My dear daughter, we must flay the victim if we would have it acceptable to God. In the Old Law, God would accept no victim as a holocaust if it had not first been flayed; in like manner our hearts can never be immolated and sacrificed to God until they shall have been flayed, stripped of their old skin, that is, of their habits, inclinations, repugnances, and superfluous affections.
275.
An act of mortification performed with great repugnance is infinitely suited to strongly advance you in perfection.
276.
My daughters, do not deprive yourselves of Holy Communion because of bitterness of heart; but when you feel it you must draw near to God, to strengthen your heart and unite it to his spirit of meekness.
277.
To pray is to raise the mind to God and converse with Him concerning our interests with a reverent familiarity, and a confidence greater than has the most petted child in its mother, and to talk with Him of all things both high and low, of the things of heaven and the things of earth; it is to open one’s heart to Him and pour it out unreservedly to Him; it is to tell Him of our labours, our sins, our desires, and all that is in our soul, and to find our rest with Him as we would with a friend. It is what the Holy Scripture calls “pouring forth one’s heart as water before Him.”
278.
All should serve charity and charity should serve no one, not even her Beloved, of whom she is not the servant, but the spouse, and to whom she owes love, not service.