the Carmel
Therese's correspondence LT 149 – To Céline – October 20 (?) 1893

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

20/10/1893

20 (?) October 1893

JMJT

Jesus

                My dear Celine,

                It is Jesus whom I charge to celebrate for me, my little Sister Marie of the Holy Face... It is Jesus who must be our divine link. He alone has the right to enter the sanctuary of his wife's heart... Oh yes! He alone hears when nothing answers us... He alone arranges the events of our life in exile, it is He who sometimes presents us with the bitter chalice. But we do not see Him, He hides, He veils His Divine hand and we can only see the creatures, so we suffer since the voice of our Beloved is not heard and that of the creatures seems to ignore us. .. Yes, the bitterest pain is that of not being understood... But this pain will never be that of Céline or Thérèse, ever, because their gaze sees higher than the earth, they rise to the Above creation, the more Jesus hides himself, the more they also feel that Jesus is near them; in his exquisite delicacy He walks forward, pushing the stones out of the way, keeping the reptiles away; it's nothing yet, He makes friendly voices ring in our ears, these voices warn us not to walk with too much security... And why? Didn't Jesus Himself trace our path? Is it not He who enlightens us and reveals himself to our souls...? Everything brings us to Him, the flowers that grow by the side of the road do not captivate our hearts, we look at them, we love them because they speak to us of Jesus, of his power, of his love, but our souls remain free, why disturb thus our sweet peace? why fear the storm when the sky is serene?... O Céline! my darling Céline... it is not the precipices that must be avoided, we are in the arms of Jesus and if friendly voices advise us to fear it is our Beloved Himself who wants it so, and why?... Ah! in his love he chooses for his wives the same path that he chose for himself... he wants the purest joys to change into sufferings so that, having so to speak not even time to breathe ease, our heart turns to Him who alone is our Sun and our joy...
                The flowers of the way are the pure pleasures of life, there is no harm in enjoying them, but Jesus is jealous of our souls, He wants all the pleasures to be for us mixed with bitterness... And yet the flowers of the path lead to the Beloved, but it is a circuitous route, it is the plate or the mirror which reflects the Sun but it is not the Sun itself... I am not telling my Céline dear what I would like to say to her, I explain myself so badly... Perhaps she will understand half a word, Jesus gets along so well in doing the errands of his poor Thérèse!...
                There is in the cant. songs. a passage that suits poor little exiled Céline perfectly, here it is: "What do you see in the wife if not choirs of music in an army camp?" Oh yes ! My Céline's life is indeed a battlefield... Poor little Dove, she moans on the banks of the rivers of Babylon, and how could she sing the canticles of the Lord in a foreign land?... And yet we must let her sing. His life must be a melody (a chorus of music). It is Jesus who holds her captive, but He is at her side... Céline is the little Lyre of Jesus... Is a concert complete when no one is singing?... since Jesus is playing, shouldn't we not that Céline sings?... When the air is sad, well! she will sing the canticle of exile, and when the air is joyful, her voice will make the accents of the Fatherland heard... Everything that will happen, all the events of life, will only be distant noises that will not not vibrate the little lyre, only Jesus has the right to place his divine fingers there, the creatures are degrees, instruments, but it is the hand of Jesus that leads everything. We must see only Him in everything... I cannot think without delight of dear little St. Cecilia, what a model for the little Lyre of Jesus... In the middle of the world, immersed in all dangers, at the moment to be united with a young pagan who only breathes profane love, it seems to me that Cécile should have trembled and cried... but no, hearing the sound of the instruments celebrating her wedding, Cécile sang in her heart. .. What abandonment!... She no doubt heard melodies other than those of the earth, her divine Spouse was also singing, the angels made the sound of their celestial concerts resound in Cécile's heart... They sang like formerly near the cradle this Jesus: "Glory to God in Heaven and Peace on earth to souls of good will." The glory of God! Oh ! Cécile guessed that her divine Spouse was thirsty for souls and she already coveted that of the young Roman who only thought of the glory of the earth, soon she will make him a martyr and multitudes will walk in his footsteps... She is not afraid because the angels sang "Peace to souls of good will", she knows that Jesus is obliged to keep her, to protect her virginity, so what a reward!...
                Yes, she is beautiful, the chaste generation of virgin souls, the Church often sings about it and these words are still true today as in the time of the Virgin Cecilia...
                O my darling Céline, how much pleasure Jesus has with his little Lyre! There are so few in the world, let Him rest with you, don't get tired of singing because Jesus never tires of playing... One day, up there in the homeland, you will see the fruits of your works... After having smiled at Jesus in the midst of tears, you will enjoy the radiance of his divine Face and He will still play on his little Lyre, He will play for eternity new tunes that no one will be able to sing except Céline!. ..

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