Letter 48. To a Lady. on the Death of her Child

I ASSURE you, my dear daughter, your affliction has touched me very deeply, for I know how severely you will have felt it; the rather that our earthly minds, unable to see the end and object of trials, receive them less as what they really are, than as what we feel them to be for the moment

And now, my dear daughter, your little son is safe; he has attained eternal salvation, he has for ever escaped the danger of losing that to which so many are exposed. Might he not have grown up in evil ways? Is it not possible that, like so many other mothers, you might have had great cause for anxiety in his future life? But now God has taken him out of all peril, giving him victory before the battle, and granting him grace to reap the harvest without bearing the toil and heat of the day.

Will you not grant, my dear daughter, that your prayers and desires are fulfilled? You prayed for your child, asking that he might remain with you in this vale of misery, and our Lord, who knows what we really need, better than we ourselves, has heard and granted your prayers, but at the cost of that earthly happiness for which you longed.

Indeed I approve of the confession you make, that it is by reason of your sins that your child is taken from you, as a proof of humility, but, nevertheless, I do not think that it is true. No, dear daughter, this trial is not sent to chastise you, but out of love to the little one whom God has so early called and saved. You feel all the sorrow and loss, but to the child it is an infinite gain \ and for your temporal grief he receives an eternal gladness. When our own end comes, and the veil falls fi-om our eyes, we shall see how worthless this life is, and that it was not well to regret those to whom it closed early. The shortest life is the best, if only it leads to Eternal life.

And now your little one is amid angels and holy innocents in Paradise. He remembers lovingly all that you did for him while he was here with you, especiallj your prayers for him, and in return he prays to God for you, and pours out many a petition that your life may become more and more conformed to God^s Will, and that through it you may attain to that life in which he now rejoices for ever. Be at rest, my daughter, and fix your heart in Heaven, where your dear little saint is gone before. Persevere in striving to love the Saviour^s Holy Will even more and more. May He ever be your True Consolation. I am always, yours, &c.