COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
She said to her novices: “You are too much taken up about what you are doing, you torment yourselves concerning the future as if you had the care of it.... Are you at this moment preoccupied with what is passing in other Carmels, as to whether the nuns are pressed or not? Do their labours hinder your prayer or meditation? Very well, so, too, ought you to be detached from your personal work, employing conscientiously therein the time directed, but with disengagement of heart.
“I have read that the Israelites, when building the walls of Jerusalem, worked with one hand and with the other held a sword.[49] That is truly a figure of what we ought to do: never give ourselves completely up to the work.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
A novice asked some of the Sisters to help to shake blankets, which being rather worn, she cautioned them somewhat sharply to be careful not to tear. Sœur Thérèse remarked:
“What would you do if it were not your office to mend these blankets?... With what detachment you would then act! And if you did point out that they are easily torn, how free from self-interest it would be. Thus, never let the least shadow of self-interest glide into your actions.”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
In the infirmary the novices used scarcely to wait till her thanksgivings were ended before speaking to her and seeking her counsels. This, at first, grieved her and she gently reproached them. Then very soon she let them have their way, saying:
“The thought has struck me that I am not to desire more of repose than our Lord. When He retired into the desert after His discourses, the people came immediately to break in upon His solitude. Come to me as much as you will. I must die arms in hand, having on my lips the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”[50]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES