From Sister Marie‑Dosithée Guérin to Mr. and Mrs. Guérin. August 9, 1870.
V. + J.
From our Mother of Le Mans
August 9, 1870
My dear Brother and my dear Sister,
I received Isidore's letter yesterday evening, which informs me of your little indisposition, and this morning I made Holy Communion for you so that NS may give you strength and courage to support such a painful position: finally, fortunately that it will soon be over (Mme Guérin is nearing the end of her pregnancy), I call the end of it with all my wishes
Dear Sister, how I would like to be close to you to take care of you and relieve you of all my little power; but be quite sure that although I am not there in body, I am there in spirit and that I address incessant prayers for your prompt deliverance; I hope that the good [1v°] God will answer us and after a long ordeal of nine months he will give us consolation. The whole community is praying for you, dear sister, and I have even been asked to offer you Ne‑De water from Lourdes. I didn't send it to you because I thought maybe there was some in Lisieux, but if you want some, let me know and we'll send it to you immediately, this water works wonders.
I don't know if you have received any news from Alencon: the two little girls are on vacation, they intend to be very good; Marie especially wants to make efforts to practice virtue so that her uncle does not leave for the war, they have a lot of heart and love everyone extremely; I hope these children will be very good. Marie has had 9 prize successes and one accessit. Pauline a 2nd prize for writing and 2 accessits: the poor little girl was crying, she was afraid of being scolded, but I brought joy to her heart by telling her that I had written to her mother that I was very happy with my little Pauline.
[2r°] I am waiting for consolations since the measure of the tribulation must be the measure of the consolation; but it is certain that since I was born, I had never seen so many plagues; everyone is affected no one can avoid it the rich and the poor participate equally, it is because we are greatly indebted to divine justice; but finally the Lord will calm down and we will still have happy days after this purification. I am however always in alarm because of my ignorance; I'm afraid my brother is leaving, so tell me when you write to me because I don't know much about the affairs of this world, it's true that if he left, he wouldn't be going into battle but finally it would always be painful.
So, my beloved little sister, to conclude, I recommend that you take good care of yourself and have good hope, you are nearing your deliverance and then I am going to pray so well for you that the good Lord will not have the courage to refuse; you see, I am going to him just as I would to my Father, even with much more trust and abandon. Put. - I am well aware of your health by only a few lines, it is of course Isidore that I am in charge of and above all that he does not worry or get agitated because it is in the family, we see everything [2 v°] immediately business at worst, it is a defect. I would like my poor brother that you would not overwhelm yourself with work, it would be another matter if you were going to fall ill so take a bookkeeper for 2 or 3 months.
Goodbye my dear brother and my dear sister, hold your souls in peace and joy.
Your most devoted and affectionate sister.
Sr. M. Dosithee Guérin
From the Von Ste Marie.
DSB
