Letter XXIII. To a Superioress of the Visitation. on the Mystery of the Visitation

Feast of St. Paul.

How very glad am I, my dear daughter, that these two daughters of our heart cannot fast to-morrow, and that in exchange they should have their little in voluntary mortifications! — for I singularly love the trouble which the sole election of the heavenly Father sends us, as compared with that which we choose ourselves. But you who are so robust must of course fast on bread and water; that you must under stand, my dear daughter — for you do not understand it unless I say it to you — that you must understand of the year to come, if it do come, for as to this year you must really be a Jew with the Jews, a Gentile with the Gentiles, must eat with those who eat, laugh with those who laugh, says the great Apostle of to-day.* Feed therefore your little sheep, my dear daughter;

LOT. xxv.] Letters for Various Festivals. 439 and to-morrow you will see the poor little future Mother of the Son of God, coming sweetly to consult with her dear and holy husband and to get his consent to her making that pious visit to her aged cousin, Elizabeth. You will see how she says adieu to her dear neighbours for the three months which she ex pects to spend in the country and amongst the moun tains — for that word is well noted. I think that they all let her go with a tender sorrow; for she was so amiable, and so greatly inspired love, that no one could be with her without love nor leave her without sorrow.

She undertakes her journey with a little eagerness, for the Gospel says, she went with haste* Ah! the first fruits of the movements of him whom she has within her womb cannot fail to be made with fervour. O holy eagerness, which troubles not and which hastens us without making us precipitate.

The Angels are ready to accompany her, and St. Joseph to lovingly conduct her. I should greatly love to know something of the converse of these two great souls, for you would indeed be pleased that I should tell it you. At any rate, I think that the Virgin enter tains herself with nothing but that of which she is full, and breathes only after the Saviour. St. Joseph in his turn aspires only towards the Saviour, who by secret rays touches his heart with a thousand un usual sentiments; and as the wines shut up in their cellars give out the scent of the flowering vines with out perceiving them, so the heart of this holy patriarch gives out without perceiving them the perfume, the vigour, and the strength of this little Child who is in flower in his lovely vineyard. * Luke L

Oh! what a glorious pilgrimage! The Saviour serves them as staff, as food and flask of wine — of wine I say which cheereth Angels and men,* and inebriateth God the Father with a love beyond measure. I leave you to think, my daughter, how good an odour this lovely lily spread throughout the house of Zachary, during the three months she was there, how every one was embalmed with it, and how in few but most excel lent words she poured forth from her sacred lips honey and precious balm! For what could she pour out save what she was filled with? — now she was full of Jesus. Oh! my daughter, I marvel at myself that I am still so full of self after having communicated so often. Ah! dear Jesus, be the child of our inward hearts that we may nowhere breathe or smell of anything but you. Alas! you are so often in me, why am I so seldom in you? You enter within me, why am I so much out side of you? You are within my bowels, why am I not within yours to discover and collect that great love which inebriates hearts? My daughter, I am entirely engaged with this dear Visitation, in which Our Lord like a wholly new wine makes this loving affection seethe throughout the womb of his sacred Mother.