JMJT
Jesus
In Carmel on July 23, 1893.
My dear little Celine,
I'm not surprised you don't understand what's going on in your soul. A small child all alone on the sea, in a boat lost in the middle of the stormy waves, could he know if he is near or far from the port? When his eye still contemplates the shore from which he left, he knows how far he has come, seeing the land recede, his childish joy cannot be contained. Oh! he said, here I am soon at the end of my journey. But the further the beach goes, the more the ocean seems vast, so the knowledge of the little child is reduced to nothing, he no longer knows where his basket is going; not knowing how to steer the helm, the only thing he can do is abandon himself, let his sail float with the wind... My Céline, the little child of Jesus is all alone in a small boat, the earth has disappeared from her eyes, she doesn't know where she is going, whether she is moving forward or backward... Little Thérèse knows very well, she is sure that her Céline is in the open sea, the gondola carrying her is sailing towards the port with sails spread, the rudder that Céline cannot even see is not without a pilot. Jesus is there, sleeping as before in the boat of the fishermen of Galilee. He is sleeping... and Céline does not see it because night has descended on the nacelle... Celine does not hear the voice of Jesus. The wind is blowing... she hears him; she sees darkness... and Jesus is still sleeping; however, if He woke up only for a moment, He would "only have to command the wind and the sea and there would be a great calm", the night would become clearer than the day, Céline would see the divine gaze of Jesus and his soul would be comforted... But also Jesus would no longer sleep and He is so tired!... His divine feet are tired of pursuing sinners, and in Céline's basket Jesus is resting so gently. The apostles had given him a pillow. The Gospel tells us about this particularity. But in the small boat of his beloved wife NS find another much softer pillow. This is Céline's heart, there He forgets everything, He is at home... It is not a stone that supports his divine head (that stone after which He longed during his mortal life), it is a child's heart, a bride's heart. Oh how happy Jesus is! but how can he be happy when his wife suffers, when she watches while he sleeps so sweetly? Doesn't He know that Céline sees only the night, that her divine face remains hidden from her, and even sometimes the weight she feels on her heart seems so heavy... What a mystery! Jesus, the little child of Bethlehem whom Mary carried like "a light burden", makes himself heavy, so heavy that St Christopher is surprised... The Song Bride also says, "Her Beloved is a bunch of myrrh and He rests in her bosom." Myrrh is suffering and this is how Jesus rests on Céline's heart... And yet Jesus is happy to see her in suffering, He is happy to receive everything from her during the night...
Be sure, my darling Céline, that your boat is out at sea, perhaps already very close to the port. The wind of pain that pushes her is a wind of love and that wind is faster than lightning...
How touched I was to see that Jesus had inspired you with the idea of small sacrifices; I had asked him, not counting on writing to you so soon. Our Lord has never refused me to inspire you with what I had asked Him to tell you. He always gives us the same graces together. I even have to have a string of practices, I did it out of charity for one of my companions, I'll tell you about it in detail, it's quite amusing... I'm caught in nets that I don't like. not but which are very useful to me in the state of mind where I am.
