LETTER III.--Peace in Turmoil.
To Sister Marie Thérèse de Vioménil. To be applied to herself.
Profound peace can be enjoyed in this abandonment even
amidst the bustle of business matters.
What I have always feared has come to pass. I have no power
to refuse a charge that is contrary to all my predilections and for
which I do not believe myself to have any aptitude. In vain
have I groaned, prayed, implored, and offered to remain all my
life in the vicariate of Toulouse: I have been compelled to
make the sacrifice-one of the greatest of my whole life. But
now I see plainly the hand of Providence. The sacrifice having
been made and reiterated a hundred times God has taken from
me all my former repugnance, so that I left the mother-house,
which you know how much I loved, with a peace and liberty
of spirit which astonished even myself. More still! When I
arrived at Perpignan I found a large amount of business to
attend to, none of which I understood; and many people to
see, and to deal with; the Bishop, the steward, the king's
lieutenant, the Parliament, the garrison staff. You know what
horror I have always entertained for visits of any sort, and
above all for those of grand people. Well! none of these have
given me any alarm; in God I hope to find a remedy for everything,
and I feel a confidence in divine Providence which enables
me to surmount all difficulties. Besides this I enjoy peace and
tranquillity in the midst of a thousand cares and anxieties, such
as I should have imagined ought naturally to overwhelm me.
It is true that what most contributes to produce this great peace
is, that God has rendered my soul impervious to fear, and I
desire nothing for this short and miserable life. Therefore,
when I have done all in my power or that I felt before God that
I ought to do, I leave the rest to Him, abandoning everything
entirely and with my whole heart to divine Providence, blessing
Him beforehand for all things and wishing in all, and above all,
that His holy will may be done because I am convinced by faith
and by numerous personal experiences that all comes from God,
and that He is so powerful and such a good father, that He will
cause everything to prosper for the advantage of His dear children.
Has He not proved that He loves us more than life itself since He
has sacrificed His life for love of us? Therefore, as He has
done so much for love of us, are we not convinced that He will
not forget us? I entreat you, then, not to worry about me
and my affairs. Do the same that I have constrained myself to
do. Directly I have taken measures before God and according to
His will I leave all the rest to Him, and look to Him for success.
I wait for this success with confidence, but also in peace; and
whatever takes place I accept, not for the satisfaction of my
impatient desires, but keeping pace with divine Providence, who
rules and arranges all for our greater good, although generally
we do not understand any of His ways. And how can we dare
to judge Him, poor ignorant creatures as we are, and blind as
the moles that burrow underground.
Let us accept all from the hand of our good Father and He
will keep us in peace in the midst of the greatest disasters of this
world, which pass away like shadows. In proportion to our
abandonment and confidence in God will our lives be holy and
tranquil. Also where this abandonment is neglected there can
be no virtue, nor any perfect rest.
You were wrong in being surprised that I was not so at the
views and plans of N., for, besides that nothing surprises me in
this life, you ought to know my ways of always looking at the
best side of things, and setting everything in a favourable light as
St. Francis of Sales advises. This fortunate habit protects
me from danger, and somehow makes it impossible for me to
think badly, to judge harshly, or to speak uncharitably of anyone,
whoever he may be.
I strongly advise you to adopt it; it will greatly contribute
to the preservation of the peace of your soul, and the purity of
your conscience. Believe me, and sacrifice all human feelings,
consoling yourself for all by abnegation and confidence in God
alone, Who alone can fill the place of all else.
