To Mother Louise-Françoise de Rosen. On the use of trials even if they be punishments.
Reverend Mother,
I do not presume to find excuses for the imperfections of the
good Sister about whom you ask my advice, and since God has
taken upon Himself the punishment of them by sending her the
most cruel trials, she seems to me more to be envied on this
account than to be blamed for her faults. There is much in
these faults that deserves the verdict of the church on the sin
of Adam. "Happy fault which merited so glorious a Redeemer!"
This good Sister, you tell me, has acknowledged her faults,
and now, overwhelmed by the weight of her trials, is much more
inclined to depression than to obstinacy. Therefore you only
have to revive her courage and to console her gently. Tell her
that she has lost nothing, and that far from being abandoned by
God she is much nearer to Him than when all was prosperous
with her, and she seemed to succeed in everything. I authorise
you to tell her from me that I consider her more happy than before
in consequence of her sufferings by which God is purifying her
more and more, like gold in the crucible, to unite her more
closely to Himself. For you must both take into consideration
this great principle: the extent to which the soul is purified in
its most secret recesses, is the measure of its union with the God
of all holiness. By this you can judge. if this poor Sister should
not be considered the happiest of all, if she could be persuaded
to look upon her state of suffering from this point of view.
However, if the violence of this trial prevents her seeing clearly
the value and use of it, let her rely on her faith, and let her glorify
God by patience and an unreserved submission, abandoning
herself entirely to His adorable permissions without relaxing
in the least degree any of her spiritual exercises, especially as
regards prayer and Holy Communion; and without giving way
to a secret desire suggested by self-love, to shake off the yoke
of the cross of God. "But," she will answer, "this comfort
would be just if my state were a trial only, but I have every
reason to believe that it is a punishment inflicted by God."
I acknowledge this, but in this life no punishment is inflicted
by divine justice without a loving intention of divine mercy.
This is particularly the case with those souls whom God most
loves. God often permits their faults in order to be enabled to
derive glory from them, and to make them serve for the salvation
of these souls. The chastisements He inflicts sanctify while
humiliating them, and dispose them to unite themselves more
The Religious in question seems to be Sister Anne-Marguerite de la Bellière to whom Fr. de Caussade had written several times. For having taken too much time and pains to prepare a little oratory where she made her Retreat she became deprived of all that light and consolation that God usually lavished upon her during prayer.