What we are about to commence will be better than what we have done, and when we shall have accomplished that, we will recommence something else which shall be still better, and then something else, until we leave this world to begin another life, which will have no end, for nothing, nothing better can come to us.
75.
See, then, whether one should weep when he finds trouble in his soul, and whether he ought not courageously to push on ever further, since he must never pause, and whether he ought not to have the resolution to prune, since we must use the knife, even to the division of soul and mind.
76.
Why do you weep, O woman? No, you must no longer be a woman, you must have the heart of a man. But courage! take heart! we have our sweet Jesus with us.
77.
The love of God does not consist in consolations, otherwise our Lord would not have loved his Father when He was sorrowful unto death, and when He cried, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” This was the greatest act of love which it is possible to imagine.
78.
Our imperfections should not please us, but they should not take away our courage. God does not like our imperfections and venial sins, but He loves us in spite of them.