{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73661/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73661","id":"gutenberg_73661","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73661","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian saints -- Quotations","Christianity -- Quotations","Devotional calendars","Francis, de Sales, Saint, 1567-1622 -- Quotations"],"text":"_=Maxims and Counsels=_\n\n OF\n\n ST. FRANCIS DE SALES\n\n _=For Every Day of the Year=_.\n\n\n TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY\n\n MISS ELLA M^cMAHON\n\n _=Second Edition.=_\n\n DUBLIN\n M. H. GILL & SON\n 50 UPPER SACKVILLE STREET\n 1884\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n_=Imprimatur=_:\n\n JOHN, CARDINAL McCLOSKEY,\n\n ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK.\n\n _September 4, 1882._\n\n\n_=Re-imprimatur=_:\n\n \u2720 EDUARDUS CARD. MAC CABE,\n\n ARCHIEPISCOPUS DUBLINENSIS, HIBERNI\u00c6 PRIMAS.\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nPIOUS SOUL:\n\nThe Spiritual Father who presents himself to you under this title is the\ngentle Bishop of Geneva, who, in the opinion of St. Jane Chantal and St.\nVincent de Paul, was the most perfect imitation of our Saviour living\namong men.\n\n\nLove for souls is his great passion. He is not astonished at either\nfalls or discouragement, which he cures by remedies as gentle as they\nare efficacious. Whatever your disposition you will find sometimes a\nword of consolation, sometimes a counsel of perfection, or a means of\naccomplishing a difficult step in the ways of God, and of elevating\nyourself to Him.\n\nThis collection is like the inner life of the Saint unconsciously\nwritten by himself. He first practised, and then taught. One is gentle\nfrom motives of virtue, only when he possesses moral strength; now we\nfind in these lines the secret of that strength which made St. Francis\nde Sales the gentlest of men. He admirably inculcates the method of\nsanctity which he perfectly possessed\u2014a sanctity which seems so easy to\nrealise that we feel a desire to reproduce it. It is the flower which\nthe Spiritual Father causes to bloom in your soul. It will soon bear\nfruit if you are faithful.\n\n_These counsels have been carefully gleaned from the complete collection\nof the holy Doctor._\n\n\n\n\n MAXIMS AND COUNSELS\n\n OF\n\n _=ST. FRANCIS DE SALES=_\n\n FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.\n\n\n 1.\n\nKeep yourself faithfully in the presence of God; avoid hurry and\nanxiety, for there are no greater obstacles to our progress in\nperfection.\n\n\n 2.\n\nCast your heart gently, not violently, into the wounds of our Saviour;\nhave an unlimited confidence in his mercy and goodness.\n\n\n 3.\n\nTo make good progress we must devote ourselves to getting over that\nportion of the path which lies close before us, and not amuse ourselves\nwith the desire to attain the last step before we have accomplished the\nfirst.\n\n\n 4.\n\nWe must make our imperfections die with us from day to day. Dear\nimperfections, which cause us to recognise our misery, which exercise us\nin contempt of self, and the practice of virtue, and notwithstanding\nwhich God accepts the preparation of our hearts which is perfect.\n\n\n 5.\n\nI recommend simplicity to you; look before you, and not at the dangers\nwhich you behold in the distance. Keep your will firmly bent upon\nserving God with your whole heart. While you are thus occupied in\nforecasting the future you expose yourself to some false step.\n\n\n 6.\n\nHave no care for the morrow; think only of doing well to-day, and when\nto-morrow shall have become to-day then we shall think about it.\n\n\n 7.\n\nWe must make a provision of manna for each day only; and let us not be\nafraid that God will fail to send down more upon us to-morrow and the\nday after to-morrow, and every day of our pilgrimage.\n\n\n 8.\n\nSince the Heart of our Lord has no more loving law than meekness,\nhumility, and charity we must firmly maintain these dear virtues in us.\n\n\n 9.\n\nTrue sanctity lies in love of God, and not in foolish imaginings,\nraptures, &c. Let us devote ourselves to the practice of true meekness\nand submission, to renouncement of self, to docility of heart, to love\nof abjection, to consideration for the wishes of others: this is true\nsanctity and the most amiable ecstasy of the children of God.\n\n\n 10.\n\nMay you belong to God for ever in this mortal life, serving Him\nfaithfully through its trials, bearing the cross after Him, and may you\nbe his for ever in life eternal with the whole celestial court!\n\n\n 11.\n\nThe great good of our souls is to live for God, and the greatest good to\nlive for God alone.\n\n\n 12.\n\nHe who lives but for God is never sad, save at having offended God.\n\n\n 13.\n\nHe who lives but for God seeks only God, and since God is with him in\nadversity as well as in prosperity, he dwells in peace in the midst of\ntribulation.\n\n\n 14.\n\nHe who lives but for God frequently thinks of Him during all the\noccupations of life.\n\n\n 15.\n\nThen let us belong wholly to Him, and live but for Him, desiring only to\nplease Him, and for his creatures in Him, through Him, and for Him.\n\n\n 16.\n\nMake your little efforts sweetly, peacefully, and amiably to please this\nSovereign Goodness, and do not be astonished at difficulties.\n\n\n 17.\n\nWe must be constant in aspiring to the perfection of holy love, in order\nthat love may be perfect; for the love which seeks anything less than\nperfection cannot fail to be imperfect.\n\n\n 18.\n\nNever permit your soul to be sad and live in bitterness of spirit or\nscrupulous fear, since He who loved it and died to give it life is so\ngood, so sweet, so amiable.\n\n\n 19.\n\nTo live contentedly in our exile, we must keep before our eyes the hope\nof our arrival in the country where we shall live for ever.\n\n\n 20.\n\nGod, who calls us to Him, sees how we are approaching, and will never\npermit anything to happen but what is for our greater good.\n\n\n 21.\n\nGod knows what we are, and will hold out his paternal hand to us in a\ndifficult step, in order that nothing may arrest us.\n\n\n 22.\n\nNever look forward to the accidents of life with apprehension;\nanticipate them with a perfect hope that God, whose child you are, will\ndeliver you from them, according as they come.\n\n\n 23.\n\nGod has preserved you so far; only keep yourself faithful to the law of\nhis providence and He will assist you at all times, and where you cannot\nwalk He will carry you.\n\n\n 24.\n\nDo not think of what may happen to-morrow, for the same eternal Father\nwho cares for you to-day will care for you to-morrow and always; either\nHe will not send you trouble, or, if He does, He will give you\ninvincible courage to bear it.\n\n\n 25.\n\nThe child can never perish who remains in the arms of a Father who is\nalmighty.\n\n\n 26.\n\nIf God does not always give us what we ask, it is to keep us near Him\nand give us an opportunity to urge and constrain Him by a loving\nviolence.\n\n\n 27.\n\nBehold this great Artisan of mercy. He converts our miseries into graces\nand the poison of our iniquities into salutary remedies for our souls.\nTell me, I pray, what will He not do with the afflictions, the labours,\nthe persecutions which assail us?\n\n\n 28.\n\nAn over-sensitive mind can neither receive nor endure anything without\ntelling of it, and it is always a little astonished at the lowly places\nwhich humility and simplicity choose.\n\n\n 29.\n\nI see you with your vigorous heart which loves and wills powerfully. I\nlike it, for what are those half-dead hearts good for? We must make a\nparticular exercise once every week of willing to love the will of God\nmore tenderly, more affectionately than anything in the world, and that,\ntoo, not only in bearable but in the most unbearable events.\n\n\n 30.\n\nEven at a time when you had not so much confidence in God, did you\nperish in affliction? Then why have you not courage to meet all other\ntrials?\n\n\n 31.\n\nPlant in your heart Jesus Christ Crucified, and all the crosses of this\nworld will seem to you like roses.\n\n\n 32.\n\nWe must not only be willing that God should strike us, but we must\naccept that He shall strike us where He wills.\n\n\n 33.\n\nLord Jesus, without reserve, without an if, without a but, without\nexception, without limitation, may thy holy will be done in all things,\nat all times.\n\n\n 34.\n\nDaily strengthen yourself more and more in the resolution, which you\nformed with so much affection: of serving God according to his good\npleasure.\n\n\n 35.\n\nNever think you have attained the purity of heart which you owe to God\nuntil your will is freely and joyfully resigned to his holy will in all\nthings, even in the most repugnant.\n\n\n 36.\n\nRegard not the appearance of the things you are to do, but Him who\ncommands them, and who, when He pleases, can accomplish his glory and\nour perfection through the most imperfect and trifling things.\n\n\n 37.\n\nA true servant of God has no care for the morrow; he performs faithfully\nwhat is required of him to-day, and to-morrow he will do what is\nrequired of him without a word.\n\n\n 38.\n\nSo, no matter how God treats you, it is all the same to you, you tell\nme.... Ah! how suddenly self-love insinuates itself into our affections,\nhowever devout they may appear.\n\n\n 39.\n\nHere is the great lesson: We must discover God\u2019s will, and, recognising\nit, we must endeavour to do it joyfully, or at least courageously.\n\n\n 40.\n\nThe meek Saviour would have us meek, so that, though surrounded by the\nworld and the flesh, we may live by the Spirit; that, amidst the\nvanities of earth, we may live in heaven; that, living among men, we may\npraise Him with the angels.\n\n\n 41.\n\nThe sight alone of our dear Jesus crucified can speedily soften all\nsorrows, which are but flowers compared with his thorns. And then our\ngreat _rendezvous_ is an eternal heaven; and compared with the price of\neternity, what are the things which end with time?\n\n\n 42.\n\nContinue to unite yourself more and more with our Lord. Plunge your\nheart into the charity of his, and say always with your whole soul: \u201cMay\nI die and may Jesus live!\u201d Our death will be a happy one if we have died\ndaily.\n\n\n 43.\n\nThe repugnance you feel testifies no want of love; for it seems to me\nthat, if we believed that being flayed God would love us more we would\nflay ourselves, not without repugnance, but in spite of the repugnance.\n\n\n 44.\n\nCultivate not only a solid love, but a tender, gentle, meek love for\nthose about you; I have learned from experience that infirmities\ndestroy, not our charity, but our meekness towards our neighbour, if we\nare not strongly on our guard.\n\n\n 45.\n\nLord Jesus, what true happiness for a soul consecrated to God to be\nstrongly exercised in tribulation before leaving this life!\n\n\n 46.\n\nHow can we know frank, ardent love but in the midst of thorns, crosses,\nweariness, above all, when this weariness is prolonged?\n\n\n 47.\n\nNothing can give us deeper peace in this world than to frequently\ncontemplate our Lord in all the afflictions He endured from his birth to\nhis death: contempt, calumnies, poverty, abjection, weariness,\nsuffering, nakedness, wrongs, and grief of every kind.\n\n\n 48.\n\nA heart which esteems and grandly loves Jesus crucified, loves his\ndeath, his sufferings, his insults, his poverty, his hunger, his thirst;\nand when Jesus grants this heart a small share in them, it is jubilant\nwith gladness and lovingly embraces them.\n\n\n 49.\n\nEvery day, not in prayer, but in your walks, you should recall to mind\nour Lord amid the thorns of our redemption, and consider what happiness\nit would be to share them.\n\n\n 50.\n\nLet us faithfully cultivate that resignation and pure love of God which\nis never wholly practised but amid sufferings; for to love God, when He\nfeeds us with sweetness is nothing more than children do; but to love\nHim when He feeds us with gall is to offer Him the cup of our loving\nfidelity.\n\n\n 51.\n\nI recommend you to God, that you may obtain the gift of holy patience;\nand it is not in my power to propose to Him anything for you, save that\nHe may, according to his holy will, fashion your heart for his dwelling,\nand reign there eternally; and whether He fashion it with the brush, the\nhammer, or the chisel, must be according to his good pleasure.\n\n\n 52.\n\nThe heart which unites itself to the Heart of God cannot help loving and\naccepting with sweetness the arrows with which God pierces it.\n\n\n 53.\n\nI desire that your cross and mine should be wholly the cross of Jesus\nChrist; and as to the imposition of this or that burden, or making any\nchoice, God knows what He is doing and why He does it\u2014it is certainly\nfor our good.\n\n\n 54.\n\nOur sweet Saviour is pleased that we should speak to Him of the trouble\nHe sends us, and that we should complain, provided it be lovingly and\nhumbly, and to Himself, just as little children do when their mother has\npunished them.\n\n\n 55.\n\nGod wishes that, like Job, I should serve Him in the midst of dryness,\nsuffering, and temptation; like St. Paul, that I should serve Him\naccording to his desire. You will see that one day He will do all and\neven more than you can desire.\n\n\n 56.\n\nI praise God for the constancy with which you bear tribulations.\nNevertheless I still see in you a little over-eagerness and restlessness\nwhich form an obstacle to the final effect of your patience.\n\n\n 57.\n\nThe effect of patience is to possess one\u2019s soul, and, in proportion to\nour patience do we acquire complete and perfect possession of our soul.\n\n\n 58.\n\nWe must lose everything rather than courage, confidence, and good-will.\n\n\n 59.\n\nWould to God that we paid little attention to the condition of the road\nwhich alarms us, but kept our eyes steadily fixed upon Him who guides\nus, and the happy end to which He leads us.\n\n\n 60.\n\nWhen you have meditated upon the grievous anguish which our Master\nendured in the Garden, and in union with Him prayed to the Father for\nconsolation, if it does not please Him to send it, think no more of it,\nbut brace your courage to work out your salvation on the cross, as if\nyou were never to descend therefrom, and as if you were never to see the\natmosphere of your life clear and serene.\n\n\n 61.\n\nFor the honour of God yield completely to his will, and do not think\nthat you can serve Him better another way, for we serve Him well only\nwhen we serve Him as He wills.\n\n\n 62.\n\nWe are always wishing for this or that, and though we have our sweet\nJesus in our breasts, we are not content. Yet it is all we can desire.\nOne thing alone is necessary, and that is, to be near Him.\n\n\n 63.\n\nTrain yourself to serve our Lord with a strong and fervent gentleness:\nit is the true way of serving Him.\n\n\n 64.\n\nFrequently kiss in your heart the crosses which our Lord Himself has\nplaced in your arms. Heed not whether they are of perfumed or precious\nwood: they are more truly crosses when they are of coarse, heavy,\nordinary wood.\n\n\n 65.\n\nThis sweet love of our hearts casts us down only to raise us up. He\nlurks and hides, peeping through the lattice, to see the expression of\nour countenance.\n\n\n 66.\n\nKeep Jesus closely in your arms, for it is thus the Spouse holds Him as\na bouquet of myrrh, that is of bitterness: but He is not bitter; He only\nallows us to be bitter to ourselves.\n\n\n 67.\n\nBeing a good servant of God is not always having consolation and\nsweetness, nor being always free from aversion and repugnance to good.\n\n\n 68.\n\nTo be a good servant of God is to be charitable to our neighbour,\nmaintaining in the superior will an invincible resolution to do God\u2019s\nwill: to possess great humility and simplicity in confiding one\u2019s self\nto God; to rise as frequently as one falls; to inure one\u2019s self to\nhumiliations, and to tranquilly bear with others and their defects.\n\n\n 69.\n\nFrequently behold our Lord who looks down upon you, poor little creature\nthat you are, and sees you in the midst of your labours and\ndistractions.\n\n\n 70.\n\nFrequently raise your heart to God, ask his help, and let the foundation\nof your consolation be the happiness of belonging to Him.\n\n\n 71.\n\nLet us raise up our hearts, and behold that of God all goodness, all\nlove, all love for us! Let us adore and bless his will in all things,\nlet Him prune, let Him cut where He will, for we are eternally his.\n\n\n 72.\n\nLet us place ourselves before our Crucified Sun, as the weary bee basks\nin the rays of the sun, and then let us say to Him: \u201cO beautiful Sun of\nhearts, Thou dost vivify all by the rays of thy goodness; behold us\nexhausted before thee, whence we will not move, Lord Jesus, until Thy\nfire hath revived us!\u201d\n\n\n 73.\n\nLet us not forget the maxim of the saints, which warns us that every day\nwe must feel that we begin our perfection; and if we bear this well in\nmind we will not be astonished at the miseries we find in ourselves. The\nwork is never done, it must be always recommenced; and recommenced with\na good heart.\n\n\n 74.\n\nWhat we are about to commence will be better than what we have done, and\nwhen we shall have accomplished that, we will recommence something else\nwhich shall be still better, and then something else, until we leave\nthis world to begin another life, which will have no end, for nothing,\nnothing better can come to us.\n\n\n 75.\n\nSee, then, whether one should weep when he finds trouble in his soul,\nand whether he ought not courageously to push on ever further, since he\nmust never pause, and whether he ought not to have the resolution to\nprune, since we must use the knife, even to the division of soul and\nmind.\n\n\n 76.\n\nWhy do you weep, O woman? No, you must no longer be a woman, you must\nhave the heart of a man. But courage! take heart! we have our sweet\nJesus with us.\n\n\n 77.\n\nThe love of God does not consist in consolations, otherwise our Lord\nwould not have loved his Father when He was sorrowful unto death, and\nwhen He cried, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?\u201d This was the\ngreatest act of love which it is possible to imagine.\n\n\n 78.\n\nOur imperfections should not please us, but they should not take away\nour courage. God does not like our imperfections and venial sins, but He\nloves us in spite of them.\n\n\n 79.\n\nLive joyfully; our Lord looks down upon you, and looks upon you with\nlove, and with a tenderness proportioned to your foolishness.\n\n\n 80.\n\nTurn your eyes from yourself, and direct them towards God with an humble\ncourage to speak to Him of his ineffable goodness in loving our poor\nhuman nature, in spite of its infirmities.\n\n\n 81.\n\nOur enemy is a great bawler; be in no way troubled about him, for he\ncannot hurt you; despise him, and pay no attention to him. He made as\nmuch noise and thundered as loudly about the saints; but behold! they\nare lodged in the place which the miserable creature lost.\n\n\n 82.\n\nFear not; you are walking upon the sea, amid the winds and the waves,\nbut it is with Jesus. If fear seizes you, cry loudly, \u201cLord, save me!\u201d\nHe will stretch forth his hand to you; clasp it firmly and go joyfully\non.\n\n\n 83.\n\nDespise, I pray you, all those thoughts of vainglory. For they are\nreally but flies which cannot harm but only annoy you. It is an\nincompatible thing to be in this world and not to feel the movements of\nthe passions.\n\n\n 84.\n\nLet yourself be governed by God; do not think so much of yourself.\n\n\n 85.\n\nI expressly forbid you to be over-eager, as this is the mother\nimperfection of all imperfections.\n\n\n 86.\n\nSimplify your judgment. \u201cIf your eye is simple, your whole body will be\nlight.\u201d Do not make so many reflections and replies, but go on with\nsimplicity and confidence.\n\n\n 87.\n\nFor you there are but God and yourself in the world, and you should not\nconcern yourself for all the rest, save as God commands you.\n\n\n 88.\n\nGive your soul a thousand times to God, and sometimes say not a word to\nHim, but simply contemplate his gentleness. This is one of the great\nsources of spiritual gain, for as the mind converses so frequently and\nso easily with its God it will be perfumed with all his perfections.\n\n\n 89.\n\nThe Christian soul is the spouse not yet of Jesus glorified, but of\nJesus crucified; that is why the rings, ornaments, and tokens with which\nHe adorns her are crosses, and thorns, and the nuptial banquet is gall,\nhyssop, and vinegar.\n\n\n 90.\n\nDo not look here and there so much. Turn your eyes upon God or yourself;\nyou will never see God without goodness, or yourself free from misery;\nand you will find his goodness kind to your misery, and your misery the\nobject of his mercy.\n\n\n 91.\n\nRarely examine closely what others do; look upon them simply, kindly,\nand amiably. Do like the bees, gather honey from all the flowers.\n\n\n 92.\n\nMy commandment is, that you do like little children; while they feel\ntheir mother holding them by the sleeve, they go on boldly and run about\neverywhere, nothing daunted by the falls that are caused by the weakness\nof their legs. Thus, while God holds you by your good-will to serve Him,\ngo on boldly, undaunted by your little stumblings, provided you cast\nyourself into his arms and give Him the kiss of charity.\n\n\n 93.\n\nGo joyously and with a light heart as far as you can, and if you cannot\nalways go joyously, go always courageously and confidently.\n\n\n 94.\n\nWe must have patience, and little by little, correct and overcome our\nbad habits, for life on the whole is a continual warfare.\n\n\n 95.\n\nRest is reserved for heaven; on earth we must always struggle between\nhope and fear, on condition that hope be ever the stronger when we\nconsider the almighty power of Him who helps us.\n\n\n 96.\n\nFrequently during the day cast your heart, your mind, and your care upon\nGod with great confidence, saying, \u201cI am thine, save me.\u201d\n\n\n 97.\n\nBe kind to your neighbour in spite of rebellious murmurings and\noutbursts of anger.\n\n\n 98.\n\nDo not be astonished to find yourself overwhelmed with evil\ninclinations. God permits them in order to make you humble.\n\n\n 99.\n\nSelf-love may be mortified in us, but it never dies; from time to time\nit sends forth shoots which prove that, though cut down to the root, it\nis never completely destroyed.\n\n\n 100.\n\nSelf-love never leaves us. It sleeps sometimes like a fox, then suddenly\nsprings upon the chickens. We must therefore be constantly watchful of\nit, and patiently defend ourselves against it.\n\n\n 101.\n\nLet us keep firm hold of the merciful hand of our good God, for He\nwishes to draw us after Him.\n\n\n 102.\n\nLive wholly according to the Spirit, live quietly in peace, have perfect\nconfidence that God will help you.\n\n\n 103.\n\nBe careful to purify your heart more and more each day. Now, this purity\nconsists in weighing everything in the scales of the sanctuary, which\nare only the will of God.\n\n\n 104.\n\nLet us be what we are, and be that well, in order that we may honour the\nMaster Workman who has made us. Though we were the most excellent\ncreatures under heaven, what would it avail us if we were not pleasing\nto the will of God?\n\n\n 105.\n\nWe must always and in all things live peaceably.\n\n\n 106.\n\nI approve of your making an act of humility every day, humbling yourself\nto an inferior, performing some menial office in the house.\n\n\n 107.\n\nIt is not possible that you should so soon be mistress of your soul, or\nthat you should control it so absolutely at first.\n\n\n 108.\n\nDispose your soul to tranquillity in the morning, and be careful during\nthe day to recall it frequently to that state, and to keep your soul\nwithin your control.\n\n\n 109.\n\nDo not be terrified if you are guilty of some little impatience; do not\nlet it trouble you, but when you recognise it quietly humble yourself\nbefore God.\n\n\n 110.\n\nTry to preserve a sweet tranquillity of mind; say to your soul:\n\u201cCourage! we have made a false step, but let us keep steadily on and\nkeep watch over ourselves.\u201d\n\n\n 111.\n\nMake no account of the judgments of men.\n\n\n 112.\n\nBe silent concerning all things, and you will have interior peace,\nbecause for you and me the only secret of acquiring this peace is to\nendure to the utmost the judgments of men.\n\n\n 113.\n\nConsider for whom you labour, and those who strive to trouble you shall\nlabour in vain.\n\n\n 114.\n\nAmong beggars, those whose sores are the most terrible consider\nthemselves the most fortunate, for they excite more compassion and\nreceive more abundant alms. We are only beggars, and the most miserable\namong us are the most fortunate, for these God looks upon with greater\ncompassion.\n\n\n 115.\n\nBe glad that men make no account of you.\n\n\n 116.\n\nConsider how all the vexations of the past have vanished; those of the\nfuture shall vanish in the same way.\n\n\n 117.\n\nThe great point of humility is to see, to honour, to serve, and converse\nfittingly with those whom we dislike, keeping ourselves humble, gentle,\nand submissive to them, for remember that the humiliations which are the\nleast visible are the keenest.\n\n\n 118.\n\nLet our Lord turn us to the left or to the right, and send us in a\nhundred directions. He never abandons us but to get closer possession of\nus; He never leaves us but to guard us better; He never struggles with\nus but to enter our souls and bless us.\n\n\n 119.\n\nCourage! Let us keep on in the low valleys of the small and humble\nvirtues. I love these three little virtues: gentleness of heart,\nfirmness of mind, and simplicity of life.\n\n\n 120.\n\nI recommend to you more than anything else the exercise of holy\ngentleness and sweetness in all the events of this life.\n\n\n 121.\n\nAccustom yourself in all that you do to act and speak gently and\nquietly, and you will see that in three or four years you will\ncompletely control that abrupt impulsiveness.\n\n\n 122.\n\nHe who can preserve peace in the midst of the confusion and complexity\nof business, and sweetness in the midst of suffering, is almost perfect.\n\n\n 123.\n\nI recommend to you great evenness of temper, sweetness and gentleness of\nheart; for these virtues, like the oil of a lamp, maintain the flame of\ngood example; for there is nothing more edifying to our neighbour than\ncharitable kindliness.\n\n\n 124.\n\nWhen shall we be wholly imbued with sweetness and gentleness towards our\nneighbour? You needed only that; your zeal was good, but it had this\nfault; it was a little bitter, over-urgent, and captious.\n\n\n 125.\n\nRaise your eyes to heaven, and among the mortals now immortal there you\nwill not find one who attained eternal happiness but through continual\nafflictions and trouble.\n\n\n 126.\n\nLet us humble ourselves profoundly, and acknowledge that if God be not\nour shield and armour, we shall be pierced through and through with\nevery kind of sin.\n\n\n 127.\n\nI desire that you should be extremely lowly and humble in your own eyes,\ncondescending and gentle as a dove.\n\n\n 128.\n\nDo not be quick to speak; say much by a modest and judicious silence.\n\n\n 129.\n\nBehold God in all things without exception, acquiescing in all his\ncommands with great simplicity.\n\n\n 130.\n\nSay frequently, in the midst of your contradictions and sufferings: This\nis the path to heaven; I behold the gate, and I am sure that the storms\nwill not prevent my reaching it.\n\n\n 131.\n\nTake no trouble on account of what the world thinks of you; despise its\ngood opinion and its contempt, and let it say what it will of good or\nevil.\n\n\n 132.\n\nDo not think that our Lord is further from you in the midst of\nturmoil.... It is not tranquillity which brings Him to our hearts, but\nthe fidelity of our love.\n\n\n 133.\n\nFrom day to day withdraw your heart from all kinds of amusement and\nvanity, ... from all that turns you from a blessed eternity.\n\n\n 134.\n\nI desire to love God or die; death or love, for life without love is\nworse than death.\n\n\n 135.\n\nO God! it is towards Thee that I am sailing.... We reach the port\nthrough all storms, provided we have an upright heart, a good intention,\nfirm courage, our eyes fixed upon God, and all our confidence in Him.\n\n\n 136.\n\nDo not be vexed at the annoyances which come from the complexity of\nbusiness; believe me, true virtue is not nourished in exterior repose\nany more than good fish in stagnant water.\n\n\n 137.\n\nKeep your hearts well under control, beware of over-anxiety. Place your\nconfidence in the providence of our Lord. Be fully convinced that heaven\nand earth shall pass away rather than that our Lord shall fail to\nprotect you while you are his obedient daughter, or, at least, desirous\nto obey Him.\n\n\n 138.\n\nLive wholly in our Lord, let Him be the atmosphere in which your heart\nbreathes at ease.\n\n\n 139.\n\nGive particular attention to the practice of gentleness, study every\npulsation of your heart, and if it be not gentle, make it so before all\nthings.\n\n\n 140.\n\nI desire that upon all occasions during the day you should interiorly\nrecollect yourself in God, addressing Him a few words of fidelity and\nlove.\n\n\n 141.\n\nBelieve me, God loves souls shaken by storms, provided they receive all\nfrom his hands and valiantly strive to remain faithful in the midst of\ncombats.\n\n\n 142.\n\nOne of the best penances and satisfactions which a heart guilty of some\nfault can offer is to endure a continual cross and abnegation of its\nself-love.\n\n\n 143.\n\nIt gives me an incomparable pleasure to think of the great honour it is\nfor a soul to speak heart to heart with its God\u2014that great, sovereign\ninfinite Being\u2014yes, for what the heart says to God is known only to God\nHimself. Is not this a marvellous secret!\n\n\n 144.\n\nWhen we pray it is well to think that there is no one in the world but\nGod.\n\n\n 145.\n\nThe great secret in prayer is simply to follow the attractions of the\nheart. We must go on in good faith and with pure intention to reach God,\nto love Him, and unite ourselves to Him. True love has little method.\n\n\n 146.\n\nYou should be so in love with God that even though you can do nothing in\nhis presence, you should nevertheless be glad to be near Him, were it\nonly to see Him and look at Him from time to time.\n\n\n 147.\n\nWhen your heart is distracted in prayer, bring it gently back to the\npoint from which it has wandered, and lay it tenderly at the feet of its\nMaster. If you do but this your hour will be well employed.\n\n\n 148.\n\nIf we can speak to our Lord in prayer let us speak to Him, praise Him,\nlisten to Him. If we cannot speak because we are spiritually hoarse, let\nus stay nevertheless and make Him a reverence.\n\n\n 149.\n\nWhat a happiness it is to be with God, no one knowing what passes\nbetween God and the heart but God Himself and the adoring heart.\n\n\n 150.\n\nI should like to have a good hammer with which to blunt the sharpness of\nyour mind, which is too subtle in its ideas of your advancement. I have\noften told you that in devotion we must go on in good faith, acting\nfrankly and promptly. If you do well, praise God; if ill, humble\nyourself.\n\n\n 151.\n\nHumble yourself profoundly, and urge on your soul with the love of\nChrist crucified, that you may be able to spiritually digest this\nheavenly food.\n\n\n 152.\n\nHe who communicates according to the spirit of the Spouse annihilates\nhimself before God, saying to our Lord: Destroy me, annihilate me, and\nconvert me into Thee; then it is no longer we who live, but Jesus\nChrist, who liveth in us.\n\n\n 153.\n\nWhen the mother pearl has received the drops of the fresh morning dew it\ndraws within itself and closes its shell to preserve them fresh; in like\nmanner, when you have received the Blessed Sacrament, withdraw into\nyourself and collect all the faculties of your soul to adore this\nsovereign King, and relish by a lively faith the spiritual refreshment\nwhich this Divine Germ produces in your breast.\n\n\n 154.\n\nTake your rest as much as possible near the heavenly Infant. See how He\nreceives the breath of that great ox and that ass, which neither feel\nhis presence nor show it by any movement. Will He not then receive the\ninspirations of our poor hearts?\n\n\n 155.\n\nHow happy we should be had we only Jesus in our understanding, only\nJesus in our imagination! Jesus would be in us everywhere, and we\neverywhere in Jesus.\n\n\n 156.\n\nWe should manage our years, our months, our weeks, our days, our hours,\nour moments so well that, being employed for the love of God, they all\nmay be profitable to us for eternal life.\n\n\n 157.\n\nShall we not, in future, cease to be the old selves, which shall all,\nwithout exception, be for ever sacrificed unreservedly and\nunconditionally to God and his love?\n\n\n 158.\n\nWhen you encounter things which give you trouble, remember that the\nsaints cheerfully did greater and more troublesome tasks, and encourage\nyourself by their example.\n\n\n 159.\n\nA person who is free from the fever of her own will is satisfied with\neverything, provided God be served. She is indifferent to the nature of\nthe service which God chooses to give her.\n\n\n 160.\n\nFrequently say to our Lord: What wilt Thou that I do? Is it Thy will\nthat I should serve Thee in the most lowly duties of the house? Provided\nI serve Thee, I care not what the service may be.\n\n\n 161.\n\nLove this good God in your retreats, in Holy Communion, and when He\nconsoles you; love Him particularly in the midst of trouble and\nconfusion, in aridity, contradictions, and tribulations; for it was thus\nHe loved you in the midst of the scourging, the nails, the thorns, the\ndarkness of Calvary.\n\n\n 162.\n\nThe monastery is a hospital of spiritual sick who desire to be cured,\nand to this end submit themselves to the knife, to the lancet, to be\nburned, to be bled, and to all kinds of bitter remedies. O my very dear\ndaughter, firmly resolve that you will submit to all this, and pay no\nattention to what self-love may urge to the contrary, but sweetly,\namiably, and lovingly take the blessed resolution: to die or to be\ncured.\n\n\n 163.\n\nMust you be disquieted and troubled because of difficulties? Oh, by no\nmeans. It is the devil who is ferreting and spying about your mind, to\nsee if he cannot find some door open to him.\n\n\n 164.\n\nYou are right not to care what is said of you; you who belong to God\nshould not think of reputation. Let God dispose of our life, our\nreputation, and our honour as He pleases, since they are all his. If our\nhumiliations be his glory, are we not glorified?\n\n\n 165.\n\nWhen you meet with contradictions or afflictions through anyone, beware\nof yielding to complaints, but compel your heart to suffer tranquilly;\nif some sudden outburst of impatience escape you, bring your heart back\nto sweetness and peace.\n\n\n 166.\n\nSee, my daughter, we are too fastidious in calling poor a state in which\nwe endure neither hunger, nor cold, nor ignominy, but merely some\ninconvenience in our plans.\n\n\n 167.\n\nGradually temper the vivacity of your mind to patience, sweetness,\nhumility, and affability, in the midst of the silliness and\nimperfections of your sisters.\n\n\n 168.\n\nNothing gives us profound tranquillity in this world but to frequently\nlook upon our Lord in all his sufferings. In comparison with all that He\nendured, we shall see that we are wrong to call the little accidents\nwhich we encounter afflictions, and that we do not need patience for\nthings so trifling, since a little modesty would suffice to make us bear\nwell all that happens to us.\n\n\n 169.\n\nWe must never answer temptations, nor appear to hear the enemy. If he is\nnoisy, patience! we must prostrate ourselves before God and remain at\nhis feet. He will understand that we want his assistance, though we may\nnot be able to speak.\n\n\n 170.\n\nBelieve me, my dear daughter, sweets engender worms in little children;\nthat is why our Lord mixes bitter with the sweet for us. We must have a\ngreat courage, which on all occasions will resolutely cry, God be\npraised! caring little for sweet or bitter, light or darkness. Let us\nkeep on in this essential love.\n\n\n 171.\n\nGod desires that you serve Him without relish or feeling, in the midst\nof aversions and afflictions of mind. This service will not give you\nsatisfaction, but it will content Him; it will not be to your taste but\nit will be to his.\n\n\n 172.\n\nGod is so good that He will visit your soul interiorly, and strengthen\nand establish it in solid humility, simplicity, and mortification.\n\n\n 173.\n\nLet us always keep on; however slow our progress we are getting over a\ngreat deal of the road. God wishes that our misery should be the throne\nof his mercy.\n\n\n 174.\n\nKeep your heart brave and ready for any service that shall be imposed\nupon it; according as you undertake many things for God, He will second\nyou and work with you.\n\n\n 175.\n\nHave the heart of a child; a will of wax, and a mind free from the\nslavery of all affection.\n\n\n 176.\n\nOh, what a great blessing it is, my daughter, to be pliable and easily\nturned to any service. Our Lord has taught us this submission by his\nexample, as much as by his words.\n\n\n 177.\n\nHe who is very attentive to please the heavenly lover has no leisure for\nintrospection; his mind continually tends whither love leads him.\n\n\n 178.\n\nThis exercise of the continual abandonment of one\u2019s self to the hands of\nGod includes in the most excellent manner all other exercises in their\ngreatest simplicity, purity, and perfection, and while God leaves us the\ndesire for it we should not change it.\n\n\n 179.\n\nSimplicity is an act of charity pure and simple, which considers only\nGod. It looks straight at God, and can suffer no mixture of\nself-interest nor intermingling of creatures; God alone is its object.\n\n\n 180.\n\nWe should bear tenderly with those whom our Lord bears with, we must bow\nour heads, and bear ourselves contrary to our habits and inclinations.\n\n\n 181.\n\nComplain as little as possible of injuries, for it rarely happens that\none complains without sin, since our self-love exaggerates in our eyes\nand hearts the wrongs we have received.\n\n\n 182.\n\nHold the cross of our Lord upon your breast, and as long as you firmly\nclasp it in your arms, the enemy will be at your feet.\n\n\n 183.\n\nGreat evenness of temper, continual gentleness and suavity of heart, are\nmore rare than perfect chastity, yet very desirable.\n\n\n 184.\n\nAs regards our perfection, which consists in the union of our soul with\nthe Divine Goodness, it is only a question of knowing little and doing\nmuch.\n\n\n 185.\n\nWe must make up our minds to two things: one is, that we shall find bad\nweeds growing in our garden, and the other, that we will have the\ncourage to uproot them, for our self-love will live as long as we do,\nand from it arises all this noxious growth.\n\n\n 186.\n\nWe must endeavour to double, not our desires and our exercises, but the\nperfection with which we fulfil them, seeking by this means to gain more\nby one action than we would by a hundred others done according to our\ninclination and affection.\n\n\n 187.\n\nOne act performed in dryness of spirit is worth more than several done\nin great sensible fervour.\n\n\n 188.\n\nI say, then, that we must die in order that God may live in us, for it\nis impossible to acquire union with God by any other means than\nmortification. These words, \u201cWe must die,\u201d are hard, but they are\nfollowed by a great sweetness, and this sweetness is union with God.\n\n\n 189.\n\nYour miseries and infirmities should not astonish you; God has seen many\nothers, and his mercy does not reject the miserable, but is exercised in\ndoing them good.\n\n\n 190.\n\nWe must do everything through a motive of love, and nothing through\ncompulsion. Our love for obedience must be greater than our fear of\ndisobedience.\n\n\n 191.\n\nI leave you liberty of spirit, not that which excludes obedience, but\nthat which excludes constraint, scruple, or over-eagerness.\n\n\n 192.\n\nHere are the marks of true liberty: 1st. The heart which possesses this\nliberty is not attached to consolations, but receives afflictions with\nall the sweetness that the flesh admits of. I do not say that it does\nnot love and desire consolations, but that the heart is not bound to\nthem.\n\n\n 193.\n\n2nd. Such a heart is in no way attached to spiritual exercises, so that\nif sickness or any other accident interferes with them it feels no\nregret. I also do not say that it does not love them, but that it is not\nattached to them.\n\n\n 194.\n\n3rd. Such a heart rarely loses its joy, for no privation saddens one\nwhose heart is not bound to anything. I do not say that it _never_ loses\nits joy, but that it is only for a short time.\n\n\n 195.\n\nA soul which possesses true liberty will leave his prayer, and with an\namiable countenance and gracious manner greet the importunate person who\ndisturbs him. For it is the same to him whether he serve God in\nmeditation or by bearing with his neighbour; they are both the will of\nGod.\n\n\n 196.\n\nLiberty of spirit has two vices: a spirit of inconstancy and a spirit of\nconstraint. For example: I resolve to make a meditation every morning.\nIf I have a spirit of inconstancy I will defer it till evening at the\nslightest excuse\u2014for the barking of a dog which has disturbed my sleep,\nfor a letter to be written, though it is not at all urgent. On the\ncontrary, if I have a spirit of constraint I will not omit my\nmeditation, even though a sick person is very much in need of my\nservices.\n\n\n 197.\n\nEverything tends to the good of those who love God. And, in truth, since\nGod can draw good from evil, for whom will He do it, if not for those\nwho have given themselves without reserve to Him? Yes, everything tends\nto their profit, even sin. David would never have been so humble if he\nhad not sinned; nor would Magdalene\u2019s love for her Saviour have been\nwhat it was. Tell me, then, what will He not do with our afflictions and\nlabours?\n\n\n 198.\n\nIf, then, it ever happen that some grief come upon you, assure your soul\nthat if she love God all things will turn to her good. And though you\nmay not see the means by which this good shall be effected, be all the\nmore convinced of it.\n\n\n 199.\n\nIt is a very good sign that the enemy rages and beats at your door: it\nshows that he has not what he wants. If he had he would cease to cry\nout, but would quietly enter and stay with you.\n\n\n 200.\n\nCourage! As long as we can say, even coldly, God be praised, there is no\nreason to fear. And do not tell me that it seems to you that you say it\nin a spiritless way, with no strength or courage, but as if you had to\ndo violence to yourself to utter it. Oh, this is the blessed violence\nwhich taketh heaven!\n\n\n 201.\n\nAs long as a temptation is displeasing to you there is nothing to fear,\nfor why does it displease you if not because you do not wish it?\n\n\n 202.\n\nMoreover, these very importunate temptations come from the malice of the\ndevil, but the trouble and suffering they cause us come from the mercy\nof God. He draws from the malice of his enemy the holy tribulation by\nwhich He refines the gold He desires to place in his treasury. Despise\nthe temptations and embrace the tribulations.\n\n\n 203.\n\nWe must endure our own want of perfection, if we would attain\nperfection. I say that we must endure it patiently, but we must not love\nor caress it. It is by the endurance of this suffering that humility is\nnourished.\n\n\n 204.\n\nThose who aspire to pure love of God have not so much need of patience\nwith others as with themselves.\n\n\n 205.\n\nWe must confess the truth: we are poor creatures, capable of very little\nthat is good; but God, who is infinitely good, is content with our poor\nlabours, and finds acceptable the preparation of our heart.\n\n\n 206.\n\nBut what means this preparation of our heart according to the expression\nof Holy Writ: \u201cGod is greater than our heart, and our heart is greater\nthan the world?\u201d When our heart, in the solitude of meditation, prepares\nthe service which it must render God, it effects marvels. All this\npreparation, nevertheless, is in no way proportioned to the grandeur of\nGod, and ordinarily it exceeds our strength, and becomes too great to be\ncarried out in our exterior actions.\n\n\n 207.\n\nOur minds prepare for God a mortified flesh free from the rebellion of\nthe senses, prayer free from distraction, a loving heart free from all\nbitterness, a humility free from all taint of vanity. All this is very\ngood, an excellent preparation; but who carries it out? Alas! when we\ncome to the practise of it, we fall short. Must we on this account be\ndisquieted, troubled, or afflicted? No, certainly not. Must we apply\nourselves to exciting a multitude of desires to stimulate ourselves to\nattain this perfection? By no means.\n\n\n 208.\n\nI do not say that we must not tend to perfection; but we must not desire\nto attain it in a day, that is in a day of this mortal life, for such a\ndesire would only uselessly disquiet us.\n\n\n 209.\n\nIt is not possible, I assure you, to be completely rid of self while we\nare on earth. We must always carry self with us, until God carries us to\nheaven; and while we carry self, we carry a burden of very little value.\n\n\n 210.\n\nSolomon tells us that a servant who suddenly becomes mistress is a very\ninsolent creature. Were a soul to become all at once perfect mistress of\npassions which it had long served, I fear it could not but be vain and\nproud.\n\n\n 211.\n\nIf in our heart there be a single thread of affection which is not for\nGod, we should instantly tear it out.\n\n\n 212.\n\nI cannot understand how you, a daughter of God, long since abandoned to\nthe bosom of his mercy and consecrated to his love, can yield to such\nimmoderate sadness. You should console yourself, despising all the\nmournful and melancholy suggestions with which the devil tries to weary\nyou.\n\n\n 213.\n\nDo not examine yourself so carefully to discover whether you are in\nperfection or not; for, should we attain the greatest perfection we\nshould neither know nor recognise it, but always consider ourselves\nimperfect. The end of our examen should never be to discover whether we\nare imperfect, for that we should never doubt.\n\n\n 214.\n\nTherefore we should never be astonished at imperfection or let it sadden\nus; for we cannot fail to find ourselves imperfect in this life, and\nthere is no remedy for it save humility, since by this virtue we shall\nrepair our faults and gradually improve.\n\n\n 215.\n\nIt is for the exercise of this virtue that our imperfections are left to\nus, since it is inexcusable not to seek to correct them, and excusable\nnot to succeed perfectly; for it is not with imperfections as it is with\nsins.\n\n\n 216.\n\nIf you wish to do well, regard as a temptation every suggestion\nconcerning change of place; for while your mind is looking beyond where\nit should be, it will never apply itself to doing well the duty which\nlies before it.\n\n\n 217.\n\nWe must not desire all to begin by perfection. It matters little how one\nbegins, provided he be resolved to go on well, and end well.\n\n\n 218.\n\nI tell you that you will be faithful if you are humble. But will you be\nhumble? Yes, if you wish it. But I do wish it. Then you are humble. But\nI feel that I am not. So much the better; that helps to make you more\nso.\n\n\n 219.\n\nYou desire that it should always be spring in your soul, but that cannot\nbe. We must endure vicissitudes of weather interiorly as well as\nexteriorly. It is only in heaven that we shall find the perpetual beauty\nof spring, the perpetual ripening of summer, the perpetual fruition of\nautumn. There we shall have no winter; but here winter is required for\nthe exercise of abnegation, and a thousand little virtues which are\npractised in times of sterility.\n\n\n 220.\n\nMy God! We shall soon be in eternity, and then we shall see how\nunimportant are all the things of this world, and how little it mattered\nwhether they were accomplished or not. Yet we are as anxious about them\nnow as if they were affairs of great importance.\n\n\n 221.\n\nVerily, we do not like crosses if they are not of gold enamelled, and\nadorned with precious stones.\n\n\n 222.\n\nI am sad and will not speak; this is what parrots do. I am sad, but I\nspeak because charity requires it; thus do spiritual persons. I am\ndespised and I get angry; peacocks and monkeys act thus. I am despised\nand I rejoice; thus did the Apostles.\n\n\n 223.\n\nExamine whether your heart pleases God?\u2014you must not do it;\u2014but whether\nhis pleases you? yes, truly, for if you look at his Heart, it cannot but\nplease you, it is so sweet, so condescending, so loving towards frail\ncreatures when they recognise their misery, so merciful to the\nmiserable, so kind to the penitent....\n\n\n 224.\n\nBe just; neither excuse nor accuse your poor soul without due\nreflection, lest by excusing it without reason you render it insolent,\nor by lightly accusing it you weaken its courage and make it\npusillanimous.\n\n\n 225.\n\nHow many courtiers there are who go into the presence of the king a\nhundred times, not to speak to him or listen to him, but merely to be\nseen by him, and to show by this assiduity that they are his servants.\nWhen, then, you come into the presence of our Lord, speak to Him if you\ncan; if you cannot, remain and show yourself to Him, and do not be\nanxious to do any more.\n\n\n 226.\n\nYou do nothing in meditation, you tell me. But what should you do if not\njust what you are doing, that is, presenting and representing your\nmisery and nothingness to God? The most efficacious appeal a beggar can\nmake is to expose to our eyes his ulcers and necessities.\n\n\n 227.\n\nBut sometimes you do not even do this, and you remain before Him like a\nphantom or statue. Well, that is something. In the palaces of princes\nand kings there are statues which are only meant to gratify the eyes of\nthe king; content yourself with a similar service in the presence of\nGod. He will animate the statue when it pleases Him. Were we to ask the\nstatue if it desired anything it would answer, \u201cNo; I am where my master\nplaced me, and his pleasure is the sole happiness of my being.\u201d\n\n\n 228.\n\nAh! but it is a good prayer, and a good method of keeping one\u2019s self in\nthe presence of God, to wait upon his will and good pleasure.\n\n\n 229.\n\nAs for me, I think that we keep ourselves in the presence of God even\nwhile we sleep, for we go to sleep in his presence and by his will. And\nwhen we wake we find that He is beside us, that He has not stirred from\nus, nor we from Him; therefore we have kept ourselves in his presence,\nthough with closed eyes.\n\n\n 230.\n\nWhen a certain cross is given to you alone it is of more value, and it\nshould be dearer to you because of its rarity.\n\n\n 231.\n\nGod be praised! God or nothing; for all that is not God is nothing, or\nworse than nothing.\n\n\n 232.\n\nDo not turn your eyes on your infirmities and incapacity, except to\nhumble yourself; never let them discourage you.\n\n\n 233.\n\nFinally, do not be angry, or at least troubled because you have been\ntroubled; do not be overcome because you have allowed yourself to be\novercome; do not be disquieted because you have allowed yourself to be\ndisquieted by angry passions; but take your heart and place it gently in\nthe hands of our Lord and ask Him to cure it; meanwhile, do all you can\nto renew and strengthen your good resolutions.\n\n\n 234.\n\nThe highest degree of humility is not only to recognise but to love our\nabjection. I am guilty of a blunder; it brings humiliation upon me;\ngood. I am guilty of immoderate anger; I am sorry for the offence\nagainst God, and very glad that it proves me vile, abject, and\nmiserable.\n\n\n 235.\n\nIf envy could reign in the kingdom of eternal love, the angels would\nenvy the sufferings of God for man, and the sufferings of man for God.\n\n\n 236.\n\nDo not be troubled about not making acts of virtue well; for, as I told\nyou, they do not cease to be very good, even when made languidly and\nwearily as if by force. You can only give God what you have, and in this\nseason of affliction you have no other action to offer Him.\n\n\n 237.\n\nYou will be very happy if you receive with a filial and loving heart\nwhat our Lord sends you from a heart so paternal in its care of your\nperfection.\n\n\n 238.\n\nI will not tell you not to regard your afflictions, for your impulsive\nheart will answer, \u201cI cannot but consider them, they make themselves so\nkeenly felt;\u201d but I tell you to look at them through the cross, and you\nwill find them so small, or at least so agreeable, that you will rather\nendure their suffering than all consolations without them.\n\n\n 239.\n\nRight sadness speaks thus: \u201cI am miserable, vile, and abject;\nnevertheless God will exercise his mercy towards me, for virtue will be\nperfected in infirmity.\u201d\n\n\n 240.\n\nWhen our Lord was upon the cross even his enemies declared Him King;\nwhen souls are upon the cross they are declared queens.\n\n\n 241.\n\nAh! do not examine whether what you do is much or little, whether it is\ndone well or ill, provided it be not sin, and provided you have an\nupright intention to do it for God. Do everything as perfectly as you\ncan; but, once an action is performed, think no more of it, but rather\nof what there is to be done.\n\n\n 242.\n\nWe should equally resolve upon two things: first, to bring the utmost\nfidelity to the fulfilment of our exercises; second, to be in no way\ntroubled, disquieted, or astonished if we sometimes fail; for the first\ncomes from our fidelity, which should always be earnest and constantly\nincreasing, and the latter comes from our infirmity.\n\n\n 243.\n\nWe must, then, correct our poor heart gently and quietly, and not add to\nits trouble by the severity of our reprimands. \u201cMy heart, my friend,\u201d we\nshould say, \u201cin the name of God, take courage; let us keep on and be\nmore watchful in future; let us turn to our Helper and our God.\u201d Alas!\nwe must be charitable to our poor soul, and refrain from severity as\nlong as we see that its offences are not deliberate.\n\n\n 244.\n\nLoadstone attracts iron, amber attracts hay and straw; were we hard as\niron, or light as straws, we must unite ourselves to this Sovereign\nInfant Jesus, who truly draws all hearts to Him.\n\n\n 245.\n\nThe best thoughts, affections, and aspirations of a great soul are fixed\nupon the infinitude of eternity; destined as such a soul is for\nimmortality, it finds all that is not eternal too short, all that is not\ninfinite too small.\n\n\n 246.\n\nYes, speak little, and gently, little and well, little and frankly,\nlittle and amiably.\n\n\n 247.\n\nO my God, how beautiful must heaven be, now that the Saviour is its Sun,\nand his bosom is a fountain of love where the blessed drink at will!\n\n\n 248.\n\nEach one looks therein and sees his name written in characters of\nlove\u2014characters which love alone can read, which love alone has graven.\n\n\n 249.\n\nSt. John the Baptist, through obedience, kept himself absent from our\nSaviour, knowing well that to seek our Saviour outside of obedience was\nto lose Him.\n\n\n 250.\n\nI leave you to imagine the good odour which this beautiful lily (the\nBlessed Virgin) spreads in the house of Zachary. What could she give\nforth but that with which she was filled? And she was filled with Jesus.\n\n\n 251.\n\nMy God, I marvel to find that I am so full of myself after so many\ncommunions.\n\n\n 252.\n\nThere are two kinds of wills: one says, \u201cI would like very much to do\ngood; but it costs a disagreeable effort; it is too difficult;\u201d the\nother says: \u201cI desire indeed to do good; the will is not wanting, but\nthe power alone stops me.\u201d The first fills hell, the second paradise,\nand it was the latter will which caused Daniel to be called a \u201cman of\ndesires.\u201d\n\n\n 253.\n\nI pray you, hide your trouble from yourself as much as you can, and if\nyou feel it, at least do not think about it. You are a little given to\ndwelling upon it.\n\n\n 254.\n\nYou tell me that it is hard to will to do, and to be unable to do. I do\nnot say to you that we must will what we can do, but that before God it\nis a great deal to be able to will.\n\n\n 255.\n\nWhat would you do, if you were never to be delivered from your trials?\nYou would say to God: \u201cI am thine; if my miseries are pleasing to Thee\nmultiply them, prolong them.\u201d Make friends with your trials, as if you\nwere always to live together, and you will find that when you no longer\nthink of them and cease to be anxious, God will deliver you from them.\n\n\n 256.\n\nNo, my dear daughter, I am not troubled as long as our resolutions\nremain steadfast. Though we were to die, though everything were to be\noverturned, what would it matter provided they continued firm?\n\n\n 257.\n\nOur night is as brilliant as our day, when God is in our hearts, and our\nday is night when God is absent from us.\n\n\n 258.\n\nA spirit of indifference helps us in all things, even to making us\ncontent during seven weeks, when a father, and a father who loves as I\ndo, and a daughter, such as you, receive no news of each other.\n\n\n 259.\n\nLet the darkness be what it may, we are near the light. Let our\nimpotence be what it may, we are at the feet of the All-powerful.\n\n\n 260.\n\nI shall say nothing of the extent of my affection for you, except that\nit is incomparable, that it is whiter than the snow, and purer than the\nsun.\n\n\n 261.\n\nThere is nothing which prevents our attaining the perfection of our\nvocation like desiring another.\n\n\n 262.\n\nI beseech you, my dear daughter, do not fear God as you do, for He does\nnot wish to harm you; love Him fervently, for He wishes to do you a\ngreat deal of good.\n\n\n 263.\n\nOur Lord will cause us to enjoy peace when we shall be sufficiently\nhumble to sweetly endure war.\n\n\n 264.\n\nNothing can equal in merit the offering of our sorrows to Him who saved\nus by his own.\n\n\n 265.\n\nDwell very little upon the mixture of self-love in your actions; we\nshould pay no attention to these sallies of self. When we disavow them\ntwo or three times a day we have done all that is required. Nor must we\nviolently resist them; a gentle denial is sufficient.\n\n\n 266.\n\nThe whole world is not worth a soul, and a soul is worth nothing without\nits resolutions. We need not be troubled because we are weak, if by\ntrusting in the power and mercy of God we never lose courage; on the\ncontrary, my daughter, I would rather be weak than strong before God,\nfor He takes the weak in his arms, and the strong He leads by the hand.\n\n\n 267.\n\nBelieve me, we advance through stormy weather, and under a dark and\ncloudy sky. It is a better time for travellers than if the sun poured\nits ardent heat upon us. Courage! light and joy are not within our\npower, nor any consolation except that which depends upon the will; but\nwhile that will is protected by our holy resolutions, and as long as the\ngreat seal of the heavenly chancery remains upon our hearts, we have\nnothing to fear.\n\n\n 268.\n\nThose who spiritually digest Jesus Christ feel that Jesus Christ who is\ntheir food is diffused through every part of soul and body. They have\nJesus in their mind, in their heart, in their breast, in their eyes, in\ntheir hands, in their tongue, in their ears, in their feet. But what\ndoes this Saviour do in all these parts? He redresses, purifies, prunes,\nand vivifies all; the heart loves through Him, the mind understands\nthrough Him, the breast breathes through Him, the eyes see through Him,\nthe tongue speaks through Him. Then we can say, \u201cWe live now, not we,\nbut Christ Jesus liveth in us.\u201d I show you to what we must aspire though\nwe must be content to attain it by degrees.\n\n\n 269.\n\nLet us keep ourselves humble and go to Holy Communion boldly; we shall\ngradually become accustomed to this heavenly food and learn to digest it\nto our profit.\n\n\n 270.\n\nCharity, so far from searching for evil, fears to meet it; if she\nencounter it, she turns away and appears not to see it. She will shut\nher eyes rather than meet it.\n\n\n 271.\n\nOh! happy is the mind which sees but two objects, God and self, one of\nwhich enraptures it with a sovereign delight, and the other abases it to\nthe extremest abjection.\n\n\n 272.\n\nIf what we are doing be necessary, even though it distract our attention\nfrom God, we need not be troubled. We are taught to do all our actions\nfor God, and by so doing we keep ourselves in his presence. Beware of\nthinking it necessary to offer each action to our Lord, for that would\ninterfere with the simplicity of the practice of the Presence of God.\n\n\n 273.\n\nOh! I pray you, do not fall into the fault of considering the\nimperfections of others, for it will retard your perfection very much\nand will injure your soul.\n\n\n 274.\n\nMy dear daughter, we must flay the victim if we would have it acceptable\nto God. In the Old Law, God would accept no victim as a holocaust if it\nhad not first been flayed; in like manner our hearts can never be\nimmolated and sacrificed to God until they shall have been flayed,\nstripped of their old skin, that is, of their habits, inclinations,\nrepugnances, and superfluous affections.\n\n\n 275.\n\nAn act of mortification performed with great repugnance is infinitely\nsuited to strongly advance you in perfection.\n\n\n 276.\n\nMy daughters, do not deprive yourselves of Holy Communion because of\nbitterness of heart; but when you feel it you must draw near to God, to\nstrengthen your heart and unite it to his spirit of meekness.\n\n\n 277.\n\nTo pray is to raise the mind to God and converse with Him concerning our\ninterests with a reverent familiarity, and a confidence greater than has\nthe most petted child in its mother, and to talk with Him of all things\nboth high and low, of the things of heaven and the things of earth; it\nis to open one\u2019s heart to Him and pour it out unreservedly to Him; it is\nto tell Him of our labours, our sins, our desires, and all that is in\nour soul, and to find our rest with Him as we would with a friend. It is\nwhat the Holy Scripture calls \u201cpouring forth one\u2019s heart as water before\nHim.\u201d\n\n\n 278.\n\nAll should serve charity and charity should serve no one, not even her\nBeloved, of whom she is not the servant, but the spouse, and to whom she\nowes love, not service.\n\n\n 279.\n\nBe patient with your trials; our Lord, alas! permits them that you may\none day know what you are when left to yourself. Do you not see that the\ntrouble of the day is lighter after the rest of the night? an evident\nsign that our soul needs but to firmly resign itself to its God, and to\nbecome indifferent to serving Him amid thorns or roses.\n\n\n 280.\n\nBe a little lamb, a little dove, quite simple, sweet, and amiable,\nunquestioning and frank. Love this good God who loves you so much.\n\n\n 281.\n\nBe not too tender towards yourself; avoid weeping and complaints;\nendeavour to be free and detached from yourself, in order to be wholly\nunder the guidance of God\u2019s hand, for where his spirit is there is also\nliberty.\n\n\n 282.\n\nI see your childish tears and troubles. Know, then, that all our\nchildishness comes from this: that we forget the maxims of the saints,\nwho warn us that we must act as if we were daily to begin anew the\nlabour of our advancement; we shall not be so much astonished to find\nmiseries and faults to correct in ourselves. The work we have undertaken\nis never finished; we must continually begin over again with a good\nheart.\n\n\n 283.\n\nThere is and can be nothing which I cannot do, inasmuch as I place all\nmy confidence in God, who can do all things, and with this confidence\nthe soul courageously undertakes all that it is commanded, however\ndifficult it may be.\n\n\n 284.\n\nLive joyously, my dearest daughters, in the midst of your holy\noccupations. When the atmosphere is heavy in the midst of aridity,\nlabour independently of your heart by the practice of a holy abjection\nand humility.\n\n\n 285.\n\nWe shall never possess perfect sweetness and complete charity, if they\nbe not exercised in spite of repugnance, aversion, and disgust. True\npeace does not consist in not combating but in conquering.\n\n\n 286.\n\nIt should be a source of humiliation to us that we are so little master\nof ourselves, and so fond of our ease. Our Saviour did not come to seek\nhis ease or comfort, either spiritual or temporal, but to deny, to\ncombat Himself, and to die.\n\n\n 287.\n\nDo not allow yourself to yield in any way to sadness, which is the enemy\nto devotion. What, then, should sadden a soul which serves Him who shall\nbe our joy forever?\n\n\n 288.\n\nOur Lord revealed to Blessed Angela that there is no good so pleasing to\nHim as that which is done by force; that is, the good which a resolute\nwill effects and offers Him by working against the weight of the flesh,\nand the repugnances in the inferior part of the soul, and in spite of\nsadness, aridity, and interior desolation.\n\n\n 289.\n\nWhat can I say to you on the return of your miseries, save that as the\nenemy returns we must resume our arms and bring back our courage, in\norder to fight more valiantly than ever?\n\n\n 290.\n\nBeware of yielding to any kind of distrust, for the heavenly goodness\ndoes not permit you to fall in order to abandon you, but to humble you,\nand teach you to keep a firmer and closer hold of the hand of his mercy.\n\n\n 291.\n\nWhat happiness to serve God in the desert without manna, without water,\nwith no consolation save that of being under his guidance, and suffering\nfor Him!\n\n\n 292.\n\nWhen you meet with some contradiction, take your resolutions and place\nthem in the wounds of our Lord, and pray Him to preserve them and you\nwith them; then wait in these blessed retreats until the tempest has\npast.\n\n\n 293.\n\nThe throes and pangs of spiritual birth are painful to nature; our souls\nmust give birth not exteriorly, but interiorly to the sweetest, the most\npleasing, the most beautiful child that could be desired. It is the good\nJesus whom we must form within ourselves. Courage! we must suffer much\nthat He may be born in us.\n\n\n 294.\n\nYou always examine too much to discover whence your sadness comes. We\nmust not be so curious as to wish to know the cause of the diversity of\nstates in this life. And in what way shall we show our love for Him who\nsuffered so much for us, if not by patiently enduring aversions,\nrepugnances, and struggles?\n\n\n 295.\n\nWe must cast our heart among the thorns of difficulties, allow it to be\ntranspierced with the lance of contradictions, steeped with gall and\nvinegar; in a word, feed on absinthe and bitterness, since God wills it.\n\n\n 296.\n\nI desire that you should continue the exercise of getting rid of self by\nabandoning yourself to our Lord, to the guide of your soul. Say: \u201cI\nearnestly wish it, Lord; tear, wrest from me without hesitation all that\nburdens my heart. I except nothing; wrest me from myself! O self! I\nabandon thee for ever.\u201d\n\n\n 297.\n\nYou must abide like a poor miserable creature before the throne of\nDivine Mercy, and remain there wholly stripped of all action and of all\naffection to creatures, and make yourself indifferent to all things.\n\n\n 298.\n\nHow beautiful it is to renounce esteem of self, to renounce what we are,\nour own will, all complacency in the creature, and, in short, all of\nself. We must bury this human self in an eternal abandonment, that we\nmay never more see or know it as we have seen and known it.\n\n\n 299.\n\nThe virtues which grow in prosperity are of little value; those which\nare born in the midst of afflictions are strong and firm. In this life\nGod usually allows his children and faithful servants only the honour of\nsuffering much and carrying their cross after Him.\n\n\n 300.\n\nA heart indifferent to all things is like a ball of wax in the hands of\nGod, capable of receiving all the impressions of his eternal good\npleasure. It does not place its love in the things which God wills but\nin the will of God which decrees them.\n\n\n 301.\n\nTo belong wholly to God say adieu to all that is not God.\n\n\n 302.\n\nA monastery is an academy of strict correction, where each one should\nallow himself to be treated, planed, and polished so that all the angles\nbeing effaced he may be joined, united, and fastened to the will of God.\n\n\n 303.\n\nIt is an evident sign of perfection to wish to be corrected, for the\nprincipal fruit of humility is to show us the need we have of\ncorrection.\n\n\n 304.\n\nDoes God look upon you with love? What a subject to be in doubt about!\nIn his goodness He looks down with love upon the most terrible sinner,\nhave he never so little true desire to be converted.\n\n\n 305.\n\nWhen shall we become wholly dead to ourselves in the sight of God, and\nlive that new life in which we shall no longer wish to do anything of\nourselves, but leave God to do all that He will through us, and let his\nliving will act upon ours, wholly dead in his love?\n\n\n 306.\n\nJesus our Heart, our Heart of Hearts, lovingly watches over us.\n\n\n 307.\n\nRest your spirit upon the stone which was represented by the one beneath\nthe head of Jacob, for it is the same upon which St. John reposed on the\nday when his Master manifested the excess of his love.\n\n\n 308.\n\nBehold St. Peter; fear is a greater evil than the evil which is feared;\nit would have caused him to perish in the waters had not his Master\nsaved him. Oh! child of little faith, fear not! You are walking on the\nwaters, in the midst of the wind and waves, but it is with Jesus; if\nfear seizes you cry loudly, \u201cLord, save me or I perish!\u201d He will extend\nhis hand to you; clasp it firmly and go on joyously.\n\n\n 309.\n\nYes, abandonment to God in interior and exterior suffering is excellent.\nOh! how good it is to live but in God, to work but in God, to rejoice\nbut in God.\n\n\n 310.\n\nWhen we are in doubt of not having done our duty, or of having offended\nGod, we must humble ourselves, beg God to forgive us, and start afresh.\nPure love of God says to us: \u201cUnfaithful one, humble thyself, rely upon\nthe mercy of God, ask pardon, and after renewed promises of fidelity and\nlove, continue on in the pursuit of thy perfection.\u201d\n\n\n 311.\n\nI must tell you that you are now dead to the world. This is a part of\nthe holocaust; there remain two other parts, one of which is to remove\nthe skin of the victim, divesting your heart of self, cutting off or\ngetting rid of all the impressions of nature and of creatures; and the\nother, to burn and reduce your self-love to ashes, and to convert your\nwhole soul into flames of heavenly love.\n\n\n 312.\n\nYou should be particularly careful to lean wholly to the side of\nhumility, since you are so much inclined to pride and self-esteem.\n\n\n 313.\n\nLet us humble ourselves and speak of our wounds and miseries at the door\nof the temple of divine piety; but remember to show them with joy, and\nbe perfectly happy to appear in want and despoiled of all things, in\norder that our Lord may fill you with his grace.\n\n\n 314.\n\nBe sweet and affable to all except to those who would take from thee thy\nglory, which is thy misery and thy absolute poverty: \u201cI glory in my\ninfirmities,\u201d says the Apostle; \u201cit is good for me to die, rather than\nthat any man should make my glory void.\u201d See, he would rather die than\nlose his infirmities.\n\n\n 315.\n\nYes, you must keep your misery and lowliness, for God looks down upon\nit. Men look at the exterior, God looks at the heart; if He sees the\nlowliness of your heart He will give us great graces. This humility\npreserves chastity; that is why the soul of the spouse is called the\n_Lily of the Valley_.\n\n\n 316.\n\nKeep yourself joyously humble before God, but maintain an equally joyous\nhumility before the world. Be very glad that men make no account of you.\nIf you have their esteem laugh at it joyously; if they esteem you not,\nconsole yourself that, as regards you at least, the world judges truly.\n\n\n 317.\n\nI am truly like those fathers who never tire speaking with their\nchildren of means for their advancement. But what shall I say to you to\nthis end? Be always very lowly; humble yourself more and more every day.\nThis is true greatness.\n\n\n 318.\n\nI have gotten the habit of recommending all who address themselves to me\nto lift up their hearts, as the Church tells us in the Holy Sacrifice of\nthe Mass. A heart thus generously lifted up is always humble, for it is\nestablished in truth and not in vanity; it is sweet and peaceful, for it\nmakes no account of what could trouble it.\n\n\n 319.\n\nWhen I say that the heart is sweet and peaceful, I do not mean that it\ndoes not suffer and feel affliction. No, certainly, I do not say that;\nbut I say that it meets sufferings, trials, and tribulations with such a\nstrong will to bear them for God, that all its bitterness is full of\npeace and tranquillity.\n\n\n 320.\n\nIt is a great part of our perfection to bear with one another in our\nimperfections. How can we, in fact, practise love for our neighbour, if\nnot by this forbearance?\n\n\n 321.\n\nOur heart must be kind and gentle towards our neighbour, and full of\naffection for him, particularly when he is wearisome and displeasing to\nus, for then we find nothing in him to make us love him but respect for\nour Saviour.\n\n\n 322.\n\nIf your heart be in heaven the winds of the earth cannot move it. No\naction of the world can harm him who has renounced the world.\n\n\n 323.\n\nSpeak of yourself as little as possible; this I tell you earnestly;\nremember it and pay attention to it. If you are imperfect, humble\nyourself and do not speak of it.\n\n\n 324.\n\nWe must die between the two pillows of humility and confidence.\n\n\n 325.\n\nWe must fortify our courage, and never give up because of obstacles, but\nfight valiantly, astonished neither at the number of our enemies nor the\nduration of the struggle.\n\n\n 326.\n\nLord, command my soul all that Thou wilt, and give me strength to obey.\nThou hast begun in me the work of my perfection, and I can never doubt\nthat thy goodness will achieve it, if I faithfully co-operate with Thee.\n\n\n 327.\n\nIn what do you think the greatness of courage consists? It is in the\nhumility of courage, and yours will be greater in proportion to the\nhumility in which you possess it, that is, in proportion to your little\nesteem of yourself.\n\n\n 328.\n\nRecall to mind the words so admirably impressed upon the hearts of the\napostles by our Saviour: \u201cUnless you be converted and become as little\nchildren, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Verily, if we\nwould attain perfection we must be like little children in our courage,\nthat is, humble, gentle, docile, and easily turned to any purposes.\n\n\n 329.\n\nIf you speak, speak of God; if you are silent, speak to God.\n\n\n 330.\n\nI would rather be a gnat by the will of God than a seraph by my own.\n\n\n 331.\n\nOur gentleness with our neighbour must be carried to extreme, even to\nfoolishness, and we must never retaliate; believe me, if we lose\nsomething by this, our Lord will make it up elsewhere.\n\n\n 332.\n\nCourage, my very dear daughter: behold, you are at last upon the sacred\naltar to be sacrificed, immolated, consumed before the face of the\nliving God. Truly, this day must be counted as one of the days which the\nLord has made.\n\n\n 333.\n\nAh! how happy are these beloved hearts of my daughters, in having left\nfor a few years the false liberty of the world to enjoy eternally the\nenviable slavery which takes away no liberty, save that which would\nprevent us from being truly free.\n\n\n 334.\n\nI know the state of your soul very well, and I seem to see it always\nbefore me with its little emotions of sadness, surprise, and\ndisquiet\u2014emotions which continue to trouble it, because it has not yet\ncast deep enough the foundations of love of the cross and abjection.\n\n\n 335.\n\nNo, my dear daughter, it is not necessary to the practice of virtues to\nbe continually mindful of all of them; that would only embarrass your\nthoughts and your affections. Humility and charity are the mother cords\nto which all the others are attached: one is the highest, the other the\nlowest. The safety of a whole edifice depends upon the foundation and\nthe roof. These are the mother virtues, which the others follow as\nlittle chickens do the mother hen.\n\n\n 336.\n\nI have just spoken of you with our Lord, but I dare not absolutely ask\nfor your deliverance; for if it please Him to flay the victim, it is not\nfor me to desire that He should not; but I implore Him to hold you by\nthe hand as He has always done.\n\n\n 337.\n\nGod be praised! Live, Jesus! We must bear our cross; whoever bears it\nbest, is through it made the stronger.\n\n\n 338.\n\nThere never was a saint who did not experience both ecstasy and rapture\nin life and its operations by overcoming himself and his natural\ninclinations.\n\n\n 339.\n\nWhoever has a spirit of prayer despatches more business in an hour than\nothers in several, and wholly at leisure hastens to his rest, which is\nto treat with God; but God only communicates Himself to the obedient.\n\n\n 340.\n\nNever lose your interior peace for anything, whatever it may be, even\nthough everything be overturned about you; for what are all the things\nof this life compared to peace of heart?\n\n\n 341.\n\nUnder all circumstances, be invariable in the resolution to adhere with\ngreat simplicity and unity to God, by a perfectly trustful love,\nabandoning yourself to the mercy of love and the paternal care which His\nProvidence has of you.\n\n\n 342.\n\nRemain unalterable in a holy nudity of spirit, never assuming any care,\ndesire, affection, or pretension whatever. Our Lord loves you, He wishes\nyou to be wholly his; let no arms but his support you, rest upon no\nother breast but his.\n\n\n 343.\n\nWe must descend to earth to regulate the necessities of this life, but\nin all things our heart should relish only the dew of God\u2019s pleasure,\nand refer all to the praise of God.\n\n\n 344.\n\nIf we love our sweet Saviour let us feed his lambs, since it is a mark\nof faithful love;\u2014but with what must we feed these dear sheep? With love\nitself, for they will either not live at all, or they will live upon\nlove.\n\n\n 345.\n\nHe who would lay up virtues without humility is like one who carries a\nprecious dust in his hand exposed to the wind. The great secret of\nmaintaining true devotion is to have great humility. Be humble and God\nwill be with you. God is pleased to dwell in a heart deepened by\nhumility, docile through simplicity, and great through charity. He who\nis truly humble desires to be humbled. Humility produces generosity.\nRemember, my dear daughter, that the keenest humiliations are those\nwhich are least visible.\n\n\n 346.\n\nWe must change from one place to another without changing our love or\nthe object of our love. Be indifferent to all occupation in the midst of\ndifferent occupations. Be uninfluenced by affairs, and remain equally\nfor God in all things.\n\n\n 347.\n\nHow happy we shall be if one day we change self into that holy love\nwhich shall make us one, and entirely free us from all complexity of\naffairs, so that we shall have at heart only the sovereign unity of his\nHoly Trinity.\n\n\n 348.\n\nCuriosity, ambition, restlessness, and forgetfulness of the end for\nwhich we are in this world are the cause of our having more impediments\nthan works, more bustle than business, more undertakings than results.\nAnd these incumbrances, these superfluous occupations with which we\nburden ourselves, are what divert us from God, and not the legitimate\nexercise of our employments.\n\n\n 349.\n\nOur perfection must be true and solid. For example, though anger is\nraging within me, though my blood boils, I will not cease to be as\ngracious and gentle as it is possible to be, and all the reasons which\nnature urges for its release I will strangle as she presents them, I\nwill not listen to one of them. This is true virtue, true gentleness.\nAh! God gives you occasion to practise patience. Would you let it escape\nyou? Perhaps you may never in life meet with such another opportunity.\n\n\n 350.\n\nCourage, my poor mind! Let us reject all discourse, research, inquiry;\nlet us become more simple, and be rid of this tiresome care of self; let\nus confine ourselves to the simple view of God and our own nothingness.\nLet us steadily lean upon the results of the sovereign will, even when\nwe fall, for the dear Jesus will give us the necessary sentiments. O\nmind, one is never wholly master of thee.... Thou wouldst know all in\nspite of us. O my God, stop this miserable wanderer!\n\n\n 351.\n\nThe saints did not abound so much in sensible sentiments, they worked\naccording to the lights and truths of faith. Ah! let us be ever wholly\ndetached from everything before God, taking no trouble for what comes to\nus. Let all that is not God be as nothing to us. Let us contemplate the\ninfinite goodness of God and forget ourselves. Let us immolate all our\naffections to Jesus Christ.\n\n\n 352.\n\nCondescending to the humour of others, bearing with rudeness and\ntiresome manners on the part of our neighbour, victories over our own\nhumours and passions, renouncing our smallest inclinations, efforts\nagainst our aversions and repugnances, a continual endeavour to maintain\nthe peace of our soul, a kind and amiable manner of receiving censures\nupon our condition, our life, our conversation, are all more fruitful to\nour soul than we can imagine, provided love for God be the motive which\nanimates us.\n\n\n 353.\n\nWhenever I enter a place consecrated to our august Queen, I experience a\nthrill of love which tells me that I am with my mother, for I feel that\nI am the child of her who is called the refuge of sinners.\n\n\n 354.\n\nAway from me those who love severity, for I will have none of it! It is\nbetter to be obliged to account to God for too much gentleness than too\nmuch severity. Is not God all love? God the Father is the father of the\nwretched; God the Son is called a lamb; God the Holy Ghost manifests\nHimself under the form of a dove. If there were anything better than\nbenignity Jesus Christ would have told us, and yet He gives us but two\nlessons to learn of Him\u2014meekness and humility.\n\n\n 355.\n\nThe passport of the daughters of Jesus Christ is peace. The joy of the\ndaughters of Our Lady is peace. We must always be at peace. Know that\nthe virtue of patience is that which most assures us perfection; and if\nwe are to be patient with others, we must be equally so with ourselves.\nMay Jesus be in the midst of thy heart, and thy heart in the midst of\nJesus! May Jesus live in thy heart, and thy heart in Jesus! Amen.\n\n\n 356.\n\nGreat saints never are guilty of mortal sin, but only of useless,\nill-timed, imprudent, and rude actions; slight acts of impatience,\nslight excesses of joy, of mirth, slight failings in vanity, and other\nlike faults are useless movements and irregularities into which the just\nfall seven times\u2014that is, very often.\n\n\n 357.\n\nIf I want only pure water, what does it matter whether it be brought me\nin a vase of gold or glass? What is it to me whether the will of God be\npresented to me in tribulation or consolation, since I desire and seek\nonly the divine will?\n\n\n 358.\n\nA heart indifferent to all things is like a ball of wax in the hands of\nGod, to receive all the impressions of his eternal good pleasure, a\nheart with no choice, disposed for all things, placing its affection,\nnot in the things which God wills, but in the will of God which decrees\nthem.\n\n\n 359.\n\nParadise is no more pleasing than the miseries of this world, if the\ndivine good pleasure be equally in the miseries as in paradise. Labour\nis paradise, if the divine will be found in it, and paradise labour, if\nthe divine will be not in it.\n\n\n 360.\n\nThe divine good pleasure is the sovereign object of the detached soul;\nwherever it sees it, it runs in the odour of its perfumes, unceasingly\nseeks the places where it most abounds, regardless of all other things.\n\n\n 361.\n\nIn the monastery of the devout life each one considers himself a novice,\nand a lifetime is devoted to a probation according to the rule of the\norder; it is not the solemnity of the vows but their fulfilment which\nmakes novices professed.\n\n\n 362.\n\nHe who ardently loves God does not turn back his gaze upon himself to\ndiscover what he is doing, but keeps his heart occupied with God, the\nobject of his love. A heavenly chorister takes so much delight in\npleasing God, that he desires no pleasure from the melody of his voice,\nsave as it is pleasing to his Sovereign.\n\n\n 363.\n\nThere is nothing so sad as to serve a master who knows nothing of our\ndevotion, or who, if he knows it, gives no sign of being satisfied with\nit; and it must be a strong love which sustains itself alone,\nunsupported by any pleasure or aspiration. Thus does it happen in the\nexercises of sacred love; like deaf choristers we do not hear our own\nvoice, on the contrary, we are oppressed by a thousand fears, and by the\nuproar which the devil makes about our heart, suggesting that we are not\npleasing to our Master, that our love is useless, yea, even false and\nvain. Oh, my dear Theotime! it is then we must manifest an invincible\nfidelity to our Saviour, serving Him purely for love of his will, not\nonly without pleasure, but in the midst of this deluge of sadness,\nterrors, alarms, and temptations.\n\n\n 364.\n\nNo, Lord, I wish for no event; for I leave Thee to will it for me as\nThou pleasest; but instead of wishing for events I bless Thee for those\nThou has ordained. Father, I am thine. I know not what I should wish; it\nis for Thee to will and do for me all that shall seem to Thee good. \u201cMy\nFather truly loves me, and I am wholly his.\u201d\n\n\n 365.\n\nO Jesus! be my sweetness and my honey; sweeten my heart by the sweetness\nof thine.\n\n\n 366.\n\nTo whom is He not good, this Sovereign Love of hearts? Those who taste\nof his sweetness can never be sated therewith, and those who approach\nHis heart cannot contain their own with praising and blessing Him for\never. Continue to unite yourself more and more to this dear Saviour.\nBury your heart in the charity of his, and let us say with all our\nheart: \u201cMay I die and Jesus live; this shall be a happy death if it take\nplace in this life.\u201d May you be blessed with the benediction which the\nDivine Goodness has prepared for hearts which abandon themselves a prey\nto his sacred and holy love.\n\n\n 367.\n\nYou must bow your head and bear yourself contrary to your habits or\ninclinations. Live humbly before God, amiably with your neighbour, and\nsweetly with yourself.\n\n\n 368.\n\nCast your thoughts earnestly upon the shoulders of the Saviour, and He\nwill support and strengthen you. When He calls you to a kind of service\nwhich is contrary to your taste, your courage should not be less, but\nrather more than if your taste concurred with his pleasure, for where\nthere is least of self the work goes best. Do not permit your mind to\nconsider itself, its powers, its inclinations. You must keep your eyes\nfixed upon the good pleasure of God, and upon Providence.\n\n\n 369.\n\nWe must not amuse ourselves with discoursing when we should run, nor\nwith chatting about difficulties when we should conquer them. Say\ncourageously: \u201cI will do much; not I, but the grace of God which is\nwithin me.\u201d\n\n\n 370.\n\nHold the cross of our Lord upon your breast, and as long as you firmly\nclasp it in your arms, the enemy will be at your feet.\n\n\n 371.\n\nAh! how I would like to see you always transfigured in our Lord! Oh! how\nbeautiful is his face, how sweet his eyes in their wonderful gentleness,\nand how good it is to be with Him on the mount of glory! It is there we\nshould lodge our affections, and not on this earth, where there is\nnothing but empty beauty and false vanity.\n\n\n 372.\n\nMay God give you strength to break the ties which prevent you from\nfollowing the heavenly attractions of your heart! Ah! it is sad to see a\nlittle bee in the treacherous coils of a spider, but if a favourable\nwind of grace break these wretched fetters, these unfortunate meshes,\nwhy does not this dear bee hasten to disentangle itself and proceed to\nthe making of its sweet honey.\n\n\n 373.\n\nThe sting of honey-bees is much more dangerous than that of other bees,\nand so the machinations of friends against us are exceedingly hard to\nbear; but we must endure them, bear with them, and finally love them as\ndear contradictions. We must absolutely, invariably, and inviolably\ndesire only God. But the means of serving Him should be the object of a\nvery feeble desire on our part, so that if one means be taken from us we\nshall not be greatly affected thereby. Our desire for everything which\nis not God should be very weak and indifferent.\n\n\n 374.\n\nWhen we are ill in body we must exact of our minds only acts of\nsubmission and acceptance of labour, and acts uniting our will with the\ngood pleasure of God, which acts are formed in the superior part of the\nsoul. As to exterior actions, we must perform them as best we can, even\nthough it be languidly, heavily, and against our inclinations; and to\nmake them acceptable to Divine Love, we must acknowledge, accept, and\ncherish the holy abjection of our state. In this way you will change the\nlead of your languor into gold, and that, too, finer gold than your\nheart could offer in its brightest and happiest moments.\n\n\n 375.\n\nIt seems to me that I see your heart before me like a dial placed in the\nsun, which never moves, while its needle and balance are continually in\nmotion, ever turning towards the beautiful planet; for your heart in\nlike manner remains motionless, while your will is continually turning\nby means of its good desires towards God.\n\n\n 376.\n\nHow is your poor heart? Is it always valiant and vigilant against\nattacks of sadness? In God\u2019s name, do not torment it, even though it\nwander a little; reprove it gently, and bring it back to the path. You\nwill see that this heart will become a true heart, according to the\nHeart of God.\n\n\n 377.\n\nThink of that great dereliction which our Master endured, and see how\nthis dear Son, having asked consolation of his good Father, and seeing\nthat He willed not to grant it, thought of it no more, ceased to seek\nit, but, as if He had never desired it, valiantly and courageously set\nabout the work of our redemption. After you shall have prayed to your\nHeavenly Father for consolation, if it does not please Him to give it\nyou, cease to think of it, but renew your courage to work out your\nsalvation on the cross, as if you were never to descend therefrom.\n\n\n 378.\n\nO my God! how beautiful, how lovely is this cross! We make every effort\nto obtain the wood, and we exalt it on the Mount of Calvary. Alas! happy\nare those who love it and bear it. It will be exalted in heaven, when\nour Lord shall come to judge the living and the dead, to teach us that\nheaven is the mansion of crucified souls.\n\n\n 379.\n\nI love independent, vigorous, and sensible souls; for this great\nsensibility confuses and disquiets the heart, and distracts it from the\nprayer of loving attention to God, prevents complete resignation, and\nimpedes the perfect destruction of self-love. I am the most affectionate\nperson in the world; and it seems to me that I love nothing but God, and\nall souls for God.\n\n\n 380.\n\nWhen a soul aspires to be the spouse of Jesus Christ, it must cast off\nthe old man and clothe itself in the new, by giving up sin, and then\ncutting off from its life all the superfluities which could divert it\nfrom divine love.\n\n\n 381.\n\nAs the exercise of purity of heart ends only with life, let us not be\ntroubled at sight of our imperfections. Our perfection consists in\ncombating them, and we cannot combat or vanquish them without feeling\nand knowing them.\n\n\n 382.\n\nOur Lord is the mysterious tree of desire of which the holy spouse of\nthe canticle speaks. It is to his feet, then, that we must go to breathe\na sweeter air, howsoever little the heart may be oppressed by the\natmosphere of the world.\n\n\n 383.\n\nWe desire to build a great edifice, that is, to erect God\u2019s dwelling\nwithin us; therefore let us consider whether we have sufficient courage\nto ruin ourselves, or to let God raze us to the ground that He may\nrebuild us into a living temple of his Majesty.\n\n\n 384.\n\nOur sole pretentions should be to be united to God, as our Lord was\nunited to his Father when He died on the cross.\n\n\n 385.\n\nDesire nothing, ask nothing, refuse nothing; this practice contains all\nperfection.\n\n\n 386.\n\nThere is a certain simplicity of heart which contains the perfection of\nall perfections; and it is this simplicity which makes our soul consider\nGod alone, and keep its forces wholly collected within itself, in order\nto devote itself with all possible fidelity to the observance of his\nlaws, with no wish or desire for anything else.\n\n\n 387.\n\nRecall yourself sometimes to the interior solitude of your heart, and\nthere, removed from all creatures, treat of the affairs of your\nsalvation and your perfection with God, as a friend would speak heart to\nheart with another.\n\n\n 388.\n\nWe retire into God because we aspire to Him, and we aspire to Him that\nwe may retire into Him. Thus the retirement of the heart and the\naspiration towards God are one the effect of the other.\n\n\n 389.\n\nOur will can never die, but it sometimes passes beyond the limits of its\nordinary life to live wholly in the divine will. This is accomplished\nwhen it will not and cannot any longer will anything, but abandons\nitself without reserve to the good pleasure of Providence: it no longer\nlives, but the will of God lives in it.\n\n\n 390.\n\nLet us be earnestly attentive to blessing God for all that He shall do,\nsaying: \u201cThe Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name\nof the Lord.\u201d No, Lord, I desire nothing; for I leave Thee to will for\nme wholly as Thou pleasest; instead of wishing for anything, I bless\nThee for what Thou shalt decree.\n\n\n 391.\n\nHast thou fallen into the net of adversity? Look not at thy misfortunes,\nor the snares into which thou art taken, but turn to God and leave all\nto Him. He will care for thee.\n\n\n 392.\n\nWe should peacefully abide in our misery and abjection, in the midst of\nour imperfections and weakness until it shall please God to raise us to\nthe practice of great virtues.\n\n\n 393.\n\nWe must live in this world as if our mind were in heaven and our body in\nthe tomb.\n\n\n 394.\n\nChoose the best virtues and not those which are most esteemed; the most\nexcellent, and not the most apparent; the most solid, and not the most\nfanciful.\n\n\n 395.\n\nIf anger or pride attack me, I must do all in my power to incline my\nheart to humility and meekness, devoting to that end my spiritual\nexercises, the sacraments and the other virtues.\n\n\n 396.\n\nDo not limit your patience to certain trials, but extend it universally\nto all that God shall send you, or permit to reach you through any\nsource.\n\n\n 397.\n\nA truly patient man bears, with the same evenness of temper, ignominious\ntrials and those which are honourable. As the sting of bees is more\npainful than that of flies, so the contradictions we experience at the\nhands of good people are more trying than those which come from the\nwicked.\n\n\n 398.\n\nComplain as little as possible of injuries, for it rarely happens that\none complains without sin, since our self-love exaggerates in our eyes\nand hearts the wrongs we have received.\n\n\n 399.\n\nYou wish absolutely to form Jesus Christ in you, in your heart, in your\nworks, by a sincere love of his doctrine and a perfect imitation of his\nlife; rest assured it will cost you many pangs; but they will pass away,\nand the presence of Jesus, who shall live in you, will fill your soul\nwith an ineffable joy which can never be taken from you.\n\n\n 400.\n\nThink frequently of Jesus crucified; consider Him covered with wounds,\nfilled with sadness, despoiled of everything, loaded with maledictions.\nThen you will acknowledge that your sufferings can in no way compare\nwith his, and that never shall you endure anything in the least degree\napproaching what He suffered for you.\n\n\n 401.\n\nGod\u2019s great desire is that we should be perfect, to unite ourselves with\nHim by the perfect imitation of his sanctity. \u201cBe you therefore perfect,\nas your Heavenly Father is perfect.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n LIVE JESUS!\n\n\n _=God be Praised.=_\n\n\n\n\n M. H. Gill & Son, Printers, Dublin.\n\n\n\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n 1. Italic text in the original is delimited by underscores.\n\n 2. Bold text in the original is delimited by equals signs.\n\n 3. Blackletter text in the original is delimited by both underscores\n and equals signs.\n\n 4. Maxim 398 is a repeat of maxim 181, and maxim 370 is a repeat of\n maxim 182.\n\n 5. The following table notes the changes made to the printed text,\n denoted in brackets:\n\n =Page= =Maxim= =Text= =Operation=\n 16 24 may happen [you] to-morrow Removed.\n 38 78 imperfections and venia[l] Added.\n 42 86 body w[ /i]ll be Replaced.\n 47 100 constant[ly] Added.\n 60 135 confidence in Him[.] Added.\n 79 176 as by his words[.] Added.\n 86 194 for a short time[.] Added.\n 97 213 so carefull[y] to discover Added.\n 107 233 you ha[ ]ve been Removed.\n 124 268 through Him[,] the mind Added.\n 151 323 your[/newline/]self Removed.\n 163 349 practise patience[.] Would Added.\n 178 374 37[ ]4 Removed.","title":"Maxims and counsels of St. Francis de Sales for every day of the year","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":17253}