The enclosed is an answer to that which I received from ----; pray
deliver it to her. She seems to me full of good will, but she would go
faster than grace. One does not become holy all at once. I recommend
her to you: we ought to help one another by our advice, and yet more
by our good examples. You will oblige me to let me hear of her from
time to time, and whether she be very fervent and very obedient.
Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to
please GOD, and that all besides is but folly and vanity. You and I
have lived about forty years in religion (_i.e._, a monastic life).
Have we employed them in loving and serving GOD, who by His mercy has
called us to this state and for that very end? I am filled with shame
and confusion when I reflect on one hand upon the great favors which
GOD has done, and incessantly continues to do me; and on the other,
upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the
way of perfection.
Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in
earnest: let us repair the lost time: let us return with a full
assurance to that FATHER of mercies, who is always ready to receive us
affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the
love of Him, all that is not Himself; He deserves infinitely more. Let
us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him. I doubt
not but we shall soon find the effects of it in receiving the
abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without
which we can do nothing but sin.
We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life without the actual
and _continual_ help of GOD: let us then pray to Him for it
_continually_. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can
we be with Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often
think of Him, but by a holy habit which we should form of it? You will
tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true, for this
is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use no other, I advise
all the world to do it. We must _know_ before we can _love_. In order
to _know_ GOD, we must often _think_ of Him; and when we come to
_love_ Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will
be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your
consideration.