To Mother Thérèse Françoise de Rosen. On the different attractions of grace.
My dear Sister,
The tendencies, on the subject of which you consult me, are
not rare among souls who, like you, have been called by God to
unite themselves with Him by a loving abandonment. Sometimes, you say,
you feel yourself drawn to adore the divine Majesty
with humility mixed with love, and by very distinct acts which
arise of their own accord apparently, and are very delightful,
filling the soul with a great contentment. At other times you
are inclined to remain in complete repose with a clear apprehension
of the presence of God, and without the power of forming
distinct acts, unless with violent efforts, even during holy Mass,
and then you feel obliged to take a book, and to do violence to
yourself to escape from this apparent inaction which occasions
your uneasiness: this is as near as possible to the two states, the
principal traits of which you have depicted in your letter, and
on the subject of which you desire my counsel. This is what I
think about it. In the first place it is certain that each of these
two states is a gift of God, but the second seems to be the best;
first because it is more simple, more profound, more spiritual,
and further removed from the senses, consequently more worthy
of God Who is a pure spirit, and Whom we must worship in spirit
and in truth; secondly, because it is an exercise of pure faith, which
is less satisfying to the soul, less reassuring, and consequently,
in which there is more of sacrifice and of perfect abandonment
to God. Thirdly, because in this state it is the Holy Spirit
that acts with the approval and consent of the soul, while in the
first state, it is the soul that acts with the grace of God and this
is more like ordinary effective prayer. Well! you must understand that
those operations in which God has the greatest share,
and the creature the least must be the most perfect. From this
it follows that in this second state there is no serious danger of
wasting time nor consequently any reason to fear that you do not fufil the precept to hear Mass. You may adhere to this decision
without the slightest scruple. And if, further, you wish to have
If this attraction should not be very strong nor very urgent, you ought, nevertheless, to second it by keeping yourself in a profound silence to give more opportunity for the inmost operations of the Holy Spirit. This, at any rate, is the advice I give you for long hours of prayer; because, when you have only a short time for prayer, as in short visits to the Blessed Sacrament morning and evening, it would be more useful to cultivate the first attraction you mentioned. You could then make formal acts of adoration and love of God. But I will remind you of the counsel St. Francis of Sales gave to a person who followed the same method: I should wish these particular acts to be made without much feeling or effort, so that they may flow and be distilled from the highest point of the mind, as the same saint expresses it; because it is a received opinion that the more simple and above the senses these operations are, so much the more profoundly spiritual, and, consequently, perfect do they become. To pray according to your first method is to pray by formal, successive and perceptible acts; to pray according to the second method is to pray by implicit acts, experienced, but in no way expressed nor perceptible except confusedly. Or, in other words it is to pray by a simple but actual inclination of the heart; now this simple and real inclination of the heart contains all, and says all to God without, however, express words. The different names that are given to this method of prayer will make you understand it perfectly; it is called a loving waiting on God, a simple looking, or pure faith and simplicity tending to God; the prayer of surrender and abandonment to God, arising from the love of God, and producing an ever increasing love of God. By these examples you will see that this method is of more value than the other; you must, therefore, make it your principal exercise, without, however, neglecting the first at certain times as I told you above. Yours in our Lord.