Chapter V: Letter to Her Sister Céline

When I suffer much, when things that are painful and disagreeable befall me, instead of assuming an air of sadness, I respond by a smile. At first I was not always successful, but now it is a habit which I am very happy to have acquired.

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

A novice was complaining of being more tired than her Sisters, for besides the common work, she had done another task, of which they knew nothing. Thérèse answered: “I want to see you always like a valiant soldier who does not complain of his pains; who thinks very seriously of the wounds of his brothers and regards his own as mere scratches. Why do you feel this fatigue to such a degree? It is because no one knows about it....

SR. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

AND OF THE HOLY FACE

_Carmelite of the Monastery of Lisieux 1873-1897_]

“Blessed Margaret Mary having had two whitlows used to say she had only really suffered from the first one, because it had not been possible for her to hide the second from her Sisters, and thus it became the object of their compassion.

“This feeling is natural to us; yet to wish that all should know when we suffer is a very commonplace manner of acting.”

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

During the first months of her illness it was on her hard palliasse that Sister Thérèse passed the time of rest, and her nights were very bad: when asked whether she did not need some assistance during those hours of pain, she replied: “Oh, no on the contrary, I think myself very fortunate to be in a cell distant enough for my Sisters not to hear me. I rejoice to suffer alone; but from the moment I am pitied and surrounded with delicate attentions I can no longer feel this joy.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

The Sister infirmarian remarking, “It is said that you have never suffered very much.” Thérèse smiled and pointing to a glass containing a draught of medicine, bright red in colour, replied, “See this little glass, one would imagine it full of some choice liqueur, but in reality I take nothing that is more bitter. Well! it is an image of my life; to the eyes of others it has ever appeared clothed in the most radiant hues; to them it seemed as though I drank a delicious liqueur, while in truth it was bitterness. I say bitterness, and yet my life has not been bitter, for I have known how to make of all bitterness my sweetness and my joy.”

“You are in great pain at this moment, are you not?” “Yes ... but I have so much desired to suffer.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

“How it grieves us to see you suffer, and to think you may perhaps have still more to endure,” the novices were saying to her.

“Oh! do not be troubled about me, I have arrived at the stage of being no longer able to suffer, because all suffering is sweet to me.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

A sister, who doubted her patience, noticed, when visiting her one day, an expression of heavenly joy on her countenance and wished to know the reason. “It is because of the very acute pain I am feeling,” replied Thérèse, “I have always striven to love suffering and to give it a cordial welcome.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

“Why are you so gay this morning?” she was asked; “It is because I have had two little trials, nothing gives me _little joys_ like _little trials_.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

Another time: “You have had a great many trials today.”

“Yes, but ... seeing that I love them!... I love everything the good God sends me.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

Again, when some one said to her: “It is dreadful--all you are suffering.”

“No, it is not dreadful; could a little Victim of Love find anything dreadful that her Spouse sends her? He gives me at each moment what I can bear; not more; and the minute He increases my sufferings He also augments my fortitude.

“Yet I could never ask for greater sufferings, for I am too little; they would be my own--my own choosing, then I should have to bear them by myself, and I have never been able to do anything all alone.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

During her long and painful agony she exclaimed: “The chalice is full to the brim. Never could I have believed it possible to suffer so much.... I can only find the explanation in my extreme longing to save souls.... Oh! I would not suffer less.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

FOOTNOTES:

[88] No reader should be discouraged by this chapter on Suffering. What Sœur Thérèse says is very consoling for those who are nailed to the Cross; and others must remember that God had given to His humble Servant a _sensible_ attraction for suffering, which is a rare grace and reserved to very few souls, though many imagine they possess it, and mistake their road choosing to follow this supposed attraction. Without the sensible desire and even though experiencing an invincible repugnance to suffer, souls can be sanctified. What pleases God is that the suffering be borne with love.

[89] _Imit._, III, ch. xxvi, 3.

[90] Ps., xci, 5.

[91] _Cf._ Eccles., xxiv, 29.

[92] Matt., xxvi, 39.

[93] Isa., lxiii, 3.

[94] Isa., lxiii, 5.

THE DIRECTION OF SOULS

Our Lord allowed me the consolation of closely studying the souls of children.

Considering these innocent souls I used to compare them to soft wax, upon which any impression may be stamped, the bad, alas! like the good; and I understood those words of Jesus: “_But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones ... it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea._”[95] Oh! how many souls might attain to a high degree of holiness if wisely guided from the very first.

I well know that to accomplish His work of sanctification, God has need of no one, but just as He enables a skilful gardener to rear plants that are delicate and rare, granting him for this end all the knowledge necessary, while reserving to Himself the care of giving the increase, so, too, does He will to be aided in His divine culture of souls.

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. V

As soon as I penetrated into the sanctuary of souls I judged at the first glance that the task exceeded my powers, and very quickly placing myself in the arms of the good God I imitated the little child, who, seized with sudden fear, tries to hide its golden head on its father’s shoulder, and I said: “Lord, Thou knowest it, I am myself too little to be capable of nurturing these Thy children; if Thou dost will to give to them, through me, what is suited to each one, fill Thou my little hand, and without leaving Thine arms, without even turning my head aside, I will distribute Thy treasures to the souls who come to me to seek sustenance. When they find it to their liking I shall know that it is not to me they owe it but to Thee; on the other hand if they complain, and find bitter what I offer them, my peace shall remain undisturbed, I will try to convince them that this nutriment comes from Thee, and I will carefully refrain from seeking any other for them.”

When I thus understood that it was impossible for me to do anything by myself, the task appeared to me simplified. Interiorly, I occupied myself solely in trying to become more and more united to God--knowing that the rest would be added unto me.

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X

From afar it seems easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, to mould them after our own views and opinions. But coming closer one feels, on the contrary, that to do good without the divine assistance, is as impossible a thing as to bring the sun back after it has set. One feels that it is absolutely necessary to forget our own inclinations, our personal notions, and to guide souls, not by our own way--the way we ourselves go--but by the particular way that Jesus wishes to lead them.

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. X

When very young, and staying with my aunt, a book was given to me to read. In one of the stories I saw that the mistress of a school was much praised because she knew how to get on cleverly in the world without offending anyone. This phrase I remarked especially: “She would say to the one, ‘You are not wrong,’ and to the other, ‘You are right;’” and while I read I was thinking: “Oh!... I would not have acted thus; we must always tell the truth.” And so I do, always. Far more difficult it certainly is, for when told of some little vexatious occurrence, it would be easy to lay blame on the absent, and she who complains would at once be pacified. Yes, but ... I do quite the reverse. If I am not liked, what matter! Let no one come to me who does not want to hear the truth.

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

That a reprimand may be fruitful it must cost in the giving; and it must be given without a shade of passion in the heart.

One must not let kindness degenerate into weakness. When we have blamed justly we ought to leave it so, and not yield to feelings of distress at having given pain. To run after the aggrieved one in order to console her, is to do more harm than good. To leave her to herself is to force her to expect nothing from creatures, to have recourse to the good God, to see her failings and to humble herself. Otherwise she would grow accustomed to being consoled after a deserved rebuke and would behave as does a spoilt child, who stamps and cries, well knowing that this will make its mother return to wipe away the tears.

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

_Let the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, abound in your lips and hearts._[96] If we have to do with a difficult soul, let us not be discouraged, nor ever abandon her. Let us have always “_the sword of the Spirit_” to reprehend her for her faults, and not allow things to pass for the sake of leaving ourselves in repose; let us fight unceasingly, even without hope of gaining the victory. What matter about success! Let us fight on, whatever be the weariness of the struggle. Let us not say: “I can make nothing of this soul, she does not understand; I must give it up.” Oh! what cowardice that would be. We must do our duty unto the end.

[Sœur Thérèse in these passages refers to her charge as Mistress of Novices.]

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

The novices expressed their surprise at finding that she guessed their most hidden thoughts.

“Here is my secret,” she said to them: “I never give you any advice without invoking the Blessed Virgin; I ask her to inspire me to say what will do you the most good, and I myself am often astonished at the things that I teach you. I simply feel in saying them to you, that I am not deceived and that Jesus speaks to you by my mouth.”

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

“Give us some advice as to how we ought to act concerning our spiritual direction,” they said to her.

“With great simplicity and without depending too much on assistance, which may fail you at any moment. You would soon be forced to say with the Spouse in the Canticles: ‘_The keepers ... took away my veil from me and wounded me_,’ it was only ‘_when I had a little_ PASSED BY _them I found Him whom my soul loveth_.’[97] If with detachment you humbly inquire where is your Beloved, _the keepers_ will direct you. Nevertheless, most frequently, you will find Jesus only after you have _passed by_ all creatures. For my part, I have many a time repeated this verse of the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross:

Send me no more
A messenger
Who cannot tell me what I seek.
All they who serve
Relate a thousand graces of Thee;
And all wound me more and more,
And they leave me dying,
WHILE THEY BABBLE I KNOW NOT WHAT.”

_Trans. D. Lewis, M. A._

COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES

FOOTNOTES:

[95] Matt., xviii, 6.

[96] Ephes., vi, 17.

[97] Cant., v, 7; iii, 4.

THE BLESSED VIRGIN

How I love the Blessed Virgin! Had I been a Priest, oh! how I should have spoken of her. She is represented as unapproachable, rather ought she to be shown as imitable. She is more Mother than Queen. I have heard it said that all the Saints are eclipsed by her radiant brightness as the sun at rising makes the stars disappear. How strange that seems--a mother eclipsing the glory of her children! I think quite the contrary. I believe that she will immensely increase the splendour of the elect.... The Virgin Mary! how simple does her life appear to me....

HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII

Sometimes I find myself saying to the Holy Virgin: “Do you know, O cherished Mother, that I think myself more fortunate than you? I have you for Mother and you have not, like me, the Blessed Virgin to love.... You are, it is true, the Mother of Jesus, but you have given Him to me, and He, from the cross gave you to us as our Mother, so we are richer than you. Of old it was your desire that you might be the little handmaiden of the Mother of God; and I, poor little creature, I am, not your servant, but _your child_: you are the Mother of Jesus and you are _my Mother_.”