the ordinary way.

I hope that God will strengthen you more and more: and to the thought, or rather the temptation of sadness, or the fear that your present fervour and devotion will not last, reply once for all, that who they trust in God will never be confounded; and that for your soul and your spiritual affairs, as well as for your body and temporal affairs, you have cast your care on the Lord, and that He will take care of you. Let us serve God well to-day, and God will provide for to-morrow. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. Have no disquietude for the morrow, for God who reigns to-day will reign to-morrow, and for all ages of ages. If His goodness had thought, or rather had known that you would have need of a more immediate help than I can give you at this distance, He would have given it you, and always will give it you, whenever it is necessary to make up for the deficiency of mine. Abide, then, in peace. Godworketh from afar off as well as near, and calleth those things that are not as those that are (Rom. iv. 17) to the service ofthose who serve Him, without bringing them near to each other; absent in body, but present in spirit, says the Apostle. (1 Cor. v. 3.)

Avoid that word “fool;” and remember the saying of our Lord (St. Matt. v. 22), Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca (a word that means nothing, but only signifies some indignation), shall be in danger of the council; that is to say, deliberation shall be held how he must be punished.

As for that sort of lamentation about your being miserable and unfortunate, you ought by all means to be on your guard against it; for besides such words being unbecoming in a servant of God, they proceed from a heart too depressed, and are not so much symptoms of impatience as of anger.

Keep your courage high and elevated in that eternal Providence, who has named thee by thy name, and has graven thee on His hands; and in this greatness of confidence and courage practise diligently humility and sweetness.

Chapter XXXIX. WE SHOULD DAILY CONSIDER OURSELVES AS COMMENCING ANEW

It appears to me that our faults universally proceed from no other cause but this: namely, that we forget the maxim of the Saints, who have warned us that we ought every day to consider that we are commencing anew our advancement in our perfection; and if we thought well upon this, we would not be surprised at finding misery in ourselves, and something to retrench. The work is never finished; it must always be recommenced, and recommenced with a good heart. When the just shall have finished, says the Holy Spirit, then shall he begin.

What we have done up to the present time is good, but what we are about to begin shall be better; and when we shall have finished, we will recommence something else, which shall be still better; and then again something else, until we go out of this world, to commence another life, which shall have no end, because nothing better can happen to us.

Ought you, then, to be surprised if you find work to do in your soul, and ought you not to have courage always to go farther onwards, since you must never stand still? and ought you not to have courage to retrench, since the sword must reach even to the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow? (Heb. iv. 12.)

Observe well the precept of the Saints, who have all warned those who wish to become like them, to speak little or nothing of themselves and of the things which concern themselves.

Do not think, because you have changed your place of abode, that you are dispensed from the agreement which we made, that you should be sober in speaking of me as of yourself, unless the glory of the Master requires it: be a brief and exact observer of simplicity; self-love dazzles us. We ought to have very steady eyes not to be deceived in looking upon ourselves; for which reason the great Apostle cries out: Not he who commendeth himself is approved, but he whom God commendeth. (2 Cor. x. 18.) I prayed this morning with special fervour for our advancement in the holy love of God. “Ah,” said I, “O Saviour of our heart, since we are daily at Thy table to eat, not only Thy bread, but Thyself, who art our living and supersubstantial bread; grant that daily we may well and perfectly digest this most perfect viand, and that we may live perpetually on that sacred sweetness, goodness, and love.” Now God gives not so much desire to our heart, without having a will to favour us with some corresponding effect.

Let us hope, then, that the Holy Spirit will someday satiate us with His holy love; and meanwhile, let us hope continually, and let us make room for this holy fire by emptying our hearts of ourselves as much as is possible for us to do. How happy shall we be, if one day we change ourselves by this love, which, rendering us more one, will empty us utterly of all multiplicity, so as to have at heart only the sovereign unity of the Most Holy Trinity, to whom be blessing for ever, world without end! Amen.

Chapter XL. SEVERAL IMPORTANT ADMONITIONS FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

As there are no goods in this world altogether unbalanced by evils, we ought so to adjust our will that it may either not aim at advantages, or if it does aim at them, may sweetly accommodate itself to the disadvantages which are undoubtedly attached to them. We have no wine without lees in this world. We ought, then, to ask the question: Is it better that there should be thorns in our garden, in order that we may have roses in it, or to have no roses that we may have no thorns?

I pray of our sweet Saviour to diffuse His gentle and consoling sweetness over you, in order that you may repose holily, healthfully, tranquilly in Him; and that He may keep a fatherly watch over you, since He is the most sovereign love of our heart. For God’s sake I recommend to you our poor heart; comfort it, fortify it, refresh it as well and as much as you are able, in order that it may serve God; for it is on this account that we ought to treat it so. It is the lamb of the holocaust which we must offer to God; we must therefore keep it in good condition if possible. It is the bed of the Spouse, therefore we must sprinkle it with flowers. Console, then, this poor heart, and give it the greatest joy and peace that you can, in order that it may serve our Lord the better. Alas, what else have we to wish for but this? Live God! either nothing or God; for every thing which is not God is nothing, or is worse than nothing.

Lastly, let us be all at God’s service without reserve, without division, without any exceptions what ever, and without any other aim but the honour of being all His. If we have a single fibre of affection in our heart which is not His and from Him, let us instantaneously pluck it out. Let us, then, abide in peace, and let us say with the great lover of the

Cross: From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me, for I have the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. (Gal. vi. 17.) Yes, if we knew of one single atom of our heart which was not marked with the edge of the crucifix, we would not wish to keep it for a moment. Why should we disquiet ourselves? O my soul, hope in God: why art thou sad, and why dost thou trouble me? (Ps. xli.6) since my God is my God, and my heart is a heart that is all His.

I cannot think how you can admit those unmeasured sadnesses into your heart, being, as you are, a daughter of God long since placed in the bosom of His mercy, and consecrated to His love. You ought yourself to console yourself, by despising all those melancholy suggestions and sadnesses, which the enemy brings upon you with the sole design of wearying and embarrassing you.

Do not allow your mind to think too much of its miseries; allow God to work; He will bring some good out of them. Do not make many reflections about self-love s mingling itself in your actions; these sallies of self-love ought to be neglected. By disavowing them two or three times a day one is quit of them. One ought not to reject them by force of arms; it suffices simply to say “No.”

Take good care to practise the humble sweetness which you owe to every one; for that is the virtue of virtues which our Lord has so much recommended to us: and if you happen to fail in this, do not be troubled; but with all confidence rise again, to walk anew in peace and sweetness as before.

Chapter XLI. OF EXCITEMENT AND DISQUIETUDE IN THE PURSUIT OF VIRTUE

I tell you in truth, as it is written in the Book of Kings (3 Kings xix. 11,12), God is neither in the great and strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in those fires of your excitement and disquietude, but in that sweet and tranquil breathing of a gentle and almost imperceptible air. Allow yourself to be governed by God: think not so much of yourself. If you wish me to command you, I will do so willingly; and I will command you in the first place, that, having a general and universal resolution of serving God in the best way that you are able, you do not amuse yourself with examining and subtlely sifting out what is the best way of doing so. You know that God wills in general that we should serve Him by loving Him above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves: in particular, He wills you to keep a rule,—that is enough; you must do so in good faith, without refining and subtlety. Excitement and agitation of mind is of no use here. Desire indeed is good, but let it be without agitation; it is that excitement which I expressly forbid you, as it is the mother-imperfection of all imperfections.

Do not, then, examine so carefully whether you are in perfection or not: here are two reasons why you should not. One is, that it is to no purpose our examining ourselves in this way; since, were we the most perfect souls in the world, we ought never to know or be aware of it, but to esteem ourselves always as imperfect: our examen, then, ought never to be directed towards knowing whether we are imperfect, for of that we ought never to doubt. From thence it follows that we ought not to be surprised at finding ourselves imperfect, since we ought never to see ourselves otherwise in this life, nor be saddened on that account, for there is no remedy for it. I grant you most fully that we ought to humiliate ourselves because of it; for thereby we shall repair our defects and sweetly amend ourselves. Such is the exercise for which our imperfections are left to us, who are not excusable if we do not seek to amend them, or inexcusable if we fail of amending them completely; for it is not with imperfections as it is with sins.The other reason is, that this examen, when it is made with anxiety and perplexity, is only a loss of time; and those who make it are like musicians who make themselves hoarse with practising a motett; for the mind wearies itself with an examen so great and so continual, and when the time of execution arrives, it can do no more. This is my first commandment.

The other commandment, which is a consequence from the first one: If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome, says the Saviour. (St. Matt. vi. 22,) Simplify your judgment; do not make so many reflections and replies, but go on simply and with confidence: for you there is nothing else in the world but God and yourself. You have nothing to do with aught else, except so far as God commands it, and in the way in which He commands it to you.

I pray of you, do not look so much hither and thither; keep your eyes fixed on God and yourself. You will never see God without goodness, or yourself without misery; and you will see His goodness propitious to your misery, the object of His goodness and of His mercy. Therefore do not look at anything but this; I mean, with a fixed and settled gaze; and look at all the rest with a transient glance.

In the same way, avoid minutely examining what other people do, or what will become of them; but look on them with an eye simple, good, sweet, and affectionate. Do not require in them more perfection than in yourself, and do not be astonished at the diversity of imperfections; for imperfection is not greater imperfection merely because it is unusual. Behave like the bees,—suck the honey from all flowers and all herbs.My third commandme nt is, that you should behave as little children do. So long as they feel that their mother is holding them by the leading-strings, they go on boldly, and run all about, and are not startled at the little falls which the feebleness of their limbs occasions. Thus, whilst you perceive that God is holding you by the good will and resolution which He has given you of serving Him, go on boldly, and do not be startled at the little shocks you will meet with; and you must not be troubled at them, provided that at certain intervals you cast yourself into His arms, and kiss Him with the kiss of charity. Go on joyously, and with open heart, as much as you can; and if you do not always go on joyously, at least go on always courageously and confidently.

Do not avoid the society of the sisters, although it may not be to your taste; rather avoid your taste, when it is not according to the ways of the sisters. Love the holy virtue of forbearance and holy complaisance; and so, says St. Paul (Gal. vi. 2), you shall fulfil the law of Christ.

Chapter XLII. HOW WE MAY KNOW WHETHER OUR FEELINGS COME FROM GOD OR FROM THE DEVIL

Feelings and sweetnesses may come from the Friend or from the enemy of our souls; that is to say, from the evil one, or from Him who is All-holy. Now we may know from whence they come, by certain signs, amongst which are the following:

1. When we do not dwell upon them, but avail ourselves of them as though by way of recreation, thereafter to proceed with greater constancy, it is a good sign; for God sometimes gives them to us for this purpose. He condescends to our infirmity; He sees our spiritual taste is dull; He gives us a little sauce for our food, not in order that we may eat nothing but sauce, but that it may give us an appetite for solid meat. It is, then, a good sign when we do not dwell upon feelings; for the evil one, in giving feelings, wishes that we may dwell upon them, and that by eating sauce only, our spiritual stomach may be enfeebled and spoilt little by little.

2. Good feelings do not suggest to us any thought of pride; but on the contrary, if the evil spirit takes occasion from them to give us such thoughts, they strengthen us to reject them, in such wise, that the soul remains all humble and full of submission. On the contrary, a bad feeling, instead of making us think of our weakness, makes us think that it is given to us by way of recompense.

3. A good feeling, when passed, does not leave us weakened, but strengthened; nor afflicted, but consoled. A bad feeling, on the contrary, gives us some pleasure at its coming, and on departing, leaves us full of anguish.

4. A good feeling, at its departure, recommends us in its absence to caress, to serve, and to follow virtue, for our advancement, in which it was given to us; a bad feeling makes us believe that with it virtue has gone, and that we are unable to serve it.

Lastly, a good feeling does not wish us to love itself, but only Him who gives it; not that it does not give us reason to love it, but that is not what it seeks; a bad feeling, on the contrary, wishes itself to be loved by us above everything.

By these four or five marks, you will be able to know from whence your feelings come, and coming from God, they ought not to be rejected; but acknowledging that you are still a poor little child, take the milk from the hands of your Father, who from the compassion He bears you, still exercises towards you the office of mother.

Receive them, then, considering yourself feeble as to your spiritual stomach, since the physician gives you wine, notwithstanding the fever of the imperfections which are in you. But if St. Paul advised wine to his disciple (1 Tim. v. 23) because of his bodily infirmities, I may well advise you spiritual wine for your spiritual infirmities; but on condition that you are always ready to give it up, if such were the good pleasure of God.

Chapter XLIII. WHEREBY TO RECOGNISE THE GOODNESS OF ONE’S RELIGIOUS VOCATION

There are those who are truly called by God to religion, and who are not faithful in corresponding with the grace. There are others who are not so truly called, and who, by their fidelity, rectify their vocation. Thus we see some who come thither from vexation and weariness, others from, some misfortune which they have met with in the world, and others from defect of health or bodily beauty. And although these vocations would seem not to be good, we have seen some, who having thus come, have succeeded extremely well in the service of God: so incomprehensible are the ways of God, and His designs unsearchable, and nevertheless admirable in the variety of the means He uses to call His creatures to His service; and all these means ought to be honoured and reverenced.

How, then, amidst so great a variety of vocations, and from such different motives, shall one be able to discern the good from the bad, so as not to be deceived? This is a thing of great importance and very difficult; nevertheless, it is not so much so, that we are entirely destitute of means for discovering the goodness of a vocation. Now among several which I might mention, I will suggest one which is the best of all, and that is a firm and constant will to serve God in the manner and in the place to which one has been called by His divine majesty; and this is the best mark that one can have of having a good vocation.

But observe, that when I say a firm and constant will of serving God, I do not say that one does from the commencement all that one ought to do in one’s vocation, with a firmness and constancy so great as to exempt one from all repugnance, difficulty, or disgusts, or even from committing faults, or that it is so firm as never to waver or vary in its enterprise.

Oh, no! that is not what I mean to say; for everyone is subject to passions, changes, and vicissitudes; and a person will to-day love one thing, who tomorrow will love another: one day does not resemble another. It is not, then, by these different movements and feelings that we ought to judge of the firmness and constancy of the will; but rather, if amid this variety of diverse movements, the will remains firm, so as not to abandon the good which it has embraced; so that, to have a mark of good vocation, we do not need a sensible constancy, but a constancy which is in the superior part of the soul, and which is effective.

Therefore, to know whether one is called to religion, one need not wait for God to speak to our senses, or to send us an angel from heaven, or to impart revelations to us. Nor do we require an examination to be held by five or six doctors, to know whether the inspiration is good or bad, whether we ought to follow it or no; but we ought to correspond to it well, and to cultivate the first movement of grace, and then not to distress ourselves if disgusts and coldnesses arise: for if we always strive to keep our will very firm, in the determination of seeking the good which is shewn to us, God will not fail to make all turn out well to His glory.

Chapter XLIV. OF THE OBJECT AIMED AT IN ENTERING RELIGION

The object a person ought to have in view in entering into religion is by far the most important, the most necessary, and the most useful question which can be treated of. Certainly, many daughters enter into it without knowing why. They come into a parlour; they see there religious with a serene aspect, of good mein, very modest, extremely contented. They say to themselves, “My God! how good it is to be here! Let us go there: the world does not smile upon us; we shall not find in it what we seek.” Another will say, “My God! how well they sing in that convent!” Others come thither to find in it peace and consolations, and all sorts of sweetnesses, saying to themselves, “My God! how happy religious are! They are away from the noise of fathers and mothers who do nothing but scold: one can do nothing to satisfy them; it is always to begin again. Our Lord promises to those who quit the world for His service many consolations; let us therefore enter religion.”

Here are three sorts of objects which are nothing worth for entering into the House of God. It must of necessity be God who builds the city.

When an architect wishes to build a house, he does two things. First, he considers for whom the building is intended; for he proceeds differently according as it is meant for a private person or for a prince or for a king; he also, before he begins, sees whether he has sufficient means, that people may not mock him for having begun what he is not able to finish. Secondly, he pulls down the old building which is in the place where he wishes to build the new one.

We wish to make a great edifice, to establish within us the abiding-place of God. Consequently, let us consider very ripely whether we have courage and resolution enough to ruin and crucify ourselves, or rather to allow God Himself to ruin and crucify us, that He may make of us a living temple to His divine majesty.

I say, therefore, that our only aim ought to be to unite ourselves to God, as Jesus Christ united Himself to Him in dying on the Cross; for I am not here speaking of that general union which is made by baptism, in receiving the character of Christianity, and binding ourselves to keep its commandments and those of the Church, and to exercise ourselves in good works and the practice of the Christian virtues. But as for yourselves, it is not so with you; for beyond that obligation which you have in common with all Christians, God, by an altogether special love, has chosen you to be His dear spouses.

Chapter XLV. WHAT IT IS TO BE A RELIGIOUS

To be a religious is to be fastened and doubly fastened to God by a continual mortification of self; and to live only for God, our heart, our eyes, our tongue, our hands, serving His divine majesty always and continually. This is why you see that religion furnishes you with means entirely adapted to this purpose, which are meditation, spiritual reading, continual aspirations to our Lord, and retreats of the heart to repose oneself in God alone.

And because we cannot arrive at this state, except by a continual mortification of all our passions, inclinations, humours, and aversions, we are obliged to watch continually over ourselves, in order to make all this die. Unless, as our Lord saith, the grain of wheat falling into the ground, die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John xii. 24.)

This is why you who are aspiring to the habit, and you who are aspiring to the holy profession, consider well, and oftener than once, whether you have resolution enough to die to yourselves, and to live only to God. Weigh the whole matter well; for I declare to you, and do not at all wish to flatter you, that whoever wishes to live according to the senses, ought to remain in the world; and that it is only those who wish to live according to grace, who ought to enter into religion, which is nothing else than a school of the denial and mortification of self; thus you see that it furnishes you with several instruments of mortification, as well interior as exterior.

But, my God! you will tell me, this is not what I sought. I thought that it was enough, in order to be a good religious, to have the desire of meditating well, of partaking in visions and revelations, of seeing angels, of being ravished in ecstasy, of loving much to read good books: but what! I was so virtuous in the world, as it seemed to me, so mortified, so humble, every body admired me; and was it not to be very humble to speak sweetly to one’s friends on subjects of devotion, to talk over sermons at home, to treat those in the house kindly, especially when they did not contradict me? Oh, for the world that was good; but religion would have one do works worthy of one s vocation, by dying to oneself in every thing, as well in that which is good, according to our taste, as in that which is bad and unprofitable. Do you think that those good religious of the desert, who arrived at so great a union with God, arrived at it by following their inclinations? No, assuredly, they mortified themselves in the most holy things: and although they had great enjoyment in singing divine canticles, in reading, praying, and other things, they did not do this to please themselves; far from it: on the contrary, they voluntarily deprived themselves of those pleasures, to give themselves up to labour, and to the most painful works.

It is very true that religious souls receive a thousand sweetnesses and enjoyments, in the midst of the mortifications and exercises of holy religion; for it is principally they to whom the Holy Ghost imparts these precious gifts. In order therefore to have them, it is necessary that they seek God only, and occupy themselves with nothing but the mortification of their humours, passions, and inclinations; for if they seek anything else, they will never find the consolation at which they aim.

It is necessary to have an invincible courage never to be wearied out with ourselves, because there is always something to do or to retrench; for we shall never be perfectly healed until we are in paradise. A sister will feel herself disposed to meditate, to say office, to be in retreat, and they will say to her: “My sister, attend in the kitchen, or do something else.” This is bad news for a daughter who is very devout: these are hard words: you must die; but they are followed by very sweet words: die to be united to God by that death. You know that no wise person puts new wine into old bottles; in the same way, the wine of divine love cannot enter where the old Adam reigneth: it is absolutely necessary to destroy it.

Chapter XLVI. OF THE QUALITIES WHICH A NOVICE OUGHT TO HAVE IN ORDER TO BE ADMITTED TO PROFESSION

The first condition is, that a novice whom they receive to profession should have a good heart; that is, a heart disposed to live in an entire submission and obedience.

The second condition is, that she should have a good understanding. Now, when I say a good understanding, I do not mean to imply those brilliant talents, which are generally vain, and full of self-will and self-sufficiency, and which, when in the world, were but the workshops of vanity. This sort of spirits enter religion, not to humble themselves, but to conduct and govern everything, and as if they wished to give lessons in philosophy and theology.

Now it is about these we ought to be very cautious: I do not say that we ought not to receive them; but I do say that we ought to be very cautious about them; for in them, and by the grace of God, they may greatly change; and this will no doubt come to pass, if they avail themselves with fidelity of the remedies which are given them for their cure.

When, therefore, I speak of a good understanding, I mean to speak of such as are rightly made, and of right judgment; and further, of moderate understandings, neither too great nor too small; for such minds always do a great deal, and all the time without their knowing it.

They set themselves to act, and devote themselves to the solid virtues: they are tractable, and one has not much trouble in guiding them; for they easily comprehend how good a thing it is to allow them selves to be guided.

The third condition required is, for the novice to have laboured well during her year of noviciate, to have profited well by the remedies prescribed to her, to have been very faithful to the resolutions she adopted on entering the noviciate, to change her evil humours and inclinations; for the year of noviciate was given her for no other purpose.

But if it be manifest that she has persevered faithfully in her resolutions, and that her will remains firm and constant to go forward, and that she has applied herself to reform herself according to the rules and constitutions, and that this determination remains, so that she wishes continually to do better, it is a good sign, and you may vote for her, even though there may have been faults in her, even of some moment; for it ought not to be required that at the end of her noviciate she should be perfect.

Look at the College of Apostles, although they were truly called, and although they had laboured much in the reformation of their manners, how many faults did they not commit, not only in the first year, but also in the second and third! I mean to say by this, that falls ought not to be the cause of your rejecting a daughter, when amidst all this she remains with a firm determination of correcting herself, and is willing to avail herself of the means afforded her for that object.

Chapter XLVII. HOW THE SPIRIT OF ONE’S VOCATION IS TO BE PRESERVED

The only means of preserving the spirit of one’s vocation, and of preventing it from being dissipated, is to keep it shut up in the observance of the rules. But you tell me that there are some so jealous of this spirit, that they would not even let it be known outside of the house. There is superfluity in this jealousy, which ought to be diminished; for to what end, I pray you, should you wish to conceal from your neighbour what may be profitable to him? I am not of this opinion, for I should wish that all the good which is in this house should be recognised and known by every body; and this is why I have always thought that it would be good to have its rules and constitutions printed, in order that several, by seeing them, might derive some advantage from them.

God grant that many persons might be found who would wish to practise them! We should soon see great changes in them, which would turn out to God’s glory, and to the salvation of their souls.

Be extremely careful to preserve the spirit of your vocation, but not in such a way that this care shall hinder you from communicating it charitably and with simplicity to your neighbour, to each one according to his capacity; and do not suppose that it will be dissipated by this communication; for charity spoils nothing; on the contrary, it brings every thing to perfection.

Chapter XLVIII. OF DISGUST FOR ONE’S VOCATION

The idea of quitting your state has all the true marks of temptation that one could possibly find. But God be praised that in this assault the citadel has not yet surrendered, nor, as I think, is ready to surrender.

O God! take great heed against the wish to go out; for there is no middle course between your going out and your being lost. For do you not see that you would only go out to live to yourself, of yourself, by yourself, and in yourself; and that the more dangerously because it would be under pretext of union with God, who nevertheless wills not to have, and never will have union with those singular souls who quit their vocation, their vows, their congregation, from bitterness of heart, from chagrin, from vexation, and from disgust at the society, at obedience, at the rules, and at holy observance.

Oh, see you not St. Simeon Stylites, so ready to quit his column at the advice of the elders? and you, you will not give up your abstinence at the advice of so many good people, who have no interest in making you give it up, except to make you quit and exempt of your self-love.

Sing from henceforth the canticle of love. Oh, how good and how pleasant it is for sisters to dwell together in unity! (Ps. cxxxii. 1.) Treat your temptation roughly. Say to it: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Deut. vi. 16.) Go behind me, Satan, thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. (St. Mark viii. 33; St. Luke iv. 8.)

I leave you to think. Yon genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament, as if with a feeling of disgust; and then the temptation ensues: what greater marks of temptation could one have? The force of inspirations is humble, sweet, tranquil, and holy; and how, then, could your inclination be an inspiration, when it is so fretful, so hard, and so morose?

Withdraw yourself from it. Treat this temptation as you would treat that of blasphemy, of treason, of heresy, of despair; do not discourse with it, do not capitulate, do not listen to it: cross it as much as you can by frequent renewals of your vows, by frequent submissions to your superioress. Often invoke your good angel, and I hope that you will find the peace and the sweetness of the love of your neighbour. Sing in the choir always with the greater perseverance, the more the temptation says to you: Be silent; imitating that holy blind man, of whom it is said in the Gospel (St. Mark x. 48) , Many rebuked him that he might hold his peace; but he cried a great deal the more. Son of David, have mercy on me.

Chapter XLIX. OF THE CONVERSATION OF RELIGIOUS PERSONS WITH SECULARS

You ask me, whether, supposing it happened one day that a superioress had such an inclination to be complaisant to secular persons, under the notion of their profiting by it, as to leave that particular care which she ought to have of the sisters placed under her charge, or not to have time enough to attend to the affairs of the house, because of remaining too long in the parlour; would she not be obliged to retrench this inclination, although her inclination was good?

I reply to this, that superioresses ought to be extremely affable to seculars, in order to be of use to them, and to bestow on them with a good heart a portion of their time; but how much, think you, ought this portion to be? The twelfth part, the other eleven remaining to be employed in the house, in the care of the family.

Bees go a good deal out of their hive; but this is only for the sake of necessity or profit, and they make but a short stay before they return; and above all, the queen-bee rarely goes out, except, for instance, she is making a swarm of bees, when she is all surrounded by her little people. Religion is a mystical hive, all full of spiritual bees, which are assembled to eat the honey of celestial virtues; and this is why the superioress, who is among them as it were the queenbee, ought to be careful not to leave them, in order to teach them the way of acquiring the virtues and of preserving them.

Nevertheless, she ought not, on that account, to fail of conversing with secular persons, when necessity or charity requires it; but beyond this, the superioress ought to be brief with seculars, unless it be with persons of great dignity, whom she must not displease, or persons who only come seldom, or from a great distance; apart from these cases, she ought not to leave office and meditation, unless charity absolutely requires it.

As for the visits of persons who may be freely dispensed with, the portress ought to say that you are at meditation or office; would it please them to wait, or to call again. But if it happens that for some great cause you go to the parlour at those times, at least recover time afterwards to perform your meditation as fully as you can; for as for office, nobody doubts your being obliged to say that.

As for the sisters, they ought never to spend their time with seculars, under the notion of gaining souls for the house. Oh, certainly, there is no occasion for that; for if they keep themselves retired, to do well what belongs to their duty, they ought to entertain no doubt but that our Lord will provide sufficiently for that.

Chapter L. GOD ORDINARILY GIVES US AN INCLINATION FOR THE STATE TO WHICH HE CALLS US

The advice which was so continually given to you to remain in the service of your father, in order to be in a position hereafter to consecrate yourself, body and soul, to our Lord, was based upon a great number of consolations, drawn from various circumstances of your condition; and for this reason, if your mind were in a state of full and entire indifference, I should without doubt have told you to follow that advice, as the most worthy and proper course that could be proposed to you; for such it would have been, without any doubt.

But since your mind is not at all in a state of in difference, but, on the contrary, altogether bent on choosing marriage, and since, although you have had recourse to God, you still find yourself drawn in that direction, it is not expedient for you to do violence to so strong an impression, by any sort of consideration; for all those circumstances, which otherwise would have been more than sufficient to make me come to the same conclusion as the person who advised you, have no weight whatever beside that strong and settled inclination which you feel. If this were slight, it would, in truth, be of little importance; but being strong and decided, it ought to be the basis of your resolution.

If, then, the husband proposed for you is otherwise suitable, a good man, and of a kind disposition, you may with prudence accept him. I say, if he is of a kind disposition, because your deficiency in personal appearance requires this; as it requires of you to balance that defect by great sweetness, sincere love, and a very resigned humility; and, in fine, it makes up generally for bodily defects, by true virtue and perfection of mind.

The state of marriage is a state which requires more virtue and constancy than any other. It is a perpetual exercise of mortification: it will be so for you perhaps more than it would be for another. You must therefore dispose yourself for it with a particular care, in order that, from this plant of thyme, you may, in spite of the bitterness of its juice, draw the honey of a holy life and conversation. May the sweet Jesus be for ever to you the honey which makes sweet your vocation: may He for ever live and reign in our hearts!

Chapter LI. MISTRUST THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS LIFE, AND LABOUR FOR ETERNITY

I perceive that you are well supplied with the goods of the present life. Take care that your heart does not remain attached to them. Solomon, the wisest of men, began his miserable fall by the pleasure he took in the greatness, the splendour, and the magnificent apparel which he had, although it was all in keeping with his rank.

Let us consider that what we have does not in reality make us anything more than the rest of the world; and that all this is nothing before God and the angels.

Recollect to do the will of God well on occasions that present the most difficulty. It is doing little to please God in what pleases ourselves. Filial fidelity requires that we should be ready to please Him in what displeases ourselves; having always before our eyes what the great beloved Son said of Himself: I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me (St. John vi. 38); for are you not a Christian in order to do the will of Him who adopted you to be His child, and to receive His eternal inheritance?

For the rest, you are going away, and I too am going away, without any hope of seeing you again in this world. Let us earnestly pray God to grant us the grace of so living according to His good pleasure in this pilgrimage, that being arrived in our heavenly country, we may be able to rejoice that we saw each other here below, and that we talked of the mysteries of eternity. Herein alone can we rejoice that we knew each other in this life, that it was all for the glory of His Divine Majesty and our eternal salvation.

Keep that holy cheerfulness of heart, which nourishes the strength of the mind, and edifies one’s neighbour. Go in peace, and God be for ever your protector. May He for ever hold you by His hand, and conduct you in the path of His holy will.

Chapter LII. WE MEET WITH ALL SEASONS IN OUR SOULS

My God! how well you do to deposit your desire of leaving this world in the hands of heavenly Providence, so that it may not uselessly occupy your mind! Let us pray to God, and let us supplicate His will to manifest itself: let us dispose our will to desire nothing but through His and for His; and let us abide in peace, without excitement or agitation of mind.

I perceive that you meet with all the seasons of the year in your soul; that sometimes you feel the winter of manifold barrenness, detraction, sadness, and weariness; sometimes the dews of the month of May, with the odour of the holy flowers; sometimes the summer-heats of the desire of pleasing our good God. There only remains autumn, of the fruits of which, as you say, you do not see much; but it very often happens, that in thrashing the com and pressing the grapes, much greater abundance is obtained than the harvest and the vintage seemed to promise.

You would be very glad if it were all spring and summer; but no, there must be vicissitudes within as well as without. In heaven, indeed, all will be spring as to beauty, all autumn as to enjoyment, all summer as to love; there will be no winter. But here the winter is required for the exercise of self-denial, and of a thousand little virtues which are exercised in the time of sterility.

Let us always go on in our steady pace: provided that we have a good and resolute affection, we cannot but go on well. No, there is no need, in order to the exercise of the virtues, to keep one s attention always actually fixed upon all of them: that would in truth embarrass your thoughts and affections. Humility and charity are the great cords to which all the others are fastened; it is only necessary to hold well to those two; one of them is the lowest, and the other the highest: the preservation of the whole edifice depends on the foundation and the roof. Keeping the heart attentive to the exercise of these, one has no great difficulty in dealing with the others. These are the mothers of the virtues, which follow them as infants follow their mother.

Indeed, I do strongly approve of your teaching school. God will be pleased with you for it; for He loves the little ones. And as I said the other day at Catechism, to induce our ladies to take pains with the girls, the guardian angels of little children love with a particular affection those who bring them up in the fear of God, and who insinuate holy devotion into their tender souls; as, on the contrary, our Lord threatens those who scandalise them with the vengeance of their angels. (St. Matt, xviii. 10; and St. Mark ix. 41.)

Ah, my God! how much I owe to that Saviour who loveth us so much! How would I wish once for all to embrace Him, and to clasp Him to my heart! May Jesus for ever be in our hearts; may He live and reign there eternally!

Ever-blessed be His holy Name, and that of His glorious mother. Amen. Live Jesus, and die the world, if it wills not to live unto Jesus. Amen.

Chapter LIII. WHAT IS MEANT BY LIVING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT AND ACCORDING TO THE FLESH

To live according to the spirit, is to live, speak, and act according to the virtues which are in the spirit, and not according to the senses and sentiments which are in the flesh. We ought to make use of the latter, to reduce them to subjection, and not to live according to them; but as for these spiritual virtues, we ought to serve them, and to subject to them everything else.

What are these virtues of the spirit? It is faith, which shews us truths raised altogether above the senses; hope, which makes us aspire to invisible good; charity, which makes us love God more than all, and our neighbours as ourselves, not with a sensual or natural, or interested love, but with a love pure, solid, and invariable, which has its foundation in God.

Do you see? The human sense resting on the flesh, often causes us not sufficiently to throw ourselves into the hands of God, imagining to ourselves that, because we are worth nothing, God cannot regard us; because men who live according to human wisdom despise those who are not useful to them: on the contrary, the spirit, resting on faith, encourages itself in the midst of difficulties, because it knows well that God loves, supports, and succours the wretched, provided that they hope in Him.

Moreover sense would have a share in everything that passes; and it loves itself so much, that it fancies nothing is good unless it meddles in the matter. The spirit, on the contrary, attaches itself to God; and says often, that whatever is not God is nothing to it: and since, out of charity, it takes part in the things which are imparted to it, so, from renunciation and humility, it voluntarily gives up its part in things which are concealed from it.

To live according to the spirit, is to love according to the spirit; to live according to the flesh, is to love according to the flesh. For love is the life of the soul, as the soul is the life of the body. Suppose a person is very amiable in disposition and pleasing in manners, and I have an affectionate regard for that person; suppose a person loves me well, and places me under great obligations, and I shew a return of affection for that reason; who does not see that I am loving, not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh? For even brute creatures, which have no soul, but only flesh and sensation, love their benefactors and those who are kind and agreeable to them. Another person is rude, rough, and uncivil; but after all is very devout, and even anxious to acquire gentler and sweeter manners; and so, not from any pleasure or interest I have rn the acquaintance, I enter into that person s society, do him services, and shew kind feeling and friendship towards him. This love is according to the spirit, for the flesh has no part in it.

I have no confidence in myself, and I would willingly be allowed to live according to this inclination. Who does not see that this is not living according to the spirit? Certainly it is not; for when I was quite young, and had no experience at all, I already shewed that disposition. But although, by my natural temper, I am fearful and timid, nevertheless I wish to try and overcome these natural failings, and, little by little, to do well every thing appertaining to that office which obedience, derived from God, has imposed up on me. Who does not see that this is to live according to the spirit?

To live according to the spirit, is to do the actions, say the words, and produce the thoughts which the Spirit of God demands of us; and when I say produce the thoughts, I mean those which are voluntary. I am sad, and I do not choose to speak: parrots act in this way. I am sad; but since charity requires me to speak, I will do so: spiritual persons act in this way. I am overlooked or despised, and I am annoyed at it: peacocks and monkeys shew this disposition. I am overlooked or despised, and I rejoice at it: the Apostles shewed this disposition. (Acts v. 41.)

To live, therefore, according to the spirit, is to do what faith, hope, and charity teach us, whether in things temporal or in things spiritual.

Chapter LIV. GOD THINKS OF US, AND LOOKS ON US WITH LOVE, IN SPITE OF OUR WEAKNESSES

You ask me if our Lord thinks of you, and if He looks upon you with love? Yes, He thinks of you, and not only of you, but of the least hair of your head. (St. Matt. x. 30; Acts xxvii. 34.) It is an article of faith; we must in nowise doubt of it. But I also know well that you do not doubt of it: but you only express in this way the aridity, the dryness, and insensibility in which the inferior part of your soul just now finds itself. Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not, said Jacob (Genesis xxviii. 1 6); that is to say, I did not perceive it, I had no feeling of it, it did not seem to me to be so.

And as to God’s looking on you with love, of this you have no reason to doubt; for He lovingly be holds the most horrible sinners in the world, little true desire as they have of conversion. What! tell me, have you not the intention of belonging to God? do you not desire to serve Him faithfully? And who gives you this desire and this intention, if not Him self, with His loving regard?

You ought not to examine whether your heart is pleasing to Him; but you certainly ought to examine whether His heart is pleasing to you; and if you look upon His heart, it will be impossible for it not to please you; for it is a heart so gentle, so sweet, so condescending, so loving towards frail creatures, provided they acknowledge their misery, so gracious towards the miserable, so good towards the penitent; and who would not love this royal heart, so full of tenderness for us?

You say well that these temptations happen to you, because your heart is without tenderness towards God; for it is true, that if you had tenderness, you would have consolation; and if you had consolation, you would not be in sorrow. But the love of God does not consist in consolation or in tenderness, else our Lord did not love His Father, when He was sorrowful even unto death, and when He cried out: My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me? (St, Matt, xxvii. 46.) But it was, nevertheless, then that He made the greatest act of love that it is possible to imagine.

No doubt we would like always to have a little consolation and sugar on our food; that is to say, to have the sentiments of love and tenderness, and consequently consolation: but we must submit with patience to belong not to the angelic nature, but to the human. Our imperfections ought not to please us; on the contrary, we ought to say with the holy Apostle: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. vii.24.) But this ought neither to astonish us, nor to take away our courage: we even ought to derive from it submission, humility, and mistrust of ourselves, but not discouragement, nor affliction of heart, much less mistrust of the love of God towards us; for God indeed loves not our imperfections and our venial sins; but He loves us well, notwithstanding those sins. Thus, as the weakness and infirmity of a child is not pleasing to its mother, but for all that she not only does not cease on that account to love it, but loves it tenderly and with compassion; so, although God loves not our imperfections and our venial sins, He does not fail to love us tenderly; whence David had reason to say to God: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. (Ps. vi. 3.)

Now, that is enough; live cheerfully: our Lord looks upon you, and looks upon you with love, and with so much the more tenderness, because you are weak. Never allow your mind voluntarily to nourish contrary thoughts; and when they do occur to you, do not look at them themselves: turn away your eyes from their iniquity, and return to God with a courageous humility, to speak to Him of His unspeakable goodness with which He loveth us, poor, abject, and weak as we are.

Chapter LV. THAT WE OUGHT TO CONQUER OUR EVIL INCLINATIONS WITHOUT DISTRESSING OURSELVES ABOUT THEM

I see clearly that swarm of inclinations which self-love feeds, and pours over your heart; and I know full well that the temper of your mind, subtle, delicate, and active, contributes something to this: but for all that, they are nothing whatever but inclinations, and since you feel that they distress you, and your heart bewails them, there is no appearance they are accepted by any consent, or at least by deliberate consent.

No, your dear soul having conceived the great desire with which God has inspired it, of being none but His, do not readily believe that it lends its consent to these contrary movements. Your heart may be agitated by the feeling of its passions, but I think that it rarely sins with consent. Unhappy man that I am, said the great Apostle, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! (Rom. vii. 24.)

He was conscious of an army composed of his feelings, aversions, habits, and natural inclinations, which had conspired his spiritual death: and because he fears them, he shews that he hates them; and because he hates them, he cannot support them without sorrow, and his sorrow makes him break out into that vehement exclamation, to which he himself makes answer, that the grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord will deliver him; not from fear, not from fright, not from alarm, not from the combat, but from defeat, and will save him from being vanquished.

To be in this world, and not to feel these movements of passion, are incompatible things. Our glorious St. Bernard says, that it is heresy to say that we can persevere in the same state here below; inasmuch as the Holy Ghost has said by the mouth of Job, in speaking of man, that he never continueth in the same state. (Job xiv. 2.) This serves for an answer to what you say of the levity and inconstancy of your soul; for I believe firmly that it is continually agitated by the blasts of its passions, and that consequently it is always in agitation: but I also believe firmly that the grace of God, and the resolution which it has given you, remains continually at the point of your spirit, where the standard of the cross is always flying, and where faith, hope, and charity are always loudly proclaiming, Live Jesus!

Do you see, these inclinations of pride, of vanity, and of self-love, intermeddle every where, and intrude their ideas, with or without our perceiving it, into almost all our actions? but for all that they are not the motives of our actions. St. Bernard, feeling one day that they were troubling him whilst he was preaching, “Depart from me, Satan,” said he; “I did not begin for thee, I will not end for thee.”

I have only one remark to make on your writing to me; and that is, that you foster your pride by affectation in your conversation and in your letters. In conversation certainly, affectation enters so insensibly that one scarcely perceives it; but still, if one does perceive it, one ought immediately to change one’s manner; but in letters, this fault is, in truth, a little, or rather a great deal less to be tolerated, for you see better what you are about; and if in writing you do perceive any notable affectation, you ought to punish the hand which wrote it, by making it write another letter in a different style.

To conclude, I doubt not that amidst so great a number of turnings and windings of the heart, here and there some venial faults will slip in; but for all that, as they are of a passing nature, they do not deprive us of the fruits of our resolutions, but only of the sweetness which there would be in not falling into those faults at all, if the condition of this life allowed of it.

Furthermore, be just: neither excuse nor accuse your poor soul, except on ripe consideration; for fear that, if you excuse it without good grounds, you may make it insolent; and if you accuse it inconsiderately, you may lower its courage and make it pusillanimous. Proceed with simplicity, and you will proceed with confidence. Do not burden your feeble body with any other austerities but those which the rule imposes on you. Preserve your bodily strength to serve God in those spiritual exercises which we are often constrained to lay aside, when we have indiscreetly over burdened the body, which must needs unite with the soul in performing them.

Chapter LVI. OF THE TEAKS OF PIETY

As to your not having tears, your heart is not to blame for that; for the want of them is not owing to any absence of resolution, or of lively desires of loving God, but to the absence of sensible passion, which does not depend upon our heart, but upon other circumstances which are out of our own control. For just as in this world it is not possible for us to make it rain when we please, or to hinder its raining when we wish it to be fair; so in devotion it is not in our own power to weep when we please, nor to leave off weeping when an impetuous flood of tears comes upon us. This arises most generally, not from any fault of ours, but from the providence of God, which would have us make our journey by land and through the desert, and not by water, and would have us accustom our selves to labour and to trouble.

Keep yourself firm in this position, that your heart may be entirely fixed on God; for there is none better than that. Finally, do not wish for persecutions to try your faithfulness; for it is better to wait for those which God shall send you, than to wish for them.

Chapter LVII. OF SUSPECTED REVELATIONS

As for the visions, revelations, and predictions of this good daughter, they are in my opinion infinitely suspicious, and more, they are unprofitable, vain, and unworthy of consideration. For, on the one hand, they are so frequent, that that of itself makes them worthy of suspicion; on the other hand, they imply manifestations of certain things which God very rarely reveals, such as the assurance of eternal salvation, the confirmation in grace, the degree of holiness of various persons, and a hundred other matters of the like kind, which serve no purpose whatever. There is a case in point afforded by St. Gregory, who being asked by a lady of honour belonging to the court of the empress, who was called Gregoria, concerning the state of her future salvation, replied: “My daughter, you ask me a question which is alike difficult and unprofitable.”

Now to say that hereafter we shall know why these revelations are made, is a pretext which the maker of them adopts to avoid the blame attaching to the unprofitableness of such things.

Another consideration is, that when God wills to accomplish His purposes by means of revelations given to His creatures, He ordinarily causes to go before them either true miracles, or a very special holiness in those who receive them: and so the evil spirit, when he wishes notably to deceive some person, before making him utter false revelations, he causes him to make false presages, and to carry on a course of life of false holiness.

In the time of the blessed sister Mary of the Incarnation, there was a daughter of humble rank who was deceived by the most extraordinary deception which it is possible to imagine. The enemy, in the shape of our Lord, for a very long time said the divine office with her, in so melodious a chant that it kept her in a perpetual ecstacy; he communicated her very frequently under the semblance of a resplendent and silvery cloud, through which he caused a false host to come to her mouth; he made her live without eating anything; when she carried alms to the gate, he multiplied the bread in her apron; so that if she only carried bread for three persons, and there were thirty at the gate, she had sufficient to give abundance to all, and bread of the most delicious taste, portions of which were sent to various places by way of devotion.

This daughter had so many revelations, that at last it rendered her suspected. She was sent to reside with the blessed sister Mary of the Incarnation, at that time a married person; where, being a servant, and treated rather harshly by the late Mons.–, it was discovered that she was by no means a saint, and there was nothing in the world in her but a heap of false visions.

Nevertheless, as I told you, you ought not to ill treat this poor girl, but only shew to her a total neglect and a perfect contempt for all her revelations and visions, without amusing yourself either with refuting or combating them; but, on the contrary, when she wishes to speak of them, you must put her off, that is, change the subject of conversation, and speak to her of solid virtues and of the perfection of the religious life, and particularly of the simplicity of the faith, by which saints have gone forward without visions or particular revelations.

Chapter LVIII. OF SENSIBLE GRACE

When grace makes itself felt in a soul, what is there that soul does not do? Her modesty appears before all the world; she gives an unequalled edification; she makes herself admired by all those who see her; mortifications, she says, cost me nothing: they are to me consolations; obediences are only enjoyments to me: I no sooner hear the first sound of the bell than I am up; I allow myself to neglect no practice of virtue; and all this I do with a very great peace and tranquility.

But the moment grace ceases to make itself felt, that soul speaks a very different language. Now that I have lost enjoyment in prayer, I have no heart to improve myself; I feel nothing of that ardour I used to feel in my exercises; in a word, frost and chillness have come over me.

Alas, so I thought. See, I pray you, how this poor soul bemoans herself; her discontent even appears on her countenance; she has a downcast and melancholy expression, and she goes about pensive and out of sorts.

My God, what is the matter with you? one is constrained to say to that soul. Oh, merely that I am so downcast and languid, that nothing can please me, and every thing is wearisome to me; I have almost lost the courage to aim at perfection any longer.

My God, what weakness! consolation fails, and at the same time courage fails. Now we ought not to do so; but the more God deprives us of consolation, the more we ought to labour to shew to Him our fidelity. One single act done in dryness of spirit is worth more than many acts done in consolation; because it is done with a stronger love, though it may not be with a love so tender or so consoling.