XXVIII–XXIX. To the Poor Clare Colettines of Cork; to a young girl

Abbot Marmion had just preached the annual retreat to these religious in November, 1921. This contact had sufficed to create between

• “Amen, amen, I say unto you” (John 6:31, 47, 54) — an expression often repeated in the Gospel according to St. John. *“Fveryone that hath left . . .” (Matt. 19:29).

3 «cc ’ Sek

. more than in all things else . . . by sparing and by having mercy .. .’ Collect for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost.

*Il' Cor. 12:9.

° “For I know whom I have believed” (II Tim. 1:12). him and these contemplative nuns a strong link of great spiritual intensity which can be seen in these letters. tH Pax Maredsous. 17-12-21. My dear Children,

Just a little word in the midst of my work to wish you all, from my heart of hearts, a holy, happy Xmas. May the Infant Jesus, who chose the poverty of a stable, choose your hearts for His palace; and repose in joy on the love of your immolation. I think of you all each day at Holy Mass, and offer you to God in union with the Divine Victim. In fact, I very, very often think of you, and pray for you; for I feel somehow that it was Jesus who called me to help you, and has in some way confided you to my loving care. I feel, since the retreat, that Our Lord was pleased with me for having gone over to you; for I have received many special graces and marks of His love since I have been with you. I know that you don’t forget me; for what God has united, is one for eternity; and neither time nor space can separate hearts united in Jesus Christ. The Holy Scripture tells us that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other children, because God had given him to him in his old age.’ It appears to me that I love this child of my old age which God has given, more than all the others. Now, my dear children, my ambition for you is to see you all, as your holy Foundress St. Clare, wholly detached from all by your sublime vow of poverty; and wholly given up to Him Who will come to your hearts with such love on Xmas night.

We begin office here at 10! p.m. At midnight I sing solemn Pontifical High Mass (for my monks); then solemn Lauds, over at 2%. At 8, I say private Mass in my oratory, (for my family and friends; and you are in that Mass). At 10, a second Pontifical High Mass (for my spiritual children), you are this in first place. You see, neither time, nor space, can separate hearts united in Jesus Christ. Jesus is so good. He takes on Him not only our sins, but all our miseries and sufferings, and makes them His own; and as such they

• Gen. 37:3. cry out, as the voice of His Only Begotten Son to the Father, to obtain mercy for all. I am in good health, D.G. May God bless and love you all, as I do from my heart. | # Columba, Abb.

II. ax Maredsous. le 1 / 5 / 22. My dear Children,

Please forgive me. I have been longing to write to you, and to each one; but I have been terribly rushed and crushed more than you could think. And often I have to think of what the Abbot of Solesmes said to the saintly Abbess of Liége, (she is 82, and my spiritual child for years); she has a Community of 100 nuns, two other abbeys to govern, schools, etc. One day she said to the Abbot of Solesmes: “My Lord, I don’t know what to do. I have not a moment for my own soul.” “Your soul?” said the Abbot. “A superior has no soul, it is hidden in Jesus, and He looks after it, while she looks after His lambs.” Well, we meet very often in J.C. I rise almost every night at 12, just for a few moments; and then I say, my dear little children at St. Clare’s are now going to praise God. Oh, Holy Spirit, give them tongues of fire, and hearts of Seraphim. At Mass, I put you all in my heart every morning; and as I pass through the veil of the Holy of Holies—the Sacred Humanity of Jesus crushed and wounded for us—into the Presence of Our Great God,’ I take you with me and present you to the Father as brides of His Son, who so love Him that they despise all else, and that in their heart of hearts they ever sing “my God and my all.”

Easter has been a time of grace and light. I was able to celebrate the great Pontifical Offices and Masses of Holy Week; and ever since the glorious Risen Christ has been coming to see me, and speak of His Kingdom. The great lesson which He taught me is that God’s plan for the Redemption and Sanctification of the world is just the opposite of what we would have thought. We should have expected that God would have come into this world in great power and majesty, and, surrounded by a group of learned men, convert the world. But no. He came as a poor, weak little infant; He lives in

1 See Heb. 6:19-203 9:11, I2, 24. obscurity and labours for years; and then is murdered by men who seem to have conquered Him, and defy Him to save Himself and come down from the Cross. His whole work is ruined; and His reputation blasted. And it is then He conquers! It is the triumph of weakness for “what is weak in God is stronger than all men’s strength; what is folly in God is greater than all men’s wisdom, in order that no flesh may take glory to itself.”* This is God’s way. And on Easter Sunday I saw that it was the divine triumph of God’s weakness.

Now this is why I love you so. I see in you, more than in any other Community, God’s weakness, God’s poverty, God’s helplessness; and all that appeals to God’s compassion and goodness. Your strength, as poor Clares, is your poverty and helplessness which cry out for help in Jesus’ Name to His Father. A community of Poor Clares, if they only understand their greatness, is Jesus crying out in His poverty to His Father: “what You do for them, Father, You do for me.” ® Oh, my darling children, if I could only impress this great lesson on you, you would become invincible before God; for the glory would be His.

I have gone through a deal since we parted. I have lost relations; my little sister Peter of Clonakilty was near dying. I have had difficulties; and been laid up. I can’t find time to do the half of what I ought. My consolation is to know and fee/ that my little ones at St. Clare’s plead for me; and I remain intimately united with them in holy charity and in prayer.

Oh, let us pray for poor Ireland. Over here, people are saying’: “Oh, it is evident Ireland is incapable to govern herself. She needs the strong hand of England to keep peace.” This pierces my heart. Prayers and immolations alone can help in such a situation.*

I often think of each one in my heart; and some day I hope to come and see you; but I can’t write to each one. You know I do love all, and each one, in J.C.; and would give my heart’s blood for her sanctification. May God bless and love you all, as I do from my heart of hearts. te Columba, Abb.

*II Cor, 1:27-29.

• Adaptation of a saying of Jesus in Matt. 25:40.

For other comments on Ireland, see Section III, Letters 19 and 20, and Section oni ilyewetter 5. ee

Pax I2- 7-22. My dear Child AJ. . .],

I often think in Jesus; for you are there in His heart. I unite each night at 12, with your Matins. I do want to see you all His; and I daily beg this from His Heart. Tell Sr. F. . . . I pray daily for her. Don’t forget that you are with Jesus on the Cross: Christo confixus sum cruci,' and that the Father sees you thus united as a spouse with His Son. All your crosses, pains, actions become His, and as such are the object of supreme complacency to the Father. It gives Him an opportunity of paying back Jesus for all He has done for Him, for He has said “what you do to the least of mine you do to Me.” ”

Pray daily for me, as I do and shall ever do for you.

2 Columba, Abb.

(To the same) - [no date] My dear Child A]. . .],

Don’t think I ever forget you. I want you to become a saint, to love Jesus with me and for me. Just give yourself to Him; and let Him act in you. He loves souls who, like His S. Humanity, live and act by Him, just leaning on His and His power. If you fall into any fault, don’t be surprised; just go to your Heavenly Father, like a little child who, having soiled his frock, goes to his mother to have it cleaned.

I have now divided my day into two parts: 1. I live on my morning Communion; 2. I prepare for the next. Jesus loves us to profit by our Communion.

I bring you daily in my heart to the Altar, and unite you with Jesus, and through Him to my poor heart. Let us love Him together.

May God bless and love you as I do from my heart of hearts, that is Jesus.

Columba, Abb.

• “With Christ I am nailed to the Cross” (Gal. 2:19). * Matt. 25:40.

Pax 30 - XII - 22. My dear little Children,

The Irish have great faith, and even when God seems to forget them, they cry after Him until He is forced to turn to them, like the Cananean woman." I have often thought lately that you might be tempted to think I have forgotten you. Quite the contrary, I daily think of you and place you in His Heart, which is the centre of mine while I celebrate. I beg Him to take us all together through the mystic veil of the Holy of Holies; which St. Paul tells us, is the mangled body; and then to present us before the Throne of God.”

You have no idea of how I am taken up at every moment, while I am ill and suffering; and every body expects me to be ready. Our Lord helps me, for He has taken all our sufferings and weakness on Him. At present, I am really crushed with work and anxiety, and suffering from the "flu. I have a big stack of letters before me, one more important than the other; and I don’t feel fit to write them. So, my darling little children, you see it is not want of affection, but overwork and weakness, which keeps me from sending you what my heart would say to you at present.

I will tell you a great secret. It is just possible I may have to come over to Ireland (Tuam) in a few weeks. Don’t say a word of this to anyone, except to Jesus. If He wants it, I shall come and pass a couple of days at College Rd. on my way back.

I am most grateful to you for the two lovely books: The Yea? Progress, and the Daughters of Bamba. May God bless and love you all, as I do from my heart of hearts.

Columba, Abb. P.S. My special blessing to Sr. F[. . .].

1 Matt. 15:21-28. ? Heb. 9:11-12.

AML X Ee LOPAR VOU N GAG LR

Pax 21 Elm Park Gardens, Chelsea, London. 6. VIII. 22. My dear Miss C]. . .],

I am a very busy man, and have been particularly occupied lately. I have just finished a Retreat to Clergy at Tournai, and am passing through London on my way to Nottingham, where I begin another tomorrow. Please pray, as it is an important clergy-retreat.

I quite understand your difficulty, as it used to torment me also, but does no longer.

The S. Humanity is the way, the Divinity is the term or end. It is God’s wish that we go to Him through the S. Humanity: “I am the way; no one comes to my Father save through me.” * My Humanity is the way which bridges over the infinite gulf which separates all creatures from the Divinity. His Humanity is the veil of the Holy of Holies, (Hebr. X) through which Jesus, the High Priest, passed at the Ascension, bringing us with Him. We may ‘not enter this Sanctuary, and repose on God’s bosom, but through this veil, all steeped in the Blood of Jesus. Once on God’s bosom we have reached the goal; there is nothing higher. We must not quit it; but each Communion takes us further and further into the infinite abyss of the Divinity.

We must follow the inspiration of the H. Ghost, and do no violence to our “attrait.” When in the presence of the B. Sacrament, or at Communion, the S. Humanity, exercises a most potent influence on our souls. Virtus ex illo erit,” and for that, we need not go out of ourselves. Distance does not exist for the S. Humanity. If, when in the presence of the B. Sacrament you feel drawn to speak to Jesus, you may do so either by finding Him in your soul and heart through the medium of His Divinity; or by thinking of Him in the Tabernacle. Both ways are true, for after Communion, the S. Humanity is materially present through the local presence of the S. Species; at other times He is there virtualiter virtually, being ever hypostatically united to the Word. A spiritual communion, as the C. Trent ® teaches, pro-

‘John 14:6.

? “Virtue went out from him” (Luke 6:19). * Council of Trent. duces great fruit in our souls. It is our union with the Word through the virtual presence in our souls of the Humanity. In virtue of this virtual presence, you are by faith and love, nearer to the S. Humanity, than you are with those who are present in the room with you. For neither space nor distances exist for love. Please pray for me; and let me know if this satisfies you, at the above address. * Columba Marmion, Abb.