HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VIII
Far from dazzling me all the titles of nobility appear to me but empty vanity. I have understood those words of the Imitation: “Be not solicitous for the shadow of a great name.”[44] I have understood that true greatness is found not in the name but in the soul.
The Prophet tells us that the Lord God shall call His servants by ANOTHER NAME;[45] and we read in St. John: “To him that overcometh, I will give ... a white counter, and in the counter a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth.”[46] It is in Heaven, therefore, that we shall know our titles of nobility. Then shall each one receive from God the praise that he merits,[47] and he who upon earth will have made choice of being the poorest and the most unknown for love of our Lord, he will be the first, the noblest and the richest.
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VI
I thank my Jesus for making me walk in darkness; in it I am wrapped in profound peace. Willingly I consent to stay, during the whole of my religious life, in this sombre tunnel into which He has made me enter; I desire only that my darkness may win light for sinners.
IV LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
In this world we must not become attached to anything—not even things the most innocent, for they fail us at the moment when we are least expecting it. The eternal alone can satisfy us.
I LETTER TO SR. MARIE DU SACRÉ-CŒUR
This prayer she bore upon her heart on the day of her Profession:
“O Jesus, my Divine Spouse, grant that the robe of my baptism be never sullied! Take me, rather than suffer me here below to stain my soul by committing the slightest wilful fault. May I never seek nor ever find but Thee alone! May all creatures be nothing to me, and I nothing to them! May no earthly thing disturb my peace!