The degree of perfection to which our Blessed Father brought his Religious
he makes manifest to us in one of his letters.
"Do you know," he says, "what the cloister is? It is the school of exact
correction, in which each individual soul must learn the lesson of allowing
itself to be so disciplined, planed, and polished that at length, being
quite smooth and even, it may be fit to be joined, united, and absolutely
assimilated with the Will of God.
"To wish to be corrected is an evident sign of perfection, for the
principal point of humility is realizing our need of it.
"A convent is a hospital for the spiritually sick. The sick wish to be
cured, and, therefore, they willingly submit to be lanced, probed, cut,
cauterized, and subjected to any and every pain and discomfort which
medicine or surgery may suggest.
"In the early days of the Church, religious were called by a name which
signifies healers. Oh! my daughter, be truly your own healer, and pay no
heed to what self-love may whisper to the contrary. Say to yourself, since
I do not wish to die spiritually, I will be healed, and in order to be
healed I will submit to treatment and correction, and I will entreat the
doctors to spare me nothing which may be required to effect my cure."