[B] Marie de Chantal, afterwards Mme. de Sévigné.
XCII.
To a blind Sister[A].
Vive ✠ Jésus!
[Date not given.]
My very dear Daughter,
Your letter consoles me, for it tells me with what patience you have accepted your cross, and what profit, by your submission to the good pleasure of God, you are drawing from it. He, it may be, deprives you of the light of the body in order to make you more abundantly enjoy that of the spirit, and this is a great motive for blessing Him. As a saint once said to one who was blind and very holy: "There is nothing to be proud of in bodily sight; we have it in common with the beasts; but we may well rejoice in God's having given us the interior light by which we see and know His goodness." I am very glad that our good Sisters are so affectionately attentive in their care of you, as this gives you pleasure. I envy them in having the opportunity, for, I must tell you, what will perhaps console you. I have always set very little value on corporal sight, being of opinion that, except for the reading of good books and somebody else's devotions, it is a hindrance rather than a help in the spiritual life, so it is almost more desirable to be without it than to enjoy it, as in its absence the interior sight remains firmer, more purified from external objects, and more solidly fixed on God. This is indeed the only thing, it seems to me, worth desiring. If, nevertheless, you feel inspired to ask your cure of God, do so, but always with your former resignation, and pray for her who is all, etc.
[A] From "Sainte Chantal: Pensées et Lettres." P. Téqui, 29, rue de Tournon, Paris. 1899.