NINTH LETTER.
The enclosed is an answer to that which I received from ----; pray
deliver it to her. She seems to me full of good will, but she would go
faster than grace. One does not become holy all at once. I recommend
her to you: we ought to help one another by our advice, and yet more
by our good examples. You will oblige me to let me hear of her from
time to time, and whether she be very fervent and very obedient.
Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to
please GOD, and that all besides is but folly and vanity. You and I
have lived about forty years in religion (_i.e._, a monastic life).
Have we employed them in loving and serving GOD, who by His mercy has
called us to this state and for that very end? I am filled with shame
and confusion when I reflect on one hand upon the great favors which
GOD has done, and incessantly continues to do me; and on the other,
upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the
way of perfection.
Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in
earnest: let us repair the lost time: let us return with a full
assurance to that FATHER of mercies, who is always ready to receive us
affectionately.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49