Letter 47. To a Lady Living in the World

TO A LADY LIVING IN THE WORLD.

S ^ f. 29, 1612.

You should proportion the length of your prayers to the quantity of your engagements; and as it has pleased our Lord to place you in a way of life which involves you in perpetual distractions, you must

Letters. L accustom yourself to make short devotions, which should become so habitual as never to be given up save under the greatest necessity. In the morning you can always kneel down in adoration, make the sign of the Cross, and ask God's Blessing upon the day just beginning. If you can, you will hear mass devoutly; in the evening, before supper, or thereabouts, you can easily make time for a few fervent prayers, casting yourself before your Lord; you can scarcely be so fettered with engagements as not to be able to ensure such a brief interval of leisure. And at night, when you go to bed, wherever you are, or whatever you may be doing, you can make a general review of what you have done through the day, ending by kneeling down to ask God's forgiveness for the faults you have committed, and asking Him to watch over you and bless you, all of which you may do briefly. But above all, I would have you turn your heart to God on every occasion, all through the day, in ejaculations of faith and love.

As to your mental anxieties, my dear daughter, you will not find it hard to discriminate between such as can be remedied and such as cannot Where a remedy is possible you should try to use it, gently and calmly; where the evil is irremediable, strive to bear it as a mortification laid on you by our Lord in order to make you more wholly His. Beware of giving way to complaints; rather train your heart in patient suffering; and if you have been overtaken by any sudden outbreak of impatience, so soon as you become aware ot it strive to regain peace and composure. Believe me, dear daughter, God loves those souls who are tossed by the storms and tempests of the world, so long as they accept everything from His Hand, and, like valiant warriors, strive to maintain an unshaken fidelity to their trust amid it all.

I must stop, and go to try and settle a hot dispute which should be hindered. I am, most heartily.

Yours, &C.

I:»73.] XLIX.