Letter 151. To a Lady. on the Death of her Sister

Well, my dear child, this is how one by one we are crossing the river Jordan, and entering into the Promised Land, to which God calls us one after another. Oh, Dear Jesus, there is not much in this world that we should wish to detain those we love very long here! I knew your good sister, not only by sight, but through certain spiritual intercourse which I had with her during my visit It is about a year since I sent her the habit of the Third Order of Carmelites at her request; and at her reception she made a general confession to a very able man, who either wrote or spoke to me about it. Well, dear child, is it not a proof of God's Loving Care for her that He has taken her only a year after to Himself? Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost Yes, my dearest child, weep a little over your dead, even as our Lord wept over His beloved Lazarus. But let your tears be rather tears of holy tenderness than of bitter sorrow; such tears as Joseph wept for very love, rather than Esau's, which were called forth by excessive and bitter grief. These are times when, above all others, we need to accept our Dear Lord's Good Pleasure lovingly.

Ah, dear child, when shall we too reach that Home which waits us? Alas, we are on the eve of our own departure, and yet we mourn over those who are already gone! It is a bright hope for that dear soul that she had borne so many trials; having been crowned with thorns, we may believe that now she will receive the Crown of Life. Let her go, then; let your dear sister go, and enter upon her Eternal Rest in the Bosom of God's Mercy.... I will tell you in all confidence, that although no man living ever loved more tenderly and deeper than I do, or felt parting from those I love more keenly, yet I hold this short, vain life to be so very worthless that I never come back with more fervent love to God than after He has smitten me with such losses. Dear child, let us fix our thoughts in Heaven, and we shall rise above earthly sorrows. Your sister's ‘‘soul pleased the Lord, therefore He hasted to take her away.” We 'Cannot but hope that He did so to her great gain. Let us wait patiently till He calls us too. Dear child, look upon this world as merely the plank which serves us to pass into the better world. I am, ever yours in Him Who became wholly ours when He died on the Tree of the Cross.

[841.] CLVIL