Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
December 14th, 1619.
My dearest Daughters,
We are now beginning a new year, and with my whole heart I come to beg a favour of you. For the sake of the honour and privilege of being daughters of Our Lady will you not grant it to me? for all the affection of which I am capable is bound up in the asking. It is this, to make a strong and effectual resolve to walk in the way of exact observance, obeying simply, in all humility and meekness.
In the name of God, let not self-conceit be seen amongst you, nor desire of offices, nor of high places; but rather, in the knowledge of your own weaknesses and miseries, cultivate a great love of humiliations, of self-abasement, and of all things lowly. Never use sharp words one to another. Holy gentleness, cordiality, and union of heart should reign instead among you, so that a gracious affability may season all your words and actions, and no shadow of repugnance ever show itself. Do not think about whether you are loved more or less than another. Kill such little foxes, I pray you, for they will steal away the peace of your hearts. We should never desire to be loved, but believe that we get as much affection as God sees good for us.
Never make questions as to whom the charges are given; never desire them. The divine will ought to be the rule of our will and enough for us. Now, my dear Sisters, give the Holy Virgin, our Lady, the pleasure of seeing you serve our sweet Master, her dear Son, by being faithful to these little counsels which I give on their part, and in their presence. I ask this of you through the infinite goodness of the Son and Mother, while I beseech them to grant you a superabundance of graces and their eternal benediction. Amen.
XXXVIII.
To Mother Péronne-Marie de Châtel,[A] Superior at Grenoble.
Vive ✠ Jésus!