Chapter I: AM no longer surprised at anything, nor do I grieve at seeing

that I am frailty itself; on the contrary I glory in it, and expect to discover new imperfections in myself each day. These lights concerning my nothingness do me more good, I affirm, than lights regarding faith.

HIST D'UNE AME, CH. IX

WHEN we commit a fault we must not think it due to a physical cause, such as illness or the weather, we must attribute this fall to our imperfection, but without ever growing discouraged.

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

SINCE Jesus has gone back to Heaven I can follow Him only by the path He has traced. Oh how luminous are His footprints-- diffusing a divine sweetness . . . I have but to glance at the holy Gospels and immediately I inhale the fragrance of the life of Jesus, and I know which side to take. Not to the first place do I run but to the last. I let the Pharisee go up, and full of confidence I repeat the humble prayer of the publican. Above all I copy the example of Magdalene; her amazing, or rather, her loving audacity, which so touched the Heart of Jesus, charms my own.

HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XI

WITH a simplicity that delights me my little Sisters, the novices, tell me of the interior combats I arouse in them, in what way they find me trying; they are no more embarrassed than if it were question of some one else, knowing that by acting thus, they greatly please me.

Ah! truly it is more than a pleasure, it is a delicious feast which replenishes my soul with joy. How can a thing so disagreeable to nature give such happiness? Had I not experienced it I could not have believed it.

One day when I had an ardent desire for humiliation, it happened that a young postulant so fully satisfied it, that the thought of Semei cursing David came to my mind and I repeated interiorly with the holy King: _Yes, it is indeed the Lord who has commanded him to say all these things to me._ [7]

Thus the good God takes care of me. He cannot always offer me the strength-giving bread of exterior humiliation, but from time to time He permits me to feast upon _the crumbs that fall from the table of the children_. [8] How great is His Mercy!

HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. X

[7] Kings, xvi, 10. [8] Mark, vii, 28.

ALL creatures might incline towards the little flower, admiring it and overwhelming it with their praise, but never would that add a shadow of vain satisfaction to the true joy of knowing itself to be a mere nothing in the sight of God.

HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. IX

BECAUSE I was little and weak, Jesus stooped down to me and tenderly instructed me in the secrets of His Love.

HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. V