July 24, 1868.
Adrien has brought here the numbers of the magazine containing the articles on “Notre Dame
de Lourdes,” by Henri Lasserre. We want to persuade our dear English friends to make this pilgrimage with us in November.
We have just come from London. How many things to see and to show!
This morning, our dear convent of ——. I was very happy and delighted; I love so much to meet friends again, and especially these convent meetings—there is something so heavenly about them. Under these black veils it seems as if nothing changes. When a child I used to wonder because nuns did not seem to me to grow older.
Ici viennent mourir les derniers bruits du monde:
Nautonniers sans rivage, abordez, c’est le port.[126]
This life of union with God, and devotion to souls, has within it something divine. We know not how great is the calm and serenity resulting from the lofty choice of these hearts. To belong to God in the religious life is heaven begun. Doubtless there, as elsewhere, there are sufferings, trials, and crosses; the separation from all those most dear to one, the crushing of nature, the complete and absolute separation from everything which can charm in this world, to give one’s self exclusively to God, in prayer and love, is a beautiful thing, but no one, I think, can say that it is free from pain. Assuredly the exchange of terrestrial affections for those which are imperishable cannot be regarded as a loss, and yet what tears there are in this last farewell of the religious, who while living consents to die to all her affections!
Dear Kate, we spoke of you. How they love us in this peaceful place of refuge!