Letter VI. To the Same

On the rules which we must know how to impose on our devotion.

Madam, and my Sister, — I wrote to you six weeks ago to answer all you asked me; and have no doubt you got my letter, which will make me more brief in this.

According to what you propose to me by yours of the 26th September, I approve that our good abbess* should begin to fully establish those little rules which our Pere has drawn up; not indeed so as to stop there, but so as to advance more easily afterwards to greater perfection.

As for our little sister, I leave her to you, and put myself in no trouble about her; only I should not like your Father to fear she might become too devout, as he has always had fear of you; for I am certain she will not sin by excess on that side. My God! the good father we have, and the good husband you have! They are a little jealous for their empire and dominion, which seems to them somewhat violated, when anything is done without their authority and command. What can be done? we must allow them this little bit of human nature. They want to be masters, and is it not right? Truly it is, in what belongs to the service which you owe them; but the good seigneurs do not consider that in regard to the * Of Puy d'Orbe.

good of the soul one must believe spiritual doctors and directors, and that (saving their right) you must procure your interior good by the means judged fitting by those appointed to conduct souls.

But still, you must condescend greatly to their will, bear with their little fancies, and bend as much as, without spoiling our good designs, you can. These condescensions will please our Lord. I have told you before: — the less we live after our own taste, and the less of choice there is in our actions, the more of solidity and goodness is there in our devotion. We must sometimes leave our Lord in order to please others for the love of him.

No, I cannot refrain, my dear child, from telling you my thought. I know that you will find all good, because I speak with sincerity. Perhaps you have given occasion to this good father and this good husband to mix themselves up with your devotion, and to be restive (se cabrer) about it; I cannot tell how. Perhaps you are a little too eager and bustling, and you have wanted to bother and restrict them. If so, that is without doubt the cause which makes them now draw in. We must, if possible, avoid making our devotion troublesome. Now, I will tell you what you must do. When you can communicate without troubling your two superiors, do so, according to the advice of your confessor. When you are afraid that it will trouble them, communicate in spirit; and believe me this spiritual mortification, this privation of God, will extremely please God, and will advance your heart very much. We must sometimes take a step back to get a better spring.

I have often admired the extreme resignation of St. John Baptist, who remained so long in the desert, quite close to our Lord, without hastening to see him, to hear him and follow him; and I have wondered how, after having seen and baptized him, he could let Jesus go without attaching himself to him in body, as he was so closely united to him in heart? But he knew that he served this same Lord by this privation of his real presence. So I say that God will be served if, for a little, to gain the heart of the two superiors whom he has appointed, you suffer the loss of his real communion; and it will be to me a great consolation, if I know that these counsels which I give you do not disquiet your heart. Believe me, this resignation, this abnegation will be very useful to you. You may, however, take advantage of secret opportunities of communion; for, provided that you can defer and accommodate yourself to the will of these two persons, and do not make them impatient, I give you no other rule for your communions than that which your confessors may give you; for they see the present state of your interior, and can understand what is required for your good.

I answer also about your daughter: let her desire the most holy communion till Easter, since she cannot receive it before that time without offending her good father. God will recompense this delay.

You are, as far as I see, in the true way to resignation and indifference, since you cannot serve God at your will. I know a lady, one of the greatest souls I have ever met, who has long remained in such subjection to the humours of her husband, that in the very height of her devotions and ardours, she was obliged to wear a low dress, and was all loaded with vanity outside, and except at Easter could never communicate unless secretly and unknown to every one; otherwise she would have excited a thousand storms in her house; and by this road she got very high, as I know, having been her father confessor very often.

Mortify yourself, then, joyously; and in proportion as you are hindered from doing the good you desire, do the good you do not desire. You do not desire these resignations, you would desire others; but do those which you do not desire, for they are worth more.

The Psalms translated or imitated by Desportes are in no way forbidden or hurtful to you; on the contrary, all are profitable: read them boldly, and without hesitation, for there is need of none. I contradict nobody, but I know quite well these Psalms are in no way forbidden you, and that there is no cause of scruple. Possibly some good father does not like his spiritual children to read them, and perhaps he does so on some good ground; but it does not follow that there should not be grounds equally good, and even better, for others to recommend them to theirs. One thing is certain, that you may read them on every proper occasion.

f 2

As also, you may enter the cloister of Puy-cPOrbe without scruple; but at the same time there is no cause to give yourself a penance for the scruple you had about it, since the scruple itself is a great enough pain to those who entertain or suffer it, without imposing any more.

Alcantara is very good for prayer.

Keep your heart very wide to receive in it all sorts of crosses and resignations or abnegations, for the love of him who has received so many of them for us. May his name be for ever blessed and his kingdom be confirmed for ever and ever! I am in him, and by him, your, and more than your, brother and servant.