Letter 80. To a Religious of the Visitation

What abundant blessings God will shed forth upon your heart, and what consolation on mine, my dear daughter, if you continue to grow in the more perfect practice of Divine Love. Sometimes the Holy Spirit delights to bring about His gracious work gradually, and the vocations He inspires are very real and sted-fast.

The man of whom we read in the Gospel bade one son “ go work in his vineyard, but he answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered, I go, sir, and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father?” our Saviour asked. Doubtless, my daughter, it was the first.

You have too brave a heart not to do perfectly whatever is required of you by Him Who will have an undivided service; go on thus, dear daughter, your mind fixed on God, gazing stedfastly upon your Heavenly Bridegroom, set to do all things according to His Will, and doubt not but that He will fill you with His Own Grace, and give you strength equal to all that which He may require of you.

Christ holds the gift of prayer, ready to bestow it on you so soon as you are emptied of self; that is to say, the love of your own flesh and your own will As soon as you are really humble, He will fill your heart with that gift Be content to advance patiently by slow degrees, till the time when He gives you feet to run, or rather wings to fly. Accept willingly yet awhile your position as a mere embryo. You will soon be full grown. Cast yourself in loving abasement before God and men; — He speaks chiefly to humble ears. ‘‘ Hearken, O daughter,” He says, “ and consider, incline thine ear, forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.” * Even the Only Beloved Son fell on His Face as He prayed to the Father. God will fill your vessel with precious balm, if He sees that it no longer contains this world’s perfumes. But, my dear daughter, beware of sa)dng, like him we read of in the Gospel, “ I go, sir,” without a firm desire to go.

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