the Carmel
Therese's correspondence LT 142 – To Celine – July 6, 1893

DE  
MARTIN Thérèse, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus
À 
MARTIN Céline, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face

06/07/1893

JMJT

Jesus

In Carmel on July 6, 1893.

                My dear Celine,

                Your two letters were like a sweet melody to my heart... I am so happy to see Jesus' predilection for my Celine. How He loves her, how He looks at her with tenderness!... Now here we are all 5 in our way. What happiness to be able to say: “I am sure of doing the will of God!” This holy will was clearly manifested with regard to my Céline. It is she whom Jesus chose above all to be the crown, the reward, of the holy patriarch who ravished heaven by his faithfulness. How dare you say that you have been forgotten, less loved than the others; I say that you were chosen by privilege, your mission is all the more beautiful in that while remaining the visible angel of our beloved Father, you are at the same time the spouse of Jesus. "It's true (maybe thinks my Céline), but after all I do less than the others for the good Lord, I have much more consolation and consequently less merit.") - "My thoughts are not your thoughts” (says the Lord). Merit does not consist in doing or giving much, but rather in receiving, in loving much... It is said that it is much sweeter to give than to receive, and it is true, but then, when Jesus wants to take for Himself the sweetness of giving, it would not be gracious to refuse. Let Him take and give whatever He wills, perfection consists in doing His will, and the soul that surrenders completely to Him is called by Jesus Himself “His Mother, His Sister” and all his family. And elsewhere: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (that is, he will do my will) and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home in him." Oh Celine! how easy it is to please Jesus, to delight his heart, you just have to love him without looking at yourself, without examining your faults too much... Your Thérèse is not in the heights at the moment but Jesus teaches her “To take advantage of everything, of the good and the bad that she finds in herself”. He teaches her to play at the love bank or rather, no He plays for her without telling her how He does it because that's his business and not Thérèse's, what concerns her is to s to give up, to surrender without reserving anything, not even the enjoyment of knowing how much the bank brings in. But after all she is not the prodigal son, so there is no need for Jesus to feast on her “since she is always with Him”. Our Lord wants to leave the faithful sheep in the desert As that tells me a lot!... He is sure of them; they can no longer go astray because they are captives of love, so Jesus steals his sensitive presence from them to give his consolations to sinners, or if he leads them to Tabor it is for a few moments, the valley is most often the place of his rest. "That's where He rests at noon." - The morning of our life passed, we enjoyed the fragrant breezes of the dawn, then everything smiled on us, Jesus made us feel his sweet presence, but when the Sun gained strength the Beloved "led us into his garden, He made us gather the myrrh" of the test by separating us from everything and from Himself, the hill of myrrh strengthened us by its bitter perfumes, so Jesus made us descend from it and now we are in the valley, He gently leads us along the waters... Celine darling, I don't really know what I'm telling you, but it seems to me that you'll understand, guess what I'd like to say. Ah! let us always be the dewdrop of Jesus, there is happiness, perfection...
                I feel very united with my Céline, I believe that the good Lord has not often made two souls who understand each other so well, never a discordant note. The hand of Jesus which touches one of the lyres makes the other vibrate at the same time... Oh! let us remain hidden in our divine flower of the fields until the shadows decline, let the drops of liquor be appreciated by creatures since we please our Lily, remain happily its drop, its only drop of dew!... And for this drop which will have consoled Him during exile, what will He not give us in our homeland?... He tells us Himself: let him drink", thus Jesus is and will be our ocean... Like the thirsty deer we long for this water which is promised to us but our consolation is great to be we too the ocean of Jesus, the ocean of the Lys valleys!
                Only your heart will be able to read this letter because I have trouble deciphering it myself, I have run out of ink, I had to spit in our inkwell to make... isn't there something to laugh about?...
                I kiss the whole family, but especially my beloved king who will receive a kiss from his Celine from his queen.

Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face rel.carm.ind.

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