He is, and with whom you have had many spiritual advantages; but now you are happier still in serving · that same Lord in the persons of those who have given up everything for His Service.

It is a great honour, my dear daughter, to be in charge of a house where the Brides of Christ dwell; for she who keeps the door of a monastery keeps guard over the peace, tranquillity, and devotion of the house, and, moreover, she may have opportunities of edifying those who approach it.

There is nothing unimportant that concerns the service of God, but I hold your charge as portress to be one of great importance and most useful to such as exercise it with thoughtfulness and humility. I thank you for letting me share in your satisfaction. Yours,

&c.

[571.]

....

XCI.

TO A LADY. ON CONFESSION.

Aug. 21, 1621.

INDEED, my dear daughter, this great fear which has so cruelly tormented you ought now to be at an end, inasmuch as you have every assurance which can be had in this world that your sins have been fully put away in the sacred Sacrament of penitence. No, you must on no account harass yourself with doubts as to whether the circumstances of your faults were told with

sufficient explicitness. All theologians agree that it is not requisite to mention all the details and circumstances of a sin. Thus he who says, "I have killed a man," is not required to say that he drew his sword, or that he has caused infinite sorrow to his relations, or that he gave grievous scandal to those who saw the deed. All this is implied; it is enough if the penitent says whether he committed the deed in sudden rage or deliberately, whether his victim was a layman or an ecclesiastic; after which he must leave the priest who hears him to form his own opinion of the act.

Again, he who confesses to having set fire to a house is not obliged to say in detail what was in it; he need only say whether there were any living persons or not. So, my dear daughter, be at rest; your confessions have been perfectly good; now turn your thoughts to your spiritual progress, and do not dwell upon past sins, save to humble yourself meekly before God, and bless Him for His Mercy which has pardoned them through His Holy Sacraments.

The Introduction à la Vie Dévote will be useful to you, my daughter, but your mistake is that you want to be all it sets before you at once. Nevertheless, this very Introduction will shew you that it is not the work of a day to shape your life to its teaching, but rather the work of a life, and that there is no reason to be surprised at your many failings and shortcomings in the

work. My dear child, a devoted life is not a thing to be attained in a hurry; we must work hard at it, no doubt, but the chief thing in the matter is trust in God, and you must toil on quietly, though watchfully. Do not grow weary, my daughter; strive to place your quick, active mind in the attitude of a little child. Go on in lowliness, and God will lift you up. Write to me whenever you please.

Ever with a most fatherly affection, yours, &c.

[574-]

XCII.

TO A LADY.

Sept. 20, 1621.

It was a real comfort to me to have tidings of your soul's state, my dearest child, for in truth I have a very special interest therein. The difficulty which you experience in prayer will not lessen its value in God's Sight, for He prizes a service offered Him amid contradictions, whether internal or external, more highly than one which is all sweetness and delight; even as our Lord Himself reconciled us to God through His own labours, His bloodshedding, His Death.

Neither should you be surprised not to see any great progress either in your temporal or spiritual progress. All trees, my dear child, do not bear fruit at the same Some of the best are longest in coming to

season.

maturity. I have heard it said that the palm tree grows a hundred years before it bears fruit. God has hidden within the secrets of His Providence when and how He vouchsafes to answer your prayers, and it may be that He will answer you most graciously by so doing rather according to His views than yours. Be at peace, my child, within His Fatherly Arms, and in His Loving Care. You are His and His only. I have a most thankful remembrance of that day when, after your confession, prostrate before His Mercy Seat, you dedicated yourself and your whole life for ever and in all things to His most Holy Will. So be it, my dearest child. I am, irrevocably, your very humble, &c.

P.S. Oh, dear child, by what various ways this Eternal Providence delights to comfort them that are His. Truly it is a great grace when He keeps back our reward and happiness until the life to come. This is only a last word. May God be our all for ever. Amen.

TO A NOVICE. ON HER PROFESSION.

ANNECY, Jan. 22, 1622. WELL, my dearest child, so at last you are in spirit laid upon the altar, ready to be sacrificed and consumed as a burnt offering to the Living God! Surely this

day is one to be counted among those "which the Lord hath made." May it be one of those hours which God hath blessed from all Eternity; may it have its beginning in the humility of the Cross, and its end in a glorious immortality! How many wishes I shall make on that happy day for my dear child's soul; how many aspirations and auguries of blessedness; how many invocations to the Blessed Virgin, the Saints, and Angels, that they may take part in the consecration of that dear child. In all this I include my beloved child, Sister N. . . . I am greatly comforted to think that the words spoken to you,' “Thou art dead, and thy life is hid with Christ in God," will be most true to you, for, dearest child, on the truth of these words

In the profession of a nun of the Visitation the celebrant says to her, "My sister, thou art dead to thyself and to the world; henceforth live only to God." The other nuns chant, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;" and the newly-professed Sister lies down and is covered with a pall. A nun reads a lesson from the Book of Job, and the "De profundis" is chanted. After a prayer the celebrant sprinkles the pall with holy water, saying, “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." a The nun having risen he gives her a taper, saying, "The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' "b Then the nun chants the words, "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom then shall I fear? the Lord is the Strength of my Life, of whom then shall I be afraid?" c And after another prayer the celebrant gives her a crucifix, saying the words quoted Ps. xxvii. I.

a

Eph. v. 14.

b Prov. iv. 18.