Adrien joined me, and, in a voice more thrilling, harmonious, and touching than ever, he sang the succeeding strophes. I accompanied without seeing; strange lights passed before my eyes, and when he sang:
“Mais Dieu fut sourd: la fleur était éclose.
… Un ange aux rayons d’or
Un soir, dit on, cueillit la frêle rose,
Puis avec elle au Ciel reprit l’essor!”[186]
I burst into tears with such an explosion of despair that Adrien was alarmed. Kate, could it be possible that God would not leave us this child, almost worshipped as she is? “How susceptible you are, dear little sister!” “Oh! it is nothing”; and I went to my room. I opened a book, just at these words of M. Landriot: “You suffer; the hand of Christ alone is sufficiently light and yet powerful to heal the wounds of your soul.”
Instruction this morning on the besetting sin, which must be extirpated, and against which we must fight with a firm and determined will; at three o’clock, first on susceptibility, and then on piety. “Christian piety is a religious sentiment and a devoted zeal for everything which regards the glory of God, our own interests, and the good of our brethren.”
I had prayed so much to ask for some relief to my sick man that my visit passed off very well. I was alone, for fear of any misadventure. Mr. Crossman consented to some reading, and his daughters answered to the recitation of the Rosary. This man is an enigma to me. I have sent him the doctor.
24th.—Instruction on discouragement, for which the remedies are mistrust of self and confidence in
God. “Do you fear a creature?” said a saint. “Flee from him. Do you fear God? Throw yourself into his arms.” This evening, on the Sacrament of Penance—the dispositions that one ought to bring to it; the conduct requisite with regard to it: first, a great faith, a sincere humility, a spirit of reparation; secondly, to know how to pray and reflect, to speak, to listen, to be silent, to thank, and to remember. These sermons are essentially practical and such as one is glad to hear at least once in one’s life. The Père Meillier is truly a discerner of souls; he speaks of them with wonderful insight.