Chapter 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.