Chapter 71: Of the loss of friends ; and how we should offer our trials to God

As the Saint prayed for a person who was grieved at the illness of a friend whose death she expected, she received this instruction from God : " When any one has lost, or fears to lose, a faithful friend in whom they find not only the consolation of friendship, but also great assistance for their advancement in virtue, if they offer Me this afflic tion, and would rather My will should be accomplished than that their friend should live, they may be assured, if they form this desire in their hearts even for a single hour, that I will preserve their offering in the same beauty and freshness as it was presented to Me; and all the afflictions which may happen to them afterwards through human weakness will contribute to the advancement of their salvation in such a manner, that all thoughts which may grieve them — as, for example, when they remember such or such a consolation which they might have found in this person, and of which they are now deprived — all those griefs and inquietudes which overwhelm man through the weakness of his human nature — will only serve to make place in their souls for Divine consolations, after the offer ing of which I have spoken ; for I will bestow on them as many consolations as they have suffered afflictions. And I will act towards them even as a lapidary who is obliged to place in his work of gold or silver as many precious stones as he has made niches to receive them. Now, My Divine consolation is like a precious stone, because precious stones are said to have strength ; * so the Divine consolation which man obtains by enduring a passing affliction has such efficacy, that there is nothing which can be renounced in this life, however great, which will not be restored a hundredfold in this life, and a thousandfold in eternity."