Letter 32. To a Married Lady

ON QUIETNESS OF MIND.

Doubtless you would be able to explain yourself much better verbally than in writing, but till such time as God enables you to do so, we must use such means as are available. All this heaviness and languid dulness cannot exist without depressing you, but so long as your mind and will are firmly resolved to serve God, you need not fear. Such troubles arise from natural imperfection, and are rather diseases than sin, or spiritual faults. All the same you must rouse yourself, and strive to be as brave and as vigorous as you can possibly be.

Yes indeed, my daughter, death is a very hideous thing, but the life beyond it, which God of His Mercy gives us, is yet more precious, and we must not be afraid; for wretched as we are, His Mercy is far greater than our weakness, and He has promised it to those who seek to love Him, and whose hope is in Him. When Cardinal Borromeo was at the point of death, he asked for a picture of the Dead Christ, that the sting of death might be taken away in remembering how Christ died for him. The best remedy against your fear of death is meditation on Him Who is our life; never think of one without going on to think of the other. My dear child, do not scrutinize so closely whether you are doing much or little, ill or well, so long as what you do is not sinful, and that you are heartily seeking to do everything for God. Try as far as you can to do everything well, but when it is done do not think about it; try rather to think of what is to be done next Go on simply in the Lord's way, and do not torment yourself We ought to hate our faults, but with a quiet, calm hatred, not pettishly and anxiously. We must learn to look patiently at them, and win through them the grace of self-abnegation and humility. For want of this, my child, and through looking at your imperfections in an unreal way, they become more subtle, and do but increase upon you. Nothing so causes our tares to prosper as disquietude and impetuosity in striving to uproot them.

There is a great temptation to be disgusted at the world, when we are constrained to dwell in it; but God's Providence is wiser than we are. We fancy that if we changed our position, we should do better: possibly, if we changed ourselves 1 But I am a sted-fast foe to all such useless, dangerous, evil desires: even when what we wish for is good in itself, the desire is evil, since God denies us that particular good thing, and chooses rather to prove Us in some other way. He wills to speak to us as to Moses, from a burning bush, and we would fain hear Him in a still small Voice, as when He spoke to the Prophet Elijah. May His Goodness ever keep you, my child; be only constant and courageous, and rejoice in that He has given you the will to be wholly His. In Him I am, yours, &c.

t‘75.1 XXXIV.