Letter VI. To the Same

Same subject.

loth August 1619.

ALL goes well, my dearest mother: in good truth you must remain in this holy detachment till God reclothes you. Stay there, said Our Lord to his Apostles, till you are endued with power from on high.^ Your solitude must not be interrupted until after Mass to morrow.

My dear mother, your imagination is quite mistaken in representing to you that you have not put away and

• Ancient tradition gives this as the name of the child whom Jesus took in his arms (Matt, xviii.). He was the Apostle of Aquitaine. [Tr.] t John xx. 17. £ Luke xxiv. 49.

LET. vi.] Later Letters to Visitation. 177 abandoned the care of yourself and affection for spiritual things: for have you not quitted and forgotten all? Declare to-night that you renounce all virtues, only wanting them in the measure God will give them; and only trying to acquire them in so far as his goodness will employ you in them for his own good pleasure.

Our Lord loves you, my mother, he wishes to have you all his own: henceforth have no other arms to carry you than his, no other bosom to rest on than his and his Providence: cast not your eyes elsewhere, nor stay your spirit save on him alone: hold your will so simply united to his that nothing may intervene.

Think no more about the friendship, the unity, which God has made in us, think not of your children, nor your heart, nor your soul, nor indeed of anything whatsoever: for you have given up all to God. Clothe yourself with Our Lord crucified, love him in his suf ferings, make ejaculatory prayers on this: what you have to do, you must no longer do because it is your inclination, but purely because it is the will of God.

I am very well, thank God. This morning I have begun my review, which I shall finish to-morrow.

I feel insensibly at the bottom of my heart a new hopeful determination to serve God better, in holiness and justice all the days of my life; and yes, I also find myself stripped of self, thanks to him who died naked in order to make us undertake to live naked. 0 my mother, how happy were Adam and Eve, while yet in their state of pure innocence! Live totally in happy peace, my dear mother, and be clothed with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

IV. M