Letter 1441. To a Community of the Visitation

To a Community of the Visitation. [Annecy, 1636.] Vive & Jésus! Once more I come to greet my dearest daughters, whom I love with all my heart. You are, I hope, labouring ever more faithfully to divest yourselves of all that is displeasing to your sovereign Spouse, and to clothe yourselves with the lowly virtues that are agreeable to Him. Oh, my very dear daughters, how deeply this desire is engraved on my heart! What is there that I would not do and suffer to make you perfect in the observance of our holy Rules which you have promised and vowed to the sovereign Lord. He demands from you the keeping of your word. I would joyfully, my daughters, give my life to obtain this happiness for you. This I tell you with such emotion and such sincerity that my whole soul vibrates with desire for it. May it be the good pleasure of God!

Courage then, my dearest daughters; each individually and all together put your hands to the work without ever growing slack—living as one body, having but one heart and one soul in God, wishing only what your superiors, your equals, and inferiors wish. Show one to another a goodness and a childlike amiability, bearing with one another in charity, and never letting the faults of the community or of any individual sister astonish you. For to be astonished at the defects of our sisters, to scrutinise them, to examine them, and to be upset by them, is the mark of a weak mind, with little charity and forbearance, and of no true insight into human misery. Therefore, those who are so inclined should shut their eyes to all, and bear continually in mind that Charity seeks no evil; that if she meet it, she turns away from it, and excuses those who commit it. Then only do we fulfil her precepts in regard to our sisters.

In regard to submission to your Superiors, I refer you to the Constitution on Obedience. No censure, no reflections on the conduct of those whom God has set over you! Oh, no! never let that happen, dearest sisters, for God is much offended thereby. Be simple and perfectly submissive to all. Love to be admonished, corrected, mortified; utter no complaints ever, nor murmurs, nor censures. In the name of God, my dearly beloved daughters, take my maternal advice; for I give it in the presence of God and with truly cordial and charitable affection. Do not criticise what I say, but profit by it; for this end only doI speak. I say again with all the strength of my soul: Be kind to one another, receiving sweetly all that you hear put forward amongst yourselves. Do not provoke one another, interpret nothing in an unfavourable sense, but always charitably. Do this, I beg of you. You find it a little difficult to overcome your inclinations. Look at the divine Saviour in the struggles in which He was engaged unceasingly in order to purchase glory for you. If you imitate Him in these little s crosses and make His divine will reign over yours, He will shower down blessings upon you: above all, He will give you His peace which surpasses all understanding; it is the heritage of virtuous souls, and in the end He will bestow on you everlasting glory. Oh, my dearest sisters, well do such graces deserve that we should labour to acquire them! Work then henceforth courageously, I conjure you, for the love of this Saviour and of His precious Blood, and for the love my heart has for you, for it is all yours in Jesus.