OUR Divine Lord wishes to have His court here below as on High, He desires angel-martyrs, angel-apostles.
XI LETTER TO HER SISTER CÉLINE
A SISTER, greatly grieved at seeing her so ill often exclaimed: "Oh, how sad is life!" But Sœur Thérèse would at once correct her, saying:
"Life is not sad, but on the contrary most joyful. If you said 'How sad is our exile,' I should understand you. It is erroneous to give the name, 'life,' to that which must end. Only to the things of Heaven, to that which shall never know death, should the true name of 'life' be given; and in this signification life is not sad but joyful—joyous exceedingly! . . . "
Her own gaiety was delightful to witness.
For several days she had been much better and the novices said to her: "We do not yet know of what malady you will die . . . "
"But I shall die of death! Did not God tell Adam of what he would die, saying to him: Thou shalt die of death?" (In the French: "Tu mourras de mort.") [16]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
[16] Cf. Gen., ii, 17.
IT is not Death that will come to fetch me, it is the good God. Death is no phantom, no horrible spectre, as represented in pictures. In the Catechism it is stated that death is the separation of soul and body, that is all! Well, I am not afraid of a separation which will unite me to the good God for ever.