HOPE
Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer....
VIII LETTER TO HER SISTER CÉLINE
A day ... an hour ... and we shall have reached the port! My God, what shall we see then? What is that life which will never have an end?... Jesus will be the soul of our soul. Unfathomable mystery! “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man what great things God hath prepared for them that love Him.”[23] And this will all come soon—yes, very soon, if we ardently love Jesus.
VI LETTER TO HER SISTER CÉLINE
Life is passing, Eternity draws nigh; soon shall we live the very life of God. After having drunk deep at the fount of bitterness, our thirst will be quenched at the very source of all sweetness.
Yes, the figure of this world passeth away,[24] soon shall we see new heavens; a more radiant sun will brighten with its splendours ethereal seas and infinite horizons.... We shall no longer be prisoners in a land of exile, all will be at an end and with our Heavenly Spouse we shall sail o’er boundless waters: now our harps are hung upon the willows that border the rivers of Babylon,[25] but in the day of our deliverance what harmonies will then be heard! With what joy shall we not make every chord of our instruments to vibrate! Today, we weep remembering Sion ... how shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?[26]
V LETTER TO HER SISTER CÉLINE
How I thirst for Heaven—that blessed habitation where our love for Jesus will have no limit! But to get there we must suffer ... we must weep.... Well, I wish to suffer all that shall please my Beloved, I wish to let Him do just as He wills with His “little ball.”