"How we must bear with the defects of our neighbor.—I am bound to believe that my faults and imperfections are greater than those of others, and that they have to do violence to themselves in order to bear with my shortcomings; therefore it is my duty to be patient with them, in imitation of God, who is patient with all, who supports all, and endures all, notwithstanding our many defects, and the disproportion that exists between us and Him.
"On fidelity in little things.—Our good God is contented with little virtues, if they are the result of our love for Him, and he knows how to increase them in our souls if they are performed with purity of intention. It is necessary, then, that I try to do everything for His love, and for that alone.
"On death,—'It is appointed for man once to die, and after that the judgment.' This thought should oblige me to live always in the state in which I wish to be found when the last moment shall arrive. Then, death may come suddenly, but not unprovidedly. My resignation will be much easier, the thought of the last hour sweeter, and the inevitable consequences less to be feared.
"On Raillery.—We sometimes wish to make our conversation appear witty, and we succeed, perhaps at the expense of charity, by using expressions of raillery, jest, or mockery, without perceiving that we give pain to our neighbor. A person addicted to this vice receives as much prejudice from it as the one who is the object of it, and a frequent use of unkind raillery stains the brilliancy of the baptismal robe, which we are bound to bring unspotted before the judgment-seat of God, and loosens the bonds of charity that should hold together all Christian communities.
"On respect in the House of God.—A church where the Blessed Sacrament is preserved, is the place where God most readily receives our prayers, and where he has promised to answer them. But that promise is a contract between our Father in heaven and ourselves, for the due performance of which He exacts certain conditions on our part. These are chiefly respect and devotion. Without these conditions we pray in vain, as God will not hear us. We lack respect for the presence of God when we act with levity in church, or use indecent postures, and we lack devotion when we pray with precipitation, without attention, or in a manner that indicates we have only attended through a meaningless formality.
"On Christian humility.—It is good for us at times to reflect on the greatness and the lowliness of the Virgin Mother of God. She was by her privileges and virtues infinitely exalted above all creatures, yet far from preferring herself to others, she regarded herself as the last of all. 'The Lord hath regarded the humility of His handmaid.' We would be both blind and culpable if we preferred ourselves to any one, either for talent, science, personal attraction, or any other cause whatever, because self-love often blinds us, and we do not see ourselves as others see us."
The omitted portions of her rule are filled with similar beautiful sentiments. But, as an instance of her peculiar spirit of confidence, we quote the following prayer:
"O eternal and all powerful God, I have not the humility that I ought to have, but my extreme misery constrains me to acknowledge that I am the most abject of all your creatures, because being tainted by original sin I am, in a certain sense, lower than the brute creation, and on account of my actual sins, I deserve to be cast into hell. The confidence I desire to have in prayer, but do not possess, I expect from your bounty and mercy, because you have given your only Son to redeem us by His precious blood, and I would rather lose a thousand lives than fail to believe the truth of His words. Grant me this grace, my God; it is my strength and my confidence. As to the perseverance I should have in prayer, the consideration of the many graces I have received from you oblige me to testify my gratitude to the last hour of my life, and on through eternity. For, if I have the happiness of being admitted after death into the company of the blessed, I shall persevere in prayer, if you so permit, and unceasingly implore your mercy for the community. I ask neither wealth, nor honors, nor pleasures of this life; I only ask that your holy will may be fully accomplished, and that we may follow the road you have pointed out to us, and which the Blessed Virgin herself has so faithfully trodden. I earnestly beg that every member of our community, and those who shall succeed them, as also those who contribute to their spiritual advancement, may be of the number of the predestined. I believe, dear Lord, that my demand is just, and I make it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Mary, His holy mother, of her glorious spouse, St. Joseph, and of all the blessed inhabitants of the celestial court."
We will conclude this chapter by giving an outline of the funeral oration pronounced by M. de Belmont, Superior of the Montreal seminary, at the sepulture of Sister Bourgeois' heart. The orator took for his text the words of St. Paul, "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Jesus Christ," and then reminded the Sisters, that although nature exacts many tears for the death of those we love, tears which religion does not condemn, provided they are kept within reasonable bounds, and sanctified by prayer and sacrifice, yet it was fitting, at the inhumation of the heart of their Foundress, to terminate the duties both of nature and piety regarding her they all equally mourned.
"You have lost her visible presence," he said, "yet, being the custodians of her heart, you should revive within you her spirit, by reproducing in your lives the virtues of which she has given so many examples. It is for this special purpose God has permitted the division of her mortal remains, because He wills that both her heart and spirit shall be your treasure, and she was never more truly your superior and model, than when during life she strove to imitate Jesus Christ."