JMJT
Jesus
3 April 1894
My dearest Sister,
I cannot tell you how much your kind letter touched me. It was already a great pleasure for me to know that the painting of baby Jesus had given you pleasure, I was rewarded beyond all my hopes... Dear Aunt, allow me to give you this name again, c t was of you that I was thinking while meditating on the present that I wanted to offer to our Reverend Mother for her first feast as Prioress.
I knew she would be happy to send you a little souvenir, so I put all my heart into composing “The Dream of the Child Jesus”. But unfortunately ! my clumsy brush not having been able to reproduce what my soul had dreamed of, I watered with my tears the white dress of my little Jesus. Which didn't bring down a Celestial ray on her little face!... So in my grief, I made up my mind not to say anything about the thought that had made me undertake my work. In fact, it was only when I saw our good Mother's indulgence that I confided my little secret to her. She wanted to look at the heart and the intention, rather than the art of her child, and to my great joy my little Jesus went for me to meet my good Aunt from Le Mans. I painted this divine Child in such a way as to show what He is for me... In fact, He is almost always sleeping... Poor Thérèse's Jesus does not caress her as He caressed his Blessed Mother. This is very natural, because the daughter is so unworthy of the Mother!... However, Jesus' little closed eyes say enough to my soul and since He does not caress me, I try to please Him. I know very well that his heart is always watching and that in the homeland of Heaven He will deign to open his divine eyes... It is then that, seeing Jesus, I will also have the happiness of contemplating my good Mothers of the Visitation near him. . I hope they will want to recognize me for their child. Are they not indeed my Mothers, those who formed the hearts of the two visible Angels who served me as true Mothers?...
I remember perfectly my trip to the Visitation of Le Mans at the age of 3, I renewed it many times from the heart, and the Carmel gate is not an obstacle that prevents me from visiting often my dear Aunt and all the Venerable Mothers who want to love little Thérèse of the Child Jesus without knowing her.
I beg you, my dear Aunt, to pay your little niece's debt of gratitude by thanking your Reverend Mother and all your dear Sisters for her, in particular my Sister Joseph de Sales, whose affectionate memory touched me deeply.
My very dear Aunt, I would like to talk to you for a long time yet, but I am at the end of my paper, and I find myself obliged to leave you and ask your forgiveness!...
Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus Your unworthy little Niece
