Letter VII. To the Same

On abandonment to God's pleasure, even as to the exercise of faith, hope, and charity.

zSth March 1612.

WELL, my dearest daughter, it is fully time that I should, if I can, answer your long letter. Ah! yes, my dearest, most truly dearest daughter, but it must

• i Kings xviii. I. t Cant. i. 12. $ Isa. xxxviii. 17.

really be in haste, for I have very little leisure; and unless the sermon which I am about to preach were already formed in my head, I should not write to you anything more than the note attached to this.

But let us come to the interior trial which you write to me about. It is in reality a certain insensibility, which deprives you of the enjoyment, not only of consolations and inspirations, but also of faith, hope, and charity. You have them all the time, and in a very good condition, but you do not enjoy them: in fact, you are like an infant, whose guardian takes away from him the administration of all his goods, in such sort, that while in reality all is his, yet he handles and seems to possess no more than what he requires for living, and, as St. Paul says, in this he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all things* For in the same way, my dear daughter, God does not want you to have the management of your faith, of your hope, or of your charity, nor to enjoy them, except just to live and to use them on occasions of pure necessity.

My dear daughter, how happy are we to be thus tied and kept close in by this heavenly guardian! And what we ought to do undoubtedly is what we do, namely, adore the loving Providence of God, and then throw ourselves into his arms and into his bosom. No, Lord, I no longer desire the enjoyment of my faith, of my hope, or of my charity, save to be able to say in truth, though without pleasure or feeling, that I would rather die than give up my faith, my hope, and my charity. Ah! Lord, if such is your good pleasure, that I should have no pleasure in the * Gal. iv. i.

LET. vra.] Earlier Letters to Visitation. 103 practice of the virtues which your grace has bestowed upon me, I consent with my whole will, although against the inclinations of my will.

It is the supreme point of holy religion to be content with naked, dry, insensible acts, exercised by the superior will alone; as it would be the superior degree of abstinence to content oneself in never eating save with disgust and reluctance, not simply without taste or relish. You have described your suffering to me very well, and you have nothing to do as remedy save what you are doing, protesting to Our Lord, even in spoken words, and even sometimes in song, that you will live on death itself, and will eat as if you were dead, with out taste, without feeling and knowledge.

At last, this Saviour wishes that we should be so perfectly his, that nothing may remain to us save to abandon ourselves entirely to the mercy of his Providence without reserve. Well, let us then stay so, my dearest daughter, amid this darkness of the Passion. I say rightly amid this darkness, for I leave you to think — Our Lady and St. Jo^n being at the foot of the cross, amid the wonderful and dreadful darkness which occurred, no longer heard Our Lord, no longer saw him, and had no feeling save of bitterness and distress; and although they had faith, it also was in darkness, because it behoved that they should share in the dereliction of Our Saviour. How happy are we to be slaves of this great God, who made himself a slave for us!

But it is the hour for the sermon; adieu, my dear mother, my daughter in this Saviour. May his divine goodness live for ever! I have an incomparable ardour for the advancement of our heart, for which I resign all my otlier satisfactions into the hands of the sovereign and paternal Providence.

Good-night again, my dear daughter. May Jesus, sweet Jesus, sole heart of our heart, bless us with his holy love. Amen.