From Sister Marie‑Dosithée Guérin to Mme Martin. February 23, 1870.
From our Mother of Le Mans
23th February 1870
My dear sister,
Sursum Corda! hearts up!. . . Our Angel is in heaven (little Hélène Martin died on Tuesday morning, February 22) and without having known the miseries of the earth, she passed from the arms of her beloved Mother into those of the Lord, with the white dress of his baptism.
O my dear little sister! how happy I am to see your faith so deep and your resignation. You will soon find those you mourn and that you loved so much, and then, it will be to never separate you from them again. Yes, your crown will be beautiful and very beautiful; your heart is under the winepress, but by your acquiescence to all the divine wills, a balm comes out of it which rejoices the Heart of God.
If you could come and see me, we would both console each other, and the sight of your two little girls who are here would do you good. I am writing with them at the moment, they are very sad, but the hope of heaven is consoling, they would also like to console their poor parents.
How different are God's purposes from ours! We would have liked to keep this child, she promised a lot but who can know the future?. . . No, we shouldn't be unduly saddened by the departure of our little Hélène, doesn't she have the real possessions that she might have lost later. Let us therefore rejoice supernaturally to see this pure dove fly away in the bosom of its Creator before having defiled his innocent feet in the filth of sin.
I am calm and quiet in my sadness, I feel deep in my heart that I would not want anything other than what God has done; he is no less lovable when he takes us away than when he gives us!
I cannot help finding you happy to give to Heaven the chosen ones who will be your crown and your joy. And then, your faith and your trust which never wavers, will one day have their magnificent reward. . . . . . . . (...) be sure that the Lord will bless you and that the measure of your sorrows will be that of the consolations which are reserved for you; for in the end, if the good Lord, pleased with you, is willing to give you the great saint whom you have so desired for his glory, will you not be well rewarded?
