Letter XI. To a Bernardine Sister, his Cousin. on the Epiphany

OUR Lord loves you, my dear cousin, and loves you tenderly. If be does not make you feel the sweetness of his holy love, this is to make you more humble and more abject in your own eyes; but do not thereupon give up having recourse to his holy graciousness in all confidence, above all at this time when we represent ourselves to him as he was a little babe at Bethlehem. For why, my dear daughter, does he take this sweet and attractive state of a little child save to provoke us to love him with confidence and to confide in him with love?

Remain close to the Crib, this holy octave of the Kings. If you love riches, you will there find the gold which the Kings have left there; if you love the smoke of honours, you will find there that of the incense; and if you love the delicacies of the senses, smell there the odorous myrrh which perfumes the whole stable. Be rich in love for this dear Saviour, honourable in the familiarity with him to which you will aspire by prayer, and be filled with delight in the joy of feeling within yourself by holy inspirations and affections that you are most solely his. As to your little attacks of anger, they will pass away; or if they do not pass, it will be for your exercise and mortification.

At last, my dear cousin, since without reserve you will to be all for God, do not let your heart remain in

LET. xii.] Letters for Various Festivals. 417 trouble; and amidst all the dryness which can come to you, abide steadily in the arms of the divine mercy.

And as to these apprehensions which arise within you, they are from the enemy, who, seeing you now determined to live in Our Lord without reserve and without exception, will make all kinds of efforts to disturb you and to make the path of holy devotion hard. But you, on the contrary, must enlarge your heart by a frequent repetition of your protestation that you will never give in, that you will persevere in your fidelity, that you love the rigours of God's service better than the sweetness of the world's, that you will never abandon your Spouse.

Beware, my dear daughter, of giving up holy prayer, for you would play the game of your adversary; but constantly continue in this holy exercise, and wait for Our Saviour to speak to you, for he will some day say to you words of peace and consolation, and then you will know that your labour has been well employed and your patience useful.

Good night, my very dear daughter; glory in being all for God, and always protest that you are wholly his. Say often, Vim Jtsus.