Letter IX. To one or his Nieces

Utiles of Life.

$th March, 1616.

Think rot, I beg you, my dearest niece, my daughter, that it has been from want of mindfulness or affection, if I have so long delayed writing to you: for indeed, the good desire which I have seen in your soul to wish to serve God very faithfully has produced in mine an extreme desire to help you with all my power, apart from the duty which I owe to you besides, and the inclination I have always had for your heart, because of the good esteem I have of it since your tenderest youth.

Well then, my dearest niece, you must cultivate very carefully this well-beloved heart, and spare nothing which can be useful for its happiness: and though this can be done in every season, still this in which you are is the most proper. Ah! what a rare grace it is, my dear child, to begin to serve this great God while youth renders us susceptible of all sorts of impressions! And how agreeable the offering when we give the flowers with the first fruits of the tree.

Keep always firmly in the midst of your heart the resolutions which God gave you when you were before him with me; for if you keep them through all this mortal life they will keep you in the eternal. And in order not only to preserve them but to make them happily grow, you have need of no other counsels than those I have given to Philothea, in the book of the Introduction, which you have: still, to please you, I wish to state in a few words what I chiefly want of you.

I. Confess every fortnight, when about to receive the divine Sacrament of Communion; and never go to either the one or the other of these heavenly mysteries without a new and very strong resolution to correct more and more your imperfections, and to live with an ever greater purity and perfection of heart. And I do not say that if you find yourself in sufficient devotion to communicate every week you are not to do it, and specially if you find that by this sacred mystery your troublesome inclinations and the imperfections of your life go on diminishing; but I said every fortnight, that you might not put it off longer.

2°. Make your spiritual exercises short and fervent, that your natural disposition may not make prayer a difficulty to you on account of the length of it, and that little by little it may grow tame to these acts of piety. For instance, you should, with inviolable regularity, make every day the morning exercise marked in the Introduction; well, to make it short, you may, while dressing, thank God, by ejaculatory prayer, for having preserved you that night, and then make the 2nd and 3rd points, not only while dressing, but in bed or elsewhere, without distinction of place, or actions; then, as soon as ever you can, you must put yourself on your knees, and make the 4th point, commencing by making that movement of heart which is marked: 0 Lord I behold this poor and miserable heart. The same for the examen of conscience, which you can make in the evening while going to bed, provided that you make the 3rd and 4th points kneeling, if not prevented by any illness.

So in the church hear Mass with the behaviour of a true daughter of God; and rather than be wanting in this reverence, leave the church and go away.

3. Learn to make often ejaculations and movements of your heart towards God.

4. Be careful to be gentle and affable to every one, but specially at home.

5°. The alms given in your house, give yourself whenever you can: for it is a great increase of virtue to give alms with your own hand when it can well be done.

6°. Visit very willingly the sick of your district, for that is one of the works which our Lord will regard at the day of judgment.

70. Read every day a page or two of some spiritual book, to keep yourself in relish and devotion; and on feasts a little more, which will take the place of a sermon.

8°. Continue to honour your father-in-law, because God wishes it, having given him to you as your second father in this world; and love cordially your husband, giving him, with a gentle and simple goodwill, all the satisfaction you can; and be good in bearing the imperfections of all, specially those of your home.

I do not see that for the present I have any more to say, except that when we meet yon mnst tell me how you have behaved in this way of devotion; and if there is anything more to say I will add it. Live, then, all joyous in God and for God, my dearest child, my niece, and believe that I cherish you very perfectly, and am entirely your, &c.