Letter XXXIII. To a Lady

Consolation to a mother on the death of her son in childhood.

3rd January, 1613.

I assure you, dearest daughter, that your affliction has touched me deeply, being assured that it has been very severe; insomuch as your spirit, like that of the rest of men, not seeing the end and intention for which things happen, receives them not in the way they are, but in the way they are felt.

Behold, my dear child, your son is in safety, he possesses eternal happiness! there he is, saved and secured from the risk in which we see so many, of losing his soul. Tell me, I ask, might he not with age have become very wicked, might you not have suffered much pain from him as so many mothers suffer from theirs? For, my dear child, we often suffer pain from those from whom we least expect it; and see how God has withdrawn him from all these perils, and made him enjoy the triumph without the battle, and reap the fruits of glory without labour.

Do you not think, my dear daughter, that your vows and devotions are well fulfilled? You made them for him, but in order that he might stay with you in this vale of tears. Our Lord, who understands better what is good for us than we do, has heard your prayers in favour of the child for whom you made ii4 $*' Francis de Sales.

them, but at the sacrifice of the temporal satisfactions which you sought.

Truly I quite approve the confession you make, that it is for your sins that this child has departed, because it comes from humility: but all the same I do not consider that it is founded in truth. No, my dear child, it is not to punish you, but to favour this child, that God has saved him early. You have pain from this death, but the child has great gain from it, you have received temporal pain and the child eternal joy. At the end of our days, when our eyes are cleared, we shall see that this life is so trifling that we ought not to have pitied those who lost it soon: the shortest is the best, if it leads us to the eternal.

So then, behold your little child in heaven with the Angels and the Holy Innocents. He is grateful to you for the care you had of him during the little time he was in your charge, and specially for the devotions made for him: in exchange he prays God for you and pours forth a thousand desires over your life, that it may be more and more according to the will of God, and that so you may be able to gain the life which he enjoys. Remain then in peace, my dearest daughter, and keep your heart ever in heaven, where you have this fine [brave) little saint. Persevere in always wishing to love more faithfully the sovereign goodness of our Saviour; and I pray that he may be your consolation for ever. I am, without end, your must humble, very affectionate and faithful godfather and servant.