Letter II. To a Novice- Sister

The signs "by which we may know whether what we feel comes from God or from the evil one: the way of tending to perfection.

ANNECY, i6th January 1603. MY VERY DEAR AND BELOVED SlSTER AND DAUGHTER

IN JESUS CHRIST — May God be your repose and your consolation.

I have received your two letters by the President

• 76. ix. 27. IV. B

Favre, a little later than you expected and I desired, but soon enough to give me consolation, in that I see therein some evidence that your mind is more at ease. May God be eternally blest for it!

In answer, I will first say that I do not want you to use any phrase of ceremony or of excuse with me, since by the will of God I bear you all the affection you could desire, and I cannot help it. I love your soul with a strong love, because I think God so wills, and tenderly, because I see it still weak and young. Use all confidence, then, and liberty in writing to me, and ask what you may think proper for your good. Let this be said once for all.

I see in your letter a contradiction which you have put in without noticing it; for you tell me that you are delivered from your disquiet, and yet I see you thoroughly disquieted by seeking to acquire perfection all in a moment. Have patience; I will tell you by-and-by what to do.

You ask me if you are to receive and yield to feel ings [of devotion]. You say that without them your spirit languishes, and that still you cannot receive them without suspicion; and it seems to you that you ought to reject them. Another time that you write to me on such a subject as this, give me an example of the matter which you ask my advice, about; that is to say, of some one of those feelings which has given you the most reason for doubting whether it should be received; for I shall much better understand your meaning. In the meantime here is some advice on your question.

Feeling and sweetness may come from the friend or from the enemy, that is, from the evil spirit or froiu

LET. IT.] Previous to Founding of Visitation. 19 the good one. Now, we can tell whence they come by certain signs, all of which I cannot well name to you; but here are some of them which will suffice.

When we do not stay in them, but simply use them by way of recreation, to enable us afterwards to fulfil our duties, and the work with which God has charged us, more courageously, it is a good sign; for God gives them sometimes for this purpose. He bends down to our weakness; he sees that our spiritual taste is out of order; he gives us a little sauce, not that we may eat the sauce only, but that he may tempt us to eat the solid meat. It is, therefore, a good sign when we do not stop at feelings; for the evil one, when it is he who gives the feelings, desires that we should -stay in them, and that eating only the sauce our spiritual appetite should be weakened, and, little by little, ruined.

Secondly, good feelings do not inspire thoughts of pride, but, on the contrary, they strengthen us to reject those which the evil one may take occasion from them to whisper to us, so that the superior part ever remains entirely humble and lowly. It understands that Caleb and Josue would never have brought back the grapes from the Promised Land, to entice the Israelites to conquer it, unless they had considered their spirits to be weak and in need of stimulating; and so, instead of thinking itself to be something on account of these feelings, it argues and acknowledges its weakness, and humbles itself lovingly before its Beloved, who pours out his balm and his perfume that the young maidens and weak souls like itself may perceive, love, and run after it. But when they are evil feelings that possess us, instead of making us

think of our weakness, they make us think we are getting them as a reward and prize.

Good feelings, when they depart, do not leave us weakened, but strengthened, not afflicted, but cheered; evil ones, on the contrary, when they arrive, give us some joy, and departing, leave us full of distress. Good feelings, when they go away, recommend that during their absence we should cherish, serve, and follow virtue, for the increase of which they had been given to us; evil ones make us believe that with them virtue goes away, and that we are unable to observe it as we should.

In short, good feelings do not want us to love them, but to love him who gives them (not that they are un worthy to be loved, but that is not what they seek); whereas evil ones would have themselves loved above all things. Hence the good ones do not make us eagerly seek them or cherish them; but bad feelings encourage us ever to seek virtue with eagerness and disquiet.

By these four or five marks you will be able to tell whence your feelings come from; and if they come from God you must not reject them, but, acknowledg ing that you are as yet but a poor little infant, take the milk of your Father's breasts, who, from the pity which he feels for you, fulfils also to ypu the office of mother. Thy breasts, says the spouse to her Beloved,* are better than wine, smelling sweet of the lest ointments. They are compared to wine, because they rejoice, invigorate, and put in good order the spirit, which without these little consolations would sometimes be unable to digest the travails which it must receive.

Receive them, then, in God's name, with this sole condition, that you be ready not to receive them; and do not love them, but reject them, when you know by the decision of your superiors that they are not good and not for the glory of God; and be ready to live without them, when God shall consider you worthy and able. Receive them, then, I say, my dear sister, thinking yourself weak as to your spirit, since the doctor gives you wine, in spite of the fevers of imperfections which are in you. If St. Paul recommends wine to his disciple for his corporal weakness, I may well advise you to take spiritual wine for your spiritual weakness.

Such is my answer, clear enough, I think; to which I add that you must never make a difficulty as to re ceiving what God sends you on the right or on the left, with the preparation and resignation that I have said: and if you were the most perfect being in the world, you ought not to refuse what God gives you, provided that you are ready to refuse it if such were his plea sure. At the same time you must believe that when God sends you these feelings it is for your imperfection, and it is this you must fight against, not the feel ings which tend against it.

As for me, I have only one scruple — that you tell me these feelings are from the creature. I believe you meant to say that they come to you through the creature and yet from God; for in the rest of - your letter you give me reasons to think thus. But even if they were from the creature they would not there fore have to be rejected, since they lead to God, or at least they are led to God; you have only to take care not to let yourself be taken by surprise, according to the general rules for using creatures.

I will now tell you what I promised. I seem to see you agitated and restlessly anxious in your seeking after perfection; for this it is which has made you afraid of these little consolations and these feelings of devotion. But I tell you in truth, as is written in the Book of Kings,* God is not in the strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in those fires, but in the soft and tranquil breathing of a wind that can scarce be felt.

Let yourself be governed by God; think not so much for yourself. If you desire me to command you, since your mistress wishes it, I will do so willingly, and will first order that, having a general and universal re solution to serve God in the best fashion you can, you do not busy yourself with examining and minutely analysing what is the best fashion. This is a draw back incident to the nature of your spirit, which seeks to tyrannise over your will, and to guide it by lower and narrow rules.

You know that God wills in general that we should serve him by loving him above all things and our neighbour as ourselves. In particular he wills that you should keep a rule; that is enough. You must do it in good faith, without narrowness and subtlety; the whole after the way of this lower world, in which perfection resides not; in human way, and according to time, waiting for a day on which to do it after divine and angelic manner, and according to eternity.

Eagerness, agitation, does not help on an undertaking at all. Here the desire is good, but let it be without agitation. It is this eagerness which I expressly forbid you as the mother-imperfection of all imperfections. * 3 Kings xix.

And therefore do not examine so anxiously whether you are in perfection or not. For this I give you two reasons: the one, that our inquiry will be useless, be cause if we were the most perfect people in the world we ought never to know or recognise it, but ever esteem ourselves imperfect; our examination should never aim at learning whether we are imperfect or not, for we must never have a doubt about it. Whence it follows that we must not be astonished to see ourselves imperfect, since we must never see ourselves otherwise in this life; nor must we vex ourselves about it, for there is no help for it; but we must humble ourselves for it, for by this we shall repair our defects; and we must quietly correct ourselves, because this is the discipline for which our imperfections are left us; and though we are not excusable if we do not strive to correct them, yet we are excusable if we do not entirely succeed — the case of imperfections being different from that of sins.

The other reason is, that this examination, when it is made with anxiety and perplexity, is but a waste of time; and those who make it resemble soldiers who in training for battle should have so many encounters and bouts among themselves that when it came to right down earnest they would find themselves tired and spent; or they are like musicians who should get hoarse with practising to sing a motet; for the spirit wearies itself over such a searching and continual examination; and when it comes to the moment of execution it can no more. Such is my first commandment.

The second, following the first: If thine eye be simple thy whole body will be lightsome, says our

Saviour.* Have a simple judgment; make not so many reflections and returns on self, but walk simply and with confidence. For you, there are but God and yourself in this world; all the rest ought to touch you not, save in so far as God commands, and in the way he commands. I beg you, do not look about you so much; keep your gaze fixed on God and on your self; you will never see God without goodness, nor yourself without misery; you will see his goodness favourable to your misery, and your misery the object of his goodness and mercy. So do not look at any thing except this, — I mean with fixed, settled, and deliberate gaze; only glance at all the rest.

Wherefore, study but little what others do, or what will happen to them; but regard them with a simple, kind, gentle, and affectionate eye. Do not require more perfection from them than from yourself, and do not be surprised at the diversity of imperfections; for imperfection is not more imperfection for being extravagant and odd. Do as the bees do; suck honey from all flowers and herbs.

My third commandment is, that you do as little children do; whilst they feel their mothers holding them by the sleeve they go boldly and run about, and do not alarm themselves when the weakness of their legs makes them slip a little to one side.; in the same way, as long as you perceive that God holds you by the goodwill to serve him which he has given you, walk boldly, and do not alarm yourself about those little baulks and stumbles you make, and do not distress yourself about them, provided that at certain intervals you throw yourself into his arms, and kiss

LET. IL] Previous to Founding of Visitation. 2 5 him with the kiss of charity. Walk joyously and open-heartedly as far as you can; and if you do not walk joyously, at least walk courageously and faithfully.

Do not give up the company of the sisters, although it may not be according to your taste; rather give up your taste when it may not be according to the general way of the sisters. Love the holy virtue of forbearance and self- adapting; for thus, says St. Paul,* you will fulfil the law of Christ.

Lastly, God has given you a temporal father, from whom you may receive much spiritual consolation. Love your spirit better than your body; follow out his advice as that of God; for God will give you many blessings by his instrumentality. He has sent me his translation of Blosius's Institution; I have had it read at table, and have enjoyed it exceedingly: read it, I beg you, and dwell upon it, for it deserves it.

For the rest, when there occur to you doubts in this life which you have undertaken to lead, I admonish you not to let yourself wait for me; for I am too far off you to help you, and this would make you delay too much. There is no want of spiritual fathers to help you; employ them with confidence. I do not say this from any wish not to have your letters, for they give me consolation, and I wish to have them, yea, with all the details of the movements of your spirit, and the length of this letter will testify sufficiently that I do not grow weary of writing to you; but I say it in order that you may not lose time, and that whilst awaiting help from such a distance you may not be overcome and injured by the enemy. * Gal. vi. 2.

As to my sacrifices, doubt not that you have part in them continually. Every day I offer you on the altar with the Son of God; I trust that God will deign to be pleased thereat.

Assure our Sister Anne Seguier, my very dear daughter in Jesus Christ, of the same, and madame your mistress, whose salutations I have presented to good M. Nouvelet, who was much gratified. If you knew the great multitudinousness of my affairs, and the embarrassment which this charge causes me, you would take pity on me, and would sometimes pray to God for me; and He would be greatly pleased. I beg of you and of Sister Anne Seguier that you often say to God, like the Psalmist, / am thine, save me; * and, like Magdalen, when at his feet, Rdbboni — Ah! my Master! — and then let him act as he pleases. He will make of you, in you, without you, and yet by you and for you, the sanctification of his name, to which be honour and glory. — Your affectionate servant in Jesus Christ, &c.