wanteth help, is very weak in ability, and full of poverty: yet the eye
of God hath looked upon him for good, and hath lifted him up from his
low estate, and hath exalted his head: and many have wondered at him
and have glorified God._
‘_Trust in God, and stay in thy place. For it is easy in the eyes of
God, on a sudden to make the poor man rich. The blessing of God maketh
haste to reward the just, and in a swift hour His blessing beareth
fruit!_’”[40]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“You have always been faithful to divine grace, have you not?”
“Yes, since the age of three I have refused nothing to the good God.
Yet not mine the glory. See how the setting sun this evening gilds the
topmost branches of the trees; even so does my soul appear to you--all
bright and gilded, because it is exposed to Love’s rays. If the Divine
Sun withheld from me His rays, my soul would immediately become
obscured and enveloped in darkness.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“You really are a saint!” some one said to her.
“No, I am not a saint; I have never done the works of the Saints. I
am a very, very little soul on whom the good God has outpoured the
abundance of His grace. You will see in Heaven that I am telling you
the truth.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
She said to the Prioress: “Mother, I feel that if I were unfaithful, if
I committed but the very slightest infidelity, fearful troubles would
follow, and I could no longer accept death with resignation.”
And as the Mother Prioress showed surprise at hearing her speak thus,
she continued:
“I mean an infidelity springing from pride. For instance, if I said: ‘I
have acquired such or such a virtue, I am able to practise it,’ or, ‘O
my God, I love Thee too well--Thou knowest it--to dwell on one single
thought against faith,’ I feel that I should forthwith be assailed by
the most dangerous temptations and should certainly be overcome by them.
“To avoid this calamity I have but to say humbly from the depths of my
heart: ‘O my God, I implore of Thee, suffer me not to be unfaithful!’
“I very well understand how St. Peter fell. He depended too confidently
on the fervour of his feelings, instead of relying solely upon Divine
strength. Had he said to Jesus: ‘Lord, give me the strength to follow
Thee even unto death,’ that strength, I am quite sure would not have
been refused him.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“Oh! when I think of all I have to acquire!” exclaimed a novice.
“Say, rather, _to lose_. Jesus, it is, who charges Himself with
the care of filling your soul according as you free it from its
imperfections. I plainly see that you are taking the wrong road, you
will never arrive at the end of your journey. You wish to scale a
mountain and the good God wants to make you descend: He is waiting for
you low down in the fertile valley of humility.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“When I receive a reproof,” said another, “I would rather have deserved
it than be wrongfully accused.”
“As for me,” replied Thérèse, “I prefer being blamed unjustly, then I
have no cause for self-reproach and I offer this unmerited blame to the
good God with joy, then I humble myself at the thought that I should be
quite capable of doing that of which I was accused.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
When we are not understood, and are unfavourably judged, what good is
there in defending ourselves? Let us leave it so and say nothing, it
is so sweet to let ourselves be judged no matter how! It is not told
in the Gospels that Saint Magdalen gave any explanation when blamed by
her sister for sitting inactive at the feet of Jesus. She did not say:
“Martha, if thou didst but know my happiness, if thou didst but hear
the words I hear, thou too wouldst lay all else aside, to share my joy
and my repose.” No, she chose rather to be silent.... O blessed silence
which gives to the soul such peace!
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
In a moment of temptation and combat a novice received this note:
“_The just man shall correct me in mercy and reprove me; but let not
the oil of the sinner anoint my head._[41] I cannot be corrected or
tried except by the just, inasmuch as all my Sisters are pleasing to
God. It is less bitter to be reproved by a sinner than by the just; but
_through compassion for sinners_, to obtain their conversion, I pray
Thee, O my God, that I may be bruised by the just souls who are round
about me. Again, I beg that the oil of praise, so sweet to nature,
_anoint not my head_, that is to say, enervate not my mind, by making
me believe that I possess virtues which I have only with difficulty
practised several times.
“O my Jesus! _Thy Name is as oil poured out_;[42] it is in this divine
perfume that I wish to be wholly bathed, far away from the notice of
creatures.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
At the close of her life she was able to say: “I used so to rise above
all things, that I drew strength from humiliations.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
“God has a special love for you,” remarked a young Sister, “since to
you He entrusts other souls.”
“That does not add anything to me, and I am only really just what I am
in God’s sight.... It does not follow that He loves me more, because
He wills that I should be His interpreter to you; rather, He makes me
your little servant. It is for you and not for me that He has given me
the charms and virtues apparent to you.
“Often I compare myself to a little bowl which God fills with good
things of every kind. All _the kittens_ come to it to take their share,
and sometimes there is a contest as to which shall have most. But the
Child Jesus is there, keeping watch: ‘I am very willing that you drink
from my little bowl’ saith He, ‘but take care lest you overturn it and
break it.’
“Truth to tell, the danger is not great, because I am placed on the
ground. It is otherwise with Prioresses: they, being set on tables run
many more risks. Honours are always dangerous.
“Oh! how poisonous the praises served up day by day to those who hold
high places. What baneful incense! And how necessary it is that the
soul be detached from self, that so she may escape unharmed.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
To help a novice to accept a humiliation she said to her in confidence:
“If I had not been received into Carmel I would have entered a Refuge,
to live there unknown and despised in the midst of the poor penitents.
To pass for such in the eyes of all would have been my happiness. I
should have been the apostle of my companions telling them what I think
of the Mercy of the good God.”
“But how would you have been able to hide your innocence from your
Confessor?”
“I would have told him that while in the world I had made a general
confession and had been forbidden to do so again.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
One day they brought her some ears of corn. She took one so laden with
grain that it leaned down upon its stalk, and having looked at it for a
long time she said to the Mother Prioress:
“Mother, this ear of corn is an image of my soul: the good God has
laden me with graces for myself and for many others!... Oh! I wish ever
to bow down beneath the abundance of Heaven’s gifts, recognizing that
all comes from above.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
What do you think of all the graces which have been poured down upon
you?
“I think that _the Spirit of God breatheth where He will_.”[43]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
A sister said that in Heaven she would be a beautiful flower,
resplendent with light.
“Oh no,” she replied, “you know how in pretty bouquets they conceal
some moss to make the flowers stand out; well, I shall be a little bit
of moss to set off the beauty of the elect.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
During her last agony the Mother Prioress encouraged her with these
words:
“My child, you are quite ready to appear before God because you have
always understood the virtue of humility.”
Then of herself she gave this beautiful testimony:
“Yes, I feel it, my soul has never sought but the truth ... yes, I have
understood humility of heart!”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
FOOTNOTES:
[27] John, xviii, 36.
[28] _Imit._, I, ii, 3.
[29] Is., liii, 3.
[30] Matt., vi, 3.
[31] II Cor., xi, 5.
[32] John, xiii, 8.
[33] Kings, xvi, 10.
[34] Mark, vii, 28.
[35] Luke, i, 49.
[36] _Cf._ Jer., x, 23.
[37] _Cf._ Ps., xciii, 18.
[38] John, xxi, 5
[39] Luke, v, 5.
[40] Ecclus., xi, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24.
[41] Ps., cxl, 5.
[42] Cant., 1, 2.
[43] John, iii, 8.
[Illustration]
DETACHMENT
If the impossible were possible and that God Himself did not see my
good actions, I would not grieve about it. I love Him so much that I
should like to be able to give Him pleasure without His knowing that it
was I.... Knowing and seeing it, He is, in a way, bound to repay me....
I would not give Him the trouble.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
The glory of Jesus ... that is my whole ambition; my own I abandon to
Him; and if He seem to forget me, well, He is at liberty to do so since
I am mine no more, but His. He will more quickly tire of making me
wait, than I, of waiting!
VII LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
There is no stay, no support to seek out of Jesus. He alone changeth
not. What happiness to think that He can never change!
V LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
The sole happiness upon earth consists in hiding oneself and remaining
in total ignorance of created things.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VIII
Far from dazzling me all the titles of nobility appear to me but empty
vanity. I have understood those words of the _Imitation_: “_Be not
solicitous for the shadow of a great name_.”[44] I have understood that
true greatness is found not in the name but in the soul.
The Prophet tells us that _the Lord God shall call His servants by_
ANOTHER NAME;[45] and we read in St. John: “_To him that overcometh, I
will give ... a white counter, and in the counter a new name written,
which no man knoweth but he that receiveth._”[46] It is in Heaven,
therefore, that we shall know our titles of nobility. Then _shall each
one receive from God the praise that he merits_,[47] and he who upon
earth will have made choice of being the poorest and the most unknown
for love of our Lord, he will be the first, the noblest and the richest.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VI
I thank my Jesus for making me walk in darkness; in it I am wrapped in
profound peace. Willingly I consent to stay, during the whole of my
religious life, in this sombre tunnel into which He has made me enter;
I desire only that my darkness may win light for sinners.
IV LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
In this world we must not become attached to anything--not even things
the most innocent, for they fail us at the moment when we are least
expecting it. The eternal alone can satisfy us.
I LETTER TO SR. MARIE DU SACRÉ-CŒUR
This prayer she bore upon her heart on the day of her Profession:
“O Jesus, my Divine Spouse, grant that the robe of my baptism be never
sullied! Take me, rather than suffer me here below to stain my soul by
committing the slightest wilful fault. May I never seek nor ever find
but Thee alone! May all creatures be nothing to me, and I nothing to
them! May no earthly thing disturb my peace!
* * * * *
“Grant that I fulfil my engagements in all their perfection; that
none concern themselves about me; that I may be trodden underfoot,
forgotten, as a little grain of sand. I offer myself to Thee, O
Well-Beloved, that Thou mayst ever perfectly accomplish Thy holy will
in me, without let or hindrance from creatures.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VIII
With jealous care all must be kept for Jesus; it is so good to work for
Him, and for Him alone! How joyous then the heart and how buoyant the
spirit!...
VI LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
I have never wished for human glory, contempt it was, that had
attraction for my heart; but having recognized that this again was too
glorious for me, I ardently desire to be forgotten.
VII LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
If you only knew to what a degree I wish to be indifferent to the
things of the earth! What matters to me all created beauty? I should be
truly unfortunate were I to possess it. Oh! how great, how noble, seems
my heart when I look at it in relation to this world’s goods, since all
of them put together could never satisfy it; but when I consider it
with reference to Jesus, how _small_ it then appears to me.
II LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
Yes, I now am able to say I have received the grace of being no more
attached to the goods of mind and heart than to those of earth. If it
happens that I repeat to my Sisters some thought of mine which pleases
them, I think it quite natural that they should look on it as their
own; this thought belongs to the Holy Ghost not to me, seeing that St.
Paul tells us _that without the Spirit of Love we cannot give to God
the name of Father_.[48] The Holy Spirit assuredly is free to use me as
the means of conveying a good thought to a soul and I may not consider
this thought as my property.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X
“There is one only means of constraining the good God not to judge us
at all, it is to appear before Him with our hands empty.”
“But how?” they asked her.
“It is quite simple: keep nothing whatever in reserve, give away your
gains according as you earn. As for me, if I live to be eighty I shall
be always poor; I know not how to save up, all that I have goes
immediately to ransom souls.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
The further you advance the fewer combats will you have, or rather,
the easier will your conquests be, because you will look at the good
side of things. Your soul will then rise above creatures. Anything that
may be said to me now, leaves me absolutely indifferent, for I have
realized how little stability there is in human judgments.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
To write books of devotion, to compose the most sublime poetry, is of
less worth than the least act of self-renunciation.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“One Sunday,” Thérèse tells us, “I went right joyously on my way
towards the alley of chestnut trees; it was the spring-time, and I
meant to enjoy the beauties of nature. O cruel disappointment! My dear
chestnut trees had been pruned, and the branches, already loaded with
verdant buds, lay strewn upon the ground! It was heartrending to view
this destruction, and to think that three years must pass ere I could
see it repaired.... My distress however did not last. ‘If I were in
another monastery,’ thought I, ‘what difference would it make to me if
the chestnut trees in the Carmel of Lisieux were cut down altogether? I
will fret no more about transitory things; my Well-Beloved shall take
the place of all else for me.... I will wander ever in the groves of
His love, which none may touch!’”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
She said to her novices: “You are too much taken up about what you are
doing, you torment yourselves concerning the future as if you had the
care of it.... Are you at this moment preoccupied with what is passing
in other Carmels, as to whether the nuns are pressed or not? Do their
labours hinder your prayer or meditation? Very well, so, too, ought
you to be detached from your personal work, employing conscientiously
therein the time directed, but with disengagement of heart.
“I have read that the Israelites, when building the walls of Jerusalem,
worked with one hand and with the other held a sword.[49] That is truly
a figure of what we ought to do: never give ourselves completely up to
the work.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
A novice asked some of the Sisters to help to shake blankets, which
being rather worn, she cautioned them somewhat sharply to be careful
not to tear. Sœur Thérèse remarked:
“What would you do if it were not your office to mend these
blankets?... With what detachment you would then act! And if you did
point out that they are easily torn, how free from self-interest it
would be. Thus, never let the least shadow of self-interest glide into
your actions.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
In the infirmary the novices used scarcely to wait till her
thanksgivings were ended before speaking to her and seeking her
counsels. This, at first, grieved her and she gently reproached them.
Then very soon she let them have their way, saying:
“The thought has struck me that I am not to desire more of repose than
our Lord. When He retired into the desert after His discourses, the
people came immediately to break in upon His solitude. Come to me as
much as you will. I must die arms in hand, _having on my lips the sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God_.”[50]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
“How do you manage so to practise virtue,” asked a novice, “as to be
always the same, invariably joyous and composed?”
“It has not been always so,” she replied, “but ever since I have
shunned all self-seeking I lead the happiest life that can be.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
Now, that I am about to appear before the good God, more than ever do
I understand that there is but one thing necessary: to work solely for
Him, and to do nothing for self or for creatures.
X LETTER TO HER MISSIONARY “BROTHERS”
FOOTNOTES:
[44] _Imit._, III, xxiv, 2.
[45] Is., lxv, 15.
[46] Apoc., ii, 17.
[47] _Cf._ I Cor., iv, 5.
[48] _Cf._ Rom., viii, 15.
[49] II Esdras, iv, 17.
[50] Ephes., vi, 17.
[Illustration]
MORTIFICATION
Far from being like to those great souls who from their childhood
practise all sorts of macerations, I made my mortification consist
solely in the breaking of my will, restraining a hasty word, rendering
little services to those around me without making anything of it, and a
thousand other things of this kind.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VI
As I had no taste for games, I should have liked to spend my life
reading, but I was only to take a very limited time for this chosen
recreation, and this was the ground of many a sacrifice, for I made it
a point of duty to break off promptly at the end of the time allotted,
even in the middle of the most interesting passage.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. IV
I had accustomed myself never to complain when anything of mine was
taken away; and when unjustly blamed I chose rather to remain silent
than to defend myself.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. I
I was ten years old the day that my Father told Céline he was going to
let her have lessons in painting; I was by, and envied her. Then Papa
said to me: “And you, my little queen, would it give you pleasure too
to learn drawing?” I was just going to respond with a very gladsome
_yes_, when Marie made the remark that I had not the same taste for it
as Céline. At once she gained the day; and I, thinking that here was
a good opportunity of offering a grand sacrifice to Jesus, said not a
word. So eager was my desire to learn drawing that now I still wonder
how I had the fortitude to remain silent.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VIII
In the world, on awakening in the morning I used to think over what
would probably occur either pleasing or vexatious during the day; and
if I foresaw only trying events I arose dispirited. Now it is quite the
other way: I think of the difficulties and the sufferings that await
me, and I rise the more joyous and full of courage the more I foresee
opportunities of proving my love for Jesus, and _earning the living of
my children_--seeing that I am _the mother_ of souls. Then I kiss my
crucifix and lay it tenderly on the pillow while I dress, and I say
to Him: “My Jesus, Thou hast worked enough and wept enough during the
three-and-thirty years of Thy life on this poor earth. Take now Thy
rest.... My turn it is to suffer and to fight.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
The attraction to penance was given me, but I was permitted nothing
to satisfy it. The only mortifications I was allowed consisted in
mortifying self-love, which did me more good than corporal penance.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VII
At prayer I was for a long time near a Sister who used to handle
incessantly either her Rosary-beads or some other thing; perhaps none
heard it but myself, for my hearing is extremely acute, but I cannot
say how it tormented me! I should have liked to turn my head and look
at the culprit so as to make her stop that noise: however in my heart
I knew it was better to bear it patiently, for the love of God in the
first place, and also to avoid giving pain.
I kept quiet therefore, but was sometimes worked up to fever-heat and
obliged to make simply a prayer of endurance. Finally I sought out the
means of suffering with peace and joy, at least in my innermost soul;
I tried to like the teasing little noise. Instead of endeavouring not
to hear it--a thing impossible--I listened with fixed attention as if
it had been a delightful concert; and my prayer, _which was not the
prayer of quiet_, passed in offering this concert to Jesus.
Another time I was in the laundry opposite a Sister who while washing
handkerchiefs splashed me every minute with dirty water. My first
impulse was to draw back and wipe my face, so as to show her who
besprinkled me in that fashion, that she would oblige me by working
more quietly; but I reflected immediately that it was very foolish to
refuse treasures so generously offered me, and I took good care not
to show my annoyance. On the contrary, I made such successful efforts
to _wish_ for a plentiful splashing of dirty water, that at the end
of half an hour I had really acquired a taste for this new sort of
aspersion, and I determined to come again as often as possible to a
place where happily such riches could be had gratuitously.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X
I remember that sometimes, when a postulant, I was so violently
tempted to indulge myself by seeking some little consolations, that
I was obliged to go quickly past our Mother’s cell, and cling to the
banisters of the staircase so that I should not turn back. There would
come to mind a number of permissions to ask, a hundred pretexts for
deciding in favour of my natural inclinations and gratifying them.
How glad I am now of having denied myself from the outset of my life
in religion! Already I enjoy the reward promised to those who fight
courageously. No longer do I feel the necessity of refusing myself
consolations of the heart; for my heart is firmly fixed in God....
Because it has loved Him above all, it has gradually enlarged, even so
as to love those who are dear to it with a love incomparably deeper
than if it were centred in a selfish and fruitless affection.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X
In everything I must find self-denial and sacrifice; thus I feel
that a letter will not bear fruit unless I write it with a certain
reluctance, and solely through obedience. When conversing with a novice
I am careful to mortify myself and to avoid asking her questions which
would gratify my curiosity. If she commence to speak of something
interesting, then, leaving it unfinished, pass to a subject wearisome
to me, I take care not to remind her of the interruption, for it seems
to me that one can do no good by self-seeking.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X
God did not permit that our Mother should tell me to write down my
poems according as I composed them, and I would not have liked to ask
her, fearing lest that might be a fault against poverty. So I used
to wait until the hour of free time, and it was not without extreme
difficulty that I recalled to mind, at eight o’clock in the evening,
what I had composed in the morning.
These little nothings are a martyrdom it is true, but we must be well
on our guard not to lessen it by allowing ourselves, or seeking to
be allowed, a thousand things which would render the religious life
pleasant and comfortable.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
When some one rings for us, or knocks at our door, we must mortify
ourselves so as not even to do one stitch more before answering. I have
practised that; and it is, I assure you, a source of peace.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
Do you know my Sundays and festivals? They are the days when the good
God tries me the most.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
Sœur Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus says that she has not done any great
penances: that is because her fervour counted as nothing those which
were allowed her. It nevertheless happened that she became ill from
wearing for too long a time a small iron cross, of which the sharp
points were sunk into her flesh.
“That would not have befallen me from so slight a penance,” she said
afterwards, “if the good God had not wanted to make me understand that
the macerations of the Saints are not intended for me, nor for the
little souls who will tread the same path of spiritual childhood.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
To a novice whom she saw practise a little act of self-denial she said:
“You will be very glad to find that before you at the moment of death.
What you have just done is more glorious than if, by some skilful
measures, you had gained for the religious communities the good-will of
the Government, and that all France applauded you as a Judith.”