[Sœur Thérèse in these passages refers to her charge as Mistress of Novices.]
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
The novices expressed their surprise at finding that she guessed their most hidden thoughts.
“Here is my secret,” she said to them: “I never give you any advice without invoking the Blessed Virgin; I ask her to inspire me to say what will do you the most good, and I myself am often astonished at the things that I teach you. I simply feel in saying them to you, that I am not deceived and that Jesus speaks to you by my mouth.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
“Give us some advice as to how we ought to act concerning our spiritual direction,” they said to her.
“With great simplicity and without depending too much on assistance, which may fail you at any moment. You would soon be forced to say with the Spouse in the Canticles: ‘The keepers ... took away my veil from me and wounded me,’ it was only ‘when I had a little PASSED BY them I found Him whom my soul loveth.’[97] If with detachment you humbly inquire where is your Beloved, the keepers will direct you. Nevertheless, most frequently, you will find Jesus only after you have passed by all creatures. For my part, I have many a time repeated this verse of the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross:
Send me no more
A messenger
Who cannot tell me what I seek.