Letter XLVII. To a Superior of the Visitation

God regards us with love, provided that we have good will. Our imperfections must neither astonish nor discourage us.

It would have been to me a consolation beyond compare to see you all when I passed by; but God not having willed it, I could not will it. And meanwhile, my dearest daughter, I very willingly read your letters and answer them.

Our Blessed Lady knows, dearest child, whether her son thinks of you, and regards you with love! Yes, my dearest daughter, he thinks of you; and not only of you, but of the least hair of your head: this is an article of faith, and we may not have the least

37$ St. Francis de Sales.

doubt of it: but of course I know well you do not doubt of it; you only express thus the aridity, dryness, and insensibility in which the lower portion of your soul finds itself now. Indeed the Lord is in this ptace and I knew it not* said Jacob: that is, I did not perceive it, I had no feeling of it, it seemed not so to me. I have spoken of this in the book of the Love of God, treating of the death of the soul and of resignations; I do not remember in what book.f And you can have no doubt whether God regards you with love; for he regards lovingly the most horrible sinners in the world on the least true desire they have of conversion. And tell me, my dearest child, have you not the intention of being God's? Do you not want to serve him faithfully? And who gives you this desire and this intention, if not himself in his loving regard for you? The way is not to examine whether your heart pleases him, but whether his heart pleases you; and if you look at his heart, it will be impossible for it not to please you; for it is a heart so gentle, so sweet, so condescending, so amorous of poor creatures, if only they acknowledge their misery; so gracious towards the miserable, so good to penitents! And who would not love this royal heart, paternally maternal towards us?

You say rightly, my dearest child, that these temptations come because your heart is without tenderness towards God: for it is true that if you had tenderness you would have consolation, and if you had con- * Gen. xxviii. 16. t Book ix.

solation you would no "longer be in trouble. But, my daughter, the love of God does not consist in consolation, nor in tenderness: otherwise our Lord would not have loved his Father when he was sorrowful unto death, and cried out: My Father, my Father, why hast thou forsaken me t* and it was exactly then that he made the greatest act of love it is possible to imagine.

In fact, we would always wish to have a little consolation and sugar on our food, that is, to have the feeling of love and tenderness, and consequently consolation; and similarly we would greatly wish to be without imperfection; but, my dearest child, we must patiently continue to be of human nature and not angelic.

Our imperfections must not give us pleasure; indeed we should say with the holy Apostle: Unhappy man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death?f But they must neither astonish us nor take away our courage; we must, indeed, draw from them submission, humility, and distrust of ourselves, but not discouragement, nor affliction of heart, and much less distrust of the love of God towards us. So God does not love our imperfections and venial sins, but he much loves us in spite of them. So again, as the weakness and infirmity of the child displeases the mother, and still not only does she not cease to love it, but even loves it tenderly and with compassion; in the same way, though God does not love our impcr- * Mat. xxvi. 38. f Rom. vii. 24.

fections and venial sins, he does not cease to love us tenderly; so that David had reason to say to our Lord: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak.*

Well, now, that is enough, my dearest daughter; live joyous, our Lord regards you, and regards you with love, and with as much more tenderness as you have more infirmity. Never let your spirit voluntarily nourish thoughts contrary to this; and when they come do not regard them in themselves; turn your eyes from their iniquity, and turn them back towards God with a courageous humility, to speak to him of his ineffable goodness, with which he loves our failing, poor and abject human nature, in spite of its infirmities.

Pray for my soul, my dearest child, and recommend me to your dear novices, all of whom I know, except Sister Colin.

I am entirely yours in our Lord. May he live for ever and ever (pour tout jamais) in our hearts! Amen.