Letter XIII. To a Lady

Wishes for the New Year.

29th December j 1606. Well, now, what matters it to your dear soul, my dearest daughter, whether I write to you in one style or in another, since it asks nothing from me except the assurance of my worthless health, about which I do not deserve that any one should have the least thought in the world? But I will tell you that it is good, thanks to our Lord, and that I hope it will serve me well these holy feasts for preaching, as it has done in the Advent, and that so we shall complete this year to begin a new one.

O God! my dear child, these years pass away, and glide off imperceptibly one after the other; and in winding off their length, they wind off onr mortal life, and in ending they end onr days. Oh! how infinitely more to be loved is eternity, since its duration is endless, and its days without nights, and its satisfactions unchanging.

May you, my dearest daughter, possess this admirable good of holy eternity in as high degree as I wish it you! What happiness for my soul, if God, having mercy on it, made it see this consolation! But while waiting to see our Lord glorified, let us see him with the eyes of faith all humbled in his little crib. May God be ever in the midst of your heart, my dearest daughter. Amen.

Vive Jesus '