Letter 131. To a Lady

I SEE that you are always craving after a greater perfection, and I approve of this craving, for I am sure it does not keep you back; — on the contrary, it kindles and urges you to victory.

You tell me that you are a prey to a thousand imperfections. No doubt it is true, my dear sister, but are you not incessantly striving to uproot them? Unquestionably, so long as we are cumbered by our mortal and corruptible bodies, we shall be deficient in many things.

Am I repeating myself? We must be patient with all the world — ^above all with ourselves, for we are more troublesome to ourselves than any one else can be, feeling as we must the difference between the old Adam and the new man, between the outward and the interior life.

You say that you can do nothing in meditation without the help of a book. Well, what does it matter? What does it signify whether you use a book at intervals, or not? When I said you were only to spend half an hour in meditation, it was because I feared that at first you might overstrain your imagination, but now there is no danger in your taking an hour for the purpose.

There is no harm in pursuing any good and lawful occupations on the days you have communicated. Do you suppose that in the Primitive Church, when the faithful communicated daily, they folded their hands and did nothing? When S. Paul was celebrating daily, he was also gaining his bread by the labour of his hands. There are but two things from which we are bound to abstain on the days of our Communion, sin and mere voluptuous indulgence; but as to whatever is necessary or lawful, or a matter of charity, no such things are forbidden; on the contrairy, they are enjoined, subject to a wise and holy moderation. Certainly I would not have you abstain from ordinary society, or rightly ordered festivities.

You ask whether those who aim at perfection ought to mix with the world? My dear lady, perfection does not lie in abstaining from the world so much as in not delighting in and making common cause with it There is danger in what we see of the world, lest we should love it, but there is not much of this danger to those who are determined and resolute. Perfect charity involves a perfect life, for charity is the very life of the soul. The primitive Christians were in the world in the body, not in spirit, and they were very near perfection. I would have you without any pre-

Google tence whatsoever; — simplicity and openness are great graces.

But you say that you are vexed by the false judgments men make concerning you, and you ask what to do? My dear daughter, the Saints tell us to rejoice if the world despises us, inasmuch as we are really contemptible; and if the world esteems us highly, they bid us despise its judgment, for the world judges blindly. Do not heed what the world thinks, do not trouble about it; be indifferent alike to its praise and its blame, and let it say what it will. I would not have you do amiss in order that men may think ill of you, wrong is wrong, and you may lead your neighbour to fall; — on the contrary, I would have you fix your eyes on our Dear Lord, and go on your way regardless of what the world says or thinks. You may shun giving others a good impression of yourself, but you must not try to give a bad impression; above all, by any intentional faults. In a word, be indifferent to the world’s opinion, one way or the other. It is ajl very well to say that you are not that which the world assumes you to be — ^it is a mere charlatan, and generally overstates both our good and our evil deeds.

What is this that you tell me, about envying others because I prefer them to you, and you know that it is so? How do you know it, my dear sister? How do I shew my preference? No indeed, you are dear to me, very dear; and I know that you do not prefer others to me, although you well might do so. But to speak in all confidence, our Sisters in the coimtry need more help than you do in town, where there is abundance of every kind of spiritual advantage, while they have none. Is it not reasonable that I should try to help them more than you?

1:783.1 CXXXVL